Ed Woodward | Groundhog Day Edition

Finding myself really turning against his leadership of the club. It's like they literally have no clue how to properly plan. Fair enough he isn't a football person but, then get a bloody DOF in.

The Sancho, no Sancho deal doesn't bother me too much. The ridiculous amount of money being asked for and after just getting rid of the poison pill of the Sanchez contract, giving into a possible large contract for 20 year old could restart disharmony again. So all in all a tough one to get over the line.

My issue is how bad we are everywhere else.

Jones, Rojo, Romero, Perreira at the very least should have been out the door by now - that we can't find a club for them speaks to how badly organized we are.

No clue why it took so long for Garner to get a loan sorted out, what were they waiting for - it's not like we don't already have umpteen CM.

Then the fact that allowing Ole to go into the season with Tuanzebe, Jones, Mengi as backups for CB? First 2 are on treatment table and maybe Mengi might come good but, relying on that when our supposed ambitions are to challenge the top 2? A DOF would at least say he is off his rocker and either tells him Smalling goes in the squad or prioritizes another CB.

As far as Smaling goes, even though he is probably a better option over anyone else till we get top quality in, fine backing the manager's decision that he absolutely doesn't want him here - so why the heck are they keeping him around. But, as he is around, why can't he at least train with the squad till they actually sell him and at least be considered an option on merit while he is our books.

Then we've loaned out the one actual proper winger in Chong - that is the one player we should have at least held onto if Sancho doesn't happen.

Woodward joining Dortmund as Watzke replacement and will sell us Sancho for 50M + add-ons. You heard it here first.

Fact is from what has been revealed about our finances as of late we haven’t got the money for a big signing it’s that simple.

It’s off until next year. Maybe we can get Telles in but I cannot imagine more. We spent big last summer and signed Bruno as a bonus.

While you could argue the Sancho debacle has made us look like idiots it’s Dortmund who own the player and they want money up-front.

Do I think Sancho will be a United player next season? Yes. Even if we miss out on CL because that is when we spend the big money it seems. Glazers only care about top 4 anyways so I wouldn’t worry about much else this season.

We just can’t spend freely in the current climate it’s reckless and could destroy the clubs finances medium term. Woodward is a clown but fans crying about signing players we can’t afford is dumb.

I’m more concerned with our shocking fitness and tactics than new signings.

Son said:

Fact is from what has been revealed about our finances as of late we haven’t got the money for a big signing it’s that simple.

It’s off until next year. Maybe we can get Telles in but I cannot imagine more. We spent big last summer and signed Bruno as a bonus.

While you could argue the Sancho debacle has made us look like idiots it’s Dortmund who own the player and they want money up-front.

Do I think Sancho will be a United player next season? Yes. Even if we miss out on CL because that is when we spend the big money it seems. Glazers only care about top 4 anyways so I wouldn’t worry about much else this season.

We just can’t spend freely in the current climate it’s reckless and could destroy the clubs finances medium term. Woodward is a clown but fans crying about signing players we can’t afford is dumb.

I’m more concerned with our shocking fitness and tactics than new signings.

Click to expand...

If that is the case we shouldn't have briefed the press for over a year that we are hopeful to get the deal done this summer. Big words and we didn't deliver. Bit of honesty could have helped here.

Son said:

Fact is from what has been revealed about our finances as of late we haven’t got the money for a big signing it’s that simple.

It’s off until next year. Maybe we can get Telles in but I cannot imagine more. We spent big last summer and signed Bruno as a bonus.

While you could argue the Sancho debacle has made us look like idiots it’s Dortmund who own the player and they want money up-front.

Do I think Sancho will be a United player next season? Yes. Even if we miss out on CL because that is when we spend the big money it seems. Glazers only care about top 4 anyways so I wouldn’t worry about much else this season.

We just can’t spend freely in the current climate it’s reckless and could destroy the clubs finances medium term. Woodward is a clown but fans crying about signing players we can’t afford is dumb.

I’m more concerned with our shocking fitness and tactics than new signings.

Click to expand...

Shocking fitness can be expected but the performance (sans fitness) was also very poor. They should have had at least 20-30 mins of proper football if they were lacking the match fitness to play the full 90.

Transfers however need to be resolved. Players are human and get impacted by negativity as much as fans. When things were +ve they were among the best teams in the league, and now they can see that the squad is not being strengthened to bridge the gap to the top. Can have a significant mental impact on everyone around. This was clear from the Luke Shaw interview as well.

The whole shenanigans is why I hate transfer windows being open while football is being played on the pitch.

I had a dream today, Woodward was sacked today. Hopefully this will happen.

Convinced he's a secret Liverpool fan.

One of the worst appointments in the history of football. I can't think of any industry where a CEO, who does not have controlling interests in the entry has been allowed to consistently fail for 7 years. 7 feccking years.

Thinking not getting Klopp (much as I hate seeing him gurning at Liverpool) was his biggest failure

I would have absolutely no problem with him remaining to solely run the corporate/ sponsorship side as do acknowledge he is good at that. But he needs to leave the football side alone. You never know he may make even more noodle deals if he just focuses on that...

Adisa said:

One of the worst appointments in the history of football. I can't think of any industry where a CEO, who does not have controlling interests in the entry has been allowed to consistently fail for 7 years. 7 feccking years.

Click to expand...

He hasn't from a business perspective has he though, only from a football perspective.

sp_107 said:

Today’s Man UTD loss To Crystal Palace was atrocious but how much can we blame Woodward for it ? All 3 goals and nearly all of Palace’s chances were due to defensive errors. The common theme was Lindelof and any other could have been better.How Lindelof is faking being a Center half when he can barely head a ball is a scam that needs investigation.

We can talk Sancho all day long but if Wan-Bissaka/Fosu-Mensah/Shaw/Williams aren’t a threat out wide the way that Trent Alexander-Arnold or Andy Robertson are then there’s no reason for the opposition fullbacks to come meet them, which cuts out the attacking threat.

How poor they play, Ole is scared to make changes as he knew we have highly paid drama queens and egoistic players dont like to be squad players, Pogba/Bruno/Rashford/DDG/Lindelof always starts even they dont play well, I accept we dont have depth but still Ole can try different things

Pogba constantly losing the ball in midfield to a Palace midfielder and someone will still try and call him World Class. Paul Pogba is a spoilt footballer that has asked to move away for 3 years and Utd still pick him. Never rated McTominay and he had a bad game too but he was by far MUFC’s decent midfielder against Palace.

Zaha/Ayew/Townsend front THREE looks better than us.

The real United culprit is the shadow of Marcus Rashford. He is an attacker that no longer attacks. A winger that doesn’t cross, a forward that doesn’t move forwards. He looks beyond disinterested.

Click to expand...

#WoodwardOut

Lash said:

He hasn't from a business perspective has he though, only from a football perspective.

Click to expand...

I struggle to understand why people don't see the relationship between the two. Without any football success there can be no financial success. Our revenues have stagnated, costs have blown up, financial advantage over the rest of the league has evaporated. We are essentially not a guaranteed CL team anymore so can't count on CL money season on season.
The idea he has been a financial success is overplayed.
Do you think we can tell a company we demand a sponsorship deal that surpasses any other club, like we did in the past? They would laugh at us.

Lash said:

He hasn't from a business perspective has he though, only from a football perspective.

Click to expand...

Correct, it seems like the whole being a football club is an inconvenient distraction from the most important things. There's no chance that such a lack of expertise and continual underperformance of the commercial side of the club would have been tolerated for even a couple of years, never mind seven.

Anybody who does not know Woodward is a prick or is suddenly surprised by him must be under a toadstool for many years. The posing. The daft briefings and interviews. The Disneyland thing with Klopp. The takeover, doing the Glazers’ dirty work. Rio. LVG. Not supporting Jose. Not supporting Ole. Evra. The “Director of Football” pretense. It goes on and on. There’s a pattern there. I know the core problem is the Glazers. But Ed is a disgrace.

Adisa said:

I struggle to understand why people don't see the relationship between the two. Without any football success there can be no financial success. Our revenues have stagnated, costs have blown up, financial advantage over the rest of the league has evaporated. We are essentially not a guaranteed CL team anymore so can't count on CL money season on season.
The idea he has been a financial success is overplayed.
Do you think we can tell a company we demand a sponsorship deal that surpasses any other club, like we did in the past? They would laugh at us.

Click to expand...

I agree, but until it starts to have serious impact on the bottom line (which it hasn't really tbh), he can do the whole earnings season chat to quell investors who are worried about these things. We managed to save the Adidas sponsorship deal by limping over the line, so he gets himself another season. He just needs to keep a lot of the big sponsorship deals intact, rather than seek out more.

RORY65 said:

Correct, it seems like the whole being a football club is an inconvenient distraction from the most important things. There's no chance that such a lack of expertise and continual underperformance of the commercial side of the club would have been tolerated for even a couple of years, never mind seven.

Click to expand...

Agreed, he'd be out on his arse in minutes.

Lash said:

He hasn't from a business perspective has he though, only from a football perspective.

Click to expand...

If our results continue on this trend post SAF, our sponsorships are going to decrease in value as well.

Adisa said:

One of the worst appointments in the history of football. I can't think of any industry where a CEO, who does not have controlling interests in the entry has been allowed to consistently fail for 7 years. 7 feccking years.

Click to expand...

If the Glazers weren't so worthless, he'd have been fired a long time ago.

Eddy_JukeZ said:

If our results continue on this trend post SAF, our sponsorships are going to decrease in value as well.

Click to expand...

I agree, it just hasn't yet. Most people don't get sacked for things that haven't happened yet.

Tincanalley said:

Anybody who does not know Woodward is a prick or is suddenly surprised by him must be under a toadstool for many years. The posing. The daft briefings and interviews. The Disneyland thing with Klopp. The takeover, doing the Glazers’ dirty work. Rio. LVG. Not supporting Jose. Not supporting Ole. Evra. The “Director of Football” pretense. It goes on and on. There’s a pattern there. I know the core problem is the Glazers. But Ed is a disgrace.

Click to expand...

I think ED is by far the most immediate problem at United because I think a more competent executive would work wonders under the budgetary parameters imposed by the Glazers despite all their industrial scale looting of the club we are still amongst the biggest spenders in terms of fees and wages. The Director of Football BS that he likes to tout every time he is under pressure shows that he knows where the problems lie but his ego won't allow him to rectify things and now all of Ole's good work has been undone because we have stood still whilst clubs around us are strengthening meaning that next summer we won't have CL football to offer and will most likely spend huge amounts on average talent, again.

The Glazers need to get rid because his ineptitude is putting the spotlight on them.

Son said:

Fact is from what has been revealed about our finances as of late we haven’t got the money for a big signing it’s that simple.

It’s off until next year. Maybe we can get Telles in but I cannot imagine more. We spent big last summer and signed Bruno as a bonus.

While you could argue the Sancho debacle has made us look like idiots it’s Dortmund who own the player and they want money up-front.

Do I think Sancho will be a United player next season? Yes. Even if we miss out on CL because that is when we spend the big money it seems. Glazers only care about top 4 anyways so I wouldn’t worry about much else this season.

We just can’t spend freely in the current climate it’s reckless and could destroy the clubs finances medium term. Woodward is a clown but fans crying about signing players we can’t afford is dumb.

I’m more concerned with our shocking fitness and tactics than new signings.

Click to expand...

You don't see a correlation between squad depth and fitness? OK.

Eddy_JukeZ said:

If the Glazers weren't so worthless, he'd have been fired a long time ago.

Click to expand...

Or they would actually invest some of their own money to help the club rather than bleeding us dry.

Son said:

Fact is from what has been revealed about our finances as of late we haven’t got the money for a big signing it’s that simple.

It’s off until next year. Maybe we can get Telles in but I cannot imagine more. We spent big last summer and signed Bruno as a bonus.

While you could argue the Sancho debacle has made us look like idiots it’s Dortmund who own the player and they want money up-front.

Do I think Sancho will be a United player next season? Yes. Even if we miss out on CL because that is when we spend the big money it seems. Glazers only care about top 4 anyways so I wouldn’t worry about much else this season.

We just can’t spend freely in the current climate it’s reckless and could destroy the clubs finances medium term. Woodward is a clown but fans crying about signing players we can’t afford is dumb.

I’m more concerned with our shocking fitness and tactics than new signings.

Click to expand...

Then you tell the fans early on in the window that the club can't afford this rather than raise hopes up, play along with a saga knowing full well that you can't afford to spend the required amounts and waste a whole summer chasing a player you have no intention of paying up for.

This clown makes Joe Kinnear look respectable.

Can’t the Glazers get someone else (better two people-one commercial, one football) to replace the odious Cnut? I’m pretty sure there are others who can make them the same amounts of blood money that he does whilst not screwing the club into the ground. Maybe he has some dirt on them which is stopping them from firing him?

Shiva87 said:

Shocking fitness can be expected but the performance (sans fitness) was also very poor. They should have had at least 20-30 mins of proper football if they were lacking the match fitness to play the full 90.

Transfers however need to be resolved. Players are human and get impacted by negativity as much as fans. When things were +ve they were among the best teams in the league, and now they can see that the squad is not being strengthened to bridge the gap to the top. Can have a significant mental impact on everyone around. This was clear from the Luke Shaw interview as well.

The whole shenanigans is why I hate transfer windows being open while football is being played on the pitch.

Click to expand...

I agree the tactics are just not right at times. Sevilla really got me the most since we couldn't manage the game against even inferior teams.

Players are definitely feeling the pressure. Mostly because they are just not good enough to deliver what us fans expect maybe. They need help but they won't get much of it right now.

Godfather said:

If that is the case we shouldn't have briefed the press for over a year that we are hopeful to get the deal done this summer. Big words and we didn't deliver. Bit of honesty could have helped here.

Click to expand...

Thats our club in a nutshell. Massive overheads on debt and we say we are the biggest fish. Coronavirus I thought would have an impact where we could capitalise on smaller clubs. The debt is choking the life out of our club along with our owners taking dividends. It's crazy the debt hasn't came down much in 15 years. Shocking really.

AneRu said:

Then you tell the fans early on in the window that the club can't afford this rather than raise hopes up, play along with a saga knowing full well that you can't afford to spend the required amounts and waste a whole summer chasing a player you have no intention of paying up for.

Click to expand...

I've seen some pretty awful summers from this club. This is up there. If they had just said we are going to crack on with the squad we have because of the virus we'd have all accepted it I think.
As a business spending huge sums of captial on single players in the biggest recession ever with our debts already soaring is a way to destroy the clubs future even more than they already have.

The fact Liverpool have caught us up on financial terms after winning just one title says it all honestly. Since 2010 football has inflated and our club has lost all the prestige and potential value it should have had. All because of the banks and Glazers just helping themselves to our accounts. No other club has that apart from maybe Hull City my local team and they are in League 1 now. Says it all.

I don't know how Woody somehow gets a lot of credit for being good running the UTD economy. We were the biggest footballing brand in the world during the fergie years. It's the brand that sells. It's not woody or the Glazers that made us wealthy. They sucked us pretty dry though. With Woody and transfers I wonder what he does at work all-day though. It seems like every summer transfer window is some sort of crisis.

Lash said:

He hasn't from a business perspective has he though, only from a football perspective.

Click to expand...

Won't surprise me if Glazers think he's not a failure on football level as well. They're probably content with qualification to CL 4 seasons out of 7 and winning 3 cups. Nothing indicates Glazers are as ambitious as winning league or CL, so won't be a big surprise if they're actually content with what the team has done under Woodward so far.

Woodward is damn lucky there's no fans in the ground for a looooong time yet.

Shit at contracts.
Shit at selling players.
Shit at buying players.
Good at signing sponsorship deals.

The fact that he's still employed tells you all you need to know about the state of the club.

el3mel said:

Won't surprise me if Glazers think he's not a failure on football level as well. They're probably content with qualification to CL 4 seasons out of 7 and winning 3 cups. Nothing indicates Glazers are as ambitious as winning league or CL, so won't be a big surprise if they're actually content with what the team has done under Woodward so far.

Click to expand...

Nah, I think they obviously bought us to be successful on the pitch. They just probably have a higher tolerance of the commercials are rosy.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/54307869

City have a huge squad and even they are struggling with injuries.
If we don’t add to our attack this window all our front three will be played again all the time and as a result might get injured sooner rather than later.

Samid said:

Time's running out. Hope this twat is prepared for the backlash.

Click to expand...

What do you think will happen? It was rather easy for him in the past 8 years despite him being incompetent

Escobar said:

What do you think will happen? It was rather easy for him in the past 8 years despite him being incompetent

Click to expand...

“ Green and gold until...we’ve got bored of it after 2 weeks.”

I cannot believe that we STILL aren’t heavily linked with anybody.

I cannot believe Woodward and perhaps OGS are happy with Ighalo, Lingard, Mata and Mctominay etc as our genuine depth in squad when the Likes of Martial, Greenwood, Rashford, Pogba and Fernandes cannot find a goal. Absolutely abysmal replacements if any of the 1st team are injured.

They've had months to prepare for this window, with lockdown and whatever else surely the summer business must have been high up on the list of priorities yet with days to go and 1 player recruited we're linked with loan moves and free transfers its clear there was no plan what so ever.

It's just beyond a joke, how can they possibly be this bad? I get that things are unclear due to the coronavirus but we shouldn't be this fecking bad.

Heavily linked to Cavani, a player who's been on a free all summer and doesn't suit our system one bit, not to mention he's almost 34 and injury ridden and we're suddenly interested.....baffling to say the least.

We are a joke of a club because of this man. He is a few days away from losing all of our momentum through lack of investment. Just like he did last time we made any progress and finished 2nd under Jose.

Top 4 must be his only target at this rate.

He’s doing exactly what the Glazers want.

Actively sabotaging the club.