As I said in the earlier post. I agree with all these sentiments. We should have other personnel doing the decision making on football matters. But that won’t happen as long as the Glazers own the club and it’s not a single football person on the board. A DOF will at best be at an advisory position. And that is good as the club has been making mistake after mistake in the transfer market.
Man Utd set to appoint Director of Football (when hell freezes over)
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) was joined by comedian Ali Woods to look back at the best and worst moments of a rollercoaster season with the annual United Hour Awards.
Has Ten Hag been sacked yet? We're not sure and we hope not, but it's looking more likely as the days pass.
Who should replace him and why is it taking so long to make a decision?
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I never said the manager has to have a say. I was saying that they have to work together so they need a similar vision. In this incident it makes sense as we have our manager in place.
Ideally it would be the DoF who would help in the search of a manager.
I'm not sure what you mean there. If I was a billionaire who owned a profitable company I had no real interest in like Glazers / United, I would want to hire people who could run it better than I could on my behalf and I would want the most competent people to do that job. I don't see how it benefits anyone to have corporate types trying to run the footballing side of a club.
I'm not sure I understand this myth that Woodward/board are interfering with the football side of things.
I'm almost certain that Woodward isn't choosing our signings/play style/tactics/formation/youth academy etc....
The biggest mistake our board have made is the wage structure and handling of player contracts.
But, could someone explain to me what they mean when they say the board/Woodward are controlling the football side of things? Legitimate question.
I do agree that we need a DOF, mainly to oversee the youth academies and identifying talents for the future. And to perhaps ensure the same play style is taught through the various tiers of the club; from the under 18s to the senior team.
I'm almost certain that Woodward isn't choosing our signings/play style/tactics/formation/youth academy etc....
The biggest mistake our board have made is the wage structure and handling of player contracts.
But, could someone explain to me what they mean when they say the board/Woodward are controlling the football side of things? Legitimate question.
I do agree that we need a DOF, mainly to oversee the youth academies and identifying talents for the future. And to perhaps ensure the same play style is taught through the various tiers of the club; from the under 18s to the senior team.
The point being if someone is head of player development for youth recruits, they wouldn't have had much of a say on first team hires. Same the chief scout would only be able to make recommendations.If they had no say, will they have any later on?
If they are given more power it could help.
But still I am skeptical
But seriously, this is indefensible. An entire year to move from we're probably going to appoint a DoF to we expect to appoint a DoF is ridiculous.
That's why you are posting on the caf. Money does strange things to a person, billionaires live in a different world to common people. Same goes for exceedingly rich people like Woodward. That's how Woodward comes out with such statements as 'playing performance doesn't really have a meaningful impact on the commercial side of business'.
I don't know if it's that indefensible or at least that's not peculiar. Sammer was replaced a year after his departure, same with Leonardo at PSG and PSG didn't even manage to get what they wanted, Lyon worked on it for more than a year and failed. If I'm not mistaken Paratici replaced Marotta but he hasn't been replaced yet.
If nothing changes on this front before next season than Ole is simply being set up to fail. He has no experience recruiting at this level and will have a hard enough job proving his worth on the training pitch. It's getting to the stage where anything is better than nothing because nothing seems like madness, we need recruiting expertise like yesterday.
I am still bemused at how many can't see that Woodward will want to relinquish the control he has in this area. This is just corporate speak for placating the peasants who support the club, have you ever thought deep on how the actual physical machinations of the club's corporate infrastructure? If you want this fixed properly this will take serious changes and planning. Not just "yeah old mate will fix it why didn't we get him in earlier" unless you want an Ed glove puppet for the continuation of his bizarre star search fetish and none of the actual structure around the football side changed.
Think Director of Football should have been put in place by now. It's supposedly been going to happen for too long now.
I think this is going to be one of the most important appointments in our history and I am hoping that Woody wasn't just playing us all along. As it is so important I think that it will take a while to find the right person but I hope Woody doesn't just decide to bring in a puppet.
I think one is seriously needed to compliment the amazing work that Ole has done so far and to help take us to the next level and be challenging for the big trophies. Don't think it will be fair on Ole if one is not brought in. I think Ole needs to be given all the assistance he can to help him succeed, as I wouldn't want Ole to fail through Woody's incompetence and then Ole used as a convenient scapegoat by Woody.
I think this is going to be one of the most important appointments in our history and I am hoping that Woody wasn't just playing us all along. As it is so important I think that it will take a while to find the right person but I hope Woody doesn't just decide to bring in a puppet.
I think one is seriously needed to compliment the amazing work that Ole has done so far and to help take us to the next level and be challenging for the big trophies. Don't think it will be fair on Ole if one is not brought in. I think Ole needs to be given all the assistance he can to help him succeed, as I wouldn't want Ole to fail through Woody's incompetence and then Ole used as a convenient scapegoat by Woody.
Van der Sar: "I am happy at Ajax, but Manchester United is a special club, in the future, who knows?"
Times (premium): https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/...ed-is-a-special-place-one-day-maybe-sgzms7fsh
MEN: https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...hester-united-football-director-news-16091555
Times (premium): https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/...ed-is-a-special-place-one-day-maybe-sgzms7fsh
MEN: https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...hester-united-football-director-news-16091555
If the DoF is indeed an internal appointment then we shouldn’t really be worrying about this, as they’re already there and probably helping prepare for next season and beyond.
We'd like that to be the case but if it is, why not announce it?
Would love if we got Edwin. He's smart so whatever he can't do he will hire the right people to assist him. Much better prospect than anyone else I can think of right now.
What do we say about the fact that Ole is made permanent without the appointment of a DOF ?
What should we say?
Edwin 
Pretty much says he's more than happy at Ajax and is only half way through the project at Ajax. Also speaks highly of Ed Woodward and SAF.
......a director of football acts as an intermediary between Ole and the board to relieve the pressure on him by handling aspects away from day-to-day coaching, allowing him to focus on on-pitch performance? If Ed appoints the DoF, isn't he acting in his interest anyway? It's like putting an additional layer to fix something that is fundamentally wrong anyway.
I would like a DoF as it will lessen the burden on the manager, and will give us a greater chance of continuity if there is a management change. I don’t think in and of itself, a DoF is that imperative in football, and if a club could guarantee a long-term manager, then it doesn’t need one at all. However, with the role of a manager being one of constant change, it makes sense.
That said, it is worth pointing out that directors don’t seem to be staying at clubs longer than managers either. Monchi always seems to be on the move. Others who have operated in similar roles like Milinslat and Ribalta often seem to be moving around too.
That said, it is worth pointing out that directors don’t seem to be staying at clubs longer than managers either. Monchi always seems to be on the move. Others who have operated in similar roles like Milinslat and Ribalta often seem to be moving around too.
We need our very own Michael Zorc who has done a sterling job at Dortmund over the years. He was a Dortmund man too, so wasn't tempted to leave when other clubs showed interest in him. Monchi and Berta etc I don't feel will stick around long, so we need to take a leaf out of Dortmund's book and hire someone from within.
Maybe I'm mistaken but it always seemed logical to choose the DOF first for me.
We haven't won the league title for several years.
Either LFC are about to win their first title in decades or MCFC are going to be the first team to successfully defend their title.
We are in 6th place, where the manager who got 2nd place, went to great lengths to explain that the structure of our club is f****ed.
Are you aware of all this?
Our success was not really down to Gill. It was SAF.
If Gill was working with D.Moyes, for example, we wouldn't have won all those trophies.
I think that we need to accept that we are a top 4 club and that whoever the manager is, they'll need to milk whatever they can out of sub standard players. Jose managed to get 2nd, so incoming managers will be expected to do the same with the squad of players we currently have.
Personally, I don't think we'll finish in the top 2 until the club is sold to new owners.
There is no need to spend big in the transfer market while the club is making record profits. Financially, it makes no sense.
Top 4 and an FA Cup, here and there (a la Arsenal), is basically where we are heading.
The Dortmund example always makes me laugh.
Despite people falling over themselves to worship that club it’s a dreadful example. Sums up a lot of the opinions on the desperation for a DoF in my view.
Dortmund don't have anywhere close to our financial muscle. But one thing they've got right is the appointed of Zorc many moons ago. Not sure what model you're referring to.
That one. The Zorc ‘success’.
Sounds like you know very little about Zorc's work..
I'm also aware of the fact that Jose never took responsibility for any of his mistakes and the best decision we made in 6 years was sacking.
Apart from all that, your post has nothing to do with my reply or the post I was responding to.
I don't think he knows BVB nearly went bankrupt - he's put the club in the right direction since then.
I don’t think you know Zorc was there when they nearly went bankrupt.
3 titles in 20 years under him. In Germany. None in the last seven years. Only one cup in that time. No European trophies.
12 managers.
A £2million loan from Bayern to prevent bankruptcy.
Lewandowski running down his contract and joining Bayern for free.
In the last two years they’ve signed 18 players and sold 16.
After the Dembele sale their biggest signing was Yarmolenko who they sold for a loss the following year.
None of this fits the narrative.
Anyone else think we're not gunna get anyone? We've (the club) been talking about this for ages, seems odd we haven't got it sorted yet. This should have been sorted around Christmas time really. Now if we do get someone you can bet it won't be until around July, meaning we'll either stand still in the market or again risk this random approach to bringing in new players.
I don't think we'll get one since we hired Ole permanently. Usually a big part of the Sporting Directors role involves selecting a head coach, and we've already done that.
The club briefed past week that we should expect one before the end of the season.
Ole said we are getting one.
Ole spoke on it too so I think something will happen.
Most reports have suggested an internal candidate. It is not yet clear when/if that will happen, who it will be and whether they will be given any meaningful role in player recruitment, or simply be window dressing.
Haven't they also previously briefed that we should expect one before a permanent manager is announced? Granted circumstances changed given how well Olé started, but it's still different to what was previously expected.
I can just see it happening. There's a few things making me uneasy, particularly the way Phelan, a United man, is not yet committing to the club.
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