Gernot Rohr’s Announcement as Nigeria’s Manager was without much fanfare as he was a bit unknown in West Africa at the time. Perhaps, it was understandable due to his relatively unsuccessful managerial stints at Niger and Burkina Faso prior to his appointment on August 9, 2016.In November 2019, the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) ranked Portugal’s Manager, Fernando Santos as the World’s best National Team Manager, with Gernot Rohr alongside 2006 World Cup winner Marcelo Lippi and four others (Sweden, South Korea, Denmark & Iran) in 19th place, making them the Best 20 National Team Managers on the planet.Few months before that, Rohr had just led Nigeria to 3rd place at the 2019 AFCON (Record 8th time). Fans of the National team called for his sack, style of play and failure to leave Egypt with the Trophy were the main frustrations. Just like the legendary French Manager, Aimé Jacquet (Winner of the 1998 FIFA World Cup) & Rohr’s manager at Bordeaux as a player in the 1980s, Jacquet was also criticized by the French fans & Media. Like Rohr, his methods were deemed to be “Paleolithic” & claims that the team that would go on to win the France ’98 World Cup, had no hope. To understand Rohr’s methods as Nigeria’s manager, let’s go down memory lane looking at his career & what may have influenced his managerial style on the African continent four decades later.

HIS JOURNEY –

Born in the Confluence German city of Mannheim, 19yr old Gernot Rohr found himself playing under one of Europe’s greatest Managers, Udo Lattek. Alongside Greats like Franz Beckenbauer, Gerd Müller, Paul Breitner & Former Bayern President, Uli Hoeneß, Rohr won two Bundesliga titles & the Champions League (European Cup) in 1974. Unfortunately, making one appearance in Europe — due to the system & tactics used by Latek & most top managers in the 60s & 70s (3-3-4/3-2-5) — Rohr made just six Bundesliga appearances for Bayern in two seasons. It was almost impossible for a young player to break into a back three of Beckenbauer, Hansen & Schwarzenbeck. He’d go on to play Twenty-four Bundesliga games for Kickers Offenbach & not until the 1975/76 season would Rohr get regular first team football, this time in the French Ligue Un.At Bordeaux, he became a Legend winning consecutive French titles in ’84 &’ 85 then French Cups in ’86 & 87 under the tutelage of Aimé Jacquet. Working Under the French & German Greats definitely shaped Rohr’s managerial style, tactics & his approach to games. He’s Conservative when the need arises & to be fair, he goes “all guns blazing” too — Testament to that was the Super Eagles’ 4-2 defeat of an Argentine side that included Lionel Messi, Sergio Agüero & Ángel di María in 2018 — He emphasizes on the need for a Cohesive defensive unit, with full-backs often joining the wingers in attack, overloading the flanks and creating options for midfielders. It’s what he has done throughout his time as the Super Eagles’ Boss.One of his finest moments as a manager came in the 1995/96 season. With already established stars like Bixente Lizarazu & Christophe Dugarry, not forgetting a 24yr old Zinedine Zidane, Rohr led Bordeaux to the Europa League (UEFA Cup) final, losing 6-1 over two legs to Bayern Munich. The high point of their run to the final though was the defeat of Fábio Capello’s Milan in the Quarter-final, 3-2 on Aggregate. Losing the first leg 2-0 & coming back to knock out a side with Superstars like George Weah, Franco Baresi, Paolo Maldini & Patrick Vieira was no mean feat. He would not find success again until the 2002/03 season; taking newly promoted side, Nice to the Quarter-finals of the defunct UEFA Intertoto Cup & finishing in an Impressive 10th place in the league. After leaving Nice in 2005, he had a journeyman career, punctuated by sackings & fall-outs with the board of clubs like Nantes, Étoile & Young Boys. This led to his decision to give National team management a try, this time on the continent of Africa.

MANAGERIAL STEPS ON THE SHORES OF AFRICA.

Gernot Rohr took charge of the soon to be co-hosts of the 2012 African Cup of Nations, Gabon in February 2010. His main task was leading a young Gabonese side past the round of 16. He did just that as Gabon were narrowly eliminated by Mali (5-4) after current Arsenal forward, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang missed his penalty in the Quarter-final shoot out. But in the eyes of the fans of “Les Panthères”, it was a successful campaign. Rohr would look at his time as Gabon manager with pride due to the fact that the national team played just Five official friendly matches between August 2010 & November 2011, kicking off their AFCON campaign in January 2012. One can only imagine what they’d have achieved if they played together more.To his credit, it was Gernot Rohr who tentatively tried to play Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in a more central Role. Playing as a winger at Saint-Etienne then at Dortmund under Jürgen Klopp (to accommodate Ciro Immobile), before Thomas Tuchel transformed him into a free scoring striker. It’s not wrong to say Rohr always knew he would go on to become one of the world’s best strikers. Short & tumultuous spells as the Manager of Niger, then Burkina Faso followed until August 9, 2016, the Nigeria Football Federation announced that Gernot Rohr would take over the vacant post of the Technical Adviser & Manager on a two-year deal.

RENAISSANCE OF THE SUPER EAGLES.

From the Aftermath of the 2014 FIFA World Cup to Gernot Rohr’s 2016 appointment, Nigeria had five different managers in that period; Shuaibu Amodu, Stephen Keshi, Samson Siasia, Sunday Oliseh and Salisu Yusuf. They all took charge of a combined 14 official games in two years. Failure to qualify for the 2015 AFCON meant that was one of the most turbulent periods in Nigerian football. The bulk of those games were in the Sunday Oliseh era. With the ex Dortmund midfielder at the Helm, the National team was in total disarray, his time ended up being dotted with a host of controversies. Oliseh stripped two time CAF Champions League winner & Nigeria most capped player, Vincent Enyeama of his captaincy. Enyeama, who was at Lille at the time felt insulted. Oliseh cited the reasons for that at lack of discipline. Afterwards, the super eagles failed to qualify for CHAN 2015 (A tournament for African players plying their trade on the continent) & Oliseh blamed the NFF for “failure to motivate” the players as the reason for their disastrous qualifying campaign. Controversies of his kind have been non-existent in the Gernot Rohr era, there’s a feeling of progress & steady leadership in the 41 months the Franco-German tactician has been at the Helm.

ROHR’S IMPACT.

Win Record :
Sadly, the Super Eagles failed to qualify for the 2017 AFCON, but in the summer of 2017, Nigeria became the first African nation to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup after a 1-0 defeat of Zambia. Since he took the national job, he’s won more games than any National team manager on the continent — 21 wins, 7 draws & 10 losses in 38 official games — if we take each win as three points & a tie as one, Rohr has amassed a record 70 points out of a possible 114. It’s an amazing feat considering the mess he met.
Interest of Foreign-born players :
Just before European leagues went on break due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Eredivisie’s top scorer, Cyriel Dessers became the latest of players with dual nationalities to pledge allegiance to Nigeria. (insert link to the Cyriel Dessers article). The Belgian born Nigerian follows in the footsteps of a host of players with dual nationalities to be called to the Super Eagles camp since Rohr became manager. Everton’s Alex Iwobi, Bordeaux’ Joshua Maja, Udinese’s William-Troost Ekong & Ranger’s Joe Aribo to name a few have all decided to represent Nigeria on the international stage now, due to the attractiveness of the Nigerian National team & of course having family ties to the nation. This wasn’t the case back in the day when you have players who weren’t even regulars rejecting call-ups. Sydney Sam, hello pal.

Level of performance :
There’s been an increase in performance levels now because of two things. Firstly, Rohr is willing to experiment with new tactics in International Friendlies & he shows no favoritism. Secondly, competition for places has sky-rocketed. Apart from the Goalkeeping department, there’s at least two players playing regularly in Europe’s top ten leagues in every position & as Leganes defensive stalwart, Kenneth Omeruo pointed out recently on a Live Interview, “Even if you’re left out of the starting line-up, there’s satisfaction because the starting player is a regular in his club side”.

Tactics :
Throughout his career, Rohr has favored the 4-3-3 attacking system. Changing to a 3-5-2/3-4-3 when the need arises. As Nigeria’s manager, he’s preferred the former.
ROHR’S 4-3-3 ON PAPER
Uzoho/Akpeyi/Okoye
Aina/Awaziem Ekong/Omeruo Ajayi/Balogun Collins/Idowu
Ndidi/Agu Aribo/Etebo
Iwobi/Aribo
Chukwueze/Onyekuru Musa/Simon/Kalu
Osimhen/Iheanacho/Dennis/Maja/Onuachu/Dessers*
*(player is yet to Debut)
IN THE ATTACKING PHASE, IT BECOMES A 2-1-4-3 :
                           Uzoho
                    Ekong      Omeruo
                            Ndidi
                                   Aribo                                          ↘                  Aina    Iwobi              Collins                              ↙
           Chukwueze           Osimhen             Musa/Simon               ⬇↘                  ⬇                       ↙⬇
IN THE DEFENSIVE PHASE, IT BECOMES A 2-4-3-1 :
                             Uzoho
              Ekong              Omeruo
↖⬆                                    ⬆↗  Aina     Ndidi         Aribo        Collins
Chukwueze      Iwobi             Musa                              Osimhen

KEY POINTS –
* In the build up, Wilfred Ndidi drops back to defend his line, which allows Joe Aribo & Alex Iwobi run into space. The left back (Jamilu Collins) almost becomes a left-winger. Aina bumps forward to cover the space the right-winger(Samuel Chukwueze) has left.*William Troost-Ekong, who’s been one of the Serie A revelations this season has a good passing range. He’s often seen playing long diagonal balls to the options on the wings.*Joe Aribo (also an SPL revelation this season u der Steven Gerrard) has freedom to roam about because of his amazing ball-carrying abilities.*In the defensive phase, the full backs join the midfielders to cover space. Wingers become midfielders & the number 10 (Alex Iwobi) is alert to retrieve loose balls & play Osimhen through on goal.
NOTE — The players named here form the core of Rohr’s present system. Keep it in mind that football games are not played withdrawn arrows, but on a wider perspective this how Nigeria has played under Rohr & it’s been working. So why should we change when there’s stability?Talking about “change”, Reports that a new deal is on the cards for the Bordeaux legend have been making headlines since the summer of 2019. On the first week of April 2020, the President of the NFF; Amaju Pinnick disclosed the terms of the new deal as follows.1. He must reside in Nigeria2. His salary would be paid in Naira3. He must watch the NPFL (Nigeria’s domestic league) to make Home-grown players part of the national team.
It garnered mixed reception amongst football loving Nigerians & Africans. Firstly, these clauses were not on the first contract in 2016. Secondly, the NPFL is behind the Leagues of Angola, South Africa, DR Congo, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco & Cameroon, etc in Africa to name a few & frankly not good enough in Standard or Quality. Many questioned the meaning of “Nigeria’s BEST should represent the country” because of the third clause.Thankfully though, ROHR made it known to the world that he’d accept the deal on April 9, 2020. Which is good news for all Nigerians.

CONCLUSION-
It’s now 1339 days since Rohr’s been at the Helm. In that time he’s not only become Nigeria’s longest serving manager, he’s also managed the second highest number of Official games (38), behind the Late Stephen Keshi (43 games) but with a higher point per game ratio (1.81) compared to Keshi’s (1.58) according to transfermarkt.com.Furthermore, Nigeria’s current squad is the third most valuable side on the continent (€191.1 m), behind Morocco (€191.9 m) & Senegal (€317.73 m), which automatically means it’s the 22nd most valuable National team in the world. Bearing in mind Gernot Rohr is a Top 20 National manager according to IFFHS & also by his steady results so far, it’d be sad to not see how this Nigerian side progress under his tutelage as we try to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar & the 2021 AFCON. In my humble opinion, I do not think there’s any African nation that’d say no to Gernot Rohr in this day & we should enjoy him whilst he’s here, he came from Mannheim, Germany but right now, he’s one of our own.
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Written on the 14th of October 2019

When the Brazilian Football Federation announced that they would invite Nigeria to face them in their Global Tour. Nigerians back home were ecstatic. Finally, a proper friendly game where we meet one of the world’s top five Footballing nations. A game that’d cause a seismic change in the FIFA Rankings. Let’s look at what we learnt from the game.

JOE ARIBO

Thanks to a 35th minute strike, from Rangers’ Joe Aribo, Nigeria led 1-0 at the break. A neat play on the right hand side saw Osimhen find Moses Simon with a pin-point cross before the former Ajax Winger laid the ball for the incoming Aribo to score. A product of the Kinetic Academy, recall that he’d already scored on his debut against Ukraine on the 10th of September 2019, as we were held to a 2-2 draw in Dnipro.He burst unto the European scene this season where he bagged 3 goals in Rangers road to Qualifying for the Europa League Group Stages & so far this season, he’s gotten 3 Assists & 4 goals in 16 Appearances for Steven Gerrard’s Men. That goal would do him a lot of good & he’ll only grow from strength to strength.

RAMON AZEEZ

There was an emotional return for Ramon Azeez. Followers of Nigerian football at all levels would remember he was one of the stars in the 2009 U 17 world cup hosted in Nigeria. His last appearance for the Super Eagles was in the 2014 World Cup against Iran. After a series of Injuries even playing in the Spanish 2nd Division, he’s back with Granada in the Laliga. This time with a bang. Yesterday, was his 1st cap in 5 years. He’s an example of Never saying Never, no matter the obstacles you come across.

MADUKA OKOYE

After Casemiro had equalized, the Super Eagles Defence was caught napping again, as the Real Madrid midfielder rose highest & beat Uzoho to the ball, this time the woodwork denied him. Unfortunately, Francis Uzoho landed awkwardly & had to be taken off on a stretcher. In came German born Maduka Okoye. Vibrant, young & Agile Goalkeeper who plies his trade in Fortuna Duesseldorf. Though he wasn’t tested, we can see, he’s got the command of the box. If Uzoho & Okoye continue their progress, the GK department would be safe for another decade.

These are exciting times for Nigerian Football & it will only get better.

Written on the 25th of October 2019.

On the opening day of the 2019/20 Premier league season, Frank Lampard was the casualty of a Record that stood for over Four decades.The biggest defeat for any Chelsea Manager in their first Official game since 1971. Chelsea lost 4-0 to Manchester United at Old Trafford. Perhaps, not many avid followers of the Beautiful game or even True Blues would’ve predicted that less than three months later, they would be on a Six-game Winning streak in all competitions. Seven points ahead of Ole Gunnar Solksjaer’s men in 4th place & fresh from a Resounding victory at the “Amsterdam ArenA” against an Ajax team that averages 3.1 goals/game in the Dutch Eredivisie this term.Lampard’s return to his old stomping ground as manager has been an eventful one to say the least. His predecessors may have looked forward to a massive transfer budget upon their appointment, but the Englishman didn’t have such luxury. Apart from the transfer ban placed upon them by Football’s governing body (FIFA), he was faced with the challenge of making Chelsea feel like Chelsea again & most importantly, do what no Manager under the Roman Abramovich era has ever done – Make use of their Talented youth players. He didn’t have a choice, right?In the 21st Century, no Club has won more FA youth cups than the Blues. They’re also the most successful & the last English side to win the UEFA Youth league. This hasn’t stopped the Chelsea Front Office from loaning numerous talents to other European sides. 43 Chelsea players were on loan in 2018/19 & as expected, the eyes of the world looked carefully on what was going to unfold.In 1999, a 20yr old Frank Lampard was part of a West Ham team that benefited from Harry Redknapp’s belief in youth. The likes of Rio Ferdinand, Joe Cole & Michael Carrick may have won over 50 trophies between them, but none of that would’ve been possible if Redknapp hadn’t given them a chance in a team that featured the great Paolo di Canio in it. Lampard replied to a question from Nigerian Sports Journalist, OJ Babatunde, just few hours after Michy Batshuayi had sunk Ten Haag’s men at the death; on the part the Transfer ban played on his plans & his reply was a perfect explanation of what he’s done so far. “My Feeling when i got the job was that the time had come for these young players & I know them well & trust them. My Idea was to give these young players to show that they deserve to play. I would rather not have had a transfer ban because this is a club that always tried to improve. Turns out we didn’t have the opportunity to do so. People think that the choice of the players is a necessity, I’ve got to play Mason Mount & Tammy Abraham. That’s a disservice to Olivier Giroud & Michy Batshuayi & also a disservice to Ross Barkley. I have options in the squad and it’s a very strong group at the moment.”What struck me was Lampard’s emphasis on “Trust”. Fikayo Tomori & Mason Mount may be key figures of his Chelsea side this term, but not many knew they were the Mainstay in the Derby County side that made the Championship Play-offs & knocked out Jose Mourinho’s Man Utd in the Carabao cup last season. The two made the starting team for a combined 78 times, out of a possible 88. That’s a staggering number of games for two players with an average age of 20.After a slow start to the season, The All-time record Goalscorer of the “Pride of London” finally got his 1st win at the Bridge. Chelsea eased past League 2 side, Grimsby Town 7-1 in the Carabao Cup. The Matchday squad featured ten academy graduates. A defining moment in the “New Abramovich Era”. Lampard’s belief in youth now looks to be paying off. Chelsea’s win in Amsterdam was a fantastic proof of his work so far. The Blues had what has been lacking from Antonio Conte’s ill-fated last season to Maurizio Sarri’s Italian version of Total football; Pragmatism & Grit. A back three of Zouma, Azpilicueta & Tomori thwarted all attacking moves from Last season’s Semifinalist. Lampard perhaps showed his Managerial masterstroke by bringing in Pulisic & Batshuayi just five minutes apart. The latter known for scoring vital late winners (From the goal that won Conte the league in 16/17 to sinking Diego Simeone’s men in one of the final games at the Estadio Vincente Calderón). It proved to be a Chess-master move as Daley Blind & Tagliafico found it difficult to contain the duo. It all culminated in a Memorable 1-0 win.Frank Lampard is just in his second year as a Football Manager at the highest level, of course there would be some Bad periods were results do not go his way (who doesn’t have them?), but he’s en route to re-establishing a club Jose Mourinho made special almost two decades ago. There is a saying that “Not all great footballers make great managers”. It sure looks like the 2005 FIFA Player of the year Silver Award Winner is here to rewrite history.

Written on the 18th of October 2019.

The day is October 17, 2015. The Nigeria U-17 team were about to play their United States counterparts at the Estadio Nacional Julio Martínez Prádanos in Chile’s capital city of Santiago. After a dire First half, Manu Garba’s boys sprung to life after the break. Fast forward to the 60th minute, the Eaglets were 2 goals up. A lanky 16 year old forward who stood at about 1.83m tall had just scored the first of the ten goals he bagged in the tournament. The name, Victor Osimhen became one of Twitter’s top trends. Exactly four years later to that day, he’s receiving his award of the best player in the French top division for the month of September after contributing to four goals (Two goals & two Assists), beating the likes of Islam Slimani, Neymar & Wissam Ben Yedder to the coveted Monthly award.
When Nicolás Pépé left Lille for Arsenal in a €79 million move, not many fans of the “Les dogues” thought he may not be missed. Belgian Pro league outfit, RSC Charleroi sold the young Nigerian forward to Lille for €12 million in August after taking a massive gamble on him because a Summer bout with Malaria in 2018 had weakened his body so much that Pro league Giants, Zulte Waregem & Club Brugge refused to take him on loan from Wolfsburg at the end of his trials with them. In 36 games for RSC in all competitions, he scored 20 times & registered a further 4 assists including two goals in the last five minutes in a game Charleroi defeated Zulte Waregem, 3-2. The RSC board decided to activate their option to acquire him for the sum of €3.5 million.
A Nigeria Senior International since 2017, an inconsistent season in the German Bundesliga saw him miss the World Cup in Russia. Thanks to the form he showed in Belgium, Gernot Rohr called him up for the Nation’s cup tournament in Egypt as back up to Odion Ighalo, playing only 45 minutes in the victory over Tunisia as the Super Eagles clinched the 3rd place medal. Since his goal against Ukraine on August 14th, he has grown from strength to strength & has shown that the Super Eagles may finally have a striker playing & delivering at the highest level in World Football.
With 7 goals in 9 appearances in the Ligue 1 so far, Osimhen is the fourth highest goal scorer in the top five European leagues. Behind Robert Lewandowski (11), Sergio Agüero & Tammy Abraham (both with 8 goals). Not bad for a player that once failed a Trial at Club Brugge.

December 18th 2018, a day considered as a Victory for Football by most sections of the Man United Fan base. This was not because FIFA had just implemented a new law to Fight Racism & Discrimination neither was it UEFA stamping their feet on Financial doping. It was because the most successful Man United manager in the Post-Ferguson era, Jose Mourinho was sacked.

Ole Gunnar Solksjaer’s Announcement was made amid mass hysteria & gazillions of opinions from the English media, fans & legends of the club. The choice to make him Caretaker coach, was a popular one at the time, being a club legend himself, famous for scoring the Winner against Bayern Munich in the 1999 Champions League Final, his job was to steady the ship at least, until results improve. Coincidentally, his first game at the helm was at his old stomping ground, the Cardiff city stadium. A 5-0 trashing of Neil Warnock’s men was the first time Man United had scored five goals in a game since David Moyes’ United beat Bayer Leverkusen 5-0 in the Champions League in 2013. As Expected, Ole rode on the wave, the “New Manager Bounce” was in full flow.

Football is easy when you’ve got talented players, they’re a great Bunch of players, their Quality is Unbelievable

Ole Gunnar Solksjaer on Man United players after the 5-0 away win at Cardiff, December 2018

Did he really mean that? or perhaps it was because he had to show that he was the opposite of his Predecessor? Lets Find out by looking at this Five key talking points surrounding the Ole Era.

RESULTS

We can divide the Solksjaer era into two parts, as Caretaker & his current position as 1st team Manager. Ole guided the team to 14 wins in his first 19 games, a run that included a David de Gea inspired 1-0 win at Wembley against Tottenham. Paul Pogba & Marcus Rashford in blistering form contributed to the 40 goals United scored in this period, all Climaxing in the 3-1 Away victory over PSG at Le Parc de Princes securing a UCL Quarter-final ticket, where we eventually bowed to the genius of Lionel Messi. After his permanent appointment, the club have recorded just 6 wins in 21 games. The worst run of form since United were deemed too good to go down under Sir Matt Busby.

After the 1-0 loss to Newcastle, the team currently sits in 12th place, 2 points above the drop zone. If anyone honestly thinks relegation is far fetched, they should understand that Football doesn’t respect history or the name of the club. The 1970’s is a perfect remembrance of that.

PLAYER EXITS

During the off-season, Manchester United shipped out 6 First team players. Romelu Lukaku, Alexis Sanchez, Matteo Darmian, Chris Smalling all joined Inter, Parma & Roma in Italy. Antonio Valencia moved to LDU Quito in his homeland while Basque midfield maestro, Ander Herrera joined the Qataris in Paris at the expiration of his contract. It was reported by the Times that Manchester United didn’t replace them because the club didn’t want to sign any player that did not fit Ole’s “cultural reboot”. A plan to sign players with Ethos exemplary of a true servant of the club. Many argue it’s a “Brexit-esque” move as only British players have come in so far.

Romelu Lukaku scored twice for Belgium last night as he became the first Belgian in history to score 51 International goals. It’s bewildering that a striker with over 230 career goals at 26 can fit the Plans of managers like Antonio Conte, Jose Mourinho & Roberto Martinez, but not that of Ole Gunnar Solksjaer. The Baton has been passed to Marcus Rashford so far, with just 21 touches in 90 minutes against Newcastle, It’s safe to say football is a bit more complicated than having “a poor first touch”. Of course we cannot put the blame solely on Rashford, the midfield has been a shambles at times but All that talk of Ole giving him the same shooting lessons that led to Crisitiano Ronaldo becoming a 40 goal-a-season striker is now Ancient folklore.

Whoever made the decision to not replace Ander Herrera should be fired with immediate effect. Andreas Perriera has played alongside Pogba & Mctominay in a midfield three so far this season, but he always flatters to deceive. Despite going on loan to two Spanish clubs (Granada & Valencia) in the past, he doesn’t seem to be really good on the ball. Deployed at Left wing & on the right sometimes, he rarely commands a 7/10 rating in whatever position he plays. To be honest, no way is he first team quality. Reinforcements are 100% needed in January.

GLAZER SUPPORT

Fans have not taken likely some comments made by Ole concerning the Glazer family. At the tail-end of the 2018/19 season, he openly told the press that “The Glazers have spent enough money”, that alone is sacrilegious. In 2018, Manchester United generated record revenues of $771 million from Matchday & Commercial revenues, with Romelu Lukaku joining Inter for $72 million & the club signing Maguire, Wan-Bissaka & James for a combined cost of $175 million, it means the club spent just over a $100 million this summer. Compare that to Juventus ($205 million), Atletico Madrid ($270 million), Real Madrid ($340 million) and you’ll clearly see the Glazers spent peanuts, nothing compared to the elites. Manchester United being the third most valuable Football club on the planet makes it even worse.

FANS CRITICISM

The Loudest ones are probably not the best fans & i do not get too much of it

Ole speaking in Australia, Wednesday 10th July, 2019

No club stands without a fan base. Coaches, Players, Managers come and go but the fans remain. During the 1st Press conference of United’s pre-season tour of Australia, Ole responded to criticism from Fans who set up a twitter campaign on #FiveKeyQuestions the Glazer family need to answer. While others voiced their discontent over the slow approach to transfer dealings at the club.

Do fans sit down quietly & watch the team they pay good money to perform go out on the pitch & not register a shot on target? I think not.

TACTICS

Pace and Power that’s what we are, when we have players like we have with pace… that’s how we played with Cole, Giggs, Yorke & Beckham. We attack quickly with pace, that’s my philosophy as well

Solksjaer in January 2019 on his tactics.

During the initial run of good Results, this was the perfect strategy. It seemed completely opposite of Mourinho’s cautiousness at times, but how long was it going to be sustainable? It made sense, a perfect synchronization of the good results with the Inevitable “New Manager bounce”. A dip in fitness levels coupled with losing 4-0 at Goodison park made this plan null & void. The 2-1 loss to Palace at Old Trafford showed Attacking with speed is his only move. Palace sat deep all game, Pogba was deployed in the deep lying midfield role alongside Mctominay & United offered zero creativity.

If a team sits deep & fills spaces in front of the United attack, we offer zero threat. Solksjaer basing his system on Sir Alex’s Tactics of the 90’s shows a partial lack of Tactical ingenuity. The palace defeat set up a template the bottom 10 clubs can follow. The Newcastle game was another proof that the lesser teams are following. A seismic change is needed as soon as possible.

It was a fantastic goal, marvelous, We are top of the League and it’s where you want to be. The players’ CHARACTER is helping, you saw that today.

Ferguson on Ruud van Nistelrooy’s solo goal against Fulham, March 2003

It’s Spring 2003, exactly a week after St Patrick’s day, Fresh from watching van Nistelrooy bamboozle Saha & co at Old Trafford, the day i became a Red. Sir Alex Ferguson made that statement in the Post game Interview & one particular word stroke me as I looked back – CHARACTER – Manutd players had it in abundance those days, but this current crop are totally Oppugnant of what we were once familiar with.

As a kid, playing football with the lads in school was fun if you were a Red, we had the luxury of trying to copy the swagger of David Beckham or the tenacity of Roy Keane. Kids these days get to see Jesse Lingard play weekly, make of that what you will.

Growing up, it was almost impossible not to see a back four of Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic & Patrice Evra. Nowadays, we have heated debates on if Luke Shaw is a better left back than Ashley Young. A large Majority of 90’s kids have their best night as Manutd fans to be the Moscow 2008 UEFA Champions League Final. Imagine watching the game with lads who were all wishing Wayne Rooney broke his legs in the Pre-game warm up? That was how much we were hated, we were the best in the land. I remember the dexterity Owen Hargreaves had on the ball in that game, can you ever forget the Wes Brown cross to Cristiano Ronaldo, as he kept Petr Cech’s boots stuck on Russian Soil? Nowadays, I look forward to Marcus Rashford hitting disabled Fans at Stretford End with his Free kicks.

Just before the start of the current season, you may have seen keywords like “#GlazersOut” or “Five key Questions” trending, that’s because good Reds are fed up of how their club is managed. Thanks to an Article by Michael Tunstall (@TFwriter) on Twitter. I got to actually confirm that the bulk of the 2008 European Cup winning team were signed Pre-Glazer. The likes of Cristiano Ronaldo. Gabriel Heinze, Wayne Rooney, Mikael Silvestre, Louis Saha & Gerard Pique all arrived before Malcom thought of any other Franchise to run to the ground other than the Tampa Bay Bucaneers. The Sheikh Mansour Family have invested more than a billion pounds into Manchester City since 2008, while records show the Glazer family have done virtually the opposite.

May 2013, the month Romelu Lukaku scored a hat-trick at the Hawthorns against us, a 5-5 draw with West Brom. Sir Alex said he’s gonna draw the kitchen curtains to a close at season’s end. We did not see it at the time, but David Gill joining him was a much more underestimated loss. With both of them leaving, there was a power vacancy at Old Trafford. You would have seen a guy on suit at the 2013 Title celebration photos standing next to erstwhile assistant coach, Rene Meulesteen, that person is Ed Woodward. Would you allow your kid walk down a dangerous alley filled with wild animals? That’s what happened when Ed Woodward was made CEO & given total control of Manchester United football Club. His first summer at the helm was a sexy disaster. Marouane Fellaini was deemed the spark David Moyes needed to deliver number 21. Ridiculous yeah? Ultimately Moyes was given the boot with his contract expiring finally in June this year. A quote on social media had Ed saying this in 2015…

When supporters see the name, Bastian Schweinsteiger on the team sheet, that should send shivers down their spine.

A signing three years too late, ignoring the fact that he was a player in steep decline, no longer capable of performing at a world class level. Ed Woodward has overseen the transfer outlay of over £850 Million spent (not from the glazers’ pockets mind you) overpaying for flops or big names who don’t fit the Manager’s Identity or Average players who are only interested in the Silver spoons abundant in the kitchens of Carrington. I find it strange that we’ve just replaced Rafael da Silva in big 2019.

Jose Mourinho may have been an unpopular appointment, but he is still the most successful manager we’ve had since Sir Alex called it a day. He made it clear on BeIN sports that finishing 2nd with a team that had Two failed wingers at full back & Jesse Lingard at right wing may be his greatest ever achievement.

Ole made it clear after the defeat to Everton, that many of the current crop of players won’t be part of the squad this season. So far Lukaku, Herrera, Alexis, Darmian, Valencia & Smalling have all left Old Trafford for pastures new. The only downside is not all of them have been replaced. Yes, Maguire is an excellent signing for us, he’ll certainly improve a Defense that’s been shaky at best for a while, However we cant help but wonder why Woodward paid over £80 million for him when he was available for almost half the price a summer ago. Thus costing the club an extra £30 million. Since then a £20 million pay off to Jose and his staff along with losses of around £50 million for failing to reach top 4. In total, the incompetence of woodward has cost the club a staggering 100 million GBP. The £65 million + sale of Lukaku to Inter now seems like an attempt to balance the books, a recovery plan.

Since the turn of the new season, Manchester United have dropped 10 points with losses to West ham & Crystal palace, We have just 5 wins in our last 21 games.

Just after 30 minutes at the Olympic stadium, Marcus Rashford looked knackered & was taken off in the 2nd half. In came Jesse Lingard. At that point, it defined the Woodward era. A CEO that has overseen almost a billion on Transfers in 6years since 2013 sat at the Executive box & watched Jesse in the False Nine role. You cannot help but wonder how it came to this, the people at the top have to take a look at themselves & say “Hey, we have made a mess of ourselves haven’t we?” Every one of them is culpable, from Joel Glazer to Ed Woodward’s Personal Assistant.

Why is it that we’re always 3 injuries short of becoming Prime Blackpool. Ander Herrera joined PSG in the summer it was sad but it wasn’t a disaster. The problem came in two forms, A player we signed for over 25 million Euros left for free & he wasn’t replaced. If we add the Fellaini sale to China, it means Two midfielders left us & none was signed. We’re a Paul Pogba injury away from Relegation form, doesn’t matter if you like the guy or not, it was evident that a midfield of Mctominay, Matic & Mata were short of ideas against a very average West Ham team.

The big question is where do we go from here? You may not care about the Glazers bleeding the club dry, but aren’t you tired of doing permutations on who should win the league between Mancity & Liverpool? The #GlazersOut movement is a noble cause. Its the start of how we regain our honor. We are Manchester United, we have to be Hated, Adored, Feared & Never ignored.

I’m Ebohon Desmond & this is the state of the biggest club in the land.

Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.

— Oscar Wilde.

This is the first post on my new blog. I’m just getting this new blog going, so stay tuned for more. Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates.