What about the rest of the people in the same photo?
Come on, this is just a still photo taken whenever, it's meaningless.
Man Utd set to appoint Director of Football (when hell freezes over)
- Thread starter RedMachine03
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) was joined by comedian Ali Woods to look back at the best and worst moments of a rollercoaster season with the annual United Hour Awards.
Has Ten Hag been sacked yet? We're not sure and we hope not, but it's looking more likely as the days pass.
Who should replace him and why is it taking so long to make a decision?
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Come on, this is just a still photo taken whenever, it's meaningless.
I like Woody! He just needs advise on how to pick managers lol.
What exactly is the hate for Ed? That he hired Jose when most were begging for him or that he won’t sack him?
What is it people want from Ed?
What is it people want from Ed?
Maybe read the posts within this thread? There's pages and pages of reasons why supporters think Ed Woodward could be doing his job slightly differently.
IMO, there is enough blame to go round from top to bottom, starting from the Glazers and down to the players and supporters. At the end, I think most of the problem stem from incongruity in objectives, expectations and actions.
Looking from bottom up, supporters expect the team to win and play with style while do so. To do these requires a squad with top quality and depth, and a manager that can get the best out of the squad. Given the state of the squad, that requires overhauling and addition of top end talent over 2-3 season, and periodic updates subsequently. With the current market that requires a lot of money, and while Ed might not have the network or skills to get the lower pricing that a more tradition football director might get, I doubt he has that much money to throw around as well. Thus it is up to the glazers to see if the money spent is being spent judiciously or that the hiring of a football director is needed.
But when we look from the top, the Glazers seem to view the club as a profit making venture like their other sport teams, but that is not true in the modern game. It is practically impossible to run a profitable football club while winning in style. (The amount of money spent by Pep in the past seasons is evidence of this, while the decline of Arsenal is another . Even Roman is balking at his club's demands). Sh*t rolls downhill, so the position of the Glazers pushes the buck down to Ed, who cant do much with the limited resources, and has no choice but to short change Mou in the number and quality of players added to the team. This in turn reflects in performance on the pitch.
At the end of the day, until the objectives of the Glazers and the expectations of fans align, there will be this disconnect that will eventually show on the field.
Looking from bottom up, supporters expect the team to win and play with style while do so. To do these requires a squad with top quality and depth, and a manager that can get the best out of the squad. Given the state of the squad, that requires overhauling and addition of top end talent over 2-3 season, and periodic updates subsequently. With the current market that requires a lot of money, and while Ed might not have the network or skills to get the lower pricing that a more tradition football director might get, I doubt he has that much money to throw around as well. Thus it is up to the glazers to see if the money spent is being spent judiciously or that the hiring of a football director is needed.
But when we look from the top, the Glazers seem to view the club as a profit making venture like their other sport teams, but that is not true in the modern game. It is practically impossible to run a profitable football club while winning in style. (The amount of money spent by Pep in the past seasons is evidence of this, while the decline of Arsenal is another . Even Roman is balking at his club's demands). Sh*t rolls downhill, so the position of the Glazers pushes the buck down to Ed, who cant do much with the limited resources, and has no choice but to short change Mou in the number and quality of players added to the team. This in turn reflects in performance on the pitch.
At the end of the day, until the objectives of the Glazers and the expectations of fans align, there will be this disconnect that will eventually show on the field.
To step down.
He’s only cares about image. That’s why we paid Rooney a stupid amount of money, that’s why he keeps chasing bale, that’s why he bought di Maria even though it was clear as feck neither he nor lvg wanted him here. As someone else said he’s following the galacticos formula but doing a piss poor job of it. He didn’t back the manager in the window and then cut the legs right out from under him with that stupid press thing he did. You either trust the manager or you don’t. And if you don’t, you get rid of him. What you don’t do is give him a contract extension and then proceed to sabotage him.
That stupid fecking bullshit he pulled after the spurs game I think it was said it all. Instead of getting up and leaving his seat, he sat there with some dumb feck “I’m not happy” Bond villain look on his face for like 10 minutes making sure all the scummy press got a picture for the back page to help along the narrative that Jose was on his way out. Woody can feck right off as far as I’m concerned. Jose leaves or sticks around to try to turn things around, I’m not fussed either way.
You're pissed off at him for his facial expression, and the impact it has on our image/coverage? What about Mourinho consistently picking fights, bemoaning his terrible team, reminding us of our European losses, and generally looking like his dog ate his cat?It's just strange that you want Woodward to 'feck off' but with Mourinho you're not really fussed. It's actually on the pitch where we are worst and that's on Mourinho. Personally I'd sacke Jose immediately as he's been poor and limit Woodward to running the business which is his area of expertise.
Its not strange at all. Unless youve not been paying any attention and only have a vendetta against jose, and look to take everything he does out of context to fit some weird obsession about getting him sacked. Much like you just did to me by reducing what I said down to being pissed off at a facial expression. And why would I be that fussed about Jose? Because of the shit stirring media? Because of the endless moaning cnuts that look to twist every little thing he does to make him some cheesy soap opera villain? Sorry, no. I have my own eyes and ears and dont follow the sheep where the tabloids lead them.
It's just strange that you want Woodward to 'feck off' but with Mourinho you're not really fussed. It's actually on the pitch where we are worst and that's on Mourinho. Personally I'd sacke Jose immediately as he's been poor and limit Woodward to running the business which is his area of expertise.
Is Jose perfect? Not by a long shot. But we are three managers deep and the only thing that hasnt changed is the dip shits at the top. And as for woody, who actually does look like a soap opera villain, where did this idea that hes a great business man come from? Hes selling Man utd ffs, not ice to fecking eskimos. I could sell united to adidas for 750 mill as well because its man utd. it sells itself. So no, he can feck off from the business side of things as well.
The way you guys turn personal feelings into “facts” would have even Rafa Benitez shook to his core
I despise how our club is run just as much as the next guy but if Ed had "backed" Mourinho as everyone keeps telling me he should have then the only players who are producing anywhere near enough on the pitch at the moment would be plying their trade elsewhere.
It’s all well and good for the likes of Gary Neville to say Ed has no business telling Jose that he can’t have Toby Alderweireld or Harry Maguire or Jerome Boateng but then at the same time not give the club credit for ensuring Jose doesn’t get his way in wanting to sell the likes of Martial, Pogba and Luke Shaw. All of whom would not be at our club if it weren’t for the boards hard stance.
At the end of the day I’ll choose a new Manager, Martial, Pogba and Shaw over Mourinho, Boateng, Willian, Perisic etc every day of the week.
Woodward isn’t up to par but he comes out of this mess no worse than Mourinho in my opinion.
It’s all well and good for the likes of Gary Neville to say Ed has no business telling Jose that he can’t have Toby Alderweireld or Harry Maguire or Jerome Boateng but then at the same time not give the club credit for ensuring Jose doesn’t get his way in wanting to sell the likes of Martial, Pogba and Luke Shaw. All of whom would not be at our club if it weren’t for the boards hard stance.
At the end of the day I’ll choose a new Manager, Martial, Pogba and Shaw over Mourinho, Boateng, Willian, Perisic etc every day of the week.
Woodward isn’t up to par but he comes out of this mess no worse than Mourinho in my opinion.
Do we need four cutaways to him in the stands? Nobody should care about him and nobody should want to see him during a match. feck off with that wummy shite BT you pilks.
Source?
To stick to what he's good at and not meddle in the playing side of the club. That's why we really need a DOF.
He's one of the biggest problems We have. It's like a huge software project with a project manager that doesn't know anything about coding, testing and risk management. He might have brilliant ideas but if He doesn't have a clue about how things work then there's no point. We need another person to take care of anything that's related directly to our football, He can stick with commercials and sponsorship.
This is true - and I'm surprised to see this has been mentioned more.
Exactly, that too when there is clear proof that Van Gaal wanted Di Maria. It's always the case though, an transfer that didn't work out was Woodward's fantasy, every transfer that worked was manager's.
Unfortunatly most of them seem like the rantings of crazed fans just looking for a scapegoat or anyone to blame.
Was looking for more substantional evidence of why people don’t like Ed or think he is ruining the club other than him sitting in his seat with a glum expression or paper rumours of him chasing Bale every summer, is that even a bad thing?
Gave Jose a new contract when he was 2nd and seemed like Jose’s camp were releasing stories about him maybe going to PSG (according to papers) what’s he to do?
He’s looking after the club, not wanting to over pay for over the hill players and players that haven’t proven anything yet, those are good and sensible football decisions. It’s a total witch hunt.
I agree with this. Jose has done a number on a large section of the more gullible supporters.
He is even blamed for attending games
If at work I hire someone for my team and they don’t work out, that doesn’t reflect well on me. If I hire a replacement and they too don’t work out, that doesn’t reflect well on me. If I find another replacement and once more it’s looking like it won’t work out, that doesn’t reflect well on me. At some point my boss is going to question my judgement.
Ed is clearly an asset to Manchester United from a commercial perspective. But many fans are right to question the responsibility Ed should and shouldn’t have. We don’t know whose opinion he is listening to when identifying managers nor do we know what metrics he is using to decide on which transfers to agree to.
Woodward and Mourinho appear to be at odds over transfer policy. I’d argue that should’ve been flagged as a problem from the outset - Woodward and the board should’ve known what is required of them re Jose and his transfers. If they don’t trust his judgement or aren’t willing to pay the dollar to get him his signings, then sack him.
Yes, Ed can point to Lindelof and Bailly and say use them, but if Mourinho came to me and said they aren’t good enough, alarms bells would be ringing. I’d either lose faith in the judgement/ability of the manager I’d appointed, or I’d bow to his track-record and sign the cheques. Ed did neither, he picked the one option that wasn’t available. Ideally, he’d want Bailly/Lindelof to work, but we’re not dealing with ideals, we’re dealing with reality.
Both Ed and Jose have failings. I don’t blame Ed entirely, but he has to take some flak.
Most fans were happy when he hired LvG and Mourinho, but now want to blame Ed as failing when the decisions clearly weren’t bad ones at the time. People were cumming in their pants when Falcao, Schweinsteiger, Di Maria, Mkhitaryan all signed. Of course them being failures is now his fault as well (No galaticos!)
He’s given Mourinho £300 million to spend - refuses to spend another £50+ million for Maguire and suddenly this is the reason for all our failings. It’s insanity.
It's not a reason for all our failings, but it certainly lessens our chances of improvement, which is surely a big negative. Mourinho has had great success with his style of management. It might not be everyone's cup of tea but it was the reason he was hired in the first place. The board had to either support him fully or get rid of him. Doing neither of these things is asking for failure.
What exactly constitutes 'fully supporting' Mourinho? Perhaps the board think they've actually done that?
Jose has signed 1 keeper, 2 centre-backs, 1 right-back, 4 central midfielders and 4 x attacking players. 12 players total. Two of his signings have since left the club. How many players do we sign until we've backed him? 15? 20?
Jose started at United the same year as Pep and only six months after Klopp. All three have signed a similar number of players for their clubs. And despite widespread nonsense to the contrary, Pep didn't inherit some rampaging force of nature, rather a team that had just finished in 4th place, on the same number of points as Jose’s soon-to-be United squad.
I'm genuinely surprised that it's not universally acknowledged that we've made a load of changes to try and get him his ideal set up, and instead we all act like he's been asked to work on Arsenals budget.
It’s funny. When it’s jose, it’s all true. When it’s anyone one else, there’s always an excuse. It’s just paper talk, it’s just your feelings blah blah blah. Funny how it’s “only paper talk” when people don’t agree ain’t it?
It's either true or completely made up. I'm going for completely made up.
I think it’s just common sense, someone making out that he planned to sit there with a frown on his face after the Spurs game so the papers could get a good snap for me is not someone in a rational state of mind.
The CB issue won't go away. Jose clearly though we needed a new one, an experienced one, not a punt on "one for the future" after trying that will Lindelof and Bailly. Whether Jose has wasted money in the past or not, it's blatantly obvious that the need is real and ignoring this issue has done our chances no favours at all. If they don't trust Mourinho in the market any more, then why keep him?
I say it all the time. No one listens. Even took time to mention crap like Jovetic, Cliche, Sagna, Ferando etc. But apparently they don’t matter because he had David Silva and Aguero. Basically Messi and Iniesta.
How many players do we sign? As many as he wants. When Fergie wanted Cantona did the board say 'nah mate look its unfortunate what's happened to Dublin but you've got McClair, you've got Hughes and Giggsy can do a job'? Why does it matter to you who we sign? Look at City they're even replacing goalies that Pep's bought when he decides he doesn't want them. After West Ham away Mourinho was asked why he played McTominay at the back, he gave exactly the same reason for why he played Pogba deep last Saturday in the second half: we don't have the capability to play out from the back with the defenders we have. Therefore we need to sign some new defenders. Simple as. If we sack Jose do you think the new manager is gonna come in and set us up to play as if Phil Jones and Marcos Rojo are Rafa Varane and Sergio Ramos...? We are gonna have to buy more players. So now, later, what difference does it make?
City were rampaging until they announced Pellegrini was out six months before the end of the season, at which point they sacked off the season and let Leicester streak away from them. The idea that our squad was operating at the same level as City's in 2015-16 is just untrue. List the players they already had before Pep arrived, incomparable strength that they added to.
Are you getting dividends out of United, do you have an interest in the financial institutions we owe cash to, if not why do you care what our budget is? We're Man Utd. We will always have to pay more for players anyway. Everton paid £50m for Richarlison and Gylfi. Had it been United the prices would've been at least £60m or £70m. That's the price we pay for being United. Simple. Who cares? If we need players we need players and we need to spend. Spend £700m or £800m who cares? Isn't the whole point of all these commercial partnerships to fund the club's footballing activities?
Without a doubt, the theme tune for them should be the Rolling Stone's 'Sympathy for the Devil' it's like Mourinho has pulled the Keyser Soze trick only he's not even bothering to limp, he's actually doing the Can-Can and people can't see it's phony, he only cares about himself, the presser after Sevilla should have been the end as it made it crystal clear.
As for Woodward, he needs moving back into his previous role and away from football matters, as while I think he's right not to sanction £150M on 30 year old players, he's also way too interested in the players marketing value overall, and that's a hinderance. We need to sack Mourinho and move Woodward's role and get in a DoF.
You are correct. I only want Ed moved away from football for the following reasons:
1) When vetoing transfers (justifably), he didn't suggest alternatives for the manager because he isn't a football man. Need a DoF who can help the manager -- instead of a 30 yr old Willian, suggest a younger and better alternative rather than not buying anyone at all.
2) Woodward is too cowardly to make strong decisions. I have no doubts the plane banner, the support for Jose from Gary Neville and the Newcastle win have made him hesitant and scared to sack Jose immediately. No top club executive should base his decisions on the emotions of others -- you figure he isn't the right guy, then axe him no matter what anyone thinks. You are the fecking boss, man up, grow some balls, stop dithering, whatever.
3) Related to point 2 is a tendency to stupidly back the manager and stretch their tenures past breaking point, ignoring potential opportunities to hire others. Klopp was available when LvG was underperforming. Sarri was available when Jose was moaning in preseason. But Woodward won't think about sacking until it is clear that even the managers themselves are fed up and literally beg for the sack.
These three reasons are not why others want Woodward out. They are right in targeting Ed, but slate him for the wrong reasons.
What’s common sense? That’s man that’s perceived to have appointed 3 loser managers might try anything to separate himself from taking the blame for those appointments?
That a man who gave Jose he new contract, and then didn’t support him in the transfer window might be playing a stupid game in the press?
You’re right, that is common sense. Glad we agree.
Just have a look at the Matic thread to know why Ed acted the way he did.
Since joining Citeh, Pep has spent over £500m in signing 13 players, while Mourinho has spent about £390m on 8 players (with additional 2 coming on free). Pep has spent 30% more money and acquired 30% more players, despite inheriting a superior squad that had the likes of De Bruyne, Silva, Aguero, Raheem Sterling, and Fernandinho etc, while Mourinho inherited Rooney, Fellaini, Schweini, Depay, Herrera, carrick, Schnerdelein etc. Pep is actually the best evidence in support of Mou needing more and better players.
Cant believe he still hasnt appointed a DoF yet.
I can't believe that too but look how this club managing transfer deals... we are signing players, sometimes with a year delay thanks to owners and board's bullshit.
What is on club's wish list is not always on Ed's.
Can't believe someone on the board blabbed that Mourinho was finished and then it didn't happen. What a disorganized mess!
Is there any proof that he actually vetoed transfers? If so we don’t know if he didn’t suggest other people and when we inquired about them they said no. I myself do want a DOF, someone to implement a long term strategy which in my opinion was the plan with LVG, however fan and media pressure led to them caving and scrapping that idea. That pressure only intensified due to Jose being available. Which I would wager a vast majority of fans saw as a great appointment. Many still back him.
If we bring in a DOF now, then hopefully we have the players to still be competitive whilst they set about sorting it all out and implementing it.
He sacked LVG after winning an FA cup, sacked Moyes Ferguson’s chosen 1 before the season had ended I’m not sure I would say he is a coward, the fact is Jose still has a lot of support from fans and after a result like Newcastle it probably wasn’t/isn’t the best time to sack him. I think that is being more logical than going off of emotion.
Klopp has stated that Ed had approached him about taking over and Klopp turned it down. Personally Jose should never have been brought to this club, he was never the right man and I do think he should have been let go in the Summer, but it’s not really that simple, as I stated earlier there is still lots of support for Jose and you even see it on here with people saying if we sack him the club are a joke. Where is this “tendency to back the manager” we finished 2nd last year, LVG won an FA cup and missed 4th due to GD. It’s not like there has ever really been a clear point of him sticking with a manager other than now.
I really just don’t see why ED is getting so much stick, Jose wants to talk about a man hunt well here is one which was started by him and the papers. To me it’s ridiculous. It seems virtually impossible for a club to appoint 1 man who will last say 5 years and continually provide entertainment and excellence.
He probably has at best 1 managerial appointment left in him until he packs it in or he's told to so. Surely he can't keep getting it wrong, surely?
probably the worst thread ever. Stupid people who are now generals after the war and looking for scapegoats. I wish we started winning again because a lot of desperation, anger and general lack of knowledge makes this forum unbearable.
I am pretty sure Mourinho has an ultimatum from board and the last game was a must win and the heroic comeback bought Mourinho a life of another two games or so. I don't think it would be wise to kill the momentum now with sacking the manager but surely it will come sooner rather than later
I am pretty sure Mourinho has an ultimatum from board and the last game was a must win and the heroic comeback bought Mourinho a life of another two games or so. I don't think it would be wise to kill the momentum now with sacking the manager but surely it will come sooner rather than later
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