Omar Berrada | Man Utd CEO

Pscholes18

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What was the circumstances of Newcastle poaching Ashworth from Brighton? Was it pretty much the same situation as we are in now? Was it after the season? Was Ashworths contract up? Point being, are we doing what they did to Brighton but NOW it's an issue? Or just them being sour graped cnuts?
 

Giggsy13

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What was the circumstances of Newcastle poaching Ashworth from Brighton? Was it pretty much the same situation as we are in now? Was it after the season? Was Ashworths contract up? Point being, are we doing what they did to Brighton but NOW it's an issue? Or just them being sour graped cnuts?
Pretty much sums up Newcastle’s conduct.
 

reddev3

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What was the circumstances of Newcastle poaching Ashworth from Brighton? Was it pretty much the same situation as we are in now? Was it after the season? Was Ashworths contract up? Point being, are we doing what they did to Brighton but NOW it's an issue? Or just them being sour graped cnuts?
I think they paid the full fee that was asked/needed which is what we're refusing to do, I remember reading it was only about 3 million though.
 

Giggsy13

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My point (set out in another post below responding to someone else) is that they most likely would never have to sue him because he'll abide by his contractual terms. The implied threat of action is usually enough to stop people being stupid enough to put themselves in the firing line. Seems like he fully intends to comply, since the club are still trying to negotiate a resolution.

What we're talking about is expecting someone to abide by the terms of their contract. He can leave, but he has to take gardening leave. How does that tarnish their brand? It's perfectly reasonable and shows that they won't be pushed around by other clubs. Good for them. If I were the next man in at Newcastle I'd have no problem with that because it should make my job easier. I hope United would take a similar stance instead of rolling over, even if a deal would likely, eventually be done.

And I disagree with your last point. You're talking about one of the best people at what he does in world football. He's an asset to his club, will have a load of insider knowledge re transfers and targets etc. And they're not standing in his way, simply making him take a mandated period of leave.

I assume then if Berrada does a great job in the next 18 months and wants to bail to Barcelona (perhaps taking a load of insider knowledge with him) you'd be happy for the club to just roll over and let him walk?
Yes. If they’ve been tapped up and want to leave then there is no point holding them hostage at the club, so they “abide by their contract”. It benefits no one. Negotiate a reasonable buy out, in line with the contract length and terms and be done with it. Newcastle’s demands are absolutely ridiculous and beyond what would be deemed a reasonable fee. Not that a Saudi run club would have any type of self awareness that they would actually care about their reputation, but I’m certain other football executives will look at their conduct with Ashworth, as being petty and unreasonable. Reputation matters, so if Newcastle want a satisfactory ending, find a replacement and let ashworth leave for a reasonable sum not £20 million.
 

Damien

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Mendy 52m and Philips 45m? That's not really expensive.
Mendy was the most expensive defender signing of all time when he made the move back in 2017 and is to this day one of the most expensive fullback signings ever. As for Phillips that is still a decent chunk for a defensive midfielder, only made to look irrelevant by Chelsea's transfer madness since.
 

parmenio

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Yes. If they’ve been tapped up and want to leave then there is no point holding them hostage at the club, so they “abide by their contract”. It benefits no one. Negotiate a reasonable buy out, in line with the contract length and terms and be done with it. Newcastle’s demands are absolutely ridiculous and beyond what would be deemed a reasonable fee. Not that a Saudi run club would have any type of self awareness that they would actually care about their reputation, but I’m certain other football executives will look at their conduct with Ashworth, as being petty and unreasonable. Reputation matters, so if Newcastle want a satisfactory ending, find a replacement and let ashworth leave for a reasonable sum not £20 million.
Exactly Newcastle tapped him up in the first place which pretty much means he’s was talked to very in depth prior to accepting. Shows how the gardening example is unenforceable. Newcastle are being very childish here and any replacement unless out of contract will come with a £20m fee for compensation. Silly stuff.
 

SouthMancRed

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https://sportwitness.co.uk/rival-wo...gning-paratici-trying-help-spurs-summer-deal/
- Albert Guðmundsson | Insistence in Italy that Fabio Paratici is leading Spurs interest
- Director is of course banned from football, but there's been repeat claims he's advising Spurs


No, no, can't be true. I mean, he's not allowed to work for anybody so he can't possibly be working for Spurs behind the scenes*...

*not very surreptitiously by the looks of it.
 

RedRover

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Yes. If they’ve been tapped up and want to leave then there is no point holding them hostage at the club, so they “abide by their contract”. It benefits no one. Negotiate a reasonable buy out, in line with the contract length and terms and be done with it. Newcastle’s demands are absolutely ridiculous and beyond what would be deemed a reasonable fee. Not that a Saudi run club would have any type of self awareness that they would actually care about their reputation, but I’m certain other football executives will look at their conduct with Ashworth, as being petty and unreasonable. Reputation matters, so if Newcastle want a satisfactory ending, find a replacement and let ashworth leave for a reasonable sum not £20 million.
He's not being held hostage. He's resigned and he'll get paid in full, until he can take up his new role at a direct competitor.

It benefits a club not to fold, because then you look like a soft touch and that (as we've seen at United in terms of transfers) is a major problem. It might also cause the team trying to tempt someone away to move on to other targets if they need someone in post quickly, and I'd be willing to bet that happens. They're clearly taking a stance generally that they won't be taken advantage of by perceived "bigger" clubs. That might them keep players and benefit them in negotiations generally. Whatever you think of those tactics, that's evidently how they're going to operate.

Nobody on here knows what Newcastle's demands actually are, or how "reasonable" they are, however you define that, but the point is he's under contract and if they want to keep him tied down for a period of time, they can. You're entitled to your opinion, but it won't put off other top executives because they're professionals who understand that signing a highly lucrative contract comes with consequences, as it does for the top executives in business generally. Ashworth was willing to sign it, after all. The idea that top people in the field won't take the Saudi money, just because they want to enforce non-compete clauses, as per his contract is nonsense.

We're talking about the man who runs the sporting side of a whole football club and replacing him will result in all kinds of upheaval. These appointments are taken on for the long term. Why would they make it easy?

Mad that you'd expect United just to roll over if the shoe was on the other foot. I don't think INEOS would approach it that way given how they're operating in trying to bring in their own executive team. I'd be happy for the club to be difficult, personally.

And re Brighton, they had an option to pay him to do nothing for 9 months, or take the cash on offer. They took the cash, but that's not something Newcastle need.
 
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Yukon Devil

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They took the cash, but that's not something Newcastle need.
Newcastle are flying to Australia days after the season ends to play two exhibition games before the end of the current fiscal period. They definitely need the cash.
 

golden_blunder

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You're on something here :smirk:

But does he have the proper diploma and knowledge for this job?

Even if he does - His health will be some concern, no?
His degrees are in sports marketing and business or something like that. His first job at Ajax was running the marketing and he got promoted to CEO.

his health would be a concern but perhaps less being part of a functioning snr management unit
 

RedRover

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Newcastle are flying to Australia days after the season ends to play two exhibition games before the end of the current fiscal period. They definitely need the cash.
They need commercial revenue from emerging markets so they can spend cash. The Saudi PIF is not short of money!
 

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Amusingly Woodward would have been world class at that role from what you hear about his tenure.
That's true. He had sponsors all over the place paying big money to get their products/services associated with the club. Can't fault him for that but if only the leeches hadn't allowed him to get involved in football matters.
 

OverratedOpinion

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That's true. He had sponsors all over the place paying big money to get their products/services associated with the club. Can't fault him for that but if only the leeches hadn't allowed him to get involved in football matters.
Although saying that I do think he brought a political aspect to the club that may have undermined a lot of things. I'm honestly not sure if that's just a view I have or if it's true. Things have been such a mess under the Glazers that it's hard to tell where to lay blame.
 

elmo

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Amusingly Woodward would have been world class at that role from what you hear about his tenure.
He wouldn’t really. Our club boasts a lot about the increase in revenue throughout the last 10 years but the reality was that was just from the influx in sponsorship money and tv deals which all clubs gained.
 

OverratedOpinion

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He wouldn’t really. Our club boasts a lot about the increase in revenue throughout the last 10 years but the reality was that was just from the influx in sponsorship money and tv deals which all clubs gained.
Maybe not, I did notice us getting a hell of a lot of sponsorships in that time and even his worst critics tend to take a pretty generous view about his accomplishments in that side of his role.
 

elmo

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Maybe not, I did notice us getting a hell of a lot of sponsorships in that time and even his worst critics tend to take a pretty generous view about his accomplishments in that side of his role.
He devalued our brand really. We signed loads of small deals for specific regions which makes us scramble to replace them after 2-3 seasons because nobody saw the point in renewing.

We were by far the biggest club in England commercially before he took over and most of our rivals have caught up to us now.
 

bond19821982

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Amusingly Woodward would have been world class at that role from what you hear about his tenure.
He would have been actually. He should have just appointed someone who knew the footballing part . I genuinely think we would be in a far better position if someone like Gill was appointed under Woodward. He was way too confident or arrogant and thought he coud manage everything by himself, ultimately doing everything worse.
 

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I thought it was Arnold during his time as Commercial Director and later Group Managing Director who was responsible for most of our commercial deals?
 

bosskeano

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he along with Ashworth and Wilcox have a MASSIVE job ahead of them this summer. Not only to decide on the future of EtH, or who would replace him, but also the massive revamping of the squad which is completely necessary

the one positive is that it finally feels like the club is going in the correct direction sporting wise not driven openly by the commercial side of the business