He is a Liverpool fan. Of course he would like it to happen.You almost make it sound like we should let Jose sell Martial and Pogba.
He is a Liverpool fan. Of course he would like it to happen.You almost make it sound like we should let Jose sell Martial and Pogba.
If not, you should have sacked Mourinho. He's the manager, it's his choice. Which is why I wrote above, with the indecision at display this summer and carried into the season, I wouldn't be surprised if this season ends up as a write-off.You almost make it sound like we should let Jose sell Martial and Pogba.
Obviously. But objectively, I do think you have to back your manager, find someone you are prepared to back or have a setup where this doesn't come up.He is a Liverpool fan. Of course he would like it to happen.
Kind of agree. Not necessarily at backing at all costs, but having a setup (like a DoF thing). Also, I think the manager needs to be flexible on his transfers.Obviously. But objectively, I do think you have to back your manager, find someone you are prepared to back or have a setup where this doesn't come up.
The board has done none of those this summer.
By now, I think it is pretty clear this is where Woodward is at. It reflects really poorly on him though. A competent executive would have had the plan ready to roll out as soon as last season finished, not sit on your hands during the period where your most decisive actions as chairman are meant to be taken, then start rolling out changes to the managerial structure while the season is just taking off. He's a clown, basically.Kind of agree. Not necessarily at backing at all costs, but having a setup (like a DoF thing). Also, I think the manager needs to be flexible on his transfers.
While we probably won't ever know what happened, it seems that Ed and Mourinho wanted different types of players. Ed probably marketable young players while Mourinho old veterans with no resale value but whom he can trust. Then Mourinho put pressure on Ed via media. Likely it could have been solved better by a long conversation, and if not, then Mourinho should have been sacked.
Probably going to far with the list of my assumptions (yay, my Tagline), but the only way this makes sense is if we have hired a manager for next summer, and Ed thought that Mourinho can get us top 4 anyway, so finish this season somehow, and then go big next season with Zidane and a big budget. But then we also know that when Mourinho is not happy, he is a ticking bomb and things turn out ugly.
Regardless, it has been a clusterfeck and likely multiple parties are to be blamed. Still happy that we kept Pogba and Martial though.
Iirc Sir Boby Charlton as well as SAF are members of the board.To be honest, I hope Woodward doesn’t use transfer decisions to send messages to Mourinho. As we don’t really know how badly Mourinho has wanted a rightsided attacker (regardless of what he said to press) and we don’t really know how exuberant his wish list was (regardless of what has been leaked or not leaked to the press), it’s not very safe to say who is in the right about what.
What is safe to say, is that Woodward or anyone else at the board does not have the competence to responsibly evaluate wether someone like Mourinho is wrong or right about his assesments of a players value to the club/squad. There is no way.
You don't have to be outraged on our behalf. A number of us sympathise with the club's stance. We just felt it could have been handled betterObviously. But objectively, I do think you have to back your manager, find someone you are prepared to back or have a setup where this doesn't come up.
The board has done none of those this summer.
Weird. You genuinely would have chosen this summer's strategy as the best of the four choices (1. backing JM, 2. sacking JM, 3. DoF at the start, 4. doing nothing really but next season will be better)? All it needed was a more presentable rollout?You don't have to be outraged on our behalf. A number of us sympathise with the club's stance. We just felt it could have been handled better
Presentable rollout? I'm referring to alternative transfer targets and a feedback process to reach a middle ground with Jose on the type of targets.Weird. You genuinely would have chosen this summer's strategy as the best of the four choices (1. backing JM, 2. sacking JM, 3. DoF at the start, 4. doing nothing really but next season will be better)? All it needed was a more presentable rollout?
Charlton and Ferguson hardly spends hours every day looking at prospects, evaluating play etc., which you’d need to evaluate which 30-year old is worth what. Ferguson in his time brought in experience when he thought it necessary.Iirc Sir Boby Charlton as well as SAF are members of the board.
Woodward is probably looking through the money glasses, signing bunch of 30y olds just isn't sustainable.
That's how I read "just felt it could have been handled better" - Ie. "the decisions were the right ones, but not the delivery."Presentable rollout? I'm referring to alternative transfer targets and a feedback process to reach a middle ground with Jose on the targets
We should sell Martial, Pogba and sack Woodward to back Jose? Maybe it's best to let us worry about our team's internal politics. Your hardline approach to all of this isn't the most practical.That's how I read "just felt it could have been handled better" - Ie. "the decisions were the right ones, but not the delivery."
I'd say not being able to sit down and talk with your nearest colleague/employee over the course of a summer (or start of it, really) to align on policy and execution is also pretty damning.
At least one of them shouldn't be in a job, really.
No, I actually lined up three viable options:We should sell Martial, Pogba and sack Woodward to back Jose? Maybe it's best to let us worry about our own team's internal politics. Your hardline approach to all of this isn't the most practical.
You absolutely don't need to do that in order to buy an already proven player, for youth player you do.Charlton and Ferguson hardly spends hours every day looking at prospects, evaluating play etc., which you’d need to evaluate which 30-year old is worth what. Ferguson in his time brought in experience when he thought it necessary.
By ‘bringing in a bunch of 30 y olds’ for ‘exuberant money’, I assume you mean Matic, Sanchez and Alderweireld/Boateng? There are no others, right?
There's zero evidence Pogba leaving or staying has anything to do with whether Mourinho stays or goes, and Martial's agent is the only person who has said Martial wants to leave, which doesn't exactly equate to Mourinho asking for him to be sold and the board refusing to. More likely he's told the board that Martial can leave if he wants to, and the board are reluctant to sell for a cut price due to his age and potential...which actually makes sense. I suspect Mourinho will still play him if he feels he's the best choice in a game.They will sack mourinho first. They've stopped Martial from going and will want to stop pogba from going as well, regardless of Mourinho's wishes. Next step is replacing him. When the manager loses power, player power on the increase is the next step.
I think it's a reasonable assumption that while Mourinho has not specifically asked for Martial to be sold, Martial wants to leave and Mourinho would have been happy to sanction it to get in a different player instead. And probably, both Mourinho and Martial are annoyed that the board has effectively priced this out of happening. I reckon Mourinho will play Martial the way he sees him - as a decent squad player. Probably a reason why Martial wants to leave.There's zero evidence Pogba leaving or staying has anything to do with whether Mourinho stays or goes, and Martial's agent is the only person who has said Martial wants to leave, which doesn't exactly equate to Mourinho asking for him to be sold and the board refusing to. More likely he's told the board that Martial can leave if he wants to, and the board are reluctant to sell for a cut price due to his age and potential...which actually makes sense. I suspect Mourinho will still play him if he feels he's the best choice in a game.
Klopp actually handed back much of that responsibility. He's a major reason we have a DoF now although it hardly ever gets noticed. He preferred Julian Brandt over Salah, but went with the consensus decision of the panel.Woodward's fumbling account of our attempts to sign a centreback are of more concern, and not because of his relationship with Jose...just because it made him sound like an idiot who shouldn't be trusted with that sort of thing.
"Backing" the manager and signing every player he wants aren't really the same thing. It's like claiming the Liverpool board don't back Klopp anymore just because you fudged a move for Fekir or whatever he's called. If the club didn't back Jose as manager they wouldn't have signed Fred and Dalot, or made any attempt to sign a centre back.
Lots of sense in what you write. Now we really don’t know the extent of agreements and disagreements between neither José and his board nor José and his players. What we have is a Mourinho using the press to communicate disagreements with both players and board for a while, and some players and now apparently also the board using the media to answer back. Which seems to me a risky game for everyone, as the collective press functions as a borderline unstable drama king/queen with multiple personality disorder. Not the place I would have gone for marriage counselling, to say the leastI think it's a reasonable assumption that while Mourinho has not specifically asked for Martial to be sold, Martial wants to leave and Mourinho would have been happy to sanction it to get in a different player instead. And probably, both Mourinho and Martial are annoyed that the board has effectively priced this out of happening. I reckon Mourinho will play Martial the way he sees him - as a decent squad player. Probably a reason why Martial wants to leave.
How much Pogba staying or going has to do with Mourinho remains to be seen, but I'd be surprised if it isn't a factor - or at least that the board will seriously consider how much a factor it is, if it escalates over this season.
Klopp actually handed back much of that responsibility. He's a major reason we have a DoF now although it hardly ever gets noticed. He preferred Julian Brandt over Salah, but went with the consensus decision of the panel.
It reminds me of the rodgers situation really. "Here's my shortlist, what's the budget?" "for that list? not much. But if you are willing to choose from a totally different list, it will be much bigger." The fact that they don't even seem to be operating with the same shortlists suggest a total misalignment of resources. Are they not talking to the same scouts?
But really, as much as I'd enjoy to see Mourinho go full throttle on all the clichés fans feared when he joined, about scaring away youth and buying short term solutions for big money, he's simply trying to fulfil his remit. Might fail and all, but he's doing his job, pantomime villain-style as it may be. It's woodward's buffoonery that basically amount to not doing his job at all.
Pfft, even in academic writing at uni style counts for 10 marks out of 100.I could have made 12500 post in two weeks and still your childish gibberish won't be worth my time.
Jesus Christ!
I thought Aguero was class back then and Silva was considered pretty good. It's just that we fell for foreign players can't adapt here argument and went for safe bets like Ashley Young.Those weren't the world class players when they bought them, they were immensely talented but they also got developed at City.
Depressing thought.If that's true and if they indeed intend to give him 100 million in January then that is a pretty strong indicator he'll be here next season as well.
Thankfully it’s only Jamie Jackson reporting it.If that's true and if they indeed intend to give him 100 million in January then that is a pretty strong indicator he'll be here next season as well.
They were good not world class, they developed into world class players.I thought Aguero was class back then and Silva was considered pretty good. It's just that we fell for foreign players can't adapt here argument and went for safe bets like Ashley Young.
There is no chance Inter sell him to us for 60 million.Alderweireld- 30 mil plus Rojo/Jones/Smalling
Skriniar-60 mil
Icardi- Lukaku plus 30 mil.
And you have happy Jose and team that can win title.
Back to reality; we will buy Maguire for 70 mil.
In fairness, you could tell Aguero would be WC all the way back at Independiente, let alone at Atlético. Our record with Argies is pretty awful though so understand it. SAF always preferred a solid British core and managed to get the best out of that so I have absolutely zero issues with it.They were good not world class, they developed into world class players.
Too late to save the season perhaps but not too late for Mourinho to demonstrate with the team what would have been different if he was given funds all along.Too little, too late
If we don't make the top 4 he's gone anyway.If that's true and if they indeed intend to give him 100 million in January then that is a pretty strong indicator he'll be here next season as well.