Man Utd set to appoint Director of Football (when hell freezes over)

[Champagne Football]

When Fenway bought Liverpool in 2010 they had to go through Roy Hodgson, Kenny Dalglish, Brendan Rodgers before they finally got the right man. There was a lot of talk before Klopp that their ownership was bad for the club.

Kind of similar when the Saudi's took over Man City. They went through Sven, Mark Hughes, Mancini, Pellegrini before they finally got the right guy.

Replacing Fergie same time a new CEO took office with a new vision was always going to be tough. It was probably always going to take a few managers before he got it right. I think if we get Pochettino then for the next 10 years Ed Woodward's term in office of CEO will made mostly enjoyable and easy for him.

 

[Irwin99]

When Fenway bought Liverpool in 2010 they had to go through Roy Hodgson, Kenny Dalglish, Brendan Rodgers before they finally got the right man. There was a lot of talk before Klopp that their ownership was bad for the club.

Kind of similar when the Saudi's took over Man City. They went through Sven, Mark Hughes, Mancini, Pellegrini before they finally got the right guy.

Replacing Fergie same time a new CEO took office with a new vision was always going to be tough. It was probably always going to take a few managers before he got it right. I think if we get Pochettino then for the next 10 years Ed Woodward's term in office of CEO will made mostly enjoyable and easy for him.

A positive take on the situation but I fear the board will invest somewhat in the next manager before telling him to put up with what he's got in the squad. The manager and fans will get frustrated at just fighting for a top 4 finish and we'll be back to square one again. It does make me wonder if the next manager fails, will the fans turn on the board even more?

 

[vangagal]

Woodward wont appoint a DOF anytime soon. Anyone who wish that may aswell buried their hope. The news about we appoint DOF has been around since last season and untill now it still the same news.

 

[reddevil702]

Might be in the minority but I don’t think Ed is doing a bad job. He obviously saw the writing on the wall and decided against giving a manager who was on his way out more funds. Changing managers every 3 or so years isn’t taboo. In fact most clubs opporate this way now. What United is missing under Ed is the trophies. Which you can say our squad is in a better position now than when Jose took over.

 

[haram]

Might be in the minority but I don’t think Ed is doing a bad job. He obviously saw the writing on the wall and decided against giving a manager who was on his way out more funds. Changing managers every 3 or so years isn’t taboo. In fact most clubs opporate this way now. What United is missing under Ed is the trophies. Which you can say our squad is in a better position now than when Jose took over.

So he is doing a good job because he is sacking managers?

 

[Aloysius's Back 3]

I didn't like it when it was proposed to the media that LVG was leaving & I don't like it now about Jose even though I can't stand the man himself.

I wonder if our over paying of transfers has a link to Woodward blabbering openly out to the media & doing things horribly with the clubs too.

Need a dof.

 

[Adisa]

We must get a DoF before getting a new manager. I don't care how long the interim stays for. Bin the season.

 

[Champagne Football]

A positive take on the situation but I fear the board will invest somewhat in the next manager before telling him to put up with what he's got in the squad. The manager and fans will get frustrated at just fighting for a top 4 finish and we'll be back to square one again. It does make me wonder if the next manager fails, will the fans turn on the board even more?

We need someone who knows how to build the 5 year plan. Fergie would be ridiculed for not spending and then finishing the season with nothing. But the following year some of the laughing stock players like Fletcher and Gary Neville were suddenly first names on the team sheet. And then with very careful patient planning we would win something major when no one gave us hope. Pochettino has already proven he is that type of manager. He'll bring in kids or bargain players with something to prove and turn them into winners who play the right way. We don't have the most money anymore so 5 year plans are the only way to go. We thought Van Gaal was that guy but he proved to be over 20 years out of date with his tactical methods.
The reality is that we won't be challenging every year but managers with 5 year plans is the way to go and Pochettino is the only one qualified out there right now. The Everton boss and The Wolves boss might be up there in a couple more seasons. If Ed can get the next appointment right then we are back to being the Utd we all adore and he will get the credit. I think he deserves one more crack of getting it right. Zidane would be great but sadly that's another short term quick fix guy and not what you want long term

 

[reddevil702]

So he is doing a good job because he is sacking managers?

No, the bottom line profits for Manchester United show he’s doing a good job. Which to clubs not backed by oil money is the most important aspect. Barcelona were during on of their treble winning years, had little to no profit. Football was dire, and the sacking of Jose will ultimately make his tenure at United seem like a horrible hire. Yet profits are at an all time high, he won the EL and finished second last year. Ed’s mistake was giving Jose the extension. Hiring Jose was the right call at the time.

 

[haram]

No, the bottom line profits for Manchester United show he’s doing a good job. Which to clubs not backed by oil money is the most important aspect. Barcelona were during on of their treble winning years, had little to no profit. Football was dire, and the sacking of Jose will ultimately make his tenure at United seem like a horrible hire. Yet profits are at an all time high, he won the EL and finished second last year. Ed’s mistake was giving Jose the extension. Hiring Jose was the right call at the time.

Congrats to Woodward for hiring one of the best managers of all time then. Job well done.

 

[reddevil702]

Congrats to Woodward for hiring one of the best managers of all time then. Job well done.

Glad you agree.

 

[Irwin99]

Why would he leak this a day before a match and where the atmosphere could get very nasty and very quickly. The whole thing is a farce and whoever put this out (if it's true) evidently cares far more about themselves than the club. We're playing a game later today FFS ! Two weeks of international break could have calmed things down a little at least.

 

[Tincanalley]

Support the team. Support the manager and the football people who still survive at the club. Neville is right, feck EW, the Glazers and thei board.

 

[Stacks]

Might be in the minority but I don’t think Ed is doing a bad job. He obviously saw the writing on the wall and decided against giving a manager who was on his way out more funds. Changing managers every 3 or so years isn’t taboo. In fact most clubs opporate this way now. What United is missing under Ed is the trophies. Which you can say our squad is in a better position now than when Jose took over.

Exactly. United seem to be the only club that must fire our CEO because we have had a few bad managers. Every other club in the world chop and change managers regularly without fuss. Who did Pool have between Benitez and Klopp? United fans are delusional because we are so accustomed to having one guy for so long. They must all "get more time" now.

 

[Dr. Dwayne]

Can follow Mou right out the door.

feck you Woodward.

 

[reddevil702]

Exactly. United seem to be the only club that must fire our CEO because we have had a few bad managers. Every other club in the world chop and change managers regularly without fuss. Who did Pool have between Benitez and Klopp? United fans are delusional because we are so accustomed to having one guy for so long. They must all "get more time" now.

Woodward has maintained United’s revenue streams at an all time high during our worst era, and yet people call for his head due to the man below him not doing his job? Jose was brought in by Ed to bring success on the pitch, he wasn’t able to deliver so we move on. Bring in another manager who can. This doesn’t just apply to football, it’s any industry. When Ed is delivering new “galáctico” signings, and brining the best manager available at the time, everyone is signing his praises. Now because Jose has failed to do his job, he’s an incompetent CEO who must be replaced? Laughable really.

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

Hopefully his job of being a football man ends with Jose out too.

Should stick to commercial business only.

 

[Kapardin]

Why would he leak this a day before a match and where the atmosphere could get very nasty and very quickly. The whole thing is a farce and whoever put this out (if it's true) evidently cares far more about themselves than the club. We're playing a game later today FFS ! Two weeks of international break could have calmed things down a little at least.

All big clubs do have leaks though. It's impossible to keep things bottled up.

But Ed does not come out of this covered in glory. In fact, once Jose leaves, Ed will be our biggest problem, the reason why I am not holding my breath for the next manager to succeed. He and his sponsors can follow Jose out.

 

[el3mel]

Woodward has maintained United’s revenue streams at an all time high during our worst era, and yet people call for his head due to the man below him not doing his job? Jose was brought in by Ed to bring success on the pitch, he wasn’t able to deliver so we move on. Bring in another manager who can. This doesn’t just apply to football, it’s any industry. When Ed is delivering new “galáctico” signings, and brining the best manager available at the time, everyone is signing his praises. Now because Jose has failed to do his job, he’s an incompetent CEO who must be replaced? Laughable really.

No, it's due to his lack of direction for the club. 6 years and there's zero long term plan or strategy for the club going every week.

How many failed managerial appointment he's allowed to do before we start to question his ability to hire managers or build a strategy for the team ? That's 2 on the run now.

Don't care less about sponsors and revenues. When you look at his reign from far away, it has been an absolute failure from almost all aspects that actually matter.

 

[SER19]

What an utter shambles we have become. We have just descended into a global fecking embarrassment on this guys watch and while I was never under the illusion that man united cared about me as a fan, at least they gave me a reason to care about them.

He’s overseen our ruin in terms of sport, principles and image. Hire a vacuous money obsessed guy and you get a vacuous money obsessed club.

 

[Hawks2008]

From now on he should stick to fecking noodle and tractor sponsors, otherwise he should go.

 

[oz insomniac]

Very difficult to believe that there is any support for the football related job that Teflon Ed is doing. Whether Jose signing Toby or Maguire was so called value for money in his eyes, the sheer fact that he refused to follow his managers request and at the same time did not accept offers for Rojo and others is sheer lunacy.
Any time you have the person who believes he is the "smartest guy in the room" you are. headed for catastrophic failure, and the club has arrived at that point.
Teflon Ed will likely retain his position, not because he has done a half decent job on the football side, but purely because he engineered the Glazers almost cash free take over and continues their love of producing money.
When we read Gary Neville's love for the club being stretched to breaking Po int, it's time for some soul searching and action on the hierarchy, in other words, p*ss off Ed and let someone who has a clue run the club.

 

[Stacks]

No, it's due to his lack of direction for the club. 6 years and there's zero long term plan or strategy for the club going every week.

How many failed managerial appointment he's allowed to do before we start to question his ability to hire managers or build a strategy for the team ? That's 2 on the run now.

Don't care less about sponsors and revenues. When you look at his reign from far away, it has been an absolute failure from almost all aspects that actually matter.

As many as it takes, just like Real Madrid, Chelsea, Bayern, Barcelona and all the other big clubs who win things. You keep going until you strike gold. Welcome to football. Most clubs don't have this "Pep Plan"

 

[el3mel]

As many as it takes, just like Real Madrid, Chelsea, Bayern, Barcelona and all the other big clubs who win things. You keep going until you strike gold. Welcome to football. Most clubs don't have this "Pep Plan"

These clubs sack managers and win league titles and CLs.

We sack managers and don't even challenge for the league.

How is it a comparison ?

No, the fact is these clubs all have/had plans and built a team capable of winning under any manager and only needs good coaching, so they can sack as many managers as they want and the results will still be coming. They have group of players that will work under any good manager.

We sack managers and nothing changes at all, same false down, same shite results, same non challenging for the league. Obviously you need to think there's other problem in the club if what's going well for other clubs isn't working for us. That's the only logical thinking here.

 

[Stacks]

These clubs sack managers and win league titles and CLs.

We sack managers and don't even challenge for the league.

How is it a comparison ?

No, the fact is these clubs all have/had plans and built a team capable of winning under any manager and only needs good coaching, so they can sack as many managers as they want and the results will still be coming. They have group of players that will work under any good manager.

We sack managers and nothing changes at all, same false down, same shite results, same non challenging for the league. Obviously you need to think there's other problem in the club if what's going well for other clubs isn't working for us. That's the only logical thinking here.

Fine. Then get a DOF to buy us good players because our manager's have been pissing me off. When I see Fred Bailly Lindelof on the bench and Miki at Arsenal I think £150m right there and what are we showing from it?

 

[el3mel]

Fine. Then get a DOF to buy us good players because our manager's have been pissing me off. When I see Fred Bailly Lindelof on the bench and Miki at Arsenal I think £150m right there and what are we showing from it?

Our transfer business has been dogshite ever since Fellaini season and under 3 different manager so I don't understand why are you annoyed at peoole looking at the only common factor in these 6 years.

Yes, we should get a DOF and isolate Ed from football side. Mind you pretty sure the next manager will love working with a DOf than to work with Ed.

 

[grahamo]

Woodward simply isn't qualified to dictate transfer policy. What he knows about football he could write down on the back of a stamp. Why has he been allowed to veto the managers/coaching staff decisions over the last few years? I think the clubs troubles of late are Woodwards fault. The buck stops with him!

 

[tonnas]

All he need is to focus on DOF and footballing board and then he cna do his job (finance) properly..

 

[gica_7]

Woodward wont appoint a DOF anytime soon. Anyone who wish that may aswell buried their hope. The news about we appoint DOF has been around since last season and untill now it still the same news.

Woodward knows most of the fans' perception of him. So he deliberately feeds this news to lower our tension.

 

[SER19]

Fixing just one of the two is not going to solve the problem. Even if the board implements a better structure, Jose is not the man to lead us. Same way, Just sacking Jose and not making changes up top will lead to same situation two years down the line.

What changes at the top and why?

 

[vangagal]

Woodward knows most of the fans' perception of him. So he deliberately feeds this news to lower our tension.

What news?

 

[sunama]

These clubs sack managers and win league titles and CLs.

We sack managers and don't even challenge for the league.

How is it a comparison ?

No, the fact is these clubs all have/had plans and built a team capable of winning under any manager and only needs good coaching, so they can sack as many managers as they want and the results will still be coming. They have group of players that will work under any good manager.

We sack managers and nothing changes at all, same false down, same shite results, same non challenging for the league. Obviously you need to think there's other problem in the club if what's going well for other clubs isn't working for us. That's the only logical thinking here.

Agreed on all points.

 

[Denis79]

These clubs sack managers and win league titles and CLs.

We sack managers and don't even challenge for the league.

How is it a comparison ?

No, the fact is these clubs all have/had plans and built a team capable of winning under any manager and only needs good coaching, so they can sack as many managers as they want and the results will still be coming. They have group of players that will work under any good manager.

We sack managers and nothing changes at all, same false down, same shite results, same non challenging for the league. Obviously you need to think there's other problem in the club if what's going well for other clubs isn't working for us. That's the only logical thinking here.

Spot on. Our board consists of financial business-men who probably know very little about football and when a new manager is appointed they leave anything football related up to him. Their contribution to the current "plan" is to throw money at it.

There is no long-term vision at all it seems.

Moyes failed, LvG failed and now Mourinho is doing the same. When do we start looking beyond the manager for the problems we are having?

 

[Stacks]

Our transfer business has been dogshite ever since Fellaini season and under 3 different manager so I don't understand why are you annoyed at peoole looking at the only common factor in these 6 years.

Yes, we should get a DOF and isolate Ed from football side. Mind you pretty sure the next manager will love working with a DOf than to work with Ed.

The common factor? To me it's trusting the managers which is what I would expect at football clubs. Maybe I am blinkered by Wenger and Fergie and the way EPL manager's operate but I thought the managers look at what players they want and the higher ups acquire them where possible. The common factor is Ed releasing millions to managers who don't even trust their own signings (Jose one of the biggest culprits)

 

[el3mel]

The common factor? To me it's trusting the managers which is what I would expect at football clubs. Maybe I am blinkered by Wenger and Fergie and the way EPL manager's operate but I thought the managers look at what players they want and the higher ups acquire them where possible. The common factor is Ed releasing millions to managers who don't even trust their own signings (Jose one of the biggest culprits)

That's still his fault though, having zero plan or structure and letting the club lives or dies by the manager decision. Now if he has constructed the football side well after sacking Moyes we wouldn't have been in this shite 5 years later.

So at the end Ed will always end at the blame side because everything in the club is run by his knowledge and acceptance.

 

[Kapardin]

Woodward is a weird one. Normally a professional in the cut throat world of banking would have an analytical mind and his decision making would be precise. Maybe Woodward is like that at the commercial side of things, but I have never seen a more flakier CEO of a football club. The Disneyland quote sums him up.

 

[Stacks]

That's still his fault though, having zero plan or structure and letting the club lives or dies by the manager decision. Now if he has constructed the football side well after sacking Moyes we wouldn't have been in this shite 5 years later.

So at the end Ed will always end at the blame side because everything in the club is run by his knowledge and acceptance.

My point is this is common practice. Liverpool abandoned that moneyball nonsense and just trusted their managers with decisions. Maybe you are right though. I think Chelsea sometimes have conflict with coaches as they present other players the manager don't want. I am all for a change TBH but I think Ed should remain as he can get the blazers to release funds

 

[el3mel]

My point is this is common practice. Liverpool abandoned that moneyball nonsense and just trusted their managers with decisions. Maybe you are right though. I think Chelsea sometimes have conflict with coaches as they present other players the manager don't want. I am all for a change TBH but I think Ed should remain as he can get the blazers to release funds

Why are you taking Liveroool as an example when they have been absolute dogshite the last years and only started to become well last season when they started to plan well ?

We need to be like Madrid and Chelsea, have a great base and squad that can succeed under any good manager so we won't be affected by managerial change.

 

[dwd]

Anyone else going to the game please give this twat what he deserves today.

 

[Revan]

Woodward has consistently picked the wrong managers, not been able to buy the right players, and has no idea of how to be a person with honour and values. Woodward out!!!

Consistently as 2 managers? With both of them - without benefit of hindsight - we're by far the best available choices.