Telegraph: Gary Neville calls for Ed Woodward to be sacked for Manchester United's 'unforgivable' recruitment

[Adisa]

It's not just the recruitment.
There is no footballing vision at this club.
We hire managers that have nothing in common.
We reject one player cause he's "not good enough" in July then try and sign him in January.
We do not plan, we react to everything.
Get him the feck out.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

He never called for him to be sacked I think. He was highly critical if him for potentially sacking Mourinho last season, but other than that he was skirting around the issue as @2 man midfield pointed out.

Yeah, I'm struggling to find the exact quote where he says Woodward should be sacked? He's been critical of Woodward before. Pretty sure about that. It's an extension of the same thing really.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Yes, your right, It has left us too thin but we are still not good enough, and need to get rid of a whole lot more deadwood. When you look at our bench, you realise how bad off we are for more GOOD players.

Of course there are still players who need to go, but replace them at the same time. Ole is under the illusion he has another CO92 on his hands, Williams and Greenwood are good and have loads of potential, but the others are not certainties. They went badly wrong getting rid of the last lot of players and thinking we had enough.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

It's not just the recruitment.
There is no footballing vision at this club.
We hire managers that have nothing in common.
We reject one player cause he's "not good enough" in July then try and sign him in January.
We do not plan, we react to everything.
Get him the feck out.

That is the greatest of points.

 

[JPRouve]

Seriously how can we have so high wages now after Lukaku left. I can't imagine it.

City, Barca, Real Madrid, PSG have 100% more wages than us. City and PSG might pay it behind the curtains so to speak.
Messi alone makes insane money.

Regarding PSG and Madrid, we have had a larger team. PSG have many kids on the professional team and there is a big gap between Madrid's top earners and the rest. City are most likely cheating and Barcelona are if I'm not mistaken number one in terms of wage bills, by some distance.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Didn't ed try to hire klopp but klopp was put off by eds 'Disneyland' sales pitch?
Our problems run much deeper than just hiring a new manager

Agree. But our problems run deeper than signing more quality midfielders too. Doesn't mean we shouldn't.

No doubt Ed has done a poor in when it comes to footballing matters and has no business being in charge of that.

 

[roonster09]

He never called for him to be sacked I think. He was highly critical if him for potentially sacking Mourinho last season, but other than that he was skirting around the issue as @2 man midfield pointed out.

Tweet

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He was questioning owners how they haven't sacked the management team.

 

[SteveW]

I agree with him but his main argument is based on something that I have been saying for years now which goes totally against what he and many others people said in the last years with their "the club is not backing the manager" narrative. The issue isn't a lack of investment, it's that when you back a manager that has no clue about how to manage a football club, you end up wasting an incredible amount of money, that's why most clubs have a structure that is independent to the head coach who is "just" there to coach players on the training pitch and on match days. The shareholders should fire Woodward because he wasted their money and fans should want him to be sacked because he is useless but our managers are also responsible, they have been the main driving force behind our purchase, contract extensions and our wage bill incredible increase, Woodward is just the idiot that backed them and now we are kind of screwed because we absolutely need to get rid of a good 100m in wages before starting to splash big again.

Pretty much

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

We signed the most expensive defender in the world in that time.

Yes, but how can we be this stupid. I have seen crazy sums for players before so not sure everything is reported right.
City surely pay more wages than us, but does it behind the back.

I think there is loads of different reports about wages though.

 

[Offside]

I wasn't massively arsed that we were shite for a bit after Fergie left especially when it allowed things like Leicester winning the league. What I can't stand is the Scouse shite running away with the league whilst we are still as crap as we were 6 years ago. Unacceptable.

 

[Gomes]

Was talking about it in his podcast too. Kind of hilarious. After hailing getting rid of "not right" players, United needs bodies now on loan. Genius.

 

[Wednesday at Stoke]

Woodward and Judge, partners in calamity. Its like a shitty version of Sherlock and Watson.

 

[ravi2]

I wasn't massively arsed that we were shite for a bit after Fergie left especially when it allowed things like Leicester winning the league. What I can't stand is the Scouse shite running away with the league whilst we are still as crap as we were 6 years ago. Unacceptable.

You'd think Liverpool's champions league win and now impending league title win would wake the board up but as someone said earlier in this thread.... They only react and are not pro active. There is no long term planning or vision for the club and this comes from the very top.

 

[Adisa]

We told the whole world we would conduct a thorough hiring process for the coach's position. For months, we kept insisting we would only announce the position after the season ended...we hired the interim manager, permanently in April without interviewing anyone else.
We threw the last manager under a bus, telling every journalist he was the reason we didn't hire a DoF. A yea after he's gone, still haven't hired anyone.
It's a shitshow.

 

[JoaquinJoaquin]

2 years too late tbh.

 

[Skills]

You'd think Liverpool's champions league win and now impending league title win would wake the board up but as someone said earlier in this thread.... They only react and are not pro active. There is no long term planning or vision for the club and this comes from the very top.

You'd think it would wake the fanbase up. Imagine the Madrid fanbase after Barcelona have even a sniff of European success. They kick the club into action and demand a response.

Ours is passive and preaching patience. And how time will turn Solskjaer into Ferguson.

 

[The Firestarter]

This is why Gary Neville continues to be held in such high-regard. He is far more inutuitive, considered, thorough, and forward-thinking than many, many, many of the other football pundits out there. He has changed the way people consider punditry. He is also, importantly, a leader in terms of providing analysis and comment on issues... he is clear, consistent., and subsequently, speaks with purpose and a degree of authority (whether actual or perceived..).

And I am pleased he has opened this debate. Many will now follow.

I did not realise that we had the second largest wage-bill in the world. That is both a disgrace, and an absolute embarrasment. We have become a 'laughing stock' of a club. Something must change. Must.

Are you for real...

 

[FootyGirl88]

We told the whole world we would conduct a thorough hiring process for the coach's position. For months, we kept insisting we would only announce the position after the season ended...we hired the interim manager, permanently in April without interviewing anyone else.
We threw the last manager under a bus, telling every journalist he was the reason we didn't hire a DoF. A yea after he's gone, still haven't hired anyone.
It's a shitshow.

Well said Adisa!!

 

[Bojan11]

Didn't ed try to hire klopp but klopp was put off by eds 'Disneyland' sales pitch?
Our problems run much deeper than just hiring a new manager

That is what he says. But Klopp was at Dortmund at the time and I remember everyone going on about how he would never break his contract. It’s not like Liverpool poached him from Dortmund. They got him at the perfect time.

 

[Sweet Square]

The only difference between pool owners and ours is they hired a world class manager in his prime.

They were making mistakes galore also before Klopp. I remember after Suarez left they were signing Balotelli and Benteke. They spend £35m on Carroll.

They also tried to up ticket prices but backed down after fan protests but all that is forgotten now because...........winning. Similar thing happened with the Arsenal ownership and the Pepe signing this season, years and years of fans saying the board need to go and then a big flashy signing at suddenly everything is good again.

The fickle nature of the modern football fan constantly fecks over the modern football fan.

 

[Green Arrow]

Will the owners take notice of this I doubt it as long as the money keeps rolling in they won't care.
However it's about time Ed has been called out about his mishandling of the clubs finances and the way the club has been run under him. Hopefully the media will keep at this now.

 

[Bobcat]

The only difference between pool owners and ours is they hired a world class manager in his prime.

They were making mistakes galore also before Klopp. I remember after Suarez left they were signing Balotelli and Benteke. They spend £35m on Carroll.

They made some bad transfers yes, but they have also made some really good ones (long before Klopp) like Suarez and Couthino. Fenway who own Liverpool also own Boston Red Sox, which have been shite for decades and now they have turned them into a force in Baseball, same as they did with Liverpool.

Meanwhile the Glazers has turned Tampa Bay Buccaneers into complete shit and are just bleeding them dry as they have done with us

 

[Skills]

They made some bad transfers yes, but they have also made some really good ones (long before Klopp) like Suarez and Couthino. Fenway who own Liverpool also own Boston Red Sox, which have been shite for decades and now they have turned them into a force in Baseball, same as they did with Liverpool.

Meanwhile the Glazers has turned Tampa Bay Buccaneers into complete shit and are just bleeding them dry as they have done with us

How are they bleeding the bucs dry?

 

[The Uncle of All Uncles]

I cannot wrap my head around why exactly the Glazers refuse to remove Ed Woodward from his position. It's not like he would be particularly missed or is somehow irreplaceable. He's done alright from a financial standpoint but hasn't really done anything too amazing. The owners are acting as if he's the Alex Ferguson of CEOs and is a once-in-a-generation talent that cannot be improved upon in his role. That's insane to me.

I'd wager you could replace Woodward with any C-suite level executive in any other Fortune 500 level company and nobody would be able to tell the difference in the way the club is being run financially. Football-wise we'd see an upswing (if the club was restructured), but day-to-day financials and business operations, I doubt it.

Furthermore, at a time when there's a groundswell of opinion once more rising up against the Glazers and growing numbers of fans are genuinely getting more comfortable with the idea of Saudi owners (unthinkable a decade ago) you'd have to imagine that they would generate enormous goodwill for themselves if they removed Woodward and publicly announced that they were unhappy with football results and were going to restructure the board and club. That would buy them a few more years of ownership without too much by way of fan protests, wouldn't affect finances, would help draw new sponsors and create a genuine buzz of excitement around the club that hasn't been felt in a decade.

Essentially, firing Woodward is win-win for both the club and for the owners and would go a long way towards putting Man Utd back on the right path.

 

[Jeffthered]

We signed the most expensive defender in the world in that time.

Good player Maguire, but Leicester (which seems to be a fairly well-run Football Club...) replaced him with a Centre-Half, and there has been no negative impact to the club, the team... in fact they made a healthy profit.

It's about good football management. Look at Klopp's signings, and player development. How many players would you say Liverpool have are world class? Maybe three or four.. but what they do have is an inspirational manager, with a clear vision for what he wants, and the recruitment reflects this. He wanted 'rock-and-roll' football, and his players reflect this. And the recruitment of players reflect this. he wanted a certain type of full-back. A certain type of keeper. A certain type of No 9. You need to know what you want.

What do we want? What does our board want? What does our manager want?

It's all still unclear, and it's been seven years since SAF stood down! Seven years, and we still do not know what we want? That's shocking. Manchester United has access to every resource on the planet. Fact is, some are simply abusing their positions, and it's all manifesting on the pitch, as it always, always will, at any club. Such is the nature of the footbal club.

 

[JPRouve]

That is what he says. But Klopp was at Dortmund at the time and I remember everyone going on about how he would never break his contract. It’s not like Liverpool poached him from Dortmund. They got him at the perfect time.

And we weren't the only team. In the book it is said that he had several concrete offers and it took several weeks for him to reject all of them and stay at Dortmund. This somehow turned into Woodward is the reason Klopp didn't leave Dortmund.

 

[Vault Dweller]

We told the whole world we would conduct a thorough hiring process for the coach's position. For months, we kept insisting we would only announce the position after the season ended...we hired the interim manager, permanently in April without interviewing anyone else.
We threw the last manager under a bus, telling every journalist he was the reason we didn't hire a DoF. A yea after he's gone, still haven't hired anyone.
It's a shitshow.

Agreed and you were bang on also that we plan for nothing and react to everything.

I was at the Norwich game and the atmosphere from the 3rd-4th goal was directed largely against the ownership and Woodward. If there is no significant progress in the market before Burnley I think the sentiment against them will be even greater.

 

[Adisa]

This. And the primary driving force of this 'back the manager' crap is our idiotic fanbase who have a fetish for whoever sits in the job.

This is not true. "Back the manager" is just a synonym for investing in the team. I don't think most fans would care if we had a DoF making transfer decisions.

 

[Problem-free Philosophy]

I can't be alone in seeing Woodward and Glazers as essentially one entity, can't imagine either being associated club without the other. Woodward's future is more tied to how the Glazer's plan on maximising their (ahem) 'investment' than anything else:

A) Get back to the top with actual significant investment and management restructure, assuming that failing to do so will surely lead to significant losses in profit (whether that's marketing, sponsorship, TV money etc. etc.) - obviously it already has done, but presumably not in an anticipated, budgeted sort of way.

B) Really worryingly, imo, the United brand will remain profitable for a good while regardless of on-field woes and minimal investment, eventually reaching a point where getting back to the top becomes an absolutely mammoth task and our status as a club changes. Obviously the worst case scenario for fans, but how would this look from a Glazer perspective? Imo this would be similar to Arsenal but without the 'guarantee' of top 4 that they enjoyed for so long and so without that steady CL income.

C) Compare the profitability of option B with how much the club could be sold for short term. Would it better to sell later for less or cash in early on, with the clubs status still (just about) intact and when we're still generally perceived to have ambitions of getting back to the top?

Hopefully C...

 

[Shark]

Does Neville include Ole as part of his unforgivable recruitment?

 

[Bobcat]

How are they bleeding the bucs dry?

Pretty sure i read somewhere they hiked the ticket prices a lot when they took over, and when fans protested the threatened to "move the franchise". They've also failed to make the playoffs for 11 consecutive years and much of the same we complain about like poor structure and poor investment/recruitment is the same for them

 

[ravi2]

That is what he says. But Klopp was at Dortmund at the time and I remember everyone going on about how he would never break his contract. It’s not like Liverpool poached him from Dortmund. They got him at the perfect time.

City had a plan to get pep and Liverpool had a plan to get klopp. If Ed went after top tier progressive managers and football operators with the same desire that he went after sponsors we would be in a much better position.

 

[Infra-red]

Didn't ed try to hire klopp but klopp was put off by eds 'Disneyland' sales pitch?
Our problems run much deeper than just hiring a new manager

Yep, Ed actually did this:

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/like-adult-version-disneyland-how-11509701

The man is woefully and comically inept.

 

[Bojan11]

And we weren't the only team. In the book it is said that he had several concrete offers and it took several weeks for him to reject all of them and stay at Dortmund. This somehow turned into Woodward is the reason Klopp didn't leave Dortmund.

Woodward and Glazers made the mistake of keeping LVG in 2015 because he managed to get champions league football. We should have approached Klopp right after he left Dortmund. But our board is not so forward thinking.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Regarding PSG and Madrid, we have had a larger team. PSG have many kids on the professional team and there is a big gap between Madrid's top earners and the rest. City are most likely cheating and Barcelona are if I'm not mistaken number one in terms of wage bills, by some distance.

I'd imagine a lot of Barca wages go to Messi. Then the rest scarp it out for the leftovers.

 

[JPRouve]

Pretty sure i read somewhere they hiked the ticket prices a lot when they took over, and when fans protested the threatened to "move the franchise". They've also failed to make the playoffs for 11 consecutive years and much of the same we complain about like poor structure and poor investment/recruitment is the same for them

The Bucs are in an historicall bad franchise and only had success with the Glazers. They also missed the playoff due to the strength of their division with records that would have seen them reach it in others divisions. Also Tampa season ticket prices are in the NFL bottom half.

 

[Offside]

2 years too late tbh.

7 years I'd say. Should have failed his probation period following that first horror show transfer window and been out the door.

 

[Bojan11]

City had a plan to get pep and Liverpool had a plan to get klopp. If Ed went after top tier managers and football operators with the same desire that he went after sponsors we would be in a much better position.

No they didn’t have a plan.

You mean the plan where they sacked Rodgers in October and hire Klopp. It wasn’t some long term plan. They managed to get Klopp when he was a free agent something Woodward should have done by binning LVG in 2015.

 

[Adisa]

Agreed and you were bang on also that we plan for nothing and react to everything.

I was at the Norwich game and the atmosphere from the 3rd-4th goal was directed largely against the ownership and Woodward. If there is no significant progress in the market before Burnley I think the sentiment against them will be even greater.

To be honest, moving in the transfer market does shit for us long term. There might be a short-term reprieve and up-tick in results but I will say it a million times. Our biggest problem isn't a lack of investment. We have spent 1bn euros in less than seven years. Apart from Barcelona, i can't think of a non-oil club that has spent that much.
The entire football management structure of this club is broken. Completely broken.
As long as this whole circus remains, I can't get excited about transfers.

 

[Hoof the ball]

Wait..... wait.... woah, hold the horses a second!!! Do we really have the second highest wage bill in the world?!