ArabFC Posted February 21 Share Posted February 21 On 20/02/2024 at 20:19, Pull My Strings said: As things stand, United have had three managers in my lifetime who could be considered unqualified/ virtually unqualified successes: McLean, Levein and Houston. The rest have ranged from dreadful to merely disappointing. Could be argued that Houston had it easy, inheriting a great team that he already had a large influence on, and it was a constant slow decline as he couldn't replace players that he lost. I might posit that the best manager we've had since then was Micky Mellon... which is, something. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamntg Posted February 21 Share Posted February 21 (edited) 1 hour ago, ArabFC said: Could be argued that Houston had it easy, inheriting a great team that he already had a large influence on, and it was a constant slow decline as he couldn't replace players that he lost. I might posit that the best manager we've had since then was Micky Mellon... which is, something. It obviously went wrong for McNamara after GMS and Armstrong went to Celtic, and he got lucky with Gauld coming thru, but he also signed Andy Robertson and Ciftci and for a year and a bit United played their best football since the 80s. That 4-2-3-1 with Rankin and Paul Paton sitting was outstanding. You can’t compare Mellonball with that. Edited February 21 by adamntg 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pull My Strings Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 Micky Mellon would get football stopped. Nothing to commend him whatsoever beyond getting the players to run around a lot. Another year of Mellon and I'd have found something else to do with my Saturday afternoons. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamntg Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 (edited) On 22/02/2024 at 07:52, Pull My Strings said: Micky Mellon would get football stopped. Nothing to commend him whatsoever beyond getting the players to run around a lot. Another year of Mellon and I'd have found something else to do with my Saturday afternoons. At least he was the first guy to find a way to stop Lawrence Shankland scoring goals. Edited February 23 by adamntg 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Shedboy Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 10 hours ago, ArabFC said: Could be argued that Houston had it easy, inheriting a great team that he already had a large influence on, and it was a constant slow decline as he couldn't replace players that he lost. I might posit that the best manager we've had since then was Micky Mellon... which is, something. Wild take. Houston managed to turn around said team from a 7-1 thrashing at Ibrox to win the Cup and finish clear in 3rd. The following season wasn't bad either from memory before the normal decline began. I'd argue McNamara and Courts were better than Mellon 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamntg Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 25 minutes ago, Big Shedboy said: Wild take. Houston managed to turn around said team from a 7-1 thrashing at Ibrox to win the Cup and finish clear in 3rd. The following season wasn't bad either from memory before the normal decline began. I'd argue McNamara and Courts were better than Mellon Houston had totally lost it by the end. That Caley Thistle game where we 3-0 up after seven minutes and you just knew we weren’t going to win the game. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Shedboy Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 I had to look that up...I have no memory of that whatsoever...even after reading arab archive. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarto Mutiny Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 3 hours ago, Big Shedboy said: I had to look that up...I have no memory of that whatsoever...even after reading arab archive. I remember it all too well. The utterly useless Rudi Skacel scored his one and only goal for us. I remember thinking we wouldn't win when it went to 3-1...and we needed a penalty at the end to make it 4-4. Bonkers, and not in a good way 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glen Scotia Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 2 hours ago, Sarto Mutiny said: I remember it all too well. The utterly useless Rudi Skacel scored his one and only goal for us. I remember thinking we wouldn't win when it went to 3-1...and we needed a penalty at the end to make it 4-4. Bonkers, and not in a good way Skacel should have had his arse bounced down Tannadice St. Remember the penalty shoot out v Hearts and he refused to stand with the rest of the United team during the kicks instead he stood on the touchline alone. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tap in 94 Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 Goodwin Looking to sign another attacker. In talks with 1 or 2 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhatDayIsIt Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 3 hours ago, Glen Scotia said: Skacel should have had his arse bounced down Tannadice St. Remember the penalty shoot out v Hearts and he refused to stand with the rest of the United team during the kicks instead he stood on the touchline alone. Not what happened Hearts had a man sent off, so United could only use 10 men in the shootout (I think to keep the order correct if it went to a second round of kicks). Skacel was the man United chose not to take one, so he had to be off the pitch 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pull My Strings Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 1 hour ago, WhatDayIsIt said: Not what happened Hearts had a man sent off, so United could only use 10 men in the shootout (I think to keep the order correct if it went to a second round of kicks). Skacel was the man United chose not to take one, so he had to be off the pitch Odd choice for a non-taker, if so. I'd have punted the c**t as soon as he asked for that squad number. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pull My Strings Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 1 hour ago, Tap in 94 said: Goodwin Looking to sign another attacker. In talks with 1 or 2 Hopefully someone decent this time. Nae offence, Alex. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skinny arab Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 2 hours ago, Tap in 94 said: Goodwin Looking to sign another attacker. In talks with 1 or 2 If true then hopefully someone who can play on the left to offer some competition for Middleton 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArabFC Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 (edited) 23 hours ago, adamntg said: It obviously went wrong for McNamara after GMS and Armstrong went to Celtic, and he got lucky with Gauld coming thru, but he also signed Andy Robertson and Ciftci and for a year and a bit United played their best football since the 80s. That 4-2-3-1 with Rankin and Paul Paton sitting was outstanding. You can’t compare Mellonball with that. You're confusing managerial ability with the talent in a team. McNamara was a fraud of a manager. He took the best squad we had since the times of Jim and shat all over it. We all remember that golden period where we were scoring 4 goals a game and playing majestic fitba. What we tend to forget is that it lasted barely a couple of months and was all over by xmas, when we didn't win in 7 and never really recovered. I said it at the time - we were playing great fitba in spite of him, not because of him. A literal mannequin could take a team with Gauld, GMS, Armstrong, Souttar et al and win a few games in the SPFL. Give McNamara credit if you want for Robertson. I'd say it was a complete fluke. In the same transfer window that he signed a future Champions League winner, he also signed Kudus Oyenuga. Nobody but nobody recognised how good Robertson was until he started turning it on in training. If you remember, he was signed with the idea he was going to be backup to another guy we had on trial - Graham Carey. His managerial career since he was sacked sums him up. Mellon on the other hand did a half-decent job with the shite he inherited. Half-decent. That's all. Edited February 22 by ArabFC 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArabFC Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 12 hours ago, Big Shedboy said: Wild take. Houston managed to turn around said team from a 7-1 thrashing at Ibrox to win the Cup and finish clear in 3rd. The following season wasn't bad either from memory before the normal decline began. I'd argue McNamara and Courts were better than Mellon We were 4th in the league when he took over and he was the one in charge for the 7-1 game. I don't think that's the Lazarus style turnaround you're making it out to be. Fair fcuks, he won the Cup and he'll always have love for that, and he did a fairly steady job for a bit. But I have him firmly in the 'inherited an already great squad and did little to progress it" camp. Also tainted by the fact he didn't recognise the talent coming through at the time and quit/wassacked in the huff. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
invergowrie arab Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 On 21/02/2024 at 20:02, Dundee Hibernian said: Sad to see Freeman go, confidence shattered by Goodwin especially, but his displays affected by playing alongside some of the laziest, overrated senior colleagues I've seen playing for United last season. I don't like to miss a chance to have a go at Goodwin but not sure that's fair. His confidence was gone well before Goodwin took over. He was ripped by senior pros last year. One of those senior pros still at the club was called out on it by new signings this year but the damage was already done. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamntg Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 (edited) 10 hours ago, ArabFC said: You're confusing managerial ability with the talent in a team. McNamara was a fraud of a manager. He took the best squad we had since the times of Jim and shat all over it. We all remember that golden period where we were scoring 4 goals a game and playing majestic fitba. What we tend to forget is that it lasted barely a couple of months and was all over by xmas, when we didn't win in 7 and never really recovered. Never really recovered apart from winning six of the next seven games? Edited February 23 by adamntg 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArabFC Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 9 hours ago, adamntg said: Never really recovered apart from winning six of the next seven games? If you think we were the same team at that point as we were before, good for you. I think not. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamntg Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 43 minutes ago, ArabFC said: If you think we were the same team at that point as we were before, good for you. I think not. Not only was it not just a flash in the pan for a couple month, they started the following season with seven wins from ten and were second in the league after beating Celtic at Christmas, that’s a year later. They then beat Dundee 6-2 and reached the league cup final the next month and then at THAT point, that’s when the wheels came off with the insane decision to sell Stretch and GMS to Celtic which set us up for six or seven years of decline. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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