Man Utd set to appoint Director of Football (when hell freezes over)

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R'hllor

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Dunno why people laugh, there are more than enough out there who will eat that up, no water required.
 

IrishRedDevil

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The search apparently begins again just when the window has shut :lol:


Manchester United to resume search for technical director
By Simon Stone
BBC Sport
31 minutes ago

Manchester United will turn their attention to appointing a technical director now their summer transfer window business is complete.

United's initial intention was to make an appointment before Jose Mourinho's successor as manager was confirmed.

But for this window, boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer operated within the existing recruitment structure.

The club spent £140m on the signings of defenders Harry Maguire and Aaron Wan-Bissaka and winger Daniel James.

When Solskjaer was given the job on a permanent basis on 28 March, club insiders said the role would be filled by the start of the season.

Former players Darren Fletcher and Rio Ferdinand spoke to executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward a number of weeks ago.

Although it is understood there has been no further face-to-face contact, Woodward has kept the pair in the loop over changes to the timescale for an appointment.

No offer has been made and it is thought the role would not involve negotiating with or signing transfer targets.

Social media unrest
Not everyone thinks United have had a good transfer window.

In particular, many fans on social media feel United made an error in not attempting to sign midfielder Bruno Fernandes from Sporting Lisbon.

It was also suggested their interest in Argentina forward Paulo Dybala was used as a smokescreen given they have been unable to sign an additional forward, as it had been obvious for some time that Romelu Lukaku would be leaving at some stage.

At one point on Thursday, #WoodwardOut - calling for the executive vice-chairman to leave his job - was trending in the UK with more than 50,000 tweets, second only to #DeadlineDay in terms of football-related tweets.

United have failed to mount a sustained Premier League title challenge in the six seasons since Woodward replaced former chief executive David Gill.

Fan @SteveCapes94, who has just over 100 Twitter followers, said: "If you're in charge of the world's biggest football club and haven't come close to a league title in your six-year time in charge. You have to look at yourself and admit you can't do your job." This tweet has been liked more than 1,500 times.

The Glazers Out movement, which is trying to generate enough support to unseat United's owners, called the club's transfer window business "abysmal".

United 'need time'
United regard their summer outlay as significant and believe, after last season's sixth-placed finish, 32 points behind champions Manchester City, it was always known it would take more than a single window to rectify their problems.

They also point to a number of new contracts - those for Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martialwhich have already been done, and David de Gea's, which is due to be completed in the coming weeks - as proof of a rebuild.

In addition, they feel the performances of 17-year-old striker Mason Greenwood in particular during the club's pre-season tour of Australia and Asia offers hope for the future and underlines their continuing commitment to developing first-team players from their academy.
 

JMack1234

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Look at Arsenal.

They've been a laughing stock in the transfer window over the last few years. They appoint a top quality operator in Sanhelli and they have the best summer window in England.
 

Ian Reus

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The search apparently begins again just when the window has shut :lol:


Manchester United to resume search for technical director
By Simon Stone
BBC Sport
31 minutes ago

Manchester United will turn their attention to appointing a technical director now their summer transfer window business is complete.

United's initial intention was to make an appointment before Jose Mourinho's successor as manager was confirmed.

But for this window, boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer operated within the existing recruitment structure.

The club spent £140m on the signings of defenders Harry Maguire and Aaron Wan-Bissaka and winger Daniel James.

When Solskjaer was given the job on a permanent basis on 28 March, club insiders said the role would be filled by the start of the season.

Former players Darren Fletcher and Rio Ferdinand spoke to executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward a number of weeks ago.

Although it is understood there has been no further face-to-face contact, Woodward has kept the pair in the loop over changes to the timescale for an appointment.

No offer has been made and it is thought the role would not involve negotiating with or signing transfer targets.

Social media unrest
Not everyone thinks United have had a good transfer window.

In particular, many fans on social media feel United made an error in not attempting to sign midfielder Bruno Fernandes from Sporting Lisbon.

It was also suggested their interest in Argentina forward Paulo Dybala was used as a smokescreen given they have been unable to sign an additional forward, as it had been obvious for some time that Romelu Lukaku would be leaving at some stage.

At one point on Thursday, #WoodwardOut - calling for the executive vice-chairman to leave his job - was trending in the UK with more than 50,000 tweets, second only to #DeadlineDay in terms of football-related tweets.

United have failed to mount a sustained Premier League title challenge in the six seasons since Woodward replaced former chief executive David Gill.

Fan @SteveCapes94, who has just over 100 Twitter followers, said: "If you're in charge of the world's biggest football club and haven't come close to a league title in your six-year time in charge. You have to look at yourself and admit you can't do your job." This tweet has been liked more than 1,500 times.

The Glazers Out movement, which is trying to generate enough support to unseat United's owners, called the club's transfer window business "abysmal".

United 'need time'
United regard their summer outlay as significant and believe, after last season's sixth-placed finish, 32 points behind champions Manchester City, it was always known it would take more than a single window to rectify their problems.

They also point to a number of new contracts - those for Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martialwhich have already been done, and David de Gea's, which is due to be completed in the coming weeks - as proof of a rebuild.

In addition, they feel the performances of 17-year-old striker Mason Greenwood in particular during the club's pre-season tour of Australia and Asia offers hope for the future and underlines their continuing commitment to developing first-team players from their academy.
With all due respect. We already knew woody wanted to bring in the DOF after the window had shut as a lot of people in here were bemused as to why it wasn't at the start of the window.
 

Rolaholic

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The DOF/technical director reports came out towards the end of Jose's reign last year and since then we've had 2 transfer windows pass us by without even an inkling about a potential recruitment restructure...utterly shambolic

It's an absolute disgrace the way this self styled 'mega' club is ran. We're ran worse than the clubs we used to banter in the past like Arsenal and Everton. We've become that banter club now thanks to Ed and his ilk.

I know it's never happening but I'll cry tears of joy whenever they get the feck out of my club. Would even take the murderous Saudi's taking over instead of the current regime tbh
 
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Mark Pawelek

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He searched behind every nook and cranny. Behind every blade of grass, underneath every stone. Still the elusive director of football could not be found. Yet our indomitable CEO was unphased. Did King Arthur's knights give up their quest for the Holy Grail? Never. Will Ed Woodward give up? Unthinkable. He will still be looking for the near mythical director of football until he retires. Nothing will deter his search.
 

pseudo_canadian

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Absolute joke of pandering to fans after failing to address the needs of the squad. Again.

feck Woodward and the Glazers. Absolute cretins of human beings, and I mean that genuinely. I’ve fecking had enough.
 

Rhyme Animal

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Nonchalantly scoring the winner...
Laughable - absolutely laughable.

"Now that Christmas is over, we're going to look to employ a Father Christmas impersonator!"

And if they do actually employ anyone it'll just be some political move to appease (and patronize) fans - another 'fan favourite' given a token title to act as a barrier for Woodward, who will still be running the show.
 
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pseudo_canadian

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Laughable - absolutely laughable.

"Now that Christmas is over, we're going to look to employ a Father Christmas impersonator!"

And if they do actually employ anyone it'll just be some political move to appease (and patronize) fans - another 'fan favourite' given a token title to act as a barrier for Woodward, who will still be running the show,
Correct. It’s legitimately insulting to anyone with a few brain cells. Joke of a club.
 

crackers0seven

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With all the money saved from not buying players we should go out and pay as much as needed to get best person available. After yet another poor showing in the summer it's probably the area in club we need to improve most. But I reckon this time next year we will be still at the same situation and all this talk is just put out there to look like they are trying. Ed seems like he fancies himself as master negotiator and is unwilling to give that up
 

fergie_god

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I can’t stress enough how feckin stupid it is that Woodward is in charge of hiring the person who will replace most of his duties. This is something the Glazers should be in charge of if we wanted to see actual changes in the system. All Woodward would be interested is another voice with no real power to be the fall guy.

Looking at how utter crap they’ve been at running the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for decades now I’m starting to feel really disillusioned about our future. Bad owners and front offices are cancers for clubs and sports teams. Woodward and the Glazers have had the biggest advantage and head start possible due to Fergies successes and gotten pretty much the worst possible results. Look at how John Henry and kroenke are at least successful in running their other teams versus the glazers.
 
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BaneIsPain

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Look at Arsenal.

They've been a laughing stock in the transfer window over the last few years. They appoint a top quality operator in Sanhelli and they have the best summer window in England.
With Edu appointment as Technical Director, it seems Arsenal get it together. They will get it better next summer as well if they managed to achieve to get top 4. We are left behind again, thanks to Woodward.
 

Bastian

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Ok, so we got Lukaku out and recouped the money. We are still totally incompetent in terms of planning and execution with regards to the alleged rebuild.

Again we have another opportunity to use the next few months to get this in order before the January window. Someone with a brain needs to be installed to help Ole out.
 

mav_9me

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https://www.espn.com/soccer/arsenal...lubs-super-summer-after-years-of-bad-signings

This made me sad. As you milleniums would say, I got that FOMO
feck me, I'm a millenial

See I dont think they had a great summer. What they did was similar to us in that they addressed a little bit of midfield issues with Ceballos loan and creativity with Pepe. But they didn't do shit about their defence. Not too different to use where we addressed our defense but are left with gaping holes in midfield and RW.

Arguably their biggest success was getting 35m or so for Iwobi. Robbed Everton blind.
 

Sterling Archer

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See I dont think they had a great summer. What they did was similar to us in that they addressed a little bit of midfield issues with Ceballos loan and creativity with Pepe. But they didn't do shit about their defence. Not too different to use where we addressed our defense but are left with gaping holes in midfield and RW.

Arguably their biggest success was getting 35m or so for Iwobi. Robbed Everton blind.
I thought Saliba was a decent purchase. I didn't realize they sent him back to St Etienne though. But overall I thought it was a really decent summer that they can add depth to in future windows.

More than the specifics of the window itself, I was moved by the description of the personality. In some ways it reminded me of Gill and how highly regarded he was in the football business community. Im definitely missing that
 

DevilRed

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See I dont think they had a great summer. What they did was similar to us in that they addressed a little bit of midfield issues with Ceballos loan and creativity with Pepe. But they didn't do shit about their defence. Not too different to use where we addressed our defense but are left with gaping holes in midfield and RW.

Arguably their biggest success was getting 35m or so for Iwobi. Robbed Everton blind.
We got 73m's for lukaku though...

You got to give credit where it due :lol:
 

mav_9me

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I thought Saliba was a decent purchase. I didn't realize they sent him back to St Etienne though. But overall I thought it was a really decent summer that they can add depth to in future windows.

More than the specifics of the window itself, I was moved by the description of the personality. In some ways it reminded me of Gill and how highly regarded he was in the football business community. Im definitely missing that
That's just the narrative right now. Don't get sucked in. They write this kind of stuff all the time about everyone. Like when Ole came here and things were great initially, the narrative was all about how he has brought back the touch of SAF etc.

Don't get me wrong. He may be great. They may actually be onto something. I didn't read the article. But that's actually my point. None of this is any use. Lets judge him/Arsenal after some time. Like if this was an article about how Liverpool have got their stuff together for the last 3 years or so, then I would agree with. That article is just premature ejaculation.
 

passing-wind

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If results continue to go pear shaped throughout the season (which deep down I believe will worsen) bin Ole off as a manager give him the role of a DOF and get a strong coach who will liaise with the club's direction.

Win win for everyone involved, there's no wasted resources (another manager deeming new players surplus), the glazers can come out with some decent reputation regarding the whole rushed appointment and it signifies a change in the structure in the hierarchy which is most important.

Notice the key is to find a competent coach because if we field a young side over the next five years they need to be developed. Not necessarily the best manager available.
 

2cents

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If results continue to go pear shaped throughout the season (which deep down I believe will worsen) bin Ole off as a manager give him the role of a DOF and get a strong coach who will liaise with the club's direction.

Win win for everyone involved, there's no wasted resources (another manager deeming new players surplus), the glazers can come out with some decent reputation regarding the whole rushed appointment and it signifies a change in the structure in the hierarchy which is most important.

Notice the key is to find a competent coach because if we field a young side over the next five years they need to be developed. Not necessarily the best manager available.
Why would we give the job to Solskjaer? How is he qualified?
 

passing-wind

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Why would we give the job to Solskjaer? How is he qualified?
On the basis of what he's done beyond the field. The implementation and importance on youth, having a British core, looking for players who are willing to play for the badge, players with the right temperament, keeping United cultured individuals around him. These are directives that can be imposed by a DOF.

If the club have a coach who can promise / has proven development with young players, then all Ole has to do is convince them to join in aspirations to where the club is headed and how they can improve. My reservation is that Ole doesn't have enough in his armoury to improve the starting 11. In the months he's been here no one has played better under Ole than any previous manager. Pogba is obviously the only exception but Paul's always had those performances in him as we got many glimpses during his time at Juve.
 

RedMachine03

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Here are the details of Man United’s offer
Ian McGarry claims that Man United believe there have been “positive” developments in their chase to secure Van der Sar.


At Ajax, it’s reported that Van der Sar earns around 250,000 euros a season at Ajax.

Man United are reportedly willing to offer him “nearer to 1.5 million euros.”

Duncan Castles labelled Man United’s offer as “sizeable and substantial”.

The length of the contract offer to Van der Sar wasn’t clarified.

So will Edwin van der Sar return to Old Trafford?
Ian McGarry stated that Van der Sar has some “reservations” about taking the position.

They include a “scepticism about the current setup – there are supposedly five heads of recruitment operating, and also (he) has doubts about his exact remit and authority.”

Those hold-ups on Van der Sar’s end all point towards Ed Woodward.

Duncan Castles commented that Woodward has remained reluctant to offer any director of football candidate clear assurance that he’s willing to give up power on signing players.

Yet, with all that said, Duncan Castles believes Van der Sar is ready to take the Man United job.
https://www.101greatgoals.com/news/...rd-here-are-the-details-of-man-uniteds-offer/

Executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward has been at the helm since 2013. His stock is battered among fans because so many bought in on his watch have failed. Despite that, the Glazers rate him and he’s going nowhere right now. Woodward is the man who signs every transfer off, who can negotiate some of the big deals, but he’s not the one identifying players any more than his predecessor David Gill – a finance, not a football man – was.

This is because United now have one of the largest scouting networks in the world, including key figures such as chief scout Jim Lawlor and technical chief scout Mick Court, who’ve been there since Ferguson’s time. Court was a recruitment analyst for a decade before his current role. Steve Brown, formerly of Everton, oversees the scouting network.

They work with analysts to make technical assessments based on data. United have reports from matches globally as they watch up to 15,000 players, most of them emerging talents. That number is whittled to 50 names in the autumn, and then narrowed to 15. The managerial team can take out more names, while the identified players are subject to more scouting and background checks. It’s a good idea to find out if Dan James is a decent lad from multiple sources, as opposed to the one or two self-interested types who said Angel Di Maria was.

When targets have been agreed, Matt Judge will get involved. His job title is head of corporate development, and his role is to negotiate with agents and to lay the foundations for those negotiations. He plays no part in the football evaluation, which is right since he has no football background.

An agent may name a player to Judge, who may even meet him before feeding names back to the recruitment department, but United’s signings are now being driven by themselves. Could the same have been said when Radamel Falcao or Bastian Schweinsteiger arrived? Or was that the agent approaching United knowing that they were one of the few clubs in the world able to pay their vast wages?

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Mike Phelan will be involved at almost every stage. The playing philosophy must come from them, but while a new technical director will have a voice, it must be a significant one. Otherwise, what’s the point in appointing somebody? They must have power.

There are a lot of people with exceptionally good CVs working on the recruitment side of things at United. Marcel Bout, the head of global scouting, was brought in by Louis van Gaal.

United are adamant that they don’t sign players based on their commercial value, but these suspicions stick because of their commercial success. They’re often wrong.


Read more at https://www.fourfourtwo.com/feature...r-ed-woodward-van-der-sar#KCWYlfpwf65kogmz.99
 
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charlenefan

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If VDS is brought in it has to be as some form of joint CEO position
 

Pexbo

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If VDS is brought in it has to be as some form of joint CEO position
As long as Woodward is there, I don't think it matters who we get as technical director. The only thing it will do, is shift all or some of the power the manager currently has over to the technical director and redefine their role more towards first team coach.

There's no way in hell that Woodward and whoever else is involved with him in approving and managing signings is going to give up that power and bestow it all upon Van Der Sar and his team.
 

sunama

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He searched behind every nook and cranny. Behind every blade of grass, underneath every stone. Still the elusive director of football could not be found. Yet our indomitable CEO was unphased. Did King Arthur's knights give up their quest for the Holy Grail? Never. Will Ed Woodward give up? Unthinkable. He will still be looking for the near mythical director of football until he retires. Nothing will deter his search.
:lol:

It was mentioned by some that Woodward should buy Messi, Neymar and Mbappe. All in 1 window.

When Woodward heard this, he stared downwards. He looked up and said, "I am not interested in doing the easy things. Messi, Mbappe, Neymar - in one transfer window is difficult, but can be achieved. I remind you that a man is defined by doing the difficult things. Ladies and gentleman, I shall now begin my search of the most difficult hire in the history of football...the Director of Football!"
 
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