Thank you mate, it was a nice discussion for a change, which I appreciate. Let's hope we can bring in a top class Head Coach who will have a lot of talent to work with.
We need a bona fide DoF. 2021 version.
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The manager shouldn't be the one releasing or purchasing players, it should be a club matter and that's why I'm a strong proponent of the DOF role, in our case we have Murtough and Fletcher. My point is that an elite manager provides two crucial things, he is better at utilizing a good squad and the inputs that he gives to the DOF are also generally better because he is supposed to be better at identifying issues and finding answers within the systems that he chose.
One of the biggest issue that United has had in the last 8 years is that we brought people that were not elite managers and they did two things, they poorly judged the situation and didn't bring the correct players and they didn't take into account the fact that United isn't an endless pit of money, none of them, Ole included seem to actually care about the club's long term interest.
Releasing I mean, that and that player I dont need. Ole trusted all of his players or so he said and then he doesnt use the majority of them. Its astonishing that so many players seem to be bought for the wrong setup or system or Ole doesnt know how to use them.
I understand manager doesn't or shouldn't purchase players, he reports to the DOF, as you say, what does he need and in which position.
I see no not new names just moved into the cloth.
It's not that surprising and not limited to Ole, it also happens to elite head coaches or head coaches. It's pretty clear that people often forget that a player playing for a different manager in a different team, is most likely following different instructions. The issue is then that when you add a new player, he has to not only fit with your system as a whole, his role within that system and his teammates, more often than not something like that only happens through proper coaching and clear instructions which is where elite head coaches demonstrate that they are elite.
I think that it is a big reason behind many failed transfers of seemingly good players.
I was engaged in a debate months ago on this very issue and honestly I am in no mood to go back to that. Long story short, I think that the higher ups are fed up of giving jobs to outside people who then end up criticizing them. Moyes did it, LVG did it and Mourinho did it as well. Hence why they are hiring inexperienced people who would never get a similar job at this level anywhere else and are therefore too grateful to the higher ups to ever criticizing them. What happened between the Glazers and Woodward (ie hiring an inexperienced guy who proved his loyalty to them and would never criticize them) is being replicated at DOF, Technical director, manager and coaching level. Which leads us to us possibly having the most inexperienced and incompetent structure at top club level football, people who know one another. Many keep speaking about nepotism in terms of Ole, Carrick, Phelan, Clegg etc. The same is happening at corporate level with Woodward, Arnold and Judge all having studied at the university of Bristol. Its the same pattern across the board.
Its a shame really because we offer some of the highest paid jobs in football. We could have easily afforded Marotta as CEO, Campos as DOF and the likes of Tuchel as manager. Money is really not the issue here.
He only became sporting director in 2016.
I just want Edwin VDS to rejoin us if we are going to go for a past player at any stage. Leave the others.
On another note we must have the poorest return on trophies for any large spending side of all time surely?
Hilariously bad if I wasn’t a United supporter. We keep messing up with almost unlimited funds compared to most sides. It would be hard to get it much more wrong with this budget.
On another note we must have the poorest return on trophies for any large spending side of all time surely?
Hilariously bad if I wasn’t a United supporter. We keep messing up with almost unlimited funds compared to most sides. It would be hard to get it much more wrong with this budget.
100% this. Everything is shite now according to them.
We've just had single handedly our best transfer window in YEARS and apparently that's not good enough. Largely due to Fletch/Murtough doing a lot of the recruitment. But hey let's get a new guy in, just because.
Beggers belief.
The main problem is Ed, he is in charge of running the club. Glazers are enjoying their life in USA and only interested in balance sheet and how much money they can take out from the club every year and how much profits they can make selling the club's share.
Arnold is going to take over from his mate, Ed. Both of them are cut from the same cloth. I don't think anything will change anytime soon.
Murtough looks like only in charge of reserve/academy and doesn't have much influence over 1st team.
We need to pray hard that we can be lucky like Liverpool striking jackpot with Klopp.
Identifying Ronaldo, Varane and Sancho doesn’t exactly require a keen knowledge of the transfer market. Nor is it reasonable to say it was a great window at this point.
Not saying Murtough isn’t up to it. Just pointing out the fact that the jury is still very much out on him as well as our summer window.
I don't think the signings are bad, to be honest. The team is really good, but they are massively underperforming. That is due to the lack of a good manager who knows how to drill the team. Getting a proper manager will make a massive difference to this team.
Yes, some signings are needed, but the team is very good and should be competing for the Premier League title. We have a manager who does not know how to use them. Look at Sancho and De Beek. These are two players who Solskjaer clearly has no idea about. They could be like new signings with a new manager.
Unfortunately, we are going to act too late with the change. I think if we changed the manager now, we would still have a chance to get back into the title race. We could beat Chelsea and City with a better manager, but it seems we are going to sink the City game with this manager and that will end any chance.
I think the club has made a lot of positive changes in terms of transfers and management, but it needs to get rid of the influence of former United members. It is time to wipe the slate clean: get rid of Solskjaer; thank Ferguson and co; and then move on. People keep trying to change the focus, but all we need is Solskjaer gone. He is relegation standard manager, who is far too out of his depth. Unfortunately, I think it did cost us a title challenge last season, also.
Yes, some signings are needed, but the team is very good and should be competing for the Premier League title. We have a manager who does not know how to use them. Look at Sancho and De Beek. These are two players who Solskjaer clearly has no idea about. They could be like new signings with a new manager.
Unfortunately, we are going to act too late with the change. I think if we changed the manager now, we would still have a chance to get back into the title race. We could beat Chelsea and City with a better manager, but it seems we are going to sink the City game with this manager and that will end any chance.
I think the club has made a lot of positive changes in terms of transfers and management, but it needs to get rid of the influence of former United members. It is time to wipe the slate clean: get rid of Solskjaer; thank Ferguson and co; and then move on. People keep trying to change the focus, but all we need is Solskjaer gone. He is relegation standard manager, who is far too out of his depth. Unfortunately, I think it did cost us a title challenge last season, also.
He was the most important member of the previous transfer committee, all members of that committtee remained at the club when Klopp joined. Klopp then asked for the structure to be changed because he was used to work with a DOF and he was enthusiastic about Edwards. Now the point that @Adnan is making is that the transfer committee and Edwards were an absolute laughing stock.
Interestingly both Edwards and Murtough have been primarily data analysts, the difference being that Murtough has been recognized for his qualities sooner.
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I dunno, they'll get a harsh ride regardless but, do you think Varane would have joined if Ed was convincing/courting him?
Thing is if, we sign relatively unknowns, or bright young talents (such as Diallo/Pellistri) they'll get criticisms because they aren't world beaters right now.
It's a lose/lose situation for them, sign WC players and they'll get the responses like the one you have provided, sign the youngsters and they'll get the criticisms like the one I have provided.
I think as long as they're getting good players in regardless of what stage they are at, they're doing a good job. It's better than signing middle of the road players like we have done for so long.
It has never been Woodward's job and that narrative needs to stop, there is enough legitimate issues with Woodward to not go into stupid narratives. At United it's the manager that has been the one doing the courting/convincing and we managed to bring the likes of Pogba or Ibrahimovic who were bigger profile than Varane.
Woodward took the job the same way the rest did. He was inexperienced as CEO, he was loyal and grateful for the job and would therefore never betray the hand that fed him. Ever since this mentality had spread like wildfire. In fact you can link most of the top jobs at United to just three branches
a- they are family (Joel, Kevin, Bryan, Darcie and Edward Glazer)
b- they are graduates from the University of Bristol (Woodward, Judge, Arnold)
c- they are Mates FC (Ole, Phelany, Fletchery, Carricky, Cleggy and co)
Between those branches there are people often from previous failed administrations that someone took a liking to. I am referring to the likes of Murtough, Bout, Mckenna and co
To be fair that's generally true in Football and most sports. It's not that common to see clubs that are not following that logic and have key people that aren't linked to the club one way or the other. People are gushing about Ajax but that's exactly how they work, the only massive issue that I had with United and I mentioned it years ago is that SAF and Gill screwed the club, we can make all sorts of excuses for them but the moment they decided to leave the same summer, the club was in deep trouble and my conviction was that it wouldn't be successful until 2020-2021 at the soonest. These two people were in charge of literally every aspects of the club.
I know, and he was a laughing stock before Klopp arrived. And it wasn't because he was doing a bad job but it was rather because himself and Brendan Rodgers weren't on the same page when it comes to recruitment and the Liverpool fans blamed him for Rodgers' mistakes in the transfer market. And when Klopp arrived, Klopp was given total control and he gave Edwards that control to shape the recruitment going forward. I also shared the article which explained this a few weeks back.
Great posts JP.
The Diallo signing is rightly criticized because we seemingly have no interest in incorporating him into the squad which is disturbing considering the outlay. It’s not really about the profile of player we sign. It is an issue of vision and continuity from exec level right down to the pitch. I don’t care whether we sign Ronaldo or some chap I’ve never heard of from the Ukranian league as long as they have a defined role and contribute to the first team in that role. And that won’t happen until we have a coach with a clear vision of what those roles are which aligns with the overall vision of the football men at the exec level.
True however there are key differences between these clubs and ours
A- These clubs tend to work in a league that isn't as competitive as ours. For example it wouldn't be such a tragedy if Ajax or Bayern appoint the wrong person as they'll probably reach the targets set just the same. The EPL work on very fine margins. There's little room for mistakes.
B- These clubs have a structure in place that is decades old. Players are trained from the youth academy to see the bigger picture so that maybe when they retire they can get a top job themselves. United is traditionally built around a SAF style of manager. I doubt that someone like Sir Alex who did all the DOF, Technical director and managerial job himself had time to teach Philip Neville or Darren Fletcher how to do the DOF or technical director role especially since these roles didn't existed in their time
C- Getting coaching badges in England is relatively easy when compared to their counterparts in lets say Italy. Which means most of these people lack the academic background to do the job
D- For such system to work you need to have experienced people who are successful in their job and can share their knowledge to the new guys. What United have is Woodward showing Arnold the ropes, the guy Moyes brought teaching Fletcher, Ole at the wheel managing the likes of Mckenna and Carrick ie specialists of failure with little experience and no success in their current job themselves showing the ropes to new inexperienced people. This sounds like a factory of failure producing new failure.
The people supposed to teach the ropes left the club before teaching it. And the club was relying on two people for everything which isn't an organization built for change. The club isn't trying to do anything specific, the moment Gill and SAF left the remaining members were left with trying to invent a structure which is near impossible to do at a high level particularly when you are not competent in the first place, honestly while I have been criticial of the day to day board members and believe that they are incompetent when it comes to pure management, I also believe that they have been failed by SAF, Gill and the Glazers.
To illustrate my point, United have not replaced their COO since 2014, they made a change in 2019 with Arnold somewhat moving but for some crazy reason Woodward and I assume the Glazers convinced themselves that a COO wasn't that big of a deal and that sharing his missions between Woodward and Arnold was a sound plan. Now the small issue with that is that a COO in a sport entitiy is important, you need someone that has a clear idea about organizational structures in sport, someone with a network in that field, it was the easiest way to fix our issues and improve the way the club works and they botched it, now I bet that when Woodward leaves they will move Arnold to CEO and Baty to that bastardized new role.
It has nothing to do with anything you wrote. Football is at all level built around giving a job to your mates and teaching your mates how to do a job, it was true in the Serie A when it was at its best and also the PL. United issues have nothing to do with the points that you made, it's about the simple fact that when you have a club run by only two people, you are in trouble when these two people leave at the same time. Gill was able to "smoothly" learn his job because he had SAF, the same was true for Kenyon and head coaches in other clubs can do their job because they are just head coaches, they don't have to worry about the rest because it's not part of their role. If Bayern or Ajax relied on only two people and these people left they would be in the same amount of troubles.
The issue for United is the same issue that Arsenal faced, no top club in the world use a traditional british style management because it's not flexible, it's a recipe for disaster when that person leave. Football clubs and most large organization make sure that no one is indispensable, that every role can be fulfilled quickly internally or externally.
Great post just to add I think we are now at a stage where one Good managerial appointment would quieten down all this talk about our structure and give United breathing space to work on whatever rough edges still remain in new structure.
Can you name me one successful EPL club were DOFs, Technical directors, manager and coaches are all mates FC? We've got a structure were everyone from CEO right down to the coaches are specialized in one thing only ie failing.
Don't get me wrong, I do see your point. However I took it to a further step ie the two people we're relying upon are idiots as well and they are the ones hiring the rest.
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VDS should be taking over from Ed Woodward, instead it’s just another Glazer shill in Richard Arnold.
Chelsea with Abramovich, Granovskaia and Emenalo? City with Soriano, Txiki and Guardiola?
These are example of people working at different level of the club and were/are linked by friendship or close relationship outside of Football.
Soriano had covered football roles at Barcelona, New York FC and Melbourne FC before coming to City. Tsiki covered the DOF role at Barcelona prior joining City while Guardiola was busy winning trebles and league titles at Barcelona and Bayern before joining City. All of them had zero links with the club and were very experienced and successful in their previous job. I can't see how you can compare them to Woodward, Murtough and Ole whose success prior to joining to United is basically zilc.
Unlike the Glazers, Roman Abramovich has taken a very hands on approach from day 1 hiring top people like Mourinho who in turn had helped him understand the game. He made his share of mistakes and he paid for them out of his pockets. Granovskaia has been involved at the club since 2010 while Emenalo went up the ranks into a very successful Chelsea taking over Ray Wilkins. I think he's got far more experience then Fletcher has with his like 10 minutes experience in coaching. Chelsea structure is weaker then City but they do adopt a ruthless hire and fire policy something that is lacking with United. I think we can all agree that Ole wouldn't have made it to the three year mark at Chelsea by simply smiling and talking about progress.
As I said before I agree with most of your post. United use a 2 men system that is simply not good enough. However the issue is, in my opinion, worse that that. Our 2 men are simply incompetent and they are the ones doing the hiring.
Don't try to wiggle out of this, they are mate, they were mate and they joined the City and Chelsea because they were mate with someone, that's the point of the conversation. Woodward, Murtough and Ole aren't mates.
You named people at Chelsea and City and I compared them to their counterparts at United. I don't believe that jobs are being handled at City purely based on connections. Chelsea might be less meritocratic then City but we all know how ruthless they can be. They don't have as much patience with incompetence as we do
Arnold does not deserve a promotion, Murtough has not impressed in roles with less responsibility, Fletcher has no experience, Bout, Lawlor & Court are scouts/performance analysts not decision makers.
A CEO & DoF should be external appointments.
A CEO & DoF should be external appointments.
Enlighten me with an exhaustive account then. Of course people hate them for pillaging the club and saddling it with debt. They also hate them for running it like some two-bit entertainment centre. That latter has cost likely as much money as what they've taken out, with incredibly mismanagement of club funds. The lack of succession planning and the utter incompetence of those in charge has made sure that we change direction every managerial cycle.
Your posts here I agree with, as you probably know. My serious concern is that the personnel qualified at the club won't have any significant power vested in their positions, merely advisory. If reports are anything to go by, the mere talk of Conte while some rumours suggest ten Hag would mean there is no direction.
When I say bona fide DoF, I don't mean this guy or that guy, I mean the position carry serious authority, not some advisory role.
And it is this point that I am hoping will be forced home by the ongoing media ridicule of the club as a whole. And I would like supporter groups to exert pressure to ensure the professionalising of club operations. Ole is an absolute yes-man, it would be folly to even pretend otherwise. To go on record and say we're a fantastically run club says all.
Also, I saw those quotes from Murtough about wanting a fast and fluid attacking team identity from the fan forum, you know anything more about his actual vision? And have you seen anything when it comes to long-term vision and personnel responsible for carrying that out, which does not merely refer to a transfer committee?
@JPRouve
An elite manager is obviously very important, but when your club is run by idiots (in football terms) the more important issue is decision-making authority when it comes to footballing operations. Adnan is right, we weren't with the program in terms of modernising and long-term planning towards the end of SAF's reign, and it has cost us a fortune, seen us go from one direction to another, doing nothing significant in the process other than carry bloated squads of overpaid players. Ole has rectified it to a degree, but also contributed to the problem. How much we'll see when the next manager takes over.
The generalization on DoF and football structure is just misleading.
Just like with tactics, style of play, management style... even with similar approach and principles, there is still variation in the outcome. Nobody is the same. So the structure, and role of DoF, the vision at different clubs can be different.
We, United fans more often than not like to compare ourselves to Liverpool. Let be honest, we would prefer a manager, the type like Klopp, mostly for the longevity reason beside the football style. And it looks like our structure is being closer modeled after theirs than other clubs.
Liverpool model however is more manager reliant than others. Of course, head coach/manager is vital to any structures. IMO the manager/ head coach has more important role. Their work are demonstrated in the limelight for all to analyze. Football is played on the pitch after all. Better manager would mask deffiency of the structure in the background. SAF and other great traditional manager back in the day are the proof of that. Klopp to a lesser extend (he prefers focusing on coaching and having a DOF) still a bigger influence than their structure in their success. And don't believe there is another Klopp at the moment. If Klopp ever leaves Liverpool any time soon while their structure stays the same, they would pretty much be back to their pre Klopp state, which is not unlike our current state: having talented squad and the manager can be good but the team doesn't look to pull in same direction; the feeling of something missing always there; a change require a longer rebuild.
So among the DoF, Michael Edwards IMO, is not all that. He and Liverpool benefit from having Klopp. There are DoFs out there that look like they're less reliant on a manager, and their work have discernible effect on their teams: Paul Mitchell, Marotta, Campos... And some DOFs' role is the boss of manager/head coach. So nothing to see here re: Liverpool and Michael Edwards. So even if we scale down our expectation from looking for a SAF to looking for a Klopp, IMO we're still out of luck. There simply no other like that currently out there. We need to modify the structure and DOF's role further, so we can self sustain at high level during the transition. By high level I don't mean challenging for CL, and the league every season. Still similar objective like top 4:regular CL football, but aiming to win smaller cups also. Even when we're out of the CL, we have to aim to win the competitions we're favorite for. The byproduct would be shorter amount of time needed for rebuild, as players are conditioned to work toward the goal of winning. Once the correct manager comes, he wouldn't need to teach them the basic, as well as need to get new half a squad of experienced winner to set the standard, and few seasons for everything to fall into place. It's easier to restructure the background settings than finding a perfect manager, in case the manager need more room to flex.
Structure, DoF, manager, CEO... all the fancy concepts all boiled down to balance and decision making, just like the football on the pitch. Yes. Many of us are well aware of the big names we have been recruiting to our recruitment set up. However, just as with football, how to make a functional, high performing out of it is another task itself. It still feels off with decision making at this club. From signings that unaligned to a certain vision/style, signings that can' be utilized/ no pathway to the team, to weird contract renewal of players and staffs, inability to move players. Right now, IMO Ole is given the power similar to Klopp, which our equivalent to DoF is not his boss, so the decision making is still someone else upstair responsibility and those are still failing at his job. It maybe better structured than it used to be, but right now it is still not proactive enough regarding succession plan. Who extended Ole and Mike Phelan contract? Were they happy with their progress, and unaware of the performance all this time (prior to this season), so that they don't have a plan for this situation? All they, football people now have a role to input for next manager appointment, but why they were not heard before (Ole and Mike Phelan)? They are not heard now, but would their input appreciated in the final decision?
Just like with tactics, style of play, management style... even with similar approach and principles, there is still variation in the outcome. Nobody is the same. So the structure, and role of DoF, the vision at different clubs can be different.
We, United fans more often than not like to compare ourselves to Liverpool. Let be honest, we would prefer a manager, the type like Klopp, mostly for the longevity reason beside the football style. And it looks like our structure is being closer modeled after theirs than other clubs.
Liverpool model however is more manager reliant than others. Of course, head coach/manager is vital to any structures. IMO the manager/ head coach has more important role. Their work are demonstrated in the limelight for all to analyze. Football is played on the pitch after all. Better manager would mask deffiency of the structure in the background. SAF and other great traditional manager back in the day are the proof of that. Klopp to a lesser extend (he prefers focusing on coaching and having a DOF) still a bigger influence than their structure in their success. And don't believe there is another Klopp at the moment. If Klopp ever leaves Liverpool any time soon while their structure stays the same, they would pretty much be back to their pre Klopp state, which is not unlike our current state: having talented squad and the manager can be good but the team doesn't look to pull in same direction; the feeling of something missing always there; a change require a longer rebuild.
So among the DoF, Michael Edwards IMO, is not all that. He and Liverpool benefit from having Klopp. There are DoFs out there that look like they're less reliant on a manager, and their work have discernible effect on their teams: Paul Mitchell, Marotta, Campos... And some DOFs' role is the boss of manager/head coach. So nothing to see here re: Liverpool and Michael Edwards. So even if we scale down our expectation from looking for a SAF to looking for a Klopp, IMO we're still out of luck. There simply no other like that currently out there. We need to modify the structure and DOF's role further, so we can self sustain at high level during the transition. By high level I don't mean challenging for CL, and the league every season. Still similar objective like top 4:regular CL football, but aiming to win smaller cups also. Even when we're out of the CL, we have to aim to win the competitions we're favorite for. The byproduct would be shorter amount of time needed for rebuild, as players are conditioned to work toward the goal of winning. Once the correct manager comes, he wouldn't need to teach them the basic, as well as need to get new half a squad of experienced winner to set the standard, and few seasons for everything to fall into place. It's easier to restructure the background settings than finding a perfect manager, in case the manager need more room to flex.
Structure, DoF, manager, CEO... all the fancy concepts all boiled down to balance and decision making, just like the football on the pitch. Yes. Many of us are well aware of the big names we have been recruiting to our recruitment set up. However, just as with football, how to make a functional, high performing out of it is another task itself. It still feels off with decision making at this club. From signings that unaligned to a certain vision/style, signings that can' be utilized/ no pathway to the team, to weird contract renewal of players and staffs, inability to move players. Right now, IMO Ole is given the power similar to Klopp, which our equivalent to DoF is not his boss, so the decision making is still someone else upstair responsibility and those are still failing at his job. It maybe better structured than it used to be, but right now it is still not proactive enough regarding succession plan. Who extended Ole and Mike Phelan contract? Were they happy with their progress, and unaware of the performance all this time (prior to this season), so that they don't have a plan for this situation? All they, football people now have a role to input for next manager appointment, but why they were not heard before (Ole and Mike Phelan)? They are not heard now, but would their input appreciated in the final decision?
I'll be honest with you mate, I'm also slightly concerned about the board because it's difficult to glean any information about what their (board members) role is in the selection process when it comes to selecting the next Head Coach (shouldn't be a Manager). But the difference this time is that we'll have an extra 80 or so people working within a newly formed structure led by around 20 figure heads in various different divisions from what I've learned. And we're now in a position to make a more thorough decision when it comes to buying players or appointing a Head Coach with a scouting and data division as the support. So the board should not interfere in this process until we possibly get to the crossing the t's and dotting the i's stage. So it would be very strange to go to the lengths the club have gone to in putting in place a world class scouting network (reviewed by top flight scouts and data analysts on TGG) and creating a data science department, along with beefing up the budget for the youth, to only turn around and go against the same people who they put in charge to create the different divisions at the club which are all geared up to support the first team in the modern game.
I did see the Murtough quotes mate and it's exactly what I want to hear. But he's not as yet had the chance to bring in a Head Coach of his choosing to implement the type of football he speaks about implementing at first team level and throughout the age groups. Which is exactly what should be happening and what should be allowed to happen. And what Murtough is talking about is the mid to long-term vision at the club when it comes to playing attacking football. And like I've said in the past, that (vision) should never come from the Head Coach, whose position is fraught with danger and it's a position that has a short shelf life. But will he and his team be allowed to bring in a coach who plays the brand of football he spoke about? Or will the board jump at the first unemployed big name option that's available currently who doesn't fit the criteria outlined by Murtough. It's gonna be interesting to see how things develop, that's for sure.
Yeah, it's pretty much deciding the next few years or longer, not the manager per se, but how that manager will be appointed. For all the positions and the personnel, which I'm of course thankful for, my assumption is still that other factors will prove more important, such as profile, how malleable they'll be for the board, and whether they suit the players immediately, which saves costs (and face).
Would be so interesting to know what Murtough et al think about Ole's tenure (even preceding this season) with regards to the actual football being played and how the team is being developed.
There was reports just recently that there was a group of players and staff who wanted Ole gone. I'm gonna assume the staff weren't the coaches but the likes of Murtough, Bout, Court and Lawlor who are the decision makers in their respective departments within the football side of the club.
That completely passed me by. Very interesting if true.
The problem with this theory is that there were no football structure at the club. SAF was the structure. SAF can't stay on forever. It doesn't matter they leave at the same time.
It was down to Ed who is in charge of running the club to modernize and implement a football structure at the club.
Ed's incompetency shouldn't be blamed on SAF or Gill. It's not SAF or Gill job to modernize the club and to be fair most probably they were not the right person to do that as they have never worked in a proper modern football structure.
SAF and Gill was right to leave the modernisation of the club to the next generation in charge. Ultimately, Ed wasted 8 years and he shouldn't be in the position running the club in the first place. Glazers love him to bits because the owners was only interested in balance sheet.
It's the combination of Glazers and Ed prioritizing money that leads us into this shit. And don't blame SAF and Gill for it. Especially SAF the man deserve the upmost respect for his past contributions to Man Utd. Note that SAF is still in advisory roles after stepping down.
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Most of all, we need a sets of fans who understand that Football isn't the way they envisioned. Trust the DOF fully.
When the DOF decided we need a strong hand and approached conte, we have to accept that it's for the best. If the DOF decided to sell Martial (3 years ago without a hindsight) we have to back him up, instead of complaining non stop. And many others unpopular decision that the DOF would need to eventually take. SAF even in his late year didn't always take the logical steps (selling Beckham for Ronaldo, Giggs in the Middle, Buying Park Ji Sung, etc) but in SAF we trust.
As long as the next DOF (or manager) are being riddled with bogus expectations of "united ways", "youth", etc they're like working with a handicapped and can't fully express themselves. SAF didn't even reach United ways until much later when his capital is enough for him to pull a clearsale and trust the youth. If Ten Haag sold Pogba/Bruno/Maguire and play say... our youth we'd be baying for his blood, and probably the board will sack him after a few lost (which will eventually happen with this kind of gamble)
So ask ourselves, are we ready for the next SAF?
When the DOF decided we need a strong hand and approached conte, we have to accept that it's for the best. If the DOF decided to sell Martial (3 years ago without a hindsight) we have to back him up, instead of complaining non stop. And many others unpopular decision that the DOF would need to eventually take. SAF even in his late year didn't always take the logical steps (selling Beckham for Ronaldo, Giggs in the Middle, Buying Park Ji Sung, etc) but in SAF we trust.
As long as the next DOF (or manager) are being riddled with bogus expectations of "united ways", "youth", etc they're like working with a handicapped and can't fully express themselves. SAF didn't even reach United ways until much later when his capital is enough for him to pull a clearsale and trust the youth. If Ten Haag sold Pogba/Bruno/Maguire and play say... our youth we'd be baying for his blood, and probably the board will sack him after a few lost (which will eventually happen with this kind of gamble)
So ask ourselves, are we ready for the next SAF?