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

[Red Dreams]

That's just the beginning of the circus of all the players whose contract are running down next summer.

Mourinho tbf has not used Herrera properly at all. He is an Attacking midfielder. Instead he uses him in all the other positions. He loves playing for us and the supporters love him. Its clear he will stay even if he is used as a squad player if we improved his contract.

If he leaves I have no doubt he will be a success whoever is lucky enough to get him.

Woodward will also lose Mata and Shaw if he is not careful.

Its clear now the Fellani situation was also Woodward's fault.

If Woodward cannot back the manager and is only interested in Marketing than the banner is accurate. He wanted to bring in Ronaldo when Mourinho did not ask for him.
Another marketing idea.

I'm fed up with him and the kin Glazzers.

 

[endless_wheelies]

Could be totally wrong but I always felt there was more going on behind the scenes that what SAF and David Gill let on when the left, and think RvP who was a massive risk because of his injuries was brought in more to push Rooney out of the club, and not to partner him.

You can only compare to prices at the time and Torres had already gone to Chelsea for £50m, so although he'd just turned 29 and was an injury risk RvP for £24m was a bargain, and it weakened a rival to boot.

Ok but the SAF stuff is just a theory then, we can't discuss it as if it's a fact.

We've seen the record for a CB go from £30m in 2013 to £75m today and the overall world record has gone from £74m in 2013 to £198m today so really the Van Persie fee dwarfs the prospective Alderweireld fee.

 

[Lentwood]

Now what the weekend events surrounding the club brought home to me with a vengeance is that, bye enlarge, there is a huge difference in the perception of fans who attend matches and those who only watch it on the box as to where the current problems lie. Most who turn up week in week out (and pay a small fortune for doing so) are firmly behind Jose. Its the same with the perception as to how players are performing. Totally different when you are actually on the terraces to what folks reckon seeing it from a distance. On the small screen you never pick up the nuances as to how player x or player y is acting/behaving. All of course IMHO and then again what the heck do I know, surrounded as I am with greater experts than myself.

I was at Burnley on Sunday and the fans sang Jose’s name for almost the entire 90-mins

I do genuinely believe it’s the Internet banter brigade who barely watch a game never mind attend one who don’t get it

 

[Moriarty]

With this I am in total agreement. I am well old enough to remember Busby retiring and the years we basically spent in the wilderness until SAF came along. Even then many of us believed after three years of no real forward movement that it was time to say goodbye to him. It was a good job that the then board retained faith in him. Mind you times have certainly changed and I cannot see any future United manager being allowed 3 years of grace without winning a trophy which is what Fergie enjoyed. The ride with Fergie was like the ride Shankley and Paisley gave Liverpool supporters. Neither them nor us will ever see the like again. If you lived through it just be thankful that you were around when it happened

I remember us winning the league in 1965 and in 1967. Matt Busby had been our manager since before I was born and I remember the day he retired and Wilf McGuinness. Us lads just assumed that things would carry on as normal. He was a young man and the players were those who won the European Cup in 1968. We won one and drew two of of opening eight games, including a 1-4 home drubbing to Southampton and a 0-3 defeat at Goodison. We finished eighth or ninth but it was clear that the team wasn't good enough any longer. City were doing well and so were Leeds and Liverpool. I remember going to Maine Road next season watching us get laced 1-4 just before Wilf got sacked. Busby came back and we rallied but United were a pale shadow of the sixties sides. Who could imagine that we'd foul up the succession a second time? We just don't learn.

 

[Moriarty]

I was at Burnley on Sunday and the fans sang Jose’s name for almost the entire 90-mins

I do genuinely believe it’s the Internet banter brigade who barely watch a game never mind attend one who don’t get it

My nephew sent me an email after the Spurs game saying that Jose was well-supported by the match-going fans. I put that on here and was given grief saying that just because the bloke sitting next to him agreed, most want Jose out. There does seem to be a bit of disconnect there.

 

[RedSky]

I remember us winning the league in 1965 and in 1967. Matt Busby had been our manager since before I was born and I remember the day he retired and Wilf McGuinness. Us lads just assumed that things would carry on as normal. He was a young man and the players were those who won the European Cup in 1968. We won one and drew two of of opening eight games, including a 1-4 home drubbing to Southampton and a 0-3 defeat at Goodison. We finished eighth or ninth but it was clear that the team wasn't good enough any longer. City were doing well and so were Leeds and Liverpool. I remember going to Maine Road next season watching us get laced 1-4 just before Wilf got sacked. Busby came back and we rallied but United were a pale shadow of the sixties sides. Who could imagine that we'd foul up the succession a second time? We just don't learn.

Goes to show that it's not a simple thing to do. It's one of the drawbacks of having a long standing Manager I guess. I remember saying when Sir Alex announced his retirement that we'd struggle and it'd be a rollercoaster for not only the fans but the entire club. Naturally a large portion of our support (both matchfans and not) thought it wouldn't be an issue and we should continue like nothing happened. Reality is a very different thing.

We'll continue to struggle for a few more seasons. It's not on Ed, it's not on the Glazers and it's not on the Manager. It's just where we are as a club, Arsenal imo will have the exact same problem.

 

[UnitedSofa]

(posted in newbie forum too but would be good to see what the main forum thinks too!)

Anybody seen this?

"An opportunity has arisen for the appointment of a Recruitment Analyst within the scouting and recruitment department of Manchester United Football Club. Whilst contributing to an existing performance analysis service this position will specifically involve the acquisition, processing and feedback of relevant player performance data."

"Purpose

To contribute to the continued expansion and development of the recruitment analysis team at Manchester United Football club, with the specific purpose of identifying players who demonstrate the potential to play for the first team."


One step closer to a DoF? Though it seems more likely a team of people dealing with transfers rather than 1 person.

 

[WolfInSharp'sClothing]

There's a clear lack of planning as far as recruitment goes at the moment.

You have 11 first team players who are out of contract at the end of this season. Of the 11, De Gea, Valencia, Darmian, A. Pereira and Martial all have one year extension options. I would expect the club to try to pin down De Gea and Martial to new long-term deals and activate the extra year clause for Valencia and A. Pereira. They might activate the Darmian extension too so they can command a transfer fee for him, but as no one has taken him yet, they might just let him go for nothing to get him off the wage-bill.

The 6 players out of contract with no extension options are Jones, Smalling, Shaw, Herrera, Young and Mata.

I suspect there's a new long-term contract around the corner for Shaw, particularly if he keeps up his current good form.

Young, Mata and Herrera might get new short-term deals, but could just as easily be released. Herrera is the most likely to stay.

There's a very high chance Jones and Smalling won't be offered new deals and will be released. I'd be surprised if they were offered new contracts.

So that leaves you in a position next summer where you need to spend money on 2 new centre backs, with no transfer income received for either Smalling or Jones.

Why then would you not buy 2 new centre backs this summer and try to get a small fee for Jones and Smalling?

Best case scenario is you get 2 new quality CBs, on long-term deals and manage to shift Jones and Smalling for a small fee. Worst case scenario is you buy 2 new quality CBs and can't shift Jones or Smalling, so end up paying their wages for another year. For me, for the extra year of a new quality CB partnership bedding into the team, that would be a price worth paying.

As it stands, the club are in exactly the same position next summer, but a year further down the line and with other clubs seeing you have to buy CBs so increasing their asking prices!

Unless the plan is to do all this in January, I can't see what's going on!

 

[Virgil]

I remember us winning the league in 1965 and in 1967. Matt Busby had been our manager since before I was born and I remember the day he retired and Wilf McGuinness. Us lads just assumed that things would carry on as normal. He was a young man and the players were those who won the European Cup in 1968. We won one and drew two of of opening eight games, including a 1-4 home drubbing to Southampton and a 0-3 defeat at Goodison. We finished eighth or ninth but it was clear that the team wasn't good enough any longer. City were doing well and so were Leeds and Liverpool. I remember going to Maine Road next season watching us get laced 1-4 just before Wilf got sacked. Busby came back and we rallied but United were a pale shadow of the sixties sides. Who could imagine that we'd foul up the succession a second time? We just don't learn.

And I can just imagine the screams of anguish on this board if we went down as we did under Docherty's tenure. Its the same when I read on these boards about the 'United style'. I wonder where those folks were when Dave Sexton was appointed to be our saviour. Then again its easier to overlook that we ever appointed him. Personally I think todays issue is less about learning and more about the need for 'instant' success and the lack of understanding that there are some darned good teams out there these days.......much more akin to the the decades up to the 80's when any one of a good handful of teams had a chance of lifting the title. Coupled with the fact of course that no team has a 'right' to be crowned champions no matter what their history which, I believe, was better understood by fans pre 1980.

 

[Alvaro Maestre]

Watch this space - Ed Woodward.

 

[Bastian]

Listen to yourself. Calling others the cult of Mourinho, then going on a rabid rant of anything and everything anti-Mourinho you can dig up. Why not find out if he kicked a kid in the sandbox when he was 5 too? Anti-Mourinho cult much?

You are right. There is no Mourinho FC. There is Manchester United Football Club. Like him or not, Mourinho is currently part of Manchester United Football Club, and till that changes, his success is in the best interests of this club. He fails, we fail. Then we try again for another 2 years with the next flavour of the month manager, one of which just failed to work his magic against the mighty Watford. Also, most people don't seem to understand that the 'huge amount' of money Mr. Woodward has 'given' the manager is partly based on his rubbish negotiation skills. Besides that Alexis swap, we have usually paid top dollar for our signings and gotten a pittance for our outgoings. Just my personal opinion.

Well put.

 

[Nico87]

There's a clear lack of planning as far as recruitment goes at the moment.

You have 11 first team players who are out of contract at the end of this season. Of the 11, De Gea, Valencia, Darmian, A. Pereira and Martial all have one year extension options. I would expect the club to try to pin down De Gea and Martial to new long-term deals and activate the extra year clause for Valencia and A. Pereira. They might activate the Darmian extension too so they can command a transfer fee for him, but as no one has taken him yet, they might just let him go for nothing to get him off the wage-bill.

The 6 players out of contract with no extension options are Jones, Smalling, Shaw, Herrera, Young and Mata.

I suspect there's a new long-term contract around the corner for Shaw, particularly if he keeps up his current good form.

Young, Mata and Herrera might get new short-term deals, but could just as easily be released. Herrera is the most likely to stay.

There's a very high chance Jones and Smalling won't be offered new deals and will be released. I'd be surprised if they were offered new contracts.

So that leaves you in a position next summer where you need to spend money on 2 new centre backs, with no transfer income received for either Smalling or Jones.

Why then would you not buy 2 new centre backs this summer and try to get a small fee for Jones and Smalling?

Best case scenario is you get 2 new quality CBs, on long-term deals and manage to shift Jones and Smalling for a small fee. Worst case scenario is you buy 2 new quality CBs and can't shift Jones or Smalling, so end up paying their wages for another year. For me, for the extra year of a new quality CB partnership bedding into the team, that would be a price worth paying.

As it stands, the club are in exactly the same position next summer, but a year further down the line and with other clubs seeing you have to buy CBs so increasing their asking prices!

Unless the plan is to do all this in January, I can't see what's going on!

I would certainly expect a new contract offer for Smalling as he's the only reliable centre half at the club and suspect would accept a rotational role, he's a fairly average footballer but a very good defender and seems to becoming increasing,ply underrated.

I'm not sure Herrera is too likely to stay because as much as I like him, Fred seems to have been bought in to take his place, as I think their both vying for the role of dynamic midfielder box to box next to a holding player (Matic) and one would assume Pogba. We then have Fellaini who has his critics but the manager is obviously a fan ( so am I to be honest he has become underrated and has many uses) Lingard who can play in a midfield 3 and also, plus Mctominay and Pereria

i can't see anybody wanting to pay for Jones as he's proven to be to unreliable and can see him going to a club like yours on a free transfer to rebuild his career to be honest, I can also see Mata leaving on a free as I think he will endure s frustrating year, I think we'll miss him more as a man than as a player as he's never going to excel on the right and were much better with a 3 man midfield, I wouldn't be suprised if he went back to Valencia and did very well.

Darmian will probaly leave on a free as nobody wanted him when he was going to cost something, Juventus love a freebie so he will probaly go there to provide cover, again I don't think we will miss him and I can see why we didn't renew, he probaly wouldn't have accepted anyway as he never get any game time.

I think Valencia and Young would be extremely keen to stay and would be easy to negotiate with although I would only keep one as cover, probaly Young due to his versatility. I would give Valencia a testimonial thank him for being a great servant to the club but tell him it's time to move on as we need a youn out and out right back.

De gea has the one year extension and it's obvious we will be going all out to extend as we should and probaly deserves to be the highest paid at the club.

Shaw I think we should offer the contract ASAP as if he continues this form he will be in huge position of powe at the negotiating table if he only has a few months on his contract and I would hate to lose him as he could still be out left back for 10 years.

Martial is the most difficult one as his attitude and performance against Brighton was dismal, I got the impression he's not willing to try for Jose and doesn't want to be here anymore, but he's also potentially one of the best young players in the world and would rather not sell at all, especially not at a reduced fee. Hopefully we resolve this one but we have the added time of the extension.

I wouldn't be suprised if we lost Mata,Herrera,Darmian,one of Valencia or Young and Jones on free transfers which is frustrating but I can understand how it has happened. As I can see them playing less games this year and realising time is up but I think we would have struggled to sell any of them with the wages they're on. The fact that we would probaly lament missing out on a transfer fee than them as players means it's not a a big deal as the combine fee they would have brought in would have probaly been no more than 30+ mil considering they wages and situation at the club reducing their value. I don't think it's as worrying as first glances make it look.

 

[Kapardin]

Also, most people don't seem to understand that the 'huge amount' of money Mr. Woodward has 'given' the manager is partly based on his rubbish negotiation skills. Besides that Alexis swap, we have usually paid top dollar for our signings and gotten a pittance for our outgoings. Just my personal opinion.

Not really sure about that as far as Jose's tenure is concerned. Our highest fees were 89 mil for Pogba and 75 mil for Lukaku during his time. You think Ed could prise Pogba from Juve for lesser than that with his "negotiating skills"? And Lukaku was Everton's star striker. In a market where Morata went for close to 60 mil (Real demanded close to 100 from us!) and Belotti had a price tag of 100.mil, paying 75 mil for a striker who isn't world class but has consistently scored in the league is reasonable.

Other buys like Bailly, Lindelof, Mkhi etc were bought at fair prices - around 30 million. Matic slightly expensive at 40 million, but his experience and the fact that we were dealing with a rival justifies the fee. Wouldn't say Ed has done a bad job negotiating for this lot.

Outgoings - we actually made a profit on Blind, broke even for Schneiderlin, and got decent money for McNair/Love from Sunderland. Depay was sold at a fair price too.

 

[Gary_Walsh_Nou_Camp_Hell]

A bit late to this and the thread is too big to read now!

Which fans arranged the plane?

I'm sure Mou loved it haha

 

[WolfInSharp'sClothing]

I would certainly expect a new contract offer for Smalling as he's the only reliable centre half at the club and suspect would accept a rotational role, he's a fairly average footballer but a very good defender and seems to becoming increasing,ply underrated.

I'm not sure Herrera is too likely to stay because as much as I like him, Fred seems to have been bought in to take his place, as I think their both vying for the role of dynamic midfielder box to box next to a holding player (Matic) and one would assume Pogba. We then have Fellaini who has his critics but the manager is obviously a fan ( so am I to be honest he has become underrated and has many uses) Lingard who can play in a midfield 3 and also, plus Mctominay and Pereria

i can't see anybody wanting to pay for Jones as he's proven to be to unreliable and can see him going to a club like yours on a free transfer to rebuild his career to be honest, I can also see Mata leaving on a free as I think he will endure s frustrating year, I think we'll miss him more as a man than as a player as he's never going to excel on the right and were much better with a 3 man midfield, I wouldn't be suprised if he went back to Valencia and did very well.

Darmian will probaly leave on a free as nobody wanted him when he was going to cost something, Juventus love a freebie so he will probaly go there to provide cover, again I don't think we will miss him and I can see why we didn't renew, he probaly wouldn't have accepted anyway as he never get any game time.

I think Valencia and Young would be extremely keen to stay and would be easy to negotiate with although I would only keep one as cover, probaly Young due to his versatility. I would give Valencia a testimonial thank him for being a great servant to the club but tell him it's time to move on as we need a youn out and out right back.

De gea has the one year extension and it's obvious we will be going all out to extend as we should and probaly deserves to be the highest paid at the club.

Shaw I think we should offer the contract ASAP as if he continues this form he will be in huge position of powe at the negotiating table if he only has a few months on his contract and I would hate to lose him as he could still be out left back for 10 years.

Martial is the most difficult one as his attitude and performance against Brighton was dismal, I got the impression he's not willing to try for Jose and doesn't want to be here anymore, but he's also potentially one of the best young players in the world and would rather not sell at all, especially not at a reduced fee. Hopefully we resolve this one but we have the added time of the extension.

I wouldn't be suprised if we lost Mata,Herrera,Darmian,one of Valencia or Young and Jones on free transfers which is frustrating but I can understand how it has happened. As I can see them playing less games this year and realising time is up but I think we would have struggled to sell any of them with the wages they're on. The fact that we would probaly lament missing out on a transfer fee than them as players means it's not a a big deal as the combine fee they would have brought in would have probaly been no more than 30+ mil considering they wages and situation at the club reducing their value. I don't think it's as worrying as first glances make it look.

I'm not necessarily saying the contract situation is worrying, just that it could have been handled more effectively (and probably more profitably) this summer gone, rather than waiting until next year.

 

[Danoos]

Hello everyone, I am new to this forum although I have been reading it for a long time, since I am a great fan of international football and Premier League in particular.

I am Italian and from an international perspective is surprising to see how a team which is simply perfect in managing the revenues side and has become the world reference from this point of view, on the spending side has wasted an enormous amount of money without being able to build a squad better than the Juventus one (which has significantly lower revenues), nor winning anything important since Sir Alex retirement.

Let me summarize the main points I find incredible to believe:

1. In the last 6 seasons (since Ferguson retirement in summer 2013) you have spent over EUR 600 mn on net transfers. Let’s assume that in the squad of 2013 there was just De Gea and nobody else (which is obviously not the case) and you had to build a team from the scratch: this is a sum which would have been more than enough to build a team able to compete for the Champions league, also considering that transfer fees were significantly lower until 2016. Unfortunately, this is not possible if you spend approx. EUR 445 on the players below (I have restricted the list only to players still at Man Utd).

Mata 45
Fellaini 33
Shaw 37
Herrera 36
Rojo 20
Martial 60
Darmian 18
Lukaku 84
Lidendof 35
Fred 59
Dalot 22

(all figures are in EUR)


Probably none of the one in the list above would be a starter in Real Madrid, Barcelona or even Juventus. Martial is the only one which made sense, as a promising young star.


2. As a result, you have a very long squad full of overpaid “good players” or even bang average (I would include Jones, Smalling and Lingard in the list as well).

3. Team seems built up without a clear idea of what kind of football you want to play:

• - You have a world class winger (Sanchez) but you do not have another one (unless you adapt another player to play as a winger, like Martial or Mata)
• - You have one of the world best box-to-box midfielder but you do not have another one on the same level, so a three man midfield is compromised. And you force to play him as a defending midfielder, which is not his role and does not use his skills
• - You have 4/5 CB, none of which is a world class one. Maybe only Bailly deserves to be in Man Utd squad, but he cannot be the leader of the defense of a team with your ambitions
• - Martial is a “second striker”, which means he needs to play in a 2 men attack. This means that him and Sanchez (either a winger or a second striker himself) reflect different views on how you want to play.
• - Full back are either old or bang average, despite you have invested significant money on them in the past years
  
• The purchase of Fred is quite difficult to understand: he would hardly be a starter at Real or Barca and it is unclear where you would like him to play

4. In the last transfer market it was really difficult to understand your decisions:

• I do not understand why you were unable to buy a defender. You got stuck with over expensive options like Toby or Maguire and you did not sign De Vrij (which is a real world class CB, and also young) for free. Other option would have been one between: Miranda, Godin, Manolas, Benatia, Javi Martinez…
• Given the scarcity of world class strikers (and the fact that Lukaku is not one of them), it is unclear why you did not take advantage of the release clause of approx. EUR 100mn Icardi had up until July (by selling Lukaku, net spending would have been minimal
• Similar reasoning applies to Milinkvic Savic. Given the scarcity of world class players, and your need to catch up with current top teams, when there is one available for sale it is necessary to get him. I believe that offloading 3/4 current “decent” players you have, would have allowed to make SMS purchase available.

All this said, I would like to hear your point of view as Man Utd fans, and why do you think there is such a huge difference between the fantastic management your club has had on the revenues side, and the disaster done on the technical and transfers one.

Look forward hearing from you!

 

[wolvored]

There's a clear lack of planning as far as recruitment goes at the moment.

You have 11 first team players who are out of contract at the end of this season. Of the 11, De Gea, Valencia, Darmian, A. Pereira and Martial all have one year extension options. I would expect the club to try to pin down De Gea and Martial to new long-term deals and activate the extra year clause for Valencia and A. Pereira. They might activate the Darmian extension too so they can command a transfer fee for him, but as no one has taken him yet, they might just let him go for nothing to get him off the wage-bill.

The 6 players out of contract with no extension options are Jones, Smalling, Shaw, Herrera, Young and Mata.

I suspect there's a new long-term contract around the corner for Shaw, particularly if he keeps up his current good form.

Young, Mata and Herrera might get new short-term deals, but could just as easily be released. Herrera is the most likely to stay.

There's a very high chance Jones and Smalling won't be offered new deals and will be released. I'd be surprised if they were offered new contracts.

So that leaves you in a position next summer where you need to spend money on 2 new centre backs, with no transfer income received for either Smalling or Jones.

Why then would you not buy 2 new centre backs this summer and try to get a small fee for Jones and Smalling?

Best case scenario is you get 2 new quality CBs, on long-term deals and manage to shift Jones and Smalling for a small fee. Worst case scenario is you buy 2 new quality CBs and can't shift Jones or Smalling, so end up paying their wages for another year. For me, for the extra year of a new quality CB partnership bedding into the team, that would be a price worth paying.

As it stands, the club are in exactly the same position next summer, but a year further down the line and with other clubs seeing you have to buy CBs so increasing their asking prices!

Unless the plan is to do all this in January, I can't see what's going on!

I think De Gea might go as it seems to be taking too long to sort out. If its true hes after the same as Pogba, give it him. Keep dallying around with our one WC player will piss him off eventually.
In fact can see Shaw leaving as well. Seems a funny thing to be offered a new contract, but the player saying leave it till the end of the season see if Ive earned it. He could be putting himself in the shop window and would get an hefty signing on bonus if he goes on a free. I think Smalling will get another as you got to get too many CB's in and bed them in. The papers are saying Martial will sign as he will see out Mourinho. Out of the others all pretty much meh! Either well past it and/or not good enough.

 

[Alabaster Codify7]

Hello everyone, I am new to this forum although I have been reading it for a long time, since I am a great fan of international football and Premier League in particular.

I am Italian and from an international perspective is surprising to see how a team which is simply perfect in managing the revenues side and has become the world reference from this point of view, on the spending side has wasted an enormous amount of money without being able to build a squad better than the Juventus one (which has significantly lower revenues), nor winning anything important since Sir Alex retirement.

Let me summarize the main points I find incredible to believe:

1. In the last 6 seasons (since Ferguson retirement in summer 2013) you have spent over EUR 600 mn on net transfers. Let’s assume that in the squad of 2013 there was just De Gea and nobody else (which is obviously not the case) and you had to build a team from the scratch: this is a sum which would have been more than enough to build a team able to compete for the Champions league, also considering that transfer fees were significantly lower until 2016. Unfortunately, this is not possible if you spend approx. EUR 445 on the players below (I have restricted the list only to players still at Man Utd).

Mata 45
Fellaini 33
Shaw 37
Herrera 36
Rojo 20
Martial 60
Darmian 18
Lukaku 84
Lidendof 35
Fred 59
Dalot 22

(all figures are in EUR)


Probably none of the one in the list above would be a starter in Real Madrid, Barcelona or even Juventus. Martial is the only one which made sense, as a promising young star.


2. As a result, you have a very long squad full of overpaid “good players” or even bang average (I would include Jones, Smalling and Lingard in the list as well).

3. Team seems built up without a clear idea of what kind of football you want to play:

• - You have a world class winger (Sanchez) but you do not have another one (unless you adapt another player to play as a winger, like Martial or Mata)
• - You have one of the world best box-to-box midfielder but you do not have another one on the same level, so a three man midfield is compromised. And you force to play him as a defending midfielder, which is not his role and does not use his skills
• - You have 4/5 CB, none of which is a world class one. Maybe only Bailly deserves to be in Man Utd squad, but he cannot be the leader of the defense of a team with your ambitions
• - Martial is a “second striker”, which means he needs to play in a 2 men attack. This means that him and Sanchez (either a winger or a second striker himself) reflect different views on how you want to play.
• - Full back are either old or bang average, despite you have invested significant money on them in the past years
  
• The purchase of Fred is quite difficult to understand: he would hardly be a starter at Real or Barca and it is unclear where you would like him to play

4. In the last transfer market it was really difficult to understand your decisions:

• I do not understand why you were unable to buy a defender. You got stuck with over expensive options like Toby or Maguire and you did not sign De Vrij (which is a real world class CB, and also young) for free. Other option would have been one between: Miranda, Godin, Manolas, Benatia, Javi Martinez…
• Given the scarcity of world class strikers (and the fact that Lukaku is not one of them), it is unclear why you did not take advantage of the release clause of approx. EUR 100mn Icardi had up until July (by selling Lukaku, net spending would have been minimal
• Similar reasoning applies to Milinkvic Savic. Given the scarcity of world class players, and your need to catch up with current top teams, when there is one available for sale it is necessary to get him. I believe that offloading 3/4 current “decent” players you have, would have allowed to make SMS purchase available.

All this said, I would like to hear your point of view as Man Utd fans, and why do you think there is such a huge difference between the fantastic management your club has had on the revenues side, and the disaster done on the technical and transfers one.

Look forward hearing from you!

Agree with every single word.

 

[wolvored]

Hello everyone, I am new to this forum although I have been reading it for a long time, since I am a great fan of international football and Premier League in particular.

I am Italian and from an international perspective is surprising to see how a team which is simply perfect in managing the revenues side and has become the world reference from this point of view, on the spending side has wasted an enormous amount of money without being able to build a squad better than the Juventus one (which has significantly lower revenues), nor winning anything important since Sir Alex retirement.

Let me summarize the main points I find incredible to believe:

1. In the last 6 seasons (since Ferguson retirement in summer 2013) you have spent over EUR 600 mn on net transfers. Let’s assume that in the squad of 2013 there was just De Gea and nobody else (which is obviously not the case) and you had to build a team from the scratch: this is a sum which would have been more than enough to build a team able to compete for the Champions league, also considering that transfer fees were significantly lower until 2016. Unfortunately, this is not possible if you spend approx. EUR 445 on the players below (I have restricted the list only to players still at Man Utd).

Mata 45
Fellaini 33
Shaw 37
Herrera 36
Rojo 20
Martial 60
Darmian 18
Lukaku 84
Lidendof 35
Fred 59
Dalot 22

(all figures are in EUR)


Probably none of the one in the list above would be a starter in Real Madrid, Barcelona or even Juventus. Martial is the only one which made sense, as a promising young star.


2. As a result, you have a very long squad full of overpaid “good players” or even bang average (I would include Jones, Smalling and Lingard in the list as well).

3. Team seems built up without a clear idea of what kind of football you want to play:

• - You have a world class winger (Sanchez) but you do not have another one (unless you adapt another player to play as a winger, like Martial or Mata)
• - You have one of the world best box-to-box midfielder but you do not have another one on the same level, so a three man midfield is compromised. And you force to play him as a defending midfielder, which is not his role and does not use his skills
• - You have 4/5 CB, none of which is a world class one. Maybe only Bailly deserves to be in Man Utd squad, but he cannot be the leader of the defense of a team with your ambitions
• - Martial is a “second striker”, which means he needs to play in a 2 men attack. This means that him and Sanchez (either a winger or a second striker himself) reflect different views on how you want to play.
• - Full back are either old or bang average, despite you have invested significant money on them in the past years
  
• The purchase of Fred is quite difficult to understand: he would hardly be a starter at Real or Barca and it is unclear where you would like him to play

4. In the last transfer market it was really difficult to understand your decisions:

• I do not understand why you were unable to buy a defender. You got stuck with over expensive options like Toby or Maguire and you did not sign De Vrij (which is a real world class CB, and also young) for free. Other option would have been one between: Miranda, Godin, Manolas, Benatia, Javi Martinez…
• Given the scarcity of world class strikers (and the fact that Lukaku is not one of them), it is unclear why you did not take advantage of the release clause of approx. EUR 100mn Icardi had up until July (by selling Lukaku, net spending would have been minimal
• Similar reasoning applies to Milinkvic Savic. Given the scarcity of world class players, and your need to catch up with current top teams, when there is one available for sale it is necessary to get him. I believe that offloading 3/4 current “decent” players you have, would have allowed to make SMS purchase available.

All this said, I would like to hear your point of view as Man Utd fans, and why do you think there is such a huge difference between the fantastic management your club has had on the revenues side, and the disaster done on the technical and transfers one.

Look forward hearing from you!

Hi Danoos welcome to the forum.
You make some good points there, cant fault anything you have said. I would say Sanchez is no longer playing at a level that makes him WC. Pogba cant recreate the form he did in Italy as he has to start from a deeper position. Martial would thrive in a slower paced league like Serie A. Fred is a strange transfer as although its early days, usually really good players stand out, but havent seen anything different to the other midfielders we have. Maybe hes a replacement bought early for Herrera.
The fact Mourinho was crying out for a CD, you would have thought he would have looked at a free transfer like De Vrij. Wage aside it wouldnt have cost anything. Lukaku is not WC, but hes the best striker we have and if he got injured we would be in big shit

 

[JPRouve]

(posted in newbie forum too but would be good to see what the main forum thinks too!)

Anybody seen this?

"An opportunity has arisen for the appointment of a Recruitment Analyst within the scouting and recruitment department of Manchester United Football Club. Whilst contributing to an existing performance analysis service this position will specifically involve the acquisition, processing and feedback of relevant player performance data."

"Purpose

To contribute to the continued expansion and development of the recruitment analysis team at Manchester United Football club, with the specific purpose of identifying players who demonstrate the potential to play for the first team."


One step closer to a DoF? Though it seems more likely a team of people dealing with transfers rather than 1 person.

That's Ribalta's former job description, iirc.

 

[Cassidy]

I'm calling bullshit, same thing was said past 2 summers. Remember the whole Monchi saga

 

[Bestietom]

We think more of investors/sponsors now. Woodward is signing a new sponsorship every month, and allowing our teams get weaker.

Sponsorship will dry up, if the team is not performing and winning trophies. He needs to put money into the team every single year to keep up with the others.

We have a lot of deadwood still here at the club that we need to get rid of, and bring in some new faces to the areas that need strengthening.

 

[Cassidy]

We think more of investors/sponsors now. Woodward is signing a new sponsorship every month, and allowing our teams get weaker.

Sponsorship will dry up, if the team is not performing and winning trophies. He needs to put money into the team every single year to keep up with the others.

We have a lot of deadwood still here at the club that we need to get rid of, and bring in some new faces to the areas that need strengthening.

Surely signing Pogba Sanchez etc and the vast amount of money we've spent since hiring Jose (and before) shows he doesn't want a weak team?
I don't think he is great in the role and would like a DoF but happy with a weak team is simply BS.
We have to think of investors/sponsors else we won't have money to compete, just look at Spurs now.

I find it funny when people complain about the investor calls, whats he supposed to say?

"Yeah guys, we're in the shit, we're not doing so good on the pitch don't give us your money"

 

[Pogue Mahone]

That's Ribalta's former job description, iirc.

Yup. Him leaving has created that vacancy. This isn’t a new role.

 

[Cassidy]

Yup. Him leaving has created that vacancy. This isn’t a new role.

I can't work out whether he left for a better role, or he left because he felt he had no influence here, given his latest comments.

 

[Rood]

(posted in newbie forum too but would be good to see what the main forum thinks too!)

Anybody seen this?

"An opportunity has arisen for the appointment of a Recruitment Analyst within the scouting and recruitment department of Manchester United Football Club. Whilst contributing to an existing performance analysis service this position will specifically involve the acquisition, processing and feedback of relevant player performance data."

"Purpose

To contribute to the continued expansion and development of the recruitment analysis team at Manchester United Football club, with the specific purpose of identifying players who demonstrate the potential to play for the first team."


One step closer to a DoF? Though it seems more likely a team of people dealing with transfers rather than 1 person.

Sounds more like a basic analytic role which will be more lower lever than a DoF - as you say we probably have a whole team of these kind of people feeding back info on potential transfer targets

 

[sunama]

According to Wikipedia, we've had 21 managers since 1892 to the current date (Walter Crickmer and Sir Matt Busby each had two stints). We have won the League a record 20 times. But, we have won the league under three of those managers only (Mangnall (2), Busby (5), Ferguson (13). Therefore, 18 managers failed to deliver us a league title win. This shows how as a club, we have heavily relied on the genius of three exceptional managers, rather than any solid club structure, to deliver sustained success, on a par with the likes of Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Barcelona et al.

Surely this demonstrates the need for the club to get a proper structure implemented, with a Director of Football at the helm, assisted by a Head Coach and team of specialists, so that we aren't dependent on an exceptional manager to provide us with success.

Very good post. Agreed on all points.
Though Woodward would argue that he is doing a fantastic job as Director of Football. Afterall, he saved his bosses a lot of money this transfer window and he will try and do the same in future windows, until we drop out of top 4, at which point the manager will be fired and the new manager will get funding. <<this is our current strategy and it is terrible.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

I can't work out whether he left for a better role, or he left because he felt he had no influence here, given his latest comments.

What are they?

 

[Kostur]

What are they?

Probably that he wanted us to sign Goretzka and Can on free when the opportunity was there.

 

[L1nk]

I can't work out whether he left for a better role, or he left because he felt he had no influence here, given his latest comments.

He left to become DoF, a step above Head Scout, this is why I think if we were actually serious about bringing in a DoF we would of just promoted him.

 

[Rory 7]

Very good post. Agreed on all points.
Though Woodward would argue that he is doing a fantastic job as Director of Football. Afterall, he saved his bosses a lot of money this transfer window and he will try and do the same in future windows, until we drop out of top 4, at which point the manager will be fired and the new manager will get funding. <<this is our current strategy and it is terrible.

100% correct. Rotten to the core!

 

[pcaming]

I can't work out whether he left for a better role, or he left because he felt he had no influence here, given his latest comments.

He came here as an analyst, not a decision maker.

 

[Cassidy]

What are they?

Nothing special, just that he wanted to sign Can and Goretzka on a free. I get the feeling that Jose wouldn't have been up for that and would have preferred to keep Fellaini (the whole Fellani saga) just seems very odd.

 

[Cassidy]

He came here as an analyst, not a decision maker.

Sure that what my thinking was, and is. Was just thinking. TBH I'm just not convinced the club are serious about a DoF

 

[JPRouve]

He left to become DoF, a step above Head Scout, this is why I think if we were actually serious about bringing in a DoF we would of just promoted him.

And he wasn't even head scout, that's Jim Lawlor.

 

[Damien]

And he wasn't even head scout, that's Jim Lawlor.

Nah, his role was one of the top scouting ones. Lawlor's job name is Head Scout and Marcel Bout's job name is Head of Global Scouting but they're basically the same thing. Ribalta's job name was Chief Scout according to his LinkedIn. The three basically work in tandem.

 

[JPRouve]

Nah, his role was one of the top scouting ones. Lawlor's job name is Head Scout and Marcel Bout's job name is Head of Global Scouting but they're basically the same thing. Ribalta's job name was Chief Scout according to his LinkedIn. The three basically work in tandem.

IIRC they both report to Lawlor who doesn't travel anymore but organize the entire scouting system from Manchester.

 

[Cee90]

(posted in newbie forum too but would be good to see what the main forum thinks too!)

Anybody seen this?

"An opportunity has arisen for the appointment of a Recruitment Analyst within the scouting and recruitment department of Manchester United Football Club. Whilst contributing to an existing performance analysis service this position will specifically involve the acquisition, processing and feedback of relevant player performance data."

"Purpose

To contribute to the continued expansion and development of the recruitment analysis team at Manchester United Football club, with the specific purpose of identifying players who demonstrate the potential to play for the first team."


One step closer to a DoF? Though it seems more likely a team of people dealing with transfers rather than 1 person.

This is actually the job I want to be doing in a few years.

 

[sunama]

Pretty sure United were set to hire a DoF last season too, I'll believe it when I see it

That's exactly my way of thinking.
The "we are now looking to hire a DoF", only came about when a lot of people were pointing out what a bad job Woodie was doing. They also pointed out that a person who knows little about football and players, was over-ruling decisions being made by arguably, one of he best managers in the World.
When this lunacy was being pointed out to Woodie and our club, the rhetoric about hiring a DoF, was re-emphasised. Call me cynical, but I don't believe a DoF is coming and if he does come, I think he'll be a yes man. Our actual DoF is Edward Woodward. This was made very clear when he over-ruled one of the best managers in the business, this Summer, in order to save some money.

 

[Greck]

The appointment was said to be in time for the January transfer window which is sill 4 months away. Too early to be stressing over a non-hiring. It's only September. Said hiring might not even have the ripple effect some are eagerly anticipating. The board/Ceo are still in charge and aren't hiring someone who will dispute their vision. For the most part expect more of the same