The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Chapter 6 A Salted Fish

"Mangnall's resume is just too bad. Except for Manchester United chairman Davis who insists he is a genius, in the eyes of others he is just a stinking dead salted fish, with the words failure and garbage written all over him."

--Inscription

Chairman Davies is an extraordinary man who has made a significant contribution to the Red Devils football club in all aspects.

The Red Devils had previously struggled to survive, often failing to pay staff salaries and the stadium rent becoming a heavy burden, but Davis' arrival changed everything. Davis invested heavily, proposed a plan to rebuild the team, set the goal of returning to the top league, and even called on the team to win the A-League title.

Davis' confidence comes from his wealth and his vision for the club. After becoming the club's chairman, Davis quickly reorganized the management structure, recruited outstanding talents, and made the team's operations full of vitality.

With the continuous injection of Davis' wealth, the backward appearance of the Red Devils club quickly changed.

After Davis took over, the Red Devils head coach James West took the initiative to resign in 1902, and Davis readily agreed.

Everyone agrees that West's coaching is not enough to lead the Red Devils to a higher level.

Everyone thought Davis would choose a coach with sufficient strength, but he finally chose James Ernest Mangnall.

When the Red Devils announced that Mangnall would take over on September 1903, 9, there was an uproar in the media and the football world.

The new Red Devils coach's previous resume had nothing to boast about, but rather a number of embarrassing failures and "scandals".

At that time, some media even used his dark history as a joke, and also satirized the Red Devils for being "blind".

Mangnall's appointment puzzled the Red Devils dressing room. The players all knew about this guy's previous "black history", which could only be described as horrible. Even fans who knew nothing about him before, when the media detailed his resume, basically covered their eyes and could not believe that Davis would make such a decision.

Mangnall was born on January 1866, 1 in Bolton, Lancashire, England. He loved football since he was a child. He was a goalkeeper in an amateur football team, but due to his limited ability, he never had the opportunity to play in a professional team. Even so, Mangnall did not give up football. After "retiring", he still wanted to be a coach and continue to devote himself to the football career.

English football had just emerged at this stage, and many teams did not have full-time head coaches. Affairs were handled by "club secretaries" who were also responsible for coaching. With the development of football, the scale of the league and the team continued to expand, and the competition became more and more fierce, requiring professional training and command talents. The club's "secretaries" gradually returned to the administrative field, and their functions continued to be subdivided. The team's most core position, "head coach", began to appear, and even a coaching team began to emerge. At this stage, some clubs would appoint one person to serve as both head coach and secretary, giving him more responsibilities.

Around 1900, English professional football was in its development stage, and teams began to attach more and more importance to the power of head coaches. In English football, some clubs gradually began to be dominated by head coaches, who often played multiple roles, handled a variety of affairs, and shouldered more and more responsibilities, not just commanding the team to play.

This is why the head coach of an English club was later called a "Manager" instead of a "coach".

The reason why Mangnall was able to become the head coach of the Red Devils was entirely because of the favor of the club's chairman Davis. He hardly dared to believe this opportunity at the time.

After all, Mangnall's previous coaching career was too unlucky, and he could hardly imagine that such a big pie would fall from the sky and land right in front of him.

Mangnall's coaching career did not start smoothly. He went through many twists and turns before he got a chance to coach. The first team he coached was Bolton. As a 32-year-old rookie who had never had any experience as a professional player, Mangnall soon suffered. There was no qualification exam in English football at that time. After Mangnall took office, he lacked theoretical knowledge, experience and ability to match the position, and did not have enough prestige. In the eyes of many players, he was a complete layman who lacked understanding of tactics and training, and even had no basic knowledge. Without ability, Mangnall naturally encountered obstacles in management, and was in a hurry and at a loss when leading the team in the game.

Bolton Wanderers were relegated in the 1898-1899 season, and Mangnall was ruthlessly kicked out by the club. Mangnall then moved to Burnley. When he was at Burnley, the players thought Mangnall was whimsical and out of touch with reality. A play idea that Mangnall came up with was also ridiculed as stinking shit, and no one listened to him. He had a conflict with the players, and the media threw out a critical attack: "He himself has never played a professional game, how can he know how to command others to play?"

Mangnall was also relegated and fired at Burnley.

Even worse was the "bribery" scandal that broke out at Burnley, where goalkeeper Hamilton bribed Nottingham Forest players. In the end, Burnley was deducted points and the players were banned for a year. The media also pointed suspicion at Mangnall, believing that he was the one who instigated the bribery.

Mangnall tried hard to refute the charge and was ultimately not convicted, but he was still humiliated by Burnley and was directly fined salary and liquidated damages.

"Who's the biggest joke as a manager in the English Premier League? Mangnall!"

"An impulsive young man, a disgraceful rookie, is performing the biggest farce in football history!"

"Will Mangnall make a comeback? Impossible. Any club that trusts him is absolutely stupid..."

Mangnall is described by the media as a complete loser: he has no professional experience, was fired after the team was relegated twice as a coach... ridicule has flooded the English football world, and he has almost been judged as a failed waste and an incompetent guy.

The incredible happened and the Red Devils announced Mangnall as head coach in September 1903.

"We share the same suffering and we cherish each other?"

The Red Devils were performing poorly, their head coach had resigned, Mangnall was unemployed and down and out, and in desperate need of a promotion, so Mangnall and the Red Devils hit it off.

This year, Mangnall was 37 years old, and he was also the first coach of the team after it was officially renamed the Red Devils.

An incredible change had taken place in Mangnall.

The two humiliating coaching stints made Mangnall endure humiliation, but they also allowed him to learn lessons and gradually improve his level.

Davis' support was direct and crucial. He agreed to Mangnall's request and bought a number of talented players for the team. Although these players lacked star appeal, they complemented Mangnall.

Mangnall named them, Davis paid for them, and goalkeeper Harry Mogel, midfielder Charlie Roberts, Dick Duckworth and forward Charlie Saga joined the Red Devils very quickly, and the overall strength of the team improved rapidly. Mogel is 188cm tall and was already a top choice among the goalkeepers of the year. He has a long arm span, good jumping ability, excellent physical condition, very calm, and a brilliant performance on the field. Mogel originally played for Southampton, but was suppressed by England goalkeeper Jack Robinson and had few opportunities to perform, so he chose to join the Red Devils. After joining, Mogel became the main goalkeeper of the Red Devils. He played 264 games for the Red Devils in his career and has always performed stably. He is a veritable steel wall and a great contributor to the Mangnall period. Local player Duckworth was originally a center forward, but Mangnall believed that he had stronger organizational skills and frontal assaults, so he arranged for him to retreat to play in the midfield to better play his advantages. Charlie Roberts is mainly responsible for interception defense and frontal tackling. He is very fast and is good at tackling, intercepting, confronting, covering... He is also excellent in both midfield organization and attacking. Roberts has a strong aura, is good at motivating teammates, and has outstanding leadership ability. He is the pillar of the team's midfield and the commander in the game. The Red Devils' three midfielders composed of Duckworth, Roberts and Alex Bell have distinct characteristics, complementary advantages, active running, and tacit cooperation. They can often win advantages for the team in midfield confrontations. Later, they were called the best midfield combination in the English League Two.

Davis's generous money brought many talented players to the team, but in addition to recruiting players, Mangnall was the most critical to the improvement of the Red Devils' combat effectiveness. He made many good suggestions in recruiting players, and it was his insight that allowed the team to sign many key players without spending too much money; and he gradually established his own authority in the team, began to lead the team in training seriously, constantly sculpted the team's formation and playing style, and constantly tried to innovate in tactics, gradually building the team into a constantly improving, energetic and vibrant new team.

Mangnall is very hardworking and meticulous in his work, which has earned him recognition in the team's locker room.

Mangnall pays attention to details, emphasizes teamwork, emphasizes positioning and movement discipline, and pays attention to overall coordination, fundamentally building a strong and sustainable team. Not only that, Mangnall is also very pragmatic, with victory as the goal, even if he plays in a cowardly manner as long as he wins, he often confuses his opponents and waits for opportunities to attack.

This style of play was criticized by fans as utilitarian, but Mangnall said: "This may be a compliment to me. Everyone wants the team to be strong and to defeat whoever they meet. Everyone knows that offense will excite the fans, and it is the happiest to easily crush the opponent. We also want to reach that level, but let's win first."

"Winning is my priority, and with that we can do more." Mangnall got the support of Davis and insisted on his idea.

Mangnall had learned a painful lesson. In his previous two coaching stints, he only focused on the passionate charge, but was repeatedly defeated by the opponent. Now the Red Devils are weak and are not allowed to play the kind of passionate games. Everything must be centered on winning. Mangnall believes that players must have a strong physique and a brave fighting spirit. Mangnall always keeps a close eye on training and does not allow the standards to be relaxed. He was once called a "training maniac" and the players were trained to the point of being miserable.

After hard training, Mangnall began to steadily improve the team's strength.

The dawn soon arrived. The Red Devils coached by Mangnall seemed to have been reborn, and their strength grew rapidly. The Red Devils won the third place in the Second Division in the 1903-1904 and 1904-1905 seasons, and the sprint for promotion was only a thin window paper. In the 1905-1906 season, the Red Devils' strength was further enhanced, and Mangnall became more calm and composed. He commanded the team to play steadily and step by step, and achieved a record of 23 wins, 11 draws and 8 losses in the league. With the second place in the league, they were successfully promoted to the English First Division.

The Red Devils also performed very well in the FA Cup. As a second-tier team, they competed against the first-tier powers and made it to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup for the first time in history.

In this way, Mangnall led the Red Devils from the second division to the first division and achieved the club's goal. With his hard work and solid results, he won the love of the fans, the recognition of the club, and the respect of the media. Mangnall told the world with his results that he was no longer the dead salted fish that everyone hated!

Mangnall has great ambitions. He will not stop at leading the team to promotion. He also wants to lead the team to challenge the English Football League One championship.