Would you be happy with Ole Gunnar Solskjær? Now with added poll.

[Archbishop Herbert Cockthrottle]

Is it only me who gets three quotes when I need some work done at home or on the car?

[MoetVillan]

The openness puts real pressure on the potential candidate if he is in work, especially in this business.  Swansea and Norwich fans wont be so pleased next season if they knew their managers had been looking whats out there through inteviews or discussions.  I know I would have been upset early in his tenure had MON been in discussions with a Sky4 (of the time) team, as would have felt he didnt love my team like I do.  (turns out he didnt anyway, but it was nice to think so at the time).  Its difficult to "Know who you really want" until you talk to them.  I have had to take on people in my team over the last decade, and a;ways went in with an open mind.  I have had plenty of potentials that I thought were good, but until you really sit them down, you cant really tell, and I would have made less successful decisions had I just gone for the "Thats the one", judged from afar.  I am pretty impressed with how RL seems to try to run things.  It would be interesting if we had had the chance to be a fly on the wall last year, and listened to all the interviews without the benefit of hindsight who we would have appointed.  TSM could well have been the winner for most of us here.  You dont get it right every time (thats why there is a job market), but you try to make the best decisions you can

[mr underhill]

a major problem being that with multi media platforms you would never be able to keep such a discussion under the radar.It would always come out;and if your top candidate said no, the next guy on the list would automatiically know he was not first choice and would probably not want to engage  with the process, particularly if he was alreay employed. U less that is you are a total fuckwit like TSM who knew he would screw up big time but thought 'hey ho, not a bad way to earn 3-4m for 11 months work! Its all bollocks really. Football i mean. Mad.

[Mazrim]

I dont see making a shortlist of candidates and interviewing them as anything other than prudent to be honest.
If the candidates cant take or understand that there are other candidates then we probably dont need them.

there is a massive problem with it,  you are expecting Managers to go to an interview with the full knolwedge of the chairman only to be one of many on a potential list,
then go back to the club and pretend nothings happened

no manager worth his salt would do that, no manager only those looking for a move openly.

i'm self employed so havent been for a interview for over 20 years, but back in the day when i did, i didnt first tell my boss what i was doing, most people when they get another job the first time the boss gets to know about it is when you put your notice in

it is a rubbish way of doing things,
 the board should draw up their short list then pick the first choice and go for him as secretly as posible, if he says no, move on to the next

Absolute nonsense. Why should a candidate be the only one?
If I was a football manager going for a job like Aston Villa, a big job, I would never be so naive as to think I was the only candidate and if they tried to stroke my ego by saying I was, firstly, I wouldn't believe them and secondly would question why they were telling me I was when there are bound to be others. I'd also be wary if there were no other candidates and think "whats wrong with this job?"

Thankfully the club arent that naive and will do due dilligence in finding the right man and if a candidate is so precious as to expect no competition he isn't the man for us.


As for candidates, they either want the job or they dont. If they do, man up and go for it, if not, stay put, please.
We would ask permission for any employed manager and if we speak to their managers and the fans dont like it, I sympathise but that's life.

In any case, we try and keep it hush hush as much as possible. What's the alternative?
Going after one candidate at a time will only take 10 times as long and if you get blown out the next target will know about it anyway, only you're x amount of days down the line.

[Percy McCarthy]

Hmmm... So you are saying with absolute certainty there were other candidates interviewed when Big Ron, Sir Brian and SGT got the job then Maz? For all the big jobs in fact? And if there weren't the process was flawed?

[john e]

I dont see making a shortlist of candidates and interviewing them as anything other than prudent to be honest.
If the candidates cant take or understand that there are other candidates then we probably dont need them.

there is a massive problem with it,  you are expecting Managers to go to an interview with the full knolwedge of the chairman only to be one of many on a potential list,
then go back to the club and pretend nothings happened

no manager worth his salt would do that, no manager only those looking for a move openly.

i'm self employed so havent been for a interview for over 20 years, but back in the day when i did, i didnt first tell my boss what i was doing, most people when they get another job the first time the boss gets to know about it is when you put your notice in

it is a rubbish way of doing things,
 the board should draw up their short list then pick the first choice and go for him as secretly as posible, if he says no, move on to the next

Absolute nonsense. Why should a candidate be the only one?
If I was a football manager going for a job like Aston Villa, a big job, I would never be so naive as to think I was the only candidate and if they tried to stroke my ego by saying I was, firstly, I wouldn't believe them and secondly would question why they were telling me I was when there are bound to be others. I'd also be wary if there were no other candidates and think "whats wrong with this job?"

Thankfully the club arent that naive and will do due dillgence in finding the right man and if a candidate is so precious as to expect no competition he isn't the man for us.


As for candidates, they either want the job or they dont. If they do, man up and go for it, if not, stay put, please.
We would ask permission for any employed manager and if we speak to their managers and the fans dont like it, I sympathise but that's life.

In any case, we try and keep it hush hush as much as possible. What's the alternative?
Going after one candidate at a time will only take 10 times as long and if you get blown out the next target will know about it anyway, only you're x amount of days down the line.

fair enough if you think its the right way,
 i think its a load of bollocks, and so far it has produced Mcleish as the manager, and 2 very public turn downs even to getting a chance of an offer,
 absolute crap way of going on.

can you imagine Man Utd ringing up Mourinho and saying    'hi jose, pleased to say you made the short list, if you can pop over for a formal interview with the rest of the candidates, we'l take it from there, dont forget to tell Real Madrid you are coming first, we dont want any mither '

like i say absolute load of bollocks

[Percy McCarthy]

You'd think if it was such a sensible way of doing things it would be common practise, rather than totally bucking the trend as it does.

If you're interviewing a few unemployed managers then I can see it's a no-brainer. The problems arise when you want to see someone who's already in a job.

[Mazrim]

Hmmm... So you are saying with absolute certainty there were other candidates interviewed when Big Ron, Sir Brian and SGT got the job then Maz? For all the big jobs in fact? And if there weren't the process was flawed?

No. Just that it's sensible to keep your options open and going for one man at a time is folly unless he is outstanding and you know or have excellent reason to suggest he'd come.

I dont know the exact circumstances surrounding those pursuits. Who knows who else was considered? What if they had turned the job and Doug had no other options?
I just dont see why anybody would criticise what seems to me as a very prudent way of going about a recruitment process.
Would Ron have had his nose out of joint if Kevin Keegan had gone for the Villa job at the same time? I doubt it. He'd have believed in his own ability to get the job. What if you are chasing somebody but a good candidate approaches you? Turn them away? No of course not.

I suppose "Dont put all your eggs in one basket" is pertinent.
Time is marching on. The club needs a manager soon. Players need moving in and out and a new management and coaching team need to bed in and hopefully a new philosophy needs to be learned before the new season. I don't think we can afford to play the long game, nor is there any need to.
Therefore we must consider more than one candidate at a time.

[mattjpa]

Two Words----------Video Conferencing! surely this could have saved all the crap and embarrasement. Surely, given the events of the last few days RL and PF will be interviewing potential candidates in this manner and the trees will lose his power.

[damon loves JT]

Chairmen used to have a feudal power over managers, and would treat them like goods to be bought and sold. Maybe things have changed a bit. It wouldn't be so unhealthy.

[Mazrim]

What the fuck? McLeish was the result of an attrociously bad decision and possibly a hamfisted recruitment process, not because we considered a few candidates at the same time.

O.K, let me pose it thusly: Who should we single-mindedly chase to the point of ignoring any other credible candidates and why?

[Clampy]

Two Words----------Video Conferencing! 

You sound like Alan Partridge.

[Hoppo]

I believe the reason were doing it this way is because A. there is no outstanding candidate B. They havent got a feckin clue..

[john e]

What the fuck? McLeish was the result of an attrociously bad decision and possibly a hamfisted recruitment process, not because we considered a few candidates at the same time.

O.K, let me pose it thusly: Who should we single-mindedly chase to the point of ignoring any other credible candidates and why?

no thats not what we are saying,
you consider as many candidates as you like, do your due dilegence and all that, maybe talk to a few agents and stuff, then make a decision, then go and interview your favoured choice,
 if talks break down, so be it you move on, its not set in stone, but at least you arnt letting them dangle around while you look elsewhere.

its my firm belief that if we had approached Martinez for the job last season, interviewed him, decided he was the right man and offered him the job he would have taken it,

and exactly the same for OGS,
if we had interviewed Ole and offered him the job having been satisfied with what he had to say, he would now be are manager

the procrastination the way we are doing it is costing us good managers

[VillaAlways]

What the fuck? McLeish was the result of an attrociously bad decision and possibly a hamfisted recruitment process, not because we considered a few candidates at the same time.

O.K, let me pose it thusly: Who should we single-mindedly chase to the point of ignoring any other credible candidates and why?

Agree with this. I think Mcleish was a panic appointment because they had put all their eggs in one basket with Martinez and felt they had no other options.
I do think they have repeated a mistake from last year by outlining a specific remit for the manager. Last year it was proven premiership experience. This year it's a vibrant up and coming manager rather than just stating they want the right man for the job