Ed Woodward | Groundhog Day Edition

Maticmaker

Full Member
Joined
Nov 8, 2018
Messages
4,617
Although I've defended Woodward in the past, failing to land Sancho will be a monumental feck up that will cost us for years to come. He still has time to get it done. No real challenger to signing an elite English RW talent from a smaller selling club. He has a golden opportunity to buy a lot of goodwill with everyone, really.
This is the thing with Woodward, his background in Finance etc. means he cannot get out of the mode of trying to be the 'tough negotiator', he has to take things to the wire. You might say its in his blood!

United is often hailed as the richest club in the world, or certainly in the top three and we have consistently over the years been prepared to pay over the odds for players. It is therefore now ' a given' that we start any negotiations on the back foot once we've declared a formal interest in a player. Surely its not beyond the wit of a man like Woodward to come up with a different playbook for player transfer negotiations.

These days there are so many different elements to transfer negotiations, getting even more complicated now with agents, family members, club sponsorship deals etc. all going 'into the pot'
Going into negotiations with a strategy that seems to be simply designed to be take it down to the wire and then pay up, seems almost a naive approach?
 

Denis' cuff

Full Member
Joined
May 13, 2007
Messages
7,769
Location
here
Ed hasn't been near transfers in years...its Matt Judge.

If you believe every little rumour that goes on about United then you'd have a point, majority of it is utter rubbish though. It's baseless speculation and little else.
but Matt Judge merely goes in and does the chit chat. He no doubt has to report back to ww, who then has to go to his puppet masters
 

OrcaFat

Full Member
Joined
Jul 29, 2013
Messages
5,657
Ed hasn't been near transfers in years...its Matt Judge.

If you believe every little rumour that goes on about United then you'd have a point, majority of it is utter rubbish though. It's baseless speculation and little else.
Yes it surely is speculation.

But we don’t seem to have got much value for money in the transfer market and we haven’t bought enough top players. It’s not really speculating to say that Chelsea and probably Liverpool to name two, have been better in the market than us.

Is Ed involved in this stuff at all? Does Judge report to Ed? Why haven’t we done better at bringing good players in? These are questions to speculate on with impunity!
 

Jim Beam

Gets aroused by men in low socks
Joined
Feb 10, 2017
Messages
13,013
Location
All over the place
but Matt Judge merely goes in and does the chit chat. He no doubt has to report back to ww, who then has to go to his puppet masters
Correct. He goes in and negotiate a deal within the strict instructions and budget been given to him. Probably even has to report on every single detail.

This idea that he is the one pulling the strings and absolving Ed from any responsibility regarding transfers is ridiculous.
 

Keefy18

Full Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2018
Messages
2,653
Yes it surely is speculation.

But we don’t seem to have got much value for money in the transfer market and we haven’t bought enough top players. It’s not really speculating to say that Chelsea and probably Liverpool to name two, have been better in the market than us.

Is Ed involved in this stuff at all? Does Judge report to Ed? Why haven’t we done better at bringing good players in? These are questions to speculate on with impunity!
Correct. He goes in and negotiate a deal within the strict instructions and budget been given to him. Probably even has to report on every single detail.

This idea that he is the one pulling the strings and absolving Ed from any responsibility regarding transfers is ridiculous.
Of course he has to report back to Woodward and the board ya numpties! That's his job, or are you suggesting he just go rouge and does whatever he feels like? As pointed out a few comments back, we are publicly traded and we have investors to answer to, not just the board.

It's not like we've been tight with transfer funds in the post Fergie years, as of last season only Chelsea, Real and I think City outspent us. We've repeatedly broken transfer records for numerous players from ADM, Marital, Shaw, Pogba, Sanchez & Maguire.
 

Keefy18

Full Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2018
Messages
2,653
:rolleyes: Followed with classic spinning, genaralisation and throwing arguments which weren't been discussed. But I forgot with who am speaking with. Carry on...
Seriously, its ridiculous some folks can't even understand the company structures.

Of course Judge has to report something back to Ed, the board and in turn the investors. Does that mean Ed is this all empowering evil entity that is there to drag United to ruin? Nah. It's unfounded completely when we look at the mind boggling sums of money we've spent since 2013.

The truth most likely lies somewhere smack bang in the middle.... Some transfers are signed off on and others not, which is the sensible approach and every manager at every club gets the same treatment.
 

Jim Beam

Gets aroused by men in low socks
Joined
Feb 10, 2017
Messages
13,013
Location
All over the place
Of course Judge has to report something back to Ed, the board and in turn the investors. Does that mean Ed is this all empowering evil entity that is there to drag United to ruin? Nah. It's unfounded completely when we look at the mind boggling sums of money we've spent since 2013.
He reports solely back to Ed. Ed is dealing with the board. Which makes him pretty feckin important in every aspect of the club as he is not only responsible for organizational structure, but has direct link with - the money (among other responsibilities he carries within his role). The amount of money doesn't absolve him from blame also if that money is badly spent.
In that regard, we showed at least some improvements in recent times, but our transfer effectiveness is still highly questionable.

Seriously, its ridiculous some folks can't even understand the company structures.
Indeed.
 

Gandalf Greyhame

If in doubt, follow your nose!
Scout
Joined
Dec 7, 2013
Messages
7,441
Location
Red Card for Casemiro!
We don't really know who makes the final calls on recruitment, but it's pretty clear that we're not run very well as a footballing club and are relatively inadequate at recruitment in terms of structure, vision and strategy.

Not strengthening the squad coming off last season's high and going into the next one is sheer incompetence. There was clearly value in the market if we were better at looking for it and had a plan.

It's deja vu from the Fred summer, where Liverpool broke away from the pack. This summer, it's seemingly Chelsea as well, making it three clubs at least with better squads than us.

If you are given as many resources as United have been and produce such poor returns, you're usually replaced at your job for being not very good at it.
 

el3mel

Full Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2016
Messages
43,735
Location
Egypt
We don't really know who makes the final calls on recruitment, but it's pretty clear that we're not run very well as a footballing club and are relatively inadequate at recruitment in terms of structure, vision and strategy.

Not strengthening the squad coming off last season's high and going into the next one is sheer incompetence. There was clearly value in the market if we were better at looking for it and had a plan.

It's deja vu from the Fred summer, where Liverpool broke away from the pack. This summer, it's seemingly Chelsea as well, making it three clubs at least with better squads than us.

If you are given as many resources as United have been and produce such poor returns, you're usually replaced at your job for being not very good at it.
Of course Woodward is the one who gives the final call. Managers give their suggestions and Judge seems to be the one who does negotiation now, but Woodward is the highest name in the club and anything that happens has to be with his approval. Any signing that happens he must approve it and if he doesn't, we call the deal off. Managers can say otherwise but it's pretty obvious really.

I don't that this is the problem as most clubs follow the same route I guess, there's always someone higher than the manager who gives the call. The problem is the ones above the manager at United are incompetent most of time.

Though things have been improving a little bit since last summer.
 

clarkydaz

Full Member
Joined
Oct 25, 2013
Messages
13,354
Location
manchester
Ed signs the money off, said so himself. somebody gives our crocked players stupid contracts and wages every year so we cant sell them. If its not Eds fault then he should be sacking people 'beneath' him
 

OrcaFat

Full Member
Joined
Jul 29, 2013
Messages
5,657
Seriously, its ridiculous some folks can't even understand the company structures.

Of course Judge has to report something back to Ed, the board and in turn the investors. Does that mean Ed is this all empowering evil entity that is there to drag United to ruin? Nah. It's unfounded completely when we look at the mind boggling sums of money we've spent since 2013.

The truth most likely lies somewhere smack bang in the middle.... Some transfers are signed off on and others not, which is the sensible approach and every manager at every club gets the same treatment.
Yes as an “approach” that’s not only sensible but also inevitable unless you have infinite money.

We spent plenty of money but we just don’t get the value or the number of top players that our rivals get.

We bought fairly average players for big money and failed to get most of the really top players who moved clubs over the last 8 years. I want to know where the buck stops because when you get a committee overruling managers you clearly can’t stick all the blame on the managers.

If your negotiator refuses to pay the asking price for months and then ends up paying it anyway, you have to wonder what good they are. We can only speculate based on questionable media reports and clearly we cannot know the ins and outs of these negotiations but you just have to look at our rivals, especially Chelsea, to see how uncomplicated it could and probably should be.

I’m not sure Ed could get away with blaming Judge but my impression is that Ed thinks it’s all been sweet. So we won squat since Ed came in but on the plus side he does a damn fine PowerPoint show.

Gosh damn it. I just can’t help bashing Ed. Maybe it’s his face.
 

Keefy18

Full Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2018
Messages
2,653
He reports solely back to Ed. Ed is dealing with the board. Which makes him pretty feckin important in every aspect of the club as he is not only responsible for organizational structure, but has direct link with - the money (among other responsibilities he carries within his role). The amount of money doesn't absolve him from blame also if that money is badly spent.
In that regard, we showed at least some improvements in recent times, but our transfer effectiveness is still highly questionable.
Well that isn't our structure, the football side of things is completely on the manager...same way it was when Fergie was there. Not a lot if anything has changed from Fergie to Ole other than football ideals such as transfer structure, playing style etc etc

Ed pretty much is the money side of things, he signs off the cheques and yes he answers to the owners not so much the football manager. Don't think any of us can say he hasn't supported the managers for the majority.
 

MadDogg

Full Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2002
Messages
15,813
Location
Manchester Utd never lose, just run out of time
Ed hasn't been near transfers in years...its Matt Judge.
Maybe. That still ultimately comes back on Woodward though since if Judge is doing a poor job Woodward should be firing him.

Well, 'ultimately' it comes back to the Glazers since they obviously should be firing whoever is making the decision making for the football side of things. For the amount of money that they have 'allowed' us to spend (god I hate writing it like that) we should be getting a hell of a lot better bang for our buck. Instead we've mostly just pissed it away. Unfortunately it appears that the only ones who have had to pay for those mistakes have been the managers even though they have only been half the problem.
 

Blood Mage

Full Member
Joined
Aug 25, 2019
Messages
5,822
His days are numbered if we have another crap season IMO, even if he is the Glazers' boy. He pisses so much money away every year and yet we still have positions that need filling and we have little to show for it on the pitch. Van der Sar is waiting in the wings for the DOF role.
 

el3mel

Full Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2016
Messages
43,735
Location
Egypt
His days are numbered if we have another crap season IMO, even if he is the Glazers' boy. He pisses so much money away every year and yet we still have positions that need filling and we have little to show for it on the pitch. Van der Sar is waiting in the wings for the DOF role.
We won't have a poor season, I can see us finishing 4th at worst, but even if we have one, Woodward won't leave. He's very important to Glazers and they don't care that much about results on the pitch, good or bad.
 

Crustanoid

New Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2008
Messages
18,511
Ed hasn't been near transfers in years...its Matt Judge.

If you believe every little rumour that goes on about United then you'd have a point, majority of it is utter rubbish though. It's baseless speculation and little else.
OK, Joel, fine, Ed is incredibly competent in his role and his good work translates to our massive success on the pitch and all the trophies we are winning
 

Eckers99

Michael Corleone says hello
Joined
Aug 9, 2014
Messages
6,117
His days are numbered if we have another crap season IMO, even if he is the Glazers' boy. He pisses so much money away every year and yet we still have positions that need filling and we have little to show for it on the pitch. Van der Sar is waiting in the wings for the DOF role.
There's no way he's going anywhere, regardless of next season.
 

MrSingh2002

New Member
Joined
Dec 16, 2013
Messages
4,408
Its difficult to defend anyone at United who deal with transfers.

They seem to take forever and the same issues arise every window.

I have no idea who is in charge but there is massive room for improvement.
Yeah it's always more of the same and never proactive enough before the window starts lining players up.
 

Keefy18

Full Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2018
Messages
2,653
Maybe. That still ultimately comes back on Woodward though since if Judge is doing a poor job Woodward should be firing him.
Is he doing a poor job?

Like I said above, the board have by an large delivered the players requested by each manager in the post Fergie years. Our business under Ole has been very good I personally believe anyway. Goes to show what a difference some structure from the manager and solid scouting can do and folks start realizing it actually isn't on the suits its the manager who by an large controls it at United.

Well, 'ultimately' it comes back to the Glazers since they obviously should be firing whoever is making the decision making for the football side of things.
I thought it was ultimately down to Woodward? Now its the Glazers... And why would they sack Ole?

For the amount of money that they have 'allowed' us to spend (god I hate writing it like that) we should be getting a hell of a lot better bang for our buck. Instead we've mostly just pissed it away.
Again, its absolutely evident that with solid football structure in turn good transfer business can be done, as we've seen from Ole.

If they refuse to sign the players the manager wants they are over ruling them and if they deliver the players and its their fault for "pissing it away".

I think you'll find when you call it as it is, ultimately it falls on the manager for poor football ideals, poor structure, poor scouting etc etc etc...
 

pocco

loco
Joined
Mar 17, 2010
Messages
22,095
Location
Keep a clean shit tomorrow, United is my final bus
Didn't LVG recently say that he was being given players right down at the bottom of his list? Flies in the face of the argument that Woodward and his cronies are "delivering the players" that the managers want.

Jose and Moyes have also hinted at the same. Only Ole, it appears, has got the players he wants...so far. And that has involved paying OTT for them all.
 

Fluctuation0161

Full Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2016
Messages
8,156
Location
Manchester
Didn't LVG recently say that he was being given players right down at the bottom of his list? Flies in the face of the argument that Woodward and his cronies are "delivering the players" that the managers want.

Jose and Moyes have also hinted at the same. Only Ole, it appears, has got the players he wants...so far. And that has involved paying OTT for them all.
Yep.

Based on 2013 - 2020 he should have been sacked. But he is the owners boy.
 

SinNombre

Full Member
Joined
Jan 26, 2019
Messages
2,626
Jose got the players he wanted - Pogba, Lukaku, Ibra, Mkhi, Fred, Bailly, Lindelof. He didn't get another CB after already spending 60m on them.

We had players like Kroos and Herrera lined up for Moyes, and he instead wanted Baines and Fellaini ffs.

If you guys are going to use the bitterness from Jose and Moyes after being sacked as evidence of Woody's failings, I have no words.


The only manager who didn't get the players he wanted necessarily was Lvg.

Woody was bad between 2013 and 2016 but there is no evidence that he has been bad since, Jose's bitterness aside.
 

MadDogg

Full Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2002
Messages
15,813
Location
Manchester Utd never lose, just run out of time
Is he doing a poor job?

Like I said above, the board have by an large delivered the players requested by each manager in the post Fergie years. Our business under Ole has been very good I personally believe anyway. Goes to show what a difference some structure from the manager and solid scouting can do and folks start realizing it actually isn't on the suits its the manager who by an large controls it at United.



I thought it was ultimately down to Woodward? Now its the Glazers... And why would they sack Ole?



Again, its absolutely evident that with solid football structure in turn good transfer business can be done, as we've seen from Ole.

If they refuse to sign the players the manager wants they are over ruling them and if they deliver the players and its their fault for "pissing it away".

I think you'll find when you call it as it is, ultimately it falls on the manager for poor football ideals, poor structure, poor scouting etc etc etc...
And who hires the managers? With each manager being so completely and utterly different than the previous one, relying on completely different players so we've had to go out and buy new 'types' of players and training our players to play a completely different style. Who decided to give Mourinho a brand new contract a few months before refusing to back him in the transfer market and then firing him a few months after that when things really went to shit? Who decides to pay our squad players 100k a week, far more than they would get at any other club in the league?

I actually agree with you that Woodward did seem to try to continue the 'manager has more power' style that we had with Fergie. And that's part of the problem. Fergie could do it. The vast majority of managers can't. It's why basically every other top club has a system in place above the manager that, when done properly, assists the change-over from one manager to the next. The manager comes in as part of the system, not as the entire thing, and if/when they fail they can be more easily replaced because the club as a whole still has stability.
 

OrcaFat

Full Member
Joined
Jul 29, 2013
Messages
5,657
Jose got the players he wanted - Pogba, Lukaku, Ibra, Mkhi, Fred, Bailly, Lindelof. He didn't get another CB after already spending 60m on them.

We had players like Kroos and Herrera lined up for Moyes, and he instead wanted Baines and Fellaini ffs.

If you guys are going to use the bitterness from Jose and Moyes after being sacked as evidence of Woody's failings, I have no words.


The only manager who didn't get the players he wanted necessarily was Lvg.

Woody was bad between 2013 and 2016 but there is no evidence that he has been bad since, Jose's bitterness aside.
I think the last paragraph of your post is not too far off the mark.

But we still compare badly with our rivals when it comes to getting value and securing top players. And there seems to be the usual dithering this window.

That said, I’m happy if it’s true we are only signing players with great attitude and particular desire to come to us as we don’t need another Di Maria ever (no matter how great the player), I would rather have no-one.
 
Joined
Jul 13, 2002
Messages
52,521
Location
Founder of IhateMakeleles.org and Gourcufffanboysa
We had players like Kroos and Herrera lined up for Moyes, and he instead wanted Baines and Fellaini ffs.
.....
.....
quit rewriting history. Moyes with Woodward's urging chased unrealistic purchases like Bale, Fabregas, De Rossi, C. Ronaldo over realistic targets left for him like Thiago. Woodward and him sucessfully bungled transfers for Fellaini (letting his buy out clause expire) then playing almost double it's price, plus the Herrera and the loan deal for Fabio Conceicao. Then they broke a transfer record for Mata who was never really needed at OT.

Even funnier the only thing they got right was purchasing securing a deal for Kroos before Moyes got sacked. Yet the same guys who confirmed deals for Herrera and Shaw when. United was manager less. Dilly dallied and allowed Kroos to doubt their intent to sign him, then Real looked his way and the rest is history.

For those who think Woodward is not the problem in our transfer dealings. Simply ask yourself if Gill had as much trouble finalizing signings in an organized fashion. Under the same bloody owners....
 

ChaddyP

Full Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2011
Messages
13,852
Location
Jamaica
Jose got the players he wanted - Pogba, Lukaku, Ibra, Mkhi, Fred, Bailly, Lindelof. He didn't get another CB after already spending 60m on them.

We had players like Kroos and Herrera lined up for Moyes, and he instead wanted Baines and Fellaini ffs.

If you guys are going to use the bitterness from Jose and Moyes after being sacked as evidence of Woody's failings, I have no words.


The only manager who didn't get the players he wanted necessarily was Lvg.

Woody was bad between 2013 and 2016 but there is no evidence that he has been bad since, Jose's bitterness aside.
And the players lvg wanted were neymar and Messi. :lol:
 

VanGaalyTime

Full Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2015
Messages
2,121
The issue is a lack of proactivity. We seem to be great at signing youth players when not much money is involved. But any time we have to scout players or bring them into the first team, we take an age and waste time. Even successful signings like Maguire and Pogba have followed this pattern. We take our time, allow the media to speculate, and then we just pay whatever the selling club wanted in the first place. Same thing will happen with Sancho. It's too predictable. Meanwhile, other teams simply pay what's required, or know their targets six months in advance so they can simply choose which represent value. What do our first team scouts actually do? Where are our value signings? Maybe AWB i guess? I genuinely feel like any one of us could be a first team scout for United.
 

Coleyoscar

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Jan 1, 2018
Messages
162
The issue is a lack of proactivity. We seem to be great at signing youth players when not much money is involved. But any time we have to scout players or bring them into the first team, we take an age and waste time. Even successful signings like Maguire and Pogba have followed this pattern. We take our time, allow the media to speculate, and then we just pay whatever the selling club wanted in the first place. Same thing will happen with Sancho. It's too predictable. Meanwhile, other teams simply pay what's required, or know their targets six months in advance so they can simply choose which represent value. What do our first team scouts actually do? Where are our value signings? Maybe AWB i guess? I genuinely feel like any one of us could be a first team scout for United.
This is exactly right. Even when we get the right players it's almost always at the end of a slow, protracted and expensive process that highlights the comical ineptitude of Ed Woodward and his acolytes. I wish they would stick to negotiating marketing deals with confectioners and airlines and noodle companies and hire professionals to do the football work.
 

izec

Full Member
Joined
Sep 5, 2013
Messages
27,164
Location
Lucilinburhuc
It was always going to be a farce. Next season as well and again. 1 in 3 years is decent. Rinse repeat
 

PlayerOne

Part of first caf team to complete Destiny raid
Joined
Mar 22, 2014
Messages
9,663
Location
London
Think the club will ending up panicking and paying the asking price for Sancho, leaving us with little to no time for a CB/LB to come in and club leaking stories about looking for a DoF again.

Nothing will change until the Glazers/Woodwared are gone and that's extremely unlikely.

I just don't see how we can ever win the PL with the way we do things now, we don't build on good league finishes, seems they get carried away with top 4 and that's the aim for next season.
 

Bastian

Full Member
Joined
Jul 16, 2015
Messages
18,444
Supports
Mejbri
We probably need a new thread "the running of the club" so this doesn't get bogged down in debating Woodward's responsibilities in minuscule detail.

There's something to be said for improving the value of your squad - I mean, this ownership is not about sporting ambition at all - spending now to make the whole team function better. All our better players will be better, and more highly valued financially, if they play in a more functional team.

To some extent I understand the "3 years until we're competitive" kill-your-expectations brief, but definitely not 3 years to be functional.

We're 3 first XI players short still, and that's with everyone fit.
 

wolvored

Full Member
Joined
Jul 6, 2016
Messages
9,871
Of course Woodward is the one who gives the final call. Managers give their suggestions and Judge seems to be the one who does negotiation now, but Woodward is the highest name in the club and anything that happens has to be with his approval. Any signing that happens he must approve it and if he doesn't, we call the deal off. Managers can say otherwise but it's pretty obvious really.

I don't that this is the problem as most clubs follow the same route I guess, there's always someone higher than the manager who gives the call. The problem is the ones above the manager at United are incompetent most of time.

Though things have been improving a little bit since last summer.
Its Joel Glazer who has the final say. I read Ole and the transfer commitee pass it to Woody. Woody then has to pass it to Glazer who agrees or not. If agreed Woody then informs Judge the max he can go up to. If agreed with selling club he then has to notify Woody who notifys Glazer for the final OK. Then the deal can go ahead. Thats why unless its a 'cheap' deal it can take weeks and weeks to do.
 

TrueRed79

Full Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2013
Messages
1,899
Under Woodward and the Glazers we will never challenge for anything meaningfully. Yeah we might get to a CL final or finish second in the league once in a blue moon, but we have no real ambition with them. People can say we have spent X amount under them since Fergie left, but they underinvested for years and let our academy go to rack in ruin. They are terrible fcking owners, period. Obviously i might be proven wrong, but my heart says we are going to be stuck in a mire of mediocrity with them and Woodward. Yeah they might sack Woodward or luck it out with someone like a Klopp, but i just don't see that ever happening under them. They have never went out and spent 200M + in a season. I'm not saying that's the main reason behind this rant, but lesser clubs than us have done it, just not us. They seem to be happy with the bottom line (CL) and their dividends. Woodward could still sign, Sancho (not likely) and it's still not good enough for us to challenge. Always a lack of ambition.
 

Coops73

Full Member
Joined
Oct 17, 2013
Messages
3,334
I’m constantly shocked at the passivity towards the likes of Woodward and the Glazers especially on the cafe.

It’s because of this we, as a fan base, will never exert enough pressure to drive them out/away.
 

Bilbo

TeaBaggins
Joined
Sep 27, 2004
Messages
14,208
I’m constantly shocked at the passivity towards the likes of Woodward and the Glazers especially on the cafe.

It’s because of this we, as a fan base, will never exert enough pressure to drive them out/away.
The time to put pressure on the Glazers has come and gone. Long gone. Let's not forget that a new football club was actually formed off the back of an 'exodus' of long standing reds, and it caused barely a ripple at the club.

We all know the facts. Woodward has made mistakes, but they have been mistakes that a lot of people would have made. Van Gaal, Mourinho. Top class managers. Big personalities that you would expect to come in and be the right type of manager for this club. It didn't work out.

What we see now is that decisions taken in the last 18 months or so have been a lot, lot better. There is a clear plan, and our signings have been smart. We look like we have gotten our act together, and fans now need to be patient and let this play out
 

pocco

loco
Joined
Mar 17, 2010
Messages
22,095
Location
Keep a clean shit tomorrow, United is my final bus
The time to put pressure on the Glazers has come and gone. Long gone. Let's not forget that a new football club was actually formed off the back of an 'exodus' of long standing reds, and it caused barely a ripple at the club.

We all know the facts. Woodward has made mistakes, but they have been mistakes that a lot of people would have made. Van Gaal, Mourinho. Top class managers. Big personalities that you would expect to come in and be the right type of manager for this club. It didn't work out.

What we see now is that decisions taken in the last 18 months or so have been a lot, lot better. There is a clear plan, and our signings have been smart. We look like we have gotten our act together, and fans now need to be patient and let this play out
What's the clear plan, with regards to our signings, in your opinion?

To me, the main thing is that they're mainly British. Other than that, we signed Maguire, who is slow as treacle, when we were playing a high line at that time. Signing such a slow CB didn't make sense to me, but then I was under the impression that we were going to be a progressive team that played on the front foot more than we actually do.

Then there's Wan Bissaka. Been a bit up and down defensively but the thing that doesn't make sense with him is why we signed such an ineffective attacking outlet at RB, when they are relied on to provide so much width for us. I don't necessarily dislike Wan Bissaka and I do think he's good defensively for the most part, but he's easily overcome by teams now who have realised they can have free will down our right hand side.

I could continue to question different things but my main point is that people throw around this idea that we have a clear plan finally, when I'm just not seeing it. Other than a strong British contingent, it's hard to say what the plan is for this team right now.