For a decade, I believed firmly that our biggest problem was one man - Ed Woodward. His sheer incompetence was frightening at times, making the kind of amateur mistakes over and over again that showed a lack of even basic business skills, let alone football knowledge, for example, boasting about how big our budget was going into a transfer window.
Now, this post is not about critiquing Ed Woodward's time at the club. I'd need a week to write that and we would mostly be going over old ground. However, like many on here, I celebrated Woodward's departure as the start of a new dawn for the club. Finally, we were free of this clown and we could start to make good, sound, logical football decisions again. Sure, they wouldn't all work out, but there would be a strategy, some clear objectives and we'd finally have intelligent, capable people running the club.
We got off to a decent start to the Arnold/Murtough era with the arrival of Ralf Rangnick. It seemed the club agreed with many of us on here that there was a lack of footballing knowledge and expertise amongst the senior management team. Rangnick had a proven track-record of building football clubs and it was very clear from his short-time with us has a deep understanding of the mechanics of the game. The understanding amongst the fanbase was that since no suitable mid-season replacement was available for Solskjaer, Rangnick would essentially take on a slightly unfamiliar role as 'Head Coach' but would stay-on at the club in a consultant role, advising the Board on how to put the right footballing structure in-place to support the new manager.
During his time at the club, Rangnick was particularly critical of the clubs' recruitment team/strategy, much like Moyes and Jose before him. Rangnick was clear that the clubs' scattergun approach to signing players had left us with a 'FrankenSquad' of has-been's, never-will-be's, unmotivated players and players who's contrasting styles made it hard for them to play together effectively. This is unsurprising, given we have basically had the manager and Ed Woodward choosing players for the last decade. The vast, vast majority of top-level football clubs worked out sometime in the Noughties that managers' were poor at recruiting players, since they were only incentivised to think about the next three results, rather than the next three windows. We arguably STILL haven't figured that out.
Rangnick talked about needing '8, 9 or 10 new players' and I think this is ultimately what turned the Board off him, along with his less-than thinly-veiled criticisms of some of them! Unfortunately, there are already signs that the Board seemingly want to hear platitudes about 'getting more out of what we have through coaching', which is apparent as we've already heard ETH say this in interviews several times. I'd bet good money it was a key, recurring theme during the interview process and I'd bet good money that the Board would not have appointed anybody who agreed with Rangnick that the current group was completely unworkable as a unit.
The problem is, the Board appeared to have COMPLETELY missed Rangnick's point. It's not that all 23(+) of our senior players are poor footballers....it's that collectively they are poor and ill-suited to forming an effective unit. This, in-turn, is why I have defended the players at times. I actually feel sorry for some of them at times, they get hammered from all angles by pundits and fans, accused of not caring, accused of not trying...I don't believe that narrative for a second. I believe they absolutely DO care but that this is the best they can do, given their respective limitations and the limitations of the group.
What we needed was Rangnick's 'open-heart surgery' and what we have got, so far, is a minor facelift.
So, to the point of this thread, because none of this so far is thread-worthy in it's own right. Many of us have talked about the structural issues we have faced for years, I, like many, could produce several posts saying all of the above back in 2016/17. The point of this thread is to ask, what can Richard Arnold do to convince us that the Board HAVE learnt some lessons and DO have a plan?
For example-.
1.What do the Board think of the current playing squad? Do they understand Rangnick's point(s) about 'open-heart surgery' and why just signing more big-name players won't fix us?
2. Do they understand the need to identify a playing-style from the top-down, hire the right manager to implement that style and then support them by identifying the correct players to play that style effectively? (see Liverpool/City)
3. Do the Board understand why it is important that the manager doesn't choose the players? I suspect not...since so far we've signed only Dutch and/or ex-Ajax players...be a bit of a coincidence if that wasn't related to ETHs arrival wouldn't it!
4. Do the Board understand how and why we have gone wrong with our wage structure over the last decade? Do they understand why, for example, it's not a good idea to give a 29 year-old GK £375K per week or a 21 year-old new signing £350K per week? Do they understand why it's not a good idea to have a new player walk into the club on half a million a week?
5. Do the Board understand that the manager is just one, small(ish) piece of the puzzle in modern football, and that the manager is only as good or bad as the support they get from their team and the team above them?
6. Do they understand why we consistently and predictably waste so much time each Summer negotiating for players we ultimately don't get and/or do get but end-up wildly over-paying for?
7. Do they understand why the promising young players we have at the club consistently and predictably fail to reach their potential?
8. Do they understand why we consistently and predictably receive well-below market average fees for players we sell, if we can sell them at all?
9. Do they understand why it is highly-unlikely that the clubs' Academy will prove a reliable source of first-XI players and that we need to start thinking differently about how we view/use Academy graduates?
10. Do they understand why just randomly appointing ex-players to the clubs' staff creates chaos and confusion?
See, with all of the above, I am focused on the 'macro' not the 'micro'. I don't want to have a debate about, for example, whether Ronaldo was a good/bad signing. I want them to NOT be results-orientated but guided by processes, Data and principles in ALL of the decisions that they make on behalf of the club.
My concern is that we are seeing relatively large mistakes being made already, namely, too much faith in a new manager and too much weight on his opinion on recruitment. Time-wasted chasing FDJ. Rangnick's consultancy cut-short. Still no real football expertise at senior management level (I refuse to count Darren Fletcher just because he once kicked a ball about for us). Still chasing players in the transfer market after the first game of the season. Still struggling to shift deadwood.
I am willing to accept that with a completely new management team, including a new 'Head Coach', it is going to take time. Hence why I am willing to just about give them the benefit of the doubt for a very short period only. However, we need to know that the Board understand the issues we have and have a plan to fix them, even if that might mean some short-term pain for long-term gain.
What I would like, personally, is for Richard Arnold to come out and address those points I have made above. Prove to me that the club DO understand. Again, this is not a 'look how much I know' post...loads of us on here have discussed these issues for many seasons now and time-and-time again we have to watch in frustration as the people actually paid to make the decisions show absolutely no understanding that these issues even exist, let alone how to fix them.
So, what can Richard Arnold do for you/us to convince us this train isn't careering even further off the tracks? Personally, I see the same mistakes being repeated, I hope they prove me wrong!
Now, this post is not about critiquing Ed Woodward's time at the club. I'd need a week to write that and we would mostly be going over old ground. However, like many on here, I celebrated Woodward's departure as the start of a new dawn for the club. Finally, we were free of this clown and we could start to make good, sound, logical football decisions again. Sure, they wouldn't all work out, but there would be a strategy, some clear objectives and we'd finally have intelligent, capable people running the club.
We got off to a decent start to the Arnold/Murtough era with the arrival of Ralf Rangnick. It seemed the club agreed with many of us on here that there was a lack of footballing knowledge and expertise amongst the senior management team. Rangnick had a proven track-record of building football clubs and it was very clear from his short-time with us has a deep understanding of the mechanics of the game. The understanding amongst the fanbase was that since no suitable mid-season replacement was available for Solskjaer, Rangnick would essentially take on a slightly unfamiliar role as 'Head Coach' but would stay-on at the club in a consultant role, advising the Board on how to put the right footballing structure in-place to support the new manager.
During his time at the club, Rangnick was particularly critical of the clubs' recruitment team/strategy, much like Moyes and Jose before him. Rangnick was clear that the clubs' scattergun approach to signing players had left us with a 'FrankenSquad' of has-been's, never-will-be's, unmotivated players and players who's contrasting styles made it hard for them to play together effectively. This is unsurprising, given we have basically had the manager and Ed Woodward choosing players for the last decade. The vast, vast majority of top-level football clubs worked out sometime in the Noughties that managers' were poor at recruiting players, since they were only incentivised to think about the next three results, rather than the next three windows. We arguably STILL haven't figured that out.
Rangnick talked about needing '8, 9 or 10 new players' and I think this is ultimately what turned the Board off him, along with his less-than thinly-veiled criticisms of some of them! Unfortunately, there are already signs that the Board seemingly want to hear platitudes about 'getting more out of what we have through coaching', which is apparent as we've already heard ETH say this in interviews several times. I'd bet good money it was a key, recurring theme during the interview process and I'd bet good money that the Board would not have appointed anybody who agreed with Rangnick that the current group was completely unworkable as a unit.
The problem is, the Board appeared to have COMPLETELY missed Rangnick's point. It's not that all 23(+) of our senior players are poor footballers....it's that collectively they are poor and ill-suited to forming an effective unit. This, in-turn, is why I have defended the players at times. I actually feel sorry for some of them at times, they get hammered from all angles by pundits and fans, accused of not caring, accused of not trying...I don't believe that narrative for a second. I believe they absolutely DO care but that this is the best they can do, given their respective limitations and the limitations of the group.
What we needed was Rangnick's 'open-heart surgery' and what we have got, so far, is a minor facelift.
So, to the point of this thread, because none of this so far is thread-worthy in it's own right. Many of us have talked about the structural issues we have faced for years, I, like many, could produce several posts saying all of the above back in 2016/17. The point of this thread is to ask, what can Richard Arnold do to convince us that the Board HAVE learnt some lessons and DO have a plan?
For example-.
1.What do the Board think of the current playing squad? Do they understand Rangnick's point(s) about 'open-heart surgery' and why just signing more big-name players won't fix us?
2. Do they understand the need to identify a playing-style from the top-down, hire the right manager to implement that style and then support them by identifying the correct players to play that style effectively? (see Liverpool/City)
3. Do the Board understand why it is important that the manager doesn't choose the players? I suspect not...since so far we've signed only Dutch and/or ex-Ajax players...be a bit of a coincidence if that wasn't related to ETHs arrival wouldn't it!
4. Do the Board understand how and why we have gone wrong with our wage structure over the last decade? Do they understand why, for example, it's not a good idea to give a 29 year-old GK £375K per week or a 21 year-old new signing £350K per week? Do they understand why it's not a good idea to have a new player walk into the club on half a million a week?
5. Do the Board understand that the manager is just one, small(ish) piece of the puzzle in modern football, and that the manager is only as good or bad as the support they get from their team and the team above them?
6. Do they understand why we consistently and predictably waste so much time each Summer negotiating for players we ultimately don't get and/or do get but end-up wildly over-paying for?
7. Do they understand why the promising young players we have at the club consistently and predictably fail to reach their potential?
8. Do they understand why we consistently and predictably receive well-below market average fees for players we sell, if we can sell them at all?
9. Do they understand why it is highly-unlikely that the clubs' Academy will prove a reliable source of first-XI players and that we need to start thinking differently about how we view/use Academy graduates?
10. Do they understand why just randomly appointing ex-players to the clubs' staff creates chaos and confusion?
See, with all of the above, I am focused on the 'macro' not the 'micro'. I don't want to have a debate about, for example, whether Ronaldo was a good/bad signing. I want them to NOT be results-orientated but guided by processes, Data and principles in ALL of the decisions that they make on behalf of the club.
My concern is that we are seeing relatively large mistakes being made already, namely, too much faith in a new manager and too much weight on his opinion on recruitment. Time-wasted chasing FDJ. Rangnick's consultancy cut-short. Still no real football expertise at senior management level (I refuse to count Darren Fletcher just because he once kicked a ball about for us). Still chasing players in the transfer market after the first game of the season. Still struggling to shift deadwood.
I am willing to accept that with a completely new management team, including a new 'Head Coach', it is going to take time. Hence why I am willing to just about give them the benefit of the doubt for a very short period only. However, we need to know that the Board understand the issues we have and have a plan to fix them, even if that might mean some short-term pain for long-term gain.
What I would like, personally, is for Richard Arnold to come out and address those points I have made above. Prove to me that the club DO understand. Again, this is not a 'look how much I know' post...loads of us on here have discussed these issues for many seasons now and time-and-time again we have to watch in frustration as the people actually paid to make the decisions show absolutely no understanding that these issues even exist, let alone how to fix them.
So, what can Richard Arnold do for you/us to convince us this train isn't careering even further off the tracks? Personally, I see the same mistakes being repeated, I hope they prove me wrong!
