The ETH apologist rubbish is getting tiring. He is utterly lost, the worst football I have ever seen at this club from a permanent manger, with £400m wasted that sets back the rebuild by a couple of seasons.
Club Sale | It’s done!
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So is the negativity from the ETH out people.
Louis and Jose say hi!
Indeed
- Manchester City’s stars Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne are the envy of every football club. But Manchester United have raided their local rival for their new chief executive to restore the 20-times English champions to glory.
- Omar Berrada faces the daunting task of leading United into a new era following Monaco-based billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s $1.3bn deal to buy a 25 per cent stake in the club that sets him up as a co-owner alongside the American Glazer family.
- In an exclusive interview with the Financial Times at City’s Etihad campus in November last year, Berrada, who left his role as chief football operations officer at City Football Group and is now on gardening leave, laid out his operating principles that may hold clues to his approach at United.
- The Paris-born executive, who has Moroccan roots, is swapping a club that last year achieved the “treble” — winning trophies for the Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup in the same season — for one that has failed to win a league title since legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013.
- The 46-year-old’s challenge is to “re-establish Manchester United as a title-winning club” as announced by the team at the time of his unexpected appointment on January 20.
- Berrada, who joined City from FC Barcelona, can draw on 20 years’ experience in football, spanning both commercial activities and football operations.
- Rival clubs and fans attribute City’s success to the financial firepower of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family who has controlled the club since 2008. Critics point to the charges levelled by the Premier League, which has accused the club of breaching financial regulations. City has denied any wrongdoing.
- The softly spoken Berrada is confident that City’s treble-winning campaign was “by design, not by luck”. He said with the right principles and strategy, “success on the pitch will come”.
- Commercial growth is ‘underpinned’ by success on the pitch
- Fans have criticised United for prioritising sponsorship deals instead of football, but Berrada’s hire marks the biggest sign yet that Ratcliffe and the Glazers have a plan to bridge the gap between the club’s lucrative commercial department and its underperforming football team.
- “The commercial growth of the clubs is predicated or underpinned by success on the pitch,” said Berrada. “If you have a really good business strategy alongside it, then it just turbocharges the growth off the pitch.”
- His view is starkly different from former United boss Ed Woodward, an ex-JPMorgan banker, who once told financial analysts that “playing performance doesn’t really have a meaningful impact on what we can do on the commercial side of the business”.
- Berrada looks set to inherit a task made more difficult by United’s struggle to qualify for next season’s lucrative Champions League. The team is behind the likes of Aston Villa, West Ham United and Brighton in the table, never mind league leaders Liverpool. Off the pitch, City’s annual revenues totalled £712mn in 2022-23, ahead of United’s £648mn.
- Berrada, who oversaw 11 clubs including City in his prior role, emphasised that improving business performance can smooth out the cyclicality of football, allowing profits to be reinvested into the club, playing squad and facilities.
- At City, he helped establish a structure that allowed the club “to make the right decisions and to take the emotions as much as we can out of those decisions,” Berrada said.
- “Our job is to ensure that we’ve created a structure, this ecosystem around everything that we’re doing now to make it as consistent as possible so when there is a downwards cycle, we make it as short as possible”.
- Have a football identity
- Since Ferguson’s departure, United has been criticised for a squad created through big money signings ranging from defender Harry Maguire to Casemiro as well as the €95mn acquisition of Brazilian winger Antony.
- Berrada stressed the importance of having a “football identity” on the pitch supported by a football director who understands a club’s playing style and has a “multiyear view” of what the squad needs to look like, and a coach and staff who believe in the approach.
- Alongside City Football Group chair Khaldoon al-Mubarak, and former Barcelona colleagues chief executive Ferran Soriano and football director Txiki Begiristain, Berrada was a crucial member of the club’s leadership team credited by manager Pep Guardiola for backing his trophy-laden reign.
- A solid identity underpins and guides City’s approach to buying and selling players, allowing it to identify talent years ahead and replenish squads as players age while saving money in the transfer market.
- According to data aggregator transfermarkt.co.uk, United’s net spend in the five seasons to 2022-23 surpassed €600mn, second only to Chelsea. The Manchester club has failed to post a profit since before the Covid-19 pandemic and has typically struggled to generate big fees in the transfer market.
- Berrada warned of the “slippery slope” that comes if a side starts to overpay clubs, players and agents in the quest for victory.
- “If you have a very solid rationale as to why you’re offering the fee, the salary and the commission, they might not agree with it but they will accept it,” he said.
- “Once you start overpaying then you lose that argument and that puts you in a much more difficult position to say to the next one, ‘I can only offer you this.’”
- AI and data analytics will continue to shape football
- As clubs continue to embrace technology to decipher the transfer market, Berrada has an eye on technology trends that could dictate the winners of tomorrow.
- He predicted that artificial intelligence and data analytics will continue to shape football, including in-game tactics and player recruitment, although he stressed that it’s “not just about the data” but the “human understanding and the technical understanding of the game”.
- “If you fast forward maybe another 10 years, data analytics, whether that’s driven by AI or something else, will start to have more and more influence,” he said. “I don’t see it taking over but I do see it as becoming more important.”
Likewise for ETH at Ajax
Not even close to being in the same ballpark. Ajax were in a one team league with every advantage that Fergie could only have dreamed off
Ajax hadn't won the league (or anything else I think) for 4 years.
Which they have continued to be after ETH/Overmars/VDS left haven’t they? Oh wait no - Schreuder was crap and they are languishing in 5 as a result.
ETH did build 2 great Ajax sides. Yes, it was in a good football structure, and not solely down to him.
However, Ajax were struggling before him and are struggling after him.
However, Ajax were struggling before him and are struggling after him.
Thanks for taking the time to do this.
Him and Overmars seem to be the two architects, its a shame Overmars is persona non grata in football now because if we got him and ETH in things might have been different
I don't think the club would've brought him, maybe if ETH insisted, but I don't know.
Appreciate the link but damn that article says nothing that we didn't already know
ETH in. Give the guy a chance. Grow up. Qatar ain't coming. Klopp ain't coming. Your fantasy of transplanting Alex F into 2024 in a new body seems a long shot. He'd be crap in today's game anyway.
No thanks. He’s a short termer like Mourinho
It’s not rocket science
Everton just got deducted 10 points for FFP issues, City and Chelsea have charges against them, Forest and Everton might get deducted more points.
We have spent beyond recklessly in the past 5 years, and sold like shit. Our wages are out of control. We have made all our signings with the majority of payments to be done later, which means we are constantly making huge payments for all of these players due to transfer debts. This will take a while to fix. We likely have to have a <100m net spend this summer because of this and because we won't have CL football. That's why it's imperative to sell/release players like Varane, Sancho, martial, Maguire who are on big wages but older or always injured and not started. Even guys like Antony and Mount who are on 200k each and are nothing more than backups or aren't good enough but came with massive fees. That's why you have to make a call on Casemiro if you can get big money for him so we can recoup some cash. That's why we are starting to sell our youngsters to try and help our FFP situation. That's why we are unlikely to replace dalot anytime soon, or Onana even if he's deemed not good enough. Our financial situation is a mess and needs some aggressive selling and very cheap buying until the wages are under control and we are back to a normal FFP situation. This is likely not going to happen until 2026.
A well run club shouldn't ever be testing the limits of their FFP space. They should be just buying when they need to buy, and not spending just because they have money to spend. If your team is good in quality and depth and there isn't a clear attainable target, you should just sit tight with what you have, and be ready to spend when the player becomes available, FFP shouldn't ever be holding a club like us back when we get the rest under control.
Since Klopp announced he was jumping ship (and couldn’t be arsed with a rebuild) I keep hearing this narrative that Fergie would be eaten alive by Klopp and Guardiola. One of Fergie’s biggest strengths was his ability to adapt.
Exactly it’s nonsense
100%.
Sir Alex was a brilliant leader.
What makes the true greats is being able to recognise problems and pick the right solutions. Including hiring the right people if they don't have all the skills needed.
Sir Alex was able to see, understand and react to changes in football. This man who started coaching in a completely different era, had almost impeccable judgement. As well as reserves of energy to keep going again and again.
His like will never be seen again.
I’m getting tired of the @Gordon Godot rubbish, tbh. It’s looking more and more like spam.
"On the continent, the likes of Atletico Madrid’s Andrea Berta, Cristiano Giuntoli from Juventus, Lee Congerton at Atalanta and Ricky Masara and Paolo Maldini, who left AC Milan last year, have also been linked."
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As mentioned previously, keep a close eye on someone from a club based in the south of England and more specifically South London
won’t that Liverpool Sporting Director who is leaving them this week come into focus? Isn’t he meant to be good?
Getting top names from city and Liverpool would be an explosive start
Getting top names from city and Liverpool would be an explosive start
Omar with the big shotgun walking around Carrington.
Edwards? I could be wrong but he’s not been working for a while now
He means Jorg Schmadtke and no he is not that good.
Glass houses and all that but there seem to be huge issues at Liverpool as well. They are burning Sporting directors like candles there and now Klopp is leaving.
Paul Mitchell is not a good football director though. He’s better in a recruitment role. Not sure who Julian Ward is. No issues with any of the rest.
The big question is are we actually looking to make two appointments because some articles say yes and others don't reference it at all
I don't think they have any idea. Berrada took the press by surprise, it is likely that the DOF will too.
Julian Ward wasn’t he the guy that took over from Edwards at Liverpool?
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Since their deal is not yet ratified, can someone please explain in what capacity is brailsford speaking to the players?
Blasphemy. The man was winning titles with Carrick in defence, O'shea and Phil Neville in Midfield and played inverted wingers in the CL final in 1999.
Judge, jury and executioner.
Consultant, SEC filings have them as being informed but not responsible.
Part of the agreement was that INEOS will be informed and advised of any changes in the club whilst ratification takes place.
It means they are collecting information, informing those that do make the decisions how they want things to go and preparing for the official rubber stamp as being the ones in charge.
Essentially they are in-charge but for the same of not pissing off the officials they cant go all out on changes and it all needs to be under the facade of a Glazers decision, but as we have heard, they have been heavily involved in decisions and advisories.
I'd imagine he's currently playing a consultant role without any direct decision-making power.
Hahahahaha. Yes, love that. whistling away....
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