Edwin van der Sar has been approached to become Director of Football

Sometimes in sports you touch gold. Us with Fergie, City with Pep. When you've been lucky like that, you'll normally be OK and even bad seasons won't be that bad.

But most of the time, it doesn't work that way. United of the last 10 years is an example of it, but so are most sports clubs. They need to make decisions and make changes all the time, and sometimes they'll get it wrong. Even the best ones. Having a bad season isn't a disaster, when you've just lost a top coach who is probably irreplacable in dutch football and several players. It's about how you react to that and whether you manage to rectify the situation going forward.

Of course, it rarely works that way in sports. If you make mistakes and have a bad season, normally you won't get another shot - even if the previous seasons were very good.
 
It's crazy to put a bad season on director of football. CAF is an incredibly stupid place at times.
 
Van der Sar was part of the board of directors and should've just brought someone in to replace Overmars rather than decide to make decisions himself on the football side of the club. And that's his mistake, he put himself into a position on the football side of the club and didn't replace Overmars with someone who had the capability to lead the football departments. The recruitment at the club has been run by Westerveld (youth) and Henk Veldmate who runs the recruitment at first team level. So all he needed was someone to understand and empower the football departments and make decisions with them. VdS instead decided that he'd have a go himself and didn't hire a head of football and he put himself into the firing line and the pressure got to him.


There's a difference between the board of directors and the people running the football structure at the club. And that includes the board at United. Richard Arnold is part of the board along with the Glazers, Cliff Baty etc. And their is job to empower the football structure below them.

The football structure needs to be backed and not a manager. Because if you back the man leading the football structure, then you back the entire structure on the football side of the club.
 
Scottynaldinho said:
It's crazy to put a bad season on director of football. CAF is an incredibly stupid place at times.
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He was not the DoF at Ajax, though.
He was the CEO.

Ajax' failings are down to their squad being rinsed over the last 5 years, and that they've lost the best manager they've had in over a decade. Not to mention, the loss of Marc Overmars as Sporting Director. On one hand, he allegedly harassed some women working under him, and therefore had to leave. On the other hand, he was one of the very best sporting directors in European football, and is widely credited as being the "brain" behind Ajax' recent success. It seems that Van der Sar overtook a lot of that responsibility after Overmars left, which is never a good idea. The days of one man being able to run a big club is long gone.

Ajax were doomed to implode after all those outgoings -- and so much responsibility put on their CEO. But they at least have the economy and status to bounce back.

But still, a CEO can -- in many ways -- mess up a lot at a club. We need look no further than Ed Woodward for such evidence.
 
Bestietom said:
Think he wants sabatical. Maybe next season 2024 he will come to us
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Considering his wife's health. (she had a stroke a few years ago) although she fully recovered they did say in an interview they take that in consideration for a new job abroad. Don't know how they think about this right now but it will influence his decision.
 


:( First his wife, now him. Hoping for a full and speedy recovery. :(
 
Rapsel said:


:( First his wife, now him. Hoping for a full and speedy recovery. :(
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Hope he recovers well.. After his comments about how stressful the job was just for this to happen when he's finally supposed to have some peace and quiet makes it extra sad.
 
Terrible news. Wishing him to pull through. And a speedy recovery.
 
DutchSerb said:
Hope he recovers well.. After his comments about how stressful the job was just for this to happen when he's finally supposed to have some peace and quiet makes it extra sad.
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It can happen (though usually not as serious as a brain hemorrhage) when you get away from having constant stress, everything can suddenly catch up with your body. I've been there.
 
Horrible news :( Same thing that happened to his wife, right?
 
VixV said:
It can happen (though usually not as serious as a brain hemorrhage) when you get away from having constant stress, everything can suddenly catch up with your body. I've been there.
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Sad to hear that mate, hope you're doing alright now?
 
Was air lifted from the island of Hvar to a hospital in Split. Will undergo further tests there, currently stable. Hopefully he'll make a full recovery.

Hang in there Edwin!
 
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Hoping for a good and speedy recovery for Edwin. Fantastic keeper and person it seems, absolutely terrible news this.
 
Such sad news, hoping for a good and speedy recovery for Edwin and his wife. Divesting to hear about this, really hope he will be 100% all right and be our new football director next summer.
 
DutchSerb said:
Sad to hear that mate, hope you're doing alright now?
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Oh I'm mostly grand now thanks! I took a year off work and going back to university as a mature student, I couldn't have done it without the support from my partner. You'd be amazed how much time it takes for your brain and body to "come down" from the near constant feeling of adrenaline and anxiety. Changing careers is an important part of me being able to stay mentally and physically healthy, but I couldn't accomplish any of it unless I took time out of a work environment, I could have been put in the most wonderful workplace but the paranoia overrides it all. It was a bit of a shock to my system getting out, I got easily unwell and slept a lot for a few weeks after.

Goes for everyone posting here who may be finding their jobs too much to deal with. It's not worth it, none of it is worth the constant stress, especially if you have to take it home with you.

I hope VDS makes a quick recovery, and I hope he takes a sabbatical.
 
VixV said:
Oh I'm mostly grand now thanks! I took a year off work and going back to university as a mature student, I couldn't have done it without the support from my partner. You'd be amazed how much time it takes for your brain and body to "come down" from the near constant feeling of adrenaline and anxiety. Changing careers is an important part of me being able to stay mentally and physically healthy, but I couldn't accomplish any of it unless I took time out of a work environment, I could have been put in the most wonderful workplace but the paranoia overrides it all. It was a bit of a shock to my system getting out, I got easily unwell and slept a lot for a few weeks after.

Goes for everyone posting here who may be finding their jobs too much to deal with. It's not worth it, none of it is worth the constant stress, especially if you have to take it home with you.

I hope VDS makes a quick recovery, and I hope he takes a sabbatical.
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I'm glad to hear you're in a better place.

Do you mind sharing what industry you were in? Obviously nothing confidential like the company you worked at, but it's interesting to hear the story of someone who has benefited from a break and then complete career change.

It also puts a lot of things in perspective.
 
Daydreamer said:
I'm glad to hear you're in a better place.

Do you mind sharing what industry you were in? Obviously nothing confidential like the company you worked at, but it's interesting to hear the story of someone who has benefited from a break and then complete career change.

It also puts a lot of things in perspective.
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Animal care. When things go wrong, there’s a lot of finger pointing and the higher ups take no accountability for any of it. Not meaning to be funny, but I can imagine working in football can be similar, a lot of people and important decisions to juggle, and I’d say a LOT of finger pointing when there’s a problem.
 
VixV said:
Animal care. When things go wrong, there’s a lot of finger pointing and the higher ups take no accountability for any of it. Not meaning to be funny, but I can imagine working in football can be similar, a lot of people and important decisions to juggle, and I’d say a LOT of finger pointing when there’s a problem.
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Interesting, thanks for sharing.
 
Hope he gets well soon. I had the same thing happen to me in 2012 it also caused three strokes. Lots of time in ICU and some intensive physical and occupational therapy after
 
In a week where there is debate about what constitutes a goalkeeping legend at United, we genuinely had one in Edwin. My thoughts are with him and his family - I pray he pulls through.
 
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