Sir Alex Ferguson’s future retirement has hit the headlines once again in recent days, leaving many Manchester United fans to wonder about the future of our beloved club when Fergie finally decides to hang up his managerial boots.

With the old guard of Gary Neville, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and Edwin Van Der Sar on the final year of their contracts, it is my personal belief that we will see a mass retirement at the end of the 2009/10 season, which will include Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson.

Jose Mourinho has admitted that he would be available for the job and Rio Ferdinand has given him his public backing, but is he the right man for the job?

Let’s look at some of the characteristics any hopeful candidate will need in order to be a successful manager at Manchester United:

  1. Tactical astuteness
  2. Man management
  3. Personality and character to handle the job, as well as the media
  4. Ability to play mind games
  5. Astuteness in the transfer market
  6. Able to oversee all aspects of football development
  7. Proven success track record including winning a European domestic league

How many coaches in world football tick all the boxes?
Mourinho, Lippi, Hitzfeld, Benitez, Wenger, O’Neil, Capello

Of the above, we can remove Lippi and Hitzfeld, due to age, as well as Wenger and Benitez, because one refuses to buy expensive players at the expense of success and the other sabotages himself regularly.

Although Fabio Capello is 62 years old and has not coached an English club, his current position as National Manager and youthful exuberance lead me to believe that he could well be a transition manager until a permanent candidate is determined.

So the main candidates are: Mourinho, O’Neil and Capello.

Other managers that tick some of those boxes would be: Mark Hughes, Steve Bruce, David Moyes, Harry Redknapp and Laurent Blanc

Harry Redknapp is too old, so realistically we’re looking at:

Mourinho, O’Neil, Capello, Mark Hughes, Steve Bruce, David Moyes and Laurent Blanc.

Of these, my preferred candidate is Jose Mourinho, but he’s such a controversial character that he would not sit right with many people. Also, some argue that he might make the team boring to watch.

I like Martin O’Neil’s style of football and what he has achieved with Aston Villa, but does he have the personality to handle one of the world’s biggest clubs and the world’s biggest football stars? ….. I have my doubts!

Can you see Rio and Ronaldo taking someone seriously, who looks like Bert from Sesame Street?!

Laurent Blanc is doing a good job over at Bordeaux, but the English game is a different beast altogether and in terms of football management he is very much still a greenhorn.

Don’t be too quick to give up on Agent Hughes. Quite a lot is not right at Man City and he might still turn things around. A few months ago, Manchester City actually found themselves in the relegation zone and looking to go down with a billion in the bank.

Today, City are in 8th place and looking very likely to grab a UEFA Cup spot.

However, this turnaround was achieved AFTER Sparky was able to buy the likes of Shay Given, Craig Bellamy and Wayne Bridge. In other words, British players, he knew would respond to him and give them their all.

Hughes’ inability to get the best out of the players he already had would be a concern for me.

Steve Bruce has done well at Wigan and deserves all the recognition he gets, but here again; I do not believe he can command the players’ utmost respect. He has shown that he can get his tactics right, spend cleverly in the transfer market and get results, but he simply does not have the personality or track record that is needed to thrive in this job.

The next candidate on the list would be David Moyes and I definitely have to sing his praise
I think he has done a very good job at Everton and Sir Alex has recently rated him the manager who has made the most of the resources available to him. If he could win a cup or have a prolonged run in Europe with Everton next season, he might be in with a shout and I think he might have the guts and desire for the job.

People who are wishing for Eric Cantona to take over Fergie’s mantle are willing to take a very big gamble with our club. He’s a great character and Manchester through and through, but he simply has zero experience managing a club.

I’m not even going to talk about Keano. The man is a ticking time bomb.

As much as many a Manchester United fan hates to admit it, Jose Mourinho appears, at present time, to be the best man for the job.

Much has been said on various Internet sites about Mourinho’s arrogance, perceived negative tactics and spending, BUT he has ALL the pre-requisites for the job and is in actual fact THE ONLY ‘perfect’ candidate for the job.

During his first two seasons in charge at Chelsea, Jose Mourinho displayed the ability to form a winning team that played swash-buckling football, and although the team went on to become excruciatingly boring, I strongly believe that with the right backing and players, Jose Mourinho is more than capable of winning in style.

His perceived arrogance is exactly what is needed to instill confidence in his players and to get under the skin of opposing managers.

Some fans have said that he would only make Manchester United more disliked by rival fans, but I could not care one bit.

I want to see Manchester United play good attacking football and be as successful as possible and I believe that Jose Mourinho is the only ‘perfect’ candidate for the job in world football.

He gets his tactics right, makes great use of his substitutes, has shown great man-management skills, gives young players a chance, has great rapport with the media, is very good at mind games and is a proven winner.

What more could we want?

All things considered, my vote for Fergie’s successor goes unquestionably to Jose Mourinho, followed by David Moyes and Mark Hughes.

In the event that David Gill and the Glazers are unable to get their man, I believe Fabio Capello could be tempted to take the reins temporarily after the World Cup in 2010.

The good news for Manchester United fans is that Sir Alex Ferguson has built up a great squad and a great academy and whoever takes over will have all the tools and resources to carry on being successful for many years to come.

Author: RedForceRising

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