Has hiring Ole permanently made finding a "Sporting Director" more difficult?

JPRouve

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In the second paragraph you basically say that the Glazers and Woordward stick to a dysfunctional setup, because of PR reasons and in the first you argue that Woodward could just bring in a DoF and overrule him, which - unless that guy is a complete puppet - would find its way into the public and create bad PR?

I think a proper DoF would definitely make some difference as it's hard to justify bringing in an expert on a 7 figure wage and then proceed to undercut and ignore him.

I also don't think PR is the reason for United keeping the status quo alive. For one no one has any illusion about the club being run "proper" and secondly it's the Glazer's money that's being burned with all these bad decisions. There has to be some other logic to justify it.
No, in the first paragraph I'm saying what actually is, Woodward doesn't lose any sort of power which is the point that some are making. If the DOF doesn't do a good job, it's Woodward and the board that will decide his fate. As for the second paragraph, I'm saying that the club played the "United way" card because that's what many fans wants, I don't think that it is something that they have a big opinion on outside of pleasing the fans( or not upsetting them too much). I don't think that the Glazers for some reason are philosophically against it since it's exactly how american sport is organized. I personally think that they are cowards but that's only my opinion.
 

do.ob

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No, in the first paragraph I'm saying what actually is, Woodward doesn't lose any sort of power which is the point that some are making. If the DOF doesn't do a good job, it's Woodward and the board that will decide his fate. As for the second paragraph, I'm saying that the club played the "United way" card because that's what many fans wants, I don't think that it is something that they have a big opinion on outside of pleasing the fans( or not upsetting them too much). I don't think that the Glazers for some reason are philosophically against it since it's exactly how american sport is organized. I personally think that they are cowards but that's only my opinion.
Sure as CEO Woodward would always keep the last word, if you just see it like that nothing would change. But if you hire a DoF making use of that power (frequently) would come at a cost, as any self respecting/high profile DoF would probably quit sooner rather than later if the finance guy keeps imposing his own football strategy and the press/public would surely get to know why.
 

JPRouve

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Sure as CEO Woodward would always keep the last word, if you just see it like that nothing would change. But if you hire a DoF making use of that power (frequently) would come at a cost, as any self respecting/high profile DoF would probably quit sooner rather than later if the finance guy keeps imposing his own football strategy and the press/public would surely get to know why.
But I'm not the one assuming that he wouldn't let the DOF make use of his power if he appointed one. You seemingly haven't followed this topics, some fans argue that the reason Woodward is against it is because he couldn't exercise his power on the DOF which is wrong, for obvious reasons.
 

C'est Moi Cantona

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A DOF changes nothing for Woodward, he will still be the CEO, still have seniority on everyone and he is the one controlling the DOF's fate because he is ultimately the main figure when it comes to firing and hiring.

My theory is based on their own PR, United is a club that traditionally has no one between the manager and the CEO/board, it's something that has become a sort of fairytale in football circles and the Glazers/Woodward are afraid of the backlash if they go in the opposite direction and don't succeed immediately. It's a lot easier to play the nostalgia card and claim that you are big on tradition and that at United the manager is the "boss".

I'm not buying that part for one minute, they are afraid to hand any sort of true responsibility over to anyone other than Woodward, he is their only trusted man on the inside at United, and to hand over any more of this than they have to, (even if Woodward still is the CEO) , would be a loss of control for them, as any DOF worth having would surely expose all the failings that have seen us struggle so badly since SAF left, (and would ask them to pay to remedy it), similar to why they were so eager to get rid of Jose so fast when things went badly, as he was not about to stand around and take all the flak.

To me their unwillingness to change, in the face of everything that has happened, just screams that they know what they are doing is wrong, but have too much to protect/hide to go another way now, and our only chance of having a real change is when Woodward goes, as the Glazers hand will finally be forced.
 

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I personally believe we don’t have a Sporting Director because of Sir Alex Ferguson. He liked to have full control over transfers and I’m sure he feels any manager that comes in would still want that control.

He’s still on the board and I’m sure Woodward does take advice from Sir Alex on football matters.
 

JPRouve

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I'm not buying that part for one minute, they are afraid to hand any sort of true responsibility over to anyone other than Woodward, he is their only trusted man on the inside at United, and to hand over any more of this than they have to, (even if Woodward still is the CEO) , would be a loss of control for them, as any DOF worth having would surely expose all the failings that have seen us struggle so badly since SAF left, (and would ask them to pay to remedy it), similar to why they were so eager to get rid of Jose so fast when things went badly, as he was not about to stand around and take all the flak.

To me their unwillingness to change, in the face of everything that has happened, just screams that they know what they are doing is wrong, but have too much to protect/hide to go another way now, and our only chance of having a real change is when Woodward goes, as the Glazers hand will finally be forced.
To me this makes no sense because your main argument is a non starter, our failings are exposed, it's on the field every weeks. The financial point makes even less sense because we are currently spending a fortune on all fronts, we increased our wage bill by more than 100m in the last three seasons. Also a DOF do not take responsibilites away from Woodward because it's one of his subalterns, there is nothing that a DOF can do without Woodward consent, so that's an other argument that makes no sense from the Glazers POV.
 

Red For Ever

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If the United Hierarchy really wanted a Sporting Director, there would be one, irrespective of whether Ole or anyone else was manager
 

Chesterlestreet

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But if you hire a DoF making use of that power (frequently) would come at a cost, as any self respecting/high profile DoF would probably quit sooner rather than later if the finance guy keeps imposing his own football strategy and the press/public would surely get to know why.
If United actually hired a DOF, that wouldn't happen. The idea that Woodward is a power-mad loon isn't all that well founded. Or, more specifically, the idea that he considers himself an expert on football matters isn't well founded at all - it's mainly conspiracy theories, in fact.

The reason why United haven't gone down that road is to be found elsewhere. Woodward probably wouldn't meddle with a DOF any more than he meddles with the (old school) manager as it stands.

So, why haven't United opted for the DOF model? Feck knows - is the most obvious answer. The one I can offer is that the owners haven't cared enough, so far, about the football side of the operation. The club has kept on growing in value ever since the takeover, in spite of seriously underwhelming seasons under multiple managers. If I were the Glazers, I'd change things up nevertheless - because sooner or later being an also-ran (and hardly that) on the pitch will mean lesser sponsor deals and whatnot.
 

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This thread :lol: . I get many don't like ole but can we atleast stop putting the board's inefficiency on the manager. Did the same with van gaal , did the same with jose and now doing the same. Truth is Mr. Woodward doesn't want to lose his power and hence will not leave.
 

C'est Moi Cantona

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To me this makes no sense because your main argument is a non starter, our failings are exposed, it's on the field every weeks. The financial point makes even less sense because we are currently spending a fortune on all fronts, we increased our wage bill by more than 100m in the last three seasons. Also a DOF do not take responsibilites away from Woodward because it's one of his subalterns, there is nothing that a DOF can do without Woodward consent, so that's an other argument that makes no sense from the Glazers POV.
Our failings are exposed, but as far as apportioning blame this in the main falls with the manager, rarely does anyone dig deeper, as they reset with a new manager when the times get really tough, and everyone hopes again.

Yes the money has been invested, but I'm sure this was done with understanding that this would remedy everything, it hasn't, so are they willing to it all over again, I'm not so sure personally.

And that was my point about Woodward, he is here nothing changes, so to hire a DOF is a waste of money, as a top one will want to sort things out properly, which will likely not be allowed by Woodward.

Everyone sees things differently, I may be far away from the truth, but I'm not buying that they are keeping things this way purely from a 'nostalgia' point of view, if it is then they are fools, which they clearly aren't.
 

Mr Anderson

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We do have money to spend and we have spent a feckload of it already. We've got the second most expensive squad in the country.
We don’t have the money to spend that we’d expect to have done in a “rebuild” as Ole calls it. Loads of clubs out spent us last summer, at a time we badly needed investment. A net spend of 80-90mill is all we done with a wafer thin squad. All the signs are there.

Woodie and co trying their best to clear out players and wages before we can spend. Clear as day there is a major tightening occurring.
 

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We don’t have the money to spend that we’d expect to have done in a “rebuild” as Ole calls it. Loads of clubs out spent us last summer, at a time we badly needed investment. A net spend of 80-90mill is all we done with a wafer thin squad. All the signs are there.

Woodie and co trying their best to clear out players and wages before we can spend. Clear as day there is a major tightening occurring.
We're literally the only club in the world that needs to spend £500m just to get top 4. Imagine if we are expected to start competing for titles and CLs - sorry not possibly unless we spend £2bn or more.
 

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We don’t have a sporting director because the club is run horribly and the people in charge don’t know what they’re doing. Woodward is also a control freak who wants control over everything. Reckon he’d pick the team given the opportunity.
 

JPRouve

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Our failings are exposed, but as far as apportioning blame this in the main falls with the manager, rarely does anyone dig deeper, as they reset with a new manager when the times get really tough, and everyone hopes again.

Yes the money has been invested, but I'm sure this was done with understanding that this would remedy everything, it hasn't, so are they willing to it all over again, I'm not so sure personally.

And that was my point about Woodward, he is here nothing changes, so to hire a DOF is a waste of money, as a top one will want to sort things out properly, which will likely not be allowed by Woodward.

Everyone sees things differently, I may be far away from the truth, but I'm not buying that they are keeping things this way purely from a 'nostalgia' point of view, if it is then they are fools.
Rarely does anyone dig deeper, in all clubs the manager is the first to fall whether you have a DOF or not. Also one big issue that I have with your POV is that it doesn't match with reality, we had a big problem at the academy level and following Butt plans we made deep changes, we completely overhauled our scouting system too adding a lot of costs, basically everytime someone from the inside suggests a big change it has been done. The one that hasn't been done concerns the manager role and for some reason people think that it has nothing to do with the manager but everyone else.

All our managers wanted to be the new SAF, a large amount of the fanbase and former players have been vocal about the manager being THE boss and I believe that it's the reason why we don't have a DOF. Because all our managers have been against it and there isn't actually a strong popular support for it because we are still stuck in the SAF era.

And by the way, a good DOF would massively reduce cost because at the moment our budget is incredibly inefficient.
 

do.ob

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If United actually hired a DOF, that wouldn't happen. The idea that Woodward is a power-mad loon isn't all that well founded. Or, more specifically, the idea that he considers himself an expert on football matters isn't well founded at all - it's mainly conspiracy theories, in fact.

The reason why United haven't gone down that road is to be found elsewhere. Woodward probably wouldn't meddle with a DOF any more than he meddles with the (old school) manager as it stands.

So, why haven't United opted for the DOF model? Feck knows - is the most obvious answer. The one I can offer is that the owners haven't cared enough, so far, about the football side of the operation. The club has kept on growing in value ever since the takeover, in spite of seriously underwhelming seasons under multiple managers. If I were the Glazers, I'd change things up nevertheless - because sooner or later being an also-ran (and hardly that) on the pitch will mean lesser sponsor deals and whatnot.
I don't know about that. It's so blindingly obvious that the Post SAF years have been a mess, that the club has been burning money at an impressive rate and that except for City other clubs do better with a lot less investment, I don't think anyone is that ignorant about their investment. And the only reasonable answer to this that I can think of is hiring a football strategists (DoF). Maybe it's just that Woodward always thinks he's learned enough from past mistakes to get it right the next time, maybe he can sell that to the Glazers and that's why they have not stepped in yet, but I find it hard to explain the persistent absence of a DoF with something other than Woodward being at fault.

I don't even think I'm massively exaggerating when I say he could pick up the phone call Rangnick, who appears quite eager for a new job, and ask him to do his thing on United starting next month, resulting perhaps not in dominating the Europe, but at the very least a coherent club philosophy and a very cost efficient operation. And it would probably be similar for a lot of other people, as I imagine with all the clubs wealth and relatively low expectations it would be a very interesting project to be the guy to get things back on track. Having the position vacant for so long means he's either not looking or not offering the full role.



But I'm not the one assuming that he wouldn't let the DOF make use of his power if he appointed one. You seemingly haven't followed this topics, some fans argue that the reason Woodward is against it is because he couldn't exercise his power on the DOF which is wrong, for obvious reasons.
You mean couldn't as in at all? That's obviously rubbish. But it would mean to use it less.
 

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Maybe it's just that Woodward always thinks he's learned enough from past mistakes to get it right the next time, maybe he can sell that to the Glazers and that's why they have not stepped in yet, but I find it hard to explain the persistent absence of a DoF with something other than Woodward being at fault.
He's obviously at fault - in a general sense. Don't get me wrong here - I'm not absolving him of any blame, far from it.

What I'm suggesting is that Woodward's primary function from the owners' perspective is to oversee the "brand" that is Manchester United, not the football club (which has under-performed horribly after Ferguson retired, nobody can deny that).

The brand has grown. The club is worth more today than it was seven years ago - in spite of the fact that we have just kept on regressing on the pitch. If you regard Woodward as the chairman (or executive vice-chairman) of that - he's been brilliant. What he has actually done in order to keep the "brand" up and running in that fashion is something I can't comment on - but from the owners' perspective...yeah, what have you? Money rollin' in up till this very point.
 

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A DOF changes nothing for Woodward, he will still be the CEO, still have seniority on everyone and he is the one controlling the DOF's fate because he is ultimately the main figure when it comes to firing and hiring.

My theory is based on their own PR, United is a club that traditionally has no one between the manager and the CEO/board, it's something that has become a sort of fairytale in football circles and the Glazers/Woodward are afraid of the backlash if they go in the opposite direction and don't succeed immediately. It's a lot easier to play the nostalgia card and claim that you are big on tradition and that at United the manager is the "boss".
Well presumably a DOF will expect to be the one talking to the agents. Quite a lot of sources seem to think that Ed enjoys this part of his job, and that’s why he doesn’t want to give it up.

I think your second paragraph may well be true also. Which is why we need a manager who will try to persuade Ed that this needs to change.
 

JPRouve

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Well presumably a DOF will expect to be the one talking to the agents. Quite a lot of sources seem to think that Ed enjoys this part of his job, and that’s why he doesn’t want to give it up.

I think your second paragraph may well be true also. Which is why we need a manager who will try to persuade Ed that this needs to change.
Your first paragraph is one that I find strange because Woodward had that job for one year after Bolingbroke left and he quickly gave it to Judge who still has it.
 

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Your first paragraph is one that I find strange because Woodward had that job for one year after Bolingbroke left and he quickly gave it to Judge who still has it.
That sounds like a Tudor history conspiracy
 

JPRouve

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That sounds like a Tudor history conspiracy
You don't think that it's a bit strange that Judge is criticized for his negotiation skills, he is name dropped by Mourinho in 2016 or 2017, it's been reported around 2015-16 that Woodward delegated that role but somehow in 2020 Woodward doesn't want to give it up.
 

Inigo Montoya

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You don't think that it's a bit strange that Judge is criticized for his negotiation skills, he is name dropped by Mourinho in 2016 or 2017, it's been reported around 2015-16 that Woodward delegated that role but somehow in 2020 Woodward doesn't want to give it up.
I was referring to the names: Bolingbroke,Judge.

The events don’t shock me in the slightest
 

Sandikan

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Talking about PR, it's perhaps worth noting that United haven't been scrutinized all that much with regard to the structure until quite recently.

By the media, I mean. When Ole was appointed, I said that if he fails and gets sacked, the focus will be on Woodward more than on him. LVG and Mourinho were high-profile figures with impressive resumes. Ole is a different kettle altogether. If he fails, the very decision to hire him in the first place will be questioned (again - by the media) much more savagely.

What I'm saying is - I suppose - that Ole will turn out to be much more of a PR fiasco than any of his predecessors: everyone will be questioning what the feck United are up to, and - very likely - why the feck we haven't taken steps to modernize the structure.
The media have gone fairly easy on Ole so far. Possibly because so many other of the usual bigger clubs have been in a bit of malaise themselves.

Also because they're finally realising that the support structure above him isn't exactly helping, plus how thin our squad quality is.
 

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Given the situation the club found itself, i.e. no proper succession planning when SAF left, then its almost inevitable that the first DoF will be appointed whilst there is a manager already in post. Can't see the club sacking Ole before they make a DoF appointment, also given the extent of the DoF expectation by the club and fans alike ('walk on water' is a minimum requirement), there has to be someone on hand to take the fall if it all goes 'pear-shaped.'

Ole's lack of management experience may put off some prospective DoF's, but some may find that refreshing and that it complements any mentoring requirement embedded in the role that they would be expected to undertake. Its easier to plan to add to someone's experience and knowledge, rather than to attempt to get them to un-train or de-clutter their ideas!
 

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He's obviously at fault - in a general sense. Don't get me wrong here - I'm not absolving him of any blame, far from it.

What I'm suggesting is that Woodward's primary function from the owners' perspective is to oversee the "brand" that is Manchester United, not the football club (which has under-performed horribly after Ferguson retired, nobody can deny that).

The brand has grown. The club is worth more today than it was seven years ago - in spite of the fact that we have just kept on regressing on the pitch. If you regard Woodward as the chairman (or executive vice-chairman) of that - he's been brilliant. What he has actually done in order to keep the "brand" up and running in that fashion is something I can't comment on - but from the owners' perspective...yeah, what have you? Money rollin' in up till this very point.
But that barely intersects with the sporting side of the operation, you can hire a DoF for the football and keep Woodward on the oversight/finances, like most other clubs do it.
 

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We're literally the only club in the world that needs to spend £500m just to get top 4. Imagine if we are expected to start competing for titles and CLs - sorry not possibly unless we spend £2bn or more.
So why go waste a summer window and bring in only 3 players if we had more funds? Didn’t replace 2 midfielders who left already - among knowing Rom was leaving and Alexis also wanted to be moved on. The squad we had before Jose was sacked was lacking, now we were left with an even thinner squad.

We knew well that the squad as going to be the lightest in years. We were left short because our wagebill was too big and the books needed balancing. So a sporting director would come in wanting to do business but would be held back, which Woodward likes to hide for his ego. Now Ole is struggling to get the maximum out of each player.
 

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Surely by now we would have a DOF if the club wished to hire one. Good ones are undoubtedly hard to find and pry loose, but after a year or more the club has probably decided we don’t need one for whatever reason.
 

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I personally believe we don’t have a Sporting Director because of Sir Alex Ferguson. He liked to have full control over transfers and I’m sure he feels any manager that comes in would still want that control.

He’s still on the board and I’m sure Woodward does take advice from Sir Alex on football matters.
I feel that everything in this post is not factual at all.
 

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So why go waste a summer window and bring in only 3 players if we had more funds? Didn’t replace 2 midfielders who left already - among knowing Rom was leaving and Alexis also wanted to be moved on. The squad we had before Jose was sacked was lacking, now we were left with an even thinner squad.

We knew well that the squad as going to be the lightest in years. We were left short because our wagebill was too big and the books needed balancing. So a sporting director would come in wanting to do business but would be held back, which Woodward likes to hide for his ego. Now Ole is struggling to get the maximum out of each player.
I'm hoping the sporting director wouldn't be stupid enough to look at our squad, see we've got 6 CBs on our books and decide that he needed to spunk another £80m on a CB and leave the midfield dead light after losing 2 players.

Of course there's a budget, but that budget is still more than 18 other clubs in the league and easily more than enough to get the club in the top 4. feck me, you talk as if other clubs aren't also working off a budget.

And what's Woodward got to hide? You do realise, we're a publicly traded company so you can tell how much money we have/don't have to spend?
 

JPRouve

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I'm hoping the sporting director wouldn't be stupid enough to look at our squad, see we've got 6 CBs on our books and decide that he needed to spunk another £80m on a CB and leave the midfield dead light after losing 2 players.

Of course there's a budget, but that budget is still more than 18 other clubs in the league and easily more than enough to get the club in the top 4. feck me, you talk as if other clubs aren't also working off a budget. Liverpool for the record have spent feck all this summer - you don't think they're also balancing their books?

And what's Woodward got to hide? You do realise, we're a publicly traded company so you can tell how much money we have/don't have to spend?
And we could have sold Lukaku earlier which would have been an other opportunity to re-allocate our resources instead of selling him at the last minute. I obviously put that on whoever makes that last call, whether it is a Glazer, Woodward, Judge, or Ole. A DOF maybe would have convinced the club to sell Pogba for big bucks and that was an other way to give ourselves some wiggle room. We simply need a specialist, someone that has some genuine wheeler-dealer and squad management abilities.
 

C'est Moi Cantona

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Rarely does anyone dig deeper, in all clubs the manager is the first to fall whether you have a DOF or not. Also one big issue that I have with your POV is that it doesn't match with reality, we had a big problem at the academy level and following Butt plans we made deep changes, we completely overhauled our scouting system too adding a lot of costs, basically everytime someone from the inside suggests a big change it has been done. The one that hasn't been done concerns the manager role and for some reason people think that it has nothing to do with the manager but everyone else.

All our managers wanted to be the new SAF, a large amount of the fanbase and former players have been vocal about the manager being THE boss and I believe that it's the reason why we don't have a DOF. Because all our managers have been against it and there isn't actually a strong popular support for it because we are still stuck in the SAF era.

And by the way, a good DOF would massively reduce cost because at the moment our budget is incredibly inefficient.
We are fairly unique in this though, I can't think of another club that has someone like Woodward ruling the roost, so clearly he has made mistakes, yet seems untouchable, and all for the wrong reasons, it is getting unhealthy now.

I just can't quite believe that you truly think all it would take is for the manager to say they want a DOF and 'deep changes' for it to happen, and even if that were the case surely it has reached a point for the Glazers to overrule this stance by now, as what we are doing is so clearly not working.

And given our current plight a DOF would surely demand huge resources initially, and then yes, we should make us much more efficient financially, but all this is only any good for the Glazers if they plan to stick around, or have the will to do it.
 

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No.

I’d like us to hire one of these (usually Spanish ‘doesn’t speak a word of English’ ) gurus just to observe the descension into madness the eventual disappointment creates.

My gut tells me that if we had one of these then the likes of Woodward would still be getting ripped into because the one he employed was the wrong one (irrespective of how previously successful this individual may or may not have been). Steve Walsh/Damian Commoli vibes everywhere. Captain Hindsight’s would labour their time articulating the error of Woodward’s (and the DOF’s ways) from the comfort of their poster-coated bedroom. Because the recruitment of the DOF is an exact science that is sure to solve all ills, of course.

Basically, whoever this highly-expected, much-lauded hero eventually turns out to be, they’ll merely serve as the whipping boy when people have got sick of bleating about the manager. “Ah, maybe it’s this guy’s fault”. All until we buy better players and get it right on the pitch, of course, which is no guarantee.

I caveat this (and I must, before more cultured aficionados tell me how behind the times I am) by saying that I have no issue with the appointment of a person to act in the role of a ‘Sporting Director’. But it’s not the guarantee many believe it to be. And there’s a lot more to it than signing whoever has made a few good signings at Roma, Genk or Espanyol.
 

Skills

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We are fairly unique in this though, I can't think of another club that has someone like Woodward ruling the roost, so clearly he has made mistakes, yet seems untouchable, and all for the wrong reasons, it is getting unhealthy now.

I just can't quite believe that you truly think all it would take is for the manager to say they want a DOF and 'deep changes' for it to happen, and even if that were the case surely it has reached a point for the Glazers to overrule this stance by now, as what we are doing is so clearly not working.

And given our current plight a DOF would surely demand huge resources initially, and then yes, we should make us much more efficient financially, but all this is only any good for the Glazers if they plan to stick around, or have the will to do it.
Why would a manager want a DOF? He'd literally be reporting to him & being held accountable by him. Our managers at the moment, get a massive free ride for their lack of/poor coaching and poor use of the players at the club already. They won't get away with the whole - it's a long term plan/building the squad/finding out who stays next season bullshit with someone holding them accountable for delivering on the pitch, with what they already have at the club.
 

Champagne Football

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Hiring the right manager is far more important than having a top sporting director.
Van Gaal and Mourinho will argue all day that the reason they failed at Utd was down to not having a top DOF, but this is simply deflecting the blame from their own failures.
Van Gaal sold Zaha, ignored potential quality signings like Dele Alli and Virgil Van Dijk, and gave endless game to to players who were never good enough - McNair, Love, Tyler Blackett etc
Moyes bringing in Fellaini and Mata while dithering over Tiago until we lost that chance.
Jose had no interest in Harry Maguire when he was going for 17 million but was crazy to buy him once his value reached 80 million a year later.

The jury is still out with Ole, but I think Phelan is more or less doubling up as a sporting director and a no. 2 now, as it was under Fergie where scouts reported to Fergie and his backroom team, instead of a DOF. I think with Ole, the club is showing signs that this approach to signings can work. I think if Utd ever do appoint a DOF then it will be Mike Phelan who eventually gets the job.
 

JPRouve

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We are fairly unique in this though, I can't think of another club that has someone like Woodward ruling the roost, so clearly he has made mistakes, yet seems untouchable, and all for the wrong reasons, it is getting unhealthy now.

I just can't quite believe that you truly think all it would take is for the manager to say they want a DOF and 'deep changes' for it to happen, and even if that were the case surely it has reached a point for the Glazers to overrule this stance by now, as what we are doing is so clearly not working.

And given our current plight a DOF would surely demand huge resources initially, and then yes, we should make us much more efficient financially, but all this is only any good for the Glazers if they plan to stick around, or have the will to do it.
We are not special at all, most CEOs go nowhere, they change the coaching staff, playing staff and DOFs but stay in place for a long time. And of course a manager wouldn't want a DOF, he doesn't want someone that has partially for job to judge and eventually sack him.
 

C'est Moi Cantona

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Why would a manager want a DOF? He'd literally be reporting to him & being held accountable by him. Our managers at the moment, get a massive free ride for their lack of/poor coaching and poor use of the players at the club already. They won't get away with the whole - it's a long term plan/building the squad/finding out who stays next season bullshit with someone holding them accountable for delivering on the pitch, with what they already have at the club.
That wasn't my point, my point was that the poster thinks it's the managers who are stopping this happening, if the Glazers wanted it themselves, they'd be there by now, and not just sitting by letting the managers decide.
 

Skills

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No.

I’d like us to hire one of these (usually Spanish ‘doesn’t speak a word of English’ ) gurus just to observe the descension into madness the eventual disappointment creates.

My gut tells me that if we had one of these then the likes of Woodward would still be getting ripped into because the one he employed was the wrong one (irrespective of how previously successful this individual may or may not have been). Steve Walsh/Damian Commoli vibes everywhere. Captain Hindsight’s would labour their time articulating the error of Woodward’s (and the DOF’s ways) from the comfort of their poster-coated bedroom. Because the recruitment of the DOF is an exact science that is sure to solve all ills, of course.

Basically, whoever this highly-expected, much-lauded hero eventually turns out to be, they’ll merely serve as the whipping boy when people have got sick of bleating about the manager. “Ah, maybe it’s this guy’s fault”. All until we buy better players and get it right on the pitch, of course, which is no guarantee.

I caveat this (and I must, before more cultured aficionados tell me how behind the times I am) by saying that I have no issue with the appointment of a person to act in the role of a ‘Sporting Director’. But it’s not the guarantee many believe it to be. And there’s a lot more to it than signing whoever has made a few good signings at Roma, Genk or Espanyol.
Actually the biggest problem at the club at the moment is the current lack of accountability.

The manager at the moment is in charge of (among many other things):
  • Coaching the first team (i.e. maximising results on the pitch with the players he's got at his disposal)
  • Recruiting players to improve the first team
What happens at this club is, people make the excuse that it doesn't matter if he's shit at coaching as long as he's doing a good at the other stuff. It's like a pilot being great at take off, but crash lands every time. That's stupid. So you split the role in two, and you hold the manager accountable for making full use of the players at the club. And the director of football, accountable for maximising the cash the club is spending on recruitment (including the coaching staff) and salary. Now you know, who's responsible for what.
 

passing-wind

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It has, Ole is fulfilling the role of the DOF with his supposed "strategy" of recommending players.

Why would we need a DOF when the old structure of giving the manager all the resources is still in place. It now means from a business perspective that Ole is now part of the problem. This club doesn't and is incapable of leaning.
 

JPRouve

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That wasn't my point, my point was that the poster thinks it's the managers who are stopping this happening, if the Glazers wanted it themselves, they'd be there by now, and not just sitting by letting the managers decide.
No I said that they don't want it and that the Glazers won't force it. I wouldn't be surprised if it was one of the selling points when they hired the likes of LVG and Mourinho.