The communication? It's the execution of it that had us all worried and you can see how it got blurred because Woodward allowed it to happen. If the football structure was properly implemented and executed against, United would be spending money more wisely and developing young players more efficiently. That's all major shortcomings under Woodward's watch. And he only talks about recruiting, but again, the culture you foster in the club always starts at the top. And Woodward let it get away or didn't have his pulse around it with the right people, managers included.
Ed Woodward 2019 - Until all Arctic ice melts edition
- Thread starter fallengt
- Start date
I’m sorry but Woodward’s credibility in this matter is almost none existent. Our transfer history in the last six years will back me up. So many disasters that it can’t only be bad luck.
If I was a investigating journalist I would check how many management consultants Ed had used in the last couple of months. This interview is coming when his credibility is questioned and when our results are on a all time low. That should make you a little bit suspicious.
His explanations means nothing when our results sucks. Losers talk before they walk. STFU and deliver decent entertainment and acceptable results for a club of our size.
The amount of defense he has put on to defend Ole out of any of his previous managers proves he's so desperate for him to succeed under any cost. His position might be starting to get on pressure. Hiring Ole was a gamble he took and if it fails it will his 4 managerial appointment in 7 years that gets sacked with us not moving a single inch forward.
He has talked lately more than any of the previous 6 years combined. He keeps on defending his strategy and his last managerial appointment. There must be a reason for that.
He has talked lately more than any of the previous 6 years combined. He keeps on defending his strategy and his last managerial appointment. There must be a reason for that.
Last edited:
I don't sign the players, I just sign off the ridiculous contracts and wages
He can’t do anything right that’s the problem and why we are in a mess, what he says at this point is was essentially meaningless.
Let’s say we buy into this long term idea, Ole takes us to dizzy heights of 8th and doesn’t t get sacked. Does anyone actually trust this guy and his recruitment team to get it right next summer?. Or the owners to sanction a net spend of 200m?.
Once they realise they have been strung along by agents of Sancho and Maddison are they actually going to have alternatives or do we wait for the right player for another year.
Ed like Ole is just trying to buy time now, results will determine how long they can do that for. If Ed has to sack Ole he should follow him out the door.
Atleast we got him talking. That's never happened in past 6 years. He is feeling the pressure atleast and thats a change. I must admit that's quite an open interview.
Yes, we as fans are laughable. The fact we are 7 years in his reign and still look miles away from top 4 teams nevermind putting a challenge isn't though.
Sick and tired of Top Reds talking about other fans in that way tbh.
Last edited:
They appointed OGS fulltime because the media, fans and the perceived "progression" gave them little choice.
OGS first 3 months as a manager was a statistical anomaly if one believes the underlying stats. For those that think that xG and xP give some insight on how well a team performed then it might be interesting to note that while we took the most point in the EPL from his caretaker appointment until his fulltime appointment, we should have only taken 26 points, compared to the actual 32. And we scored more and conceived less than what should have been. Given the recent "comprehensive" recruitment strategy/structure that Woody bragged about. Surely they must have checked other elements of OGS performance other than points... And with all the extremely competent football people at the club, they must have seen the dependency on individual players rather than ability as a manager to coach the team into scoring intentional goals rather than from coincidence.
IIRC Liverpool hired Klopp partly because their analytics team showcased that during his final season at BVB he was extremely unlucky with points gained and goals scored/conceded. We hired OGS despite the underlying statistics showed that the team was lucky...
OGS first 3 months as a manager was a statistical anomaly if one believes the underlying stats. For those that think that xG and xP give some insight on how well a team performed then it might be interesting to note that while we took the most point in the EPL from his caretaker appointment until his fulltime appointment, we should have only taken 26 points, compared to the actual 32. And we scored more and conceived less than what should have been. Given the recent "comprehensive" recruitment strategy/structure that Woody bragged about. Surely they must have checked other elements of OGS performance other than points... And with all the extremely competent football people at the club, they must have seen the dependency on individual players rather than ability as a manager to coach the team into scoring intentional goals rather than from coincidence.
IIRC Liverpool hired Klopp partly because their analytics team showcased that during his final season at BVB he was extremely unlucky with points gained and goals scored/conceded. We hired OGS despite the underlying statistics showed that the team was lucky...
Given how much he is backing Ole publicly, he has set himself up for more ridicule and pressure if results don't improve and he ends up sacking Ole. On other hand, the 'cultural reboot' was definitely needed and I hope Ole's work will at least setup a base for future success, maybe under someone else, if not him.
Woodward is a failure. Simple. He's sacked HIS managers for not succeeding. So why should Ed get away with it?
Thanks for sharing. Took my time slowly reading it through.
Assuming everything he says is true ... it's clear that he was learning the job as he went along for the first few years, ceded too much power to Moyes and LVG, who then made some very bad decisions, in terms of recruitment. And to be fair to him, the board appointed a man without in depth football knowledge as their chief executive, so that was obviously how it would go down.
Being objective, he was given a hospital pass taking over from Gill and SAF. His comment about SAF having a better network than the entire club is both humbling and realism at the same time. It's obvious to me he should have employed a senior football man at that time, but that's now water under the bridge.
He seems to have learnt a shedload since then, and it feels like he finally has his hands around the entire operation, and personally overseen a lot of the overhaul and design himself. Many fans have bemoaned that the club does not have a 'style of play' or foundational idea. He now seems to know exactly what he wants, and I was heartened to read his vision and strategy for the club.
It seems we have written this season off in terms of trophies and are using it as transitional; hence not replacing leaving players and giving academy players massively enhanced roles. That also makes sense to me as City and Liverpool are too far ahead to catch this season.
He wont be sacked by the Glazers until our financial performance declines. But I prefer to see the glass half full: after a painful 6 year apprenticeship, I'm hoping he can utilise this experience to propel us forwards. I'm glad that he has been open and shared so much of his thinking, even if it's mostly self defence.
I have no choice but to be hopeful and optimistic.
Assuming everything he says is true ... it's clear that he was learning the job as he went along for the first few years, ceded too much power to Moyes and LVG, who then made some very bad decisions, in terms of recruitment. And to be fair to him, the board appointed a man without in depth football knowledge as their chief executive, so that was obviously how it would go down.
Being objective, he was given a hospital pass taking over from Gill and SAF. His comment about SAF having a better network than the entire club is both humbling and realism at the same time. It's obvious to me he should have employed a senior football man at that time, but that's now water under the bridge.
He seems to have learnt a shedload since then, and it feels like he finally has his hands around the entire operation, and personally overseen a lot of the overhaul and design himself. Many fans have bemoaned that the club does not have a 'style of play' or foundational idea. He now seems to know exactly what he wants, and I was heartened to read his vision and strategy for the club.
It seems we have written this season off in terms of trophies and are using it as transitional; hence not replacing leaving players and giving academy players massively enhanced roles. That also makes sense to me as City and Liverpool are too far ahead to catch this season.
He wont be sacked by the Glazers until our financial performance declines. But I prefer to see the glass half full: after a painful 6 year apprenticeship, I'm hoping he can utilise this experience to propel us forwards. I'm glad that he has been open and shared so much of his thinking, even if it's mostly self defence.
I have no choice but to be hopeful and optimistic.
Last edited:
Just a public safety announcement about the various quotes from Andy Mitten’s article posted here. These are published without permission and I have removed them. By all means you can link to the article (as per the site policy for any other mainstream media article) but please refrain from posting direct quotes.
Both him and Solskjaer are out their depth.
Feck it. He hired Ole based on one PSG game. That's definition of kneejerk reaction, not long term strategy.
No amount of PR & damage control BS will change my mind until he has something to show for us.
No amount of PR & damage control BS will change my mind until he has something to show for us.
Maybe it's the contrarian in me but... sorry, I am more prepared to give him a bit of leniency following this interview. It was open, honest and I didn't smell the stench of BS like I did when I've heard snippets (albeit lacking context) from his corporate conference calls.
He's certainly made mistakes. Some of these mistakes look huge in hindsight but, at the time, many of the decisions were praised here. The biggest thing he struggled with was transitioning from the Fergie and Gill era where one man's genius and experience covered over the cracks of an appallingly old fashioned infrastructure. He was out of his depth in this respect but you can't blame him for taking on that challenge. In terms of replacing Gill commercially, he's doing very well. On the football side, he's flip flopped ridiculously because he has been swayed by lots of different voices, some with their own self interests at heart over the long term health of United (Mourinho most notably). He's also been prone to sign off on some, in hindsight, ridiculous decisions that many of us at the time were all in favour for.
I think his biggest failing was almost trying to replicate the Fergie system but eventually realising not all of the right people were in place and that the system was no longer fit for purpose without the lynchpin that held it together so well. Has he corrected it fully now? No, but our recruitment process actually sounds fairly robust and we do have people in the scouting team who are seriously respected globally. A few years ago, many of us were adamant we didn't want to move to a DOF system. Now we basically all do. But why? What can a DOF do that a specialist team can't? Maybe we lose clear leadership... but do we? If there's indeed a team of experts committed to the ethos of Manchester United, isn't that enough to safeguard us going forward? Some management teams with a shared vision function far better than a gifted single leader. Should there not be some more latitude offered to a coach than most other teams around Europe? For me, this makes us quite a draw for top coaches. A lot of modern DOFs basically are traditional English football managers without the training and matchday tactics aspects. This reduces the autonomy of head coaches significantly. It doesn't sound like this is the case at United. The head coach/manager is given basically equal power to an entire specialist committee.
Perhaps I'm totally wrong in my perception. I just see quite a few people who are almost like hypnotised into hating this man and they it doesn't seem like they take anything he says as constructive and worthy of mature consideration.
He's certainly made mistakes. Some of these mistakes look huge in hindsight but, at the time, many of the decisions were praised here. The biggest thing he struggled with was transitioning from the Fergie and Gill era where one man's genius and experience covered over the cracks of an appallingly old fashioned infrastructure. He was out of his depth in this respect but you can't blame him for taking on that challenge. In terms of replacing Gill commercially, he's doing very well. On the football side, he's flip flopped ridiculously because he has been swayed by lots of different voices, some with their own self interests at heart over the long term health of United (Mourinho most notably). He's also been prone to sign off on some, in hindsight, ridiculous decisions that many of us at the time were all in favour for.
I think his biggest failing was almost trying to replicate the Fergie system but eventually realising not all of the right people were in place and that the system was no longer fit for purpose without the lynchpin that held it together so well. Has he corrected it fully now? No, but our recruitment process actually sounds fairly robust and we do have people in the scouting team who are seriously respected globally. A few years ago, many of us were adamant we didn't want to move to a DOF system. Now we basically all do. But why? What can a DOF do that a specialist team can't? Maybe we lose clear leadership... but do we? If there's indeed a team of experts committed to the ethos of Manchester United, isn't that enough to safeguard us going forward? Some management teams with a shared vision function far better than a gifted single leader. Should there not be some more latitude offered to a coach than most other teams around Europe? For me, this makes us quite a draw for top coaches. A lot of modern DOFs basically are traditional English football managers without the training and matchday tactics aspects. This reduces the autonomy of head coaches significantly. It doesn't sound like this is the case at United. The head coach/manager is given basically equal power to an entire specialist committee.
Perhaps I'm totally wrong in my perception. I just see quite a few people who are almost like hypnotised into hating this man and they it doesn't seem like they take anything he says as constructive and worthy of mature consideration.
I think probably the greatest Manager the British Isles has ever seen leaving, and the almost impossible task of replacing him has got something to do with it.
Yep.
Facts like?
*Ed Pilkington. An Idiot in football club
Only in top 4 twice in 6 seasons with him as CEO. Great work.
That's probably the motivation behind the interview.
I liked what he said as well, but it's not who he is underneath, but what he does that defines him.
You are Joking yeah.
Hmm at least it sounds promising and he's acknowledged that we've fallen short there. While he's not necessarily telling the whole truth, I always had the feeling most people on here were wrong about Woodward going after players on a whim. He's certainly not without fault, as that team under him is his responsibility.
It seems like there needs to be more colloboration between the manager, coaches and scout/recruitment team to me.
It seems like there needs to be more colloboration between the manager, coaches and scout/recruitment team to me.
Ed's feeling the pressure which is why he is giving more and more of these interviews. Team's performance is low. Commercial side is falling/lowering.
He did not hire Ole on one game . He hired him on all the games up to that . Everyone at the time were yelling for Ole to get the job . We were winning game after game playing good football and looking miles better tha n we were with Jose
Ed Woodward is a Specialist in Failure.
/thread.
/thread.
About time he felt the heat. It needs to continue.
Fully agree with you.
You have really gone fishing my friend.
Our Performance was dropping prior to that game. Sighs were there, our xPts, xG were abnormally high.
And what do you mean "everyone"? I wanted Woodward to wait until end of the season no matter what . Just because 90% fanbase being kneejerkers doesn't mean CEO should be one.
I mean What would be point to have him? Just make polls on CAF and let "everyone" runs the club then.
Just look at Lukaku, Sanchez' or any player's transfer thread. "Everyone" was happy with signings. Little did we knew
Our fanbase just as clueless as the club that why we need a man with vision and real plan
Last edited:
As if Ed Woodward tried to pass off his quote as being about affecting sponsorship deals
Whilst Woodward is an idiot, this statement you have made is complete rubbish. Chevrolet no longer sell cars in Europe and the person who signed the sponsorship deal was swiftly fired. It was never going to be renewed.
Anyone got a link to the article?
As many of you say. He is feeling the heat. And rightly so. Having said that I don't think this whole mess is just on his shoulders. While plenty can be said about him (football and not financial) this started with Gill/Sir Alex leaving us and we didn't have a clue or plan what to do. Hiring Moyes was disaster not because he was manager. It was because him getting rid of backroom staff. Suddenly in a couple of months we were without Gill, Fergie and his backroom staff. That is complete change of football part and from there it just went downhill.
Few months later out with Moyes, in with vanGaal. Then out with vanGaal in with Mourinho. Then out with Mourinho, in with Solskjaer. With tons of different players, to many different styles, to many changes. With those changes it doesn't matter who you are. Sooner or later the club lose compass and don't know what way to go. Here, he should take blame. I don't think he started this downfall but definitly contributed with panic decisions and poor judgement.
Few months later out with Moyes, in with vanGaal. Then out with vanGaal in with Mourinho. Then out with Mourinho, in with Solskjaer. With tons of different players, to many different styles, to many changes. With those changes it doesn't matter who you are. Sooner or later the club lose compass and don't know what way to go. Here, he should take blame. I don't think he started this downfall but definitly contributed with panic decisions and poor judgement.
The only reason he is still here is because the Glazers dont understand football and probably dont trust anyone else to run the club. It would be a different story if we were in the NFL.
Anyone with an ability to think for themselves knew this spin onslaught would begin as soon as results started nosediving after a poor summer window that left the squad thin.
I didn't think he'd be personally doing the spin straight from his own mouth though...... that's encouraging. It's a sign of a man under more pressure than ever before. It not be huge pressure but it's definitely more concerning for him than any season since 2013 because he's on 'the frontline' spinning rather than just feeding the media snippets of bullshit.
I didn't think he'd be personally doing the spin straight from his own mouth though...... that's encouraging. It's a sign of a man under more pressure than ever before. It not be huge pressure but it's definitely more concerning for him than any season since 2013 because he's on 'the frontline' spinning rather than just feeding the media snippets of bullshit.