Ed Woodward 2019 - Until all Arctic ice melts edition

[RedDevilRoshi]

Both Ed and the Glazer family have clearly demonstrated their ambition this summer, which is to compete for top 4 and not to challenge for titles. We finished 6th last season 30 points behind and our answer to make up that deficit is to sign so far a RB. This should have been the summer when we ripped that squad to pieces and rebuild. I fully expected a summer rebuild similar to what Real have done instead it's pitiful.

Even Ole is starting to annoy me. Talks about replacing players who would leave. where is the replacement for Herrera? Instead let's morph McTomminay and Perriera into one player and hope they can do the job.

What else is Ole supposed to say that will appease you? “We don’t need anymore new players and that includes the ones that leave. I’m happy with the ones I presently have”. If he was to say that, I’d be very concerned. He was asked a direct question about will we replace a player if they were to leave the club and he provided a suitable answer that we all wanted to hear. In order to put those words into action that Ole said, that is Ed Woodward’s job.

Our transfer business has got nothing to do with Ole. It’s not his job to do the negotiations and getting the players in.. The transfers are dealt with by Ed Woodward. The blame should be firmly pointed at him if we don’t make any more new signings in the final 3 weeks of the window and that potentially results in a very poor start to the league.

 

[Denis79]

Both Ed and the Glazer family have clearly demonstrated their ambition this summer, which is to compete for top 4 and not to challenge for titles. We finished 6th last season 30 points behind and our answer to make up that deficit is to sign so far a RB. This should have been the summer when we ripped that squad to pieces and rebuild. I fully expected a summer rebuild similar to what Real have done instead it's pitiful.

Even Ole is starting to annoy me. Talks about replacing players who would leave. where is the replacement for Herrera? Instead let's morph McTomminay and Perriera into one player and hope they can do the job.

I'm pretty sure he's not happy with our summer so far. I believe that he's doing his happy act because he is a professional and cares for the club. He talked about change at the end of last season, Woodward has not delivered, so he copes with it and carries on with what he's got. Don't believe for one second he's happy with the squad considering his talk last season about how we should be fighting for honours.

 

[Keefy18]

I'm pretty sure he's not happy with our summer so far. I believe that he's doing his happy act because he is a professional and cares for the club. He talked about change at the end of last season, Woodward has not delivered, so he copes with it and carries on with what he's got. Don't believe for one second he's happy with the squad considering his talk last season about how we should be fighting for honours.

This isn't a defence of Ed, cause no doubt I'll get folks firing out comments saying it is...

But its Ole's job to remain professional and do the best job he can do with the resources available to him. It's exactly what Jose should of done, same way Poch has done it at Spurs. Ole and Mike are working on the team and promoting youth.

Still, I'm confident we'll get 2 more players through the door.

 

[Rhyme Animal]

Yeah because my opinion differs from yours this SO CLEARLY has to be true.

Or you know, I just replied to comments that replied to mine...

I just find it difficult to believe that anyone would choose to spend their free time writing pro-Glazer / Woodward essays...

I mean, you've spent hours and hours of your time doing this.

Just can't imagine anyone doing this unless paid - it almost seems like a job the way you write and the essays you post.

 

[clarkydaz]

This isn't a defence of Ed, cause no doubt I'll get folks firing out comments saying it is...

But its Ole's job to remain professional and do the best job he can do with the resources available to him. It's exactly what Jose should of done, same way Poch has done it at Spurs. Ole and Mike are working on the team and promoting youth.

Still, I'm confident we'll get 2 more players through the door.

isn't it the boards job to back the manager?

 

[Denis79]

This isn't a defence of Ed, cause no doubt I'll get folks firing out comments saying it is...

But its Ole's job to remain professional and do the best job he can do with the resources available to him. It's exactly what Jose should of done, same way Poch has done it at Spurs. Ole and Mike are working on the team and promoting youth.

Still, I'm confident we'll get 2 more players through the door.

The question is what the board expects of him, if there are no more transfers, fine. But he shouldn't be expected to bring results. Because if this is all of our transfer activity this summer, he's clearly not been backed and shouldn't be expected to do magic.

 

[snowkarl]

Fans also have to realize that Ole has zero leverage and no power whatsoever over anything Ed does. As much as we all love Ole, his career was dead in the water before Ed called him up in the winter when he was back in Norway after failing badly at Cardiff which means he is going to be extremely loyal and attached to Woodward.

But he should think before saying things like "xyz is out the door" when he is not 100% entirely sure that is actually the case - because it will make him look silly and fans will moan.

I also think he does himself no favors constantly reminiscing about the glory days - it was fine in the beginning as it was obviously a strategy from Ed, OGS and co to act as if this was a "back to SAF mentality" moment when it clearly is the same old.

Also, I urge everyone to remember that whenever Woody says things like 'oh we're getting a dof any day now' and 'oh we're really going to improve this or that' he is just defusing fan anger and you can never take ANYTHING he says at his word.

Hopefully we get back into the top 4 this year or we might start actually losing financial ground to smaller clubs like Spurs and Liverpool.

 

[Keefy18]

I just find it difficult to believe that anyone would choose to spend their free time writing pro-Glazer / Woodward essays...

I mean, you've spent hours and hours of your time doing this.

Just can't imagine anyone doing this unless paid - it almost seems like a job the way you write and the essays you post.

I log in once a week at the weekend.

I've a busy job, in the middle of getting a mortgage approval and a million other things on going.

So yeah when I do bother logging in I reply to the messages I am directly tagged in by quoting them all into 1 message rather than multiple messages.

I mean your not better, you spend your entire week it seems on here firing off anti glazer rhetoric.

 

[Keefy18]

The question is what the board expects of him, if there are no more transfers, fine. But he shouldn't be expected to bring results. Because if this is all of our transfer activity this summer, he's clearly not been backed and shouldn't be expected to do magic.

Every United manager is expected of a certain level of results, Ole would expect that of himself regardless.

Ole and Mike are clever enough to know that not all our issues will be resolved in a single transfer window, it was never going to happen. But to an extremely large section of our supporters they did expect this.

• We've addressed RB.
• Added pace and work rate with James to attack.
• They've addressed our playing style with a high press
• Significantly improved fitness
• Lukaku looks likely to leave with Rashford and Martial sharing the CF spot and to grow into the role
• De Gea looks likely to commit.
• Slowly integrating a bunch of talented young players into the side

As it currently stands we should be getting top 4 and personally, I'm confident we can do it and build on it from there.

But instead the entire summer has seen the majority of our supporters waste their days of twitter trends and moaning about the board

 

[Keefy18]

isn't it the boards job to back the manager?

How have they not?

I mean, this entire thread and the vast majority will tell you they are over ruling the manager. Are they over ruling Ole's decision in leaving Lukaku out of the side?

He's got 2 signings so far and will most likely get 2 more like I said in the last line of my post.

 

[Rhyme Animal]

I log in once a week at the weekend.

I've a busy job, in the middle of getting a mortgage approval and a million other things on going.

So yeah when I do bother logging in I reply to the messages I am directly tagged in by quoting them all into 1 message rather than multiple messages.

I mean your not better, you spend your entire week it seems on here firing off anti glazer rhetoric.

All Utd fans are 'anti-Glazer' at this point.

And our posts aren't that of people paid to do so. Yours are different - they're written like it's your job.

And indeed, they express an opinion that it's very difficult to imagine someone forming that wasn't getting something out of it.

But fair play to you - each to their own.

 

[Keefy18]

All Utd fans are 'anti-Glazer' at this point.

And our posts aren't that of people paid to do so. Yours are different - they're written like it's your job.

And indeed, they express an opinion that it's very difficult to imagine someone forming that wasn't getting something out of it.

But fair play to you - each to their own.

Sorry but not all United fans are anti glazer. I've supported United pretty much my entire life which is the guts of 4 decades and I'm as I've said all along.. indifferent to them. There's plenty more like me as well who've seen this club go through worse than this current set up.

One minute I'm Ed, the next I'm paid by him

It's the standard reply really at this point when anyone dares try add anything close to a reasonably thought out reply to anti glazer sentiments.

I get sweet fa out of it (Sadly cause I sure as hell could do with some funds with getting the mortgage sorted) except a migraine reading the rubbish posted on this thread.

 

[Denis79]

Every United manager is expected of a certain level of results, Ole would expect that of himself regardless.

Ole and Mike are clever enough to know that not all our issues will be resolved in a single transfer window, it was never going to happen. But to an extremely large section of our supporters they did expect this.

• We've addressed RB.
• Added pace and work rate with James to attack.
• They've addressed our playing style with a high press
• Significantly improved fitness
• Lukaku looks likely to leave with Rashford and Martial sharing the CF spot and to grow into the role
• De Gea looks likely to commit.
• Slowly integrating a bunch of talented young players into the side

As it currently stands we should be getting top 4 and personally, I'm confident we can do it and build on it from there.

But instead the entire summer has seen the majority of our supporters waste their days of twitter trends and moaning about the board

Disagree, Our purchases this summer I really like, but are not to be expected to hit the ground running instantly, especially James. The board have not backed Ole at all, if they demand a top 4 finish. Especially considering where and how we finished last season. If they give him time to rebuild regardless of CL qualification, that's a different story. If we should finish outside the top 4 and Ole gets the sack, they are idiots. It's essentially the same squad that finished the season in relegation form.

You write every United manager is expected to bring a certain level of results, then he should be backed to do so accordingly.

There is still time in the window for that to change but as it stands now, expecting academy and young developing transfers to deliver 4th in a league like the PL is extremely optimistic.

 

[clarkydaz]

How have they not?

I mean, this entire thread and the vast majority will tell you they are over ruling the manager. Are they over ruling Ole's decision in leaving Lukaku out of the side?

He's got 2 signings so far and will most likely get 2 more like I said in the last line of my post.

You are joking right? Weve made ONE significant signing so far that improves our starting lineup. ONE signing in a clear window with no world cup/euros. Our midfield is currently weaker than last year with Herrera not replaced. Atletico Madrid have conducted 20 transfers this window in/out

Lukaku is out of the side due to being in limbo transfer tustle, hence why he is mysteriously injured the way all players are prior to transfer

 

[C'est Moi Cantona]

No what you did was complain about both outcomes so basically you are unhappy regardless of whatever happens.

We've often out spent Real as I've pointed out, we've spent more than them in 3 of the last 5 windows I believe it is. Memory is a bit off on this but pretty sure that is the case.

We've signed some immensely talented players, problem is that they don't fit a system often and the manager can't get the best from said player.

That isn't a problem of the board, they've done their part in providing financial support and completing the deal for the manager to get the player.

Look I've said time and again it's not the money been spent that's the problem, it's that we've gone into it with no real plan, no structure, and no thought to the future, and it has failed, not just a bit, but completely, and yet we are still here doing the same thing, that is my problem.


You might not like it, but Ed is responsible for the outcome of everything under his control at United, which are transfers, but if you want to just blame the managers, then he was responsible hiring them as well.

Him been a large part of our problem isn't even an argument anymore, it's just fact, but clearly the bigger issue is why the owners are still allowing it to continue.

 

[zizi]

All Utd fans are 'anti-Glazer' at this point.

And our posts aren't that of people paid to do so. Yours are different - they're written like it's your job.

And indeed, they express an opinion that it's very difficult to imagine someone forming that wasn't getting something out of it.

But fair play to you - each to their own.

Nope, all Utd fans are not anti-Glazer.

Imo it probably seems that way as the ones who don't dislike the Glazers, simply don't have the will to deal with the wildly absurd nonsense that is spouted anymore.

On one hand they don't spend enough, on the other they are criticized for over paying. The arguments don't make sense because they are not rational. But its the easy way out, and suits the emotional agenda of being a 'top red'.

The players we have spent on is the problem and the vast majority of those players are down to the managers at the time. Simple as that.

 

[Garethw]

You are letting us all down Ed, and you will be held accountable if the season turns to shit and Ole is not backed in this window.

 

[Eric's Seagull]

You are letting us all down Ed, and you will be held accountable if the season turns to shit and Ole is not backed led in this window.

Agree with all this, exactly how I feel. But I feel Woody doesn't give a feck at all. Hope he does something special but the closer we get to the end of the transfer window, the less I feel this is going to happen. Woody might surprise me but I don't think so as I don't think he is giving Ole a fair platform to succeed from. If the part in bold happens which I really don'y want to happen, I fear Woody will try to make Ole the scapegoat for his failings in the market. In my opinion Woody is a cnut.

 

[Irwin99]

Still confident we'll get two more players but time is ticking. He seriously can not mess this summer up, he must know that.

 

[Hawks2008]

You are letting us all down Ed, and you will be held accountable if the season turns to shit and Ole is not backed led in this window.

I agree but unfortunately there is no accountability for this man. The Glazers love him so his position will always be safe no matter how incompetent he is.

 

[Jezpeza]

The question is what the board expects of him, if there are no more transfers, fine. But he shouldn't be expected to bring results. Because if this is all of our transfer activity this summer, he's clearly not been backed and shouldn't be expected to do magic.

Im staying optimistic that we’ll get some more in - however i feel like if we dont Ole will be sacrificed by xmas, a new manager will come in who is going to ‘evaluate’ the squad and that means we wont sign any players in January, then rinse and repeat all this the next summer.

Its like everyone forgot last summer where we signed fred and dalot and were linked to this that and the other and then ‘poof’ window shut. I see the same happening again - clock is really ticking, even the numbers in fees are similar for fred and dalot vs awb and james. And our net spend over the last 15 years has been 57 million a season. I also feel like the Maguire deal has been quashed by the failure to sell Lukaku.

The squad at current will still contain darmian rojo jones etc etc amongst mediocrity/has beens like young sanchez bailly matic pereira etc etc. I dont know how anyone in their right mind would feasibly believe the same squad is suddenly going to be a large stretch better next season. Only hope is that the likes of greenwood and Mctominay develop in that case.

Im not saying its doomsday and we will finish 14th or something - just think we will have a repeat of no trophies no champions league again without any additions.

 

[Denis79]

Im staying optimistic that we’ll get some more in - however i feel like if we dont Ole will be sacrificed by xmas, a new manager will come in who is going to ‘evaluate’ the squad and that means we wont sign any players in January, then rinse and repeat all this the next summer.

Its like everyone forgot last summer where we signed fred and dalot and were linked to this that and the other and then ‘poof’ window shut. I see the same happening again - clock is really ticking, even the numbers in fees are similar for fred and dalot vs awb and james. And our net spend over the last 15 years has been 57 million a season. I also feel like the Maguire deal has been quashed by the failure to sell Lukaku.

The squad at current will still contain darmian rojo jones etc etc amongst mediocrity/has beens like young sanchez bailly matic pereira etc etc. I dont know how anyone in their right mind would feasibly believe the same squad is suddenly going to be a large stretch better next season. Only hope is that the likes of greenwood and Mctominay develop in that case.

Im not saying its doomsday and we will finish 14th or something - just think we will have a repeat of no trophies no champions league again without any additions.

Agree with you, last year we had a net spend of 30M and if AWB and James are the end of our transfer dealings this summer, the board shouldn't demand anything beyond top 6. I've never seen us as bad as last season and I've followed the club intensly for over 30 years. Ole either needs to be backed properly or given enough time if they want a slow rebuild. If this is the end of our transfer window and Ole gets the sack for failing to qualify for the CL, I hope fans recognize who's at fault.

 

[Jezpeza]

Agree with you, last year we had a net spend of 30M and if AWB and James are the end of our transfer dealings this summer, the board shouldn't demand anything beyond top 6. I've never seen us as bad as last season and I've followed the club intensly for over 30 years. Ole either needs to be backed properly or given enough time if they want a slow rebuild. If this is the end of our transfer window and Ole gets the sack for failing to qualify for the CL, I hope fans recognize who's at fault.

Ive been a bit spoilt in that i grew up in the golden fergie era. When i speak to my dad he tells me how largely shite we were in the 70s and 80s, we even played division two at one point. We dont have a divine right to win just because we are Manchester United.

What really bothers me is that there just seems to be no plan - we dont seem to want to build an identity, mish mash squad of 5 managers players now, we’ve become a firing club for managers. We’re not winning trophies but we’re not even playing good football. The approach to transfers has been abysmal.

Ive enjoyed watching the youngsters in pre season, theres some desire to play for the shirt. Just worried come matchday one matic and co will be back in the starting 11 and theyll be in the reserves.

 

[Denis79]

Ive been a bit spoilt in that i grew up in the golden fergie era. When i speak to my dad he tells me how largely shite we were in the 70s and 80s, we even played division two at one point. We dont have a divine right to win just because we are Manchester United.

What really bothers me is that there just seems to be no plan - we dont seem to want to build an identity, mish mash squad of 5 managers players now, we’ve become a firing club for managers. We’re not winning trophies but we’re not even playing good football. The approach to transfers has been abysmal.

Ive enjoyed watching the youngsters in pre season, theres some desire to play for the shirt. Just worried come matchday one matic and co will be back in the starting 11 and theyll be in the reserves.

I like this new path we are taking as well, I'm not afraid of bad results, because they will come, I'm more afraid that our glorious board won't give it the time it needs, just like you said. Either back Ole with crazy sums for a proper rebuild, or give this the time it needs for fruition.

 

[Gungne]

This article makes me angry. It's 7 month old, but still makes me angry

Derek Langley helped bring the likes of Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard, Gerard Pique and Danny Welbeck to Old Trafford, but believes frank conversations with the powers that be about the competency of certain people at the club led to his downfall

https://talksport.com/football/4593...-frenkie-de-jong-matthis-de-ligt-ed-woodward/

 

[Eric's Seagull]

This article makes me angry. It's 7 month old, but still makes me angry



https://talksport.com/football/4593...-frenkie-de-jong-matthis-de-ligt-ed-woodward/

Good article thanks for sharing I was aware on the Matthijs De Ligt situation as Woody was concerned about his weight. Didn't realise Langley had recommended De Jong and Upamecano as well. Woody didn't like that Langley had the balls to tell Woody straight how it is. To me Woody seems to value his own football knowledge so much that he refuses to take advice from people who actually know a bit about football.

 

[Thisistheone]

16 days left to buy players.

 

[GBBQ]

This article makes me angry. It's 7 month old, but still makes me angry



https://talksport.com/football/4593...-frenkie-de-jong-matthis-de-ligt-ed-woodward/

What a dubious story. Are we ignoring the fact that the youth brought through in the past 15 years has been hugely underwhelming? Maybe he did recommend De Ligt (and scouting the Ajax youth team might not be the hardest job in the world for finding talent) but presumably he's also recommended Mc Nair and Blackett so i am sure his recommendations are a mixed bag at best.

Also he was fired 7 months after this alleged conversation (incidentally there was also articles in the news at the time that he was going to quit himself so maybe its not down to Woody?).

 

[kouroux]

What a dubious story. Are we ignoring the fact that the youth brought through in the past 15 years has been hugely underwhelming? Maybe he did recommend De Ligt (and scouting the Ajax youth team might not be the hardest job in the world for finding talent) but presumably he's also recommended Mc Nair and Blackett so i am sure his recommendations are a mixed bag at best.

Also he was fired 7 months after this alleged conversation (incidentally there was also articles in the news at the time that he was going to quit himself so maybe its not down to Woody?).

Where are these chaps ? It is hard to believe they once played for Man United

 

[roonster09]

Where are these chaps ? It is hard to believe they once played for Man United

Championship I guess.

 

[JPRouve]

Good article thanks for sharing I was aware on the Matthijs De Ligt situation as Woody was concerned about his weight. Didn't realise Langley had recommended De Jong and Upamecano as well. Woody didn't like that Langley had the balls to tell Woody straight how it is. To me Woody seems to value his own football knowledge so much that he refuses to take advice from people who actually know a bit about football.

You do realize that it's bs and that Woodward isn't even mentioned in that story?

 

[Eric's Seagull]

You do realize that it's bs and that Woodward isn't even mentioned in that story?

Do you mean the story is BS or the part about Woody please? As I thought that everything went through him.

 

[Johan07]

The appointment of Butt in a new role is interesting and a sign that the club is looking at things organisation-wise.
The academy has taken strides compared to how it looked when Sir Alex left btw. The club should get credit for - finally - realising that we were losing major ground to the competition in this area.
Its not a coincidence that we are seeing the best crop of youngsters for quite awhile now.
With an appointment of a tehcnical director and a replacement of the current Board of Advisors with some new blood, (this might be the most important thing for the club) I would be pretty happy with how the club would look from an organisational perspective.
I think we will see a technical director appointed in good time before next summer transfer window. It makes little sense to hurry that appointment up now, it would not affect this summer window anyways.

 

[JPRouve]

Do you mean the story is BS or the part about Woody please? As I thought that everything went through him.

Both and the story says that Marcel Bout allegedly had concerns about it, nothing else. The all thing is bs, it's just an article trying to ridicule United.

 

[Johan07]

Do you mean the story is BS or the part about Woody please? As I thought that everything went through him.

Woodward is one person and CEO for a billion-dollar company listed on the NYSE. If he would actually do and say all the things that are attributed to him, he would need to be cloned into 20 Woodies or something.
So no, not everything in the club "goes through" Woodward.
That story is BS just because its not any logic in a mid-level scout speaking/reporting to Woodward to begin with, but for like 20 other reasons as well.

 

[Eric's Seagull]

Both and the story says that Marcel Bout allegedly had concerns about it, nothing else. The all thing is bs, it's just an article trying to ridicule United.

Thank you very much for informing me. It's good to hear information from people who a decent amount of knowledge on a given subject

 

[Eric's Seagull]

Woodward is one person and CEO for a billion-dollar company listed on the NYSE. If he would actually do and say all the things that are attributed to him, he would need to be cloned into 20 Woodies or something.
So no, not everything in the club "goes through" Woodward.
That story is BS just because its not any logic in a mid-level scout speaking/reporting to Woodward to begin with, but for like 20 other reasons as well.

Thanks for your insight and for also letting me know it was a BS story

 

[JPRouve]

Thank you very much for informing me. It's good to hear information from people who a decent amount of knowledge on a given subject

If you allow me to give you an advise, don't listen every negative stories even when it comes from someone that seems legit. Just take Langley as an example, he would make you believe that he spotted De Jong and De Ligt, that United didn't listen to his foolproof report and that for some reason he was the only one in the whole world that spotted them(otherwise an other big club would have signed them a long time ago). Now, there is one small issue, Langley wasn't scouting Netherland, the club uses local scouts, the same way that unlike some stories would make you believe, he didn't spot Pogba, it was David Friio.

 

[Eric's Seagull]

If you allow me to give you an advise, don't listen every negative stories even when it comes from someone that seems legit. Just take Langley as an example, he would make you believe that he spotted De Jong and De Ligt, that United didn't listen to his foolproof report and that for some reason he was the only one in the whole world that spotted them(otherwise an other big club would have signed them a long time ago). Now, there is one small issue, Langley wasn't scouting Netherland, the club uses local scouts, the same way that unlike some stories would make you believe, he didn't spot Pogba, it was David Friio.

Ok point taken. I will take that into account for the future. Thank you also for infprming me about him not spotting Pogba, As until now, I hadn't heard of who scouted Pogba and was compeletely unaware on who David Friio is I shall look into him. Is he still with the club please?

 

[Pogue Mahone]

I'm sure its been said before but this whole Maguire bid makes an absolute fool out of Woodward. This time last year, the club were briefing the press about how Mourinho was trying to sign central defenders that weren't any better than the ones already in our squad. A shortlist that included a certain Harry Maguire. How the feck can he be taken seriously, now that he's on the verge of signing off an 80 million outlay on the exact same player?