Ed Woodward 2019 - Until all Arctic ice melts edition

[Majima]

The commercial growth we've made under Woodward has been severely overrated. We had the highest commercial revenue before Woodward & Glazers. Since then, we've had the lowest growth % out of the top 6.

The record revenues have coincided with unparalleled TV deals. At a time where TV deals are at their highest. All the clubs are growing rapidly... what are we doing? The commercial & matchday revenues have been flat for the past 3 years. We are relying on the ever increasing TV deals to fund our annual wage increases. We have the highest wage bill in the league. A squad full of overpaid mediocre British players & overrated mercenaries who struggle to finish 4th. So we're not even getting what we paid for.

Our Adidas deal will drop by 30% next season if it goes similar to this last one (which is likely). So that's another expected drop in revenues.

"Jamie Jackson, Guardian" The borrowings of the 20-times champions remain at £487m despite the American family having purchased United in 2005 for a debt of £525m. This means that less than £3m a year has been paid off since, with the cost of serving the debt amounting to £24m a year.

So the revenues are not being used to lower the debt, that they put onto the club in the first place. But they can take their annual £22m dividends.

All we serve for is yearly dividends it seems. He, along with the Glazers don't care one bit about the club's future.

That's without getting onto the football side of things, which has been disastrous to say the least.

A trained monkey could have produced similar results to what Woodward has achieved.

 

[UncleBob]

The commercial growth we've made under Woodward has been severely overrated. We had the highest commercial revenue before Woodward & Glazers. Since then, we've had the lowest growth % out of the top 6.

The record revenues have coincided with unparalleled TV deals. At a time where TV deals are at their highest. All the clubs are growing rapidly... what are we doing? The commercial & matchday revenues have been flat for the past 3 years. We are relying on the ever increasing TV deals to fund our annual wage increases. We have the highest wage bill in the league. A squad full of overpaid mediocre British players & overrated mercenaries who struggle to finish 4th. So we're not even getting what we paid for.

Our Adidas deal will drop by 30% next season if it goes similar to this last one (which is likely). So that's another expected drop in revenues.



So the revenues are not being used to lower the debt, that they put onto the club in the first place. But they can take their annual £22m dividends.

All we serve for is yearly dividends it seems. He, along with the Glazers don't care one bit about the club's future.

That's without getting onto the football side of things, which has been disastrous to say the least.

A trained monkey could have produced similar results to what Woodward has achieved.

Bizarre rant.

And either Jackson doesn't understand why debt isn't a concern, which would be funny, or he's using it to score cheap points from fans that doesn't understand it. Considering you've quoted it, and finished off with your trained monkey comment, it doesn't bode well for eithe

 

[el3mel]

Common themes so far this summer:

• Pogba wants out - heavily linked with Juventus by decent sources
• De Gea hasn't signed a new contract with only months left - clearly going
•We want British players with a good attitude - linked with Daniel James and James Maddison. One a left winger when we have two already. Maddison is really a number 10 and doesn't fit into a 4-3-3 system Solskjaer prefers.
•Still not signed a player after the worst season in years
• An inexperienced manager at the realm coming off the back of the worst run of form in Premier League history.

How can any United fan stay positive right now. We need to get our club back ffs. I can't believe how quickly things have gone down hill and its all been since Woodward took over. Fergie left at the time granted but nothing was put in place for next managers. Look at Chelsea, they change manager nearly every season and even in a 'crisis', come out winning at least one trophy.

Lukaku seems to be also linked to leaving to Inter this window, which means we'll need 2 attacking players at least as well. We're supposed to cover all that in 2 months of transfers or so.

 

[Majima]

Bizarre rant.

And either Jackson doesn't understand why debt isn't a concern, which would be funny, or he's using it to score cheap points from fans that doesn't understand it. Considering you've quoted it, and finished off with your trained monkey comment, it doesn't bode well for eithe

I'm not ranting. The debt is not my sole point at all. Why is what I've said bizarre? I very much stand by the argument that a trained monkey could have produced similar commercial results to Woodward. I don't think it's impressive at all.

 

[Tincanalley]

It is has not anything to do with defending Woodward to question an inaccurate factual statement, which there are plenty of in this thread. The latest now being that we should not be afraid of another leveraged takeover because somehow the PL-clubs have been banned" from securing loans against their assets. Spurs and their new stadium says hi."And all the other clubs in the PL carrying debt as well.

I can cite the legislation and the rules, but you are not worth it. Forget the fine details of argument, its all leading in a particular direction, cleverly but transparently. But answer the previous poster. Why don't you tell us why you are defending Woodward, a twat who is ruining the club?

 

[Roboc7]

It’s just bizarre he’s retained the same role without either realising he needs help or being forced to accept it by the owners. The money spent on players, managers and wages is more than sufficient for us to be a good team but it’s been pissed away.

This window will be no different, Woodward and his right hand man Judge, will be out manoeuvred, late to the deals and overpay. Every negotiation they go into they will be faced by someone more competent. Doesn’t matter who manager wants in or out he won’t get it because it’s these two making same mistakes. Once window shuts if Ole has got 50% of who he wanted in and out he’ll be lucky.

 

[Moriarty]

Is anyone else offended by this? It's a gold etched sink to celebrate an achievement from two decades ago while we languish closer to midtable than the top of the league ...

If anyone can monetize nostalgia to the max, we can. It looks a bit naff to me and I like Kohler products as a rule.

 

[Johan07]

I can cite the legislation and the rules, but you are not worth it. Forget the fine details of argument, its all leading in a particular direction, cleverly but transparently. But answer the previous poster. Why don't you tell us why you are defending Woodward, a twat who is ruining the club?

Oh really, so why dont you?

 

[JPRouve]

If anyone can monetize nostalgia to the max, we can. It looks a bit naff to me and I like Kohler products as a rule.

And now I'm imagining you on the throne. Thank you.

 

[Moriarty]

And now I'm imagining you on the throne. Thank you.

My mother always said my shit doesn't stink so you've no need to worry. Anyway, the missus talked me into spending my Christmas bonus on new taps and shower fittings. She picked Kohler and it was pretty expensive. Looks nice though.

 

[Tincanalley]

Oh really, so why dont you?

What, for you, is the attraction of Woodward and the Owners? Or is that a comfortable q?

 

[Sandikan]

It’s just bizarre he’s retained the same role without either realising he needs help or being forced to accept it by the owners. The money spent on players, managers and wages is more than sufficient for us to be a good team but it’s been pissed away.

This window will be no different, Woodward and his right hand man Judge, will be out manoeuvred, late to the deals and overpay. Every negotiation they go into they will be faced by someone more competent. Doesn’t matter who manager wants in or out he won’t get it because it’s these two making same mistakes. Once window shuts if Ole has got 50% of who he wanted in and out he’ll be lucky.

I would love to know how the high level meetings go.
We all know the Glazers would love his commercial acumen - that is unarguable.

They must realise how much we've underperformed. So do they either think the position is totally down to the manager? Or is Ed too good at his money making role?
Maybe he's excellent at explaining how good the "Logic" behind our approach is, and that there's no givens in football? (Although the team that spends the most, generally come 1st or 2nd 9/10 season).

 

[Chairman Steve]

There are clubs out there who aren't fecking around and are just going and buying players, regardless of it being a shit season or an amazing season for them... Meanwhile Woodward is supposedly evaluating situations and begging Mata to stay.

I used to say 'It's only June 4th and be patient' most years but this time around I'm getting annoyed that feck alls happening, because 1) the season was pretty much killed by Christmas, arguably before even the first league fixture so they should have been planning this crap for a while and 2) the manager has been here almost six months with this squad so he should know who needs to be bought and crucially who needs to be fecked off.

 

[Johan07]

What, for you, is the attraction of Woodward and the Owners? Or is that a comfortable q?

To begin with I did not answer that question because it was not posed to me, but to another poster. Which you would have noted if you had bothered to read the thread.
I dont have an attraction for them. But I dont have a baseless unfounded hate for them either. They have been decent owners so far and Woodward has been decent as CEO, which is his role, nothing else.
As I have explained earlier in this thread you who are moaning Glazers/Woodward out should really watch what you are wishing for. There are two alternatives to the Glazers today; the first is another leveraged takeover, the other is United being bought in a sportswashing takeover by some Arab State or the Chinese. I rather stick with the devil I know.
Especially as long as they have us on 50% wage turnover ratio and the dividends are around 5 percent of turnover which is completely normal. Im fine with them.
There you go, can you now stop making stuff up. You are embarrasing yourself. Or you can try to cite this legislation that you are saying bans an owner of a football club to borrow against it assets.

 

[AJ10]

@Red Devil Forever

I'll reply here to your comment in the Transfer thread.

As I said Ed is one of the problems, so not sure why you would come to the conclusion that I forgot about him hiring those managers. He has no plan or clue on how we should play which has resulted in us going from a possession based manager to Jose.

That still doesn't mean he can be blamed for poor football served by our previous managers.

 

[Yakuza_devils]

To begin with I did not answer that question because it was not posed to me, but to another poster. Which you would have noted if you had bothered to read the thread.
I dont have an attraction for them. But I dont have a baseless unfounded hate for them either. They have been decent owners so far and Woodward has been decent as CEO, which is his role, nothing else.
As I have explained earlier in this thread you who are moaning Glazers/Woodward out should really watch what you are wishing for. There are two alternatives to the Glazers today; the first is another leveraged takeover, the other is United being bought in a sportswashing takeover by some Arab State or the Chinese. I rather stick with the devil I know.
Especially as long as they have us on 50% wage turnover ratio and the dividends are around 5 percent of turnover which is completely normal. Im fine with them.
There you go, can you now stop making stuff up. You are embarrasing yourself. Or you can try to cite this legislation that you are saying bans an owner of a football club to borrow against it assets.

It is being discussed many times already in this forum. What is the difference between American and Chinese ownership? Western media brain wash or white supremacy mentality in play again here?

Many fans don't mind the Chinese ownership at all because Chinese have the money and good business acumen. Many fans are from Asia and they witness how China grow to be the world number 1 economy in such a short time. Of course, western media always portray China as the villain.

Many other fans even don't have issue with Arab ownership. We are the biggest club in the world and funds injection (instead of sucking out) from the Arab like they did with PSG and City could really turned Man Utd surpassed by far even compared to RM or Barca on and off the field.

On the other hand, many fan's view that Glazers/American are running the club through the mud and sucking money out of the club. I think majority of the fans want Glazers and Ed out and Man Utd should do much better than consistently finishing outside TOP 4 with world record revenues year in year out.

Everyone is entitled to their opinions.

 

[Foxbatt]

I do not care if they are Americans, Chinese or Arabs so long as they run the club professional and make the footballing side the most important thing. I know the Chinese are good business people and it would be run professionally. The Arabs are doing it well too. Well they employ Europeans to do it and if they fail sack them and get another.
Woodward needs to go NOW. With him we are not going to win anything like the PL or the CL.

 

[Chesterlestreet]

It is being discussed many times already in this forum. What is the difference between American and Chinese ownership? Western media brain wash or white supremacy mentality in play again here?

There's a more relevant thread for this, but short answer: it's not about where they're from, it's about what they do.

If the fans who presently tolerate the Glazer family (as owners) began to suspect that they were using United as a propaganda tool for the Trump administration, they'd hardly be fine with that just because the Glazers are Americans (and not Arabs or Chinese).

People aren't opposed to Arab or Chinese owners, they're opposed to sportswashing - shouldn't be necessary to point this out, really.

 

[Yakuza_devils]

There's a more relevant thread for this, but short answer: it's not about where they're from, it's about what they do.

If the fans who presently tolerate the Glazer family (as owners) began to suspect that they were using United as a propaganda tool for the Trump administration, they'd hardly be fine with that just because the Glazers are Americans (and not Arabs or Chinese).

People aren't opposed to Arab or Chinese owners, they're opposed to sportswashing - shouldn't be necessary to point this out, really.

Again, when the Arabs or Chinese own a football club it's sport washing and only American own football club for investment?

Why can't we don't stereotype and look at the business plan first before we reject outright that it's sport washing. ( I was referring to the original quote on sport washing by other poster)

 

[Yakuza_devils]

It's also worth noting that City and PSG can be considered as good investment especially for City where they are value at 2.1 billion pounds now whereas I don't think their owners put in that much of money into the club yet. Their brand will continue to grow for many years to come. In this case the Arabs have proven that they are in it for good investment but in different ways that may have created the impression that it's for sport washing. Either way we don't really know but judging from their results it's not all about money. They built new stadium, excellent academy, modern management, scouting system, long term vision and etc. They are also much better run club than Man Utd and there is no comparison at all. They have taken relatively short time to achieve this.

Anyway, I will stop here as there are more appropriate thread to discuss this.

 

[Chesterlestreet]

Why can't we don't stereotype and look at the business plan first before we reject outright that it's sport washing.

Of course we can.

However, it's not exactly baseless prejudice to suspect that if, say, the Saudi royal family were to buy United, their motives might have something to do with cleaning up their image.

There's less reason to think that an average US businessman would buy a football club in order to drive some kind of agenda beyond making a profit.

I repeat, those who oppose sportswashing wouldn't tolerate a US owner who used United to promote Trump, or any other political entity. There's no basis for believing, or even suggesting, that.

 

[oz insomniac]

Seriously, if the CEO wasn't a puppet of the owners , there would be no chance that he would continue in that position given the fall in performance in the last 6 or so years in charge, and now possibly falling lower than Europa Cup qualification.

The usual dribble he puts out about Disneyland for adults, and we can purchase anyone, is testament to how serious and quickly that position needs to change. Yes, he is good at finance, at football matters he is a dunce. End of

 

[Yakuza_devils]

Of course we can.

However, it's not exactly baseless prejudice to suspect that if, say, the Saudi royal family were to buy United, their motives might have something to do with cleaning up their image.

There's less reason to think that an average US businessman would buy a football club in order to drive some kind of agenda beyond making a profit.

I repeat, those who oppose sportswashing wouldn't tolerate a US owner who used United to promote Trump, or any other political entity. There's no basis for believing, or even suggesting, that.

How about the Chinese and the other Arabs apart from Saudi Royals? Can be stereotyping into sport washing as well?

To me they are all the same and if the club is run professionally and efficiently, there is no ground for us to reject especially they can turn Man Utd into a club better than RM, Barca, City off and on the field.

 

[oz insomniac]

If we believe the press, Citeh are after Jaoa Felix and will trigger his release clause to get him, Woody doesn't seem to get it that is what is needed to happen when you are after a quality player. Seems like he wants to bargain it down, when the other club holds the cards.

Such a poor tactic from a so called genius, oh well welcome to the déjà vu transfer window.

 

[Escobar]

He's not very good at football things, is he...

 

[Lentwood]

The commercial growth we've made under Woodward has been severely overrated. We had the highest commercial revenue before Woodward & Glazers. Since then, we've had the lowest growth % out of the top 6.

The record revenues have coincided with unparalleled TV deals. At a time where TV deals are at their highest. All the clubs are growing rapidly... what are we doing? The commercial & matchday revenues have been flat for the past 3 years. We are relying on the ever increasing TV deals to fund our annual wage increases. We have the highest wage bill in the league. A squad full of overpaid mediocre British players & overrated mercenaries who struggle to finish 4th. So we're not even getting what we paid for.

Our Adidas deal will drop by 30% next season if it goes similar to this last one (which is likely). So that's another expected drop in revenues.



So the revenues are not being used to lower the debt, that they put onto the club in the first place. But they can take their annual £22m dividends.

All we serve for is yearly dividends it seems. He, along with the Glazers don't care one bit about the club's future.

That's without getting onto the football side of things, which has been disastrous to say the least.

A trained monkey could have produced similar results to what Woodward has achieved.

Good post - problem is you're asking people to apply some basic interpretation and analysis. Most people on here can only understand simple 'good versus evil', 'yes/no' and/or 'either/or' type arguments.

I've made the same point elsewhere - we HAVE had record revenue growth under the Glazers and Ed.....but HOW does this compare with our rivals and what specifically have THEY done to bring about this increase?

Look up a book called 'Fooled by Randomness'....it makes me feel better to know there are at least a few others out there who are not blinded by basic slight-of-hand and lazy rhetoric

 

[Josep Dowling]

Christ

Every single point I have made is perfectly valid. Do you really think United is going in the right direction? Feels like its going to be a 'I told you' season for a lot of fans just assuming things will get better. Woodward is the core to everything going wrong at the club, he's needs to go before anything improves on the pitch.

 

[UncleBob]

Every single point I have made is perfectly valid.

No.

 

[Josep Dowling]

No.

Thanks for the insight there.

 

[UncleBob]

Thanks for the insight there.

You are welcome.

 

[AllezLesDiables]

It is being discussed many times already in this forum. What is the difference between American and Chinese ownership? Western media brain wash or white supremacy mentality in play again here?

Many fans don't mind the Chinese ownership at all because Chinese have the money and good business acumen. Many fans are from Asia and they witness how China grow to be the world number 1 economy in such a short time. Of course, western media always portray China as the villain.

Many other fans even don't have issue with Arab ownership. We are the biggest club in the world and funds injection (instead of sucking out) from the Arab like they did with PSG and City could really turned Man Utd surpassed by far even compared to RM or Barca on and off the field.

On the other hand, many fan's view that Glazers/American are running the club through the mud and sucking money out of the club. I think majority of the fans want Glazers and Ed out and Man Utd should do much better than consistently finishing outside TOP 4 with world record revenues year in year out.

Everyone is entitled to their opinions.

To be fair just like any country there are good and bad owners. The Glazers are shitty American owners and United would be in great shape if they were owned by top level American owners.

 

[Lee565]

This guy is a complete screw up, we would not have had such a torrid time since Fergie left if it wasn't for having this complete twat handling the club's footballing matters, absolute awful decision by the glazers to give this idiot such power.

 

[MackRobinson]

I can cite the legislation and the rules, but you are not worth it. Forget the fine details of argument, its all leading in a particular direction, cleverly but transparently. But answer the previous poster. Why don't you tell us why you are defending Woodward, a twat who is ruining the club?

I would like to see this link and I think a lot of people would too.

 

[Yakuza_devils]

To be fair just like any country there are good and bad owners. The Glazers are shitty American owners and United would be in great shape if they were owned by top level American owners.

100% agree. That's why I was against stereotype. As long as Man Utd is run professionally with football as priority it doesn't matter who is the owner whether they are Arab, Chinese or American. But what we have now is a very ineffective management and ownership. We need drastic change to the club management if not we will continue rot.

 

[Keefy18]

Mourinho got his contract extended the 25th January the following the window Ed refused to back Mourinho.

Again. Short sighted and a scattergun in the market. I'm well aware footballing decisions are part of his job. I'm just saying his done an awful job and should bring in someone with a long term vision for our club. And the club should've done that nearly a decade ago.

Why are you ignoring what happened from 25th January to the summer window?

• What about the Sevilla shit show? Woeful result and then Jose added insult (literally) to injury by undermining the club and praising himself and living off of former glories from nearly a decade prior.
• What about Jose publicly admitting he couldn't motivate the players 2-3 games on the bounce around April to May?
• What about his very public support and demands that Fellaini be rewarded a new contract? Pay rise and all? See this example right here shows support from Ed to Jose, but all you hear is, Ed over ruled Jose. Basically if he supports him, he's wrong. If he doesn't he's wrong.
• What about his very public temper tantrums the minute the summer tour kicked off where he told supporters not to attend matches?

All this prior to any fall out over Centre half demands.

But to add to the centre half demands, he got 2 new centre halves which he basically ignored and continually chose the old school duo of Smalling & Jones over his own investments, but what makes it more hilarious is the fact he sold Blind!

Thanks to his own choice of scout (Ribalta) walking 1 year into his job at United, he was left with options of flavor of the month (Maguire at mind boggling prices) and short term option (Alderwerield, also expensive at 70m).

You like soooo many others cherry pick tid bits of situations without truly analyzing them and the events leading up to what actually happened.

Jose engineered a pay off its that simple.

Why are you so adamant on defending Woodward? Do you work for him? I'm certain he has people on here to defend him and spread his BS.

Woodward has to take a large chunk of the blame for our struggles on the pitch. Do you agree with that?

Feck sake

Conspiracy theories now is it?

Look he's made mistakes, but we've an army of supporters blaming him for things that don't fall under his job spec.

He's been blamed for our on field woes, how utterly stupid is that? The exact opposite of that is like praising Martin Edwards for the Treble. Should we erect a statue of Edwards outside OT now then like Fergie got one?

 

[AllezLesDiables]

Why are you ignoring what happened from 25th January to the summer window?

What about the Sevilla shit show? Woeful result and then Jose added insult (literally) to injury by undermining the club and praising himself and living off of former glories from nearly a decade prior.
What about Jose publicly admitting he couldn't motivate the players 2-3 games on the bounce around April to May?
What about his very public support and demands that Fellaini be rewarded a new contract? Pay rise and all?
What about his very public temper tantrums the minute the summer tour kicked off where he told supporters not to attend matches?

All this prior to any fall out over Centre half demands.

But to add to the centre half demands, he got 2 new centre halves which he basically ignored and continually chose the old school duo of Smalling & Jones over his own investments and thanks to his own choice of scout (Ribalta) walking 1 year into his job at United, he was left with options of flavor of the month (Maguire at mind boggling prices) and short term option (Alderwerield, also expensive at 70m).

You like soooo many others cherry pick tid bits of situations without truly analyzing them and the events leading up to what actually happened.

Jose engineered a pay off its that simple.



Feck sake

Conspiracy theories now is it?

Look he's made mistakes, but we've an army of supporters blaming him for thinks that don't fall under his job spec.

He's been blamed for our on field woes, how utterly stupid is that? The exact opposite of that is like praising Martin Edwards for the Treble. Should we erect a statue of Edwards outside OT now then like Fergie got one?

He’s the CEO. He’s ultimately responsible. If a DoF is hired and given control then they can shoulder/carry most of the blame if things do not workout.

Only bad CEOs point at others and blame them.

 

[Dr. Dwayne]

The commercial growth we've made under Woodward has been severely overrated. We had the highest commercial revenue before Woodward & Glazers. Since then, we've had the lowest growth % out of the top 6.

The record revenues have coincided with unparalleled TV deals. At a time where TV deals are at their highest. All the clubs are growing rapidly... what are we doing? The commercial & matchday revenues have been flat for the past 3 years. We are relying on the ever increasing TV deals to fund our annual wage increases. We have the highest wage bill in the league. A squad full of overpaid mediocre British players & overrated mercenaries who struggle to finish 4th. So we're not even getting what we paid for.

Our Adidas deal will drop by 30% next season if it goes similar to this last one (which is likely). So that's another expected drop in revenues.



So the revenues are not being used to lower the debt, that they put onto the club in the first place. But they can take their annual £22m dividends.

All we serve for is yearly dividends it seems. He, along with the Glazers don't care one bit about the club's future.

That's without getting onto the football side of things, which has been disastrous to say the least.

A trained monkey could have produced similar results to what Woodward has achieved.

The club has frozen ticket prices for the last eight seasons. That we're still top of matchday revenue says a lot more than your spin. It also kept the match going fans happy and nullified a lot of opposition from groups like MUST and the green and gold campaign. It's a good business move.

Penalties under the Adidas deal will be spread out over the remainder of the contract. So again, your spin is overly dramatic and doom-mongery whereas the reality, not so much.

 

[Keefy18]

He’s the CEO. He’s ultimately responsible. If a DoF is hired and given control then they can shoulder/carry most of the blame if things do not workout.

Only bad CEOs point at others and blame them.

No, as CEO he's ultimately responsible for the financial side of the club.

Our club structure is set up that the CEO hires a manager to guide the football side and as CEO he is liable for the financials.

 

[Big Ben Foster]

No, as CEO he's ultimately responsible for the financial side of the club.

Our club structure is set up that the CEO hires a manager to guide the football side and as CEO he is liable for the financials.

CFO is in charge of the financials.

 

[Majima]

The club has frozen ticket prices for the last eight seasons. That we're still top of matchday revenue says a lot more than your spin. It also kept the match going fans happy and nullified a lot of opposition from groups like MUST and the green and gold campaign. It's a good business move.

Penalties under the Adidas deal will be spread out over the remainder of the contract. So again, your spin is overly dramatic and doom-mongery whereas the reality, not so much.

The fact that they've frozen ticket prices means nothing. It's just to keep fans critical eyes away from them. That we're still top of matchday revenue says we have a lot of loyal top reds and daytrippers. That's how the Glazers have managed to get away with milking us for so long. Other top clubs' fans would have banded together and hounded them out years ago.