Seeking help to control a lifelong addiction with #ManchesterUnited.
Manchester, UK
Joined August 2009
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Steve Connolly retweeted
The Man City appeal is set for December, according to reports in the FT and confirmed by The Lawyer. The timing means that, if the appeal fails, sanctions COULD be issued this season, depending on how long the appeal decision takes. But it will be tight.
thelawyer.com/manchester-cit…
Steve Connolly retweeted
Michael Carrick sacked by MUFC.
Top lad, got the team in the Champions League against expectations. Gave it his all, night and day. Protected others, never threw anyone under a bus. Worked in difficult circumstances. Leaves with head held high. I wish him and his staff the very best.
Steve Connolly retweeted
“The reason why #MUFC fans have continued to support Michael Carrick in recent weeks is they know responsibility for United’s problems do not primarily rest with him or indeed his predecessors as manager. They lie with the ownership.” Manchester United Supporters’ Trust.
Steve Connolly retweeted
What a fantastic day at Windsor Castle to receive my MBE from Prince William. I was dead nervous beforehand, but was then ok chatting with him about football and our work with the homeless over the last 10 years at the Macari Centre.
Steve Connolly retweeted
Carrick was failing and he certainly was not blameless. But there's context that some complete & utter arseholes are conveniently ignoring while dancing on his grave.
The board failed him in the summer.
Rashford doesn't want to be there.
Martinez doesn't want to be there.
And I've little doubt there are others who feel exactly the same after the failure to properly invest in the squad.
Then you've players who already know their contracts won't be renewed.
Think about that dressing room. Players who don't want to be at United alongside players who know United don't want them.
How the fuck is any manager supposed to build something in that environment?
Carrick was brave enough to step in when the club needed him. He did a wonderful job initially and earned his opportunity. His shortcomings have since been exposed and ultimately his position became untenable.
But let's not rewrite history.
Carrick inherited a mess he didn't create. He deserved better support than he received and he certainly deserves better than some of the shite being thrown at him recently.
Carrick has lost his job. The people who failed him will carry on in theirs.
Steve Connolly retweeted
It is a sad reflection of modern football that the man who cares most about Manchester United, who will loyally, diligently again go into Carrington today to try and tackle the mess, is the one being eased out by those gathering in Monaco and via a link to Florida who don’t truly have United in their heart. Those who are primarily responsible for the mess.
Michael Carrick will leave the club sooner or later but the club will never leave him. United mean too much to him. He gave everything for the team in 464 games. His son plays for their academy. Being United head coach is not simply a job for Carrick, it's an honour he feels deeply proud of.
The manager who last season masterminded home wins over Manchester City, Aston Villa and Liverpool and away triumphs at Arsenal, Chelsea and Brighton has undoubtedly made mistakes this season. Diogo Dalot at left-back, not bringing Shea Lacey on earlier, etc. The poor run, and tumble into the relegation positions, inevitably means his job is on the line.
It is possible to understand why Carrick should lose his job but also why others should be held accountable, too. The decision on Carrick would be more palatable if it weren’t being formulated and then executed by Omar Berrada, Jason Wilcox, Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the loathed Glazers. What good have they done to this great club? Debts and decline, holes in the roof and in the squad.
Carrick’s contribution to the history of Manchester United is substantial and his legacy secure – winning five titles and taking responsibility for a penalty in the 2008 shootout that helped win the Champions League.
At the very least, Carrick deserves to be treated with far more respect than is currently being shown to a dignified, hard-working individual as the clock ticks down on his departure. His exit is being handled appallingly by the club. Red man walking. At least United fans are showing all the class their board lacks. The Stretford End sings Carrick’s name because they know he is not the real problem.
It will be no surprise in weeks to come to spot Carrick standing, hood up, with United fans at an away game. They will welcome him warmly. He’s done it before, being a fan again. Carrick loves the club. He has ever since he was an apprentice at West Ham United, charged with keeping the away dressing-room tidy, and admiring how Alex Ferguson and his smartly-dressed collection of winners strode into the Boleyn Ground. They had an aura, and Carrick wanted to be part of that.
Carrick will leave the club physically, dismissed as much for the failings of underperforming players, those incompetents in charge of recruitment and the unpopular owners, as for his own undoubted mistakes. But Carrick will never leave United emotionally. It's sad that someone who cares so much will go, and those who don't care as much remain. #MUFC
Steve Connolly retweeted
🚨🗣️ @David_Ornstein on Mauricio Pochettino:
"When ten Hag’s job was on the line in 2024, United spoke to Pochettino (among others: Tuchel, Amorim, De Zerbi, Thomas Frank, Marco Silva, McKenna). I didn’t hear the best feedback from how it went. I was told they were a little underwhelmed - the feedback wasn’t the best in their eyes regarding his coaching at the time, his hunger, his work rate, etc. They ended up taking Tuchel and De Zerbi to the last two and ultimately gave ten Hag a new contract.
There have been a number of occasions of this Pochettino consideration. It’s quite remarkable to think they could have taken him for free this summer (his contract was expiring after the World Cup). They had a vacancy because Carrick was only interim; they felt Carrick could earn the permanent job. They clearly didn’t think Pochettino was the man then.
If they turn to him now they will have to pay around $10M for his release clause with the US men’s national team, a few million more for staff, then his salary, plus the cost of removing Carrick and his staff. A very expensive decision not to go with him in the summer if they go with him now."
[@TheAthleticFC pod]
Steve Connolly retweeted
When Michael Carrick goes, should the director of football Jason Wilcox go as well? Was he over-promoted when Dan Ashworth left? Ashworth was “best in class”, very experienced. Wilcox wasn’t/isn't "best in class". Recruitment has been a mess, namely the transfer strategy of targeting one area, midfield, this summer. So naive. Some strengthening required with Casemiro gone and Ugarte injured/not good enough but the team were crying out for investment at left-back and striker. £50m for Andrey Santos? United are not buying best in class.
DoF should be working to a club’s DNA. United’s historic identity is well-known: attacking with pace, width, intensity, expression, defiance and the dash of youth. Playing football the Matt Busby way, the Alex Ferguson way. Those days are long gone, United don't have anywhere near the quality of player or manager, but attempting to follow principles laid down by Busby and Ferguson, which fans crave, should be Wilcox's stated ambition.
But Wilcox hasn’t recruited to restore that DNA. Properly-run football operations like Brighton sell players/change coaches but have an established DNA and way of playing (attacking, pressing). Brighton have best in class recruitment, data with due diligence into character. United don't.
Carrick can go but the problem remains. Reports suggest that United pursue Mauricio Pochettino as Carrick’s successor. Good choice. He’s a very good manager, man-manager, great with the media (coffees and chats in London with journos he knows), diplomatic with those upstairs and popular amongst staff. Poch would have a short-term bounce but will he have the players? United's problem is short-term and long-term, and Wilcox has to take responsibility for that.
United will remain stuck in a doom cycle until best in class is appointed to run recruitment and better players - with the right character - are bought. United will continue to drift until the debilitating, debt-stained ownership model changes, and they get back to being a great football club first and foremost with the whole commercial operation supporting that, not interest repayments. #MUFC
Steve Connolly retweeted
Netflix is quietly hoping you never type a number into your browser.
I did.
There are thousands of genre and subgenre pages the homepage will never show you: 90-minute movies, noir thrillers, cult sci-fi, tearjerkers, gentle British reality TV, deep sea horror, gritty courtroom dramas. Each one has a code, and the codes have been around since the days when Netflix mailed DVDs.
The homepage shows you rows built from what you already watched. The codes skip that and open the category directly. Nothing extra gets unlocked, because every title is already in your plan. You’ve just never been shown the shelf.
Go to netflix.com/browse/genre/ in a web browser, add a code at the end, and press Enter.
You’ve been scrolling for 20 minutes saying “there’s nothing to watch” while sitting on a library organized into categories Netflix never put on the front screen.
A former streaming content tagger someone who spent years watching movies and labeling them by genre, mood, and theme so the recommendation engine could sort them walked me through it. She said: “People think the homepage is the catalog. It’s not. It’s a guess about you. The categories are how the catalog is actually organized, and most people have never seen a single one.”
Here’s how to use them, and the 10 codes most worth bookmarking 🧵
Steve Connolly retweeted
🚨 Manchester United intend to relieve Michael Carrick of duties. #MUFC say no final decision & nothing set in stone but work undertaken on replacements + multiple sources anticipate change before Liverpool. W/ @lauriewhitwell @AdamCrafton_ @TheAthleticFC nytimes.com/athletic/7768165…
Steve Connolly retweeted
What a fantastic evening at Old Trafford celebrating 40 years of Sir Alex taking the reign at @ManUtd. Catching up with the boys and some great speeches about how he achieved to leave such a mark on this club! – at Manchester, England
Steve Connolly retweeted
Jason Wilcox and Omar Berrada need to show some accountability. They can’t keep leaving it to Michael Carrick to take the heat for the mess Manchester United are in. Wilcox and Berrada are responsible for much of the mess. Wilcox has been United's director of football since June 2025 (and was sporting director from December 2024). Berrada has been chief executive since July 2024. They owe it to United supporters to try to explain the mess, and why a club that generates so much money ended up with two 20-year-olds at centre-back, and why the squad is imbalanced.
Even if talking only via in-house media and dodging issues of ownership and coach succession, Wilcox and Berrada need to demonstrate some contrition and give mutinous fans some hope that they will get things right (even if many fans want them gone).
Small violin but it can’t be easy sitting there in games watching this mess, hearing the chants about them, having the cameras on them. But it’s even worse for fans paying to sit there, watching Wilcox and Berrada’s poor stewardship of their beloved club. So show some leadership and address the mess. #MUFC
Steve Connolly retweeted
Millions of laptops get thrown out every single year for being "too slow." And the hardware inside them is almost never the problem.
Not the processor. Not the RAM. Not the age of the machine. Not the brand. And not the fact that a newer model just launched.
Last month I almost spent $1,800 on a brand new MacBook.
Mine had been getting worse for about a year. It took almost 2 minutes to boot, the fan screamed like a jet engine every time I joined a Zoom call, and every new tab felt like loading through a straw. I was convinced it was dying. I had the checkout page open and my thumb hovering over the button.
Then a friend dragged me to see an IT technician with 15 years of experience, who has fixed thousands of laptops for offices, students, freelancers, and small businesses. Most of them walk in saying the exact same sentence: "It just got slow for no reason."
He took my laptop, spent about 5 minutes on it, and handed it back feeling brand new. Then he said something I haven't stopped thinking about:
"Nobody's laptop is actually slow. What's slow is everything that's been quietly piling up underneath it since the day you bought it. Background programs, a stuffed drive, a browser full of junk, years of dust. None of it shows on the screen, so you blame the machine. And the store is more than happy to let you."
He then walked me through the exact 6 things he checks first, in order, every single time. None of them cost money. Most take under 2 minutes. Several of them made me feel genuinely ridiculous for how close I came to spending $1,800.
Here's the full breakdown 🧵
Steve Connolly retweeted
😡 "They wouldn't know who was in the team!"
😔 "It's disappointing, the direction that football has gone!"
Former Man Utd chairman Martin Edwards is not particularly impressed by the club's current owners!
Subscribe to the talkSPORT YouTube channel!
Steve Connolly retweeted
🚨🎙️Tim Sherwood: ''Manchester United have the most forgiving fans ever...''
“I was so impressed with the Man United fans. I was so impressed with them. The other night [against Roma], I was watching that game, and I was thinking they could have been a lot harsher on them.
You know, they've had to watch this for years and years. And they still expect that at that football club. And they're absolutely right because they've watched teams over the years win trophies and trophies, the biggest trophies. But they're having a real lull. That's an understatement.
But they still cheer them on after being 2-0 down, and they come back. It was like Old Trafford, like how we remembered Old Trafford.
It looked like a FORTRESS in the second half. As soon as they scored the first goal, you felt they were just going to go on to win this game, and the fans continued to get behind them.
Fantastic support, because of what they've been watching over the last 10 or so years. They've had to watch rubbish there, but they still turn up in their numbers. They still get behind their team.
They are the MOST FORGIVING bunch of fans I've ever seen.”
#MUFC [@SkySportsNews]
Steve Connolly retweeted
Great stuff out there on Avram’s comments — and I even think that the relevant comparison is Barca and Real. They have not only caught up with United, they have left United in the dust.
It is in no way shape or form an exaggeration to claim Ineos and the Glazers extreme incompetence is costing the club 200-300m a year. It’s low. If we look at where the top clubs in European football where 10 years ago, and see the paths chosen by the clubs, the result is scary.
During the Glazer sell process — which is the reason I set up this account, it’s my area of expertise — I repeatedly posted that I would have zero concerns about whomever buys MUFC not investing in the squad. Zero concerns. The need for outside investment was why the Glazers put up the club for sale.
What I am trying to say is that the notion that the issues within MUFC are bigger than Ineos could see from the outside is absurd BS. Everyone else will 100% looked at the club and calculated that it needed ~£1bn. Ineos went, it needs nothing ($300m which barely covered the lawyer fees, firing and hiring a bunch of managers and fixing Carrington), we will just fire half the work force.
Steve Connolly retweeted
Thing that Carragher misses in his ‘United have only won things with legendary figureheads like Sir Matt and Sir Alex, so that’s what they need to get back to the top’, argument.
1) Neither Sir Matt, nor Sir Alex were “Legendary figureheads” before joining United. Sir Matt hadn’t even managed anywhere else. Sir Alex had done fantastic at Aberdeen but hadn’t exactly become a legendary manager.
2) Louis Rocca spent years building the best scouting network in the country and recruiting a lot of amazing talent before Sir Matt joined.
3) Sir Alex spent 6 years rebuilding United from top to bottom, setting a culture and reimplementing Sir Matt’s youth policy.
4) Both Sir Matt and Sir Alex received huge support from the owners who gave them time to build what they wanted, because they shared the same vision.
5) For the record, United have won titles with 3 managers, not 2. We also won two league titles with Ernest Mangnall. Do your research @Carra23.
6) Both LvG and Jose were “Legendary figureheads” when they joined United. How did they do? 3 cups between them.
7) He says that Klopp was “more than a manager”, comically implying he was also a “Legendary figurehead” BEFORE he joined Liverpool.
Reality is, he’d won 2 league titles and a cup with BvB after he’d relegated Mainz. Decent record. But hardly stuff of legends. It also took him 4 years to build his team at Liverpool and win the CL and 5 years before he won the league.
It took Arteta almost SEVEN years to win the league with Arsenal. Was he a “legendary manager”? No. He hadn’t even managed a club before.
So what did he and Klopp have in common with Sir Matt and Sir Alex? They were all given time and support by owners who shared the same vision and gave them proper support.
In the past 13 years, we have had decent managers who had achieved as much as Klopp had (if not more) before he joined Liverpool. But they failed.
We’ve also had two legendary managers who also failed.
So managers have come and gone. But what’s the only thing that’s stayed exactly the same throughout? The owners and the way they run the club.
It really isn’t rocket science, Carra.
