THE 93:20 NEWSLETTER:- ISSUE 80

Author

Howard Hockin
January 09, 2026

Hello, and welcome to Issue 80 of the 93:20 Newsletter, and it’s an important one, as it’s imperative that we once more laugh at Manchester United. It seems ill timing to be laughing at United, considering City’s current issues, but there’s levels to this, and United rarely disappoint.

There will of course be the risk of repetition in my words, but some words are worth repeating, for football’s ultimate Groundhog Year club. There’s still room in another bumper issue to have a quick dig at Arsenal and Richard Keys, which is nice.

Remember, you can help me sustain this newsletter by making a donation, if that’s agreeable to you. Do not worry, if not. It’s therapeutic for me to type furiously once a week – or so Dr Jones tells me.

It’s great to realise, but United once more are a club controlled by short-term thinking. Not that great, because I think like many blues, the sacking of Amorim is bad news in the scheme of things. Like all their post-Ferguson managers, we’d prefer they remained in place for as long as possible, but our dreams are always shattered eventually. Nevertheless, another manager moving on with a huge pay off is always worth taking the day off to dig out some old tweets, have a good laugh, reminisce about United fans’ giddiness at the time of the manager’s arrival, and generally drink it all in.

Naturally, Gary Neville has produced his near-annual video, talking about DNA when considering the ideal next United manager, United of course being the club that stand against the immediacy of modern football, the club that has had two great managers in its history. Poor Matthijs de Ligt - he has started every single professional season under a different manager, and will soon do so again. Neville’s opinion is essentially redundant, as everyone knows there are numerous people at the club, in positions of power, that Neville will never criticise, as he will not burn his bridges, or remove the opportunity of future employment at the club. As for the club itself, their DNA seems to be little more than hiring City staff, and pouncing for every player City are linked with, plus failure, mismanagement, debt and underachievement. Harking on continuously about the old days and what they stand for will continue to hold them back, so please don’t stop. Over at The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast, such gems as this were being put forth by Class of 92 stragglers: “People forget how good Roy Keane was as a manager...". Magnificent. The “Class of 92” and their ilk simply add to the decline with their nonsense, as it comes with influence, and it pains me to say that such views only adds to the genius of Alex Ferguson, as none of his players seem to have a brain cell between them. I'm baffled as to how he got his ideas across to them, unless we accept that tactics weren't quite as important in those days.

Either way, more money swills down the drain. The inevitable huge pay off for Amorim makes a mockery of the supposed need to sack canteen staff and security guys, and end free lunches. United were bloated staff-wise, and needed to act on that, but that doesn't justify the methods, and was a further example of Ratcliffe's terrible PR. United have spent £88.4m on management payoffs since 2013. As for Amorim, he seemed like a nice man, and is now an even wealthier one. I’ve never seen a man happier to be sacked, though there was no paparazzi the day I left the DWP, more’s the pity. He was never going to be a man of his word, prepared to walk without a pay-off, instead creating a situation where his position was untenable and had to be sacked.

Now the men in suits will argue over the successor, with huge disagreements, as there is no philosophy or plan in place. Who that will be remains to be seen. Perhaps Darren Fletcher will have a good month, United will get giddy and repeat their Solskjaer mistake and slam a huge contract in his face, goaded by an even giddier Rio Ferdinand. They’ve tried everything now. They’ve tried the craggy Glaswegian Ferguson successor, the big European names, one specifically brought in to “tactically best” Pep. They’ve promoted from within, hired up-and-coming European managers, including those that City were thought to be sniffing around. What is left? Back to the drawing board. Maybe their DNA will help them decide.

And still they will attract “big” names, as there is a constant and revolving list of managers who think they can be the saviour, and lick their lips at the win/win situation an appointment provides – either her7oric status forever with all at the club, and its billions of fans (three, apparently), or get a nice pay-off with their reputation intact. They never stood a chance, after all.

As always, the people who made a number of terrible decisions over the past 18 months will be the ones whose jobs are safest. There is no trapdoor for them. Jim Ratcliffe cannot afford to restructure again at a corporate level, and the Glazers are laughing their arses off at not being name-checked during all of this. This is the food chain in operation, where the real incompetents delegate their failures. I mean, Jason Wilcox was never transforming Manchester United, was he? Omar Berrada should have realised when he was onto a good thing. Yeah, we all need to refresh in life, but to choose United ensures he deserves zero sympathy. We all assume these high-flying, super-wealthy executives, and their billionaire owners are smarter and better than us. It is not always the case. And the skills the owners have amassed during their lives do not always translate to the unique biosphere of a football club. Not that Jim Ratcliffe can fall back on that knowledge. Global circumstances may not have been kind to him, but he has £18bn of debt to deal with, and the vulture funds are circling. As reported in the Telegraph, the refinery at Grangemouth appears condemned, Ineos is shutting down three factories in Germany, a plastics facility in Ohio, laying off staff at another in Illinois, and making a fifth of the workforce redundant at a plant in Hull. An aggressive move into sport has been pared back too. Funding for the America’s Cup sailing team was pulled, leading to a bitter falling out with Sir Ben Ainslie. Sponsorships with the New Zealand All Blacks and Tottenham Hotspur have ended, and reports claim Ineos is looking to sell French football club OGC Nice after six years of ownership. In November, Ineos offloaded motorcycle jacket brand Belstaff, writing off £320m of loans to the business in the process.
Apart from that though, it’s all going pretty well.

When assessing this omnishambles of a football club/brand, it’s worth a brief recap over Dan Ashworth. United pursued him for many months, then disposed of him because his views did not suit others at the club – did they not check on what his ideas were before appointing him? He got a £4.1m payoff, which pays for one hell of a canteen, and one of his views was not to hire Ruben Amorim. Ashworth was a man who was on gardening leave longer than he was in post at United.

I remember when news broke of Omar Berrada leaving City, and moving to United. I was in Grub in Manchester, with fellow blues. It seemed like big news to many around the table, on my WhatsApp groups and naturally online. To me it had the emotional impact of running out of milk. A shrug of the shoulder. Oh well. Whose round is it?

I'm never going to be overly-emotional about a suit moving on. Txiki was so important, but also not important. I save my attention for players and managers, with a bit for the coaches too. A bit for the owner too, A little bit left over for Directors of Football and the like. But if they leave, then so be it. They do so with my thanks, and we get someone else in. Not that arsed. They are all vital, and at City have done amazing work (jury still out on set piece coach, sorry), and I do not want to sound cold, but I cannot commit such attention to everything. Very reductive of me I know, but you can expend too much energy on following your football club, and I already do. I'm not taking on any more, even if the actions of Txiki and Viana directly affect what happens on the pitch. The energy reduces with age.

Back to United. As it has turned out, it seems Darren Fletcher has actually only one more game as manager. The stories coming out of United just make it all the more hilarious, offering further proof that this is a football club that's simply refuses to learn lessons. Alex Ferguson has been sticking his nose in again, meeting with Berrada and Wilcox. It now looks like Ole will be back at the wheel of the clown mobile, and a permanent contract at a later date would surprise no one. This is a guy last seen failing at Besiktas, lasting seven months. For United to find themselves in the same position as seven years ago when he was first appointed is beyond embarrassing, and that’s how his unveiling will surely feel. And in seven years’ time, don’t be surprised if for the 3rd time, Ole is sworn in to cover once the next failed Portuguese appointment has scuttled off with millions in the bank. Honestly, if I was trying to bring down United from within, I’d do nothing different.

As for Ole, it’s fair to say this is a move I can fully get behind. To quote the great sage Rio Ferdinand: “Get the contract out, put it on the table. Let him sign it, let him write whatever numbers he wants to put on there.” DNA, innit?

I have been mocking and actually praying for a Gareth Southgate appointment at United for years now. Fact is, United have sunk so low, that he is now the sensible appointment. The issues go beyond tactics, and the club needs a man as holistic as Manuel Pellegrini to settle the ship, and Southgate is the best man for that, even if he has other flaws. His natural caution would be the antithesis of the pretend DNA the likes of Gary Neville flaunt, linked to attacking football, but would make them harder to beat.

And when I step back, it's easy to be down on City this week, so it probably helps to consider the situation at United and elsewhere. City are having a lull, as all teams do. We will plausibly start next season with Semenyo, Anderson, Guehi (or alternative) and a right back added to our squad. There's real reason to be excited about the future, once we recover from the 115 charge multi-division relegation, and I've been picturing next season for a while as the beginning of the new City, and when we should expect our team to be in the reckoning for all the major trophies.

Next week we will come up against another "big" club managed by a caretaker. At least he'll be able to do some of the jobs of the actual one, who Jim Ratcliffe sacked a few months ago. We faced a caretaker manager at Chelsea this week. Many Liverpool fans want Slot gone, just months after his title triumph. For me, it puts matters into perspective. It could be always be worse, and across the City, it will be. Spurs continue to be Spurs, and always will be. Arsenal are looking to win their first title in over 20 years. Only 3 Premier League managers have retained a title. Pep won four on the bounce. Could be worse.

And Finally…. X 2

The Martinelli/Bradley incident at the end of the Arsenal v Liverpool match on Thursday evening showed for me the inability for proper, rational analysis of anything in football, where tribalism and immediate outrage rule. I think Bradley’s subsequent injury misses the point for many judging Martinelli. Surely what is key for me is this: Martinelli did not know the nature of Bradley’s injury (though him collapsing with no one near him could have provided clues), Bradley did make a roll towards the pitch, as most players would, and thus, when you actually take all this into account and assess the situation as it played out, we can say with more certainty – Martinelli is still a d**k, embarrassed himself, and his manager is even more of one.
Hope that helps.

Richard Keys

I said last week that Keys was such a parody of himself it was impossible to be offended by anything he says – no one takes him seriously, after all, as replies to any comment on social media shows. However, Fair play to the man, he was intent on proving me wrong, with his thoughts on the sad death of Terry Yorath, where he somehow managed to make it all about himself. You’d think he was an Arsenal fan. Narcissist, no self-awareness, totally detached from reality, he’s like a lite, fun version of Donald Trump. I shall nevertheless persevere with his blogs.

For all our thoughts on City, the excellent signing of Semenyo, and more – well, you’ll have to check out our podcasts for that….I can’t believe I am saying it, but – well done, Liverpool.

WHAT WE HAVE BEEN UP TO THIS WEEK

THE 93:20 REVIEW:- KNOCKOUT BLOWS

Ste and Ahsan look back at the draw against Chelsea and all the wider talking points it’s thrown up. Plus a quick laugh at the comedy club in Salford.

THE MARKET:- EPISODE 50

Ahsan is joined by Lloyd to breakdown the very latest on Mark Guehi. Are there other names on the January list? Yes. How likely is Guehi to move to City? All covered. Plus more Semenyo chat.

THE 93:20 REVIEW:- LIMPING

Howard is joined by Dom to discuss another disappointing draw. Chances missed, fatigue, Phil, title races, new signings and much more. A massive 90-minute show, covering all angles.

OPPOSITION FAN:- EXETER CITY

Howard chatted to Tom Vickery about all things Exeter City. Financial woes, good form, the magic of the cup, the Adam Stansfield Foundation and more!

THE WEEKEND SHOW:- CUPS HALF FULL

The usual huge show with Ahsan and Lloyd, Looking back at disappointing draws, the title race, the signing of Semenyo, transfers, previewing the FA Cup, and more!

If you are not a subscriber to our player shows, then enjoy some free samples of what we are about. Every show we do will have a 15 minutes sample on Soundcloud, along with a full, free weekly Friday show, jam- packed with content. Give it a try!