Ed Woodward 2019 - Until all Arctic ice melts edition

DamoK

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I agree he will never get demoted and Glazers will never sell up.

But I do agree that that OT with fans ripping him is the best way to put pressure on Woodward. This time if the team fails, the fans will not be calling for the manager's head. Ole has alot more credibility with the fans than Ed Woodward ever will. It was in his own interest to give Ole 4/5 new players. He has failed to deliver in my opinion. He might have made a few signings, but he has done feck all to get rid of anyone.
It's not just him that needs to go, it's out incompetent owners who just care about lining their pockets. They've all ready ruined the NFL team they own ! But hey they dont care they are making money. Ed is the fall guy for them he makes them loads of money and then he's given a shoe string budget to try and fix our team. Yeah he needs to go but he's not the only one that needs to go *glazers out to save our club
 

Adisa

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His briefings even make the whole situation very infuriating. Pathetic idiot.
 

RedCoffee

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Looking like there's not gonna be any more moves for us, no mad dash before the window closes. We still really need a midfielder but, hey ho, looks like we're getting more Matic and Mata.
This is worrying. We need at least one CM or AM to tie up what would be a nice window. Matic and Mata are squad players these days and shouldn’t be first picks.
 

Grande

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No reinforcements in the front two thirds of the pitch, I’m nowhere near impressed. Ole will need to pull magic out of the hat to lift all the existing players up a level. That’s a big ask, even if there are a lot of good signs of it.
 

Snafu17

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What story? Which football club on the planet briefs the press on the exact number of signings that they will make during the a summer window? What would even be the purpose of it? It defies logic. You just made that up, and its far too much of that crap going on in threads like this.
Oh get the feck off. What are you on about. Here's a Caf thread on the subject - https://www.redcafe.net/threads/solskjaer-target-5-signings-6-players-could-leave-bbc-telegraph-guardian.446294.

Here's Ducker's article posted on the 3rd of April on 10:30 PM - https://www.telegraph.co.uk/footbal...ed-huge-summer-overhaul-ole-gunnar-solskjaer/

Here's a quote from that article
Solskjaer wants as many as five new signings, with a right-back, centre-half and versatile forward in his sights and, depending on the futures of Ander Herrera and Juan Mata, one or two midfielders.
Here's Guadian's article posted on the 3rd of April 10:29 PM - https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...hez-manchester-united-exodus-de-gea-solskjaer

Here's a quote from that article
The club’s broad policy each summer window is to sign three players and allow three to leave, but given the higher number who may depart this year more than three could be incoming.
And here's the BBC's article - https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/47805207; no prizes for guessing when it was posted.

Here a tweet from Simon Peach

Obviously nothing is clearly defined, I wouldn't expect it to be 2 months before the window opened, but the brief clearly existed and the message behind it clearly was "we are going to spend money on multiple players that can have immediate impact". You can twist and turn this every way you want but the reality is this brief happened and it was very very dumb. Thinking this brief is a good idea would make you look like a massive tit.
 

Gavinb33

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Look at what Arsenal are doing when they appointed a new technical director. Even with limited funds they're still attaining solid players that will improve them.

Woodward needs to feck right off from footballing decisions. All that gossip about getting a new technical director and feck all was done about it. I really hope our fans don't ease off him because he got us a few good signings this summer, he's still an incompetent worm that loves giving deadwood new contracts.
Arsenal have brought a luxury player while still needing glaring updates at LB, RB, CB and centre midfield they are hardly an aspirational club in terms of transfers this year fecking hell and they are still stumbling around trying to do deals
 

Jim Beam

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Woodward does not do briefings. If anything I would like him to be more open towards the fans than he is now. The Varane thing is an urban legend/myth that is just not true. But now when its taken root it will just not go away.
Woodward does not do briefings? Good one.

That was a clear briefing.

And a classic one by him, being in the air and reported in a space of a few minutes by pretty much everyone (Guardian, Times and other papers were running the same story). Same thing with pulling off from Griezmann, Eriksen deal and so many other attempts of him trying to look better in public or more competent... Which kind of CEO even does this kind of things? Keep it in the club/organisation and deal with it internally.
Feel free to ignore the reality though. Much better if you can. There are so many mistakes that this man has done that I fail to see how anyone can defend him or have any kind of confidence he will get things right at this point.
 

Johan07

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Oh get the feck off. What are you on about. Here's a Caf thread on the subject - https://www.redcafe.net/threads/solskjaer-target-5-signings-6-players-could-leave-bbc-telegraph-guardian.446294.

Here's Ducker's article posted on the 3rd of April on 10:30 PM - https://www.telegraph.co.uk/footbal...ed-huge-summer-overhaul-ole-gunnar-solskjaer/

Here's a quote from that article


Here's Guadian's article posted on the 3rd of April 10:29 PM - https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...hez-manchester-united-exodus-de-gea-solskjaer

Here's a quote from that article


And here's the BBC's article - https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/47805207; no prizes for guessing when it was posted.

Here a tweet from Simon Peach

Obviously nothing is clearly defined, I wouldn't expect it to be 2 months before the window opened, but the brief clearly existed and the message behind it clearly was "we are going to spend money on multiple players that can have immediate impact". You can twist and turn this every way you want but the reality is this brief happened and it was very very dumb. Thinking this brief is a good idea would make you look like a massive tit.
Look: the club´s policy since OGS took over has been pretty clear: To just go for players that will immediately improve the team; and if those are not available to give youth a chance or even buy youth prospescts like James. Both Wan-Bissaka and Maguire fit that bill. A player like Fernandes does not.
I dont dispute that its the signals our PR-department has been sending out; especially because it seems to be the truth. What you stated is that the press had been briefed (by Woodward) that we would sign 5 players this summer, when its pretty fecking obvious that all those stories are speculations by respective journo from what probably was a very general brief from the PR-department. If you want to take that as a promise from our CEO to sign 5 players. Fine, go ahead, and I will respectfully disagree and shake my head at the same time.
 

Johan07

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Woodward does not do briefings? Good one.

That was a clear briefing.

And a classic one by him, being in the air and reported in a space of a few minutes by pretty much everyone (Guardian, Times and other papers were running the same story). Same thing with pulling off from Griezmann, Eriksen deal and so many other attempts of him trying to look better in public or more competent... Which kind of CEO even does this kind of things? Keep it in the club/organisation and deal with it internally.
Feel free to ignore the reality though. Much better if you can. There are so many mistakes that this man has done that I fail to see how anyone can defend him or have any kind of confidence he will get things right at this point.
You know we have a PR-department right? Do you actually think that Woodward himself sits in his chambers and texts Neil fecking Custis? Grow up. All clubs brief the press one way or another. Is the CEO involved? Naw, just on the Caf.
 

BluesJr

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Could OT maybe finally get it’s act together this season and make feelings clear to Woodward and the Glazers? The fan base should be in uproar.
 

Adisa

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The son of a bitch doesn't like being quoted but we have seen him pictured with the press pool on several occasions. Coward!
 

Compton22

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We are now left with a situation where, if no one is signed by Thursday 5pm, we are placing an awful lot of faith in Rashford, Martial etc. to become the 20+ goal strikers we always wanted them to be. We are placing an awful lot of faith in Paul Pogba to stay fit throughout the season and be the driving creative force in our midfield. We are placing an awful lot of faith in McTominay to progress even further and cement his place in the first team ahead of a severely declining Nemanja Matic. We are placing an awful lot of faith in Fred to finally justify his price tag with almost no signs of him doing so so far. We are placing an awful lot of faith in Greenwood to develop significantly and contribute where Mata and Lingard clearly are incapable of contributing and ultimately, we are placing an awful lot of faith in Solskjaer's ability to get the best out of the players he has been left with. The only places in which we have some assurance is our defence and GK.

Incompetent is really the kindest word I can use to describe Ed Woodward.
 

Johan07

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Was he serious when he said that?
If you go in to a season with the defaistic notion that we will finish below City and Pool then whats the purpose of even supporting a football club? Especially one like United. Wtf is happening with our fanbase?
 

Jim Beam

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You know we have a PR-department right? Do you actually think that Woodward himself sits in his chambers and texts Neil fecking Custis? Grow up. All clubs brief the press one way or another. Is the CEO involved? Naw, just on the Caf.
And who the feck runs that PR-department and to whom does it responds? CEO isn't involved in that? The briefing about blocking Jose targets was done by Woodward himself btw.

He has been lucky he is at the head of Manchester United. Imagine him running some other not so profitable and lucrative club with this scattergun approach. You'll probably be on the back of Ole if things don't work out next season claiming that Ed delivered his targets. Enjoy your fantasy world.
 

Reddy Rederson

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You know we have a PR-department right? Do you actually think that Woodward himself sits in his chambers and texts Neil fecking Custis? Grow up. All clubs brief the press one way or another. Is the CEO involved? Naw, just on the Caf.
"I think of the briefing Ed Woodward gave journalists ahead of the Leicester game, where he explained why United weren't going to buy centre-backs and why Jose was not being backed, trying to justify to the media why he's not backed his manager.". Who knew Gary Neville was on the caf? :rolleyes:
 

TrueRed79

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If you go in to a season with the defaistic notion that we will finish below City and Pool then whats the purpose of even supporting a football club? Especially one like United. Wtf is happening with our fanbase?
Like your optimism but it's unfounded. To say we will catch them up after our transfer business so far is ludicrous. Let's say we sell Lukaku our net spend will be that of one player that Arsenal have signed. Matic is finished and we have not replaced Herrera, Fellaini. We are placing our trust in an unproven coach with a bunch of unproven kids and you expect us to make up 30+ points on two very good sides like City and Liverpool? :lol:
 

Snafu17

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Look: the club´s policy since OGS took over has been pretty clear: To just go for players that will immediately improve the team; and if those are not available to give youth a chance or even buy youth prospescts like James. Both Wan-Bissaka and Maguire fit that bill. A player like Fernandes does not.
I dont dispute that its the signals our PR-department has been sending out; especially because it seems to be the truth. What you stated is that the press had been briefed (by Woodward) that we would sign 5 players this summer, when its pretty fecking obvious that all those stories are speculations by respective journo from what probably was a very general brief from the PR-department. If you want to take that as a promise from our CEO to sign 5 players. Fine, go ahead, and I will respectfully disagree and shake my head at the same time.
Cool. Called me tit, accused me of making shit up and now you're playing the sanctimonious "I will respectfully disagree" card. Good on you. Stellar sequence of posts there mate.
 

R'hllor

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Dont know why people losing their shit, they are untouchable, there are to many corporate bum licking sheep among fans/supporters/customers.
 

Johan07

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And who the feck runs that PR-department and to whom does it responds? CEO isn't involved in that? The briefing about blocking Jose targets was done by Woodward himself btw.

He has been lucky he is at the head of Manchester United. Imagine him running some other not so profitable and lucrative club with this scattergun approach. You'll probably be on the back of Ole if things don't work out next season claiming that Ed delivered his targets. Enjoy your fantasy world.
No, he is most likely not. Woodward is the CEO. The heads of financial, IT, PR, corporate development, youth setup, scouting, footballing, HR, IR and a lot more people report to him. Is he accountable for how the club is set up? Sure. Is he involved in the day-to-day business of negotiating contracts or briefing the press, or shit like that. He is not.
This narrative of an omnipotent Woodward that controls everything at United is so weird; and yet its taken root with posters like you and other in this thread that you cant even see how its not even logical to begin with.
 

marktan

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No, he is most likely not. Woodward is the CEO. The heads of financial, IT, PR, corporate development, youth setup, scouting, footballing, HR, IR and a lot more people report to him. Is he accountable for how the club is set up? Sure. Is he involved in the day-to-day business of negotiating contracts or briefing the press, or shit like that. He is not.
This narrative of an omnipotent Woodward that controls everything at United is so weird; and yet its taken root with posters like you and other in this thread that you cant even see how its not even logical to begin with.
I don't know why you're defending Woodward so hard, there's no secret plot against him as you're trying to make out. The media was briefed about Ed vetoing Jose's signings, presumably that briefing would've got the ok from Ed first otherwise whoever did it would get sacked.

Fact of the matter is in footballing signings terms the man holds the most power and is rightly singled out for our scattergun and unstructured approach over the last 6 years.
 

Johan07

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Cool. Called me tit, accused me of making shit up and now you're playing the sanctimonious "I will respectfully disagree" card. Good on you. Stellar sequence of posts there mate.
Hey, you started with the giant tit thing. Dont blame it on me if a tit should even be considered a bad thing.
 

Snafu17

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Hey, you started with the giant tit thing. Dont blame it on me if a tit should even be considered a bad thing.
I don't really care it's just somewhat funny seeing you backtrack to "I will respectfully disagree" after being proven wrong.
 

Jim Beam

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No, he is most likely not. Woodward is the CEO. The heads of financial, IT, PR, corporate development, youth setup, scouting, footballing, HR, IR and a lot more people report to him. Is he accountable for how the club is set up? Sure. Is he involved in the day-to-day business of negotiating contracts or briefing the press, or shit like that. He is not.
Yeah, everyone to blame, but not him. Heard that one before.

It is PR department, Matt Judge, the Pope and Ole in a few months time.
 

Johan07

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I don't know why you're defending Woodward so hard, there's no secret plot against him as you're trying to make out. The media was briefed about Ed vetoing Jose's signings, presumably that briefing would've got the ok from Ed first otherwise whoever did it would get sacked.

Fact of the matter is in footballing signings terms the man holds the most power and is rightly singled out for our scattergun and unstructured approach over the last 6 years.
I am not defending anyone. I could give less shit about Woodward to be honest. He never does interviews and when he does he sounds like Boris Johnson on weed. Its just clichees that does not mean anything except for ABU-media and some posters on here that try to interpret the shit out of nothing.
I would much more prefer a more outspoken CEO, but thats me. That said: there is no need to make shit up. Thats what annoys me and why I occassionally post in this thread.
 

Johan07

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Like your optimism but it's unfounded. To say we will catch them up after our transfer business so far is ludicrous. Let's say we sell Lukaku our net spend will be that of one player that Arsenal have signed. Matic is finished and we have not replaced Herrera, Fellaini. We are placing our trust in an unproven coach with a bunch of unproven kids and you expect us to make up 30+ points on two very good sides like City and Liverpool? :lol:
Yes. I support United. I am not fast-forwarding this season just for the sake of it. I would favor us for the CL as well if it was not for it being theoretically impossible.
 

Bastian

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That shiny defense will be under some serious strain without a midfield up to scratch. One injury in midfield and we're seriously fukced.

He had months to sort out targets, sound them out, converse with other clubs to get things done. Fixed two positions at the back (which could have happened months ago) and went on a wild goose chase for the last week of the window.
 

Kostov

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If you go in to a season with the defaistic notion that we will finish below City and Pool then whats the purpose of even supporting a football club? Especially one like United. Wtf is happening with our fanbase?
Not everyone is sheep and blindly follows without asking question despite 6 years of a disastrous management.
 

MadMike

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Not everyone is sheep and blindly follows without asking question despite 6 years of a disastrous management.
Apparently being in touch with reality is a cardinal sin. We should all be dreamers on opiates instead.
 

Loon

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Will there be the inevitable "Woodward gets fleeced on Deadline Day" buy?
 
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Coops73

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Woodward is taking United fans for fools.
Yep, some are falling for the “we tried to sign X player but they just didn’t want to come” bollocks. I’m not having it, hope they prove me wrong.
 

Chesterlestreet

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Yeah, everyone to blame, but not him. Heard that one before.
To be fair, I don't read certain posters' take on Woodward as an attempt to absolve him of any ultimate blame or responsibility.

There's a widespread notion among disgruntled fans that Woodward is a very hands-on sort of devil - or idiot - who keeps meddling, interfering and/or controlling in a way that is detrimental and/or positively incompetent. However, there is very little actual evidence to support this - and some of the things he's supposedly done (himself, personally) are clearly outlandish, such as forcing players on the manager, etc.

I don't think it absolves him of anything, at the end of the day, even if he doesn't negotiate transfers and contracts personally - or acts like a fecked-up DoF because he's power mad, etc. He's ultimately responsible for the money United have spent, and for long term results - and those speak for themselves.
 

BigBebe

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Will there be the inevitable "Woodward gets fleeced on Deadline Day" buy?
Of course, tomorrow evening he will sign Bale on huge money and declare himself to be a genius.

Bale will then play one good game and then be injured for the rest of the season.
 

Kostov

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Yep, some are falling for the “we tried to sign X player but they just didn’t want to come” bollocks. I’m not having it, hope they prove me wrong.
The baffling thing is, some are believing that there aren't players out there who would improve on Matic or Lingard for example and are willing to come and play for Manchester United. It's bonkers.
 

Igor Drefljak

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Things are going to get messy this season. :lol:

6th place last season.
Clear need for improvements in both defence and attack.
Herrera left on a free.
De Gea still hasn't signed a contract.
Pogba and Lukaku determined to leave.
Players opting out of the chance to join United.
 

Grande

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Yep, some are falling for the “we tried to sign X player but they just didn’t want to come” bollocks. I’m not having it, hope they prove me wrong.
One thing is adamantly clear - if we find out a player is not particulalrly interested in us the last week before deadline day, then we have not been actively pursuing that player until the last week before deadline day.

What Woody’s team has been working on most of this window in the offensive side of the park is not clear to me, but surely it hasn’t been negotiating about players who aren’t into the move.