Newcastle ‘need to be careful they don’t descend’ to Chelsea’s level. Why hype Liverpool? And more…

The Mailbox hits back at claims Man Utd should ‘cut ties’ with Sir Alex Ferguson, while Paul Mitchell’s row with Eddie Howe threatens to put Newcastle on Chelsea’s level. Plus, Liverpool hype, PR problems, national anthem and more…

Send your thoughts to theeditor@football365.com …

Bad take
One of the worst things about being a United fan is that everybody cares about what happens at the Club, even if that means they want United to fail. Absolutely no-one is ambivalent, though someone will definitely take the time to write in to this hallowed page to say “I don’t care what happens to Manchester United”.

This means we have to deal with the very hottest of hot takes from all and sundry telling us how our club should fix itself. The most recent Scorchio! opinion comes from Ian H who thinks we should “cut ties” with the greatest manager these British Isles have ever produced.

I don’t mind an opinion from a Liverpool fan – we know they care deeply about us. But I think Ian is being a bit rosy-eyed about Liverpool’s history. I’m not sure it was really Jurgen Klopp that cut ties with the past at Anfield. He may have said something about the weight of history being on their back but I’m not really sure what he did to remove the weight other than to do an exceptional job of coaching an excellent group of players to achieve great things. He still only managed one title in a Covid hit season (they definitely deserved it though, there’s no doubt about that) and a Champions League which you have still won more of than titles in the last 34 years. I don’t think breaking ties with… say Kenny Dalgleish …even happened so to draw a comparison here seems wide of the mark. Though I’m happy to be enlightened.

If anything it seems that Liverpool’s break with their past came much earlier. Souness was originally blamed for destroying much of the old Liverpool traditions and that was a very long time ago. Maybe cutting the ties with their past is what made them perennial underachievers for nearly 30 years? It’s also possible that he was unfairly accused (the destruction of the Boot Room was apparently not his fault) so maybe it’s just that the club wasn’t as well run after Paisley retired rather than some mystical power he had over the side.

But then Paisley himself retired as far back as 1982. His influence remained through his assistant manager, Joe Fagan, and he advised Dalgleish. He finally left a directors role at the club due to Alzheimer’s a year after Souness took over, in 1992. Liverpool won the FA Cup, their penultimate trophy of the nineties. Maybe, continuity is a good thing after all?

And with Sir Alex, he was consulted about his successor which turned out to be a bad decision. I expect Jose and Ole consulted him about management given their admiration for him. Perhaps he was one of those calling for Ronaldo to come back. He is without a doubt at least partly responsible for the Glazers. So there are plenty of reasons to cut ties with him. But he rebuilt the club, the academy from a pretty dire place in the eighties and won us our first title in god knows how long and knocked you off your f*cking perch. It would be completely wrong for him not to be involved in the club until the day he dies regardless of some misplaced notion that no one can achieve while he’s there. What we know – and Jurgen Klopp knew when he turned Woodward down – is that Glazers have run the club into the ground and it will something along the lines of what FSG have done at Liverpool for United to compete again.

And a final word on Shankly. He was cut out at Liverpool because he kept turning up to take training. At no point in the last ten years have we seen Fergie rock up to Carrington in a tracksuit. By some accounts, Shankly was made to feel more welcome at Old Trafford than at Anfield. If you need to be that classless* to win trophies then I’ll quite happily go empty handed thanks.

Maybe United have only won 5 trophies in the last 11 years because we’ve been poorly run, much like nineties Liverpool. Weirdly, in the eleven year period after Liverpool’s last First Division win under Kenny they won exactly the same trophies (two FA Cups, two League Cups and the UEFA cup) as United just have, albeit with a Mickey Mouse treble in the final year. Weird stat that.

Anyway, Every single one of us Loves Alex Ferguson
Ash (*ok so it’s a rare bit of class on your part but there’s little else to celebrate these days) Metcalfe

Man Utd cut ties with Ferguson
No never! It’s clear that ManU are destined for a Liverpool type 30 year barren period. They only have another 20 years to go! Ferguson left ManU with a mess. An old squad that put Moyes into a difficult situation and he paid for Ferguson’s lack of succession plan. Klopp left Liverpool and Slot with a well balanced, youthful and talented squad. Huge difference.
Wolfgang Hamann

The court of ‘public’ opinion
Well, that experiment went well.

There’s a bit of irony in finally hearing from someone other than the manager or head coach, only for it to turn into a bit of a horror show. Well, definitely for Eddie Howe.

In an attempt to defend the summer transfer window in public, Paul Mitchell’s recent comments threw Howe under the bus. Eddie played a straight bat in his press meetings , showing how (sic) it’s done. There is no question it’s challenging to speak in public when pressed by the media hunting for controversy – as controversy sells. On that level, at least, Paul Mitchell has been a resounding failure, even if his transfer acumen is excellent.

Sporting directors are crucial for keeping things consistent, especially when managers come and go. They help prevent clubs from worrying about offloading expensive and unwanted players when a new manager comes in with a different style. In reality, selecting managers that will leverage the existing squad and overall style of play – a la Brighton.

That alignment is key for long-term success rather than just chasing quick wins, especially for those clubs vying to eat at the top table.

Newcastle, like Brighton, West Ham, et al., who finally get the chance to play in Europe, all experience the extra burden and subsequent injuries and player overload with 2 games every week, travel, and less time for coaching that can knock them off their path. The last thing the club needs is an internal battle for control over playing style and player recruitment, which Newcastle seem to be in the midst of. Howe has done a great job getting Newcastle out of the gutter and into that rarified group vying for the last CL spot – with Man Utd, Chelsea, Aston Villa and, perhaps, Spurs.

Mitchell seems to be doing that d*ck-slinging thing that A types think shows how great they are and why they are better than the rest of the team. Newcastle need to be careful they don’t descend into the parody satire that has become Chelsea.

That the sports media are precious is ably pointed out every morning in the wonderful Mediawatch. Most are no better than the worst social media clickbait opportunists. Managers/Head Coaches have long understood the challenge in carrying the burden of the whole club on their shoulders, without getting too churlish. They may have to muzzle Mitchell’s public speaking experiment until he either realises everything he says will be used in the court of “public” opinion against him and the club, or they get him some training.
Paul McDevitt

(*”Public opinion” in this context referring to the self-important echo chamber of hack sports “journalists” who fancy themselves as the fourth estate while peddling sensationalism and clickbait. Keyboard ‘warriors’ masquerading as guardians of truth who are more interested in manufacturing controversy than reporting fact and are generally misogynist and racist. So why anyone listens to them…but…)

Why hype Liverpool? We’ve only beaten a couple of mid-table sides…
As a prelude to this weekend’s matches, I have been seeing articles hyping Slot (machine) Ball and how LFC are contenders ahead of Arsenal (on ESPN). That’s really a lot of (premature) hype – we’ve merely beaten a couple of midtable sides! 😈😈😈

Snark aside, we don’t really meet any contenders or fellow big 6 until 20 Oct, after which we play tough fixtures almost weekly until 5 Dec. Besides our commitments in the UCL.

Journos have to hype and write click-bait, I understand. I’d rather reserve my pure unadulterated enthusiasm till we’ve really faced and beaten some top sides.
Gab YNWA. Still recovering from heartbreak over Klopp’s departure. Top top guy for stepping out of the way of Slot instead of lurking around like a shadow…

Finally back to football of consequence
Just a few thoughts now that we head back into some meaningful football again.

1) After this Leicester escapade I trust the FA now finally understands how VAR feels to fans. You had a result; now you don’t. Welcome to the feeling. Looking forward to how this goes with Citeh.
2) SAF won everything being the only money game in town. That is no longer true. And it shows, regardless of tactics. He and Utd dominated football by buying everything in sight. Particularly if they were English. Not devoid of tactical acumen, obviously, but let’s tone down the genius stuff.
3) To make it easy we stick with Man Utd for an example… there are at least 4 people ahead of ETH in management. A couple of Glazers, a Berrada and a Bell. At a minimum. I cringe seeing fans and commentators taking about ETH’s transfer policy. If you think he is in charge of transfers, you are delusional. This is true of literally all Premier League managers today.
4) I don’t know what a Nations League is. I don’t care what a Nations League is. Frankly only found out today that England played Finland on Friday . I care if England plays Italy or Spain. I care if Argentina plays Brazil. The advertising on the sidelines and the particular crop of bureaucrats in the VIP boxes means less than zero to me.

Yaaaay LFC vs Forrest!
Sean, Roseville, Ontario, LFC.

P R problems
Most people will still recall the Suarez/Evra incident, but what they might have forgotten in the passing years is how dreadfully Liverpool as a club handled the whole affair. It wasn’t just the t-shirts (although they are a prime example), their entire output and response was appalling, and it was completely bewildering that such a large and moneyed organisation could pay so little heed to their PR efforts.

I say this because it is similarly bewildering that Erik Ten Hag is consistently in the news for responding to the opinions of various talking heads – his latest rebuttal is towards Ronaldo – when surely he has bigger fish to fry.The obvious, and most appropriate response, is to not respond at all and say that he is concentrating on his actual job, rather than stoking the tabloid pages. This isn’t rocket surgery, it’s so obvious it makes my head hurt.

How come an organisation that has just turned over in excess of £600m spends thrupence on PR? How come someone somewhere hasn’t had a gentle word with Ten Hag, and given him some coaching on how to deal with the media? I mean, how can a man who states that he is not Harry Potter after being twatted at home by their fiercest rivals be remotely mindful about what he is saying?

I know that there are many Man Utd fans who are loyally standing by him, and I can understand why they do so, but surely even they must look at his media output and think what the fucking fuck did he just say? The club and the team is in a mess, and he is poring over social media to see what offence he can announce to the world at large. He is so out of his depth that I feel sorry for him, and his employer is utterly remiss with its lack of support.

It seems like such a simple thing to fix, it’s brain-numbing that it hasn’t been.
Mat (everyone is getting a bit carried away after three games though)

National anthem
All this anthem talk had me thinking about possible replacements, as clearly the current one, that doesn’t mention England once, splits opinion right down the middle.

Surely there is only one choice. It’s patriotic, it’s simple, everyone would sing along, and the rousing, passionate, clap filled crescendo would fire up the crowd to monumental levels before kick off. Everybody now.

Eng-er-land, Eng-er-land, Eng-er-land,
Eng-er-land, Eng-er-land, Eng-er-land,

Eng-er-land, Eng-er-land, Eng-er-land,

Eng-er-land, ENG-ER-LAND!

Two rounds of that, brass band and all, and how could the lads not be inspired? Sometimes the answer is staring you right in the face.
Matt

Best beards
I was always a massive fan of Alan Cork’s sort of wild eyed, fisherman lost at sea for weeks, only to return a very different man to the one who set sail.

Balding but with wisps of hair and a grey beard which meant he looked a decade + older than he really was.

Good footballer too.
Dan M

Technically
Hang on Steady, how exactly is 20 appearances on loan ‘a technicality’ ?

He appeared for them. It happened. He wore the shirt. In front of crowds. He scored 4 goals.

Sterling is categorically NOT the first player to ‘appear’ for 4 of the Big Six. First player to be signed on a permanent basis sure, but makes a slightly less pithy sentence eh?
TGWolf(Now Tickner has thoroughly had the definition of Barclays explained to him can he knock that shit on the head too?)THFC