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

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Big Andy

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Why are you both trying to defend the indefensible? The club have reportedly wanted to appoint a DoF since Jose was here, which is 7 months ago now. They haven’t got anywhere with it. If they were serious about it, the process could take a month or so. The season ended a few weeks ago now, so it’s not even a case of waiting until the summer to appoint.

You really think if we wanted the RB Leipzig DoF, or the Norwich DoF they’d keep us waiting? Until when exactly?
There are things such as notice period, gardening leave, etc to take into account. It's taken my company almost 6 months to recruit a new VP for the UK, and candidates are probably more ten a penny than Directors of Football at a massive football club.
 

JPRouve

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Why are you both trying to defend the indefensible? The club have reportedly wanted to appoint a DoF since Jose was here, which is 7 months ago now. They haven’t got anywhere with it. If they were serious about it, the process could take a month or so. The season ended a few weeks ago now, so it’s not even a case of waiting until the summer to appoint.

You really think if we wanted the RB Leipzig DoF, or the Norwich DoF they’d keep us waiting? Until when exactly?
I have seen many clubs in that process and none have taken a month, it's generally a year. And yes, decent DOFs currently in place wouldn't join now because they are in the middle of an important job and will prefer to join when it's done, in September-October.

And Rangnick isn't leaving the Redbull organization anytime soon.
 

Tincanalley

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Pep needs Tixi. City reportedly brought Tixi to the club years before Pep to attract him to their project. They have a fantastic relationship with each other since their Barcelona days.
How can people not understand the argument about structure. Its been said by Mourhino, by LVG. Its been implemented by our rivals. Still twits in here saying 'if you have a good manager you dont need anything else'. There should be a special Caf for Football Manager, let them talkshite to their hearts content in there.
 

JPRouve

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How can people not understand the argument about structure. Its been said by Mourhino, by LVG. Its been implemented by our rivals. Still twits in here saying 'if you have a good manager you dont need anything else'. There should be a special Caf for Football Manager, let them talkshite to their hearts content in there.
From the manager POV, it's important to remember that a lot of them want the support of the structure but at the same time wants all the powers that a structured organization normally delegates. Managers are often extremely arrogant and believe that they can do more than they are actually able, that's why they shouldn't even be asked about it. The club should structure itself in spite of managers.
 

UncleBob

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How can people not understand the argument about structure. Its been said by Mourhino, by LVG. Its been implemented by our rivals. Still twits in here saying 'if you have a good manager you dont need anything else'. There should be a special Caf for Football Manager, let them talkshite to their hearts content in there.
Mourinho's and Van Gaal definitions of structure are very different.
 

Gopher Brown

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I have seen many clubs in that process and none have taken a month, it's generally a year. And yes, decent DOFs currently in place wouldn't join now because they are in the middle of an important job and will prefer to join when it's done, in September-October.

And Rangnick isn't leaving the Redbull organization anytime soon.
I meant their head of recruitment.

It’s all well and good to wait until September/October, but that will be another directionless transfer window we will have wasted. How are we supposed to catch up to City and Liverpool, and Chelsea, and Tottenham if our direction as a club isn’t sorted out?

I just don’t buy it that we’re serious about doing this. I stand by to be corrected though.
 

Maradona10

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Still no one :lol:. Idiots running the club, not willing to give up power as that will threaten Glazers financial interests. Today glazers pay themselves 17 million in dividends while our club suffers .
 

DesiAce83

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How ridiculous is it that we've have been at this for more than 6 months and nowhere near something someone. I thought the whole room was for this person to look at squad building over the long term rather than short termism
 

Fox outside the box

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Still no one :lol:. Idiots running the club, not willing to give up power as that will threaten Glazers financial interests. Today glazers pay themselves 17 million in dividends while our club suffers .
Interesting that you state they aren't willing to give up power. Care to explain?
 

JPRouve

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I meant their head of recruitment.

It’s all well and good to wait until September/October, but that will be another directionless transfer window we will have wasted. How are we supposed to catch up to City and Liverpool, and Chelsea, and Tottenham if our direction as a club isn’t sorted out?

I just don’t buy it that we’re serious about doing this. I stand by to be corrected though.
Well the first thing is to not rush into signing the first git available, I have seen that one done multiple times too, Comolli, Emenalo or even Monchi are relatively recent examples. Personally I want the club to be well managed on the long term, I don't give a damn about next season or one transfer window, it won't make or break the club while a bad appointment could actively hurt us.
Also and that's probably the most important part, you don't work on the summer transfer window during the last 3 or 4 months of the season, by that time your plans are already set, that job is done from September to January, the rest of the year is about putting the wheels in motion and achieving your plans. What you are suggesting is a rushed and ill-advised approach, particularly for a club that is supposed to be altering its organization.
 

Fox outside the box

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Why are you both trying to defend the indefensible? The club have reportedly wanted to appoint a DoF since Jose was here, which is 7 months ago now. They haven’t got anywhere with it. If they were serious about it, the process could take a month or so. The season ended a few weeks ago now, so it’s not even a case of waiting until the summer to appoint.

You really think if we wanted the RB Leipzig DoF, or the Norwich DoF they’d keep us waiting? Until when exactly?
Think what they're doing is questioning other reasons why this could have not happened. Rather than spitting their dummy out and making assertions based on little to no information, it's pretty sensible to try and remain objective, play devil's advocate and explore other potential reasons.

Or everyone could just post the exact same conspiracy, whiny nonsense and we can all stay in an endless cycle of misery without opening ourselves up to any possibilities.

Have you ever been involved in making a change an appointment like this at a business the size of ours? Stamping your feet and calling people incompetent isn't particularly productive and it's been posted a thousand times before so I'm not sure what doing that really adds to any discussion.
 

DomesticTadpole

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Well the first thing is to not rush into signing the first git available, I have seen that one done multiple times too, Comolli, Emenalo or even Monchi are relatively recent examples. Personally I want the club to be well managed on the long term, I don't give a damn about next season or one transfer window, it won't make or break the club while a bad appointment could actively hurt us.
Also and that's probably the most important part, you don't work on the summer transfer window during the last 3 or 4 months of the season, by that time your plans are already set, that job is done from September to January, the rest of the year is about putting the wheels in motion and achieving your plans. What you are suggesting is a rushed and ill-advised approach, particularly for a club that is supposed to be altering its organization.
I agree about for forward planning about transfers, but the trouble we had was most of September to January it was a different manager with a different kind of target, so this window might not work too well and we are not inclined to do too much business in January. This coming season might just be a nightmare. Then as you say we will plan for the coming summer transfer window, but will our league position hamper us?
 

JPRouve

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I agree about for forward planning about transfers, but the trouble we had was most of September to January it was a different manager with a different kind of target, so this window might not work too well and we are not inclined to do too much business in January. This coming season might just be a nightmare. Then as you say we will plan for the coming summer transfer window, but will our league position hamper us?
That's why a club should never rely on the manager for these things and why the likes of SAF are exceptions. We should have fixed that in 2013 or even better when SAF was still in charge, it would have made the transition easier. We tried to emulate the SAF system and it logically miserably failed because almost no one works like SAF, not even the managers like Guardiola and Klopp who have both worked with technical directors.
We are not going to fix it easily and smoothly, it barely matters if the coming season is a nightmare what actually matters is that the club takes the correct steps for the long run. We need to stop with this short term mentality, we are a mess and we need accept it, there is no quick fix.

By the way, I'm not convinced that the club will take those steps, I wouldn't be surprised if Ole wants to operate like SAF and that the club let him do exactly that.
 

Maradona10

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Interesting that you state they aren't willing to give up power. Care to explain?
Dof means all the power to make football decision has to be given up by woodward or hire a yes man. If he just wants a fall guy for his decisions then he can hire me or you. A proper dof will ask power to spend, which woodward/glazers wont give cause of economic reasons. Finding the right yes man is taking time.
 

JPRouve

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Dof means all the power to make football decision has to be given up by woodward or hire a yes man. If he just wants a fall guy for his decisions then he can hire me or you. A proper dof will ask power to spend, which woodward/glazers wont give cause of economic reasons. Finding the right yes man is taking time.
No, it doesn't. As the most senior member of the board, he retains all powers at all time. And most of the DOF responsibilities are currently in the hands of the manager and chief scout.
 

DomesticTadpole

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That's why a club should never rely on the manager for these things and why the likes of SAF are exceptions. We should have fixed that in 2013 or even better when SAF was still in charge, it would have made the transition easier. We tried to emulate the SAF system and it logically miserably failed because almost no one works like SAF, not even the managers like Guardiola and Klopp who have both worked with technical directors.
We are not going to fix it easily and smoothly, it barely matters if the coming season is a nightmare what actually matters is that the club takes the correct steps for the long run. We need to stop with this short term mentality, we are a mess and we need accept it, there is no quick fix.

By the way, I'm not convinced that the club will take those steps, I wouldn't be surprised if Ole wants to operate like SAF and that the club let him do exactly that.
I have said before that the club just rode on the shirt tails of SAF and when he went they thought things would just carry on as normal and now it is all coming home to roost. It has taken a while, but this is what happens when you neglect the infrastructure of a great club and do not replace a great manager properly.
 

JPRouve

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I have said before that the club just rode on the shirt tails of SAF and when he went they thought things would just carry on as normal and now it is all coming home to roost. It has taken a while, but this is what happens when you neglect the infrastructure of a great club and do not replace a great manager properly.
That's not exactly true in the sense that SAF had the powers that he wanted to have and it has been the case from day one in 1986. Calling it neglect is dishonest, the issue though is that the club should have forced SAF's hand when he reached a certain age because he wasn't eternal and would eventually retire which would require massive changes that should be done as early as possible. Now we all know that if the Glazers actually did that to SAF, fans would have turned against the board, for purely sentimental reasons.
 

Infra-red

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Sounds like it's all going wrong again this summer (surprise, surprise):


A new summer but the same old problems in the market for Ed Woodward

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport...-ligt-paul-pogba-window-preview-a8944626.html

Snippet:

When one figure who works at Barcelona in a senior capacity was told of the rumours United could beat the Spanish champions to De Ligt, they reacted in utter bemusement.

“With the state they’re in, it’s not far off picking the Chinese league, career-wise. It’d be sacrificing development and ambition for money in the same way.”
 

Okey

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All I know is that months down the line, there's been no change whatsoever in our club structure. Our recruitment remains what it's been for a few years and we all know that's absolute bonkers. Now we have less than a month to pre season and 2 months to the new season. Looks like we've somehow managed to botch it again. As things are, we're preparing for at best a repeat of last season. I happily await to be proved wrong, but the signs aren't good at all. Its heartbreaking...
 

DomesticTadpole

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That's not exactly true in the sense that SAF had the powers that he wanted to have and it has been the case from day one in 1986. Calling it neglect is dishonest, the issue though is that the club should have forced SAF's hand when he reached a certain age because he wasn't eternal and would eventually retire which would require massive changes that should be done as early as possible. Now we all know that if the Glazers actually did that to SAF, fans would have turned against the board, for purely sentimental reasons.
I understand that, but it doesn't mean the SAF method of transfer dealing would work with another manager. Think they just presumed as we are Manchester United, the name would be enough. SAF was brilliant at selling the club to players. The fact he chose David Moyes as his successor should have got the alarm bells ringing. Dithering Dave who would not even take advise off the great man about his coaching staff. Got one signing over the line on deadline day, even though we had the whole summer to deal with things. That should have opened there eyes about getting a DOF as you said. Thereafter we have just hurtled from one manager to another without looking at what the club actually is about and what would suit it best.
 

DomesticTadpole

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Sounds like it's all going wrong again this summer (surprise, surprise):


A new summer but the same old problems in the market for Ed Woodward

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport...-ligt-paul-pogba-window-preview-a8944626.html

Snippet:

When one figure who works at Barcelona in a senior capacity was told of the rumours United could beat the Spanish champions to De Ligt, they reacted in utter bemusement.

“With the state they’re in, it’s not far off picking the Chinese league, career-wise. It’d be sacrificing development and ambition for money in the same way.”

Bloody hell! That is a bit brutal.:(

 

roonster09

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Sounds like it's all going wrong again this summer (surprise, surprise):


A new summer but the same old problems in the market for Ed Woodward

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport...-ligt-paul-pogba-window-preview-a8944626.html

Snippet:

When one figure who works at Barcelona in a senior capacity was told of the rumours United could beat the Spanish champions to De Ligt, they reacted in utter bemusement.

“With the state they’re in, it’s not far off picking the Chinese league, career-wise. It’d be sacrificing development and ambition for money in the same way.”
Miguel Delaney just made that up.
 

JPRouve

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I understand that, but it doesn't mean the SAF method of transfer dealing would work with another manager. Think they just presumed as we are Manchester United, the name would be enough. SAF was brilliant at selling the club to players. The fact he chose David Moyes as his successor should have got the alarm bells ringing. Dithering Dave who would not even take advise off the great man about his coaching staff. Got one signing over the line on deadline day, even though we had the whole summer to deal with things. That should have opened there eyes about getting a DOF as you said. Thereafter we have just hurtled from one manager to another without looking at what the club actually is about and what would suit it best.
Some think that I'm defending them but in reality I simply have a different reading of the situation, I think that they are gutless, Woodward and the Glazers. They are afraid of taking risks, people wonder what Moyes, LVG and Mourinho have in common, they were known quantities if you go on Wikipedia you will have long detailed sections(I'm not suggesting that they use Wikipedia). I don't know if people remember the characteristic that they were looking in SAF's successor, it was all about experience and how lengthy the CVs were. Even OGS is a known quantity, he has worked for the club as a coach and he "knows" Manchester United.

That's not how you do things in sport, in sport you need to be ahead of the curve, you need to be the trend setters. A manager with a lengthy CV is an has been not someone that you can trust for the future. As long as they maintain this logic where they will not take risks, mix things up, innovate, United will be in trouble. The issue isn't about money, it's about brain and mentality.
 

Woodenlung

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The worst thing about that Delaney article is that other than De ligt and Koulibaly we have no CB targets. So there's the distinct possibility we go into the new season with Jones and Smalling still in situ. If that happens the club is just fecked.
 

crossy1686

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The worst thing about that Delaney article is that other than De ligt and Koulibaly we have no CB targets. So there's the distinct possibility we go into the new season with Jones and Smalling still in situ. If that happens the club is just fecked.
Expected this to happen to be honest. We've been linked with attacking targets mostly and AWB. We'll plug the defence and probably GK positions next summer. At the moment we have to score more goals, even if we still concede a couple a game, people will be optimistic if we're free scoring.
 

DomesticTadpole

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The worst thing about that Delaney article is that other than De ligt and Koulibaly we have no CB targets. So there's the distinct possibility we go into the new season with Jones and Smalling still in situ. If that happens the club is just fecked.
Chris 'I want to swap shirts before the end of the game' Smalling and Phil 'which ridiculous way can I injure myself today' Jones. :drool:
 

Raw

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The worst thing about that Delaney article is that other than De ligt and Koulibaly we have no CB targets. So there's the distinct possibility we go into the new season with Jones and Smalling still in situ. If that happens the club is just fecked.
In that case I hope to feck we start Tuanzebe over those two jokers. He and Lindelof won't be the best partnership we could hope for but it'll be better than playing the Chuckle Brothers.
 

UncleBob

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Sounds like it's all going wrong again this summer (surprise, surprise):


A new summer but the same old problems in the market for Ed Woodward

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport...-ligt-paul-pogba-window-preview-a8944626.html

Snippet:

When one figure who works at Barcelona in a senior capacity was told of the rumours United could beat the Spanish champions to De Ligt, they reacted in utter bemusement.

“With the state they’re in, it’s not far off picking the Chinese league, career-wise. It’d be sacrificing development and ambition for money in the same way.”
What a load of bs :lol:
 

Fox outside the box

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Dof means all the power to make football decision has to be given up by woodward or hire a yes man. If he just wants a fall guy for his decisions then he can hire me or you. A proper dof will ask power to spend, which woodward/glazers wont give cause of economic reasons. Finding the right yes man is taking time.
Right, so how do you know the thought process? Are you involved at the club? Have you been privy to information from meetings that indicate this? Have the club released a statement indicating this?

I could say that there is a poster on a forum called Maradona10 who doesn't know what he's talking about and shouldn't be allowed to post on Internet forums anymore. If that were the case, would you expect me to have to back up these claims with actual evidence that I know what I'm talking about or would you just accept a ban because it's OK to think that I can just say what I want and people should believe me?

I've seen absolutely no evidence that lack of finding a yes man has anything to do with the decision making or that there is any concern with relinquishing a degree of responsibility. In fact, the club coming out and saying they want to appoint someone but will take the appropriate time to do so seems like a very sensible business decision and one I would expect a large business to make. Take time to get someone who is suitable rather than appointing slmeone for the sake of it.

I'd even argue that hiring managers like LVG and Mourinho gives some credibility to thinking that they aren't looking for yes men. Two managers who are well known for being vocal and to a point even stubborn but had good track records prior to being hired. If I had to make a guess I'd guess that they wanted a successful, strong, knowledgeable person in charge which makes sense given the appointments.

I'm genuinely interested to hear your arguments and evidence to the contrary. I'm not saying you're wrong, in just asking you to educate me because I may very well have missed loads of things that point to this and accept that it could be my ignorance leading me to incorrect beliefs.
 

Snafu17

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Sounds like it's all going wrong again this summer (surprise, surprise):


A new summer but the same old problems in the market for Ed Woodward

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport...-ligt-paul-pogba-window-preview-a8944626.html

Snippet:

When one figure who works at Barcelona in a senior capacity was told of the rumours United could beat the Spanish champions to De Ligt, they reacted in utter bemusement.

“With the state they’re in, it’s not far off picking the Chinese league, career-wise. It’d be sacrificing development and ambition for money in the same way.”
This a Delaney article. We might be the biggest mess on the planet, but he's certainly chatting utter bollocks.
 

Adnan

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Sounds like it's all going wrong again this summer (surprise, surprise):


A new summer but the same old problems in the market for Ed Woodward

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport...-ligt-paul-pogba-window-preview-a8944626.html

Snippet:

When one figure who works at Barcelona in a senior capacity was told of the rumours United could beat the Spanish champions to De Ligt, they reacted in utter bemusement.

“With the state they’re in, it’s not far off picking the Chinese league, career-wise. It’d be sacrificing development and ambition for money in the same way.”
There was a time when Miguel Delaney was considered a decent source on here. Not sure where it went wrong for him. His latest piece is more garbage from him which doesn't surprise me.
 

Chesterlestreet

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Now we all know that if the Glazers actually did that to SAF, fans would have turned against the board, for purely sentimental reasons.
Yes.

And if they had insisted on bringing in someone to work alongside him for the last few seasons, he might not have taken that too well - might even have decided to call it a day.

Hard to say - perhaps he would've been fine with it too, if it was the right person. But if he'd felt that his authority had been diminished, he definitely wouldn't have taken that well.

Very difficult situation. If Fergie had done what most managers do, i. e. declined rather significantly, it would've been much easier to implement certain structural changes.

But the evidence does seem to suggest that the people responsible simply haven't understood what the problem is - at least not until fairly recently. A different structure should have been introduced immediately once Fergie retired (ideally before that, yes, but you can forgive them for not wanting to mess with something/someone that was still working well enough to win league titles) - but, as we know, it wasn't.
 

Infra-red

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There was a time when Miguel Delaney was considered a decent source on here. Not sure where it went wrong for him. His latest piece is more garbage from him which doesn't surprise me.
Which of his specific claims do you find implausible? And why?

That we are struggling to move players on.

That we are struggling to bring players in - De Ligt & Sancho (players not keen), Koulibaly & AWB (deals too expensive).

That Pogba wants out.

That our football structure/player recruitment processes are significantly worse than those of our key rivals.

Or, that all of the above, plus successive years of relative failure have slowly seen us become a figure of ridicule among Europe's top clubs.
 

Maradona10

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Right, so how do you know the thought process? Are you involved at the club? Have you been privy to information from meetings that indicate this? Have the club released a statement indicating this?

I could say that there is a poster on a forum called Maradona10 who doesn't know what he's talking about and shouldn't be allowed to post on Internet forums anymore. If that were the case, would you expect me to have to back up these claims with actual evidence that I know what I'm talking about or would you just accept a ban because it's OK to think that I can just say what I want and people should believe me?

I've seen absolutely no evidence that lack of finding a yes man has anything to do with the decision making or that there is any concern with relinquishing a degree of responsibility. In fact, the club coming out and saying they want to appoint someone but will take the appropriate time to do so seems like a very sensible business decision and one I would expect a large business to make. Take time to get someone who is suitable rather than appointing slmeone for the sake of it.

I'd even argue that hiring managers like LVG and Mourinho gives some credibility to thinking that they aren't looking for yes men. Two managers who are well known for being vocal and to a point even stubborn but had good track records prior to being hired. If I had to make a guess I'd guess that they wanted a successful, strong, knowledgeable person in charge which makes sense given the appointments.

I'm genuinely interested to hear your arguments and evidence to the contrary. I'm not saying you're wrong, in just asking you to educate me because I may very well have missed loads of things that point to this and accept that it could be my ignorance leading me to incorrect beliefs.
I just made a throw away comment, you seem to have taken it to your heart. Chill mate its the internet. Love the overblown reaction though.
 
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