Matthew Judge - Manchester United contract negotiator

Josep Dowling

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For any of you that haven’t heard of him. He is Ed Woodward’s right hand man that deals with contract negotiations of players.

He ‘negotiated’ the Sanchez transfer which led to the player signing the most ridiculous contract in footballing history. Sanchez’s very expensive contract has spiralled into one of the biggest problems at the club.

Matthew Judge has negotiated £200k a week contracts with Shaw and Martial which more than doubled their previous salaries. What had either of these players done to get such a pay rise? If you look at how Daniel Levy does contract negotiations at Tottenham, their players get small regular pay rises provided they sign a year extension on their contracts. This in turn has kept their wage budget down whilst retaining player value as they are all on long term contracts.

This man has negotiated contracts for Jones, Smalling and Young this season. Before that he let Fellaini bully him into a 2 year extension, something we had never done for a player over 30. This in turn has meant other players wanted the same terms.

And finally he has been unable to get Herrera to sign a new contract. There is no news on Mata or De Gea extending their contracts either.

So what qualifies him for such a job at Manchester United? That’s right he was an investment banker and best friend with Woodward at university.

For anything to change at Manchester United he has to be one of the first people to leave.
 

Minimalist

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...Jesus Christ. Some of you seriously need to get out of the house.
 

Wumminator

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I have no idea about the minutia of his job not the finances behind any of the deals previously mentioned so don’t think I can judge him on his work.

For example you say that signing Young up and letting Herrera go on a free is bad business. But if we know we need a back up left back next year and Young is asking for roughly 60-75k it makes sense. Whereas if we know Herrera will not be a first choice midfielder next year and he’s asking for 200k it does not make sense.

You can’t just say “player x is worse than player y so player y should get a new contract”. You have no idea how much each of these players want.
 

11101

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He'll be given a budget to work within. If Woodward tells him he's got 400k per week to offer to Sanchez and he gets him to sign for 350k per week he's done his job. He is not the problem.
 

Shane88

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Woodward is a poison that is killing the club slowly.

If the Old Trafford crowd were any good they would make this known tomorrow by abusive chants directed at him or banners.

Instead, they'll be passive and quiet like every other week.
 

fezzerUTD

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Think these high contracts are to do with image rights as well. Its just a guess but I think Utd players get a lot of attention so they know every player will make money off of the field and some are signed all the rights to the club so the club has them at every photo op or sponsorship deal. Say if Shaw got 100k a week he might get another 30-50k elsewhere from promoting products elsewhere, whereas if the club pay him 150k p/w they will take all his promo money etc.
 

Rozay

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More ranting about areas of the club where very little factual information or detail is known. There will be a thread on the head of marketing soon.
 

lysglimt

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For Christs sake - this guy probably has nothing to do with anything else than signing the papers. He is probably told - renegotiate this deal and this deal - there are 2 people responsible for the players coming in - the manager and Woodward. Yes you can in theory blame this guy for giving a player £120k a week rather than £110K but that is probably it.
 

harms

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Whereas if we know Herrera will not be a first choice midfielder next year and he’s asking for 200k it does not make sense.
The problem is, his contract should've been renewed much sooner, when he didn't have that PSG offer and an option to leave on a free. It's the Fellaini situation all over again — it's just that in Fellaini's case we've agreed to his ridiculous demands.
 

Wumminator

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The problem is, his contract should've been renewed much sooner, when he didn't have that PSG offer and an option to leave on a free. It's the Fellaini situation all over again — it's just that in Fellaini's case we've agreed to his ridiculous demands.
When should it have been renewed? Last year? When he was by all accounts offered one?

He wanted a four year contract. There is no way having Herrera here at 33 on 200k made sense.
 

Fosu-Mens

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When should it have been renewed? Last year? When he was by all accounts offered one?

He wanted a four year contract. There is no way having Herrera here at 33 on 200k made sense.
Sanchez will be 33 when his contract ends.

Contracts should be renewed when there is between 18-24 months left at the latest(and one should start the process before this to test how much they want and/or if they are inclined to stay). That way, you will now if you can come to an agreement, or you can plan for selling the player with either 1 or 2 years left and getting a replacement the following summer.

When we let Martial and Shaws contracts run down to less than a year, then they had all the good cards. So either we let them leave on a free or they get what they wanted.
 

Johan07

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The problem is, his contract should've been renewed much sooner, when he didn't have that PSG offer and an option to leave on a free. It's the Fellaini situation all over again — it's just that in Fellaini's case we've agreed to his ridiculous demands.
We received more money for Fellaini in transfer fee than we paid him in salary for the 6-7 months he played under his new contract. So we actually made money by agreeing to Fellaini´s "ridiculous demands". Facts you know.
 

-Supreme-

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People talk about renewal is 100% down to the club but do you realise that the player has to want and sign the contract extension?

There are increasing players wait until their contracts near to the end to negotiate for better contracts, as you can see from Ramsey, and now Herrera.
 

minh_loc_xoay

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For any of you that haven’t heard of him. He is Ed Woodward’s right hand man that deals with contract negotiations of players.

He ‘negotiated’ the Sanchez transfer which led to the player signing the most ridiculous contract in footballing history. Sanchez’s very expensive contract has spiralled into one of the biggest problems at the club.

Matthew Judge has negotiated £200k a week contracts with Shaw and Martial which more than doubled their previous salaries. What had either of these players done to get such a pay rise? If you look at how Daniel Levy does contract negotiations at Tottenham, their players get small regular pay rises provided they sign a year extension on their contracts. This in turn has kept their wage budget down whilst retaining player value as they are all on long term contracts.

This man has negotiated contracts for Jones, Smalling and Young this season. Before that he let Fellaini bully him into a 2 year extension, something we had never done for a player over 30. This in turn has meant other players wanted the same terms.

And finally he has been unable to get Herrera to sign a new contract. There is no news on Mata or De Gea extending their contracts either.

So what qualifies him for such a job at Manchester United? That’s right he was an investment banker and best friend with Woodward at university.

For anything to change at Manchester United he has to be one of the first people to leave.
We need another contract negotiator to rotate with him and keep him on his edge. I bet Judge has felt too comfortable being the only one in this position at our club. At Manchester United, we need competition for every position! :nono:
 

TMDaines

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I have no idea about the minutia of his job not the finances behind any of the deals previously mentioned so don’t think I can judge him on his work.

For example you say that signing Young up and letting Herrera go on a free is bad business. But if we know we need a back up left back next year and Young is asking for roughly 60-75k it makes sense. Whereas if we know Herrera will not be a first choice midfielder next year and he’s asking for 200k it does not make sense.

You can’t just say “player x is worse than player y so player y should get a new contract”. You have no idea how much each of these players want.
The most stupid part of the forum is where people post their ins and outs for next season, ending up with a squad that would fail on both club and national homegrown quotas, before pontificating on whose contracts the club should renew.
 

Johan07

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People talk about renewal is 100% down to the club but do you realise that the player has to want and sign the contract extension?

There are increasing players wait until their contracts near to the end to negotiate for better contracts, as you can see from Ramsey, and now Herrera.
And Eriksen. And Aldeweireld. And Hazard. And De Gea. Even if they have one year left on their contracts their market value is so high that it haves essentially the same effect on their leverage.
And they also need to accept to leave if you want to sell them early, you cant just put them on craigslist and expect them to be gone within a week are so, especially when they are on decent salaries already. Are we going to bench De Gea if he does not want to leave until next summer? Its a negotiation tactic we will see more and more of.
 

Josep Dowling

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We need another contract negotiator to rotate with him and keep him on his edge. I bet Judge has felt too comfortable being the only one in this position at our club. At Manchester United, we need competition for every position! :nono:
No we need someone who’s competent at his job. You lot commenting in the thread are simply deluded to what is happening at the club.

Just keep telling yourself it’s all going to resolve itself in the summer by signing 4 players.
 

Minimalist

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Says someone who’s a regular posters :houllier:
And yet you could count on one hand the amount of threads I’ve started - never mind a thread based on pure conjecture. I personally post here to discuss United and what’s actually going on (mostly on the pitch).

You have started a thread about how our fecking contract negotiator is one of the first people who needs to leave. It’s at best a throwaway comment for another thread.
 

In Rainbows

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The critique on this guy is legitimate to me. I've seen everyone criticize Woodward for this, so why shouldn't this guy get criticized for the exact same problem Woodward gets blasted for?
 

elmo

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The critique on this guy is legitimate to me. I've seen everyone criticize Woodward for this, so why shouldn't this guy get criticized for the exact same problem Woodward gets blasted for?
Because the only reason this guy is in this position is because of Woodward who is the real problem....
 

MAME DIOUF 32

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tbf the reason Shaw and Martial got such massive contracts is inflation of player wages. It's not like the club seriously believed them to be twice as good as they were when they signed up.
 

sglowrider

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I say we get rid of Kath too -- the wench has been there for 40 years. If we are going to chop some deadwood, Jones, Sanchez, and Kath.
 

wattsy7

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Where is everyone getting their contract figures from? I’m guessing all the articles which over exaggerate how much the salary is so it will get more clicks and comments.

No one has the slightest clue what each player is on so stop pretending you do.
 

clarkydaz

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tbf the reason Shaw and Martial got such massive contracts is inflation of player wages. It's not like the club seriously believed them to be twice as good as they were when they signed up.
they don't have to offer stupid increases, and they don't have to give silly wages when they first sign. It really is Disneyland here
 

lsd

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Are we going to name and shame Ed's window cleaner next ?
 

SAFMUTD

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tbf the reason Shaw and Martial got such massive contracts is inflation of player wages. It's not like the club seriously believed them to be twice as good as they were when they signed up.
We have he third highest wage in Europe FFS. With a team that is not even top 4 in Englad, we pay our players as if they were worldclass, it has nothing to do with inflation but with poor management.
 

RedTillI'mDead

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More ranting about areas of the club where very little factual information or detail is known. There will be a thread on the head of marketing soon.
I blame the cleaning lady....must be leaving mess everywhere which is damaging the players focus.
 

NinjaZombie

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I have no idea about the minutia of his job not the finances behind any of the deals previously mentioned so don’t think I can judge him on his work.

For example you say that signing Young up and letting Herrera go on a free is bad business. But if we know we need a back up left back next year and Young is asking for roughly 60-75k it makes sense. Whereas if we know Herrera will not be a first choice midfielder next year and he’s asking for 200k it does not make sense.

You can’t just say “player x is worse than player y so player y should get a new contract”. You have no idea how much each of these players want.
Young is not on 60-75k.