Manchester United name John Murtough as Football Director and Darren Fletcher as Technical Director

[devilish]

I think you’re being somewhat unfair in this comparison @devilish
First of all I know you love Maldini and have never liked Fletcher even as a player so you’re looking at this through biased eyes.
Secondly in your scenario of attracting a youngster, you’re comparing someone born with the silver spoon, born in into a footballing dynasty and who became an absolute legend of the game versus someone who has had to work hard, and battle adversity to get where he did. He also played for lower teams when he got older which i feel is relevant experience for England.
further his job description is not that of a technical director, not sure what idea the club has had with that - it’s brought nothing but grief from United’s own fans because they don’t understand his job and can’t equate the two things.
lastly the work that Maldini had been doing in his role was like a deputy DoF learning the trade. It’s not the same and that’s why I don’t think they will replace Fletcher with Maldini.
what they may do is make Fletchers role redundant. Personally I’d find that course of action harsh as transitions to the first team squad has been good in the last 2 years

I think we have been through this 'I hate Fletcher' path a million times. Quite frankly I'm exhausted by it. I don't hate people I have never met let alone a United homegrown player. I think that Fletcher was a solid squad player (not the guy who would made us win the CL final against Prime Pep's Barca if he was available), who shouldn't have been given a long term contract when his illness surfaced and he should have never gone from U16 coach to first team coach right to a director in a matter of months. That doesn't mean that I hate him.

Regarding Maldini being born with a silver spoon that's inaccurate. His father retired in 1967 as a player and he had 6 children. He kept working till his 80s as a commentator of Bein which is hardly the life of someone who swimming is wealth. Players salaries at the time were hardly the ones they are now. If anything no one put doubt on Maldini's hardwork. We can safely say though that he didn't made it in football because he was Cesare or Sacchi's 'son' that's for sure.

Regarding his job I don't blame people struggling on the matter as Rangnick himself struggled on the matter and he's been in football since forever. Nevertheless if we're looking for someone with a eye for talent, who knows what winning means as a team protagonist, who has a solid foundation of how transfers work and who is known and idolized by people in the football world then Maldini is our man. I doubt that the next Haaland or the next Bellingham cares of how Fletcher fought his way to a squad player role and his experience at WBA. However they would certainly know who Maldini was.

 

[Zed is not dead]

This thread and the takeover thread perfectly exemplify the Dunning-Kruger effect. It's head-scratching yet entertaining to read.

Ahaha pretty spot on

 

[Zed is not dead]

We’re not bad at everything as much as fans want to believe that. We’ve always had a good system and record with the academy

It’s funny because if you look at the threads about stripping City of their titles, our shite and utterly incompetent club would still be among the clubs to get some silverware as a result.

Now, we are rightfully frustrated because we’re so far below our potential as a club.
However, even at our highest level of dysfunctional and mismanagement, we never finished a season below 6th I think, managed to reach a few Europa finals and a couple of domestic cups.
Is this enough for United? Probably not. But there‘s a whole spectrum between quadruple winner and relegation fodder.

 

[Roboc7]

I certainly would have preferred an evolution rather than an upheaval by sacking all the current directors and losing all the work that has been going on. Lots of new people without any background in UK football and the PL.
It started with both Gill and Ferguson going at the same time. Woodward was a disaster. Van Gaal getting rid of squad players without realising the intensity of the league and injuries. Short term managerial appointments and now someone coming in and saying everyone is crap and I will bring my people from across the continent.

A big clear out is the only way forward, the club is full of people in key positions who have been around for years of failure and been rewarded for it. Incompetence breeds incompetence and I’ve no doubt whoever bought the club would be ripping it up and starting again, be crazy not to.

 

[devilish]

I certainly would have preferred an evolution rather than an upheaval by sacking all the current directors and losing all the work that has been going on. Lots of new people without any background in UK football and the PL.
It started with both Gill and Ferguson going at the same time. Woodward was a disaster. Van Gaal getting rid of squad players without realising the intensity of the league and injuries. Short term managerial appointments and now someone coming in and saying everyone is crap and I will bring my people from across the continent.

A CEO change won't hinder the football side in any way. Arnold was a finance guy. Things are different with Murtough. However INEOS is said to have prepared for this for months. If we get Mitchell he's well versed in EPL football and he's probably a phone call away from Rangnick.

 

[devilish]

A big clear out is the only way forward, the club is full of people in key positions who have been around for years of failure and been rewarded for it. Incompetence breeds incompetence and I’ve no doubt whoever bought the club would be ripping it up and starting again, be crazy not to.

I would like to see a staggered approach TBH. Needless to say, senior roles need to be changed. They had all the time in the world to succeed and they failed to do so. However the rest should be properly assessed.

 

[Roboc7]

I would like to see a staggered approach TBH. Needless to say, senior roles need to be changed. They had all the time in the world to succeed and they failed to do so. However the rest should be properly assessed.

I think they will assess further down but you can’t persist with the people at the top. They have a track record of failure, the optics of keeping them are bad and you buy yourself a bit of time by rebuilding. There’s no incentive to keep them and if going to get rid of them needs to be done ASAP.

 

[devilish]

I think they will assess further down but you can’t persist with the people at the top. They have a track record of failure, the optics of keeping them are bad and you buy yourself a bit of time by rebuilding. There’s no incentive to keep them and if going to get rid of them needs to be done ASAP.

Ii agree

 

[Adnan]

People are mostly in fan fiction at this stage.
People have absolutely no clue what a director’s job is in general, let alone in the football industry, despite the many many many posts made by @Adnan to explain these guys’ roles in the club. Seeing posts suggesting Murtough to stay as Head of Recruitment only proves they don’t know what they’re talking about.

People are creaming over Maldini for instance, but he was too unqualified to be a DOF at Milan before he became DOF.

Almost all the clubs in Europe hire ex-players in some capacities but either people fail to be informed about that or just refuse to accept it so they can shite a little bit more about the club.

Look at what McKenna and Carrick are doing now after they were called PE teachers here.

Fletcher's influence at the club is mainly with the youth players and their integration into the first team team. Things like training with the first team etc. And you need people like Fletcher who have walked the walk, to guide young hopefuls to settle into environments where they're sharing a dressing room with household names in the first team. It makes the life of both the young player and a new head coach a little easier if a person like Fletcher is on hand to smooth over a transition from the youth team to the first team. This shouldn't even be a topic of discussion at this point but when one has little understanding of how a football club is structured on the football side of the club, then everyone working at the club is a problem in their minds.

The role of the DoF was a simple one, where you had one guy who was in charge of the club's football operations where his role was to empower people running the recruitment, Sports science, medical, and currently the data science department etc. His role wasn't to directly run any of the aforementioned departments but rather to oversee those departments and if required to appoint people to run said departments. It's why the most successful clubs promote from within the club. But the problem at United has been a weak board of directors which started with Chairman Joel Glazer and then David Gill. And the DoF isn't part of the board of directors.

And when it comes to recruitment, the most important people are the heads of recruitment who lead the recruitment department. But there's a lack of understanding on the role of the heads of recruitment and many fans are led to believe that the DoF is the one who is a super scout type of figure who does all the scouting and helps the head coach. But it's actually the heads of recruitment who support the DoF and then the DoF can support the head coach. And the media and the fan cams conflate the role of the DoF and head of recruitment and make the casual fan believe that a DoF is a super scout type of figure. So take Michael Edwards at Liverpool, the scouting at the club was being run by Barry Hunter and Dave Fallows who were in charge of identifying potential new recruits at first team level. But once they had success the credit was given to Edwards who didn't scout players. The biggest difference will come if we have a owner who takes a active interest in wanting us to be successful. The media have made the role of a DoF like he's a celebrity, when in reality it's a role that is needed due to the system it brings forth. And it's that system where you have multiple football departments working in-sync which will help the head coach going forward. So the most important thing is to have a DoF model. I don't particularly care who the DoF is, as long as we have a system in place which is empowered right from the very top.

The DoF in Italy who did well was Cristiano Giuntoli who was at Napoli for 8 years. And the reason I say he did well was because he developed a team with the likes of Sarri and then Spaletti that played attacking football. It took a number of years but they eventually won the league last year ending a 33 year wait. So what isn't important here is who the players he signed, but rather what's important here is the direction he set as a Sporting director in tandem with the head coach. Because if the direction of travel is set and well defined, then the scouting, data analytics etc will follow. It took 8 years but he developed a team with the support and patience of the Napoli President.

For me the best person for the role of DoF is someone who has a vision on how they want to develop a team to play a proactive attacking brand of football. I've seen us linked to Dougie Freedman who I know very little about but I would be open to giving him a chance. And from abroad I've been very impressed with the work of Simon Rolfes at Leverkusen who is a former Leverkusen player and was promoted from the youth setup at the club where he was managing their academy. And in his 4 years since being promoted, him and and his team together with Xabi Alonso (head coach) have developed a very exciting team that plays through the thirds, presses high and also has strong players at containing the opponent's transitions. Even Rangnick couldn't develop his team in such a way and his flaw was that he would neglect the build up through midfield by going direct and using the press and counter press as a defense mechanism. But against teams who developed a bulld up strategy, Rangnick's ideas failed hence him being backed by the wealth of the RedBull group and his strategy of having two runners at the base of the midfield was a dated concept. It's why I rate a DoF on direction set and not players signed. Because players signed are mainly down to the work of the scouting department.

 

[golden_blunder]

Fletcher's influence at the club is mainly with the youth players and their integration into the first team team. Things like training with the first team etc. And you need people like Fletcher who have walked the walk, to guide young hopefuls to settle into environments where they're sharing a dressing room with household names in the first team. It makes the life of both the young player and a new head coach a little easier if a person like Fletcher is on hand to smooth over a transition from the youth team to the first team. This shouldn't even be a topic of discussion at this point but when one has little understanding of how a football club is structured on the football side of the club, then everyone working at the club is a problem in their minds.

The role of the DoF was a simple one, where you had one guy who was in charge of the club's football operations where his role was to empower people running the recruitment, Sports science, medical, and currently the data science department etc. His role wasn't to directly run any of the aforementioned departments but rather to oversee those departments and if required to appoint people to run said departments. It's why the most successful clubs promote from within the club. But the problem at United has been a weak board of directors which started with Chairman Joel Glazer and then David Gill. And the DoF isn't part of the board of directors.

And when it comes to recruitment, the most important people are the heads of recruitment who lead the recruitment department. But there's a lack of understanding on the role of the heads of recruitment and many fans are led to believe that the DoF is the one who is a super scout type of figure who does all the scouting and helps the head coach. But it's actually the heads of recruitment who support the DoF and then the DoF can support the head coach. And the media and the fan cams conflate the role of the DoF and head of recruitment and make the casual fan believe that a DoF is a super scout type of figure. So take Michael Edwards at Liverpool, the scouting at the club was being run by Barry Hunter and Dave Fallows who were in charge of identifying potential new recruits at first team level. But once they had success the credit was given to Edwards who didn't scout players. The biggest difference will come if we have a owner who takes a active interest in wanting us to be successful. The media have made the role of a DoF like he's a celebrity, when in reality it's a role that is needed due to the system it brings forth. And it's that system where you have multiple football departments working in-sync which will help the head coach going forward. So the most important thing is to have a DoF model. I don't particularly care who the DoF is, as long as we have a system in place which is empowered right from the very top.

The DoF in Italy who did well was Cristiano Giuntoli who was at Napoli for 8 years. And the reason I say he did well was because he developed a team with the likes of Sarri and then Spaletti that played attacking football. It took a number of years but they eventually won the league last year ending a 33 year wait. So what isn't important here is who the players he signed were, but rather what's important here is the direction he set as a Sporting director in tandem with the head coach. Because if the direction of travel is set and well defined, then the scouting, data analytics etc will follow. It took 8 years but he developed a team with the support and patience of the Napoli President.

For me the best person for the role of DoF is someone who has a vision on how they want to develop a team to play a proactive attacking brand of football. I've seen us linked to Dougie Freedman who I know very little about but I would be open to giving him a chance. And from abroad I've been very impressed with the work of Simon Rolfes at Leverkusen who is a former Leverkusen player and was promoted from the youth setup at the club where he was managing their academy. And in his 4 years since being promoted, him and and his team together with Xabi Alonso (head coach) have developed a very exciting team that plays through the thirds, presses high and also has strong players at containing the opponent's transitions. Even Rangnick couldn't develop his team in such a way and his flaw was that he would neglect the build up through midfield by going direct and using the press and counter press as a defense mechanism. But against teams who developed a bulld up strategy, Rangnick's ideas failed hence him being backed by the wealth of the RedBull group and his strategy of having two runners at the base of the midfield was a dated concept. It's why I rate a DoF on direction set and not players signed. Because players signed are mainly down to the work of the scouting department.

But Maldini has nicer hair and an Italian accent so can’t we replace that Scottish clogger despite the good work he’s been doing.
We shouldn’t even be giving jobs to Fergies son anyway, talk about nepotism

 

[Amir]

It’s funny because if you look at the threads about stripping City of their titles, our shite and utterly incompetent club would still be among the clubs to get some silverware as a result.

Now, we are rightfully frustrated because we’re so far below our potential as a club.
However, even at our highest level of dysfunctional and mismanagement, we never finished a season below 6th I think, managed to reach a few Europa finals and a couple of domestic cups.
Is this enough for United? Probably not. But there‘s a whole spectrum between quadruple winner and relegation fodder.

True, but let's be honest here - It's our financial strength, which is based on things which happened decades ago, that has been keeping us afloat.

 

[Greck]

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Kneejerk. How could they have already assessed him when he just joined the Tuesday before last?

 

[city-puma]

It’s the right decision to let go Murtough.
I know that working under the Glazers with all the constraints is one of the toughest jobs. However, after taking in charge of two summer transfer windows, it’s clear to see that he is not creative nor innovative enough short term and long term. Maybe he can do a good job in a more established structure but for ManUtd we are expecting him to create that structure. In any serious business, the performance like that will surely result in layoff.

 

[ti vu]

It’s the right decision to let go Murtough.
I know that working under the Glazers with all the constraints is one of the toughest jobs. However, after taking in charge of two summer transfer windows, it’s clear to see that he is not creative nor innovative enough short term and long term. Maybe he can do a good job in a more established structure but for ManUtd we are expecting him to create that structure. In any serious business, the performance like that will surely result in layoff.

That is still questionable regarding what type of structure.

His previous experience at Everton where he worked under Moyes, who pretty much heavy lifting large part of first team recruitment for Everton first team. There is no telling whether he can do well as the spear head of a club like Dougie Freedman for Crystal Palace, without an old school manager type. I don't think any clubs that has prominent DoF / sporting director role would want him since he's inexperienced/ having terrible track of record of wasting resources.

 

[USREDEVIL]

Murtough looks like some cartoon rodent i've seen, can't place it...

Definitely from a Christmassy show/movie though.

 

[Sir Erik ten Hag]

right okay. When has this club ever been ahead of the curve in the last 20 years?

Van Gaal deployed 3 CB in the league before it was cool.

 

[mu4c_20le]

Van Gaal deployed 3 CB in the league before it was cool.

And went looking for left footed cb to play on the left side. And got mocked for it

 

[roseguy64]

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[Sir Erik ten Hag]

And went looking for left footed cb to play on the left side. And got mocked for it

Geniuses are often mistaken as mad men. Nothing new here.

 

[tenpoless]

Murtough looks like some cartoon rodent i've seen, can't place it...

Definitely from a Christmassy show/movie though.

Jerry the mouse when hes high on acid

 

[devilish]

I think they will assess further down but you can’t persist with the people at the top. They have a track record of failure, the optics of keeping them are bad and you buy yourself a bit of time by rebuilding. There’s no incentive to keep them and if going to get rid of them needs to be done ASAP.

As said ideally we have a staggered approach to things. However I am not against a total and sudden revamp either. Let's face it, United is poorly run. Its poorly run at high level (ex we overspend in fees and salaries and we let the manager to call all the shots in terms of signings), our fitness is horrifying, we pick too many injuries and we leak more then the titanic. Pr is also horrible (ex how we tackled the greenwood story), too many kids lost their way (greenwood, lingard, pogba) and there is a general scenes of complacency in the club. That can't be pinned to just Arnold and murtough

 

[Roboc7]

As said ideally we have a staggered approach to things. However I am not against a total and sudden revamp either. Let's face it, United is poorly run. Its poorly run at high level (ex we overspend in fees and salaries and we let the manager to call all the shots in terms of signings), our fitness is horrifying, we pick too many injuries and we leak more then the titanic. Pr is also horrible (ex how we tackled the greenwood story), too many kids lost their way (greenwood, lingard, pogba) and there is a general scenes of complacency in the club. That can't be pinned to just Arnold and murtough

No it can’t just be pinned on them but they have ridden the gravy train for years, they took their roles knowing how poorly run the club is, knowing all these issues and knowing they wouldn’t t be able to fix them. If they were people with real genuine ambition and drive to really succeed they wouldn’t have been made CEO and Football Director because they’d be at odds with the ownership. They are Glazer men through and through and there’s no place form them if things are changing. I imagine a lot of the leadership and management beneath them could be similar as well so most of the senior roles will need new appointments.

 

[RedChisel]

I see John Murtough is assuming the classic Glazer position of un-flushable turd.

 

[RedUnited86]

I see John Murtough is assuming the classic Glazer position of un-flushable turd.

He underestimates the size of Jim's plunger.

 

[RedChisel]

He underestimates the size of Jim's plunger.

Think he'll need Dyno-rod for this one.

 

[golden_blunder]

And went looking for left footed cb to play on the left side. And got mocked for it

Mocked? We were all asleep

 

[golden_blunder]

No it can’t just be pinned on them but they have ridden the gravy train for years, they took their roles knowing how poorly run the club is, knowing all these issues and knowing they wouldn’t t be able to fix them. If they were people with real genuine ambition and drive to really succeed they wouldn’t have been made CEO and Football Director because they’d be at odds with the ownership. They are Glazer men through and through and there’s no place form them if things are changing. I imagine a lot of the leadership and management beneath them could be similar as well so most of the senior roles will need new appointments.

Using that logic then nobody will join us since the glazers are still the majority owners

 

[Roboc7]

Using that logic then nobody will join us since the glazers are still the majority owners

Well they will because they are going to be sold change and INEOS having sporting control. How far that will extend we have no idea but people will be brought in expecting the club to be run very differently with different aims and objectives. And if you bring in people with genuine ambition and don’t match that they’ll be gone, that’s why we don’t have a proper DOF.

Murtough/Arnold these guys got the jobs to maintain the status quo and not to rock the boat. You don’t last as long as they have done at a shit show like Utd unless you are happy and part of that environment.

 

[golden_blunder]

Well they will because they are going to be sold change and INEOS having sporting control. How far that will extend we have no idea but people will be brought in expecting the club to be run very differently with different aims and objectives.

Murtough/Arnold these guys got the jobs to maintain the status quo and not to rock the boat. You don’t last as long as they have done at a shit show like Utd unless you are happy and part of that environment.

I don’t necessarily disagree with you, I just question the reality of what kind of control a 25% investor will have. Otherwise not much will have changed in that environment.
time will tell

 

[devilish]

If you ask me, I can't care if the technical director survives or not. The most important thing is whether INEOS has a clear plan in writing were they would get full ownership of the club in X years (less then 5 years)

 

[The Mitcher]

I was also surprised that a guy who has spent most of his career in Italy can speak English better than half of the England football team.

I've always pictured Maldini as this godlike creature. Floating around inches above the ground, changing the weather with a raised eyebrow and pinching his fingers together in a back and forth motion in front of his mouth, saying things like "ho finito la crema per il sedere" which sound really cool and sophisticated until you Google translate it.

Brlrlrlrlr

 

[MackRobinson]

Silly as this may sound, but I never knew Maldini spoke English!

Same. I was shocked. It seems like most European footballers have a decent command of English.

 

[Roboc7]

I don’t necessarily disagree with you, I just question the reality of what kind of control a 25% investor will have. Otherwise not much will have changed in that environment.
time will tell

I think we all have that same question, especially if there is not a clear and agreed pathway to majority ownership for SJR.

SJR must believe he has a mandate to change things, he wouldn’t be spending all this money otherwise, whether that’s true we can only wait and see.

 

[MadDogg]

Regarding his job I don't blame people struggling on the matter as Rangnick himself struggled on the matter and he's been in football since forever. Nevertheless if we're looking for someone with a eye for talent, who knows what winning means as a team protagonist, who has a solid foundation of how transfers work and who is known and idolized by people in the football world then Maldini is our man. I doubt that the next Haaland or the next Bellingham cares of how Fletcher fought his way to a squad player role and his experience at WBA. However they would certainly know who Maldini was.

To be fair, Fletcher wasn't doing his normal job while Rangnick was here. He'd had to step into the gaping hole of our coaching staff as we literally didn't have anyone else. Rangnick himself also said that he while he was here he was focused purely on the players and squad, not involved with the more upper management or background staff. Put those two things together and it's hardly surprising he didn't know exactly what Fletcher's normal duties were.

I would say 99% of the criticisms of Fletcher come purely due to the fact that his job title is much more grandiose than what he actually does. Unless he's getting paid like a top Technical Director in the normal sense, his job title ultimately means nothing. I would say the role he is actually doing is one that is well suited to an ex-player of the club, and I would point out that there are many top teams that have many more ex-players throughout their staffing structure than what we do. The only important thing is whether he's doing well in that role and that's not something that anyone here on this forum can know. If the new CEO/DoF/etc come in and judge that they have a better alternative then by all means let him go or move him into another role, but it is strange that people put him alongside Arnold and Murtough.

 

[golden_blunder]

To be fair, Fletcher wasn't doing his normal job while Rangnick was here. He'd had to step into the gaping hole of our coaching staff as we literally didn't have anyone else. Rangnick himself also said that he while he was here he was focused purely on the players and squad, not involved with the more upper management or background staff. Put those two things together and it's hardly surprising he didn't know exactly what Fletcher's normal duties were.

I would say 99% of the criticisms of Fletcher come purely due to the fact that his job title is much more grandiose than what he actually does. Unless he's getting paid like a top Technical Director in the normal sense, his job title ultimately means nothing. I would say the role he is actually doing is one that is well suited to an ex-player of the club, and I would point out that there are many top teams that have many more ex-players throughout their staffing structure than what we do. The only important thing is whether he's doing well in that role and that's not something that anyone here on this forum can know. If the new CEO/DoF/etc come in and judge that they have a better alternative then by all means let him go or move him into another role, but it is strange that people put him alongside Arnold and Murtough.

Worded it far better than I ever could, totally agree

 

[devilish]

To be fair, Fletcher wasn't doing his normal job while Rangnick was here. He'd had to step into the gaping hole of our coaching staff as we literally didn't have anyone else. Rangnick himself also said that he while he was here he was focused purely on the players and squad, not involved with the more upper management or background staff. Put those two things together and it's hardly surprising he didn't know exactly what Fletcher's normal duties were.

I would say 99% of the criticisms of Fletcher come purely due to the fact that his job title is much more grandiose than what he actually does. Unless he's getting paid like a top Technical Director in the normal sense, his job title ultimately means nothing. I would say the role he is actually doing is one that is well suited to an ex-player of the club, and I would point out that there are many top teams that have many more ex-players throughout their staffing structure than what we do. The only important thing is whether he's doing well in that role and that's not something that anyone here on this forum can know. If the new CEO/DoF/etc come in and judge that they have a better alternative then by all means let him go or move him into another role, but it is strange that people put him alongside Arnold and Murtough.

I never liked the way certain things ran around Fletcher. I didn't like how he was given a long term contract despite us knowing of his illness, something I felt was setting a dangerous precedence which would be exploited in the future (which it did) and I was certainly against his quick rise to prominence from U16 coach to first team coach right to technical director in matter of mere months. I believe those are fair comments to make TBH. There again, I understand that the Fletcher's argument might be quite sensitive for certain people and I fully respect that.

In my opinion United had never gone through a restructuring process. Sure certain roles had been created and filled but when one look at the end result there's nothing to suggest that things had changed. We still buy the players the manager want, we still overspend both in terms of fees and salaries, we still shift from one style to another (Ole to Rangnick/ETH), we still struggle to sell players, we leak too much info, our fitness regime is horrific and players tend to lose form and go in mediocrity after a year. In an ideal world we should go through a staggered approach were the club would first replace the most senior roles and then have a look if further changes in personnel is needed. But there are some compelling arguments being made in a big bang approach as well (I suggest the muppetiers latest video)

In the mid term I hope that we should also look for upgrades rather then simply replacing rotten apples. Maldini for example could be a nice addition as technical director in a traditional sense. He's been in the game for way longer then Fletcher was and he successfully covered a more senior version of TD then Fletcher did in a scenario (ie a cash strapped club) that is more challenging than that at United were money seem not to be a problem. As a brand name there's not many people out there with the aura and the level of respect Maldini has. That could play an important part in persuading young players to join the club or sign a contract extension. I wouldn't want him as a DOF as he never covered that role before.

Finally I do believe that we need one or two former United players around as long as they are willing to learn and they have the skills and the experience that matches the role given to them. If Fletcher wants to get involved, he's not part of the rotten part of the club and he's willing to take a role under the criteria mentioned before then in my opinion we should go for it.

 

[golden_blunder]

I think you’re confusing the title with the actual job @devilish

tbh don’t blame you, they shouldn’t have called it that in the first place as it’s confused a lot of people who can’t or won’t read the explanations given, even by Fletcher himself

 

[devilish]

I think you’re confusing the title with the actual job @devilish

tbh don’t blame you, they shouldn’t have called it that in the first place as it’s confused a lot of people who can’t or won’t read the explanations given, even by Fletcher himself

Howson had just commented about Fletcher role in his latest video (Murtough's U-turn if you want to double check). It seem that the SP team had asked Fletcher what he does at United and the answer was so vague that they weren't any wiser about his role afterwards.

In my opinion, Fletcher's role is a fudge which is typical in a poorly run club with little to no leadership or experience in what they doing. I strongly believe that his role grows and shrinks according to whether or not the manager wants him around and to what capacity. Which kind of explain the vagueness surrounding Fletcher's role by Rangnick, those close to the club and quite frankly most of the fans.

And before anyone accuses me of attacking Fletcher or wanting him out let me make two things clear

a- I don't blame Fletcher for this. Its evident that the club has no clue what its doing, football wise and that goes way beyond Fletcher (ie owners, CEO and DOF)
b- I don't mind Fletcher being involved in the club as long as his role is clearly defined and within his capabilities
C- quite frankly I seriously doubt that he'll be sacked. Can you imagine if a new owner comes in and the first thing he does is to sack an ex player? I can't see that happening.

 

[hobbers]

In my opinion, Fletcher's role is a fudge which is typical in a poorly run club with little to no leadership or experience in what they doing. I strongly believe that his role grows and shrinks according to whether or not the manager wants him around and to what capacity. Which kind of explain the vagueness surrounding Fletcher's role by Rangnick, those close to the club and quite frankly most of the fans.

And before anyone accuses me of attacking Fletcher or wanting him out let me make two things clear

a- I don't blame Fletcher for this. Its evident that the club has no clue what its doing, football wise and that goes way beyond Fletcher (ie owners, CEO and DOF)

Yep. His role is a total fudge but it's not his fault. He was putting out cones for Rangnick and playing as a spare man in training. Murtough claimed part of his job is to provide general "technical advice" and overseeing things like the academy to first team transition.

It was a pure PR exercise. Putting a nobody in a key senior football job was diluted slightly by including a promotion for a fairly well-known recent player in the announcement. Well in keeping with the vibes FC philosophy of the time.

 

[RedUnited86]

Put the little gnome on gardening leave already