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    Your manager might be thinking, how did it get this way in the first place, and what's going to stop it from ending up the same way after years of you rewriting it? Commented Feb 3, 2014 at 13:16
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    If your boss cannot tell the need to refactor from the need to rewrite, then possibly he can't tell rewriting from refactoring either. Consider rewriting anyway and dressing it up in the words he wants to hear. Commented Feb 3, 2014 at 13:17
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    The question doesn't make it clear what your manager's motivation is for preferring refactoring to rewriting. If you've already told your manager that you think it needs rewritten then your next step relies entirely on why he/she is choosing to go against your advice. Ask them, they might have a good reason. If they don't have a good reason at least you'll understand what is motivating their decision making and you can tailor your explanation to show them why your approach is superior. Commented Feb 3, 2014 at 13:25
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    He's probably read Joel Spolsky's "Things You Should Never Do, Part I": joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000069.html Commented Feb 3, 2014 at 14:58
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    @tom - isn't that refactoring? The major difference between the two as far as I can tell is that continually refactoring keeps the program running while the code is gradually replaced whereas a re-write means that at no point will the old code interact with the new, meaning that no-one can use the new code until it is near feature-complete Commented Feb 3, 2014 at 17:26