Richard Arnold cleaning house | Making 'significant changes' to Social Media strategy etc.

Adnan

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How long has he been advising them?
I've no idea, I only heard about Mike Forde recently in a article which Whitwell/Ornstein dropped via The Athletic. And in that article it was said that Forde was advising the Glazers. I then did a bit of a search online and learned that Forde and Murtough worked together in the past, before Murtough was brought to United by David Moyes. Murtough progressed as a talent developer on the football side and Forde progressed as a football executive. It wouldn't surprise me if Murtough brings Forde into the equation when negotiating deals.

Both Rangnick and ten Hag deals were brokered by Forde.

 

glazed

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My concern is that Arnold is trying to change the image of the club rather than the substance.
 

phelans shorts

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My concern is that Arnold is trying to change the image of the club rather than the substance.
So let me get this straight, we look like a total mess, so nobody worth a damn would come to us, and the way we get around this is… to not change our image in the slightest?

Making substantive changes will lead to the image changing, just look at Liverpool we’ve seen it in real time just down the A580!
 

glazed

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Making substantive changes will lead to the image changing, just look at Liverpool we’ve seen it in real time just down the A580!
Yes we must change our image by changing the substance. I'm concerned that we're being gas lit again.
 

Lemoor

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I've no idea, I only heard about Mike Forde recently in a article which Whitwell/Ornstein dropped via The Athletic. And in that article it was said that Forde was advising the Glazers. I then did a bit of a search online and learned that Forde and Murtough worked together in the past, before Murtough was brought to United by David Moyes. Murtough progressed as a talent developer on the football side and Forde progressed as a football executive. It wouldn't surprise me if Murtough brings Forde into the equation when negotiating deals.

Both Rangnick and ten Hag deals were brokered by Forde.

Good to know. Thanks.
 

phelans shorts

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Yes we must change our image by changing the substance. I'm concerned that we're being gas lit again.
But we can’t change the substance without changing the image because, as I said, nobody worth a damn would want any involvement with us right now.

What you’re being is fecking depressing. Don’t worry though, you’re far from the only one.
 

Greck

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My concern is that Arnold is trying to change the image of the club rather than the substance.
It's not. He's heading a lot of changes. In fact most executive changes can't happen without the CEO. Directors on the same organizational line can't actually fire each other. Assuming that screengrab wasn't a hoax it looks like he's heading the changes. Time will tell how effective they are. The names he hires will say a lot. With Woodward we never went for the best, a lot of our hires seemed to be underqualified learners. We were giving briefings about being after directors for like 3 whole years before he settled on internal promotions. Very likely he didn't want to cede power. Woodward's ego almost killed the club.
 

glazed

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What you’re being is fecking depressing. Don’t worry though, you’re far from the only one.
The Glazers entire business model is based on the fans wanting to believe their bullshit. I'll believe it when I see it.
 

roseguy64

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You get experience by working yourself up the ladder and proving you have what it takes. Jobs such as Fletcher's are rewarded to those who have done all of that and can put their experience to work. This is not an entry level job. Instead, Fletcher was a footballer one year, the next he coached the kids one year and the next he was technical director. A job usually rewarded to people with the highest expertise. It's like appointing a fresh out of college kid to be your senior developer. Textbook Jobs for the Boys FC.

Arnold was Woodward's protege for more than a decade. You will forgive me for not holding my breath.
Jobs like the one Fletcher has are handed out to recently retired footballers all the time. That's part of what's helpful for the role he's in. Having coaching badges and having played a long time at the club you're now being employed at again. What is it that you think he does?

If he was in Murtough's role then I'd agree he's not fit for the job.

Also, Arnold wasn't really Woodward's protege. They worked in different cities for one. And secondly, Woodward was closer with Judge hence him leaving too.
 

Greck

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Jobs like the one Fletcher has are handed out to recently retired footballers all the time. That's part of what's helpful for the role he's in. Having coaching badges and having played a long time at the club you're now being employed at again. What is it that you think he does?

If he was in Murtough's role then I'd agree he's not fit for the job.

Also, Arnold wasn't really Woodward's protege. They worked in different cities for one. And secondly, Woodward was closer with Judge hence him leaving too.
Have no problem giving Fletcher the benefit of the doubt since he's already here but the actual hiring process conducted by Woodward wasn't something to be lauded. He was picked from a pool of Evra and Ferdinand, not because they all had hidden talent for the role but because we wanted United DNA.

Here's Evra confirming he could have been a director.
I don't think Evra was too keen on the scope of influence of the role. Seems the role was always envisioned to be a kind of manager's assistant/coaching hybrid. The TD idea then got scrapped and resumed several times. Woodward almost didn't take it seriously. It was in limbo for a god 3 years till he eventually just settled on whatever former player.
Fletcher could turn out to be the best thing that happened at the club since Fergie but the hiring was peak Ed-Woodward regime at its finest.
 
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UNITED ACADEMY

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My concern is that Arnold is trying to change the image of the club rather than the substance.
If it changes the image, it allows you to change the substance by making players to believe the project. If it changes the substance, it allows you to change the image as well. So both have the connection right? I meant how are you going to change the image without changing the substance in the first place?
 

wise_old_man

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I think Woodward really wanted to be liked as mad as that sounds to your average fan. His crew were learning on the job and seemingly without any accountability from America. The owners didn’t seem to want to crack the whip at all. Why would they when the mistakes weren’t costing them anything apart from pride and who cares about pride when you’re just a landlord. Nothing wrong with Ed hiring people he trusted but my god what a waste it’s all turned out to be. We are Utd, for the money we spend we should have the best and most cutting edge organisation. I think this is all a step in the right direction. Let’s hope it’s not too little too late.
It’s ALREADY too late. City and Liverpool have already established their dominating dynasties and there’s nothing we can do to stop them anymore.
 

Ali Dia

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It’s ALREADY too late. City and Liverpool have already established their dominating dynasties and there’s nothing we can do to stop them anymore.
It’s not really. We would do well to remember as fans of a really successful club what it took to set the bar and we’ve seen how easy it can slip away too. We’ve seen city and Chelsea catch up to us and Liverpool come back to their best. It’s not impossible. Far from it. If we stopped spending our money on the wrong players and managers and ruthlessly sorted out the running of the recruitment and contracts we’d have a serious team now for the money we've spent even if the owners are idiots. We just have to fix that and get the players in line behind a decent and probably pretty strict manager and things will be most likely be good again.
 
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AdNani

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It’s ALREADY too late. City and Liverpool have already established their dominating dynasties and there’s nothing we can do to stop them anymore.
a bit like how Barca had established there dominance, or Juve Theirs or we had ours, football goes in cycles.
 

Slysi17

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You need to get your head around the fact that DF is technical director in name only. His job is well defined and known. I hope they change the job title
well they should. Because if Darren Fletcher is Technical Director why is he in the dugout with Ralf Ragnick then. Its totally confusing as to what Darren Fletcher actually does.
 

TheReligion

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well they should. Because if Darren Fletcher is Technical Director why is he in the dugout with Ralf Rangnick then. Its totally confusing as to what Darren Fletcher actually does.
Because Rangnick doesn’t have enough coaches or a suitable assistant
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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By lying, obviously.
Lying won't turn it into progress. No progress, the image won't changed. So in order to make the progress, change the substance. Although, it doesn't mean that whatever substance change we made are the right thing.
 

Loon

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I would imagine the one thing the Glazers would get behind is driving down the contracts.
 

glazed

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Lying won't turn it into progress. No progress, the image won't changed. So in order to make the progress, change the substance. Although, it doesn't mean that whatever substance change we made are the right thing.
The point is that they don't need to be successful on the field to keep the money coming. They just need to convince the fans that it is a possibility. Hence all the stupid marquee signings of over the hill big names. So assuming they plan to deliver on all this stuff is perhaps optimistic. As long as we all continue to tune in to the soap opera it's all good.

Do you believe in aliens ?
Yes. I just don't believe they visit the earth.
 

golden_blunder

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well they should. Because if Darren Fletcher is Technical Director why is he in the dugout with Ralf Rangnick then. Its totally confusing as to what Darren Fletcher actually does.
Well that’s a different question. As someone who’s working on coaching badges he was asked to help coach when carrick and McKenna left. This is temporary and not his full time gig
 

Adisa

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My concern is that Arnold is trying to change the image of the club rather than the substance.
Both go hand in hand. We have an image because clearly things are not working and not the other way round.
 

mitchmouse

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whenever "suits" think they need to look busy, they "revamp" things like social media. does he not know there are rather more pressing matters? or is he just another clown, Woodward clone?
 

romufc

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whenever "suits" think they need to look busy, they "revamp" things like social media. does he not know there are rather more pressing matters? or is he just another clown, Woodward clone?
What are the pressing matters?
 

romufc

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making sure we don't finish 7th, 8th or 9th again?
Right so we haven't sacked the manager? appointed a new one?

Oh yeah he is only making social media changes?

Woodward gone
Matt Judge gone
2 Scouts gone
Finance man gone

Yep he is only social media changes.
 

mitchmouse

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Right so we haven't sacked the manager? appointed a new one?

Oh yeah he is only making social media changes?

Woodward gone
Matt Judge gone
2 Scouts gone
Finance man gone

Yep he is only social media changes.
are you his son?
 

romufc

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are you his son?
So speaking facts about what someone is doing means I must be related to him.

I guess Haters gonna hate, looks like you enjoy United being shit so you can complain and moan all the time.
 

Elcabron

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It’s ALREADY too late. City and Liverpool have already established their dominating dynasties and there’s nothing we can do to stop them anymore.
I agree. It's time to initiate the self destruct sequence. There isn't even time for a final tweet from the clubs official Twitter account. Self destruct mode now activated, 10, 9, 8.........
 

macheda14

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making sure we don't finish 7th, 8th or 9th again?
Authorising the hiring of manager that shows a new direction for the club (not going for Poch), emboldening the new football structure and not meddling in footballing matters, pushing the head of negotiations out the door so we hopefully stop giving bad players new contracts to protect the assets, getting rid of head scouts. These things have been done on the footballing side, they look like they will continue to be done going on into the summer. We can also concurrently investigate other aspects of the club, including Social Media that does impact our image. It looks like he's coming in and ripping it all up to start again. Multiple issues can be dealt with at once. Reports are he wants us to go back somewhat to having the image of football club first, business club second. In complete opposition to the criticisms of Jose, LVG and the main reason we didn't get Klopp. Klopp is the greatest example of our image hampering our success - he was put off by us being 'Disneyland' as Woodward put it.