0:03

Welcome to the latest United We Stand

0:05

podcast, a little gap since the last

0:07

one. I know Manchester United played Tottenham

0:10

Hotspur, took me a few days to get over

0:12

that as I get used to

0:14

this new reality of Manchester United being

0:17

dominated at all, traffered by various teams.

0:20

And we've got a break as well up until the Newport

0:22

game at the weekend. I had a

0:24

chat with Newport's manager the other day for the Athletic.

0:26

He was really interested in Lad. And

0:28

this podcast is brought to you

0:31

in association with ImproveEasy. ImproveEasy

0:33

are helping United fans across

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the country save money on

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easy, E-A-S-Y, text that to 60777. Why

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not do it? There's government funds out there and

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you might be missing out. So

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with us having no games, I thought

1:00

I'd invite Neil Wood onto the podcast.

1:02

Neil was a

1:05

professional footballer, most famously in

1:07

Sarajevo or maybe not, maybe at Manchester

1:09

United and very

1:12

talented young pro at United, had a lot

1:14

of injuries and then he retrained as a

1:16

coach, starting off really, really young with

1:19

volunteering his time at Aston Villa and

1:22

his talents were spotted and he rose

1:24

up and up and up and then he got

1:26

off at a job at Manchester United, which is a

1:28

good job because he's a Stretford lad and he's a

1:30

Manchester United fan. And

1:33

he ended up in charge of the 21s,

1:35

the reserves up until 2022 when he moved

1:37

to be the

1:39

manager of Salford City. I think he took

1:42

Salford to the highest ever league position last

1:44

season. This season didn't go as well. And

1:47

he left Salford a month or two back, but I thought

1:50

Neil would be good and cheers for joining us, Neil. Thanks

1:54

Andy. Thanks. Very nice complimentary

1:56

introduction that. Yeah. Pleasure

1:58

to be on and. speaking to you. Is

2:00

that all accurate what I said? Yeah,

2:04

pretty much so, yeah. It's not bad that he's

2:06

done some good homework there, but

2:08

yeah, pretty accurate and spot on.

2:13

Well, I can't get on your case too much because

2:15

you grew up about 200 metres from me in Stretford

2:18

and you know half me family, so you know what I

2:21

mean? This ain't a tabloid hitch

2:23

of this. I want this to be a nice chat where

2:25

you give us some insight. First

2:27

of all, what have you done since leaving

2:30

Salford and how was Salford for you? It

2:32

was your first job as

2:34

a manager where you went alone

2:36

in a professional league

2:39

and obviously local to you, so I

2:41

could see the attraction while you left

2:43

Manchester United for that, but how would you weigh

2:45

up the experience? I

2:50

think it was a good experience

2:54

and like I said in previous

2:56

interviews that I've done, it was

2:59

probably the right time to go and have a

3:01

go at managing the leagues and

3:04

Salford approached me and they wanted

3:06

to kind of change

3:08

the culture there, change the

3:11

way they play and the identity of

3:13

the team. That's

3:15

what I did, you know, I went in and

3:19

it was kind of taken over from

3:22

fairly different football from what I was used to

3:24

and that was a challenge to get a

3:27

squad of players playing

3:29

how I wanted them to play, which I

3:32

did in the end. We had a

3:34

really successful season

3:36

last season. We

3:41

got to the playoffs, we were literally

3:43

five minutes away, we conceded in the

3:45

second leg against Stopport, five minutes to

3:47

go and unfortunately we lost on

3:49

penalties. So we were so

3:52

close but on top of that, I

3:54

think it was the most wins that sort of

3:56

added to the highest league position. When

4:00

we looked in more detail

4:02

with the metrics, we were league

4:05

top goal scorers, highest

4:07

possession in the league, we were in the

4:09

top three, top five for most of the

4:11

metrics, which was really pleasing. So,

4:15

yeah, it was a really good first

4:18

year and of course you'll

4:20

pick so many things up along the way. There's

4:24

so many different teams and

4:26

styles of play and little tweaks within

4:28

the tactics. Some like to play, some

4:30

more direct. And

4:33

you pick up all the

4:36

little dark arts that teams

4:38

like to do to waste time and so

4:40

on. So, yeah, it was really educational and

4:44

I don't regret any of

4:46

it. What happened this season?

4:52

Well, we struggled with injuries from the start

4:55

of the season and we had some

4:57

strange injuries. Two

5:00

players that went down with

5:02

appendicitis, which is a really

5:04

rare injury for footballers. And

5:08

it doesn't come across, doesn't happen often. So we

5:10

had two of those. And

5:12

then we had some knocks and we had some

5:14

muscle injuries and we just couldn't get a full

5:16

six squad. We had almost, it's

5:19

a bit like United has been this season,

5:21

we had eight to ten players who

5:24

did constantly from the start of the season.

5:28

And it was really frustrating, you know, we'd get one or

5:30

two back and then we'd play a game, some would get

5:32

a bad tackle, ankle ligaments gone

5:34

or medial ligament gone. And

5:37

it was just frustrating. We just couldn't get a run

5:39

of games where we could put

5:41

the same team out and get some consistency.

5:44

And we were just, in

5:47

the end, just trying to get a

5:49

result just to buy the

5:51

bit of time for players to come back. But

5:53

unfortunately it didn't come. What's it like

5:55

as a club? Good people there? Yeah,

5:59

it's some great stuff. You know, we had...

6:03

It's obviously not as big stuff-wise as what you're

6:05

going to get in the Premier League or Championship

6:07

Club, but it was slowly building,

6:09

but there was some really good people there

6:11

and, you know, the

6:14

guys in there day-to-day were just working so

6:16

hard. Everybody was trying

6:18

to improve everything, trying to professionalise,

6:21

trying to drive the club forward off

6:24

the pitch as well. And everyone

6:26

was focused on doing that, so we had

6:28

some really great people and really dedicated people

6:31

there. You came up

6:33

against Newport County a few times. That's

6:35

Manchester United's next game. I spoke

6:37

to the manager, Graeme Coughlin, a couple

6:40

of days ago. He's a big Manchester United

6:42

fan. You probably know more about

6:44

Newport County than 99% of people

6:46

listening to this. What are they like? What are they

6:48

going to be like for United to play against? Well,

6:53

we've played them twice

6:55

last season. We beat

6:58

them both times. The second time

7:00

Graeme was in charge, but

7:02

he'd not been in there long.

7:06

So we were still trying to stamp his

7:08

way of things, his way of playing onto the

7:10

team. So I

7:13

think he's done a great job there, you know. He

7:15

went in to a club that

7:17

was struggling last season. And

7:21

he's brought in players that

7:23

he could do. I'm not sure where his budget

7:26

stands, but I doubt it would be really

7:28

high as a league two

7:31

team. But he's done really well and

7:33

he's picked up some great results. I know they beat Reksum

7:35

at the weekend. And

7:37

there'll be, like Graeme, as

7:39

you know, there'll be hard-working, there'll be full

7:41

of energy, there'll be

7:44

tough, they'll compete. That's

7:46

how Graeme likes his teams. And

7:49

also it'll be a big game for him because I

7:51

know he's a big man United fan. Matchgoing

7:54

fan used to travel over in the 80s with

7:56

his dad, like proper, even when

7:59

he was a professional. footballer would get a ball

8:01

looking off his manager because he

8:03

turned up late late at Plymouth

8:05

because he'd been at Old Trafford tonight

8:07

before so yeah interesting

8:10

story. I invited United

8:13

We Stand readers to put

8:15

some questions to you via

8:17

our website uwsonline.com so if

8:19

it's alright with you I'll read

8:22

some of them to you.

8:24

Yeah no problem. The first one is United

8:27

players now face more criticism than

8:29

ever because of social media. What

8:32

steps can a club take to help them

8:34

deal with this pressure mentally? So you've been

8:36

at United, you've been at Salford. Yeah

8:40

yeah I think it's a big thing

8:42

across football and you know social

8:44

media is a big thing now and you

8:48

know everybody says the easiest thing is

8:50

just not go on it but everybody

8:52

goes on it so it's

8:55

really difficult and it's difficult for

8:57

any player no matter how old you

8:59

are or how young you are. You

9:01

know if you're reading good things about

9:04

yourself it's nice but is

9:06

it how long is it nice for and then the

9:09

moments you can read that

9:11

and the one negative comment I'm sure that

9:13

that sticks in in most people's minds which

9:16

it would do for anyone so it's

9:18

really it's really difficult for clubs

9:21

to control and control and obviously

9:24

control their players going on it

9:26

but I know these clubs out there doing a lot

9:28

of work you know the Premier League

9:31

and the LMA you know they've got people

9:35

out there getting around clubs and educating

9:37

and I'm just trying to help players

9:40

deal with it you know

9:43

it's a really it's a really difficult thing

9:45

but you know social media works both ways

9:47

as well it can really help you and

9:49

it can really hinder you at the same

9:51

time. Did you look at it for you?

9:56

I think it's

9:58

difficult because I tried to stay on away from

10:00

it as much as possible because even

10:02

when you're doing well, I think it's

10:04

important you don't get too carried away

10:06

and you can be winning games and

10:10

it's easy to go on it then. But the

10:13

same applies if you're losing games. You don't really want to

10:15

be looking on it and looking at the

10:17

comments and it's

10:20

one of those. I'm sure if you

10:22

ask every fan of

10:25

each team to pick their starting line-up, there'd

10:28

be thousands of different starting line-ups.

10:30

So yeah, it's always difficult

10:33

to take it in your mind full of

10:35

it but I think if you let it

10:38

run you or run what you're thinking too much

10:40

then you're not doing your job properly.

10:42

I remember I saw a lot of Gary

10:45

when he was manager of Valencia after

10:47

matches and he'd have

10:49

like someone with him and say, oh

10:51

this is coming in and it'd be

10:53

like a local journalist with 40,000 followers

10:55

really going for him. I suppose

10:58

different people take it differently and

11:00

I thought he took it quite

11:02

well. It's like this is legitimate

11:04

criticism and then you get people

11:06

going into more personal

11:09

abuse. I think with a

11:11

lot of the players and I've written quite a lot

11:13

around the area, they're

11:15

the best players in the class and

11:17

the school and the area and everyone's

11:19

blowing smoke up the backside and everything's

11:22

going absolutely wonderful and they're very attractive

11:24

as humans and suddenly bang, it

11:26

just flips and some of them just don't know how to

11:28

take it because they've never had it before. Yeah

11:33

it is very difficult and I

11:36

think that's part of having

11:38

good staff and good coaches around

11:41

and good leaders around that. They

11:44

can almost educate and keep people's

11:47

mind level and like you say, I

11:50

think there is an argument and there

11:52

is a real bonus point to real

11:55

constructive criticism and it can help and

11:57

it can help improve. It

12:01

becomes a point where it crosses the line when

12:03

it starts becoming personal or

12:05

you've seen recently some

12:08

racist insults and

12:11

stuff that is going on, then that just way

12:14

way crosses the line, you know,

12:16

that's not needed. Next

12:18

question is about Coby Maynew. He's someone

12:20

I've spoken to you about for three,

12:23

four, five years. You

12:25

know him well, you were his

12:27

manager. He seems like a special talent,

12:29

says one reader. I think everyone would agree

12:31

with that. How have you

12:33

made of his progress so far and what can he still

12:35

do to add to his game? Well

12:39

I think with Coby, he's had

12:42

a great upbringing. You know, he's came all the

12:44

way through the system there

12:46

at Man United and he's

12:49

had a hell of a lot of experience

12:51

throughout his academy life, you know, on and

12:53

off the pitch. And I know

12:55

when I was there he was still quite young and

12:58

we were starting to introduce him into

13:01

UEFA league games, slowly

13:03

integrating him into 23s games, just to kind

13:06

of test him a little bit

13:08

and stretch him, but then, you know,

13:10

at the right time he'd go back into the 18s

13:13

or play in the 16s,

13:16

whatever it might be, to regain the

13:18

confidence that obviously they're going

13:20

to lose a little bit when they're

13:22

playing against players that are four or

13:24

five years older than him, you know,

13:26

coming through that development.

13:29

So I think what you see with Coby

13:31

now is, you know, he's

13:33

a real technician. You know,

13:35

he can handle a ball very

13:37

good on the ball. And

13:40

I think that's down to the years and years

13:42

of technical development that he's had.

13:45

And, you know, he's got quite

13:47

a wise mature head on

13:50

his shoulders where he's been

13:52

able to get into the team and keep himself

13:54

in the team. But, you know, tactical

13:56

he's doing the role. It looks like

14:00

like him dropping into the back line and

14:02

kind of controlling the build-up from

14:04

there. And he just seems really

14:06

comfortable doing that and he's

14:08

got some good experienced

14:11

pros around him, which I'm

14:14

sure we'll be talking to him and helping

14:16

him. But I think he's done really

14:19

well since he's come into the team. What

14:22

can he still do? Just the

14:24

fact that he's playing and establishing himself in

14:26

the Premier League at such a young age,

14:29

that surprised me. Yeah,

14:32

well, I think, you

14:34

know, what you're looking at Kobe

14:36

to do from his position is control the game. I

14:39

think that's why they

14:41

want him in that position. And he's really

14:43

good at that. You know, if you find

14:45

him with the ball, he can find his

14:47

way out of tight situations. He's got a

14:49

great passing range. And

14:51

for me, you know, at his age, he

14:53

wanted to start maybe

14:56

dominating and controlling more.

14:58

And I think that will come with the more

15:00

games he plays and the more confident

15:02

he gets. And

15:04

then I think you'll start to see the range

15:06

of passing and if you can start building

15:09

the attack and creating the attack or switching the play

15:11

or playing through the lines or whatever it might be,

15:13

the more he does

15:16

it, then I just think his confidence

15:18

levels will go through the roof. And, you

15:20

know, that's when I think you'll see him hit another

15:22

level. Because

15:24

it can either go the other way. I was just looking

15:26

at some of the lad to one that you've got with

15:28

him. Some of them, the careers, they're

15:31

struggling in comparison. And even though they're

15:33

still so young, there's a very fine

15:35

line between properly making it and not

15:37

making it. The

15:40

reason, you know, I think when

15:43

you look at the top teams, Manchester United,

15:46

Chelsea, Man City, Liverpool, I

15:49

think it's really difficult for a young player

15:51

to come into those teams and really show

15:55

what they've got and, you know, be that mainstay.

15:57

And I think you've seen it with a couple of

15:59

people. Also, you can say recon is doing the

16:01

same thing at Liverpool. And

16:06

I think with Man United, you've got Kobe, but

16:08

I think out of that, you've got the team

16:10

as well. You've got Garnaccio that has come in

16:14

and set the place on fire really at times. You know, with

16:17

his attacking intent, with the way

16:19

he runs at players, he's one of those players

16:21

that gets people off their seats. So

16:24

tell us about Garnaccio, what were your interactions

16:26

with him like? Well,

16:30

Garnaccio came over at 16 from

16:32

Athletico Madrid. And

16:36

I think he came over with Alvaro, he came

16:38

over with Mark Dorado. And I

16:40

think they're coming into a

16:42

new culture, a new country,

16:44

a new culture, a new

16:46

way of playing. So it takes a little bit

16:48

of time. And,

16:51

you know, I think with Garnaccio, he was always quite small.

16:53

He came over at 16, he was

16:56

quite small, but you could see he

16:58

was athletic. You could see he had

17:01

good movement. You could see he could

17:03

handle the ball, dribbling, you know, was

17:05

his main thing. So

17:08

even when he started to play in the 17 games and the

17:11

18 games, you

17:13

know, there's a few times he struggled, but you

17:16

could understand the reasons why he was

17:18

struggling. You know, he was coming up

17:20

against a real tough right back that

17:22

wanted to kick him off the pitch. And

17:25

the thing with Garnaccio, he would just get back up and

17:27

kick him and get on the ball again and run out

17:29

the defender again. And he had that kind

17:31

of relentless mentality

17:34

about him. So,

17:36

yeah, I think once he started to grow,

17:38

once he went over to train

17:41

with the first team, he first

17:43

went over to train with him when

17:45

Raf Rangic was here. And

17:49

I think he struggled at the beginning, you know, a

17:51

few of the first team players at the time. He

17:54

was struggling with the speed, with

17:56

the Quality

17:58

of it, with the demand. The way. and it's

18:00

but it takes a little bit of a bit of

18:03

time to get used to the on a thinks. In.

18:05

A way out. A good. Two. Or three months getting

18:07

used to it coming on as a soap

18:09

and. You know

18:12

lay introductions and you know what is

18:14

what is done for himself is is

18:16

is got himself into the store and

18:19

eleven now. I'm. Honest

18:21

is is looking real danger strategies and

18:23

is any scoring goals is all. Yours.

18:26

Manager Jose like as a player was like as

18:28

a lot. Our

18:31

it was a nice latino em

18:33

out all the Spanish boys that

18:35

became of the really respect for

18:38

i'm. Good. Characters you know you

18:40

could dictate up with you could offer of

18:42

have fun with them but they are funny

18:44

when the time is right to be. To

18:48

be professional and and I'm gonna

18:50

need it.he was probably made it

18:52

a little less than a little

18:54

bit of education on on be

18:56

more professional in his younger years

18:58

and then. The to

19:00

be fair to him me in our he took them

19:03

on he took on the chin on the other thing

19:05

that helps him sometimes you gotta be you gotta be

19:07

tough on them says to kind of be kind to

19:09

them as well. And breaks it

19:11

means that couldn't happen again he couldn't

19:13

have a wagon. I go out and

19:15

bring Boulos players and from from new

19:17

you because. It allows us

19:20

to shreds the is. The

19:22

address it say the a little bit

19:24

and I don't. Know

19:27

is probably made a little bit more

19:29

competitive in this country and as a

19:31

seeing. More. And more young

19:33

players now be transferred between close. You know

19:35

things. The city's just made a h go

19:37

younger to forty. you know, thirteen or twelve

19:40

years old. Which is.

19:43

Which is which is was must. Send.

19:45

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21:42

mentioned Alviro? He's just moved from being

21:44

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21:47

I remember you telling me last year

21:49

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21:51

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21:53

pay the bill. And. It already paid

21:55

for yet to the appreciate the were used

21:57

on women. He. Had a very good

21:59

season at Preston North and what sea level

22:01

or is up still to be to be

22:03

decided. Could still see young. Yeah,

22:07

I see. I think it's still a little

22:09

bit to be decided because he is so

22:11

young. com. You. Know what

22:13

a. Way. To sofie is

22:15

he. He. Is a good talent

22:17

and. You know

22:19

what are you gonna push Luke sure

22:21

out the team or mother see around

22:23

it seems right now probably not. You

22:25

know what that is? Be really difficult

22:27

for him to do that. Books that

22:29

doesn't mean is it a is about

22:31

Federal is not good enough an. Eighth

22:35

of a place most of the games

22:37

for me we we kind of pushed

22:39

him quite quickly when he came over

22:42

into the twenty three and a plate.

22:45

If I'd almost. Every game. Once Brandon

22:47

Williams went up to the first team he was kind

22:49

of doing the less but spot. Of

22:52

Aura was the next one is so

22:54

fundamental quite quickly and did quite well

22:56

as a early on we've all he

22:58

when he went off to the first

23:00

scene so. I'll.

23:02

Borrow kind of to me quite quickly, and the

23:05

adult is quite well. I think.

23:07

More Years is is perfectly very gaudy. can

23:09

take the ball of of of both feet.

23:14

And it's you've got a young lot. Series

23:16

is kind of. His. Came

23:18

through Real Madrid when he was younger

23:20

so you can imagine. When. He

23:22

played that real murderer and his younger. They're.

23:25

Probably not having to defend.

23:27

I'm. A lock in

23:29

many games because the probably dominated

23:31

most teams all that often made

23:33

it barcelona roles of like on

23:35

the great of maybe two or

23:37

three games. So. We. Have to

23:40

really go to work on the defensive side.

23:42

The him. Because

23:44

we knew going forward he always wanted to

23:46

thought he was old asking me what is

23:48

to jump into midfield like can sell overstated

23:51

months say i'm really good currency it on

23:53

plays with with character and so we have

23:55

to do not work on the defensive side

23:57

and I think. i think that's

24:00

where move to Preston and having a

24:02

year in the championship, he

24:04

would have had to do that, you know, because he wouldn't have

24:06

been going to a team that was going to be dominating

24:09

on the ball every game and really controlling

24:11

games. So you would have had to do

24:14

his fair amount of defending. And

24:16

there's some really good strong players in

24:18

the championship that he would have come up again. So

24:20

I think that was a vital year

24:22

for him. And

24:24

I think it's a good move. I know I

24:27

spoke to one or two journalists starting in Portugal

24:31

and I know Ben Fico was

24:34

looking for a little bit of a project,

24:36

somebody who they can

24:38

develop and come into the team. So

24:42

I know the move is initially unknown, but I

24:44

think if he did well, then I

24:46

think United might

24:49

have somebody rivaling them to

24:51

sign him up. I

24:55

asked you the other day about Hannibal.

24:57

He came on and made his Seville

24:59

debut on Sunday night. He got battered

25:01

by Girona and he

25:04

got booked within a minute of coming on and

25:07

clearly talented. But you're laughing

25:09

because he's got a form for that. Do you

25:11

see a good play there with Hannibal? Yeah,

25:15

I think, like I say, Hannibal

25:19

came over from France

25:21

and it didn't

25:23

quite work out for him at Monaco. He signed

25:25

for Monaco and he's quite young and it

25:28

didn't quite work out. And he came towards. I

25:33

love one great kid, good character,

25:35

played with a lot of character.

25:37

I'm sure everybody has seen that

25:39

when he comes onto the pitch.

25:41

But like I say, he's on

25:43

that fine line where he needs

25:46

to really curb that getting booked. Because

25:50

what he's doing is putting himself at risk of

25:53

being substituted off the pitch. If

25:55

a manager or a coach is worried that he's going to make One

25:59

rash tassel or... One you know a

26:01

bit affect humans and the end

26:03

up getting sense often. Than

26:06

it's not for the good of

26:08

the theme. So yeah, I'm always.

26:10

Is passionate and the what's fair few games

26:13

when he went to bed game and the

26:15

know that the bandwagon fans loved him because

26:17

of his work, ray and the past in

26:19

a so.the made me sick to darlow beer

26:21

and unnoticed it's a good thing to have

26:23

as well. When you when you look at

26:26

you know Wayne Rooney I you know could

26:28

you could be fashion? probably not. Boy.

26:31

Probably just needs to be a little

26:33

bit wiser with a and in and

26:35

try not to get himself books and

26:38

within a couple of minutes of coming

26:40

onto the pitch more question I think

26:42

is relevant is. In

26:44

Sam's of working were younger players. To

26:46

think that putting younger boys or girls

26:48

up against players or maybe two or

26:50

three age groups above them a is

26:52

a good or bad thing and lead

26:54

it into that you often get fan

26:56

say in is terrible play. The kids.

26:59

I. Can't lose energy by plane The

27:01

kids when I actually think having spoken

27:03

to be polite you you can lose

27:05

a lot by plane tickets because you

27:07

can get big seven nil body advantages

27:09

disadvantages of of of throwing. Players

27:12

in. Well under age group. I

27:17

think. I. Think it's a

27:19

fine balance and. We

27:21

always did it. We always kind of

27:23

push players of the year old for

27:25

some of the couple years. And.

27:30

You. Have to know the gonna struggle for the

27:32

not disconnect. The Not just

27:34

gonna go up from play a year or

27:36

two ahead of them and seamlessly. Be

27:39

the best players to stick. It doesn't

27:41

always work either on the other not

27:43

four elements for that reason you put

27:45

in. I'm in untested. M instructed him

27:47

because. They probably got to the

27:49

point where is the probably a little bit too

27:51

easy? Their own a script. And.

27:55

What? Challenge of A They get an hour

27:57

that is a you know if it's a

27:59

midfielder. If he sprained ball the

28:01

ball over the pitch and nobody can

28:03

fight get near him. Nobody could out

28:05

one image midfield. Then. It

28:08

just becomes too easy for him. So the

28:10

next challenges that they don't play the next

28:12

year off com uma the fight against some

28:14

boys at. Twelve. Months a Siemens

28:17

had of yeah but also physically

28:19

way way way ahead of you

28:21

as well and so it starts.

28:23

That kind of be the next

28:25

challenge them. they start to get

28:27

stressed. And. You

28:29

see that with the twenty telling when I was over

28:31

the twenty three them I know. Now.

28:33

With a twenty one's we we always we

28:35

try to of the as an average age

28:37

of. Eighteen, Eighteen Point

28:39

five and it's been that for

28:41

a long time. No other club

28:44

and. In. A los Pol a

28:46

reason this. Is. To put them

28:48

in Sly Barman is to stress and

28:50

because there is still some teams out

28:52

there are twenty one level that do

28:54

carry all the players. They do lights

28:56

off a strong physical thing. They do

28:58

like to win. So

29:01

it simple enough. Reason. Players

29:03

get the. Challenge. But.

29:05

That it's important to be realistic and not

29:08

expect them to gone by the seems signal

29:10

every week because the good places and the

29:12

all good players. But the the been really

29:14

really tested is which is which is what

29:16

they need to. Talk.

29:20

Him Out and Game management. What

29:23

steps can you take to adjust

29:25

tactics within a game? Is

29:27

a like a mental checklist that iran

29:29

through Or is it more situational cause?

29:31

The question. I

29:34

think it comes as it is.

29:36

You eat office the up. Plan.

29:39

A in your mind you're plump

29:41

be is your off know enough.

29:44

The. Of Opposition much changed to a different way

29:46

of playing all day. My of a tweet within

29:48

the topic. Below

29:51

I found a lot and this is

29:54

sorry early when I got to solve

29:56

it was a lot of teams. And.

29:59

They. are this kind of tactical stoppage, and I've

30:01

never come across it before, where

30:06

the goalkeeper would go down injured in

30:08

the game. And

30:10

then all of a sudden it would be a tactical

30:12

team talk on the side of the pitch, or

30:15

there'd be times when somebody would go down injured, again,

30:17

tactical team talk on the side of the pitch because

30:20

it gives the analyst time

30:22

to feed down to the bench or

30:24

if the bench sees things they can get it to the player. So

30:26

I noticed that quite

30:28

early on when I was at Salford

30:30

and we played one team away

30:32

and we were

30:35

dominating them in the first half

30:37

and they must have done about

30:39

six tactical stoppages. And

30:42

obviously I'm going mad at the referee because

30:45

for me it's not a team talk, the lads

30:49

barely injured. So yeah, I've

30:52

seen that a lot and I've seen

30:54

different ways of that at the top

30:56

level, just a little bit more cute.

30:59

But yeah, I think it's a skill of

31:01

getting a message onto the pitch, a skill

31:04

of getting it across to the players for

31:07

them to quickly change and quickly,

31:12

you know, whether it's change tactics or whether it's

31:14

go and press the team, whether it's sit off

31:16

and be more compact, you know, there's

31:18

a real skill of getting those messages onto the pitch. How

31:23

important is another question? Do you think it

31:25

is for Manchester United to have a sports

31:27

director to support the manager in the modern

31:29

day? This seems to be the default construct

31:31

of a lot of leading football clubs. As

31:34

a manager yourself, how would you feel about

31:36

working with a sports director? I

31:39

think it's, you know,

31:41

it was, well,

31:43

it's probably not a new thing now, but everybody talks

31:46

about in this country, like it's a

31:48

new thing. So there's always a bit

31:50

of, you know, an unsure, but I

31:52

think you see now most, most

31:55

clubs I'm sure in the Premier League and You

31:58

know, nearly, nearly every club in the. Ausiello

32:00

slowly filtering down. I think

32:02

it's a really important role

32:05

and. I think

32:07

it it can help both both sides seeking

32:09

out the manager but can also help the

32:11

owners or the board who you every. It

32:13

might be the Us on the other side

32:16

of it because you can't have got. Somebody.

32:19

In the middle Stockton. Take.

32:21

On your information, That.

32:25

Can support you but can really help

32:27

you and then. You. Costs. Also

32:29

somebody understand by that can have a

32:31

leaked out to the owners to the

32:33

board so the chairman who have it

32:35

might be. On the

32:37

kind of become a really important

32:40

vital called. It

32:42

is in the successful way of run

32:44

into football club I think a thing

32:46

I think it's football's really move forward

32:48

in that sense and you know I

32:51

think it's kind of an important position.

32:54

To a question is a short one. Why

32:56

a Manchester United? So shite Neil? I'm or

32:58

time put it, more cyclists Uri and I.

33:00

It's fun. He probably had more chance to

33:03

watch them recently, although assuming you want to

33:05

get back into football as a manager. But

33:07

what? you make fun of? Watching the team

33:09

this year the first and. Earning.

33:13

More of a think they're not so much

33:15

higher that us off with about a lot

33:17

of injuries on mail. Yet another not an

33:19

hour to get into the rhythm of planes.

33:22

The. Same theme or consistently for an

33:25

all the same start eleven. it's

33:27

kind of changes. Quite a

33:29

lot from. Other

33:32

up and I also think. This.

33:35

You. Know over seems to get a better

33:37

improving to sign a good players the

33:39

there for in manages a in an

33:41

oven a real way of playing and

33:44

recruit and to. Style.

33:46

of play which i think this is

33:48

massive really important not that that's don't

33:50

ride because of things if you don't

33:52

do that right they can quickly turn

33:55

for a manager and he can quickly

33:57

and have a team that probably can't

33:59

play he wants to

34:01

play. So yeah, I

34:04

think at the moment United are striving

34:06

for that consistency, aren't they? There's still

34:10

what, 11 points away from Champions

34:12

League, Champions League spots which they

34:14

could quite easily make.

34:17

Get into those positions if they put a

34:19

run of consistency and a run of wins

34:21

together, which I'm confident

34:23

they can do. But yeah, I'm

34:28

sure there's a

34:30

lot of work going on on

34:33

the training pitch there and then trying to rectify

34:37

what they're not happy with. Next

34:40

question is, scoring goals in the lower league seems to

34:42

be a struggle in many cases, I'm not sure how

34:44

true that is or not, but

34:47

it's also a struggle for United, that's clearly

34:49

true. Do you see any parallels? Is there

34:51

a shortage of goal scorers?

34:56

How might United improve in the short term,

34:58

the goals? Well,

35:03

I think if you look at it at

35:06

the moment, you've probably got Scott Hughes top

35:09

goal scorer, you know, and

35:11

I think

35:15

Marcus is slowly coming back

35:17

up there, I know he scored a great goal

35:19

last weekend. And

35:21

I think they're the guys that you need to

35:23

be chipping in with goals if you think of

35:26

the great teams as always, a fair

35:28

few goal scorers are in the team, you

35:30

know, you think Jose Mourinho is Chelsea, Lampard

35:33

and Balac and Drogba, different

35:37

guys that can score and you

35:39

look at sitting down in Holland gets a lot of

35:41

goals but Bernardo and Dabroina

35:45

chips in with that.

35:47

So I think within

35:49

any team, you can't

35:51

be relying on one or two guys, it's got

35:53

to be shared across the team, it's got to

35:55

show that kind of hunger and that desire to

35:58

want to score and get them scored. position.

36:00

So I think

36:02

I don't necessarily say

36:04

there's a lack of goals across the

36:08

EFL or the Premier League.

36:13

I know United

36:15

fans are probably saying we're not scoring enough goals, but

36:17

I think there is

36:19

quality in the team to

36:21

score. And I think

36:24

once they get going and hit a bit of a patch,

36:27

then it can come back. Do

36:30

you think the quality is that? Yeah,

36:35

well, when you look at Marcus,

36:38

I know people have been having a

36:40

pop-up Marcus, but you can't say he's

36:42

not a talented footballer. And

36:46

when he's on it, when he's

36:48

right, then you're

36:50

saying he's probably one of the best left-sided

36:53

players. He prefers the left, doesn't he? Out

36:57

there, but that's on him to

37:00

show. I don't know what's

37:03

contributing in some of his performances. Maybe

37:05

it looks like he's a little bit

37:07

frustrated at times, but there's definitely talent

37:09

there. Same with Bruno. Bruno's

37:11

got talent. If you want the ball to

37:13

drop to anyone around the edge of the

37:15

box, then it's him.

37:18

They might have shot to get some

37:20

target and goals he scores. What

37:22

we just need to see more like when he first came

37:24

to the club, and

37:27

then like you say, we've

37:29

got Garnacho who's providing real

37:34

entertaining moments and getting the fans off

37:36

their seats. And he started

37:38

to chip in. I know he scored

37:41

an unbelievable goal at Everton away, but

37:43

you want to see more goals come

37:45

from him. So there is quality there.

37:47

It's just not

37:50

maybe worked for them as

37:52

much as they would have liked so far

37:54

this season. You can sign

37:56

free players to play for Manchester United. Who are

37:59

you having? Three

38:01

players. I think

38:06

you have to go with Mbappe, don't you? I

38:08

think he's one of the most exciting

38:11

talents out there. I'd

38:14

go with Bellingham as well, I

38:17

think what he's doing at Madrid

38:19

and just the way he developed

38:21

over the last 12 months,

38:25

he's a non-star, sorry, he's a guy

38:27

that's just passed the start for England

38:30

as well, he's put himself in that

38:32

bracket where he's a nailed

38:34

on starter. Who

38:37

else would assign? Not

38:42

sure, I always think, would

38:45

it be a midfielder or would it be somebody

38:47

across the back? Not sure, I'd

38:51

have to have a good think about that one. You

38:53

were in the building when Bellingham came, I know

38:56

you weren't doing the negotiations because that

38:58

wasn't part of your area,

39:00

but it's

39:03

a massive shame to miss out on him on just

39:06

being how good he is. Do you want

39:08

to manage again? Well,

39:13

the first thing with Judy,

39:15

it's a funny story, we

39:18

used to go to Germany with younger

39:21

age groups and play

39:24

in a five-a-side, I think six-a-side

39:27

tournament out there which was like boarded

39:29

in and we used to go to

39:31

this MTU tournament in Friedrichshafen

39:33

in Germany and all the top

39:36

teams in Europe were

39:38

there. This

39:40

is why I say you can't get carried away

39:42

because we used to think we've got good players

39:45

here, good squad developing

39:47

well and then we'd go to

39:49

this tournament and we'd play against

39:52

Bayern, Barcelona, Ajax, Real

39:54

Madrid, all the top

39:56

boys and you come away thinking, we

39:59

still need to get better. we've got a lot of

40:01

work to do with these young players to

40:04

improve them. And what we

40:06

did, we

40:08

did a cage tournament at Carrington to

40:11

replicate it. This is

40:13

back when probably

40:16

Jimmy Garner, Anthony

40:20

Alanger, that age group said a Menge,

40:22

they were like under 14, under 15.

40:26

And we invited Birmingham up. And

40:29

we played in this tournament in the cage.

40:31

And it's boarded up, there's netting at the

40:33

top of the boards and then kind of

40:35

as a netting across the roof

40:37

as well. So if you're playing overhead

40:40

or you're clipping a long ball and your technical detail

40:42

on your longer pass has got to be good, otherwise

40:44

it just gets caught in the net. So

40:48

Birmingham brought Jude

40:50

at the time and he was 13. He was

40:52

on his slide. And

40:55

he was playing in his tournament and he

40:57

was chipping goalkeepers from the offway line on

40:59

the indoor astroturf. And just

41:02

the technical detail, it didn't even hit

41:04

the net, it was just like gliding

41:06

overkeepers. And I'm

41:08

watching, I was thinking, wow, this young kid's

41:10

really good. So

41:12

I just remember at the time they were calling

41:14

him Jude. So obviously I've gone to

41:16

the recruitment at United, there's a young kid out

41:19

here, Jude, like, need to look at him. So

41:22

obviously they knew all about him and there was no

41:24

chance that was

41:26

going to happen at that age. But

41:28

yeah, they tried

41:31

to get him what they got him in the building and unfortunately

41:36

for United, but he

41:38

signed for Dortmund. But I think it

41:41

worked out for Jude in the end. I think

41:43

he had a great year out in Germany and

41:46

he's slowly turning himself into one of

41:48

the best players out in Madrid. I'm

41:52

not saying you were Jude Bellingham, but you were

41:54

a bit of a childhood star yourself, weren't you?

41:56

You played for England schoolboys and scored a couple

41:58

of goals. Expectations

42:01

were high. Yeah. So

42:05

I always kind of played up a year

42:07

as well. And

42:11

I made my debut for the reserves when

42:13

I was still in the last

42:16

year of school. I think

42:19

Jimmy Ryan was the coach, Jimmy Ryan was kind of doing

42:21

it with Eric Harrison. I

42:24

played a part of David Healy up front

42:26

and I scored actually. It took a little

42:28

bit of deflection but I'm still going to

42:31

claim it. But

42:33

I just think back now, I think Social

42:36

Media was alive then. I

42:39

regularly used to score goals from the half way line. I

42:41

used to play for Strepford Vic and just

42:44

goals in from the half way line or scored

42:47

a few feet of height from the half way

42:49

line when it was coming through as well. And

42:51

I just think, imagine the

42:53

height that would be around that now if

42:56

it was nowadays. It's

43:01

a strange world at the minute because there

43:03

is things like that that can really get

43:05

you almost

43:07

online fame, which is another

43:10

thing that's probably

43:12

difficult for a young player to deal with

43:14

as well, being having

43:17

that kind of exposure and

43:19

attention at a young age. You're

43:21

going into another problem really. You'd

43:25

have been billed as the Strepford Messi. So

43:29

you're working at Carrington. Do

43:32

you miss it? Do you miss going there

43:34

on a day to day? Do you miss

43:36

protesters turning up as you're putting the

43:38

cones out for training? No,

43:41

I remember that morning I was out on

43:43

the pitch, setting up my session and I'd

43:45

just seen a load of protesters

43:47

running across the car park. I

43:51

think for me, you're

43:53

always going to miss United. That's

43:56

the club I came through since I was

43:58

eight. and I left when

44:00

I was 22 and then I went back coaching.

44:04

So you're always going to miss that.

44:06

And I wouldn't change the

44:10

choice that I made. I wouldn't change the opportunity that I

44:12

had to go and manage in

44:15

the league, in the AFL. When

44:17

I look back, you know, what I achieved

44:19

there in that first season, then

44:21

it's something to look back on with

44:24

a bit of pride, you

44:26

know, and since I've come out of the job, I've

44:30

had a nice little break because

44:32

it's been nice just to switch off and have

44:35

a bit of a mental break. I've

44:37

had a fair few phone calls of people inviting

44:39

me into their clubs and come see us and

44:42

come and have a look. So I've been around

44:44

a few clubs just to see a few friends

44:46

and a few

44:48

different clubs. And then around the pro

44:51

license a little bit, the guys at the pro license

44:53

invited me on just to be around the

44:55

new cohort and just be

44:57

around that. So that was really good.

45:00

I was there last week with Gareth Southgate

45:02

was speaking and John McDermott, which was really good.

45:07

So yeah, so some bits to keep

45:09

me busy and just, you know,

45:11

it's been a nice time to just kind

45:14

of reflect as well.

45:17

And you want to manage again? Well,

45:22

I keep being asking this question and my

45:27

answer is I'm really open, you know,

45:29

I'm not in a position where I'm

45:32

kind of like, I need to be a

45:34

manager again. You

45:36

know, I really like the connection

45:38

with players I had on the training pitch

45:40

and it sometimes can be a little bit

45:43

different and difficult once you're a manager because you've got

45:45

to have that little bit of distance

45:48

because you've got to ultimately,

45:50

you're going to be the guy that plays

45:52

them or drops them and you're going to get it in the neck

45:55

no matter what. So I really

45:57

enjoyed time coaching.

46:00

I've really enjoyed my experience at Salford

46:02

as managing.

46:06

If something came up

46:08

that I really fancied that was within

46:10

a lead role, then definitely I'd do

46:12

it if something came up where

46:15

it was assistant manager or a coach

46:18

or even a really good under

46:20

21s job where it's a

46:22

club that really wants to

46:24

develop players and are there

46:26

to push the players into the first team then then

46:29

I would do it. So I'm

46:31

open at this moment. I'm not

46:34

intent on saying I've got to be

46:36

a manager. I really enjoyed

46:39

the experience of hard sport. I

46:41

really enjoy coaching and being on the pitch and

46:43

being around the players as well. Would

46:45

you take the Liverpool job tomorrow if Klopp got sacked

46:48

and you got offered it? Well,

46:52

I thought it was difficult. I was

46:54

in Liverpool a few days ago and

46:56

it's some environment that

46:59

the manager has built there. I was in

47:01

there and I was just saying no, you're

47:05

from fucking Stratford, just say no. Well,

47:07

I actually thought who can take over this

47:09

club from year to

47:14

year because the

47:18

way he is in this character and what he's

47:20

built there, that would be a

47:22

tough job

47:24

to take on. Do you think they're in a

47:27

good place Liverpool on a serious note? Yeah,

47:32

I think

47:35

what they've done so far, but I

47:38

don't know if you've read a little bit about it, but

47:41

he's talking about Liverpool

47:44

2.0, isn't he? What

47:46

does the new Liverpool look like and

47:49

what's the future of Liverpool? So

47:52

they've had success but

47:54

they're ready to build on it and reshape

47:58

it a little bit to what they've done. future

48:00

told for them. So yeah,

48:03

I think it's

48:07

a difficult club to compete

48:09

with and the job that Jurgen

48:12

Klopp has done there, every

48:16

single support and person in that

48:18

club, they love him, don't they? He's the

48:20

king there. So you're saying no, you wouldn't take

48:23

it. What about Guardiola? If City rang you and

48:25

say Pep's leaving tomorrow, come and take over

48:27

the first team? You

48:29

know, I think you'd have to turn any

48:31

club down and it would probably be

48:34

from Stratford and being a United

48:37

lad. It'd

48:44

be... Well, you always think,

48:46

you know, I'm so difficult, isn't

48:48

it? It's difficult.

48:50

Well, United have just taken the new

48:52

CEO from City, so there has been

48:55

the cross-club transfers, which is an interesting

48:57

one. It's

48:59

been really nice to talk to you,

49:01

Neil. We'll keep an

49:03

eye on you and what

49:06

happens next. We're also working

49:08

on the next United We Stand.

49:11

It's out against West Ham and

49:13

the deadline is this Friday, so

49:15

for subscriptions as well. I've

49:17

just had an email from our postal

49:20

company saying there's a massive rise in the

49:22

subscriptions outside of the UK, so I need

49:24

to get a handle on

49:26

that one. And then we've got Newport at

49:28

the weekend, so we'll do a podcast from

49:30

there. But thanks a lot, Neil. Thanks

49:34

Andy. Thanks for having me on. I appreciate that. And

49:37

final question, what would be satisfactory

49:40

for Manchester United this season, given how

49:42

bad it's been so far? What are

49:44

you saying? FA Cup win, Champions League

49:46

qualification? Yeah,

49:49

I think so. I think it'd be nice to

49:51

get silverware. I think that would give everybody

49:54

a boost. The fans are boost, you know.

49:57

There's nothing better than winning a trophy. So,

50:00

Only if he thought and. Yeah

50:02

since. You. Know that that the top

50:04

teams are in. That trump to the Guardian on

50:06

you wanna be. You wanna be in

50:08

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