Thought this would be bigger news. But I suppose it’s been expected for a while
Imagine if this had broke a year ago
Imagine if this had broke a year ago
John Murtough Sack Watch
- Thread starter luke511
- Start date
Training cone arranger.
Supposedly Inter Miami wanted him, so Ed Woodward offered him the Football Director role to keep him at the club. They knew it would be unpopular with the fans, so wedged Fletcher in as Technical Director to make it more palatable.
Paving the way for Big Sam
- The Caf: thank feck for that. feck off mate!!
The first time in 11 years someone's asked him what he does and he's tendered his resignation...
- The Caf: thank feck for that. feck off mate!!
Ashworth right around the corner then. Wouldn't make sense for Murthough to leave without that being in place tbh.
Is that actually true? We got nervous, offered him a significant role and tied him down for fear he’d go to Inter Miami, as opposed to Inter Milan?
Ineos probably counting for Willcox and Berrada to fill the gap temporarily until Ashworth will come
Another one bites the dust.
A further step in the right direction by INEOS.
A further step in the right direction by INEOS.
Is that actually true? We got nervous, offered him a significant role and tied him down for fear he’d go to Inter Miami, as opposed to Inter Milan?
Change the "we" to Ed Woodward and if its not true Ill eat my hat.
Goodnight, sweet prince
JR: So in our review John can you explain what you do here so we can assess you?
JM: I’ll get my coat
I bet Murtough made a nice dent on the corporate credit card that were recently confiscated from staff at the club.
A Glazer Stooge good riddance.
Was unbelievably put in a position he was under qualified for and was out of his depth, think he’s done some good work at the club but he shouldn’t of been given what is probably at this moment the most difficult directors job in the world, right decision.
For people saying he's done feck all in 11 years, it's likely that Murtogh was a big influence in the recruitment of Garnacho, Kambwala and Amad, as well as the having a big impact academy that we are now bearing fruit from.
Well by the accounts that are out there he did a really good job with the youth set up. But sadly given how poorly he perfomed in the last couple of years in his more recent capacity we have to go scorched earth and deny he ever did anything good.
See that Peter Hall saying we are looking at Ward for Head of Recruitment. Personally I will wait for a proper source like Ornstein. He seems very quiet on appointing one which could be good or bad thing
Best thing about this guy being sacked is the briefs about INEOS rating him and the Murtough Madness Munchers rushing in to say 'see, we told you so'.
In reality, it was probably a bit of an olive branch from INEOS to big him up publicly, so he can be hired by some other fool at another club.
Smart play and it should teach some of you that corporate politics playing out publicly is not the same as reality. This goes double for that fraud we have 'coaching' the first team.
If INEOS retain this form, he'd be sacked off promptly after we fail to win the FA cup or a couple of days later if we pull off the unlikely cup win. At least I hope so because all the structure in the world won't make us play better on the pitch.
In reality, it was probably a bit of an olive branch from INEOS to big him up publicly, so he can be hired by some other fool at another club.
Smart play and it should teach some of you that corporate politics playing out publicly is not the same as reality. This goes double for that fraud we have 'coaching' the first team.
If INEOS retain this form, he'd be sacked off promptly after we fail to win the FA cup or a couple of days later if we pull off the unlikely cup win. At least I hope so because all the structure in the world won't make us play better on the pitch.
Yeah, it probably will. Specialists in specific roles is always going to trump one guy taking an overview and control of the entire organisation. It will also free up the head coach to focus on the pitch and not the boardroom or scouting/transfer market.
His work with the academy is genuinely stellar, getting us back to the top in a more competitive market than ever before and with the glazers as bosses. Do we invest as much in youth football as city now? Is that the main change? Anyway I wouldn’t have minded him staying on in some role but not heartbroken either. It’s hard to forgive any of them at this point but hopefully his academy players make a real difference and his legacy at that level is acknowledged.
We have more professional level talent coming through than I’ve ever seen before .
We have more professional level talent coming through than I’ve ever seen before .
The watch is over.
Good riddance. INEOS making all the right moves
Absolutely totally inept at his job. He was just collecting paychecks for 11 years. Didn't think it was as bad as it actually was!
I was one of the first to turn again the man at a time when most people were jerking off at him hiring data analysts and sports scientists. While there's no doubt that I am happy to see him gone I do worry about next summer. March-April is when player agents are contacted regarding transfers. Yet United lack the boots on the ground needed to initiate such contacts. Considering that our transfer strategy depends heavily on us being able to sell a huge amount of players while concurrently being able to spot bargains then that's quite concerning.
Brailsford and Blanc will fill in on the ground I'm sure until we get the big guns in place.
Blanc is a David Gill on steroids. He's fantastic on infrastructure, in balancing books, sponsorships and finding money out of nowhere but he's not a football person. Brailsford is in cycling. His philosophy is in the right place but he's not a football person
Oh no, not Murtough!
Besides the obvious benefit of getting this unqualified hack out to get someone competent, imagine the money we are going to save that was spent on his frequent Spanish trips for Tapas.
In celebration of his departure, I am going to read one of the many essays written on him by the resident Caf hagiographers. Good times!
Besides the obvious benefit of getting this unqualified hack out to get someone competent, imagine the money we are going to save that was spent on his frequent Spanish trips for Tapas.
In celebration of his departure, I am going to read one of the many essays written on him by the resident Caf hagiographers. Good times!
So business as usual then?
Big win for Ferguson
Fergie doesn't give a toss about Murtough.
Okay, I've been hesitant to ask this as I'll likely be berated. I've also no idea where to post it, I didn't want to start a new thread as we seem to have plenty on the subject so, sorry to the mods if it's in the wrong place:
As an older chap who doesn't have much of an idea on the hierarchy of a global business/football club, could somebody please put together a list or org chart with all our new off-field recruits, who they report to etc, and what their role will entail. Also, and sorry for my ignorance, how their role will impact the club and make us better than we are at the moment.
Nice one.
As an older chap who doesn't have much of an idea on the hierarchy of a global business/football club, could somebody please put together a list or org chart with all our new off-field recruits, who they report to etc, and what their role will entail. Also, and sorry for my ignorance, how their role will impact the club and make us better than we are at the moment.
Nice one.
The guy was useless so probably wouldn't make much difference.
Fergie advised Arnold to make a move for Ashworth instead. We have now got rid of Murtough for Ashworth =
Big win for Ferguson
Is that actually true? We got nervous, offered him a significant role and tied him down for fear he’d go to Inter Miami, as opposed to Inter Milan?
Laurie Whitwell explained it like that in an article a while ago on the Athletic, and on a podcast as well. He's normally pretty good with that sort of internal stuff.
I think Woodward heavily relied on Murtough for all sorts of admin reasons in those early years because he knew feck all about running a football club, whereas Murtough had worked within clubs for a long time before he came to United.
As others have already pointed out, he did do a lot of good work with the academy restructuring. I think he was behind bringing in Cox as academy director, which also led to a huge falling out with Nicky Butt. Not necessarily because Butt felt like he was more suited for the role, but because I don't think they were as transparent as they should have been and he felt forced out, whereas there probably was a place for him working with Cox.
It's ironic that he brought in Cox, who was well regarded as an academy manager from his time at Watford and Sheffield United, and didn't promote Butt because it wasn't his area of expertise, but was then promoted to a role he didn't have any experience in over other more suitable candidates, including the (supposedly) incoming Ashworth.
He can't really have any complaints. £518m spent in the transfer market since he became DOF in 2021 - the squad is no better than when he found it. Of his two managerial appointments, Rangnick was a disaster and EtH looks set to be fired this summer after the worst season the club has endured in decades. Overall, a terrible record and legacy for Murtough.
Well known Ferguson didn't approve of him. Was in The Athletic a while back.
Not really no.
I was against Murtough not because he's British as some people suggested but because he lacked experience in the role of sporting director which in itself is a very senior position. In fact I had no problems with him being given an academy role something he did fairly well in.
If you consider the football side as an orchestra then the sporting director is pretty much the conductor. His job is to make sure that each division is working efficiently, it shares the same goals and to offer his expertise in different sectors at different times. Thus a sporting director would keep very close tabs to the academy, the fitness team and the first team throughout the season. That allows him to get his hands blooded during transfers challenging stakeholders as of why player A is given a contract extension on a high salary, why we need player B when there's a kid in the academy whose doing so well and why on earth is player C kept to rot in the academy rather then loaned when he's got great potential but still lack that experience needed to be trusted by the head coach.
Brailsford is a sports person. SJR describes him as the closest person there is to him on the sports side. However he's got no experience in football. There are certain elements of his philosophy that can work in football like the marginal gains philosophy but that doesn't makes him well versed into football and that became obvious when he and his mate Moody took over Nice's transfer window of 2022-2023 and made an utter mess out of it. Blanc is a genius financial wise. What he did at Juventus defied logic. He was able to maintain the backbone of a Serie A winning side, he fount money to build a stadium while concurrently navigating at Serie B level were prize money is basically a fun size packet of chocolate bars and 2 Guinness. That earned him the role of Chairman, a role that is usually covered by an Agnelli/their consiglieres (ex Grande Stevens) and absolute legends (Boniperti). However it was during his greatest hour were his limitations were exposed ie he wasn't very good on the football side. Blanc was completely blindsided by his DOF and the fitness people. His lack of football experience meant that he kept relying on them despite not being good enough.
So we have two people who have less football experience then Murtough leading our summer transfer strategy. We all know that from an FFP POV there's really little room to get things wrong and that we must make every cent count. That's quite concerning.