Ossie the King

Mourinho wasn't financially backed so why would Pellegrino? Simeone to me is a born winner so I'd happily have him here. I'm not overly bothered about being liked by neutrals and I've never felt embarrassed being a Chelsea fan, at least not because of a manager not named Rafa. I find it a tad tacky that our fans get success but moan about the way we get it, but I think that's more of a Twitter thing.

Mata is not only a lovely bloke but one of the smarter, more engaged footballers you could hope to meet and he went direct to United from us. Despite that he's still very well regarded by our supporters so I think you're maybe misjudging the PR ramifications of a potential Pellegrino move.

I think is the height of arrogance to think you can show no ambition and not be overtaken by any team in this league. But you tell me what you think the board's aim was this season? Top four maybe? That isn't the right message to send.

He's the current league winning manager. He's respected throughout the world of football.....and even here by some!

not improving the squad is dropping back in any competitive league. As for the plastic comment, come on mate. Really? Leave that to the Arsenal and Liverpool fans, use a bit more imagination in future.

I think the only toast we're thinking about is the one after we win something. I presume you want Pep or Santa to come here. I'm joking of course. One of those isn't really possible.

You're a funny bloke. Maybe we should try and sign Mark Stein again. Opinions?

Top post mate. With the disdain that some seem to hold the supporters of this club, you do wonder why they decided to start following us. They don't seem to like us.

If a club shows no ambition to move forward, don't be surprised that they drop back.

When you look at how United had the class of '92, I think maybe that vintage of Lamps, JT, Drogba and even Cech could've been something similar. Frank is a very intelligent man so I'd love to see him move into an upstairs role if he felt he could do it, and JT has always harboured ambitions to be a coach. Think that's a bit of a pipe dream though.

He should just be hired to kick Costa up the arse constantly. That's the only coaching he needs. It also might be pertinent that Hazard was quite close to him when he was here. Wouldn't be surprised if he was brought on just to cheer little precious up, or maybe just keep him away from the mince pies. £200k a week doesn't seem to be enough motivation for him to maintain a professional attitude for all 12 months so Drogba can be the world's most over-qualified personal trainer.

If Watford is your home town then lose-lose-lose (sorry mate, had to be done). Boxing Day matches are the best usually. Everyone's a little dopey after overindulging, except the kids who are hyperactive off all the sugar and wearing their new kit for the first time. It's a lovely time at the Bridge. Unfortunately there's still a bit of a sour mood so it won't be like it has been but an easy win (always is against Watford, 3-0 no problem) should cheer everyone up a bit. The thing is, these were two perfect games for Jose to have got the squad back on track. Oh well.

Agree totally. Mansoor wanted success but knew he had to hire the right people. They got the blokes who were the architects of Barcelona's dynasty. Roman has hired people like Avram Grant and Michael Emenalo. The amazing thing is that Emenalo knew he couldn't work with Jose and offered his resignation, which was declined. Maybe Roman is too soft when it comes to his friends, much like he was with allowing Cech to go to Arsenal. Someone with a proven track record? Someone who is respected throughout the game for his football knowledge? Let's take the stadium as a perfect analogy. When we were looking to rebuild, we went to the best architects in the world didn't we? That's what City did with their football plans, whereas we went with Roman's mates from down the pub who had a set of colouring pencils and a clapped out easel. Also the CPO is probably not something you want to think about right now. They tend to be the types of fans who are most pissed off and whom some on here are happy to deride for booing on Saturday. If you throw enough money at something and get a bit of luck then you can always fall into success, but top clubs should have a bigger plan that that. Everyone in the club should be working towards the same long-term goal with measurable short-term aims along the way. We won the title in May and everyone seemed to down tools. That's why we're where we are now and instead of taking a step back and examining the whole structure, we're trying to paper over the cracks. Through our inept actions this summer, we strengthened Arsenal with a top-class goalkeeper, we've given United the chance to hire a manager who will make them title contenders and we've proven to Pep that we're simply not a well-run enough club for him to join.

Drogba has come in to distract some people. It's a PR move and nothing more in my opinion but it might lift the mood a bit and that's a good thing. Does anyone really think Drogba is top coach material because I'm not convinced. Great player but I've never thought he would move into that side of the game so it just seems to be a way to placate some people. Remember when we got Rafa and he bought in Zenden for no reason whatsoever? This is a better version of that apparently. The bigger issue is that this squad needs about £60 million worth of improvements done to it (it actually needed that in Summer but hey ho). Whose targets are we chasing? Hiddink's? Basically the club is in disarray and doesn't have a scooby. But Didier is back so let's all just enjoy that.

How good would that be? Formulating a plan in which Hiddink becomes Technical Director and Jose returns as coach. Or maybe they were having a good old laugh about Emenalo and Djilobusybody.

Exactly. I find the calls for rationality hilarious. NOTHING is rational about supporting a football club, especially this one sometimes. It's a labour of love.Not many of us sat down with charts and graphs and worked out which team would be the best to support from a success point of view. Most of us didn't have that choice because we weren't likely to have much. So to criticise those supporters, to deride their actions or the way in which they express their love and frustration for this club.....what on Earth are we attracting nowadays?

That would be the future laid out by whom exactly? Like it or not, Jose was the only one with a plan going forward. He was the one who wanted a defensive backbone of Zouma and Stones. What did he get? Papy Djofimfmlfl. He wanted competition in midfield, the club didn't back him. He wanted us not to sell a great goalkeeper to a direct rival. The club couldn't even back him on that. We were perfectly primed to kick on from last season. We didn't. How is that his fault alone?

JT is one of the few things the supporters can look at with nothing but pride. He's one of us through and through. Hopefully a few home truths were spoken to certain members of the squad. This is a man who constantly works on improving himself, especially his fitness over the summer. A couple of players who came back from their break in a state that wasn't conducive to a title defence could learn a lot from him.

Barcelona have a superb philosophy in place that provides consistency across managerial changes. We don't. We need to find that through our next manager and I'm of the opinion that the only one able to come in and do that fairly quickly is Simeone. I don't think either is a stupid notion, simply different schools of thought.

We sacked him though. Can't very well expect him to sign on or just slope off into retirement at such a young age. United will give him a chance to prove his doubters wrong and the thing is that the people who wanted him gone will probably be the first to moan. Truth is they're probably bricking it because they know he'll make United stronger.

.It tells the story of how much money the club spent, net. This past summer, city spent three times as much as us net and that is including the sale of Cech to a direct rival against the wishes of the manager. The board both undermined and failed in their duties to acquire the targets wanted by the boss. They didn't set out to sabotage him but their ineptitude had the same outcome as if they had. Just imagine if the board had the ambition of City's.

To be fair he won us the title last year. Give the guy some respect perhaps?

I'm actually not sure he'd leave Atletico. Second choice, why not Steve Holland. Or John Terry. I don't see any other manager being as good as Simeone so why not take a punt on a left field choice?

Pellegrino would be an admission that we don't want to win the league. I honestly think the only guy capable of going toe to toe with Pep at City and Jose at United is Simeone. That also requires massive financial backing and a clear idea of what our philosophy should be going forward.We'll be underdogs financially against those two so we need a street fighter. People wanting fancy football can hop on the Piccadilly line from Earl's Court.

That all points to the the level of ambition the board has and their commitment to Jose as manager. If United get him, they'll back him financially and they won't sell a player against his wishes to one of their rivals. United and City are primed to dominate the league over the next 5 years and we've got fans who are worried that Simeone (the best available choice for manager) might be a bit too defensive or abrasive. Couldn't make it up.