The John Murtough Era

[Andycoleno9]

People turning on this bloke already?

By all accounts he's down some good work updating the non-playing staff over recent months.

Joel Glazer signs the cheques and Murtough will be doing well to get transfers across the line.

I don't get this kind of posts. So we should not comment him until the end of summer window? By that logic players should not be criticized/praised until season ends.

At this moment our transfer business is at zero. Incomings and outgoings. So, so far he is not doing good job transfer related. Maybe he is working on 5 transfers at the same time and in a week we will sign 3 players and sell 2. Who knows? Then he will get praise for it. But right now it doesn't look good.

 

[mu4c_20le]

By all accounts he’s not doing anything. Going by the evidence of no players coming in and complete ineptitude of our new set up doing feck all to make things easier for our new manager.

Glazer stooge

Rinse and repeat

 

[KiD MoYeS]

I don't get this kind of posts. So we should not comment him until the end of summer window? By that logic players should not be criticized/praised until season ends.

At this moment our transfer business is at zero. Incomings and outgoings. So, so far he is not doing good job transfer related. Maybe he is working on 5 transfers at the same time and in a week we will sign 3 players and sell 2. Who knows? Then he will get praise for it. But right now it doesn't look good.

I don't understand your post? We are less than a week into a transfer window and everything goes through Joel Glazer. Murtough isn't a miracle worker.

 

[pascell]

People turning on this bloke already?

By all accounts he's down some good work updating the non-playing staff over recent months.

Joel Glazer signs the cheques and Murtough will be doing well to get transfers across the line.

I was never fully convinced by his appointed from the beginning, look at his remit, he's not got a track record.

It's all well and good sorting out the women's team and the academy, the mens team is a whole different juggernaut.

 

[Andycoleno9]

I don't understand your post? We are less than a week into a transfer window and everything goes through Joel Glazer. Murtough isn't a miracle worker.

So now it is on Glazer? Come on. Joel gave him budget. 20,50, 100 mil...whatever. It was up to him to make a plan how to spend that budget.
Ok, we shall see. As i said; maybe he is working on 4-5 transfers right now and will finish them in a few weeks. Lets see...

 

[VP89]

I don't understand your post? We are less than a week into a transfer window and everything goes through Joel Glazer. Murtough isn't a miracle worker.

So you're putting the entire blame on Joel Glazer? The reason we cant work more than one target, or work on more simple ones first before doing the trickier one.

Joel Glazer is a hindrance but cant be a spacegoat.

 

[KiD MoYeS]

So now it is on Glazer? Come on. Joel gave him budget. 20,50, 100 mil...whatever. It was up to him to make a plan how to spend that budget.
Ok, we shall see. As i said; maybe he is working on 4-5 transfers right now and will finish them in a few weeks. Lets see...

It is absolutely fair to see what happens but I think it is unfair to target this guy just yet. We know the club is a shambles and the ownership has been the consistent factor in that downfall. Let's see what Murtough has delivered come August.

 

[King7Eric]

I don't get this kind of posts. So we should not comment him until the end of summer window? By that logic players should not be criticized/praised until season ends.

At this moment our transfer business is at zero. Incomings and outgoings. So, so far he is not doing good job transfer related. Maybe he is working on 5 transfers at the same time and in a week we will sign 3 players and sell 2. Who knows? Then he will get praise for it. But right now it doesn't look good.

I think the essence of that post is people should whine less.

 

[KiD MoYeS]

So you're putting the entire blame on Joel Glazer? The reason we cant work more than one target, or work on more simple ones first before doing the trickier one.

Joel Glazer is a hindrance but cant be a spacegoat.

Who says we're only working on one target? There have been multiple reputable reports linking us with players? De Jong, Antony, Timber, Nunez. Murtough isn't sitting at home scratching his balls, everything has to go through Joel and he's on the other side of the planet sniffing coke off a prostitute probably.

 

[Roboc7]

I don't understand your post? We are less than a week into a transfer window and everything goes through Joel Glazer. Murtough isn't a miracle worker.

No he’s not a miracle worker and he’s also got no experience or pedigree for the role he’s doing.

Way I see Murtough is he wouldn’t have got to where he is without being a Woodward/Glazer man. He’ll stay exactly that which will limit what he can actually do. On the other hand if we employed someone who didn’t fit that profile they wouldn’t last very long. He want the best we could have got, he doesn’t deserve a clean slate, hasn’t started well but doesn’t mean he can’t do some good, have to wait and see.

 

[VP89]

Who says we're only working on one target? There have been multiple reputable reports linking us with players? De Jong, Antony, Timber, Nunez. Murtough isn't sitting at home scratching his balls, everything has to go through Joel and he's on the other side of the planet sniffing coke off a prostitute probably.

And weve made no progress in any of them. De Jong is the priorirty.

What makes you think we ever worked two avenues at once?

 

[KiD MoYeS]

And weve made no progress in any of them. De Jong is the priorirty.

What makes you think we ever worked two avenues at once?

I mean, the club completed multiple deadline day deals only a couple of transfer windows ago.

I believe the ownership to be the significant reasoning for slow transfer movement, they are more concerned with money than success.

 

[Moriarty]

I mean, the club completed multiple deadline day deals only a couple of transfer windows ago.

I believe the ownership to be the significant reasoning for slow transfer movement, they are more concerned with money than success.

They'll be even more concerned now after the share price took a shellacking.

 

[mu4c_20le]

And weve made no progress in any of them. De Jong is the priorirty.

What makes you think we ever worked two avenues at once?

You don't know that, no one here does. Just because it isn't reported on the fan accounts doesn't mean nothing is happening.

 

[Revaulx]

I don't understand your post? We are less than a week into a transfer window and everything goes through Joel Glazer. Murtough isn't a miracle worker.

Let’s hope that Arnold and Murtough start to notch up some success. With any luck that will be the key to Joel letting them get on with it without his involvement.

The Glazers were pretty hands off in Ed’s early days. They only started to micro manage after he’d spaffed hundreds of millions on duds and we were still crap.

 

[Brophs]

I don't understand your post? We are less than a week into a transfer window and everything goes through Joel Glazer. Murtough isn't a miracle worker.

I’m not really too pushed one way or the other but the whole “less than a week into the window” thing is a bit of a red herring. I would hope we were making serious progress on things well before the actual window opened.

 

[KiD MoYeS]

I’m not really too pushed one way or the other but the whole “less than a week into the window” thing is a bit of a red herring. I would hope we were making serious progress on things well before the actual window opened.

I don’t think it was that easy for us. It was unsure whether we could offer Champions League football and who the manager would be this season up until the end of April. Difficult to progress transfer targets during that period I think.

Fans are right to be concerned, we're a shitshow from the top down. I do think it is unfair to turn on Murtough this early though, and that's my point.

 

[VP89]

I mean, the club completed multiple deadline day deals only a couple of transfer windows ago.

I believe the ownership to be the significant reasoning for slow transfer movement, they are more concerned with money than success.

You think that was a structured pursuit? Jesus youre clutching

 

[KiD MoYeS]

You think that was a structured pursuit? Jesus youre clutching

I answered your question, hardly clutching.

 

[choccy77]

The way the club had been run in the last 10 years, you would want to see some proactively, considering how many new people we have appointed on board and yet, the club seem to be dragging their heels as per the norm.

Why haven't we ditched Jones for example?

That's a no brainer, if no one wants him, just pay him off, he gets paid for doing nothing anyhow and stopping a younger player maybe getting a chance.

 

[VP89]

I answered your question, hardly clutching.

My point is we can't pursuit multiple targets at one time. Cavani was a panic scrap, not someone who was seen as a target, and he was a free transfer. The other two were youth not for the first XI. So yes, clutching.

 

[Brophs]

I don’t think it was that easy for us. It was unsure whether we could offer Champions League football and who the manager would be this season up until the end of April. Difficult to progress transfer targets during that period I think.

Fans are right to be concerned, we're a shitshow from the top down. I do think it is unfair to turn on Murtough this early though, and that's my point.

I was mainly referring to the period between the last game of the season and now, but not sure I agree with the bolded bit. Sure, you might not get a final yes from players, but there's plenty of groundwork that can be laid. And in the period from the end of the season to now, I have to assume we've been active and we'll see the fruits of that shortly. If we've spent that time kicking tyres in the car park of the Nou Camp and chatting to other clubs about taking our players on loan with little or no benefit to us, then I don't see that as a good use of time.

As for turning on Murtough, obviously not. But given the elevated position he holds within the club now, the responsibility is largely his, whether that seems fair or not.

 

[Amir]

What makes you think we ever worked two avenues at once?

Well, we signed Darmian, Schneiderlin and Schweinsteiger within days of each other at max.

Obviously we can do it, we're not that terrible at doing deals. I assume everything is held up until we know what's going on with De Jong since that's gonna cost a lot of the money we have allocate for this window.

 

[roseguy64]

Pretty sure Ducker or Ornstein said he wasn’t involved in transfers.

That would be a waste then considering that was literally what he was doing at the club. So he's just milling around the London offices doing nothing until his time runs out? Doubt that. He's likely not majorly involved but it would make sense for him to be assisting Murtough while he's still at the club.

 

[roseguy64]

Well, we signed Darmian, Schneiderlin and Schweinsteiger within days of each other at max.

Obviously we can do it, we're not that terrible at doing deals. I assume everything is held up until we know what's going on with De Jong since that's gonna cost a lot of the money we have allocate for this window.

I dislike seeming like defending the club on this but people love ignoring the multiple times the club does stuff and instead only focus on the other times they don't. We're currently working on FDJ and it's been reported we've offered a contract to Eriksen and we were also talking to Nunez.

Sounds like working on multiple deals to me.

 

[Garethw]

One of the biggest criticisms of the Woodward era was the protracted nature of our transfer business.

If I was Arnold or Murtough I would have ensured that a couple of signings were lined up and completed as soon as the window opened to show that things were going to be different now.

 

[Greck]

I don't know if we can expect anything from him till we've shifted all of Matt Judge's stationery and personal furniture out. Has he even installed his own water cooler? Might want to postdate his tenure commencement another 6 months.

 

[AltiUn]

That would be a waste then considering that was literally what he was doing at the club. So he's just milling around the London offices doing nothing until his time runs out? Doubt that. He's likely not majorly involved but it would make sense for him to be assisting Murtough while he's still at the club.

Doubt it all you want that’s what they’ve said haha.

 

[Sky1981]

To be fair we're not in a very good position to acquire players. Those that wants to join us mostly arent the calibre of players that we need.

Those that we need would practically havr half of Europe to chose to. Wages isnt a factor at this rate unless we're talking about 200% above market value. For instance FDJ wouldn't be in a rush to come to us, Barcelona might want to sell but it's not like he plays for Ipswish Town.

Ditto with the selling club. They might want to cash in but only at a good price. Why would they part with their asset for anything market value. We have to overpay as usual.

Teams like Madrid, city, dont have to overpay because they players themselves wants to join them. Neither they have to over extronomical wages. You either join us on our terms or you dont get to join the biggest clubs in the world and plays in top tier football with a real chance of CL glory. Something we cant offer.

 

[mitchmouse]

I dislike seeming like defending the club on this but people love ignoring the multiple times the club does stuff and instead only focus on the other times they don't. We're currently working on FDJ and it's been reported we've offered a contract to Eriksen and we were also talking to Nunez.

Sounds like working on multiple deals to me.

Yes, talking to Nunez: as in "hello, mate, how are you? Are you enjoying your holiday?" Meanwhile Liverpool got the deal done in almost no time... same old, same old from the club

 

[Yakuza_devils]

Murtough's records so far as DOF:

Cons:
1) Sacked Ole too late
2) Appointed a gegenpressing coach for the laziest squad in PL which only capable of playing counter attacking football
3) It was obvious that the players can't play gegenpressing after 1 month but no reinforcement allowed. Threw our season away in Nov.
4) Appointed a coach who is more well know to be DOF/Consultant to assist to rebuild the club. But he was also sacked from the consultant roles 6 months in
5) Transfers dealing in and out seems no improvement at all (early days still?)

Pros:
1) Appointed ETH (much better coach than Ole/Rangnick/LVG/Moyes/Jose)
2) Revamp the scouting department (This department was a joke, can't even name a good striker in Jan and Rangnick can named 3, the scouts were rightly sacked)
3) Established new football structure in the club (The club trying to get the right people for the football side of things fitness, medical, data analysis, nutrition, Deputy DOF, TD and etc)
4) Addressing our toxic dressing room issues and leaks to curb players'' power

The jury is still out but at least he is doing something which Ed doesn't give a feck at all for the last 10 years. Hope we can see real results on the field soon and overall improvement on football side of things at the club.

 

[Highfather_24]

This dude has not proven anything yet in the transfer market, has zero experience with recruitment/teambuilding and has been tasked with the rebuilding job at United, and the decisions made so far(Bruno extension, Henderson loan, dithering in the transfer market), look extremely objectionable.

Yet he seems to enjoy a lot of blind faith from fans, which I'm not really sure what's that based on. Gotta hand it to his PR team.

 

[Escobar]

This dude has not proven anything yet in the transfer market, has zero experience with recruitment/teambuilding and has been tasked with the rebuilding job at United, and the decisions made so far(Bruno extension, Henderson loan, dithering in the transfer market), look extremely objectionable.

Yet he seems to enjoy a lot of blind faith from fans, which I'm not really sure what's that based on. Gotta hand it to his PR team.

If he does not get going in the next few weeks, it is a very criticism unfortunately. You just get the feeling we struggle as much as we did before.

 

[Kaushal]

I don't understand your post? We are less than a week into a transfer window and everything goes through Joel Glazer. Murtough isn't a miracle worker.

So how Real Madrid were able to sign Tchouameni or city were able to sign Haaland or spurs were able to sign perisic or Liverpool were able to sign carvalho or Aston Villa were able to sign multiple players ?

 

[KiD MoYeS]

So how Real Madrid were able to sign Tchouameni or city were able to sign Haaland or spurs were able to sign perisic or Liverpool were able to sign carvalho or Aston Villa were able to sign multiple players ?

They all had a manager in place coming into the final few months of the season and ownership / a board prepared to back them. In contrast, we had ownership and a board ignore Rangnick and kick his consultancy role into touch.

 

[Skills]

They all had a manager in place coming into the final few months of the season and ownership / a board prepared to back them. In contrast, we had ownership and a board ignore Rangnick and kick his consultancy role into touch.

Managers have almost feck all involvement in the transfer decisions of Real Madrid They were going to sign him regardless of what Ancelotti thought.

Unfortunately, we're still a bit behind that and once the structure gets up to speed we should be signing players without any managerial input like Madrid. We do seem to be still on the course of indulging our managers though which is still a bit worrying

 

[Tom Van Persie]

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[Godfather]

Working a charm so far

 

[VP89]

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Nice, comes across

 

[Highfather_24]

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Murtough's PR team working overtime