The John Murtough Era

[stoinz]

are we briefing the media or are they making up stories. The stories were about Antony, Sesko, FDJ Capko, Drumfries 2 weeks ago. Now its all about Marko and Rabiot. The closer to the end of window, the lower we go. Personally I rather we bite the bullet and go with youth.

But whatever we go for, Murough has failed in his job in my opinion, has appointed RR but did not back him and now looks like setting up ETH for failure too.

 

[Morpheus 7]

This is turning as ugly as anything Woodward was messing up, the smell of fear of them now. Scraping the bottom for anything now in desperation

 

[Swedish_Plumber]

I’m intrigued as to whether he panics or not. It’ll be the same old shite if we find ourselves signing Rabiot and arnautovic.

 

[Lentwood]

We needed to be far, far braver in pre-season. We have given a squad a minor facelift when it needed open-heart surgery. We all knew this, this isn't after-timing, seemingly the only people who didn't know it are once again the people actually responsible for making the decisions.

At some point, we are going to have to have a window were we sell 10+ players, including some who might have uses and just go with what we have left, even if we finish 16th. We can't keep going from window to the next adding a player, selling a player...we're never going to get anywhere doing that.

Once we actually start shifting some of the crap, we can really focus on the type of player we bring in. It would be a painful process but it is what has been required for a long-time now, the sooner we do it, the better

 

[CM]

“These are questions for John Murtough, who led the overhaul under Ed Woodward and appointed Steve Brown as head of recruitment.”

This is a key point for me in Whitwell’s recent article bemoaning how we are only going after players ETH knows. Murtough overhauled the recruitment system - this is his recruitment system that can’t be trusted and has completely failed. It now needs yet another overhaul apparently. Any idea he hasn’t been involved in the utter ineptitude over that last decade is just a blatant fallacy - he was a key part of this recruitment mess and was a key footballing advisor to Woodward. Woodward loved him so much he’s gotten numerous promotions during his time here.

This is worrying. Also the fact that when Rangnick drew attention to how bad our players and recruitment process really were, he was quietly ushered out the door. I remember hearing Murtough didn't like how outspoken he had become.

I honestly believe this is as bad as it's ever been. There's obviously a reason why ten Hag feels he can only go for players he knows, the system we have in place at the moment clearly isn't fit for purpose.

 

[dove]

Lovely start to the new era. The FdJ saga is a complete shambles and now we are panicking, will likely end up with Rabiot and Arnautovic. We have seen this exact same scenario for about 10 transfer windows in a row now. Rinse and repeat.

 

[El Jefe]

He deserves the sack already. The Rangnick appointment then reversal of his consultancy plus this transfer windoe has been a series of shit shows.

This is as bad as anything Woodward did.

 

[Scriblerus]

So now our transfer policy is basically dumpster diving? I despair…and I was an OT regular when we got relegated.

 

[2cents]

Shambles, there’s no rationalizing this mess. All the worst-case scenarios we had in the back of our minds in May look to be playing out, and it’s this guy’s responsibility unfortunately.

 

[justsomebloke]

This is worrying. Also the fact that when Rangnick drew attention to how bad our players and recruitment process really were, he was quietly ushered out the door. I remember hearing Murtough didn't like how outspoken he had become.

I honestly believe this is as bad as it's ever been. There's obviously a reason why ten Hag feels he can only go for players he knows, the system we have in place at the moment clearly isn't fit for purpose.

When you're in the place last season left us in, I think there are two ways to address that. Either you can deliver a credible fix, which means making a heavy investment to credibly address all major areas of concern. Or you could own up to the trouble you're in, clear out the players and staff you identify as not being good enough, call for patience, start addressing needs one by one and live with the pain in the mean time. To succeed with either, you need a clear and credible plan, impeccable judgment and the willingness to be brutal in your personnel decisions. But it begins with acknowledging the reality of the challenge.

What you cannot do is pretend the reality isn't what it is, that nothing really drastic needs to be done and you can continue doing things more or less the way you have been and build on what you already have. This is the path Murtough has chosen. There is no acknowledgement from the club, either in words or actions, that last season represented something that this club cannot afford and does not accept. Just a vague sense of disappointment coupled with an equally vague optimism.

 

[The-Natural]

I have had serious reservations about this grinning fool since I first laid eyes on him. Something about him just immediately screamed second rate to me and, a las, it seems my instincts were right on that occasion.

 

[Rightnr]

10 years after Moyes, United bring you the Moyes of DoFs

 

[mitchmouse]

I have had serious reservations about this grinning fool since I first laid eyes on him. Something about him just immediately screamed second rate to me and, a las, it seems my instincts were right on that occasion.

I said he was just a Woodward mini-me - and got told my negativity was hurting the club (or something approaching that). time for this fool to be gone - and take Arnold with him

 

[Infra-red]

So now our transfer policy is basically dumpster diving? I despair…and I was an OT regular when we got relegated.

Indeed. Rabiot and Arnautovic were available for peanuts months ago. As usual for United, this is not a carefully crafted plan; it is our now standard tactic of last-minute, desperate panic buying.

I don't know why I expected this summer to be different.

 

[Gavinb33]

If the answers are Arnautovic and Rabiot I don't know what the question is.

I've defended Murtough on here regarding the FdJ issue which I believe is the managers doing, but if we are thinking of getting these in we might as well go with Garner, Zidane, Savage, Garnacho and Mcneil at this point rather than these 2 players

 

[AmanNits04]

When you're in the place last season left us in, I think there are two ways to address that. Either you can deliver a credible fix, which means making a heavy investment to credibly address all major areas of concern. Or you could own up to the trouble you're in, clear out the players and staff you identify as not being good enough, call for patience, start addressing needs one by one and live with the pain in the mean time. To succeed with either, you need a clear and credible plan, impeccable judgment and the willingness to be brutal in your personnel decisions. But it begins with acknowledging the reality of the challenge.

What you cannot do is pretend the reality isn't what it is, that nothing really drastic needs to be done and you can continue doing things more or less the way you have been and build on what you already have. This is the path Murtough has chosen. There is no acknowledgement from the club, either in words or actions, that last season represented something that this club cannot afford and does not accept. Just a vague sense of disappointment coupled with an equally vague optimism.

Just like how an Ostrich digs a hole and puts its head inside it,to ignore any danger on the outside.

 

[TrueRed79]

Oh look! A complete novice in charge of a dysfunctional institution is failing at his job. Now would have thunk that!

 

[Andycoleno9]

We manage to do impossible thing.
We didn't had DoF and we managed to downgrade that position with hiring DoF.
He is out of depth on Solskjaer's level. Amazing how incompetent this guy is. Another one who is stealing a living in our club. Him and the guy who hired him should be sacked today.

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

Should be sacked.

Waste no time. This is as bad as anything Woodward served up.

Probably worse, because he had plenty of time to plan for the summer.

 

[Infra-red]

Luckhurst sticking the boot in. Fair play - can't really disagree with any of it.

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[jamesjimmybyrondean]

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He said its blatantly obvious changes have to be made and its not enough to do some minor changes. The interesting part for me here is when he says "and if everybody has realised this has to happen and if we can work together ...I still believe it doesn't have to take 3 years". Its like a dig at the board and its known now that they didn't get along. And now you have ETH saying we can do better with the players we have

It seems like the board is hoping Ten Hag is a miracle coach

 

[VorZakone]

No Woodward appreciation thread?

 

[Flying high]

Where does Murtough go from here that doesn't make it look like he's fked up?

We need some quality in the first team right now. We need 2 CFs, a RW, 2 CMs and a RB.

Ronaldo, AWB and any 2 of our CBs need to go, no matter how much we lose on them.

There's going to be a riot if we haven't sorted something really significant by the time the scousers roll into town.

 

[Andycoleno9]

Oh look! A complete novice in charge of a dysfunctional institution is failing at his job. Now would have thunk that!

It was funny from the start how some fans were delighted when we hired/promoted him despite he
A) never worked as Dof
B) is Ed's apprentice.

It is like replacing Palpatine with Darth Maul and thinking about it as a "fresh start" (damn, this sounds so nerdy )

 

[Andycoleno9]

Where does Murtough go from here that doesn't make it look like he's fked up?

We need some quality in the first team right now. We need 2 CFs, a RW, 2 CMs and a RB.

Ronaldo, AWB and any 2 of our CBs need to go, no matter how much we lose on them.

There's going to be a riot if we haven't sorted something really significant by the time the scousers roll into town.

He completely fecked up. Level of incompetence which he showed last few months is huge. With slow transfers dealings and with completely ignoring scouting and trying to buy only ETH's targets we entered into this season in a complete mess.

Only way how he can reduce damage is to buy 3 or 4 world class players in next 10 days. Which of course, he will not.

 

[RedorDead21]

Where does Murtough go from here that doesn't make it look like he's fked up?

We need some quality in the first team right now. We need 2 CFs, a RW, 2 CMs and a RB.

Ronaldo, AWB and any 2 of our CBs need to go, no matter how much we lose on them.

There's going to be a riot if we haven't sorted something really significant by the time the scousers roll into town.

we are overpaying for sure now. We have to really stay away from the Neves types or we’ll be really rinsed. We have to target more unknowns from the less wealthy clubs to do us this season. And trust coaching has some impact. If De Jong comes in I’d be happy with another central midfielder who is more of a gamble. Any quality around the the under 21s across Europe perhaps? There must be some German players Bayern haven’t yet hoovered Up. As far as mentality goes….they are as reliable as it gets.

 

[justsomebloke]

He completely fecked up. Level of incompetence which he showed last few months is huge. With slow transfers dealings and with completely ignoring scouting and trying to buy only ETH's targets we entered into this season in a complete mess.

Only way how he can reduce damage is to buy 3 or 4 world class players in next 10 days. Which of course, he will not.

And even if he did it'd still not be great, because having to integrate 3-4 world class players after the season has begun is not a good position to put a new manager in.

 

[Dante]

United can only do reasonable business if the other club is willing to do the same. For too long, everyone has had us over a barrel and we've happily accepted it.

At the moment, we're still suffering the hangover from the Woodward era where every club in Europe thought they could ride roughshod over Manchester United at the negotiating table. At the very least, Murtough isn't allowing that to happen. It may well mean a couple of summers where we struggle to get anything done. But it may also be the only way rehabilitate our image as wasteful spenders.

Hopefully it'll work out in the long run. Short term pain for long term gain. I'm taking any departure from the Woodward way of doing things as a positive sign.

 

[Shinjch]

He has shown himself to be a disaster already. The club was not in a position to be wasting a summer window with a novice in charge of recruitment, we should have gone for someone with a track record of getting business done. Not promoting from within an already failing system.

But that is our club I am afraid.

 

[crossy1686]

This is turning as ugly as anything Woodward was messing up, the smell of fear of them now. Scraping the bottom for anything now in desperation

Dammed if they do, dammed if they don’t at this point. This is what happens when you don’t have a clear plan or backup plan.

 

[Scriblerus]

Our transfer policy

 

[Rocksy]

I honestly believe this is as bad as it's ever been. There's obviously a reason why ten Hag feels he can only go for players he knows, the system we have in place at the moment clearly isn't fit for purpose.

Danny Taylor mentioned a few weeks ago that ETH was already frustrated with the recruitment/player identification. That was within 2-3 weeks of Ten Hag starting. It was only a mention but it stood out at the time. Regardless, you’ve got to worry that Ten Hag is only looking at players he’s had or watched. He did the same at Ajax (with Utrecht players), but had Overmars there to balance things out.

 

[UnofficialDevil]

Just sack him already. Along with Fletcher.

 

[Rocksy]

Murtough is out of his depth entirely, I’ve felt this ever since the leak to the press (probably by him…) about how he, Fletcher and Arnold were left in complete shock by their interview with Ten Hag and that it felt like they were being interviewed by him.

… It’s a bit like when Woodward was knocked out by OGS writing the “Manchester United First 11 2025” on a paper flipchart, and so rewarded him with a £9 million a year contract as permanent manager. He actually briefed that to the media, and a few weeks later was briefing about “800 right-backs” and AWB. - Woodward rating Murtough as his “fixer” is not something Murtough should be proud of.

 

[RyRy11]

I’ve seen enough. I was patient to see how he would deal with this summer and it’s been worse than anything we had under Woodward. Let’s stop beating around the bush and hire a DOF with experience.

 

[Rocksy]

Judging by this summer's transfer activity (or lack thereof), it would appear that Murtough and Arnold still believe that last season's squad is fundamentally a top 4 squad and that all that is really required is better coaching and management.

They’ve openly said that, haven’t they? A couple of days after announcing Rangnick was not continuing. ETH will improve players, but that doesn’t mean Rangnick was wrong about the open heart surgery. I think Rangnick ended up embarrassing Murtough because he was pointing out that the squad, recruitment/scouting, AND the medical department needed blitzing. All of those are Murtough’s responsibilities. I remember him mentioning the medical side and a few days later he went out of his way to say the medical staff were good in a press conference. I’m pretty sure that would have been Murtough’s order, and that was probably about the time Rangnick and him were done.

 

[sugar_kane]

… It’s a bit like when Woodward was knocked out by OGS writing the “Manchester United First 11 2025” on a paper flipchart, and so rewarded him with a £9 million a year contract as permanent manager. He actually briefed that to the media, and a few weeks later was briefing about “800 right-backs” and AWB. - Woodward rating Murtough as his “fixer” is not something Murtough should be proud of.

Hah I forgot about that… it’s unbelievable how an organisation of our size has been run and continues to be run.

Still waiting for someone to write a book on how our club is being run as it would be a fascinating read, but they’re probably holding off as there’s seemingly still plenty of mad tales to come.

 

[hobbers]

Murtough hired Rangnick because he really rated him as a club-builder, then Rangnick came and publicly dismantled everything Murtough had been doing for the past 7-8 years, and low and behold they dont retain him.

 

[IrishRedDevil]

Big Jahnnnnn. It's easy to do it during the tour lad, nice little business trips to Spain, slightly different ball game when the premier league starts, eh?

 

[PoTMS]

Remember when people genuinely thought anything had changed? Better days.