Do we think it will get to the point having no DOF hinders us?

[Withnail]

You act like it hasn't already.

The lack of a director of football has 100% already hindered the club.

A strong DOF doesn't make the poor footballing decisions Woodward has.

 

[red thru&thru]

The lack of a director of football has 100% already hindered the club.

A strong DOF doesn't make the poor footballing decisions Woodward has.

This.

 

[Craig Ward]

I'd like us to put a proper DOF in place, if only to get Woodward away from the football side of things, but people need to stop getting obsessive tunnel vision around it. That's the sort of mindlessness that led us to appointing Ole full time.

A good DOF won't rescue us from a shit manager. A good DOF won't make the players more confident. Won't improve the manager's coaching. Won't improve our tactical flexibility during games.

Klopp didn't need a DOF to turn Liverpool into CL and (soon to be) Prem title winners. Having a good manager is more important than having a good DOF, which in turn is more important than having good owners.

My issue is, who ever the manager is, the fundamental running of the club is the biggest issue we have. From the owners, to the board, to ED.

We have had good managers - all failed. Ole - will inevitably fail. It doesn't matter who our manager is.

Even Pep couldn't get a tune out of our players and Ed wouldn't be able to recruit the players he wanted. The failure begins at the running of the club.

I feel for Ole. He's got a transfer vision, wants to overhaul the squad and he's got Ed woodward as his go to man to get transfers done. Doesn't stand a chance

 

[Marcelinho87]

"Failing to motivate a team"

I don't think hes failing to motivate them I just think they are wank and this is the majority of their level.

 

[Zlatattack]

This is the director of football of Brighton talking about what his role is. He talks about doing the exact stuff we need a DOF to do.

Tweet

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[Hal9000]

What control do you want Woodward to give up? Specific examples.

He should not be anywhere near recruitment, of both managers or players.

 

[djembatheking]

The lack of a director of football has 100% already hindered the club.

A strong DOF doesn't make the poor footballing decisions Woodward has.

United will never have a strong Dof as long as Woodward is there .

 

[Withnail]

United will never have a strong Dof as long as Woodward is there .

Unfortunately, you're probably right. He seems to enjoy the footballing side of things regardless of how badly he's fecking it up.

 

[Eric's Seagull]

Think it already has. Although I think Woodward will not get in a DoF, as I believe he has so much faith in his own football knowledge.

 

[Mark Pawelek]

To answer the question in the thread title. United have been hindered for 6 years since SAF retired. That was when we needed a DoF.

SAF was the acting DoF. During his final years, United bought weak players like Tosic, Obertan, Diuf, Bebe, Henríquez, Buttner, Kagawa, Powell, Zaha. Punts. They worked or stayed 1 or 2 years at most. Usually bought for fees of £4m to £8m.

Today we keep weak players. Pay them massive salaries. Don't turnover the squad enough.

 

[SilentWitness]

This is the director of football of Brighton talking about what his role is. He talks about doing the exact stuff we need a DOF to do.

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

Yeah, I was about to post this. Also I made a thread about Brands in the summer and how important he is to Everton in terms of connecting the whole club together as a unit. Obviously people may laugh and point to us being 18th and that our results on the field don't seem like it is working but I reckon that problem is down to the manager and I think our summer recruitment was good overall. A DoF or technical director isn't someone who is choosing the tactics but they are definitely making sure that the whole club plays with the same ethos. What the Brighton bloke puts across well is that the club has an ethos and they choose a manager based on that ethos. At United you haven't had the same managerial style - it's been 4 different managerial styles put on the same players and it's just bizarre to do that as the players won't develop at all, they'll be confused and shite as we are seeing now under Ole. Ole might not be the right man, that's fine, but the next manager needs to come in with a similar ethos and a DoF can help that transition.

 

[matt23]

I think the DoF things a bit of a red herring. We need someone in between Woody and the manager that has a bit of nowse for the game. Somebody to suggest perhaps giving Young, Mata, Smalling and Jones new contracts is a stupid idea while we're supposedly trying to rebuild a fresh culture. We need somebody to oversee the coaching setup from ground level but I'm not convinced we need a full on legit DoF that relegates the manager to effectively being head coach.

Ultimately we need to hire better managers. We got it half right with Solskjaer. For the first time since Fergie retired I believe we at least tried to hire a manager who 'gets it' - gets what the club should be about, but it's become evident that he's struggling to translate club philosophy into effective coaching.