Wonder how long before a thread titled 'What does John Murtough do?' is created?
Manchester United name John Murtough as Football Director and Darren Fletcher as Technical Director
- Thread starter Tom Van Persie
- Start date
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
I created a new thread in my shock as didn't see this one 
Wonder what Ed will be getting up to now? Hopefully he will mainly just be doing corporate things, such as bringing in sponsorship, which he's good at....
Wonder who will decide around managerial appointments etc? Surely John should?
Wonder what Ed will be getting up to now? Hopefully he will mainly just be doing corporate things, such as bringing in sponsorship, which he's good at....
Wonder who will decide around managerial appointments etc? Surely John should?
Can he play in a 2 man midfield?
A step in the right direction. Not sure I fully understand Fletcher’s role and it makes Nicky Butt’s role a bit confusing, I thought he was the link between academy and first team.
I’m sure this’ll settle the fans’ fears and put an end to the debate.
Fecking finally. Remember the date, remember the time, remember what you were doing when pigs took to the skies.
I just hope Murtough is one of the guys who’s been against the purchases of ADM and Sanchez, and more one of the guys who’s been pushing to sign Bruno, AWB and Maguire and recommending academy players. It feels like ever since Woodward purchased Sanchez they’ve realised they’ve been messing up and are deciding to listen to their chief scouts and other senior officials at the club.
I just hope Murtough is one of the guys who’s been against the purchases of ADM and Sanchez, and more one of the guys who’s been pushing to sign Bruno, AWB and Maguire and recommending academy players. It feels like ever since Woodward purchased Sanchez they’ve realised they’ve been messing up and are deciding to listen to their chief scouts and other senior officials at the club.
Who knows whether these guys are up to the job? Certainly nobody on the caf.
What we do know though is that we have now introduced an extra layer of football expertise (in the form of a former player/coach and a former sports scientist/head of performance) at the level above the manager. I struggle to see how that can be a bad thing.
What we do know though is that we have now introduced an extra layer of football expertise (in the form of a former player/coach and a former sports scientist/head of performance) at the level above the manager. I struggle to see how that can be a bad thing.
so it all people from within whove been there years anyway. I assume Judge gets a payrise for his 'new' role aswell
His 30-60-90 plan must have been great.
Murtaugh is a stay over from the gang Moyes brought with him from Everton. He must have done something useful to stick out from that lot.
That means nothing. Woodward has already specifically said he plays no part in transfers other than signing off the money. He’s still CEO and still oversees all large expenditure. His role in transfers will stay the same, minimal.
Hopefully that line will shut up the idiots who think Woodward goes around scouting his own players and making signings though.
Murtough is now the second highest football man at the club
Sounds as though we're splitting the magical DoF role into three parts:
- Football Director who oversees all operations as more of an operational strategy kind of boss
- Technical Director who looks at things from a football perspective
- Director of Negotiations who sits down with other teams' representatives
Looks like a first step in the right direction - nothing more and nothing less. This should definitely relieve Ole.
If you were mean, you could say that he can finally set the full focus on tactics: how do you break teams who sit back deep?
If you were mean, you could say that he can finally set the full focus on tactics: how do you break teams who sit back deep?
They’ve not actually hired anyone then, just changed the job titles of people already employed by the club. As someone said, it’s just Ed shielding himself.
Well 2014 would still include the majority of the dreadful post-Fergie transfers. But I’d imagine LVG and Jose asked for specific players and were arrogant enough to ignore whatever internal advice was being provided.
The reason it felt underwhelming was more there seems to be a plethora of seasoned options who have experience specifically as Directors of Football and we’ve instead promoted from within - to a man who hasn’t been one before as far as I can tell. But I obviously have no idea about his actual skillset or what the genuine working dynamic will be. He might be the perfect choice for the job.
At a minimum, any move that further distances Ed from footballing matters and allows him to keep being a sponsorship whore is a good one. Our overall transfer policy seems light years ahead of where it was 5 years ago.
What’s his actual football background? He still reports to Woodward, I’m not sure an actual director of football at other clubs would do that.
Good. Not that anything will noticeably change, we'll just continue the path we're on. I expect Ole's contract extension to follow shortly.
At least it gives clarity on where people can direct their transfer fury in the summer.
At least it gives clarity on where people can direct their transfer fury in the summer.
Nice to have a new target to blame when things go wrong.
Best of luck to both of them.
My take as well. It is progress.
I don't know anything about him, but I'm sure more information will flood the forum soon enough. Having been with United during these years in the doldrums doesn't really promote the idea that he's the best in class. But who knows, it's been Ed and Matt running amok wasting money left, right and centre and being a complete shitshow.
The timing is good though. 3 months preparation for doing ambitious business in the summer.
Very underwhelming appointments let's be honest but I'm just glad we finally have two defined roles. Hopefully they both surprise me and do a great job.
Internal promotion means they were likely doing similar roles already. Which also means they are responsible for the crap we see on the pitch. I guess the only good news is, if the club is still in this state a year from now, we will have roles where we can hire the right people.
Judge just went from reporting to Woodward to reporting to Murtough, so he is one step down the ladder.
Regardless of who it is, have the structure more football orientated is good.
DOF’s don’t get carte blanche anywhere. They all report into someone.
What actually is Fletcher's qualification for the role of technical director beyond being affiliated with the manager? This isn't like throwing on a sub for the final 2 minutes of a match. Remember how green Woodward was in his first summer at the club.
Will be interesting to see whether this makes any difference at all to how we operate.
Id give it a good 24 hours.
no doubt this place will start going into meltdown.
looking forward to the forensic analysis and character dissection of a man we don’t know. Won’t stop some...
Waiting for
“can he play right wing”
“Woodward’s puppet”
“State of this club”
“Embarrassing”
Surely now we should complete deals early in the windows or even before the windows open like competent clubs do.
Somehow I don't think so.
Gary won't be happy on Sky that's for sure. Hopefully this works out but seems a hail Mary more than any real planning.
Somehow I don't think so.
Gary won't be happy on Sky that's for sure. Hopefully this works out but seems a hail Mary more than any real planning.
If nothing else, at least the role exists now from a structural perspective. Wish him and Fletcher the best of luck, hopefully we'll see the fruits of this in the next few years.
I see Ed is getting his fall guys in place prior to the summer.
Matt Judge is living a charmed life if past stories are to be believed.
Matt Judge is living a charmed life if past stories are to be believed.
After the Caf crying out for this appointment for years, how are people still finding a slant to criticise Ed on this?
Most of that is already happening.
I don't get it. Is this the 1st of April?
Murtough or Bout was always the best appointment IMO. Murtough is someone that was brought to the club after he'd held top development positions at a high level in the country and was very highly regarded . We never needed someone from the outside because our issues post SAF were that there was a disconnect between the manager and the scouts, with both parties being on different wavelengths. And i've made numerous posts over the years saying that we need the whole club to align in unison when it comes to our footballing identity and recruitment. So it's refreshing to read the statement which alludes to what I've been talking about for a few years now regarding aligning the footballing operation.
It's a very positive move that will hopefully provide stability. Which is something we needed badly with the managers job having a short shelf life.
It's a very positive move that will hopefully provide stability. Which is something we needed badly with the managers job having a short shelf life.
There would not be a single Football Club where Director of Football would be top most in Organisational Hierarchy . Off course they would report to Ceo or equivalent position directly or Indirectly.
Yes! Has anyone seen @devilish ? I think I just heard his head explode.Good luck to both of them. I feel whelmed about this, but only time will tell. Let's hope that they deliver in the summer, we need some reinforcements. Hopefully no players like Dalot, Sanchez or Rojo, but properly scouted players with good potential.
Two yes men for the Glazers and Woodward.
Not shocked in the slightest...
Not shocked in the slightest...
Fletcher will be taking on the footballing aspects of the Director of Football role. That's mostly what we need to know as fans of the club. I reckon he'll be doing the player assessments and informing the philosophical direction in regards to what happens on the pitch.
Given their off the pitch experience it seems clear that Judge, Murough and Woodward will be there to do the business admin type stuff in the background.
Given their off the pitch experience it seems clear that Judge, Murough and Woodward will be there to do the business admin type stuff in the background.