OR, "Mum, look at your clever little boy"
Woodward (old thread)
- Thread starter smallred
- Start date
- Status
Haha, I've no issues with it. He isn't a football man, it's not as if he has to pay attention to give a post-match team talk or interview. He's a finance guy who surrounds himself with and takes counsel from football people. It is a bit embarrassing he got caught but he never struck me as someone who'd prioritise watching a football match over sitting down to have a glass of wine and a good book anyway.
He likes to splash the cash.. He even gave Moyes 27m for Fellaini... So imagine what Klopp could get out of him! Leave him alone.
If he were running any other listed company worth a £1 billion, given the shambles that has been the last 10 months, he would have been sacked. He evidently knows his stuff when it comes to the commercial side, and doubtless he has made the Glazers a lot of money. But the way the Moyes situation has been handled is a disgrace, as was last summers transfer shambles.
It seems he knows little to nothing about Football and how things should be done. That's worrying, because I'm not confident that the club will get the next apppintment right either. They've totally changed their intentions in less than a year from picking a younger manager with an eye on the long term future, to probably going for an old hand. It smacks of panic and desperation, rather than long term strategy and I'm concered as to their willingness to do an about turn and not have the courage of their convictions.
At the end of the day, perhaps he needs time to settle into the role. But it doesnt look promising going forward.
It seems he knows little to nothing about Football and how things should be done. That's worrying, because I'm not confident that the club will get the next apppintment right either. They've totally changed their intentions in less than a year from picking a younger manager with an eye on the long term future, to probably going for an old hand. It smacks of panic and desperation, rather than long term strategy and I'm concered as to their willingness to do an about turn and not have the courage of their convictions.
At the end of the day, perhaps he needs time to settle into the role. But it doesnt look promising going forward.
Does he "surround himself with and take Counsel from Football people"? I personally think that's half the issue. The experience walked out with Gill. Fergie will of course be a useful asset, but will he know how to get a deal done - or did Gill handle all of that?
Gill's still part of the process. Andy Mitten said that Gill is still there to give advice and counsel. As is Fergie. All that's changed is the way around things work, the core personnel are quite similar.
Shame on you for not endorsing the popular one. !!!
Agree totally with you on this. My guess is that some fans will struggle to comprehend or acknowledge his role and failures since he joined.
What is interesting is that fans lambasted DM for having the brass balls for pursuing fabrecas. Yet they are happy that there are rumours of the club pursuing even less attainable people like pep, klopp and even messi!!!
Last edited:
Excellent post, RR.
I'd question whether that is the case, and how much involvement Gill has, simply from what's gone on - both in regard to last summer and the way Moyes departure has been handled.
I agree. The suggestion that Moyes is solely responsible for the failings this year is an attractive position to take - it suggests that moving him on will solve all problems. It wont.
Last summer was difficult. Moyes appinted late and Woodward probably not experienced enough to be handling a number of incoming transfers. I suppose, to be fair he hadnt been in the job long so you might let that go.
What's dissapointing is the way the club handled Moyes sacking. It lacked class and frankly made the club look amateur. Worse is the sudden change in direction. It may prove to be the right decision, but generally large businesses have a core opinion on what they should be doing and how they're going to ahcieve it. Moving on to a different type of manager suggest either a) they're admitting they got it completely wrong last year or b) they've totally changed their mind about what is best for the club. Neither is a particular positive development.
feck me there's some nonsense in here. Woodward has small mans syndrome? Moyes has brass balls for going after Fabregas?
He looks like the kid you would love to pick on at school but he's done nothing wrong at this stage. Plus, lets see who the new manager he helps bring in is and what happens next transfer window.
Strange post.
How is Woodward responsible for the shambles of the last ten months? He didn't choose Moyes, and once the appointment was made, Dave was solely responsible for football matters.
It's not Woody's job to know a lot about football, but where's the evidence he doesn't?
Let's wait to see who the club appoint before criticizing it. But if, as they should, the club choose a manager with a proper CV, I won't complain that they've abandoned the 'strategy' which gave us David Moyes.
The only area where Woodward is open to criticism is the part he played in the summer transfer fiasco. But how much of that was Woodward, and how much Moyes? It seems at least to be true that Dave was solely responsible for knocking the Thiago Alcantara signing on the head - the biggest lost opportunity of the summer. My own view, from admittedly little evidence, is that Moyes 'dithering' was the chief culprit in our failure to get what we needed.
Got to love a girl in long boots
What game is this? Is that one of the Glazers' next to him?
The Everton game, it's in the bottom left corner.
It's the Olympiakos game. http://www.manchestereveningnews.co...news/ed-woodward-mobile-phone-picture-6746377
and It's Michael Edelson.
Olympiakos away. Doesn't look like a Glazer, perhaps another club official.
If he spunks £60 million on Cavani he can go. Otherwise I'm prepared to give him this summer to secure his job, he has done positive work regarding commercial deals. He's Glazer's henchman anyway, so I don't see him going anywhere soon.
My mistake, read it completely wrong!I think he will perform a lot better in the next transfer window after a steep learning curve over the last 12 months - he is clearly a smart bloke, albeit he looks a bit shifty compared to the more patrician Gill. And his selling pitch will now hopefully include "come and play for famous manager x" rather than trying to explain to targets who Moyes is.
I'm in awe at the amount of posters that have true insight into the inner workings of our club and the in depth knowledge of the staff's abilities.
Truly I'm not worthy.
Truly I'm not worthy.
Firstly - Woodward, as Chief Exec is there to oversee everything. He manages the people under him and lives and dies by what they do. That's the job of any manager in any job. Its his job to ensure that others are doing theirs. When things leak out about a manager being sacked then he needs to be responsible for that. The club has not come out of this fiasco looking good.
As regards the summer - its evident Moyes told the club who he wanted. They bid early for Fellaini in order that they could also get Baines aswell, and that was early in the summer. That indicates he had a list of targets who did not materialise. The manager will leave it up to the relevant parties to go and get those players. The manager will not be involved in physically contacting the relevant clubs or dealing with the legal/financial ins and outs.
As regards the change of strategy we clearly disagree. The Moyes appointment has not worked out - the next one has too. As it is I dont think appointing a younger coach with a long term vision is a bad idea. I will of course wait until someone is appointed, but the link with Van Gaal looks to me like nobody else is available. The sudden change in approach may work well - who knows, but if not, where do they go next? Its one step away from a revolving door policy you see at other clubs where manager are appinted on name and not with the long term view in mind.
I think the club should look at long term goals - how they want the team to play, what sort of "brand" of football they want, what kind of transfer policy they want - and then pick a manager based on that. We've had Moyes: Young, not particularly slick football and I assume they were aware of this. We now want another manager - possibly a lot older, totally different approach and style. That suggests the club dont actually know what they want but will run the club in line with what a new manager wants rather than the other way round. I think that's dangerous.
My concern is that those in charge, having had the benefit of Gill and Fergie for years - didnt know how good they had it. The Glazers havent needed to be football savvy. Hopefully they get the right advice from the right people and arent swayed solely by whatever a potential prospective manager has to say to them.
He is shit compared to Gill. He knows feck all about our club and it's tradition even working for us for a decade. He is more of a 'yes man' for the glazers which only means trouble for any manager. He lacks the personality a CEO should have to stand up for his manager or go against him based on his vision for the club. I do not expect our club to reach great heights during his period as CEO. Let's hope he proves me wrong.
It's not easy to prove wrong things pulled from thin-air. I'm surprised you didn't accuse him of being shit at the violin
Absolutely . .
You don't have to be unhappy with the DM sacking, to take a step back and get very concerned about the competency of the hierarchy of the club . .
He's been successful for us since 2007. He can negotiate great deals with massive companies worldwide. Thanks to this bloke among others, we can spend a year without CL without needing to worry about our existence. Unless Gill came back, who would we get that knows more about United AND has a strong financial background than him?
I don't want to see anybody leave until they've had a chance to work with a more capable manager. No players, no other staff members, nobody. I think we might have a chance to evaluate people and their skills way better in the coming season than we have had with Dave.
I don't want to see anybody leave until they've had a chance to work with a more capable manager. No players, no other staff members, nobody. I think we might have a chance to evaluate people and their skills way better in the coming season than we have had with Dave.
If he gets us Klopp i would rim any one of the drunk homeless men who hang around piccadilly gardens and post the video on here.
Keep him, he got business done and got Mata in January, he made a big decision regarding Moyes. He clearly has balls, big giant balls. I would like to see him stay.
Wait, what exactly has he done that makes u want to defend him?He messed up our transfers last summer, he needed handholding from gill and fergie over the mata transfer, he overpaid for fellaini and now after a season long feeding us " we will stand by Moyes an support him in the summer transfer window" he goes out and sacks him. I am sure several fans are skeptical over our summer transfer dealings now. His failings as CEO are as clear as moyes's mistakes for everyone to see. He has no vision for our club and I am sure he will falter at the next hurdle as well.
He should stay.
I don't see the benefit in lambasting him when the parts of our season which have cost us dearly have not really come from him (last summer besides).
I'm happy with the job he did over Mata, for instance. Mata/Rooney exchange deal had been whispered for a while, but I'm not convinced anyone took it overly seriously - when, besides Eto'o/ Ibrahimovic, was the last time a major swap deal took place? Instead, we got one of the most talented players in Europe and didn't lose one of our players of the season.
Similarly, on the financial side of things, he's done a great job of covering our arses in terms of sponsorship given the club's spectacular failings on the pitch. The lack of Europe would have made us massively less marketable, and thus in a weaker bargaining position in terms of how much we received. Woodward has ensured that we will have funds to spend going forward, so that we can dig ourselves out of this rut.
I don't see the whole "Glazer puppet" thing as carrying much weight. The same charge was levied at Gill eight years ago, and with time he has proven those dissidents incorrect. Woodward should at least be given a chance to show that he can represent the fans' interests too.
Finally, we should be looking to avoid the mistakes from last summer - the biggest of all being that we had both a new manager and a new CEO arrive at the same time. Not just that, but Woodward's improved performance in the January transfer window shows that this summer may not be so frustrating.
I don't see the benefit in lambasting him when the parts of our season which have cost us dearly have not really come from him (last summer besides).
I'm happy with the job he did over Mata, for instance. Mata/Rooney exchange deal had been whispered for a while, but I'm not convinced anyone took it overly seriously - when, besides Eto'o/ Ibrahimovic, was the last time a major swap deal took place? Instead, we got one of the most talented players in Europe and didn't lose one of our players of the season.
Similarly, on the financial side of things, he's done a great job of covering our arses in terms of sponsorship given the club's spectacular failings on the pitch. The lack of Europe would have made us massively less marketable, and thus in a weaker bargaining position in terms of how much we received. Woodward has ensured that we will have funds to spend going forward, so that we can dig ourselves out of this rut.
I don't see the whole "Glazer puppet" thing as carrying much weight. The same charge was levied at Gill eight years ago, and with time he has proven those dissidents incorrect. Woodward should at least be given a chance to show that he can represent the fans' interests too.
Finally, we should be looking to avoid the mistakes from last summer - the biggest of all being that we had both a new manager and a new CEO arrive at the same time. Not just that, but Woodward's improved performance in the January transfer window shows that this summer may not be so frustrating.
Sack Moyes Suck Woodward?
I miss the good caf.
I miss the good caf.
Cavani talk does boggle the mind.
Firstly who the heck is earmarking him as we don't even have a manager, and how the hell would we fit him in?
He looked bloody awful against Chelsea
Take down the Matt Busby statue, rename the street!
None of us know enough to have a genuine opinion on him surely?
Outside of commercial deals and informing Moyes he was sacked, who can say what his contribution has been since becoming Chief Execuitve?
Outside of commercial deals and informing Moyes he was sacked, who can say what his contribution has been since becoming Chief Execuitve?
I think he is more like the brains behind the whole operation since he is the one that advised the Glazers on the takeover . I think it's good to have a man with such influence on the owners directly involved with the football side because he is more likely to argue on the technical team's side regarding things like investment into the playing side etc . Woodward is not stupid and neither are the Glazers, they both know the correlation that exists between on pitch performance and commercial revenue and they will also know that investments on the scale like expected this summer will not be necessary from here on in till the next cycle .
What I an guarantee you is that if we sake him tonight by Monday he will be in a corner office at the Bernabeu or the Allianze Arena doing what he knows best . After his stint with us he will be the most sought after football executive in Europe .
It would only make sense if he is very popular in S America and the US to consolidate our commercial foothold in the States . Otherwise there is no legitimate football reason to spend that much on him ! I genuinely hope we aren't embarking on Perez's Galactico path in an attempt to fuel the commercial growth engine . There are two PSG players I would think will be of more help to us and the figure being touted should be enough to get both or come very close .
According to some reports Gill/Woodward had done the groundwork for the Thiago transfer last year but in summer Moyes dithered and changed his mind cos he wanted Woodward to go for Fabregas instead, and we ended up with neither. And if the manager asks Woodward to enquire about a potential target they have to be at least realistic and available. So how is this the CE's fault if they are not and the bid fails?
I agree. From what I've seen of Cavani he isn't worth half that. Good player but not even in the same class as Suarez, Ibrahimovic, Falcao.
Sir Alex, is that you??
Absolutely spot on. The next appointment will be an even bigger decision to make than the Moyes one. We've sacked the one man who was in it for the long haul and frankly he expected more time and as a result he's left the club in a poor position with no champions league and 2 purchases which may not suit another manager. We now need to find someone with the adequate experience of winning as well as the ability to stay at the club and finish this rebuilding that has started.
I personally think if we sign the wrong manager now we'll rue sacking Moyes for the years on end after we suffer a Liverpool style decline.
I remember reading the same too. I posted yesterday about Moyes being labelled 'Dithering Dave' at Everton. You wonder if our problems in the market weren't Woodward's incompetence but Moyes' indecision.
- Status