Paul Ince's open letter to Ed Woodward

Boneli

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Well seeing as Liverpool have barely strengthened at all since the end of the season, it kind of disproves his point about them not giving us any chance of catching up. If they get within 15 points of last year’s points total, I will be amazed.

To be honest, I think Paul Ince just comes out with this stuff to remind people he exists, on the off chance someone will trust him with a job again. I’m pretty sure it’s not possible for one person to be that thick.
 

fallengt

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Well, he's not wrong but was he being sober while writing this?

"open letter" :lol:. His 5' rant on TV is more constructive that this
 

SteveTheRed

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It's a passionate argument, but it falls apart as soon as you apply logic and truth.
 

Revan

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Sounds like some post you might expect from a newbie in Caf. Written poorly, condescending and calling players by name.

But then, this is from 'I would have done as good as Ole' Ince.
 

Nytram Shakes

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Not really saying anything new, though his comment on signing and bringing through young players is nonsense. But everyone has said for a couple of years now the issue is Woodward just doesn't have enough of a grip over football matters to really manage that side of a top club.

It isn't a financial problem we have pretty much been one of the top spenders in world football since Woodward took over and we have the second-highest wage bill in world football. it isn't the amount we are spending it how we are spending it.

No one is saying signing the right players is easy, or hiring the right manger is easy, (let's not forget 99% of people thought Sanchez was a bargain when we signed him) Ince himself has made pigs ears of signing and several clubs, so pot calling kettle black and all that.

It's also hard to deal with a situation like Pogba, what do you do when your most talented player clearly wants to leave but no club can afford him this summer?

But there's no question Woodward is getting it wrong too often, even this summer where I think our 3 signings are all pretty good, we signed Wan-Bissaka for 55million and while I like him as a player lets not forget its only 12 months since we signed Dalot for a good chunk of money, a young Right back who needs game time if he is ever going to achieve his potential. We've also just spent 80 million a centre back, taking our first-team centre backs up 2 7!!! in a 25 man squad we have 7 centre backs, that's completely bonkers!

His management hirings have also come across as appointments that would have been made by an uninformed fan. LVG was the biggest manager available the summer after Moyes was fired so we go for him, he then leaves leaving up with a young group of players who have had 2 years of been trained in possession football, we then hire Mourinho (the biggest name manager available) who like experienced players and his teams to play without the ball. From there we fall into the age all trap of appointing the caretaker manager who is enjoying a new manager bounce.

The contracts we are handing out, even taking away the utter stupidity of the Sanchez contract,
  • Rojo: the guy was not yet back from an injury that has ended many careers and we give him a 4-year extension and a rise.
  • Jones and Smalling contracts, they have basically been judged as not good enough by the manager after the manager who all demand new centre backs, and yet we give them contract extensions on wages that make them nearly impossible to sell?
  • Darmain gets another year when cleary what we are going to pay him would be less then we would get in a transfer fee.
  • Rashford and Martial on wages that mean they have to either become world-class or again are utterly unsellable.
  • De Gea, on the back of a down season, we are talking about putting on a wage that means he would be unsellable when we have a bright young prospect in Henderson on the books.
It's been clear from day 1, he clearly has no idea about the football side of things, from the whole Fabregas/Fellaini mess of that first summer. I thought after Mourinho fired, we were going to bring in sporting director, someone like a Paul Mitchell who does no what they are doing. But its become very clear Woodward doesn't want to relinquish any of his power or admit his own shortcomings. Realistically its become clear that until he does the club is just getting itself into more and more of a hole
 

Godfather

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That was painful to read. He might be right with some of his points but that read like it came from a 5 year old.
 

Chesterlestreet

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Yeah, honest fan there, just letting his views be known.

Nothing beyond that, just a regular guy voicing his opinion.

It's remotely interesting as a fairly high profile instance of someone (not Paul Ince, he's a whore) trying to gain something from pushing the "Woodward out" angle. We haven't seen that much, really - but it was always inevitable to come around.

Will Ed give a feck? Nah.
 

K13

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I just really don't understand Paul Ince. It just seems that he has a massive chip on his shoulder but I can not for the life of me fathom why.

He has had a fantastic playing career, is an ex international and someone who was given numerous opportunities to develop his management career. No shame at all that none of those worked out because he tried. It is just very hard to break into the elite.

He has a son who is a professional as well so suggests he was/is a very good role model to the people who matter most to him.

There has been an edge to him since Ole took over. Out of all our ex players you would expect the most put out to be those who have actually done quite well - Bruce, Hughes or Keane - or even Giggs as he was caretaker. They all seem very supportive.
 

OnlyTwoDaSilvas

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When I opened the thread I thought "oh god, here we go..."

But he's pretty much spot on, even if it reads like an angry fan on a radio phone-in right after losing a game.
 

Offsideagain

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Did he really write that? He’s just saying what everyone knows. The club have been taken for a ride by players and managers for five years now. At least they got out of signing Dybala who was only interested in ripping the club off and getting his agent a payday.
 

fastwalker

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Balderdash from Paul Ince, not surprising at all.

Did his dog write it for him?

Why has he decided 1 week before the season starts is the perfect time to come out and question Ole and the players? If we start poor for the first couple of months I could understand it, but what is he going to achieve by rocking the boat now?

Bizarre that he took a needless swipe at the youth players too by saying not much is coming through the academy. There is a very talented bunch of lads coming through, actually.
Hold on a minute. Paul Ince clearly has an agenda. He is clearly jealous of Ole getting the United job and has made no secret of that. He is also bitter and twisted about his own failed managerial career, as he once expected to be manager of Inter Milan. However, whatever his ulterior motives. I think he makes some very valid points in his 'open letter'. The reference to the academy is clearly relative to the volume and quality of players that United has produced in the past. Criticising Ince for his timing is one thing, but criticising him for his arguments is a bit like criticising a liar for deciding to tell the truth.
 

Owngoalscorer

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always was a prat and apparently still is - he was the archetypal big mouth as a player & that's why Fergie got rid.
Since he left he's done the square root of feck all - he need to slink off and keep his gob shut
 

Gordon S

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We have some of the most promising young talents knocking on the door to the first team in ages and he says they are not any good?

He is angry at Ed because Ole hasn't told Jesse to behave on social media?
Is that Ed's responsibility? How does he know Ole hasn't done that already? Does it really matter?

He is angry at Ed because Pogba said he was interested in a new challenge in the summer?
How is that Ed's fault?

AWB is one of the brightest young rb's around but it's the wrong way to go?

Ed is far from perfect and should have recruited a good DoF long ago but Ince should have spent a lot more time thinking this through.
 

jem

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I hate open letters and I can't stand Paul Ince. Sure he makes some solid points, but there's hardly anything profound there.
 

pixel

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What he says is contradictory in nature. On the one hand he suggests that spending 89M on Pogba and 55M on Wan-Bissaka was a bad investment (or at any rate we overpaid). And then he goes on to say that youth is actually not the way to go...Ole should rather be buying top quality senior players. News Flash: "top quality senior players don't come cheap". Maybe he should write another open letter where he can suggest where these players with the "right attitude" are to be found.

Of course we shot ourselves in the foot by spunking crazy money on the likes of Sanchez. So, yes Woodward should stick to counting the cash. And, also he is totally right on Jesse.
 

Summit

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Was that Paul Ince casually throwing his name in the hat for DoF? Interesting he mentioned every player isn't the right type of player to go for including WBS, wonder who is the right player?
 

Jim Beam

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It really is written like it was done by a 10-year old or someone who has just finished his 5th pint and went on a rant in a pub losing himself halfway through the original point.

So, altogether is just a mess, even if it was meant to raise some valid questions about Woodward tenure.
 

mitchmouse

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It would have been more succinct to say: "Dear Ed, You've made a right pig's ear of this. For all the good you have done (and there's little of it), go" Instead Ince blabbered on. he's a tool too
 

Jimmy_Bond

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Paul Ince trying to rescue face with United fans but ends up only confirming his mental age to be that of an 8 year old, rather than the 11 year old previously thought.

Embarrassing.
 

Sarni

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A disgrace that's he's basically saying abandon playing academy players because that's not what City and Liverpool do (Liverpool who FYI have Arnold and Gomez in their starting XI)
Gomez is not academy player, he was signed from Charlton for £4million having played over 20 games with them. It's basically like James, and also the type of talent I would like us to recruit.
 

TRUERED89

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I'm all for ex players showing their love for the club (even quite constructively), but this man wore a Liverpool jersey, his opinion means nought. It's really that simple.
Exactly, he can feck right off the pr!ck, only part I agreed with was the Lingard rant! apart from that just shut the feck up you mug!
 

Angelinho

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Negativity sells newspapers and Paul Ince is clearly trying to carve out a niche for himself as the go-to guy when United are under-performing. There will be times when, like the proverbial broken clock, he is on point. However, he shot his credibility in my eyes when he was still criticising Ole last season when we went on our winning spree.
 

Sassy Colin

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What does open letter even mean?

"Here is a copy of the letter I sent to Woodwoodwoodwood", that's all he needs to say.

In any case, Woody doesn't give a flying feck what Ince thinks, and rightly so.

This is Ince, the ex-Liverpool player, right?