Man Utd set to appoint Director of Football (when hell freezes over)

[Dumbat12]

It's honestly Mourinho's fault. I agree with the rest of the guys that said that Mourinho's having problems getting the most out of the players. What the hell did we buy Lindelof for? He's been permabenched ever since he got here. And now Jose wants another CB. It's like he's milking the club on purpose.

 

[Enigma_87]

It's honestly Mourinho's fault. I agree with the rest of the guys that said that Mourinho's having problems getting the most out of the players. What the hell did we buy Lindelof for? He's been permabenched ever since he got here. And now Jose wants another CB. It's like he's milking the club on purpose.

Or perhaps he doesn't trust the CB's he inherited, which isn't hard to believe?

 

[MadMike]

If Woodward doesn't trust Jose to pick players to sign then he either needs to get rid of him or bring a DoF in. If neither happen then back the manager with what he is after. Not backing him, sacking him or getting a DoF in just leaves us in the current situation with a disgruntled manager and a team with gaping holes in it.

Agree. If you don’t feel the manager is good enough and you plan to make this his final season you still need to improve the squad to a) avoid a catastrophic season and b) leave a better squad for the next manager.

I don’t understand how holding back funds for the next manager can be a good option either long term or short term. If you can’t as a CEO formulate a transfer policy yourself that strengthens the team year on year without gaps even when the manager is not trusted, then get someone else who will. Because time doesn’t stand still. Based on how the teams are looking atm we’ll have a fight in our hands for top 4.

 

[RepardReece]

Never know whats going on behind the scenes. But I still feel its Jose's fault. It seems like hes created a negative atmosphere in our squad and no one seems to want to play for him this season bar 3/4 players. I think most players on his list have realised this and don't really want to play for him. I mean everyone knows about his third season syndrome as well. I wouldn't want to play under him from the stuff i've heard. He generally just doesn't sound like a nice guy. Not to mention the awful park the bus tactics, which no attacker would want to play.

Do feel Woodward has to take some of the blame though, I reckon it's his fault that we haven't been able to offload players.

Or perhaps he doesn't trust the CB's he inherited, which isn't hard to believe?

He wanted those CB's, he should've realised that beforehand.

 

[goin4glory]

Exactly it goes both ways. Woodward has done his part by financing several big money signings, but Mourinho has made them all look ordinary. We can't keep throwing money at a manager who continues to waste it.

Mourinho's signings are by far the strongest part of our team. Bailly/Pogba/Matic/Sanchez/Lukaku are all quality. His only debatable signing so far is Lindelof.

 

[wolvored]

Ridiculously unfair. Jose came in and turned our questionable defense into one of the best units in the league. Under thirty goals each season.

So he's done what get has had to with what he's got. Now he just wants better. And yes, that takes fine tuning.

Hes used the same defense as what we had under Fergie mainly which means the 2 he has already bought, for one reson or another, havent been good enough. Where you get the fine tuning from I dont know.

 

[Kag]

If Mourinho was doing his job properly instead of coaching the team to play football that isn't wretched, this thread wouldn't even be active.

When the likes of Alderweireld and Willian are your supposed transfer targets then you can't just expect clubs to throw them at you without a toss.

Woodward is responsible for employing these managers, and I think we need to be turning towards somebody younger and more creative, however, few people expected the sort of football we've watched under Van Gaal and Mourinho. That's still on him, mind. But we couldn't take such risks at the time.

 

[DownRiver]

I hope he hires a manager that young, innovative, exciting and has a vision for the club.

Real Madrid, Bayern, PSG, Barcelona etc all the so big top clubs are hiring inexperienced managers. Not to mention Zidane who won three CL trophies in a row.

Hoped he will hire someone 4th time lucky (Moyes, LVG and Mourinho). Can I just say, if you was someone who knew anything about football, you would never have chosen these three managers.

All I want honestly is attacking football. If we wait another 3 years without a trophy but see progress, I would care. However I do care with Mourinho as he has shown no improvement in style. How can one have so much time and do so little tactically.

Woodward really used Man utd it's as a thing to experiment on and learn from mistakes from. Now that he is wiser, I hope he picks the right person.

Mourinho needs to leave and I am hesitant in saying Woodward can fix the job

 

[sal klita]

It's not even question of transfer window. This person has zero knowledge in football. He doesn't have any vision what club needed, which style of play, which manager. His action on football aspects lacking any logic. Best examples are Martial and Fellaini treatments.
I'm not sure even how many matches he is watching. Not only of Man Utd, also of other clubs. Which skills this person have to rule football club? First thing he interesting is marketing and bring player that will sold many shirts.
This man is a joke in football terms.

 

[JohnnyKills]

I think there must be a mutual understanding that Ed would splash the cheque book if Mourinho looked profitable. He’s not. The football has not improved

Yeah i wonder if the board are already starting to think beyond JM. They gave him his new contract last year but the football has been terrible since then and now Zidane's on the market. Maybe they're hoping he throws his toys out of the pram and walks?

 

[WR10]

Yeah i wonder if the board are already starting to think beyond JM. They gave him his new contract last year but the football has been terrible since then and now Zidane's on the market. Maybe they're hoping he throws his toys out of the pram and walks?

Absolutely. Ed's sole job duty is to keep shareholders happy. How do you keep them happy in a ridiculous business? Optimism. The feeling that things are going to be better, ie there is a reason to continue investment. Mourinho's candle has dimmed and Ed is just playing his cards right. Mourinho has to get on with it.

 

[Ephrem]

A lot of flack being directed towards Mourinho but surely an equal amount of blame lies with Woodward? We started the transfer window hopeful we'd sign Sandro, Willian and yet we've signed none of them. Ditto last season with Perisic. Mourinho's said he's given a list of 5 players to Woodward, wanted two, but thinks we'll only get 1 (if that).

We've known we've been crying out for new full backs and a RW, and we've yet to sign either a LB or a RW and it looks very unlikely that we're going to do so. All the whilst we're chasing after yet another CB to add to the 5 we already have, and that too for £60m+ which is mad because in my very honest opinion a fit and on form Bailly or Rojo aren't that different from Alderweireld / Maguire (as we saw in Mourinho's first season) and our biggest problem last season was in attack, not defence.

We've spent almost the same as City this summer, despite them having a far superior squad to us and having outspent us significantly in the previous two summers. Liverpool have a team that did very well in the second half of last season after adding Van Dijk, reached the CL final, and have now spent another £160m upgrading their team.

All the while Woodward seems to be going after Maguire who'd cost £70m+ or players who aren't for sale. This season we've seen Mahrez, Malcom, Lemar, Gelson and Moura (Jan) move and done nothing - all players that could've improved RW for us. Players like Sarr, Perisic still obtainable. Either Woodward is a really bad negotiator or it just seems likely that he doesn't want to spend the funds, and imo that's what's really hampering us this summer and will hamper us throughout this coming season. Of course Mourinho's list of 5 players could've been just really unobtainable players but surely we'd have backups in place?

Well that's what Jose wants and I think Woodward is amused by that. He is own his rights questioning that decision too.

Woodward is bad negotiator ??? He got us Sanchez for Mkhitaryan and started selling our players for reasonable prices. Come on man...be reasonable and realistic.

Doesn't want so spend fund bullshit ??? Just check how much we paid in the last two summer and the salary we offered Sanchez to get him.

 

[Enigma_87]

He wanted those CB's, he should've realised that beforehand.

How so? If we're to believe Jose he identified his 5 targets before the season ended.

 

[Sparky Rhiwabon]

Yeah i wonder if the board are already starting to think beyond JM. They gave him his new contract last year but the football has been terrible since then and now Zidane's on the market. Maybe they're hoping he throws his toys out of the pram and walks?

If that's the case, why didn't they get a new manager in place at the start of this summer? Instead we're in danger of another wasted season and not qualifying for the champions league which won't help to attract the best manager or players

 

[JohnnyKills]

If that's the case, why didn't they get a new manager in place at the start of this summer? Instead we're in danger of another wasted season and not qualifying for the champions league which won't help to attract the best manager or players

Yeah it's only a theory and an unlikely one at that. But then again these are the owners who brought us Moyes and LVG and didn't sack either of them until they had a contractual get-out clause.

 

[Denis79]

In the end it's on the owners. They decide what they want the club to achieve and how much money to spend. Woodward and Mourinho are just employees.

 

[simonhch]

In the end it's on the owners. They decide what they want the club to achieve and how much money to spend. Woodward and Mourinho are just employees.

I honestly don't know how any rational fan can complain about how much we've invested in the squad post Fergie. Say what you want about the owners, and they have no doubt been a parasitic drain on the club since their leveraged buy out; but we have never shied away from massive investment in the transfer market. What has been dreadful, utterly dreadful, is the lack of coherency in our managerial recruitment process. This is where their lack of football knowledge, and interest in the sport, should lead to widespread derision. This is what has hurt the club. The reality is that despite the harbingers of doom around the time of their takeoever, the club has gone from strength to strength financially since they took the helm. And continues to grow. Neither economic performance nor investment has ever been the problem. The problem has been hubris when on top, and a scatter gun and uninformed approach to managerial recruitment. At the end of the day the Glazers and Woodward are business people, not football people, and it shows. Ultimately if we don't get a clear sense of strategic leadership on the sporting side of operations, then we are royally fecked moving forwards. The club will ultimately decline to the point of being perennial also rans. People underestimate the danger of this and wrongly assume a gluttonous purchase of players is the panacea to sporting under performance.

 

[Denis79]

I honestly don't know how any rational fan can complain about how much we've invested in the squad post Fergie. Say what you want about the owners, and they have no doubt been a parasitic drain on the club since their leveraged buy out; but we have never shied away from massive investment in the transfer market. What has been dreadful, utterly dreadful, is the lack of coherency in our managerial recruitment process. This is where their lack of football knowledge, and interest in the sport, should lead to widespread derision. This is what has hurt the club. The reality is that despite the harbingers of doom around the time of their takeoever, the club has gone from strength to strength financially since they took the helm. And continues to grow. Neither economic performance nor investment has ever been the problem. The problem has been hubris when on top, and a scatter gun and uninformed approach to managerial recruitment. At the end of the day the Glazers and Woodward are business people, not football people, and it shows. Ultimately if we don't get a clear sense of strategic leadership on the sporting side of operations, then we are royally fecked moving forwards. The club will ultimately decline to the point of being perennial also rans. People underestimate the danger of this.

I agree with you and I wasn't complaining just stating that in the end the owners are the ones responsible for the way a club is run. They appointed Woodward who in turn appointed Mourinho as manager. We should have spent money on a D.O.F or something similar. Zidane would have been perfect.

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

I honestly don't know how any rational fan can complain about how much we've invested in the squad post Fergie. Say what you want about the owners, and they have no doubt been a parasitic drain on the club since their leveraged buy out; but we have never shied away from massive investment in the transfer market. What has been dreadful, utterly dreadful, is the lack of coherency in our managerial recruitment process. This is where their lack of football knowledge, and interest in the sport, should lead to widespread derision. This is what has hurt the club. The reality is that despite the harbingers of doom around the time of their takeoever, the club has gone from strength to strength financially since they took the helm. And continues to grow. Neither economic performance nor investment has ever been the problem. The problem has been hubris when on top, and a scatter gun and uninformed approach to managerial recruitment. At the end of the day the Glazers and Woodward are business people, not football people, and it shows. Ultimately if we don't get a clear sense of strategic leadership on the sporting side of operations, then we are royally fecked moving forwards. The club will ultimately decline to the point of being perennial also rans. People underestimate the danger of this and wrongly assume a gluttonous purchase of players is the panacea to sporting under performance.

Heavily agree with this.

We both know the manager after Jose will be again completely different in his approach.

We need a clear dedicated structure in place on the football side of things, so managerial successions are easier on the club and on the manager.

We badly need a DOF and direction.

Woodward is out of his depth.

 

[Faetheshire86]

I think people are reading a little too much into the situation. If Alderweireld or Willian or whoever we are after, were available for a reasonable price then we would have signed them already

 

[TheFlagStaysDown]

Woodward can't do any right. If he buys whoever the manager wants he gets blamed for overspending on shit. If he doesn't spend he gets blamed for not backing the manager.

All Woodward has got wrong is hiring the three clowns post-Ferguson

agreed with the first part. I am not surprised if we are not willign to pay another 70m on a CB who will have no resellign value when we already spent 60 on two which are not good enough, while our problem is in the attack anyway, I also have nothing against not making a deal with Inter over Perisic if they ask say 70+m which indeed could be truth after the world cup or Bale who is a crock and 120-150m too, who would seriously back Mourinho after spending already 300m and palying the same shit with McTominay, Darmian and Fellaini, can you blame board, maybe let's save that money for Mourinho's successor, we all know the meltdown is close, any half decent manager could play football with the players we have..

The second part is depressing but I dont believe we had really a choice:

• Moyes was a choice of Ferguson who recommended him and you don't go against his decision, advice
• Van Gaal was another logical step, he is strict to reestablish the moral, he was known for playing great attacking football and gives youth a chance. God knows what was in his mind when he came here and started playing possession football and getting players he wanted and still being shit. Also there was NO OTHER MANAGER available who would suit our profile. So it wasn't mistake to hire him at the time we sacked Moyes.
  
• Mourinho is another logical step and manager available once we fired Van Gaal, you know the reasons behind it. The leader, the record etc.

What can we blame board for, people would be moaning as feck if we tried to get some young promising manager or give it to giggsy - that owuld be another mistake I think but maybe not a bigger one than what we end up with. It would take a year or two to get rid of rooney and giggsy's pals and so on maybe would be better who knows but there were safer options and good at the time I believe.

Now it's a crucial time to think about it again. My suggestion would be we, as it stands, give chance to Carrick and McKenna be his assistent manager, while both working as our managers, Carrick would be an official one but McKenna more of an tactician and Carrick motivator - till the end of the season, Mourinho will not survive this one anyway and if yes if it ends up like the last one while playing the same shit football - which is a 100% guarantee, we should sack him anyway and try the two.

 

[Relfy]

Woody and the Board need to decide whether they back Jose or not. If they don't and as a result this is why we are a few days away from the season starting without any of the managers top choices being purchased, then surely they would have been better off sacking Jose and appointing a new manager?! We are now faced with the prospect of going into a new season with an insufficiently strong squad to make a real title challenge, and a manager who is quite clearly unhappy. We could find ourselves in a few months from now nowhere near the top of the league and the manager out the door, then needing a new manager plus new and heavy investment in the squad that was already needed this summer.

I sincerely hope that they have something up their sleeves and we manage to get 1 or 2 in the door of the required standard to improve the first 11. If we do nothing before the deadline then i fear for this coming season as we could be ending up even further away from the title.

 

[Castia]

Should have signed Malcolm at the start of the summer he was available for peanuts in today’s market and just paid up the cash for Alderweireld, it would cost £100m combined but filled 2 spots our squad desperately needs.

Big week this it could shape the whole season.

 

[charlenefan]

tbf to Woody it's not him that holds the purse strings

 

[RepardReece]

How so? If we're to believe Jose he identified his 5 targets before the season ended.

Mate if you don't trust a player you've put on your list then why bother even wanting him in the first place? Mourinho surely knows how to identify if that's the type of player he wants.

 

[Bastian]

It's as if the board had decided to change managers this summer and their target didn't come off. That's the only way I can explain this absolute lack of ambition in the market and the resulting travesty in terms of shaping up for the new season. As many have said on here over the last few weeks, either they back Jose or they sack him. To do neither is stupid.

 

[Enigma_87]

Mate if you don't trust a player you've put on your list then why bother even wanting him in the first place? Mourinho surely knows how to identify if that's the type of player he wants.

I meant Smalling, Rojo, Jones, Blind and the likes. Not Bailly or Lindelof he bought himself. Both Bailly and Lindelof are young CB's and not intended to boss the line like more experienced CB.

IMO Jose identified that either of those four CB's aren't good enough and he needs defensive leader for the next season, where Toby comes to the fore.

 

[Cee90]

Truth is we can't really blame Mourinho or blame Woodward cause we really don't know what is happening behind the scenes. None of us do.

So I'll reserve judgement, however if it does turn out to be a shambles of a season. I'll blame them all, because other teams are doing a lot better and being ran well, from the top down.

Agreed, I feel the same way.

There have obviously been problems for us signing players this transfer window, but as we don’t know who’s responsible, it’s hard to say who is more to blame.

 

[Murray3007]

He's spent a fortune and most of his signings so far aint exactly been great. so sure Ed will have reservations about his signings its only natural, Plenty players have already moved this summer at good prices that would have improved our side and we aint even been linked with them. maybe the 5 on the list are unrealistic ? we all are just guessing its Toby, McGuire, Mina, Willian Perisic maybe but really we have no clue.

 

[Bastian]

He's spent a fortune and most of his signings so far aint exactly been great. so sure Ed will have reservations about his signings its only natural, Plenty players have already moved this summer at good prices that would have improved our side and we aint even been linked with them. maybe the 5 on the list are unrealistic ? we all are just guessing its Toby, McGuire, Mina, Willian Perisic maybe but really we have no clue.

I don't think he's been anyway flawless in the market but his signings are the best players in our team bar de Gea.

 

[Murray3007]

I don't think he's been anyway flawless in the market but his signings are the best players in our team bar de Gea.

best players I take it you will mean Sanchez or Pogba ? both who have been poor majority of the time they have been here? Matic is the only one who has been consistent but he faded badly second half of the season more due to tiredness I would think

 

[Bastian]

best players I take it you will mean Sanchez or Pogba ? both who have been poor majority of the time they have been here? Matic is the only one who has been consistent but he faded badly second half of the season more due to tiredness I would think

I think of the team he took over and I struggle to think of players other than Martial, Rashford and de Gea with whom you could build any sort of decent team with. Now our better players are Matic, Pogba, Sanchez, Bailly, de Gea and probably Lingard. Zlatan had a good impact.
I'm not saying any of those players have performed consistently to a top level, but I haven't seen a player do that for us post SAF. We've been a shambles, but we've progressed since LVG.

 

[Johan07]

I wonder how the Caf would have rated this transfer window if Arsenal had refused to transfer Alexis in the christmas window and we would have beaten City to him this summer instead? Is there really a big difference compared to what actually happened?

With some more pink-tainted glasses you could easily view this window as Alexis (premature), Fred, Dalot, Grant (not that important) and a CB on the way in. And maybe even a RW, who knows? Even if the latter doesnt seem likely if Martial doesnt leave.

For me its not the end of the world - transfer window and I would really wish that Mourinho stopped complaining and would get to work with the players he has.

 

[FootyGirl88]

If we even sacked Jose how many of you would trust Woodward to make the correct appointment?

 

[Murray3007]

I think of the team he took over and I struggle to think of players other than Martial, Rashford and de Gea with whom you could build any sort of decent team with. Now our better players are Matic, Pogba, Sanchez, Bailly, de Gea and probably Lingard. Zlatan had a good impact.
I'm not saying any of those players have performed consistently to a top level, but I haven't seen a player do that for us post SAF. We've been a shambles, but we've progressed since LVG.

If that's what you want to think, out of the 2 players mentioned for example hes basically threw them both under the bus anyway, our football is just as bad if not worse, yes we got a 2nd place finish but were still miles of city, Liverpool took there eye of the prem when they done so well in the CL which would have been closer. of all the problems currently at United I have to say I see him as the biggest one. in 2 years he has no playing style, Christ we cant even defend set pieces properly.

 

[Ramshock]

Whats this thread for? The geniuses on Redcafe have decided that Jose is in charge of transfer negotiations now. This thread is redundant as apparently EW hasn't anything to do with the lack of signings.

 

[Reddevildans]

If Woodward is to blame, then surely the glazers are to blame. But Jose has been heavily backed financially over the past seasons. Surely they expect him to deliver more than what he has in terms of the quality of football if anything else.

 

[RepardReece]

I meant Smalling, Rojo, Jones, Blind and the likes. Not Bailly or Lindelof he bought himself. Both Bailly and Lindelof are young CB's and not intended to boss the line like more experienced CB.

IMO Jose identified that either of those four CB's aren't good enough and he needs defensive leader for the next season, where Toby comes to the fore.

Ahh right, no im on about Lindelof mainly, Jose doesn't trust him either. But he should've also identified that Smalling etc are not defensive leaders from when we appointed him, it's bad that that's took him 2 seasons.

 

[the chameleon]

If we even sacked Jose how many of you would trust Woodward to make the correct appointment?

Absolutely not! He should stick to selling sponsorships. Let the football men make the football related decisions.

The scary thing is that he WILL be making the decision to hire the next manager. If the on-field play and results don't improve, that manager will eventually get fired. But Ed Woodward will keep his job because he's so good at selling sponsorships to Chinese Noodle companies.

I've written a few times about how there needs to be some sort of accountability for Woodward's decision making.

He and the Glazer's are part of the bigger problem.

There needs to be some sort of fan pressure on these non-removable despots.

 

[luke511]

What if Jose is being insistent on paying over £100 million for two 29 year olds, Alderweireld and Willian, and Woodward doesn't think it's a sustainable move for the club? I side with Woodward. The age thing has become a bit of a meme topic on this forum but it's still a very relevant factor in terms of value, and going off the price tags of these two players the age hasn't been factored into the price at all. Jose has spent an unbelievable amount of money at this club, Woodward has the right to buckle it down a notch when he sees fit.