Football Daily | Manchester United and the trouble with appointing ‘world class’ operators
Like a set of shiny keys being rattled in a bid to distract a crying child, May’s FA Cup win helped deflect the attention of many tantrum-throwing Manchester United fans away from just how atrocious their side had been all season. In his post-match interview at Wembley, Erik ten Hag cut a rather smug figure in which he blamed the myriad shortcomings of a team that was demonstrably the worst side to call Old Trafford home in nearly 30 years entirely on knack and other factors completely out of his control. Their eighth-place finish in the league with a negative goal difference was nowt to do with him, so he couldn’t figure out why he was being quizzed about his future.
I can’t believe I won’t see that beaming smile again. I’m so happy that Sol was part of my life and we had such brilliant memories together. I’m heartbroken for Chloe and the family and all my thoughts are with them. Sol was a ray of sunshine and I’ll miss him so much” – Neil Warnock pays tribute to the former Leeds, Cardiff, Middlesbrough and Ivory Coast defender Sol Bamba, who has died aged 39. RIP, Sol.
I saw the Manchester United result, and I just thought ‘oh gawd’ here it comes … I’m an old man now. Do you know how much wanging on about Manchester United being bad I’ve had to suffer in my life? They were relegated once! Most of the eighties was spent suffering endless guff about when they last won a title. I can remember, really more vividly than I’d like, Dave Sexton, Ashley Grimes, Martin Buchan and Garry Birtles. What we’re doing now is just the football equivalent of that period where Tiger Woods had a bloody camera on him every round though he was spanking everything off to the side at random (which we now seem to be trying on Rory McIlroy, btw). Can we not, please, just treat them like any other mediocre Premier League team, y’know, like Palace or Brighton [that’s unfair – Football Daily Ed] – do a match report and perhaps write about them a bit more when they do something good?” – Jon Millard.
Antonio Conte, the manager of 2022-23 Serie A champions Napoli, thinking that the Scottish central midfield of Scott McTominay and Billy Gilmour – which let’s remember was a key part of their early Euro 2024 exit just over two months ago – is the best way of getting Napoli back to where they belong is clearly bonkers (unless he secretly thinks they belong in Serie B, obviously)” – Noble Francis.
Re: Eric Cantona being ‘no Jody Craddock’ [Friday’s last line – full email edition]. No he’s not, is he? Could maybe have used those trawler-following seagulls to add a few splashes of contrast to the work. Oh, and thank you for boosting the value of my two-piece Craddock ‘collection’ by at least £1.50. Reckon I’ll hang on to them for now, though” – Mike Allcock.
