Castles: Inside story on Man Utd battle between Mourinho and Woodward

#07

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Snafu17

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Not much of an inside story is it? More of recap of the things you all already know. Save yourself the click, it's not worth reading.
 

Kush

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Looks like Castle didn't get his feed from Jose, bit of a nothing article.

Hopefully we can stop talking about that window soon enough, it's over now like the man said. Let's make with what we have until January.
 

DWelbz19

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Interestingly Castles says the second player Spurs were interested in was Mata. Is that common knowledge from other briefings? First I’ve heard of it.
 

Kag

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Interestingly Castles says the second player Spurs were interested in was Mata. Is that common knowledge from other briefings? First I’ve heard of it.
McNulty at the BBC reported it, too. Only place I've read it, though.
 

Wednesday at Stoke

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Interestingly Castles says the second player Spurs were interested in was Mata. Is that common knowledge from other briefings? First I’ve heard of it.
Its been parroted in every other report from the likes of Guardian, Mirror etc after the transfer window so very likely a coordinated leak by the club.
 

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Adds nothing to the briefing we’ve already seen regurgitated in all the other papers. Except some mild piss-taking about Woodward being laughed at by Madrid, yet again.
And his consistent jibes at Shaw, regardless of his performances.
 

noodlehair

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We won't hear Jose's side of the story on this, because Woodward's one already makes Woodward look like the idiot.

When you read between the lines to pick out the facts you also see that the massive drama being created simply doesn't exist.

Mourinho wanted a top class centreback, the club failed to get one. The Varane thing is extremely silly but if we were after someone better than all of the ones we have, we really never had much chance to begin with...so maybe it was worth an ask at a point where we had nothing to lose. There just aren't very many top class centrebacks around at the moment.
 

Pogue Mahone

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We won't hear Jose's side of the story on this, because Woodward's one already makes Woodward look like the idiot.

When you read between the lines to pick out the facts you also see that the massive drama being created simply doesn't exist.

Mourinho wanted a top class centreback, the club failed to get one. The Varane thing is extremely silly but if we were after someone better than all of the ones we have, we really never had much chance to begin with...so maybe it was worth an ask at a point where we had nothing to lose. There just aren't very many top class centrebacks around at the moment.
:lol: True.
 

noodlehair

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And his consistent jibes at Shaw, regardless of his performances.
I read it more as a long jibe at Woodward. Part of which was criticising Woodward for seeing Shaw as a long term signing. Which makes little sense when it was Jose who spent time over the summer convincing Shaw he had a future here.
 

yumtum

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Woodward must not have heard of Bonucci before, cos he's a top class CB that would have improved us.
 

United Pro

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I read it more as a long jibe at Woodward. Part of which was criticising Woodward for seeing Shaw as a long term signing. Which makes little sense when it was Jose who spent time over the summer convincing Shaw he had a future here.
He was definitely going after Woodward, but he also doesn't say anything positive about Shaw. Last night after Shaw scored, he tweeted "First goal of Luke Shaw’s professional career is the product of a poor first touch...". Has to put a negative spin on it.

Also, Castles mentioned several times that Mourinho wanted Shaw sold to fund a move for Sandro. It's when Shaw/Woodward refused that Mourinho may have integrated him back into the team (largely due to injuries and lack of playing time coming from the world cup for the other full backs). It'd be great to see him get a proper shot at first team football though.
 

noodlehair

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He was definitely going after Woodward, but he also doesn't say anything positive about Shaw. Last night after Shaw scored, he tweeted "First goal of Luke Shaw’s professional career is the product of a poor first touch...". Has to put a negative spin on it.

Also, Castles mentioned several times that Mourinho wanted Shaw sold to fund a move for Sandro. It's when Shaw/Woodward refused that Mourinho may have integrated him back into the team (largely due to injuries and lack of playing time coming from the world cup for the other full backs). It'd be great to see him get a proper shot at first team football though.
I always take Castles with a pinch of salt. He obviously gets info from Mourinho but he also likes to make shit up and fester his opinions into things. I doubt Jose tells him to slag off Shaw. It's just a byproduct from when people were using Shaw's apparent bad treatment as bait to criticise Mourinho.

Castles isn't smart enough to understand this isn't Luke Shaw's fault so thinks attacking Luke Shaw is defending Mourinho.
 

17Larsson

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The transfer season is closed and we seem to have lost according to most people.
Now the actual football has started, why are there still articles on transfers? We don't care anymore. We just want to watch football and so far it looks pretty positive
 

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I always take Castles with a pinch of salt. He obviously gets info from Mourinho but he also likes to make shit up and fester his opinions into things. I doubt Jose tells him to slag off Shaw. It's just a byproduct from when people were using Shaw's apparent bad treatment as bait to criticise Mourinho.

Castles isn't smart enough to understand this isn't Luke Shaw's fault so thinks attacking Luke Shaw is defending Mourinho.
Agreed. He definitely gets info from Mourinho's side but because of that, at times, he comes across as having an agenda against certain people. The team is lacking in certain key areas, but the squad overall is very decent. Castles refuses to believe that any part of the poor performances is on Mourinho. Saying that, the other extreme of negative PR Mourinho gets is ridiculous at times.
 

#07

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Interestingly Castles says the second player Spurs were interested in was Mata. Is that common knowledge from other briefings? First I’ve heard of it.
I noticed this too. I would have been happy with cash plus Mata for Alderweireld.

The other notable element of the piece is the hint at its end that Jose’s time could be up. That struck me as odd cos our team is plenty good enough to finish fourth and that’s the Glazers’ target.

The undertone seemed to be that Woodward will blame Jose for his own failures and look to fire him if he doesn’t hit a target Castles doesn’t explain.
 

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They have to write about something. The only way to change them is to get out there and win every fecking game.
 

Rory 7

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Can I make a suggestion for the Caf? Its specifically in relation to these kinds of articles. Can we make a 'Great Articles/Great Read' thread in the United forum. A thread dedicated to really good reads in the press. Every now and again there's a few but the like of this one gets us nowhere. I'd start the thread myself but don't have an example to hand of what I mean...
 

0161_UNITED

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Personally, I think too much is being made of this, trying to paint it as a binary Ed vs. Jose conflict, as if there is nobody else involved internally in evaluating transfers.

I’m not interested in blindly defending Woodward, and certainly there’s some concern that it seems possible that the club has certain player profiles that Jose either isn’t aware of, or disagrees with. However, I contend that the club (read Woodward if you feel so inclined) reasoning is, at the very least, sound and sensible.

We can only really talk about what we hear from the media, so let’s start with that. Now again, a disclaimer, I certainly am not a fan of considering what we hear from the media as a matter of fact. However, it’s all we have to discuss the matter. So, I’m NOT stating this as fact, but illustrating points.

What we’re hearing:
Couldn’t get Varane, but would push out the boat for him. Whatever, a waste of time most likely, but we’re notorious for this under Woodward. Hardly anything to get bent out of shape about.

Pretty much everyone else the media was talking about involved premium £50 mil+ Fees. Alderweireld, Maguire, Willian, etc. Or Martial / Mata included to lower or offset the fee.

Alderweireld: Why pay a premium for an out of favour player running down a contract? Why not try again in January? Or wait and get him for £25 mil release clause and bypass Levy altogether?

Maguire: Good player, but will his price ever be higher than it is right now? Is he really worth close to, if not breaking, a world record, also Leicester probably didn’t want to sell.

Willian: Who knows if we were even in.

Look, I think Jose’s CB pursuit makes sense, and here’s why: Jose values strong, reliable CB as the base for his teams. He’s bound to be furious if you lose a FA Cup Final because your CB makes stupid mistakes. I think Jose has lost faith and patience in Smalling, Jones, and Rojo as experienced, reliable options at the back to lead the back until Lindelof and Bailly are ready.

As for the anti-Mourinho crowd, why aren’t we signing a LB, RB, and RW then? Well, were we really going to bench 2 of our most senior players and leaders on the team simultaneously? Sure, they’re limited, but did we really want to bench them or try, most likely unsuccessfully, to flog them off unceremoniously? RW, I agree we should upgrade. But should we pay a premium or Willian or Perisic?

On the topic of premium £50 mil+ players. It’s not just the transfer fee, it’s the wages and length of contract to consider as well. Perisic or Willian on a 4 year contract of ~£150,000/mo is not a “short term fix”, that’s a major investment.

Finally, look at the overall squad picture. Valencia and Young replacements are required, very soon (fair play to those who would argue it’s already required). However, like I mentioned earlier, I think it will be more likely we extend for 1 year on much lower wages and an understanding they’ll transition to the bench, or reward them with a free transfer for their service. Either Shaw and possibly Dalot make an impact, or next Summer we are spending big on FBs. We’ll have to.

None of this to me seems like the club and Woodward are incompetent, rather that it’s sensible. If Maguire has a fantastic season, yeah, maybe he is worth a VVD fee next Summer. January is Levy’s last chance to get one penny over Alderweireld’s release fee, if he doesn’t get sold to the continent. Mina, if he’s great at Everton, we’d have a much better perspective on by next Summer.

It’s not a great window, and we didn’t get Mbappe, Bale, Sandro and Varane to chase down City. It is what is. Buckle down, get the most out of what we have and do our best to challenge and look to reinforce in January and next Summer.

Getting mugged by paying way over the odds for players who had a good World Cup, or paying a premium for a disgruntled CB running his contract down, only set precedents that will haunt us in the future.
 
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Revan

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I noticed this too. I would have been happy with cash plus Mata for Alderweireld.

The other notable element of the piece is the hint at its end that Jose’s time could be up. That struck me as odd cos our team is plenty good enough to finish fourth and that’s the Glazers’ target.

The undertone seemed to be that Woodward will blame Jose for his own failures and look to fire him if he doesn’t hit a target Castles doesn’t explain.
Glazer's target being fourth place is more like a legend created from posters rather than the 'real target'.
 

Annihilate Now!

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Adds to the theory that Woodward is a bit of a joke and other clubs may view him as such
 

0161_UNITED

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Adds to the theory that Woodward is a bit of a joke and other clubs may view him as such
Doubtful. He’s still in charge of one of the most successful sports clubs on the planet. If, and when, our football starts to match our commercial and financial firepower, I hardly think will be calling him a joke.
 

JK-27

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Two real talking points in this article:

1) Jose plan for the new season and the players he wanted brought in were submitted to the board months ago. So why is Woodward only trying to do deals at the last minute?

2) Interesting that the media and this board keep pushing the idea that Jose wants ready made winners and only buys older players yet looking at his last 10 buys he has clearly gone for youth. So why are people peddling fake stories?
 

0161_UNITED

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Glazer's target being fourth place is more like a legend created from posters rather than the 'real target'.
Yup. Let’s not forget how the Pre-Ronaldo era anti-Glazer sentiment clouded everything. There’s no indication that the club doesn’t want success on the pitch, but conspiracy theorists want to reduce the fact that it’s bloody hard work mixed with some luck to dominate England and Europe. So much easier to assume it’s a conspiracy than accept the complexities for sustained success in football rely on a myriad of factors falling into place.
 

steffyr2

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Two real talking points in this article:

1) Jose plan for the new season and the players he wanted brought in were submitted to the board months ago. So why is Woodward only trying to do deals at the last minute?

2) Interesting that the media and this board keep pushing the idea that Jose wants ready made winners and only buys older players yet looking at his last 10 buys he has clearly gone for youth. So why are people peddling fake stories?
I'd like to know who Woodward is talking to, now that would be interesting.
 

Revan

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Two real talking points in this article:

1) Jose plan for the new season and the players he wanted brought in were submitted to the board months ago. So why is Woodward only trying to do deals at the last minute?

2) Interesting that the media and this board keep pushing the idea that Jose wants ready made winners and only buys older players yet looking at his last 10 buys he has clearly gone for youth. So why are people peddling fake stories?
Ibra, Matic and Sanchez are hardly youth. United has quite an old squad. Until some of Valencia, Young, Matic, Mata and Sanchez are replaced we should not get other old players. And anyway, always the best strategy is to go for early to mid twenties players with some teenagers for long term.
 

sincher

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We have a much better squad than our fans seem to think. It is not as good as City's but is as good as anyone else in the league and with plenty of room for improvement.

Some small changes in the team could bring about a huge change in our dynamic. Maybe Fred, Shaw, Rashford/Martial and Pereira can help with that.
 

hobbers

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Doesn't matter how many journos write this up in different words with the same message, the picture is still that Woodward made good calls.

Can't deal with Levy, because he'd demand a ridiculous fee or Martial, and we can't let Martial go to another Prem club. Can't sign Maguire because Leicester would not have let him go for less than the VVD fee, which is a joke for a player of Maguire's quality. Can't sign Boateng because it's another case of Bayern trying to flog us busted flushes. Try for Godin, try for Varane.

Beyond those names, there aren't that many centre backs around that fit the profile. Lots of potential out there, but we signed enough potential with Bailly and Lindelof.
 

steffyr2

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We have a much better squad than our fans seem to think. It is not as good as City's but is as good as anyone else in the league and with plenty of room for improvement.

Some small changes in the team could bring about a huge change in our dynamic. Maybe Fred, Shaw, Rashford/Martial and Pereira can help with that.
Yes, one of the reason we wound up 2nd last year.