Phelan doubts about signing up

devilish

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What the feck do you expect Phelan to do when he rocked into the season with something like 14 first team players? He's still won manager of the Month in August 2016 with that shit show and got them to the semi finals of the League Cup.

Irrespective, his job is not to coach or manage. He'll have feck all to do with the actual first team aside from give directions on policy and procedure for the long term benefit of the club.
If he did so well then surely he wouldn't be rotting at some third rated Australian club wouldn't he? Also you might not have noticed but our manager can't stop losing ever since he got his permanent contract. The last thing you do under such circumstances is to reward his no 2 with a promotion especially in a job he has no experience in
 

mariachi-19

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If he did so well then surely he wouldn't be rotting at some third rated Australian club wouldn't he? Also you might not have noticed but our manager can't stop losing ever since he got his permanent contract. The last thing you do under such circumstances is to reward his no 2 with a promotion especially in a job he has no experience in
Do some research on why he took that role. It aligned with his own business and meant that he could stay in europe while assisting with the Mariners.

Further, he's not fecking coaching the team. It's completely different role.
 

devilish

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Do some research on why he took that role. It aligned with his own business and meant that he could stay in europe while assisting with the Mariners.

Further, he's not fecking coaching the team. It's completely different role.
Sure.

If it's a completely different role then why we are hiring a coach for it?
 

Invictus

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If United want a lower profile technical director who's into analysis, someone like Christopher Vivell (current Head of Recruitment and Sports Coordinator at RB Salzburg under Christoph Freund) could be a good fit, I think. Clubs acquired by Red Bull have been at the forefront of a lot of advancements in recent years via Rangnick's Kapital-Konzept-Kompetenz blueprint, and while Vivell is only 32 years old (so not vastly experienced as an administrator), he has been an analyst/scout in varying capacities since 2010, was personally poached by Rangnick, and has worked alongside a lot of progressive managers/administrators at both Hoffenheim and RB Salzburg as part of the organisations' internal structure: Nagelsmann, Rosen, Schön, Rose, Marić, etc. The fact that Salzburg typically sign and develop younger players suited to an active, attacking gegenpress game would be an added bonus to remedy the sense of ennui plaguing our squad, too. Though moving from Austria to the Premier League would be a significant gamble, and we're not really in a position to take risks — maybe he can be appointed alongside Phelan in a developmental capacity with Phelan being the familiar administrative face and Vivell in charge of the data-oriented revolution.
 

Man of Leisure

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Let's be realistic. We're asking the club to step out from the English model to the continental model. We're a ways away from the American sports model.
Data analytics is not even the way of the future. It's the here and now. Either we embrace it, or we become dinosaurs.
 

AFC NimbleThumb

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we are finished as a force for the foreseeable future.

i can’t emotionally invest in a set up that makes decisions like this. we are manchester united, appointing ole is understandable but not following that up with an astute DoF signing is baffling.

wreaks of people in power not wanting to be challenged. phelan on the bench? YES. DoF? no.
 

Chairman Steve

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Thing with DoFs I’ve learnt through casual research is that it’s nigh on impossible to gauge how good they actually are. It’s not like the typical player/manager route where they start in humble surroundings and end up at the big time. Zorc didn’t work his way up through the German football pyramid to get to Dortmund. He retired after spending his entire career there and there he was... then you have people like Andrea Berta who had zero professional football experience and came from the finance sector, but worked his way to Atlético Madrid.

Phelan does strike me as someone who can negotiate and be diplomatic to people, and could work with potential future managers.. plus if true I like it that there’s bringing more people if The Sun is to be believed. A club the size of Utd need a handful of guys to run things.
 

Zoo

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Thing with DoFs I’ve learnt through casual research is that it’s nigh on impossible to gauge how good they actually are. It’s not like the typical player/manager route where they start in humble surroundings and end up at the big time. Zorc didn’t work his way up through the German football pyramid to get to Dortmund. He retired after spending his entire career there and there he was... then you have people like Andrea Berta who had zero professional football experience and came from the finance sector, but worked his way to Atlético Madrid.

Phelan does strike me as someone who can negotiate and be diplomatic to people, and could work with potential future managers.. plus if true I like it that there’s bringing more people if The Sun is to be believed. A club the size of Utd need a handful of guys to run things.
Good post. At this point just taking the footballing decisions away from Woodward can only been seen as a positive.
 

SteveW

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I can understand appointing Ole as manager, but this makes little sense to me.
I'd be all for this. Just get someone in charge who will back Ole properly and sign young hungry players. All we seem to have done since SAF and Phelan left is sign mercenaries. Many of which are still earning a wage here
 

AaronRedDevil

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I can understand appointing Ole as manager, but this makes little sense to me.
I think this appointment is perfect. My big fear that United hire a dof that's just like Woodward. Instead hire someone who understands United and what the club needs. A big plus is ole and him will be on the same page from the very start.
 

MikeKing

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I'd be all for this. Just get someone in charge who will back Ole properly and sign young hungry players. All we seem to have done since SAF and Phelan left is sign mercenaries. Many of which are still earning a wage here
That is true. If he is sort of an intermediary between head of recruitment and Ole and works like an extension of him, then fine. I guess we're trying to make a 6-headed beast in the mould of SAF, only with more people filling the roles. I guess it could work.
 

SteveW

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I think this appointment is perfect. My big fear that United hire a dof that's just like Woodward. Instead hire someone who understands United and what the club needs. A big plus is ole and him will be on the same page from the very start.
100% agree
 

Sir Scott McToMinay

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So he basically went from “the guy in shorts” to “what does Mike Phelan do” to the fecking Director of Football or Manchester United, you couldn’t make this up.
And the they bring another guy (?!) to deal with the transfers?
What the hell is going on? What’s next?

Phil Neville for Chairman? David May for club Ambassador in Africa?

From thinking that little Davey Moyes, the manager of some regional team in the PL, could succeed the greatest manager in football history after 26 years, the third Scotsman to bring the European Cup to OT, to this.

I don’t understand this football club at all.
They’re living in La-land these people.
 

fallengt

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What does the "United's way" mean nowadays away? And why it is important to have Fergie's men to be club's mouthpiece

The good old United's way was heavily relied on having two best managers ever. They were born winners, those rare breed don't grow on tree. Everyone else failed badly because they just didn't have it.
How many trial & error does United want to try until we hit the jackpot again?

We're couple of years away until next generation of footballers only remember our comical era post Ferguson yet club still wants to live in the past
 
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RedDevil@84

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So he basically went from “the guy in shorts” to “what does Mike Phelan do” to the fecking Director of Football or Manchester United, you couldn’t make this up.
Would you feel better if the position was not named DoF and sounded something very mild with minimal power
 

Big Ben Foster

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Data analytics is not even the way of the future. It's the here and now. Either we embrace it, or we become dinosaurs.
This. Data analytics is table stakes nowadays - it's not even a major differentiator anymore. Embracing it should be the bare minimum; if we can't even do that, we're doomed.
 

OohAahMartial

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Looks like the club wants to separate the role of co-ordinating a uniform style and ethos across all the teams, and how to progress them, as one role, and recruitment as another. If they do that it will be interesting to see if Matt Judge remains in his role as contract negotiator, and how much of that power gets given to the new guy.

I have no problem with it being ex-United men as we have already tried recruiting two of the most successful CL managers and suffered from them having a style and ethos incompatible with the fanbase and club. Hiring the likes of Schweinsteiger and Sanchez, is something that an ex-United DoF team wouldn't do.

It's all still just press talk, let's wait and see who we actually get, and their roles, and see how they do, before we judge them. But it's going in a better direction than we were in.
 

lysglimt

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The fact is that noone here has a clue what makes Phelan qualified or not-qualified to do the job. Ferguson loved Phelan, the players liked Phelan and OGS apparently loves Phelan. So clearly he does something right - is that enough ? Who knows - but at least we get someone in who does the job.
 

060258

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If these reported appointments are accurate it is poor decision making by United in my opinion.

I have worked in organisations where people maintaining there own fiefdoms was more important than the general good of the organisation. This smacks of this.

Transfers under Woodward have been poor and I cant see this Phelan/Scholes fudge doing anything to challenge that.

Interesting comments in United We Stand also about Phelan and the raising of his profile via social media.

There is a vacuum of leadership at United since departure of Fergie. Things are getting too cozy.

I remember watching Liverpools decline into mediocrity the parallels with United now are worrying.
 
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sugar_kane

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Does anyone get the distinct sense that a lot of the people moaning about Phelan don’t have the faintest clue what a director of football actually does?

In its purest form, the role is to reduce pressure on the manager and relieve him of a lot of his non-team focused duties. Whoever is hired can act as Ole’s champion and shield him from Woodward, and crucially help make sure the board aren’t making stupid decisions which go against our ethos as a club.

Mike Phelan was a key part of Fergie’s successful set up for years and is very highly spoken of by anyone who has actually worked with him. On this basis I don’t see what makes him unsuitable for this role.

People seem to think of DoF’s as dark geniuses who pull all the strings and unearth the best new talent (that’s the scouting networks job) when in most cases they are just a conduit between on the pitch matters and the board.

I swear the only reason some people don’t want Phelan is because he is a bald slightly overweight bloke from Burnley instead of some suave young firebrand from Europe.

Txiki Begiristain at City has done a great job but would they be where they are now without Pep and a feck ton of money? Nope.
 

Adam_S

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I really want this to work and to not just be an ill thought out knee jerk reaction by Woodward to try and bring back the "United Way".
 

Mainoldo

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We want to big up Ajax but when we try it it’s a joke etc etc. I wonder how you guys would have felt if we hired VDS and RVN for instance.
 

golden_blunder

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I'm sure van der Sar learned his job. Perhaps Phelan can too?
VDS didn’t learn the job because he’s never been a DoF! He’s the CEO of Ajax after studying marketing and business he became marketing manager then got promoted. I wish people would stop name dropping him, he’s hardly going to take a lesser job. IF he ever comes to United it would be to take Eds job:
 

SirAF

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VDS didn’t learn the job because he’s never been a DoF! He’s the CEO of Ajax after studying marketing and business he became marketing manager then got promoted. I wish people would stop name dropping him, he’s hardly going to take a lesser job. IF he ever comes to United it would be to take Eds job:
This.
 

CaptainAvengers

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I like Phelan but if he giving the Glaziers Billy Big Bollocks about the direction the club should be going I can see why they might be inclined to say thank you and goodbye. It wouldn't be a massive loss.. Phelan needs Manchester United more than the club needs him.

If I was him I'd keep my head down, not rock the boat and thank my lucky stars I'm basically got the best and probably easiest job in the World.

Let's not forget, he is part of the problem of the 7 losses out of 9.
 
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Damien

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VDS didn’t learn the job because he’s never been a DoF! He’s the CEO of Ajax after studying marketing and business he became marketing manager then got promoted. I wish people would stop name dropping him, he’s hardly going to take a lesser job. IF he ever comes to United it would be to take Eds job:
Exactly. Ajax is basically his 'home' club in his home country and a big club in their own right. He ended his career here and had a great time but thinking he'd leave them to come here - and like you say, for a 'lesser' job - is unrealistic.