Did Woodward get it right, then?

[Wheato]

So, let's bring it all back to last Summer. Mourinho has written off the squad completely. Stating that everyone who played in the WC is knackered and the start of the season is a total write off. There are no youth prospects coming through the ranks who will feature in the first team squad this season. The 6 center backs that we have available (including the two that he bought) cannot tackle a paper bag. World Cup winner, Paul Pogba, is nothing special. Martial doesn't want to be here. Rashford can't hit a barn door with a banjo...Oh, and Sanchez has fallen off the face of the earth? He's locked in some sort of passport/visa/calf injury/thingummy/bullshit.

The Shopping list​

Jose wants to sell 22 year old Martial to Chelsea and do a swap+cash deal with 30 year old Willian. He also wants to sign Harry Maguire for £75m. And 29 year old Ivan Perisic for £50m. Bearing in mind that we already have 3 left sided wingers at the club! He also wants 29 year old Toby Alderweireld for £35m, even though he only had a year left on his contract. He has since extended for 1 year with a release clause of £25m.

Knowing what we now know, did Woodward really help us dodge a rather expensive bullet, last summer? Has his faith in this squad of players and the academy, really shown Mourinho up as a crackpot who was hellbent on filling our squad with short-term fixes who would be finished in 2 years. Not that he would be around then anyway!

 

[Infra-red]

So, let's bring it all back to last Summer. Mourinho has written off the squad completely. Stating that everyone who played in the WC is knackered and the start of the season is a total right off. There are no youth prospects coming through the ranks who will feature in the first team squad this season. The 6 center backs that we have available (including the two that he bought) cannot tackle a paper bag. World Cup winner, Paul Pogba, is nothing special. Martial doesn't want to be here. Rashford can't hit a barn door with a banjo...Oh, and Sanchez has fallen off the face of the earth? He's locked in some sort of passport/visa/calf injury/thingummy/bullshit.

The Shopping list​

Jose wants to sell 22 year old Martial to Chelsea and do a swap+cash deal with 30 year old Willian. He also wants to sign Harry Maguire for £75m. And 29 year old Ivan Perisic for £50m. Bearing in mind that we already have 3 left sided wingers at the club! He also wants 29 year old Toby Alderweireld for £35m, even though he only had a year left on his contract. He has since extended for 1 year with a release clause of £25m.

Knowing what we now know, did Woodward really help us dodge a rather expensive bullet, last summer? Has his faith in this squad of players and the academy, really shown Mourinho up as a crackpot who was hellbent on filling our squad with short-term fixes who would be finished in 2 years. Not that he would be around then anyway!

Woodward gave the "crackpot" a contract extension in January and then kept him on past the summer despite clearly having lost faith in (and publicly undermined) him, thereby all but writing-off the season.

The only thing Ed's got right recently is appointing Ole.

 

[sullydnl]

If he did something right by not backing Mourinho in the summer then he did something wrong in both handing him a contract before then and/or not sacking him sooner after then. Nothing Mourinho wanted or did was anything other than predictable.

But yeah, whatever else Solskjaer may or may not do here, he has already proven that Mourinho was doing a horrendous job with the players at his disposal. Anyone who spotted that was right, be it Woodward or anyone else.

 

[Samid]

Woodward's problem is that he is reactive. He doesn't kill the match while it's being lit, he waits until the house is properly burning down before reacting. Mourinho should have been sacked after Sevilla and then we wouldn't have had that utter shambolic summer window.

To answer the question. No, he didn't get it right. He got it awfully wrong.

 

[PoTMS]

Nowt wrong with signing Alderweireld for £35m.

 

[WR10]

It’s not that Woodward had faith in the squad and club structure, he just simply lost faith in Mourinho and chose not to back him. He’s a business man not a football man - he doesn’t have the football insight to have put together everything you just mentioned in hindsight.

Lucky shot though.

 

[Tarrou]

I think he's fecked up a fair bit over the last few years, but having (somehow) got to the summer with Jose in charge I'm glad he didn't back him, eventually sacked him and then appointed Ole.

Should not have given him a new contract which I believe led to another big mistake of his in taking too long to sack him. But here we are and things are looking up now, at least!

For all his skills as a money-man, he hasn't half cost the Glazers a lot of cash since he's been at the helm.

 

[Aloysius's Back 3]

Jose getting a new contract hardly effected the club except for possible finances.

The most important thing he did was not back Jose on his plan.

Selling martial, pogba, herrera, new CB's possibly to give up on bailly & Lindelof . Then also buying players like maguire and perisic.

Yeh - woodward was right; even if not 100% of the time; atleast 75%.

 

[Class of 63]

Of course he bloody did, what a stupid question.

 

[Aarron Swift]

What I don’t get is why Woodward kept Jose on until December, if you’ve decided against backing your manager in the transfer window & no longer trust his judgment in buying players, You have to them get rid of that manager, how can you expect the working relationship to go forward?

 

[Class of 63]

What I don’t get is why Woodward kept Jose on until December, if you’ve decided against backing your manager in the transfer window & no longer trust his judgment in buying players, You have to them get rid of that manager, how can you expect the working relationship to go forward?

Guessing he was hoping and praying Mourinho would eventually get the terrible twos tantrums out of his system, Man the feck up, and get on with the squad he had at his disposal without bitching about it every few hours.

 

[El Presidente]

He was right to not sanction the deals. What was the reason, though?

If it was, because Jose’s targets weren’t seen as good enough, which if reports are to be believed, is true, then fair enough. I can support that.

But, if it was because the board/Glazers weren’t willing to throw those 150-200m to push us for the title, then we have a problem.

Either way, that defence needed investment badly. And Man United being arguably the richest club in the world should have acted as such. I get that 60m for Toby close to the end of his contract cannot be sanctioned, I get that Koulibaly and Skriniar weren’t for sale at any price and I get that Mina shouldn’t be bought at any price. But don’t tell me that there aren’t defenders out there that can be a huge upgrade on Phil fecking Jones.

 

[El Presidente]

He was right to not sanction the deals. What was the reason, though?

If it was, because Jose’s targets weren’t seen as good enough, which if reports are to be believed, is true, then fair enough. I can support that.

But, if it was because the board/Glazers weren’t willing to throw those 150-200m to push us for the title, then we have a problem.

Either way, that defence needed investment badly. And Man United being arguably the richest club in the world should have acted as such. I get that 60m for Toby close to the end of his contract cannot be sanctioned, I get that Koulibaly and Skriniar weren’t for sale at any price and I get that Mina shouldn’t be bought at any price. But don’t tell me that there aren’t defenders out there that can be a huge upgrade on Phil fecking Jones.

 

[Red_toad]

The Shopping list​

Jose wants to sell 22 year old Martial to Chelsea and do a swap+cash deal with 30 year old Willian. He also wants to sign Harry Maguire for £75m. And 29 year old Ivan Perisic for £50m. Bearing in mind that we already have 3 left sided wingers at the club! He also wants 29 year old Toby Alderweireld for £35m, even though he only had a year left on his contract. He has since extended for 1 year with a release clause of £25m.

Knowing what we now know, did Woodward really help us dodge a rather expensive bullet, last summer? Has his faith in this squad of players and the academy, really shown Mourinho up as a crackpot who was hellbent on filling our squad with short-term fixes who would be finished in 2 years. Not that he would be around then anyway!

Knowing what we now know?
for £50m. Bearing in mind that we already have 3 left sided wingers at the club! He also wants 29 year old Toby Alderweireld for £35m, even though he only had a year left on his contract. He has since extended for 1 year with a release clause of £25m.

Knowing what we now know, did Woodward really help us dodge a rather expensive bullet, last summer? Has his faith in this squad of players and the academy, really shown Mourinho up as a crackpot who was hellbent on filling our squad with short-term fixes who would be finished in 2 years. Not that he would be around then anyway![/QUOTE]

Knowing what we now know? You mean if we choose to think the media put out accurate stories?
Willian has been linked to Barca numerous times, Perisic was linked to us this week. Does that mean it’s all true?
Whoever Jose wanted we didn’t get. Players agents use our name to get better deals for their players, or to highlight they are available.
Only crackpots are those that buy into that hype.

 

[Greck]

He doesn't have a great amount of foresight but he got the things in the opening post correct. Am thankful everyday that our board weren't brainwashed by Jose when even intelligent fans and club legends were fooled into backing the dinosaur

 

[fallengt]

What I don’t get is why Woodward kept Jose on until December, if you’ve decided against backing your manager in the transfer window & no longer trust his judgment in buying players, You have to them get rid of that manager, how can you expect the working relationship to go forward?

You can thank Neville for that. His rant before New Castle match saved Mourinho.

 

[lex talionis]

We can question Woody giving Jose the contract extension but given what he knew at that time it was a reasonable decision. How would Woody have known that once Jose got the new contract that Jose would tank it, essentially forcing Woody to sack him?

Woody made the right decision in not spending crazy money in the summer, limiting his one big spend on Fred (50m, right?), a spend that so far has paid zero dividends. Woody was right to sack Jose, although some could argue now he should have sacked him in November or even October. And Woody was right to bring in Ole, quite obviously.

 

[criticalanalysis]

What I don’t get is why Woodward kept Jose on until December, if you’ve decided against backing your manager in the transfer window & no longer trust his judgment in buying players, You have to them get rid of that manager, how can you expect the working relationship to go forward?

I think like most people, he expected a manager to actually manage a team and not throw his toys out of the pram when he didn't get shiny new ones.

 

[Morpheus 7]

The Ole feel good wave has masked another horrendous window. You can't bring in much in January, maybe we could sort out the contracts of top players that can leave for nothing in the Summer. Maybe we could finally get top players like Dave and Martial to sign up. Ed has given Scott Mc Tomminay and Smalling a new contract this window, wow. Darmian, Young, Valencia, Mata, Herrera, Young, Jones, Periera.... There is a lot of question marks over who is staying. I don't get why people aren't asking more questions?

The Ole's only here to May thing and the next manager might want potential signings is garbage, I doubt whoever is coming in wants Jones or Valencia. We need a clear out of deadwood. Some say we are waiting for a director of football, talk about that for ages now and nothing seems imminent. Ed Woodward have been lucky that United have been performing so well, it is lucky too. Nobody could have forseen Ole doing so well. If we lost the last 3 games, people would be saying we need to buy. Jose and his methods weren't working, his targets may have been ludicrous in hindsight but we need so much more to get back to the top. We had a fecking terrible summer window and didn't have a huge Netspend. There are clearly players not good enough here and coming to the end that shouldve be moved on and there not. I'm delighted of the tremendous job Ole has done but there are huge problems at the club. We have Luke Shaw getting a 5 year contract for less than a 2 month run of form and Martial and De Gea's contracts not sorted.

Mourinho tried to convince people that top players were no good, couldn't be trusted. He was wrong but we need signings, Ed has been leaking stuff to the press since September. This team needs an overdue drastic clearout and I don't think we are near it. People need to think about what we could bring in with players like Valencia, Jones and Darmian ect gone.

The Glazer's and Ed having been mugging the fans off for ages. Shit planning and poor choices have gotten us into a mess. I love what Ole has done, he's brought something back that was missing. Everyone knows the Ole' and Phelan appointment has Fergie all over it, not the reactionary people on the board. They seem to act to clean up one mess after the last mess, need to start putting money and a plan properly in place, DOF, sale players now, bring in someone that can help us get top 4. This window has been a missed opportunity and it comes down to Glazers not having the balls to act now. Feck hindsight about who was wrong, we clearly didn't learn anything because aren't acting now.

 

[El Presidente]

The Ole feel good wave has masked another horrendous window. You can't bring in much in January, maybe we could sort out the contracts of top players that can leave for nothing in the Summer. Maybe we could finally get top players like Dave and Martial to sign up. Ed has given Scott Mc Tomminay and Smalling a new contract this window, wow. Darmian, Young, Valencia, Mata, Herrera, Young, Jones, Periera.... There is a lot of question marks over who is staying. I don't get why people aren't asking more questions?

The Ole's only here to May thing and the next manager might want potential signings is garbage, I doubt whoever is coming in wants Jones or Valencia. We need a clear out of deadwood. Some say we are waiting for a director of football, talk about that for ages now and nothing seems imminent. Ed Woodward have been lucky that United have been performing so well, it is lucky too. Nobody could have forseen Ole doing so well. If we lost the last 3 games, people would be saying we need to buy. Jose and his methods weren't working, his targets may have been ludicrous in hindsight but we need so much more to get back to the top. We had a fecking terrible summer window and didn't have a huge Netspend. There are clearly players not good enough here and coming to the end that shouldve be moved on and there not. I'm delighted of the tremendous job Ole has done but there are huge problems at the club. We have Luke Shaw getting a 5 year contract for less than a 2 month run of form and Martial and De Gea's contracts not sorted.

Mourinho tried to convince people that top players were no good, couldn't be trusted. He was wrong but we need signings, Ed has been leaking stuff to the press since September. This team needs an overdue drastic clearout and I don't think we are near it. People need to think about what we could bring in with players like Valencia, Jones and Darmian ect gone.

The Glazer's and Ed having been mugging the fans off for ages. Shit planning and poor choices have gotten us into a mess. I love what Ole has done, he's brought something back that was missing. Everyone knows the Ole' and Phelan appointment has Fergie all over it, not the reactionary people on the board. They seem to act to clean up one mess after the last mess, need to start putting money and a plan properly in place, DOF, sale players now, bring in someone that can help us get top 4. This window has been a missed opportunity and it comes down to Glazers not having the balls to act now. Feck hindsight about who was wrong, we clearly didn't learn anything because aren't acting now.

That’s pretty accurate and sums up how I feel. We definitely needed a defender in this window because Top 4 is a must and we can’t rely on Jones to get us there.

However, probably due to the feel good factor, I have hope that this summer we’ll show ambition, clear the deadwood, at least partially and do the long-awaited defensive overhaul. If it’s more of the same, though, I’d be going mental and I do hope I won’t be the only one and the fans make themselves heard.

 

[Eric7C]

So, let's bring it all back to last Summer. Mourinho has written off the squad completely. Stating that everyone who played in the WC is knackered and the start of the season is a total right off. There are no youth prospects coming through the ranks who will feature in the first team squad this season. The 6 center backs that we have available (including the two that he bought) cannot tackle a paper bag. World Cup winner, Paul Pogba, is nothing special. Martial doesn't want to be here. Rashford can't hit a barn door with a banjo...Oh, and Sanchez has fallen off the face of the earth? He's locked in some sort of passport/visa/calf injury/thingummy/bullshit.

The Shopping list​

Jose wants to sell 22 year old Martial to Chelsea and do a swap+cash deal with 30 year old Willian. He also wants to sign Harry Maguire for £75m. And 29 year old Ivan Perisic for £50m. Bearing in mind that we already have 3 left sided wingers at the club! He also wants 29 year old Toby Alderweireld for £35m, even though he only had a year left on his contract. He has since extended for 1 year with a release clause of £25m.

Knowing what we now know, did Woodward really help us dodge a rather expensive bullet, last summer? Has his faith in this squad of players and the academy, really shown Mourinho up as a crackpot who was hellbent on filling our squad with short-term fixes who would be finished in 2 years. Not that he would be around then anyway!

Good post.

I think Woodward got some things right and some things wrong. He was right not to back Mourinho's plan for transfers and United have dodged a huge bullet in that regard. But it would also have been an impossible decision to sack Jose in the summer after the team finished 2nd last season - the highest that the club have after Fergie left. If he had brought in someone like Ole at that point, the pressure would have been huge on the new manager.

What he got wrong was to not sit down with Jose in January and discuss who he wanted in the summer. If he had, he might have got an idea that giving a contract extension was wrong. Jose's dislike for players like Martial was already pretty clear - it's the only reason the lad could not be part of a WC winning France squad.

 

[robinvpersie]

You can thank Neville for that. His rant before New Castle match saved Mourinho.

This.

Was only thinking the other day that Jose was gone after that game regardless of the result. It seemed like Gary's rant really tuned the fans against the hierarchy of the club and pressured them to bottle the Mourinho sacking, not because it would of been the wrong decision, just because it would of seemed like another short sighted decision without an immediate replacement. We had a slight turnaround in form after that game as it seemed like there was a togetherness about the club again, but as the results dipped again soon after, Woodword had no choice but to act.

I'm sure it may be pure luck that the interim manager he chose to get us to end of the season has us performing like winners again, but if we keep this form up, and more importantly, keep beating teams like Arsenal and Spurs then his next decision is going to be his biggest one yet..

 

[Ekeke]

More right than wrong.

Given how Mourinho was doing, even if we had signed good players they wouldnt have looked like it once they started playing for him.

 

[Sky1981]

Woodward's problem is that he is reactive. He doesn't kill the match while it's being lit, he waits until the house is properly burning down before reacting. Mourinho should have been sacked after Sevilla and then we wouldn't have had that utter shambolic summer window.

To answer the question. No, he didn't get it right. He got it awfully wrong.

Sacking jose after winning the europa league or after finishing 2nd?

 

[elmo]

Why the feck would he give Jose a contract extension only to not back him in the Summer transfer window?

 

[Henrik Larsson]

So, let's bring it all back to last Summer. Mourinho has written off the squad completely. Stating that everyone who played in the WC is knackered and the start of the season is a total right off.

Sailor vee mate. (Am I doing this write @horsechoker ?)

 

[Henrik Larsson]

Also, why are you stating this like it are 100% undeniable facts? Have I perhaps missed something?

Jose wants to sell 22 year old Martial to Chelsea and do a swap+cash deal with 30 year old Willian. He also wants to sign Harry Maguire for £75m. And 29 year old Ivan Perisic for £50m. Bearing in mind that we already have 3 left sided wingers at the club! He also wants 29 year old Toby Alderweireld for £35m, even though he only had a year left on his contract. He has since extended for 1 year with a release clause of £25m.

 

[Jezpeza]

I think somewhere in the middle. I don’t buy into a lot of the media stuff about perisic and Willian etc, it’s just media click bait to sell the advertising plastered all over the pages it leads to and we are a big club so it gets more clicks than if they make up lies about Barney etc.
I was always a bit weirded out by mourinhos criticism of martial and pogba. We didn’t invest well enough in the summer. Defence is very poor. We do need to sign a new starting rb and a rw plus a cb and another left back minimum in the summer. It’s easy for anyone to see. Who they are is another question, But I’m a bit perturbed that we are starting to renew contracts for mata and young etc. About time we just left them to leave on a free. Worries me that we won’t spend in the summer. I don’t see us signing anyone this window and I think that’s a good thing.

 

[Dante]

I doubt Mourinho wanted to sell Martial.

Jose is quite a vindictive man. If he'd decided he didn't want Martial, Martial would never have played another minute under the him even he was the last fit player left in the squad. Instead, Martial had become first choice by the end of the Mourinho's tenure.

I reckon the falling out rumour could have been true. But the selling rumours were proven false.

 

[meamth]

Why the feck would he give Jose a contract extension only to not back him in the Summer transfer window?

Maybe because its in the club nature to have a manager for long term and Mourinho haven't fecked up yet until this season. We are a club with longevity in mind, signing him for new contract made us look like we're stable into the new season.

When the new season arrives, Jose wanted new CB having spent more than 70 million for Bailly and Lindelof. The club beginning to question Mourinho's judgment.

So for me, Woodward was just being sensible about handling the situation. He being lenient because of our reputation of trusting the manager, but when the manager began to question the board, that's when Woodward realize it was a mistake.

I don't blame Woodward, it's just how the way it is. The manager doesn't fit with our club philosophies and it's so well known now.

 

[BridgeBanter]

Woodward's problem is that he is reactive. He doesn't kill the match while it's being lit, he waits until the house is properly burning down before reacting. Mourinho should have been sacked after Sevilla and then we wouldn't have had that utter shambolic summer window.

To answer the question. No, he didn't get it right. He got it awfully wrong.

I never understood the idea he should have been sacked after the Sevilla result

 

[ghagua]

For me, no matter what Woody does for the rest of his career at United, giving Maureen that second contract will always be unforgivable. Hiring that man showed we had sold our soul, but then giving him that extension knowing well how he has behaved with all his teams going into the 3rd year is just unforgivable. He should have had him on a short leash and looked at the contract renewal towards the end of his contract. Maureen did this on purpose to get a huge payoff, starting with all his complaining in the pre-season. He was not wrong about this team needed more quality, but Maureen should be the last person to decide on which player we signed after all his crap signings.

 

[NoPace]

It was what most of us thought:

-Willian for Martial was insane given the ages wingers tend to excel at and Martial's obvious skill

-Perisic and Maguire were big overpays (Perisic because of age, Maguire because while he's very good in the air and has good passing range, the rest of his game is basically average Prem CB) but we have a lot of money and doing one wouldn't have killed us and would have likely given us a 7/10 at a position we might struggle to get above a 6/10 once the season is done (though Lingard has been a decent 3rd man in the attack). B+ signings for A money, but again, money is what we as a club have as uh, capital, these days.

-Alderweild should have happened, 10M isn't much to us and he's a massive upgrade

If we'd made all those signings except for the insane Martial for a 30 year old winger not named Messi deal (and let's say sold 2 of Rojo, Smalling and Jones since we're buying 2 CBs) and we only had 50M to spend this summer I think we'd be fine as we'd only desperately need fullback help, but have a lower ceiling. There has to be a better way to spend 70M on a CB than Harry Maguire or 50M on Perisic (30 in a week) as those fees generally buy the best options in the world at CB or wingers in their early 20s already looking the part (Sane, Sterling, Bernardo Silva) to name some who live in Manchester.

 

[Reddy Rederson]

Jose wanted to play his way. He didnt have the squad for that, and failed to adapt his way of playing to suit what he had. He wanted players, I dont know who he wanted or who he wanted to sell. Youll forgive me if I dont take the mirror as gospel. If theres reliable info that he wanted to sell martial then fair enough, I only ever saw that in gossip.

Supposedly Ed said that he didnt see the point in spending money to move up one place(2nd to 1st). He said that there was no difference to the club financially as long as we got top four. If true, thats an alarming admission that he only cares about money and that the footballing side will suffer.

Why did he give Jose a new contract and then not back him? That makes no sense. Not for someone that works in investments.

We all saw that Jose was throwing players under the bus left and right and we all said that it was bullshit to do it in public. Same thing applies to Ed and that thing he did justifying his actions. The sitting in the stands after bad games pulling mad faces for the press to write headlines about.

I dont like the man. Dont think we can trust him to do whats right for the club. Getting Ole, has been a good turn of luck. Dont think anyone would have guessed he'd have turned it around as well as he has. Are we sure it was woody that got him? Are we sure it wasnt someone else seeing the shit show of the past 6 years and saying "right you, out the way." to woody and getting Ole in? I know woody will take the credit so the face of the club looks united, but getting Ole seems out of character for the man who wants big names.

Anyway, looking forward to getting a DOF in and woody stepping to the side. Hopefully he gives Ole the gig full time and lets him freshen up the squad with some new blood.

 

[Robbie Boy]

Thank Christ we didn’t sign Perisic and Maguire.

 

[Kostur]

Woodward gave the "crackpot" a contract extension in January and then kept him on past the summer despite clearly having lost faith in (and publicly undermined) him, thereby all but writing-off the season.

The only thing Ed's got right recently is appointing Ole.

Amen.

Doubt it was his idea either.

 

[Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber]

Woodward gave the "crackpot" a contract extension in January and then kept him on past the summer despite clearly having lost faith in (and publicly undermined) him, thereby all but writing-off the season.

The only thing Ed's got right recently is appointing Ole.

That

 

[Schneckerl]

No, the best option would have been to get rid of Mourinho.
What was the point of keeping him if you don't want to back him? Wasted the first few month of the season.

Looks what he did was a bit half-assed. Didn't want to take the risk to fire a manager who finished 2nd, because there was the possiblity it could backfire. Waited until it was proven that it couldn't get any worse.

 

[Raees]

Not sure how Woodward gets any credit for finally managing to wipe his own arse after causing a tonne of shit with the whole Jose saga post Sevilla.

 

[Thiagoal]

The Ole feel good wave has masked another horrendous window. You can't bring in much in January, maybe we could sort out the contracts of top players that can leave for nothing in the Summer. Maybe we could finally get top players like Dave and Martial to sign up. Ed has given Scott Mc Tomminay and Smalling a new contract this window, wow. Darmian, Young, Valencia, Mata, Herrera, Young, Jones, Periera.... There is a lot of question marks over who is staying. I don't get why people aren't asking more questions?

The Ole's only here to May thing and the next manager might want potential signings is garbage, I doubt whoever is coming in wants Jones or Valencia. We need a clear out of deadwood. Some say we are waiting for a director of football, talk about that for ages now and nothing seems imminent. Ed Woodward have been lucky that United have been performing so well, it is lucky too. Nobody could have forseen Ole doing so well. If we lost the last 3 games, people would be saying we need to buy. Jose and his methods weren't working, his targets may have been ludicrous in hindsight but we need so much more to get back to the top. We had a fecking terrible summer window and didn't have a huge Netspend. There are clearly players not good enough here and coming to the end that shouldve be moved on and there not. I'm delighted of the tremendous job Ole has done but there are huge problems at the club. We have Luke Shaw getting a 5 year contract for less than a 2 month run of form and Martial and De Gea's contracts not sorted.

Mourinho tried to convince people that top players were no good, couldn't be trusted. He was wrong but we need signings, Ed has been leaking stuff to the press since September. This team needs an overdue drastic clearout and I don't think we are near it. People need to think about what we could bring in with players like Valencia, Jones and Darmian ect gone.

The Glazer's and Ed having been mugging the fans off for ages. Shit planning and poor choices have gotten us into a mess. I love what Ole has done, he's brought something back that was missing. Everyone knows the Ole' and Phelan appointment has Fergie all over it, not the reactionary people on the board. They seem to act to clean up one mess after the last mess, need to start putting money and a plan properly in place, DOF, sale players now, bring in someone that can help us get top 4. This window has been a missed opportunity and it comes down to Glazers not having the balls to act now. Feck hindsight about who was wrong, we clearly didn't learn anything because aren't acting now.

I wholeheartedly disagree with the bit about making signings! The last thing we need to do is make signings while we are recruiting a DOF and the managers position is uncertain. The new guys need to make that decision or we may be throwing another hundred million or so down the drain.

I hope Ole gets the job! He's already shown how much he can improve players; who's to say Bailly doesn't improve like Lindelof has which will totally change our transfer plans come the summer!