A number of media outlets all ran the same story at once last night. Manchester United’s players ‘want Mauricio Pochettino as manager’.
The Telegraph, The Mail, and The MEN all ran the claims from club sources, indicating well co-ordinated leak to the media had taken place.
The reports claim Pochettino is admired by some of United’s senior players, who respect his man-management style and previous track record in the Premier League.
Erik Ten Hag is in the mix too – and he is preferred by Ralf Rangnick with Pochettino the players’ choice.
Dangerous situation
United have a dicey choice. In one corner you have Mauricio Pochettino, the ‘safe option’ who has worked in the Premier League before, highly admired by Sir Alex Ferguson, who is likely to be available from PSG. Luke Shaw is one player who has already worked under him.
In the other corner is Erik Ten Hag, the exciting option who has won everything in the Netherlands with Ajax, plays exciting attacking football, and could be the next big European coach of the next decade. He could also flame out and fail to adapt his methods to English football.
The Telegraph report concerns Real Madrid could swoop for Pochettino may push United into an early decision.
It would be a risk to hesitate on Pochettino, lose out, and then have Ten Hag declare he is staying at Ajax. And it would not be a surprise to see United fail in this manner.
Where this gets dangerous for United, is backing the players’ choice over Ralf Rangnick. Or just backing the players at all.
Rangnick is set to move upstairs as consultant, and while John Murtough and Richard Arnold are taking a more active role in the manager hunt than Rangnick, it does not make sense to overrule the German in favour of the players, and weakens his authority before he has even started in the new role.
Who cares what the players think
United’s players are not a popular bunch right now. A series of uninspired, flat displays all season long have shown it is not necessarily the manager who is the problem. They are.
So what right do they have to demand a decisive say in United’s future direction? Rangnick has a track record of identifying top coaching talent, and will recommend a manager he believes is key to getting this important decision right.
The players simply have to get with the programme, or leave the club. Are these players really going to have a problem with Erik Ten Hag? Most are probably scared the Dutchman would get rid of them.
Pochettino is the safe, familiar choice, who may be seen as a soft touch by many of these players, rightly or wrongly.
If the players are leaking to the media now how they want him, you can bet they will be the first to leak against Pochettino when it all goes wrong, as it inevitably will at some stage.
Several of these players are onto their third or fourth permanent manager at United. In a couple of cases even fifth or sixth. At this point, forget what they say. This decision is bigger than them.
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