Will Joy

This is a massive red flag. His comments were out of line, narcissistic, stupid, and lacking in accountability. I don’t want to discredit that. But, poor comments pale in comparison to the actual, relevant factors— performance on the pitch, management in the dressing room, and tactical ability as an isolated skill. To the extent that poor comments have called into question the viability of his future at United, it’s due to bruising egos— not results. Today’s performance was bad. But was it worse than wolves? Grimsby? Spurs? One win per month on average? Casting aside academy players? Persisting with a system so poor that it wouldn’t look out of place in Chernobyl? Any of these are sufficient cause to sack him. FFS, today wasn’t even his worst press conference— he’s threatened to quit; admitted he couldn’t handle the stress of watching a penalty shootout; and taken needless shots at academy kids who aren’t even at the club right now. If comments like the ones made today are the barometer of a manager’s viability— and not the dozens of larger outstanding issues— we are in a really, really bad place.