Ed Woodward | Groundhog Day Edition

Kaos

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I actually think Woodward / the Glazers have played the Sancho situation really well. Nobody is paying that sort of money for one player in this climate, and they don't deserve the abuse they're getting for essentially making what is a sensible decision.

Still need cover for that right wing mind, but let's not judge till the window closes.
Have they? We knew exactly how much he would cost as early as July, yet they chose to waste time dithering on god knows what, while all our rivals started bolstering their squads.

The season has started and we still haven't really addressed any of our squad weaknesses. All we've seemingly done is "prepare bids".
 

amolbhatia50k

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I've given him the benefit of doubt in the past but I think it's gotten to the point where you feel he simply has running us in circles. Our managerial appointments are stale, and lack imagination. Our transfer market activity is rarely intelligent. And here we find ourselves spending a crucial summer failing to sign an elite talent who wanted to come us. Can see this haunting us for years to come. And really when you think about this having to do with Covid 19, if that's true, it really wouldn't have been the case had Woodward not spent years hiring shit managers and spending bazillions on terrible players for them. Had we not wasted all that money, we would sign players like Sancho without any issue.

So yeah, feck Woodward.
 
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Bilbo

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Let's say as a hypothetical the club were completely transparent and honest at the start of this window, and issued a statement along the lines of 'we have a chance of getting Sancho but we cannot afford to pay what Dortmund want, so we will do everything we can to engineer a reduction in the price and believe we have a chance of doing that, but it might stretch into the later stages of the transfer window'

How many of our fans do you think would want us to do that? Personally I think the majority would be prepared to be patient and take that chance
 

clarkydaz

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Let's say as a hypothetical the club were completely transparent and honest at the start of this window, and issued a statement along the lines of 'we have a chance of getting Sancho but we cannot afford to pay what Dortmund want, so we will do everything we can to engineer a reduction in the price and believe we have a chance of doing that, but it might stretch into the later stages of the transfer window'

How many of our fans do you think would want us to do that? Personally I think the majority would be prepared to be patient and take that chance
its lunacy to go through all this with no realistic backup. We aint exactly good at polker
 

Bilbo

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its lunacy to go through all this with no realistic backup. We aint exactly good at polker
Yes that would be lunacy but almost certainly isn't the case. You can't proceed too far with a deal for an alternative until you know where you stand with Sancho
 

OrcaFat

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There's no excuse for our not having done some business by now. No-one's saying we absolutely had to get Sancho in for £120m. But if we couldn't get him we should have made three good acquisitions by now.

Chelsea are proof that covid is no excuse. Havertz, Werner, Chilwell, Ziyech, all in. Thiago Silva on a free. Deadwood moved out (Willian, Pedro, Morata sale finalised). This is the team we all knew we were neck-and-neck with, developmentally, and they've massively stolen a march on us.
I totally agree with the Chelsea comments. They are so much more efficient at getting their business done than we are. I want to know why we generally take so much longer.

Now, if we get one or two very good signings in the end, it will be much better than getting 3 or 4 average signings quickly. But sure looks like Chelsea killed it this window. Wish we could do the same.
 
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I find this amusing.

The reality is we know such a small % of what’s going on and what happens behind the scenes.

I’d be surprised if we even find out 10% of what happens, yet fans will make massive assumptions off of scraps of truth and rumour.
 

Andycoleno9

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Have they? We knew exactly how much he would cost as early as July, yet they chose to waste time dithering on god knows what, while all our rivals started bolstering their squads.

The season has started and we still haven't really addressed any of our squad weaknesses. All we've seemingly done is "prepare bids".
You don't get it. They "tried to sign future world class player". They "wanted" to sign him for reasonable money. They even "wanted" to give 120 mil but not at once. So "we did everything want but fee was unrealistic". Excellent move by them.
 

TheGame

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I find this amusing.

The reality is we know such a small % of what’s going on and what happens behind the scenes.

I’d be surprised if we even find out 10% of what happens, yet fans will make massive assumptions off of scraps of truth and rumour.
Are you not aware? You just click suggest terms until club accepts the fee. If it doesn’t work, don’t save and load the game again.
 

Keefy18

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And who hires the managers? With each manager being so completely and utterly different than the previous one, relying on completely different players so we've had to go out and buy new 'types' of players and training our players to play a completely different style. Who decided to give Mourinho a brand new contract a few months before refusing to back him in the transfer market and then firing him a few months after that when things really went to shit? Who decides to pay our squad players 100k a week, far more than they would get at any other club in the league?

I actually agree with you that Woodward did seem to try to continue the 'manager has more power' style that we had with Fergie. And that's part of the problem. Fergie could do it. The vast majority of managers can't. It's why basically every other top club has a system in place above the manager that, when done properly, assists the change-over from one manager to the next. The manager comes in as part of the system, not as the entire thing, and if/when they fail they can be more easily replaced because the club as a whole still has stability.
The board hire them and fire them, it isn't singularly down to any one individual. I've no doubt various persons are consulted before and decision is made on hiring / firing the football manager.

It wasn't Ed who got this s*it show on the road, it was the two Sirs in hiring Moyes and from there the board have had to constantly stabilize the club as best they can. They hired arguably the best available manager at the time of LVG's hiring. Large sections of our supporters wanted Jose and got him and they backed him more than adequately.

Jose got his new deal in Jan 2018, when we were 2nd in the league... this is long before Sanchez disasters and Jose's public meltdown post Sevilla and then the implosion in the summer.

Depends on the player in question doesn't it really? I mean, Jose demanded Fellaini be kept and forced the board to give him a new deal. Hell, Jose was so publicly adamant Fellaini boasted about it in an interview shortly there after that Jose made everything so easy for him.

Reality is, it simply isn't just on Ed to turn rebuild the club structure. It would have to get approval from numerous board members for it to be "modernized".
 

Keefy18

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quit rewriting history. Moyes with Woodward's urging chased unrealistic purchases like Bale, Fabregas, De Rossi, C. Ronaldo over realistic targets left for him like Thiago. Woodward and him sucessfully bungled transfers for Fellaini (letting his buy out clause expire) then playing almost double it's price, plus the Herrera and the loan deal for Fabio Conceicao. Then they broke a transfer record for Mata who was never really needed at OT.
There's absolute no evidence what so ever of that being true :lol: :lol:

We do however have the quarterly interview reminder from Moyes about how much he wanted Cesc and Kroos and the latter being ever soooo close.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/f...oni-Kroos-torrid-spell-Manchester-United.html

Straight from the horses mouth, irony of you starting your sentiments with "rewriting history".
 

Keefy18

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I find this amusing.

The reality is we know such a small % of what’s going on and what happens behind the scenes.

I’d be surprised if we even find out 10% of what happens, yet fans will make massive assumptions off of scraps of truth and rumour.
FINALLY... Someone said it.

Herein lies the problem... Perception.

Too many supporters today hang on every single last little transfer rumor as reality.
 

romufc

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I actually think Woodward / the Glazers have played the Sancho situation really well. Nobody is paying that sort of money for one player in this climate, and they don't deserve the abuse they're getting for essentially making what is a sensible decision.

Still need cover for that right wing mind, but let's not judge till the window closes.
How have they played it really well? Covid has been around since March so them to decide 1 week before the window that it isnt worth it, then it shows a clear lack of management.

Sancho's price was set in June. Nothing has changed.

If they didn't want him, we could have gone in and built a squad of a RW, CDM, LB, CB. Them waiting this long and going into panic which is what is likely to happen, shows they have no idea what they are doing.
 

Coleyoscar

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How have they played it really well? Covid has been around since March so them to decide 1 week before the window that it isnt worth it, then it shows a clear lack of management.

Sancho's price was set in June. Nothing has changed.

If they didn't want him, we could have gone in and built a squad of a RW, CDM, LB, CB. Them waiting this long and going into panic which is what is likely to happen, shows they have no idea what they are doing.
Completely agree. It was clear to almost everyone as the window opened that we needed to move on some players and strengthen in three or four areas. Operating on the one-at-a-time negotiating strategy that United have adopted we have secured one player. Even if we see a flurry of activity and Ed and company secure all the players we need by the close of the window (highly unlikely at this stage) we have left the manager with an awful task with no time to blend the squad.

What are Ed's achievements over the years of his tenure? No real strategy; lurching from manager to manager; agreeing ludicrous contracts for mediocre players; amateur efforts at negotiations and PR spin; a fan base angrier than I can recall in fifty years supporting the club. By any standard he is a failure. It may not be all his fault, as his supporters on the forum are quick to point out, but judged on outcomes he is clearly out of his depth in charge of a huge football club. He needs to go.
 

Bilbo

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If this is the angriest that United fans have been in 50 years then that says far more about modern society than it does about Ed Woodward. We just finished 3rd and reached 3 semi-finals for christs sake. Not where we want to be but its not exactly a disastrous season is it?
 

Coleyoscar

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If this is the angriest that United fans have been in 50 years then that says far more about modern society than it does about Ed Woodward. We just finished 3rd and reached 3 semi-finals for christs sake. Not where we want to be but its not exactly a disastrous season is it?
The potential to get back to being seriously competitive has been squandered in this window. That's the reason for the feelings of frustration and anger.
 

GiddyUp

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If this is the angriest that United fans have been in 50 years then that says far more about modern society than it does about Ed Woodward. We just finished 3rd and reached 3 semi-finals for christs sake. Not where we want to be but its not exactly a disastrous season is it?
Progress is being made....but.
 

Shark

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If this is the angriest that United fans have been in 50 years then that says far more about modern society than it does about Ed Woodward. We just finished 3rd and reached 3 semi-finals for christs sake. Not where we want to be but its not exactly a disastrous season is it?
Is that the standard now?
 

jasT1981

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If this is the angriest that United fans have been in 50 years then that says far more about modern society than it does about Ed Woodward. We just finished 3rd and reached 3 semi-finals for christs sake. Not where we want to be but its not exactly a disastrous season is it?
Not exactly disastrous, no. But this summer is following the same pattern as past summers we have qualified for Champions league.

We scrape the top 4 and qualify, only for nothing much to happen over the summer leading to frustration. Followed by a slow start to the season due to lack of reinforcements to the team (and manager fired due to results of not getting reinforcements) and come end of season we drop out of Champions League again back to the Europa.

The ambition seems to be get Champions League, and it doesn't matter after that. No planning to keep us in the position to qualify again the next season.

Truthfully, we only scraped top 4 due to signing Bruno in Jan, lets not forget Woodward's hand was forced here as he had the chance to sign him last summer and didn't due to Bruno reportedly 'taking too many risks. It was only when the crap hit the fan we had to shell out to sign him. Something Ole and everyone else had told him last summer we needed.
 

Red Stone

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Nothing he could possibly do this window is going to change my view of the guy after the past seven years of us underperforming to the extreme under his leadership, but if we're going to get jerked around by Dortmund for months without actually signing the player we want it's another nail in the coffin. If the price is too high for what we're willing to spend on him and Dortmund refused to budge we should have gone out publically and said that we weren't in pursuit of signing him, Real Madrid style. Nip it at the bud and avoid looking like complete tools when we eventually end up with some second-rate alternative. Although I do hope and think Woody will do a Woody and pony up the dough at the last minute like he always does.

The fact that we still haven't managed to shift Lingard, Pereira or any of the CBs and might lose out to Spurs on Reguilon smacks of amateurism too. It's very difficult to have any faith in him at this point.
 
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ravi2

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I actually think Woodward / the Glazers have played the Sancho situation really well. Nobody is paying that sort of money for one player in this climate, and they don't deserve the abuse they're getting for essentially making what is a sensible decision.

Still need cover for that right wing mind, but let's not judge till the window closes.
What a stupid fecking post
 

Crustanoid

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If we do ever get rid of Woodward can you imagine the feeling. Would be like when the sacking of Moyes, Van Gaal, Mourinho rolled into one, multiplied by 1000000000
 

Bilbo

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Not exactly disastrous, no. But this summer is following the same pattern as past summers we have qualified for Champions league.

We scrape the top 4 and qualify, only for nothing much to happen over the summer leading to frustration. Followed by a slow start to the season due to lack of reinforcements to the team (and manager fired due to results of not getting reinforcements) and come end of season we drop out of Champions League again back to the Europa.

The ambition seems to be get Champions League, and it doesn't matter after that. No planning to keep us in the position to qualify again the next season.

Truthfully, we only scraped top 4 due to signing Bruno in Jan, lets not forget Woodward's hand was forced here as he had the chance to sign him last summer and didn't due to Bruno reportedly 'taking too many risks. It was only when the crap hit the fan we had to shell out to sign him. Something Ole and everyone else had told him last summer we needed.
Why not just wait until the end of the window. We are clearly playing a long game over Sancho. If we dont sign anyone else then I'll happily agree with most of your points. Patience is something that this forum has been lacking for some time
 

Santoryo

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People mad at Ed and the Glazers for refusing to cough up 120 million on Sancho. If anything they should be commanded for that, nobody should be stupid enough to pay that kind of money, especially in this climate. Dortmund setting up arbitrary and ridiculous prices and us getting in on the act and gifting them that amount would have been stupid. They've already fleeced another club(Barca) with their retarded valuation of their player and we should learn a lesson from that fiasco.

All the 100+ million transfers that have happened the last few years have proven costly for the paying clubs, they ended up utter dud deals and as observer from the side we should learn something from this and it's that we shouldn't be quick nor willing to put 100+ million for any players.

Ole also ought to start looking at alternatives, preferably non British players because so far they've cost us a fortune but haven't proven that they are worth the amount we paid for(Maguire for 80 million and AWB for 50 million). Paying 120 million for Sancho would have just been another case of overpaying for a British player. If Dortmund don't want to put a reasonable price then so be it, Sancho will be there next year and we could always try again but no one would be bidding 120+ million next year for him either.

As soon as we looks elsewhere we get good deals for reasonable prices(Bruno, VBD), so I don't see this need to shoot ourselves in the foot trying to waste money on over priced British talents. The likes of Grealish being quoted for 80 million, Sancho 120 million, Maguire 80 million etc is all one needs to know to realize it's simply not worth it.

What a stupid fecking post
Stupid post because he thinks not paying 120 million on a player is the right thing to do, especially in current circumstances?
 
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jasT1981

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Why not just wait until the end of the window. We are clearly playing a long game over Sancho. If we dont sign anyone else then I'll happily agree with most of your points. Patience is something that this forum has been lacking for some time
While I agree in theory, the problem is this happens every summer. We are slow to react and don't do enough. If it was a once of, sure I'd agree with you.
 

clarkydaz

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People mad at Ed and the Glazers for refusing to cough up 120 million on Sancho. If anything they should be commanded for that, nobody should be stupid enough to pay that kind of money, especially in this climate. Dortmund setting up arbitrary and ridiculous prices and us getting in on the act and gifting them that amount would have been stupid. They've already fleeced another club(Barca) with their retarded valuation of their player and we should learn a lesson from that fiasco.

All the 100+ million transfers that have happened the last few years have proven costly for the paying clubs, they ended up utter dud deals and as observer from the side we should learn something from this and it's that we shouldn't be quick nor willing to put 100+ million for any players.

Ole also ought to start looking at alternatives, preferably non British players because so far they've cost us a fortune but haven't proven that they are worth the amount we paid for(Maguire for 80 million and AWB for 50 million). Paying 120 million for Sancho would have just been another case of overpaying for a British player. If Dortmund don't want to put a reasonable price then so be it, Sancho will be there next year and we could always try again but no one would be bidding 120+ million next year for him either.

As soon as we looks elsewhere we get good deals for reasonable prices(Bruno, VBD), so I don't see this need to shoot ourselves in the foot trying to waste money on over priced British talents. The likes of Grealish being quoted for 80 million, Sancho 120 million, Maguire 80 million etc is all one needs to know to realize it's simply not worth it.
So why have they pursued it all summer? Thats the clubs fault eitherway wasting a summer window assuming they will bring the price down at the end.
 

Bilbo

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While I agree in theory, the problem is this happens every summer. We are slow to react and don't do enough. If it was a once of, sure I'd agree with you.
If theres a chance of getting Dortmund to lower the price, then it was ALWAYS going to be late on in the window when they know for certain that we are not giving them £108m.

Its a high risk game. The only way we can properly judge how we've performed is at the end of it. I couldn't really care less about 'enough time to bed in' and all that crap when we are talking about a player we could have for 10 years
 

Adisa

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The last time we had a shit window, the briefing was "we won't buy quick fixes". Wonder what this one will be.
 

slored1

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If we end the window with only Van de Beek and Perisic/Costa it would be absolutely embarassing. Fecking Newcastle and Aston Villa are outspending us.
 

Highfather_24

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To all the people saying "Yes its sensible to not pay 120M considering the circumstances"...

Then why the feck did Woody spend the whole summer chasing Sancho? Dortmund has said from the beginning its 120M or nothing. Obviously we were not going to get him. Why not look for alternatives? Why waste the whole summer?

This just reeks of 2013 all over again.
 
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Giggs' right foot

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If a company and the club decided to make a documentary behind the scenes at Man. United, and we followed Ed around, we would make the brainless Sunderland board we’ve seen in Sunderland Till I Die, look like the past millenniums biggest strategists, feck.
 

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Honestly starting to feel VDB will be our only signing this summer.
 

Coleyoscar

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To all the people saying "Yes its sensible to not pay 120M considering the circumstances"...

Then why the feck did Woody spend the whole summer chasing Sancho then? Dortmund has said from the beginning its 120M or nothing. Obviously we were not going to get him. Why not look for alternatives? Why waste the whole summer?

This just reeks of 2013 all over again.
This is so true. Incredible that some people continue to trust Woodward and cling on to the belief that there's a clever strategy at play here.