McCleish to United??!

[spursman85]

...Don't expect Fergie to make any massive advance announcements the next time he starts planning to step down. It will happen one stunning day when we are least expecting it.

But there will be leaks, and some of them have been rumbling around this week. It began on Monday when the Daily Star's veteran Manchester reporter Bill Thornton, one of the handful of journalists who can claim to be close to Fergie, wrote that he will quit in the summer of 2011 and that Jose Mourinho will be his successor.

Today the Sun's chief football writer Shaun Custis has been following up the story, and while he's not so well connected in Manchester itself, he has plenty of friends of friends. He says Sir Alex has flagged up his intention to leave and United are beginning to draw up their list of potential successors.

It's not surprising the Special One is favourite at 3.05. Martin O'Neill 8.0 and David Moyes 8.6 come next in the odds, but the gossip I hear should take you much further down the list of potential new United managers.

Alex McLeish has been the success story of this Premier League season, spending barely £12million to put newly promoted Birmingham into the top half of the table. Giving Barry Ferguson a route out of his troubles in Glasgow was a master stroke, as was reviving the career of Lee Bowyer - and digging up two defenders from the Championship in Roger Johnson and Scott Dann.

The word is that when Fergie does go he will want to stay around Old Trafford in some form of advisory capacity. Because of that he'll play a big part in nominating who takes over. McLeish, his old captain at Aberdeen, would be comfortable with that. He ticks other boxes, having managed at club level in Europe and as an international boss with Scotland.

Source: Premier League football blog -The next Man United manager

Surely not? mg:
Just becasue he managed him when he was a player doesn't mean he is suitable for the job, why not get Steve Bruce in if that is the measure. Moyes seems hotly tipped but I don't feel he has done enough(or won anything) to take on such a job. Mourinho I imagine would want it but I can see him leaving Inter this summer so won't want to move again next year. I think O'Neill isn't as highly rated as he once was either.

Maybe Fergie will just stick around until he is 80...

 

[Kyras]

I reckon it'll be McClaren, he did will at Boro, had the England job (somehow) and is now on the verge of his first title in the top tier of a European league. He understands what United are all about, and would carry out the transition probably better than most to post-Ferguson united.

He also got to UEFA cup final (I think) and won a domestic trophy with Boro, which takes some doing.

Ferguson also really liked McClaren, and respected him greatly as a coach, whether he feels the same as a manager, who knows.

 

[Bronno]

I've always thought Mcleish was a potential heir to Fergusons crown. For some reason I cannot envisage Mourinho at Utd. I think it's because Mourinho usually eclipses everything around him, just don't think he'd fit well there.

Mcleish has done well, and if Fergie is hanging around after his leaving party, then I can't really see any of the big controlling characters like Mourinho, O'Neil or even Moyes being able to work in that situation. In fact I have trouble seeing Bruce being happy with it, but perhaps the chance to manage Man Utd would soften negotiations.

It's a daft idea really, that someone who has had that much influence at the club will still be there 'advising' the new guy. Could be very difficult.

Edit - As Kyras has mentioned, McClaren has to be high up the list. Sort of character who can work under Ferguson as well.