Its not all Woodward's fault…(don't hurt me)

[UpWithRivers]

Ok lets get this clear. I’m not a Woodward lover. I’m a Man United lover. I think he deserves a sht load of blame. But the point of this thread is to understand or at least try to understand the reality of the situation. I keep seeing everyone jump on the bandwagon of its all Woodward’s fault. The managers and everyone else seems to get away with the blame. So for once and for all lets see what is the truth.

Blame:

Managers – Moyes was a recommendation of Sir Alex and a sht load of other people. Van Gal, Mourinho and Ole as well. Lots of very top professional people called for these signings. A load of the fans called for these signings. How they are recruited? Does Woodward sit there and just decide on his own over a cuppa in the morning? Or does the recruitment of a manger happen via a consensus of the top people at the club? I would think the latter. All were seen as top managers. Yes even Moyes. All were seen as not right for the job after they were hired and again loads of people at the club and outside called for them to be sacked. Yes in hindsight they were all the wrong managers. But does Woodward take all the blame? Or did he make the right decision at the time with the backing and recommendation of everyone around him?

Signings –

Transfer budget - We have spent a sht load of money. He is not exactly penny pinching. And even if he was. Is this down to Woodward? Again. Does he sit there over a cuppa and decide oh fk this Im only spending 50 mill this window. Or is he given a budget by the owners and the finance people? I would think the latter.

Bad signings – again. Who decides this. Is it Woodward? Or is he given directions by the scouting department and the management team? Were those signings Woodward signings or Moyes/Van Gal/Mourinho/Ole signings? Then you have to ask. Why did they all fail? Is it not the responsibility of the manager and coaching team to improve and make players the best they can be? Not one signing has gone on to be a great player for us. Well De Gea- that’s 1. But even he is acting a bit dodgy these days. Who’s fault is this if not the manager and coaching team?

Not getting transfer targets – Why does every believe everything the papers write about our transfer negotiations? Does anyone actually believe the papers know what’s going on the negotiations? This baffles me the most. Oh Woodward didn’t want to spend 5 extra mill for Maguire and now he’s paying 10 mill extra. Oh the Fernandes deal has flopped because he wont spend an extra 4 mill. This is all bullsht paper talk. No one knows. Maybe they asked 100 for Maguire originally? Maybe they are asking 90 mill for Fernandes? Who knows? Why does everyone believe this? The other thing is every single club negotiates and every single club loses out on players because they wont spend that amount on a player. Look at City who lost out to us loads of times – Fred, Sanchez etc. Look at the Scousers. They refuse to pay ridiculous fees.

The point is even if we sack Woodward tomorrow our problems will not go away. There is a failure right through the core of our club. The main problem is lack of a DOF. But it goes deeper than that. And now is the second part of my sacrilege. Its because of our history. There I said it. We are stuck in the past. All the way through the club we are trying to fit square pegs in round holes. We are trying to recreate our history. This is impossible. Even with a DOF it seems we are trying to find a DOF that fits in with Man Utd and our values and our history. We are finding ex players for managerial roles, coaching and even the DOF. It started with Moyes and even though you can say the likes of Mourinho was not a typical man United manager he was still briefed and expected to play the ‘Man United’ way. He was never truly backed according to his philosophy. So why hire him?

We recruit, live and breath based on our old values or old philosophies our history. With every decision its embedded in our thinking. It cannot work. We need to start again at square one. Yes we cant just throw away our history. Im not saying that. Im saying put it aside for the moment. We need to go out and get the best DOF there is. Not based on if they fit our values or our ethos but based on their philosophy and their values and ideas. Then we work to change our way of running a club to fit that philosophy. Its hard I know. But until that happens we will never change. Klopp is a prime example. He came in and systematically changed the way Liverpool have been run. The way the club thinks. Liverpool did the same as we are doing now. They recruited past legends and managers that would keep in line with their history and after 10 plus years stumbled upon a coach that brought his own ideas and philosophy and changed the way the club is run. Sir Alex did this. Yes he carried on the youth from the busby babes but it would be ridiculous to not see how he changed the club fundamentally at all levels. All great managers do this. Guardiola did this but he wasn’t hampered by Cities past. Now you can say were would we get a coach like that. I say we don’t. We get a DOF like that. Times have changed and this is the way to go. The DOF can then recruit managers on the same principles. The problem is not that we change coaches its that we get coaches with different styles who in turn need to recruit a totally different set of players. If we had Van Gal then Ole and then Poch for example. It wouldn’t matter as much as Moyes/Van Gal/Mourinho then Ole. There is no consistency. In this scenario Ole can still be sacked and we can try Poch or whoever and if they fail then someone with a similar style. Then the set of players required by each manager would already be there with one or two changes.



Ok sorry for the long post. Summary – Woodward is an idiot but so are the rest of them.

 

[ColvaleGoa]

Woodward Lover!! Burn him at the Stakes.

 

[NinjaFletch]

The buck stops with Woodward for literally all of those things.

If people don't get it now after 6 years of shite I question whether some of you deserve this.

 

[LoSpritz]

That you, Ed?

 

[steffyr2]

I agree with all that. It's also a worry (for me anyway) about all the ex-players, ex-coaches, ex-everything that are hanging around. Anyone new coming in must have to contend with a flock of "we've always done it this ways".

Having said that -- Woodward is at fault for not buying Mourinho a defender and torpedoing that season. He's at fault for allowing Ole to gut this years team to a skeleton crew. And he's at fault for not finding a DOF. Plus he leaks alot.

 

[christinaa]

It's all Woodward's fault.

Mourinho was not backed by him and Mou won the Europa League and managed 81 points with this same team and he was still sacked.

 

[Castia]

I agree to some point.

Ed made money available to Moyes, LvG and Jose it’s not his fault we spunked hundreds of millions on shite.

 

[OleBoiii]

I will agree that it's not all Woodward's fault.

But he needs to take a lot of the blame. Particularly for the last couple of summer transfer windows.

 

[Nou_Camp99]

The Glazers ultimately are the ones to blame. They appointed him. They also saddled us with THEIR debt.

 

[Castia]

It's all Woodward's fault.

Mourinho was not backed by him and Mou won the Europa League and managed 81 points with this same team and he was still sacked.

Jose spent hundreds of millions here including breaking a world record fee on Pogba, he was 100% backed this myth needs to stop.

During Jose’s spell we were one of the top spending clubs in Europe. The board refused to buy Maguire after already spending £85m on Bailey and Lindelof in the previous 12 months which for me at that time was reasonable baring in mind we didn’t know Bailey would be forever injured, he looked class in his first season.

 

[Erictheking7]

Ed's love child

 

[SmallCaine]

I agree to some point.

Ed made money available to Moyes, LvG and Jose it’s not his fault we spunked hundreds of millions on shite.

They wanted option A he provided them option D on most occasions, it is his fault we spunked hundreds of millions on shite.

The giant contracts to Rooney and Sanchez, his doing. The unwanted signings like di maria, his doing.

Tactless and illogical management choices except for moyes, again his doing. We went from lvg a possession based manager who wants players to be useful in multiple roles to a defensive manager who abhors possession game in Mourinho to whatever Ole is.

Also OP says solution to our current problem is get a DoF, a position he has refused to fill and somehow it isn't his fault?

 

[arthurka]

Even if Keane is a hot head he was right when he asked Carragher if the managers before Ole were also not proven and had no knowledge of the game.
The thing is Ed is the only one who has been in this mess the whole time and the club is rotting from top to bottom undir his "leadership". How he handles transfers, contracts and the rest of it stinks of amateurism, his handling of Jose was the thing that broke the camels back for me. Handing him a 3 year contract and then backing out in the summer was enough proof for me, hell he even bought Harry Maguire the next summer for 20m more than he was haggling about the previous summer.
Nothing will change under this ownership absolutely nothing just strap in it´s going to be a long and bumpy ride.

 

[soapythecat]

Managers - Ok, Moyes was SAF suggestion, but the rest? All appointed without a clear, cohesive plan behind what or where we want to go on the footballing side. Each manager you could argue had a different style/philosophy that would in turn need different set of players. He went with big names rather than a plan. It's all on Woodward.

Signings - how can anyone think Woodward hasn't fecked up here. He's over spent on literally on almost every player we've paid a fee for. I don't think we have pulled off one signing that has screamed bargain. He opened himself up for this kind of dealings by announcing how we can blow other clubs out of the water and other stupid comments. He may have bought players managers wanted, but again see the above. By paying over the odds for players and sanctioning astronomical wages, we find ourselves with a squad that isn't fit the the top 4 and so thin on the ground with quality, yet have the biggest wage bill in the league and one of the biggest in world football. How is that not on Woodward?

Not getting transfer targets - well, if we are indeed trying to become a new club with regards to not over paying and not been held to ransom - then i'm all for that. About time, but it will take a long time for this come to fruition because we need players so desperately, we are going to have to swallow our pride and pay over the odds.....again. Leaving the squad thin on the ground and lacking in quality is totally on him and his poor management of the club this last 7 or so years. Every manager will ask for more or better players, Ole included, but Woodward is having the ultimate say and it's not coming to fruition on the pitch. It's all on Woodward.

 

[Drz]

S/M Fetichists

 

[Adisa]

Ok lets get this clear. I’m not a Woodward lover. I’m a Man United lover. I think he deserves a sht load of blame. But the point of this thread is to understand or at least try to understand the reality of the situation. I keep seeing everyone jump on the bandwagon of its all Woodward’s fault. The managers and everyone else seems to get away with the blame. So for once and for all lets see what is the truth.

Blame:

Managers – Moyes was a recommendation of Sir Alex and a sht load of other people. Van Gal, Mourinho and Ole as well. Lots of very top professional people called for these signings. A load of the fans called for these signings. How they are recruited? Does Woodward sit there and just decide on his own over a cuppa in the morning? Or does the recruitment of a manger happen via a consensus of the top people at the club? I would think the latter. All were seen as top managers. Yes even Moyes. All were seen as not right for the job after they were hired and again loads of people at the club and outside called for them to be sacked. Yes in hindsight they were all the wrong managers. But does Woodward take all the blame? Or did he make the right decision at the time with the backing and recommendation of everyone around him?

Signings –

Transfer budget - We have spent a sht load of money. He is not exactly penny pinching. And even if he was. Is this down to Woodward? Again. Does he sit there over a cuppa and decide oh fk this Im only spending 50 mill this window. Or is he given a budget by the owners and the finance people? I would think the latter.

Bad signings – again. Who decides this. Is it Woodward? Or is he given directions by the scouting department and the management team? Were those signings Woodward signings or Moyes/Van Gal/Mourinho/Ole signings? Then you have to ask. Why did they all fail? Is it not the responsibility of the manager and coaching team to improve and make players the best they can be? Not one signing has gone on to be a great player for us. Well De Gea- that’s 1. But even he is acting a bit dodgy these days. Who’s fault is this if not the manager and coaching team?

Not getting transfer targets – Why does every believe everything the papers write about our transfer negotiations? Does anyone actually believe the papers know what’s going on the negotiations? This baffles me the most. Oh Woodward didn’t want to spend 5 extra mill for Maguire and now he’s paying 10 mill extra. Oh the Fernandes deal has flopped because he wont spend an extra 4 mill. This is all bullsht paper talk. No one knows. Maybe they asked 100 for Maguire originally? Maybe they are asking 90 mill for Fernandes? Who knows? Why does everyone believe this? The other thing is every single club negotiates and every single club loses out on players because they wont spend that amount on a player. Look at City who lost out to us loads of times – Fred, Sanchez etc. Look at the Scousers. They refuse to pay ridiculous fees.

The point is even if we sack Woodward tomorrow our problems will not go away. There is a failure right through the core of our club. The main problem is lack of a DOF. But it goes deeper than that. And now is the second part of my sacrilege. Its because of our history. There I said it. We are stuck in the past. All the way through the club we are trying to fit square pegs in round holes. We are trying to recreate our history. This is impossible. Even with a DOF it seems we are trying to find a DOF that fits in with Man Utd and our values and our history. We are finding ex players for managerial roles, coaching and even the DOF. It started with Moyes and even though you can say the likes of Mourinho was not a typical man United manager he was still briefed and expected to play the ‘Man United’ way. He was never truly backed according to his philosophy. So why hire him?

We recruit, live and breath based on our old values or old philosophies our history. With every decision its embedded in our thinking. It cannot work. We need to start again at square one. Yes we cant just throw away our history. Im not saying that. Im saying put it aside for the moment. We need to go out and get the best DOF there is. Not based on if they fit our values or our ethos but based on their philosophy and their values and ideas. Then we work to change our way of running a club to fit that philosophy. Its hard I know. But until that happens we will never change. Klopp is a prime example. He came in and systematically changed the way Liverpool have been run. The way the club thinks. Liverpool did the same as we are doing now. They recruited past legends and managers that would keep in line with their history and after 10 plus years stumbled upon a coach that brought his own ideas and philosophy and changed the way the club is run. Sir Alex did this. Yes he carried on the youth from the busby babes but it would be ridiculous to not see how he changed the club fundamentally at all levels. All great managers do this. Guardiola did this but he wasn’t hampered by Cities past. Now you can say were would we get a coach like that. I say we don’t. We get a DOF like that. Times have changed and this is the way to go. The DOF can then recruit managers on the same principles. The problem is not that we change coaches its that we get coaches with different styles who in turn need to recruit a totally different set of players. If we had Van Gal then Ole and then Poch for example. It wouldn’t matter as much as Moyes/Van Gal/Mourinho then Ole. There is no consistency. In this scenario Ole can still be sacked and we can try Poch or whoever and if they fail then someone with a similar style. Then the set of players required by each manager would already be there with one or two changes.



Ok sorry for the long post. Summary – Woodward is an idiot but so are the rest of them.

The buck of everything you mentioned in this post stops with Edward Woodward.

 

[Infra-red]

The Glazers ultimately are the ones to blame. They appointed him. They also saddled us with THEIR debt.

While this is undoubtedly true and the Glazers are detestable parasites, they have provided significant funds for Woodward to use in running the club, whether that be player transfers/renumeration, the enormous scouting team he's amassed or the mega salaries (and severances) he's paid out to the managers he's personally appointed. And what has he achieved with all that funding? A total, unmitigated disaster.

 

[shaky]

You're giving Woodward the benefit of a lot of doubts here. Getting bad players, not getting the targets we're after, management appointments, transfer budgets. They are possibly all out of his hands, but it's very unlikely. And I hate the argument that we've spent loads of money so transfer budgets are fine. The money we wasted years ago should have no bearing on the money we're spending now. We've had a net spend of about £150m over the last 2 seasons. For a team with our resources, it's absolute peanuts. "We spent too much money years ago so we're not going to spend much any more" just shouldn't be an acceptable stance considering we're one of the wealthiest clubs in the world and we have a huge gap to close on the better teams.

 

[Kostur]

Glad to see that our new PR department is already up and running.

 

[Ludens the Red]

@UpWithRivers
Agree with some of the stuff you mentioned as it is quite factual. In that he took advice and he has backed managers financially.

The problem with Woodward is he has no idea what he’s doing because he evidently doesnt know anything about football. Clearly he has too many people in his ear, every decision he makes seems to be influenced by someone else. He then never sees that decision through so changes his mind half way.

His habit of doing things half way. For example, backing Mourinho heavily financially in the summer of 2017, fast forward to summer 2018 he refuses Mourinhos request to sign a centre back. Because all of a sudden he’s the expert above Mourinho on what centre back to sign. Summer 2019 he authorises the signing of that same centre back anyway under a different manager.

He went for two big name proven managers in Mourinho and van Gaal, because that didn’t work he decided to go for a complete u-turn and make an unproven Ole the permanent manager.
It’s funny because for me the best thing he did was appoint Ole as temporary manager post Mourinho, someone like Ole was needed for that small period and I praised the decision at the time.
But then like always fecked it all up by knee jerking and giving Ole the job permanently.

One January transfer window he’s bending over giving it all to Alexis Sanchez and his agent, the next window he’s haggling over ten million. Honestly he’s embarrassing.
One minute we’re signing every tom, dick and Harry. The next we’re making statements and only signing “the right player who understands the club culture”.

The original remit to keep your job was Top 4, apparently now we’re gonna give Ole 2/3 years regardless of where we are.

These are all signs and decisions being made by someone who basically hasn’t got a clue what he’s doing and is just making it up as he goes along.
There is no middle ground with Ed Woodward, everything is from one extreme to the other and so whilst he’s not entirely to blame his methods have damaged the club massively.

 

[Number4.]

I think it's quite simple....

Like all major business' Woodward will have some form of Personal Objectives, on which impacts on his performance is judged and probably bonus is calculated. At the very top of this list is going to be

1) Maintain & grow the share price
2) Grow commercial revenue's by X%

He has got away with this in 2019 & the share price continues to maintain it's value, despite the on pitch challenges nothing is going to change. The Glazers wake up to look at share price not results and until there is a correlation between the two nothing will change, in their eyes why should they change anything, they are getting richer by the day.

 

[jackal&hyde]

He tried to do the right thing by giving complete control to the managers. As it turns out, even world class ones like LVG and Mourinho can be absolutely appalling compared to SAF in some critical areas. He did not understand imo this particular role SAF played and how fantastic he was at it, a Director of Football of sorts. I think he understands it now and it's why he will give Ole time to implement a longer term plan. I would not be surprised if SAF himself might be a bit more involved then he used to with previous managers.

 

[acnumber9]

The board refused to buy Maguire after already spending £85m on Bailey and Lindelof in the previous 12 months which for me at that time was reasonable baring in mind we didn’t know Bailey would be forever injured, he looked class in his first season.

Well it was closer to £60m in the previous two years, Bailly had missed about 6 months of those two years and the honeymoon period when everyone thought he was great was long since over. The idea that managers should only get one chance at filling positions in the transfer market only seems to apply to Mourinho.

 

[dove]

Of course, to some extent. He obviously doesn't scout players we sign or coach the team. We have spent shitloads of money on players and it really confuses me seeing people blaming Ed for not spending enough. His biggest faults are hiring wrong managers, not knowing when to sack them and doing these stupid briefs which just ridicule the club. We shouldn't forget that under him we became a laughing stock in the entire world. So even if he is not directly responsible for some things, he should feck off.

 

[Castia]

They wanted option A he provided them option D on most occasions, it is his fault we spunked hundreds of millions on shite.

The giant contracts to Rooney and Sanchez, his doing. The unwanted signings like di maria, his doing.

Tactless and illogical management choices except for moyes, again his doing. We went from lvg a possession based manager who wants players to be useful in multiple roles to a defensive manager who abhors possession game in Mourinho to whatever Ole is.

Also OP says solution to our current problem is get a DoF, a position he has refused to fill and somehow it isn't his fault?

He gave control to the managers on their own signings, LvG wanted Di Maria, one of the best attacking players in the world at that time I’m not sure how Ed’s he’s getting blamed for those signings.

 

[JPRouve]

Well it was closer to £60m in the previous two years, Bailly had missed about 6 months of those two years and the honeymoon period when everyone thought he was great was long since over. The idea that managers should only get one chance at filling positions in the transfer market only seems to apply to Mourinho.

It's not about having one chance(and he had two of them) but that you can't do it every year, it's often not financially feasible.

 

[Kajus]

He is the CEO, ergo these things are his responsibilities. If an advisory board advised wrong decisions, then it is his fault for appointing a bad advisory board. This is how CEOs work, they get paid the most because they get the most responsibility. His job is to oversee the club, it’s ultimately his responsibility regardless of whether he decided to do something over his morning cuppa or listened to some advisors.

 

[Castia]

Well it was closer to £60m in the previous two years, Bailly had missed about 6 months of those two years and the honeymoon period when everyone thought he was great was long since over. The idea that managers should only get one chance at filling positions in the transfer market only seems to apply to Mourinho.

Well the simple fact is they bought a new Centre back in the 2 previous summer windows and didn’t want to stump up another £80m at the time on a third, I actually agreed at the time.

 

[JPRouve]

Well the simple fact is they bought a new Centre back in the 2 previous summer windows and didn’t want to stump up another £80m at the time on a third, I actually agreed at the time.

And we don't actually know how much Leicester asked after the WC and all the hype surrounding Maguire, it could have easily been in the hundreds of millions.

 

[romufc]

Anyone saying it is not his fault needs to have a look at themselves.

1. He is the CEO and must take responsibility on what goes on at the club
2. He is in charge of hiring managers
3. He is in charge of handling incomings and outgoings
4. He is in charge of offering contracts to players
5. He cannot accept his shortfall, appoint a fecking DoF.

What has Lingard, Jones, Smalling, Shaw etc.. done to deserve contracts they are on?

Failure after failure yet the players are rewarded.

 

[kafta]

If Ed would spend his time signing players rather starting these threads, we'd be in a much better position...

We know its you Ed! Announce Bruno!

 

[Nakhon Phanom]

Ed Woodward gets an annual salary of 3.1million GBP...can anyone honestly say that his performance in the job has been worth it ?

 

[In Rainbows]

I agree somewhat, but I think you're failing to understand what our board/Woodward fails in chasing after our own history. Just because they say they're doing things a Man United way, does not mean they do. Til this day, none of our managers have brought forward an exciting display of football. That's supposed to be a sentiment both Busby and Fergie tried to bring. Towards the latter years of Fergie, we weren't that exciting either, but we obviously tolerated it because we were still winning and Fergie earned leeway both on his past and his present results.

Giving manager's time is also not doing things the United way. That is something Fergie preached as he left and it has poisoned parts of our fanbase, who above all things, preach this one factor. Time should be earned. By results, and by following the United way. The former can be excused so long as the latter is there. Time after time, Woodward has taken too long to sack a manager when it was beyond obvious they weren't working, nor gave any indication that they would succeed either.

Hiring someone like Ole and Carrick is not doing things the United way. The United way is more than just past great servants of the club getting jobs. Ours is very much like Ajax, Barca, etc... in that we want exciting football (to entertain the working class who support the club), and youth integrated into the side. No, we don't have a specific type of attacking football like those two clubs do with possession based attacking football, but it should be entertaining. Those two things should come first, with it ultimately leading to trophies. Finally, I would argue that Fergie helped integrate a family type atmosphere at the club, which you could argue the Ole and Carrick hirings bring.

However, if they get in the way of the two most important facets (attacking football & youth), then their hirings bring a disservice to our way of doing things. They're in key positions and their roles should not be taken as lightly as they were by Woodward.

Ultimately, we need great decision makers that also fit our model. Giving jobs to past servants without them being competent in key positions is a shallow view of the United way. To this day, we've not had one manager that have fit United to a tee. Two managers have demonstrated one aspect of that (LVG and Ole), but none have transferred their coaching into exciting football.

This post isn't meant to argue for or against a sacking. We obviously need a DOF, who knows how to correctly apply the United way by making the right hirings and signings. This post is just mean to highlight the shallow error prioritizing certain parts over others. To some fans, giving managers time, and hiring past legends is greater than attacking football. They need to get their priorities straightened.

As does Woodward and the board.

 

[hobbers]

Woodward's blame is three fold:

- Shit managerial appointments. And yes this is all said with the benefit of hindsight. Moyes was obviously not on him. But LVG and Mourinho were both poor appointments given the stages they were at in their careers, both on downward trajectories, outdated tactically, and in LVG's case planning retirement soon. Then signing Ole on a permanent contract with months left in the season will go down as one of the worst board room decisions in the history of football. Absolutely idiocy.

- Extending contracts of absolute dross for way above their market values.

- Targeting massive galactico signings rather than strategically planning the evolution and renewal of the playing squad. Wasting all of the Moyes summer chasing Fabregas and Bale (Moyes still takes the majority of blame for that summer, being the pathetic dithering coward that he is). And then panic buying Mata as a PR stunt. Woodward also no doubt encouraged LVG to agree to bringing in Di Maria and Falcao despite them not really fitting into LVG's system. (Not that LVG had any reason to say no.) And he obviously encouraged Mourinho to agree to bringing in Pogba despite them clearly not being on the same wavelength as personalities. And the less we say about Sanchez the better.

Most of the other signings were not Woodward's fault. Fellaini, Herrera, Shaw, Schweinsteiger, Schneiderlin, Rojo, Blind, Martial, Darmian, Depay, Mkhitaryan (presumably), Matic, Bailly, Lindelof, Lukaku, Dalot, Fred. All players either heavily scouted by the club or requested by the current manager, and Woodward delivered them.

 

[acnumber9]

Well the simple fact is they bought a new Centre back in the 2 previous summer windows and didn’t want to stump up another £80m at the time on a third, I actually agreed at the time.

And Klopp signed two centre backs in the 18 months before Van Dijk. Guardiola and Klopp signed keepers before they signed Alisson and Ederson. The idea that managers only get one chance to get signings right is fecking stupid and isn’t expected anywhere else. We just went and signed a centre back a year later anyway.

 

[NewGlory]

Close this thread, nothing good is going to come
out of it.

And no: when you are chief executive, and you shit your bed, you can't just wash your hands by lame excuses. You are ultimately responsible. Doesnt matter what Ferguson did or did not recommend

By the way: people often say when/if Ole gets fired no EPL team will ever hire him... Well, who will ever hire Woodward to be the exec of their club? How are things on that front? Pretty sure he is doing way worse than Ole

 

[Smores]

Well the simple fact is they bought a new Centre back in the 2 previous summer windows and didn’t want to stump up another £80m at the time on a third, I actually agreed at the time.

You can not want to but if the signings turn out to be bad investments you have to go again, the market does allow you to sell players. One of the big issues and why we needed the 3rd was because our alternatives were still the failed CB signings of Fergie and LvG that we hung onto.

I really don't get this idea that the board have backed our rebuild because it evidently isn't true when you factor in those we've had to ship out at the same time. When you need so much investment in the team at once to raise it's level then not accepting that some signings may fail along that journey undermines everything. Under the first year of LvG we got Di Maria as our big summer signing, he went the next summer so did we get two in? No we get one in Martial. The same this summer with one big signing not reflecting that Lukaku our prior big signing goes and that's repeated with our mid level transfers as well.

It's this strict policy of one big transfer per summer irrespective of who we sell that means we're in a cycle of replenishing rather than actually making progress improving the quality of the squad. Pogba will go this summer and we'll make one headline signing to replace him is my bet. In the long run it might work as we might accumulate value signings that show they're worth, integrate some youth and then keep slowly adding top signings (if every other works out) that stick but that will take another 2-3 seasons at least and requires a manager who can get the best out of this lot.

 

[acnumber9]

It's not about having one chance(and he had two of them) but that you can't do it every year, it's often not financially feasible.

Well we have two centre back positions so it’s one chance. We did it just a year later. We spent relatively little that summer which is part of what people are complaining about. We had our best finish in 5 years and instead of trying to kick on we decided to cut back. And Woodward has been able to get away with it because it’s blamed on the big bad wolf and how dare he want to replace a failed signing.

 

[Jburton]

This post is madness, Ed is the CEO and the buck stops at him.

Glazers are a poison and Ed is the one administering it.

 

[TRUERED89]

They wanted option A he provided them option D on most occasions, it is his fault we spunked hundreds of millions on shite.

The giant contracts to Rooney and Sanchez, his doing. The unwanted signings like di maria, his doing.

Tactless and illogical management choices except for moyes, again his doing. We went from lvg a possession based manager who wants players to be useful in multiple roles to a defensive manager who abhors possession game in Mourinho to whatever Ole is.

Also OP says solution to our current problem is get a DoF, a position he has refused to fill and somehow it isn't his fault?

Come on, there wasn't a United fan on the planet that wasn't happy about the signing of Di Maria, certainly not "unwanted". No psychic could have predicted what the outcome would be.