Ed Woodward 2019 - Until all Arctic ice melts edition

[dev1l]

At times I get the impression that we are delaying AWB on purpose. i
Maybe to have an excuse for not signing more players or else we are waiting for other clubs to make their moves - I don't know really.
Apparently we also told Bruno Fernandez that we have to focus on AWB before signing Bruno. As if we don't have the means to negotiate with 2 players at the same time.

 

[Bestofthebest]

At times I get the impression that we are delaying AWB on purpose. i
Maybe to have an excuse for not signing more players or else we are waiting for other clubs to make their moves - I don't know really.
Apparently we also told Bruno Fernandez that we have to focus on AWB before signing Bruno. As if we don't have the means to negotiate with 2 players at the same time.

There's only one Ed to go round. Very important man is our Ed.

 

[Bestietom]

At times I get the impression that we are delaying AWB on purpose. i
Maybe to have an excuse for not signing more players or else we are waiting for other clubs to make their moves - I don't know really.
Apparently we also told Bruno Fernandez that we have to focus on AWB before signing Bruno. As if we don't have the means to negotiate with 2 players at the same time.

That's it Woodward can't negotiate 2 deals at the same time. It's taken him over a month for Wan Bissaka and this deal is not done yet. God help us if we are to bring in 5/6 players.

 

[Saffron]

Yeah, prolong a transfer deal for the whole Window.

How is it even possible that a negotiation could go so slowly? Say Ed offers X and Palace wants X. Why can’t they just sit down together and sort it in a single negotiating session? Do we somehow have to retreat to our quarters and mull over Palace’s counter-offer for a week every time?

 

[ArjenIsM3]

That's it Woodward can't negotiate 2 deals at the same time. It's taken him over a month for Wan Bissaka and this deal is not done yet. God help us if we are to bring in 5/6 players.

We've presented multiple players at the same time before and there have been transfers where the first rumours and the presentation were less than a week apart. Plus, we're more likely to bring in 4.

 

[Bestietom]

We've presented multiple players at the same time before and there have been transfers where the first rumours and the presentation were less than a week apart. Plus, we're more likely to bring in 4.

You a director.

 

[ArjenIsM3]

You a director.

Read this.

https://www.reddit.com/r/reddevils/...lent/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share

 

[Bestietom]

How is it even possible that a negotiation could go so slowly? Say Ed offers X and Palace wants X. Why can’t they just sit down together and sort it in a single negotiating session? Do we somehow have to retreat to our quarters and mull over Palace’s counter-offer for a week every time?

He just cannot do these deals. He is not the man for this job.

 

[Bestietom]

Read this.

https://www.reddit.com/r/reddevils/...lent/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share

Still took over a month for each deal. We don't have the time mate.
Pussyfooting around meant we signed Fellaini for 5million more than his buyout clause on the final day of transfer window some years ago, when we could have got both Strootman and Eriksen for less than we paid for him.

 

[Hernandez - BFA]

Not saying he’s faultless, but I’m sure it’s a hard job what he’s doing. The second clubs find out we’re interested in a player - prices sky rocket. Wan Bissaka is 100% not worth the current fee being branded about - he’s had one good season. I want him, don’t get me wrong - but you can’t fault Woody for not simply bowing down to Palace’s wishes from the odd and settle on £60million for a player.
Who knows how much money United are able to spend this summer.

As I said - I’d rather him not be in charge of our transfers period - but people will complain about him playing hard ball, but people will equally complain if we see us making signings for an extortionate price. It sets a bad precedent if we just splash cash on all players - eventually us looking at signing a league 2 talent will be £10million minimum.

 

[Bestietom]

Not saying he’s faultless, but I’m sure it’s a hard job what he’s doing. The second clubs find out we’re interested in a player - prices sky rocket. Wan Bissaka is 100% not worth the current fee being branded about - he’s had one good season. I want him, don’t get me wrong - but you can’t fault Woody for not simply bowing down to Palace’s wishes from the odd and settle on £60million for a player.
Who knows how much money United are able to spend this summer.

As I said - I’d rather him not be in charge of our transfers period - but people will complain about him playing hard ball, but people will equally complain if we see us making signings for an extortionate price. It sets a bad precedent if we just splash cash on all players - eventually us looking at signing a league 2 talent will be £10million minimum.

This is not the full debate, mate. We are asking why he cannot do other deals, whilst still negotiating for Wan Bissaka. He's not the man to lead our rebuilding.imo

 

[clarkydaz]

Its like they are happy to time themselves out of straightforward deals to not spend money

 

[Hernandez - BFA]

This is not the full debate, mate. We are asking why he cannot do other deals, whilst still negotiating for Wan Bissaka. He's not the man to lead our rebuilding.imo

Well that, I agree with you.

 

[Hal9000]

Anyone hear Howson's story on Matt Judge?

Basically a player got shown the rounds at Spurs, met Poch got a 3 hour tour, red carpet rolled out. He then visited our Mayfair offices and Judge basically asks 'what's your name'

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Anyone hear Howson's story on Matt Judge?

Basically a player got shown the rounds at Spurs, met Poch got a 3 hour tour, red carpet rolled out. He then visited our Mayfair offices and Judge basically asks 'what's your name'

Meunier wasn't it. We have been like this for a while. That the name Manchester United is enough, when in this day and age it isn't. The player should feel wanted. The Aaron Ramsey transfer comes to mind. Why did we not even send Giggs rather than Gary Neville?

 

[LeftyBlaster]

Its like they are happy to time themselves out of straightforward deals to not spend money

Accurate description. In all probability true too.

 

[Von Mistelroum]

At times I get the impression that we are delaying AWB on purpose. i
Maybe to have an excuse for not signing more players or else we are waiting for other clubs to make their moves - I don't know really.
Apparently we also told Bruno Fernandez that we have to focus on AWB before signing Bruno. As if we don't have the means to negotiate with 2 players at the same time.

I think with Fernando's (if we're looking at him) it's more likely because we can't afford him unless Pogba leaves.

 

[0161_UNITED]

To be fair, I certainly share some of the, in my humble opinion, valid concerns about Woodward and the Glazer’s ownership. However, the media narrative being spun about the haplessness of the club is just getting dusted off, rinsed, and repeated every single bloody summer to the point of incredulity. By the way, this idea of United being completely clueless and completely inept in the transfer market pre-dates the Glazers and stretches well back into the golden days under Gill and SAF. Why? Because getting arguably the world’s largest fan base all wound up sells papers, gets clicks, etc.

It gets magnified in the Caf to epic proportions. Made up crap and fantastic stories from the media get interwoven into bat s*** crazy conspiracy theories resulting in 16 year olds wading into any thread quoting fictitious prices and dream transfer windows is bloody tiresome at times.

I’m old, though. Went to a wedding last night. Universally agreed, we got old.

Conspiracy theories may now commence. Resume normal service, lads.

 

[Class of 63]

I remember reading from this article, i dunno how accurate it is, that now we like to try and spread out the transfer fees over a number of years since Fergie left. I wonder if this has an impact on how long it takes us to negotiate and why we also lose out on players.

http://priceoffootball.com/manchester-united-2018-finances-made-of-stone/

Under the section player trading.

Every club does that, be it transfer in, or transfers out - Real Madrid giving Manchester United £80m in a lump sum for Ronaldo is one of the rare occasions that wasn't he case.

 

[Crashoutcassius]

How is it even possible that a negotiation could go so slowly? Say Ed offers X and Palace wants X. Why can’t they just sit down together and sort it in a single negotiating session? Do we somehow have to retreat to our quarters and mull over Palace’s counter-offer for a week every time?

Depends, I guess people think it is like... 60 ... 50... 58... 52 .... 56.....54.... ok 55. But it is probably more nuanced than that, like in Morocco when you have to pretend to walk away ... all that goes on. Palace want to sell their player and want to get the maximum. They have to pretend they want to keep him. United have to pretend they have other options etc etc. I'd say it is rarely as simple as naming a price and just negotiating a few million off

 

[Class of 63]

Anyone hear Howson's story on Matt Judge?

Basically a player got shown the rounds at Spurs, met Poch got a 3 hour tour, red carpet rolled out. He then visited our Mayfair offices and Judge basically asks 'what's your name'

Yeah because that really happened, der

 

[Crashoutcassius]

Every club does that, be it transfer in, or transfers out - Real Madrid giving Manchester United £80m in a lump sum for Ronaldo is one of the rare occasions that wasn't he case.

When the cash moves is one thing but also the price amortized over the life of the players contract, which is just an accounting way to manage ffp.

 

[Bestofthebest]

There's one thing playing hardball and another shooting yourself in the foot. What is the point of spending all this time negotiating a fee for Wan Bissaka if you only end up paying what CP asked for? We don't know yet what the final fee will be but if it is close to the original asking price then Ed will look like a real chump, something he must be getting used to by now.

 

[Class of 63]

To be fair, I certainly share some of the, in my humble opinion, valid concerns about Woodward and the Glazer’s ownership. However, the media narrative being spun about the haplessness of the club is just getting dusted off, rinsed, and repeated every single bloody summer to the point of incredulity. By the way, this idea of United being completely clueless and completely inept in the transfer market pre-dates the Glazers and stretches well back into the golden days under Gill and SAF. Why? Because getting arguably the world’s largest fan base all wound up sells papers, gets clicks, etc.

It gets magnified in the Caf to epic proportions. Made up crap and fantastic stories from the media get interwoven into bat s*** crazy conspiracy theories resulting in 16 year olds wading into any thread quoting fictitious prices and dream transfer windows is bloody tiresome at times.

I’m old, though. Went to a wedding last night. Universally agreed, we got old.

Conspiracy theories may now commence. Resume normal service, lads.

This pretty much sums it up girls and boys.

 

[Class of 63]

When the cash moves is one thing but also the price amortized over the life of the players contract, which is just an accounting way to manage ffp.

Seem to recall we knocked circa £3m off the agreed deal(s) for Rio and Rooney by bringing forward the payment, and/or upping the second or third instalment.

 

[luke511]

Why aren't we addressing the other issues whilst the Wan Bissaka saga gets dragged out over 5 mil? Worrying times. We're going to end up a weaker side than we were last season at this rate.

 

[LoneStar]

There is no planning at boardroom level. They react to things. Absolutely no plan at all.

When Moyes came in, there was no succession plan, even though they had time to put one together. Fergie left, Moyes came in and f***ed it all up.
In panic, they quickly interviewed candidates and got LVG. Fair enough.
When they saw Jose available, they got him. Fair enough. But when Jose was hired, they should've had a plan to hire Jose to take us to the title in the 3rd year and then have him replaced by someone who plays more attractive football. Instead they gave Jose the reigns, he got us 2nd place and was ready to for the title in his 3rd season and they pulled the plug on funding his ambition. That was never going to go well, as Jose wants to win. Eventually, they reacted and fired Jose.
When the media was calling out Woodward for having a dreadful transfer window, he reacted by saying that he will hire a DoF (time has proved this to be a lie). The idea was to spin the story about DoF, to keep the media off his back.
Ole was employed to bring the feel good factor back. To bring back Fergie's values...which he did. Woodward reacted by giving him the job. Even before that time, Ole started losing.
This brings us to now. So far, we have signed a player from the Championship. I have no idea who else we will sign, but I am not holding my breath.

The problem is that because we make increasing amounts of money, year on year (no matter how much we lose), Woodie will keep his job. The only thing which would bring change is if we either got relegated or narrowly escaped relegation.

I don't the board is as stupid as this to think that we'll keep earning more money if we continue on this trajectory. The global foot all fanbase is increasing tremendously and we would most likely be losing a large part of that if we are not associated with success.

The only scenario in which this is possible is if the board has plans to sell the club soon, and wanted to drain as much money as possible before leaving.

Every time we have lost out on top 4 and hired a new manager, we have typically spent a lot of money on new players. So it's not like we haven't spent a lot, unlike Arsenal.

 

[Class of 63]

Why aren't we addressing the other issues whilst the Wan Bissaka saga gets dragged out over 5 mil? Worrying times. We're going to end up a weaker side than we were last season at this rate.

Relax, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at the side United can put out once the window is closed

 

[zenith]

Not saying he’s faultless, but I’m sure it’s a hard job what he’s doing. The second clubs find out we’re interested in a player - prices sky rocket. Wan Bissaka is 100% not worth the current fee being branded about - he’s had one good season. I want him, don’t get me wrong - but you can’t fault Woody for not simply bowing down to Palace’s wishes from the odd and settle on £60million for a player.
Who knows how much money United are able to spend this summer.

As I said - I’d rather him not be in charge of our transfers period - but people will complain about him playing hard ball, but people will equally complain if we see us making signings for an extortionate price. It sets a bad precedent if we just splash cash on all players - eventually us looking at signing a league 2 talent will be £10million minimum.

Woodward is a proven idiot by now who has no idea about how football works. I'm convinced he's going to be found out, simply because he cannot lay the blame on the manager anymore. Three managers have been deemed not good enough under him and this time the chickens are gonna come home to roost.

 

[Mr Pigeon]

Why aren't we addressing the other issues whilst the Wan Bissaka saga gets dragged out over 5 mil? Worrying times. We're going to end up a weaker side than we were last season at this rate.

We have three lawyers employed from Spain but Woody has had trouble getting in contact with them for about four years now.

 

[RedDevilUnited369]

Just seen this but if true WTF??

Tweet

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[Patrick08]

Just seen this but if true WTF??

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Bull shit.

 

[smallred]

woodward is the worst thing to happen this club since Relegation in the 70s.

 

[Shakesy]

A day in the life of Ed...

Spoiler: ...Nobody's forcing you to read this

It's 06:30 and Ed drags himself out of bed.

"Aurgh! Another day! What will drive public opinion today," he thinks to himself, wishing it was a few years ago when he was hailed as a transfer guru by that evil Red Cafe!
He gets ready for work, while finding solace in his £10m net worth.
"I don't care," he reiterates. "I am successful! I'm making money for the owners with a club that is no longer a force! I'm just a humble genius," he says while staring at the mirror. Before he leaves he looks at himself again and tries to ignore his thinning hair.

It's 08:00 and he switches on his computer and opens his mailbox. He has a mail from Michael Glazer!

"Hi Ed!
We have decided to make only 100m available for transfers. If you guys sell, then those funds can be added to the 100, OK?
We love you Ed!
MG"

Ed rubs his head and feels a tear cascading down his handsome stubble. He composes a mail to Matt Judge, who he trusts with his life.

"Good morning Matt!
We will only spend 100m plus sales this season. Keep it on the lowdown OK?"

He sends it and stares out of the window. He wonders what the press will say today. He sighs. He goes to a few of his favorite football sites and is shocked to see the newest headline, posted just 2 minutes ago!

"Manchester United only has 100 million to spend" it reads.

"Noo-ooo! How..." Ed throws his pen at his door. He takes a deep breath, "...the HELL did they pick up on that so quickly?"

He looks at the next headline.

"De Ligt is going to sign for Juventus."

That's OK, he thinks to himself - glad the boy didn't decide to go to those lucky bastards in Barcelona. Another website has a story blaming him for the failure of not getting De Ligt! "But he was never interested in coming to us," yells Ed at his golden keyboard. "We had no chance! How is that my fault?"

Ed feels filthy. He is always the one to be blamed. Just a few months ago every single website told him to appoint Solksjaer "NOW". Yes, one website capitalized the word "NOW". He did it and now everyone is saying he should have waited.

He checks his bank balance and feels a little better. If only the people loved him... People love Levy! He doesn't even have hair! And he spends nothing! How?!? And why doesn't the media focus again on Kroenke? That always made for some pleasant reading.

"It's not fair," he whispers to himself. "I got us noodles! Noodles! I demand respect! When will we see #Ediscool? Maybe I should fix my neck?"

He opens another favorite site and sees the lead story, "Ed's neck will cost an arm and a leg."

He sighs and turns off his computer. Somehow the day is over. He ponders, while driving home, how another fruitless day passed him by.

Maybe tomorrow will be better. Maybe the people are right. Football is cyclical. One day he will be king of the world again. Just hang in there, Ed!

 

[sullydnl]

Just seen this but if true WTF??

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Well if 360 Sources tweets it then it's definitely worth paying attention to. The anonymous-man-in-suit profile really sells their trustworthiness. I mean who would know the inner working of Manchester United better?

 

[Bastian]

Just seen this but if true WTF??

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

Hahaha. No way is that true. But it does seem that the duo can only focus on one signing at a time.

 

[sullydnl]

How is it even possible that a negotiation could go so slowly? Say Ed offers X and Palace wants X. Why can’t they just sit down together and sort it in a single negotiating session? Do we somehow have to retreat to our quarters and mull over Palace’s counter-offer for a week every time?

Off the top of my head I would imagine that....

A) It's not just about the total that's paid but also how it's paid. Which makes it a rather more complicated discussion than just deciding on an amount. A lot of technical accountancy involved. It's not like clubs actually have a "£100m war chest" or whatever per summer, they calculate their capacity for expenditure in terms of how it spreads out per year.

B) It often won't suit a club's interests to conduct negotiations like that. For example Palace may feel that the more drawn out the process, the more pressure there is on United to complete the deal, the better the deal they might get. Using the gaps between bids correctly is part of negotiating.

C) Transfers have implications for other transfers, which means the money potentially spent (and spread) on one has to be considered and balanced against whatever other deals they're negotiating or intend to negotiate.

D) Intermediaries are often involved between clubs (sometimes it's the player's agent in fact) so it often isn't a club to club negotiation. Plus some aspects of the deal (like payment of loyalty bonuses, for example) can involve extended discussions between several parties (selling club + agent, buying club + agent, selling club + buying club, agent + player).

E) It's a multi-million dollar deal that involves hoards of lawyers, risk assesment and clearance. Companies like that don't work off back-of-a-cigarette-packet negotiating or let people negotiate massive deals without oversight. An increase of 5m to a bid might not seem like a lot to you but it will to them.

 

[Rhyme Animal]

2 genuine questions -

1. Why does Woodward go on holiday, every year, at the time when he should be at his absolute busiest...?

2. Why do fans accept this every year?

He isn't a manager, or a player, he isn't needed at matches - he could go on holiday literally any other month in the season.

 

[clarkydaz]

2 genuine questions -

1. Why does Woodward go on holiday, every year, at the time when he should be at his absolute busiest...?

2. Why do fans accept this every year?

He isn't a manager, or a player, he isn't needed at matches - he could go on holiday literally any other month in the season.

Its a windup mate

 

[Im red2]

That's it Woodward can't negotiate 2 deals at the same time. It's taken him over a month for Wan Bissaka and this deal is not done yet. God help us if we are to bring in 5/6 players.

He obviously cannot (does not want to) negotiate more than one deal at a time. And still thinks he is the best man for the position? I feel sorry for all United fans, I am one myself. But these Glazer guys are only here to milk the club. Anyone who cannot see it must be either dumb as shit or stupid as feck.