And it's painful to watch. We've been so reactive, without a clear plan on how to get back to winning ways.
Do think solskjaer and phelan deserve a chance based on the excellent form we showed after they got put in charge, since it shows that they can get us to have a good run of form with good football. I’m just watching to see if they can mend the deficiencies we have with shrewd signings so we can play some good football if they are given chance to fix our deficiencies.
Go to most of the previous transfer threads and you will see that Woodward was hailed a genius many times. Nearly all of the signings were met with approval. It's so easy to criticize after they didn't work out but anybody saying they didn't expect the signings to be successful are lying to themselves. Nobody would be banging on about Sanchez's wages if he was scoring goals for fun. We nearly turned it around when OGS came on board in December. So how Woodward is to blame for the post PSG implosion is baffling. This window is probably going to be the most important post Fergus so I'm interested to see how the Woodward/Solskjaer era will begin.
I'm talking about the whole playing operation and structure, not simply about transfers.
I agree, give them a chance before we judge.
In order to rebuild, you need a long-term strategy and a clear idea about what sort of people you wish to recruit. Woodward has never had that - at least not based on the evidence.
And yet he and the board are rumored to be currently looking at former players and involve them in the club...just like whom? Oh yeah Bayern.
ADM never wanted to leave RM but being as Real were selling a player who was arguably the best wide attacking player in the world at the time, why wouldn't we want him?
Feel free to look around at the Resume's of the top 6 clubs CEO's... they aren't "football men" either.
No the nuts and bolts of that are probably down to Ed and Arnold, but would probably involve the manager at certain points as well. Ferguson mentioned in his books he was consulted upon often with regards transfer negotiations.
See the other thread (Guardian interview with LVG). Mentions Di Maria specifically, says he wasn't his first choice - but that he wanted him (and had wanted him years before, at AZ).
I saw it, I take form that quote he wanted him for years. Not just that he wanted him only 7 years ago and not since.
Yeah, that's how I read it too. In other words, he rathed him and was fine with the transfer (i.e. the "Ed pushed ADM on LVG" story can be dismissed as bollocks).
And that's generally what happens, managers don't necessarily get their first choice but still get someone that they rate and appreciate. It's generally perplexing when people think that only the first choice matter, you are not necessairly in a position to pry him away from his current club and you are also not the only club that wants his services. One of the keys in sport management is to make the best of what you actually have not what you dream about, for example wasn't Shearer our first choice at some point?
We are currently like the kid who has all the lego blocks he needs but doesn't know how to build the structure. I don't expect a coherent transfer policy with Ed at the helm, but there is always a chance that by fluke, we end up having a successful summer and hence a very good season, which would spur our efforts to get back to the top. A fluke whereby we get most things right is basically what we can hope for, I assume it should happen sometime by the law of averages.
Also this looks like Van Gaal distancing himself from the failed transfer. He named Di Maria as the quality winger we need to play 4-3-3 and once the transfer failed, he wasnt his choice.
He was.
One of the best things about United and Sir Alex was that most of the time we wouldnt sign the very best, most expensive player in the world. Instead we'd take someone a tier or two below and they would develop at United into a great player. It showed that under Sir Alex players improved and became better.
In fairness we've still done that quite a bit in recent years.
With Fergie, any player that did not give 110% was dropped.
Players have been dropped for periods of time as well in recent years.
I've watched practically every single game and yes I know some have been kept on field too often.
Yes, You are right and I'm not arguing with you. What I am trying to point out is players that Mourinho left on the field that were not trying, and brought others off. He done this with Rashford and Martial several times, and left Lukaku on.
Nothing like rewriting history, huh.
Get back to work Ed. The transfers aren't going to complete themselves.
Lots of gold in there!
Exactly. Brexit isn’t a good thing just because people voted for it.
Nobody would be talking about Woodward if we were winning games on the pitch. Nobody can blame him for the way we played against Huddersfield, Cardiff for example and countless other games. The point I was making is that over the years we have been provided with the players to be more successful than we have been. As I said he was hailed when those players came in. For whatever reason, they just haven't performed. Changing the playing operation and structure is not going to affect that. The only blame I attribute to him is the Moyes appointment, along with the Fellaini signing at that time
Impossible for us to know, but I think the owners find the financial side more important than anything and thus happy to keep Woody. But I just don't get how they can't see how us not winning anything will harm the brand and throwing money at it like Woody has isn't the way to do it. They need to change the layout at the top.
City have Tixiki Begiristain as a Director of Football, and Arsenal have Raul Sanllehi (They had Sven Mislintat). Chelsea, Liverpool and Spurs seems to just have a somewhat working structure in place where it seems the manager still has a lot to be said. We work with a similar structure the only difference is that our CEO has been looking at every possible short sighted option ever since Ferguson left (Both managers and most players). I don't mind Eddy as a CEO, but I would love for a "footballing" man to come in and give us a long term strategy because Ed have proven he isn't capable of doing just that.
Probably not? Problem is, I'm not entirely sure how much of the issues are his doing.
Liverpool have Michael Edwards and Klopp's thorough knowledge of the Bundesliga while it appears Chelsea and Spurs have better scouts than we do. But Chelsea's transfer policy is hit and miss at times, so they aren't significantly better than us in that regard.
Absurd chain of thought. We have sacked 3 managers since Fergie retired, two of them are known for speaking their minds and both loathe it when players are forced upon them (especially Mourinho), yet none of them have even hinted in the direction that Woodward signed players they didn't want. Mourinho loves to blame others, yet all he's complaining about is that he wasn't backed enough...
Yeah, FSG did well appointing Edwards. Him and Klopp seems to share a common vision. Chelsea is a scattergun just like us. They did try with a Football Director if I remember correctly though. Did the completely scrap that?
Unsubstantiated nonsense. No surprise given the poster.
