BrainOfLevy
Michael Carrick
Speaking of hypothetical, those last two years could really have gone in a very different direction.
It's clear Levy admired Mourinho and truly thought he could do the business. I can't help but daydream about how different these last two years could have been, what could have happened if there'd been no covid, finances weren't suddenly restricted quite as much and there'd been fans in the stadiums to exert influence on the team and display opinion about playing style.
Yes - and this is where it comes to an interesting part of the debate.
There is one aspect which is what I am saying around I just want to win things now, I don't want to wait, I think we need someone with deeper pockets willing to invest. Can't blame ENIC for not being those people, all I'm saying is that I'd rather someone different if that was possible.
But there's a seperate point that I think you can blame them for - the football decisions. How much of the last two years happened because Levy's opinion of Mourinho as a miracle worker was just too engrained? How much of a contributing factor in the trust in Poch breaking down on Levy's end was the fact that Mourinho was available? Through this lens, it is a clear mistake because the buck stops with them. It was a crucial decision which very clearly did not work.
Can we argue Levy has earned the right to make a few mistakes? Sure. We can argue that. But I am going to argue the buck stops with him, and he needs to get the decisions right on the football side. I praised him to the hilt for getting alignment around the club and picking Poch, and seemingly finally committing to backing a manager that was perfectly aligned with his strategy. And that means he gets the criticism when such an important decision goes so wrong that we lose 2 years. This is a different argument to the one about preferring an owner with deeper pockets, which I accept is not fair to blame them for not being. But I think he absolutely deserves criticism for getting a huge call very wrong, and this is why trust in him on the football side of things plummeted for me.