As the season winds to a close, the prevarication over appointing a new manager at Old Trafford goes on. But when you’ve got good evidence that one man can get consistent results, the super-brains at INEOS choosing not to back that man remains stupid and odd. Yes, someone else might do better, but they don’t know they will. At least with Michael Carrick, you’ve got tangible proof of his abilities.
The whole ‘elite’ manager thing is delusion and bullsh\*t. Haven’t they learned from previous appointments that such terms are a guarantee of nothing? No amount of prevarication is going to help make a good decision; every previous bad decision invalidates any brain-dead decision Scarecrow Jim and his execs could make.
They obviously don’t want to be tarred with the old boy Ole Gunnar Solskjaer DNA brush, but this situation is very different all these years later and involves two very different characters. It would be typically short-sighted of them to draw a parallel just because they both played for the club instead of making a proper assessment of their flaws and qualities.
And anyway, they would kill for the level of success Ole achieved in his two full seasons. It seems as if a glaringly obvious decision is not being made for idiotic self-conscious image-based reasons. I mean, how bloody easy do you want it?
Let’s spell it out clearly so even Sir Jim can understand.
1) There is no way to know how good anyone will be. You can’t see into the future.
2) The last manager you appointed was a disaster and was proof of your inadequacy. Understand that and use actual evidence to make a choice this time.
3) The only evidence you’ve got is the man you’ve got in situ. He has shown you what he can do, lost only once and that was to a late winner. What more do you want? You were 15th last season.
4) You have no such evidence of any other potential appointment.
5) What is it that someone else has in their skillset that the man in position demonstrably does not?
6) Remember, you don’t know what you’re doing.
Such a decision isn’t hard to make in these circumstances; Carrick has made it easy for you. How do you think the fans will feel that you didn’t choose the man that got you to a frankly unlikely third? At least if you appoint Carrick and it doesn’t work out, you cannot be criticised for giving him a go. It is the logical choice.
They’d be right not to trust in themselves to do the right thing. They’ve collectively and individually made so many bad choices but have now lucked out with Carrick, and yet are so useless that they can’t even back their own bit of luck. So indecisive that they are unable to see what is playing out in front of their own eyes.
I hate to think what their boardroom discussions are like – they’re probably the sort of people who are impressed with [**the Liam Rosenior school of inspirational self-help slogans and twisted aphorisms**](https://www.football365.com/news/the-philosophy-guff-of-liam-rosenior-ageing-men-respecting-the-ball-and-never-limiting-limitlessness). It’s as obvious a decision as anyone could make.
It’s all a guess dressed up as an intelligent choice. It’d be really funny if someone else used Carrick’s performance in the last few games as an audition for another job, like any sensible person would. But these hapless monkeys are not sensible. Anything but. They’d think the gift horse looking at them is really a Trojan horse.