I see what you did there.
Edwin van der Sar has been approached to become Director of Football
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Ever get the feeling we might as well buy Ajax lock stock and barrel?
Well, yes - if we're approaching him with the offer of making him "football director", the idea has to be that we want to replace Murtough with VDS.
Unless we want more than one "football director", that is.
Wow that would be something. It really seems they are serious about completely overhauling the club structure.
I didn't follow Edwin the last years but i guess he did a good job?
I didn't follow Edwin the last years but i guess he did a good job?
But why?
Edwin is CEO of ajax, hes not a DoF.
Edwin is CEO of ajax, hes not a DoF.
Ajax is one of the best run clubs in the world, United is one of the worst run clubs in the world. What makes Ajax run good? Now take that and bring it to United.
I too, again, ironically, see what you did there.
Could end up being a square peg in a round hole. United is in a totally different stratosphere to Ajax in terms of size. You also have owners and corporates running your club like headless chicken. Who is to say VDS would be allowed to operate his own way and would he have the experience to navigate the job at your club? Those are the two big questions.
Kinda, but not as a DOF and he has zero qualifications to take that job. As has been pointed out, he is currently Ajax's CEO and was previously their marketing director. So simply not their DOF and he has no experience in that role.
Neither does Murtough so he'll fit right in.
What happened to the deputy DOF?
We're really becoming ajax lite and I'm not complaining.
Do you know what experience and qualifications he had that allowed him to become marketing director and CEO?
We’re approaching him to he technical director which is Fletchers current job
I struggle to see what Richard has actually done wrong to be fair
Based on?
That's not what the OP said - but okay.
I doubt many would be outraged if Fletcher were replaced with VDS.
I think that deputy is still TBD. someone was hired to oversee the women's team and program.
You can have someone overseeing everything and ultimately be working together. In baseball, you see more executives who oversee the entire player operations side, but have a general manager who focuses on all things first team. They obviously work hand in hand, and if VDS does come into the fold, I don't think it would be wise to just suddenly bin of Murtough when there's evidence he's building a lot of verticals within the football side of the entire club.
Can we not just jettison Arnold, Murtough and Fletcher and set up a competent team? All three of those are a hangover from the Woodward regime.
The deputy is Andy O'Boyle and he's been in his role for a while now. Last week he was at the youth game.
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After his player career, he took a course in Sports Management (he's got a Masters in it I think). So his ending up in marketing/CEO roles comes from a very conscious decision to get into that direction.
Van der Sar has never been DoF at Ajax, so how could he have evolved in that role. He also announced about a month ago that he's extending his contract at Ajax until 2025. I know contracts don't always mean much in football, but someone like Van der Sar doesn't take such commitments lightly with Ajax. Can't see him leaving like that.
Ajax is in a difficult situation at the moment, because of Overmars and Ten Hag's departure. If Van der Sar leaves now, what he has wanted to achieve, make Ajax future proof, will be at risk. Would be surprised if he does that.
Ajax is in a difficult situation at the moment, because of Overmars and Ten Hag's departure. If Van der Sar leaves now, what he has wanted to achieve, make Ajax future proof, will be at risk. Would be surprised if he does that.
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(Brian blessed voice) feck umm
Just try to get Overmars as well then. Sure, he showed his wee friend to some gals and did some stupid stuff, but now he's killing it again over at Antwerp. He's bloody brilliant at his job.
No complaints with getting more football brains in the hierarchy.
Then if VDS has been told of this potential happening, Murtough would have had to be involved. He wouldn't have appointed O'Boyle and now Polly Bancroft (newly created role of Head of Women's Football - "Polly will work closely with Marc Skinner, to ensure staff and players have the support they need to compete in the WSL, and with John Murtough, football director, on the long-term strategy") without the understanding of what else is to be needed within the entire football strucuture at the club. And Murtough wouldn't allow himself to just get pushed aside.
This sounds like a calculated move of Murtough to delegate more tasks to singular people, but with his oversight and their cooperation.
Great thanks. There was nothing on wiki and, to be honest, I couldn't be bothered checking elsewhere.
Although he's not held an actual DoF role I think he'd be worth any risk that would go with appointing him. He's obviously a very intelligent guy with experience of running an excellent, successful football club after a very successful playing career so will have the knowledge of business and the game plus probably some superb contacts. What do you think he's lacking for the role?
What has he done there? Genuine question.
Hear me out... why don't we, as a bigger club, simply eat Ajax?
Knowledge of the football side of running a football club. Of course, he's not a total beginner in that sense and he is part of the relevant discussions at Ajax. But he has never been responsible for a scouting department, for player recruitment, for developing a long-term football vision for the club, or any of the main responsibilities you'd associate with a DOF.
I agree actually that he might be able to do it, but given his career trajectory so far, I'd think that he is not an obvious candidate (the obvious candidate at Ajax would have been Overmars) and may not be interested in this type of role himself either.
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Can't we just play our home games at the Cruyff arena while OT gets rebuilt?
I completely agree, and this story regarding VdS is probably not true because it's coming from a source that isn't called Mike Verweij, who is arguably the most reliable journo regarding news emanating from Ajax.
And as far as VdS is concerned, his role at Ajax wasn't anywhere near as important as Overmars, Henk Veldmate and the rest of the footballing structure, because his role since he arrived back at Ajax in 2012, was at board room level on the business side of the club. VdS has never been the first point of contact for the scouting, data and the various other departments on the football side of the club. Not even at the developmental/ youth level does he have any experience of overseeing several departments. But having said that, if he was given a role on the football side of the club, he might be able to adapt and learn like Begiristain did at Barcelona after he was made a DoF with zero experience. He then came to City and headed the football department that was already fully functional and the structural side of the club was created from scratch by Brian Marwood.
And as far as what you're saying about Murtough, I completely agree with. I don't know how things are going to pan out in the future but to judge a DoF, he must be judged on the team he's working with, and that team should be chosen by him and not chosen by someone at board room level. Especially not one that has been failing for half a decade. So a DoF structure should include his chosen head coach, his chosen heads of scouting to lead the recruitment at both the youth and first team. At youth level he did just that by poaching David Harrison from City who is regarded amongst the very best in the business when it comes to youth recruitment. So we have to allow him to do the same at first team level where he's already put in place ten Hag as the head coach and on top of what you've already mentioned, he has sacked/replaced Bout and Lawlor with Simon Wells and a Argentine head scout by the name of Jose Mayorga. He's also brought in the club's first ever data scientist (Dominic Jordan) to lead a team on the football side of the club. And the only way to judge their work is to at the very least give them a full season before passing judgement.
And the recruitment team has to be given a guiding principle which should be to identify talent based on ten Hag's ideals. And it does seem like that might be happening if the below reports are anything to go by. Klopp did the same at Liverpool after acting as the head of recruitment in the summer of 2016.
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The first tweet is fecking hilarious if true. They’re amazed that a manager actually expects some standards for scouting?
Not the standards but rather the methodology. Because everyone adheres to high standards or thinks they do, but adhering to high standards and understanding the methodology of the head coach are two different things.The first tweet is fecking hilarious if true. They’re amazed that a manager actually expects some standards for scouting?
Ok. I see what you're saying but feel you're maybe being a bit too literal about job descriptions. Anyway, Saturday
feck him.
Let this happen please. Legend!
You like to hear things like this. ETH is famous for his attention to detail, and it’s the sort of thing you want to permeate the club. The challenge for the club is to continue this methodology even after he leaves, which he eventually will. If that means bringing in someone like VDS, to ensure there is an overarching strategic vision for recruitment, then that is what you do.