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

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Zidane doesn't fancy it apparently.

I wonder if speaking to Chinless out him off?

Or looking at the decaying stadium put him off?

Looked at the squad on Wikipedia?
 
The Purley King said:
Where has it ever been said Woodward promised players to Moyes? Bale took one look at Moyes and said feck that I'm off to Madrid, despite us offering a bigger fee and I presume better terms. I would not be surprised in the least if the other three had serious doubts about him either. Only so much Ed can do in that situation (i.e. he can only throw money at it and if that doesn't work he's screwed). Moyes was clearly a huge turn off to any potential signings, so we were left with the scraps.
Moyes is also a serial fecking moaner.
Ed backed LVG and has also backed Mourinho to the tune of I don't know how many hundreds of millions of pounds. Eventually the tap has to be turned off. £75m for a 30 year old Toby, you are having a fecking laugh.
One fair criticism is that he has been indecisive with Mourinho. He must have been having doubts as the signs things were going south were there during preaseason. He clearly needs to sack him now before things get an awful lot worse.
To say Ed hasn't backed his managers though is absolutely incorrect.
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Maybe you should actually listen to Moyes' moans instead of brushing him off. He has complained of a difficult season because the club hasn't gotten him the targets like Muller, Fabregas Thiago and Bale. At the time we thought he was ridiculous for not choosing realistic targets, but now we know who is the one going after the ridiculous guys and not wanting to sign realistic boring players.

If there is nothing Woodward could have done about the situation, isn't it clear he is a failure and not up for the task?
 
Christie said:
Maybe you should actually listen to Moyes' moans instead of brushing him off. He has complained of a difficult season because the club hasn't gotten him the targets like Muller, Fabregas Thiago and Bale. At the time we thought he was ridiculous for not choosing realistic targets, but now we know who is the one going after the ridiculous guys and not wanting to sign realistic boring players.

If there is nothing Woodward could have done about the situation, isn't it clear he is a failure and not up for the task?
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No. There are some signings that are impossible for reasons.
 
It's a likely long shot but what are the chances we could get Juve's outgoing CEO, Beppe Marotta, in to replace Ed in non business matters? He's been linked to the club ever since announcing that he'd be stepping down in Turin and it would be quite a welcome sight having a football man back at the helm of football related decision making.

He's also got an impeccable record when it comes to reclamation projects,he helped bring Juve back from the ashes and into the powerhouse they are now after coming in while they were undergoing a period of mediocrity and stagnation on the heels of the Calciopoli scandal (a much more dire situation at the time than United are in presently)

It's hard to see it happening under our current management but it's a nice pipe dream to have
 
Christie said:
Maybe you should actually listen to Moyes' moans instead of brushing him off. He has complained of a difficult season because the club hasn't gotten him the targets like Muller, Fabregas Thiago and Bale. At the time we thought he was ridiculous for not choosing realistic targets, but now we know who is the one going after the ridiculous guys and not wanting to sign realistic boring players.

If there is nothing Woodward could have done about the situation, isn't it clear he is a failure and not up for the task?
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Moyes should have known better. So he wanted those four players, probably just like every other manager in the PL. What were his plans in the event we couldn't get them? Oh yes he didn't have any, hence the Fellaini ridiculousness.
If Moyes asked Woody to go and get those four, I don't doubt he gave it a go, but getting all four? Never ever going to happen.
You cannot blame Ed for Moyes' completely amatuerish approach. Some transfers are not going to happen regardless of how much money you have and Moyes' inexperience and lack of CV was a factor in big names not coming in imo.

fwiw I do this Ed is better handling the corporate side of his role and we definitely need a DoF sooner rather than later. I also think he desperately wanted some galactico signings to show the world we meant business (see LVG signings) so the problem wasn't that Moyes wasn't backed, its just that Moyes was an unrealistic buffoon.
 
The Purley King said:
Moyes should have known better. So he wanted those four players, probably just like every other manager in the PL. What were his plans in the event we couldn't get them? Oh yes he didn't have any, hence the Fellaini ridiculousness.
If Moyes asked Woody to go and get those four, I don't doubt he gave it a go, but getting all four? Never ever going to happen.
You cannot blame Ed for Moyes' completely amatuerish approach. Some transfers are not going to happen regardless of how much money you have and Moyes' in experience and lack of CV was a factor in big names not coming in imo.

fwiw I do this Ed is better handling the corporate side of his role and we definitely need a DoF sooner rather than later. I also think he desperately wanted some galactico signings to show the world we meant business (see LVG signings) so the problem wasn't that Moyes wasn't backed, its just that Moyes was an unrealistic buffoon.
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We spent the whole summer running behind Fabregas whom Chelsea signed next season without much effort.

Moyes was an idiot but that summer was a disaster.
 
el3mel said:
We spent the whole summer running behind Fabregas whom Chelsea signed next season without much effort.

Moyes was an idiot but that summer was a disaster.
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Agreed it was a disaster, but you have to have contingency plans in place if you don't get your #1 choices. We were scrabbling about like a drunkard in a nightclub at five minutes to two desperately trying to get any old bird to come home with us.

We don't know why Fabregas didn't want to come. Perhaps it was because he thought Moyes would be out of his depth? He would hardly be alone if he had thought that at the time.
 
The Purley King said:
Agreed it was a disaster, but you have to have contingency plans in place if you don't get your #1 choices. We were scrabbling about like a drunkard in a nightclub at five minutes to two desperately trying to get any old bird to come home with us.

We don't know why Fabregas didn't want to come. Perhaps it was because he thought Moyes would be out of his depth? He would hardly be alone if he had thought that at the time.
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The likes of Bale and Ronaldo I agree they were very complicated thus Moyes was idiot but Fabre was down to Ed being clueless in the negotiation imo.

Also that strikes to the point that we shouldn't be dependent on the manager. We should have a plan and the manager should be following it. Both Ed and Moyes were out of their depth this summer.
 
Christie said:
Maybe you should actually listen to Moyes' moans instead of brushing him off. He has complained of a difficult season because the club hasn't gotten him the targets like Muller, Fabregas Thiago and Bale. At the time we thought he was ridiculous for not choosing realistic targets, but now we know who is the one going after the ridiculous guys and not wanting to sign realistic boring players.

If there is nothing Woodward could have done about the situation, isn't it clear he is a failure and not up for the task?
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Moyes came in and thought he'd been handed the keys to a copy of Championship Manager. He spent the summer having us chase completely unattainable big name targets. Woodward was naive for thinking he could get them all (if true) but he's not the one who came up with the target list and he's not the one who had no backup plans.
 
The Purley King said:
We don't know why Fabregas didn't want to come. Perhaps it was because he thought Moyes would be out of his depth? He would hardly be alone if he had thought that at the time.
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We went for Cesc aftert Thiago joined Bayern. Barca didn't want to sell a second midfielder that summer. The following summer they did want to get rid of him.
 
K2K said:
Mourinho and his agent played him like a fiddle with all those PSG links. That contract extension is a disaster.
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Mind you, how worse could the situation have become had Mourinho entered the last year of his contract.
 
oz insomniac said:
All the angst about Woody and Jose, if you understand Jose and his tactics (if you hire him, you should), his best teams always contain wingers that provide chances for the physical striker.

Over 2 Windows, Woody did not rate the wingers Jose wanted to "balance" his team, let's face it , Bale was not going to leave Madrid despite Woodys dribbling on about such a signing as being the richest club who can do things others only dream about.

A striker like Laukaku thrives on finshing from quick breaks and decent crosses so he can use his physical presence.

Anyway, both have to take some blame, but if you have a a manager that plays a specific style and you don't support it, you get what you get. Bailly and Lindelof are basically development players, and that's why an experienced C/B like Toby was needed to provide stability and an ability to play out properly from the back.

The preferred outcome would,be for them both to go, and start with a clean sheet,not going to happen unfortunately.
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If Bailly and Lindelof are development players,why did he spend 70million on the 1st? Why would you not sure up your defence with a senior CB in the 1st instance? I don't buy it. I think they just were not good enough and Lindelof will never be.
 
K2K said:
Mourinho and his agent played him like a fiddle with all those PSG links. That contract extension is a disaster.
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They bumped his salary up to Guardiola territory and gave him one extra year. It wasn't great but disaster is a bit much.
 
liamp said:
They bumped his salary up to Guardiola territory and gave him one extra year. It wasn't great but disaster is a bit much.
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Exactly, hindsight is fine and all but at the time it give the club security. We had no plan and we were making progress. A month after we regressed and have been since. It's the long term planning Ed can be accused off. The lack of trust and investment in the summer with transfers, delaying this inevitable sacking. It's the planning and vision he has implemented at the club which is the problem.
 
Rolaholic said:
It's a likely long shot but what are the chances we could get Juve's outgoing CEO, Beppe Marotta, in to replace Ed in non business matters? He's been linked to the club ever since announcing that he'd be stepping down in Turin and it would be quite a welcome sight having a football man back at the helm of football related decision making.

He's also got an impeccable record when it comes to reclamation projects,he helped bring Juve back from the ashes and into the powerhouse they are now after coming in while they were undergoing a period of mediocrity and stagnation on the heels of the Calciopoli scandal (a much more dire situation at the time than United are in presently)

It's hard to see it happening under our current management but it's a nice pipe dream to have
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Why is it hard to see though? it makes basic sense. From then on no one would be able to take us for a ride in the market. We would have a man who hires and fires coaches at the correct rate. Someone who controls the overall vision of the football side of things which is a mess atm.
 
Matic and Sanchez show you why he doesn't sanction the signing of older players. Now all they are, are really bad contracts on our books.
 
I am struggling to understand Woodward's logic here:

- Extends Jose's contract.
- Doesn't back him in the transfer market.
- Doesn't sack him when it's due.

Honestly, this has to be the most bizarre set of decisions he's made, and he's done a fair few prior to this.
 
Kapardin said:
I am struggling to understand Woodward's logic here:

- Extends Jose's contract.
- Doesn't back him in the transfer market.
- Doesn't sack him when it's due.

Honestly, this has to be the most bizarre set of decisions he's made, and he's done a fair few prior to this.
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Agree with this...

This is where the problem starts for me. Our actions in the transfer window were unacceptable. Last summer we should have supported Jose or gotten rid of him. Really it is that simple, any club who wants to improve needs to have a clear strategy going forward and we clearly do not.

Our team now is 2/3 of what Jose wants and this results in the mess we see every game day. Jose doesn't trust all his players and as such he fields a team that he feels the need to compensate for tactically and with illogical personnel selections. Do not get me wrong Jose should have soldiered on like Pochettino, but as he chose not too we now have a complete mess. So while Woodward is the root of the problem, to fix this I would jettison Jose now and get a director of football to move Woodward out of the way as well.
 
He really should be getting as much, if not more stick than Mourinho for the problems we're in.
 
Kapardin said:
I am struggling to understand Woodward's logic here:

- Extends Jose's contract.
- Doesn't back him in the transfer market.
- Doesn't sack him when it's due.

Honestly, this has to be the most bizarre set of decisions he's made, and he's done a fair few prior to this.
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He extended the contract when things were going relatively well (January).

He didn't back him in the transfer market because Jose wanted to add too expensive experienced players who could turn out to be another Sanchez. Our rivals have younger squads. Adding experienced players to this squad would mean a massive rebuilding job for the next manager. Add that Jose was in conflict with the most talented youngish players - Pogba and Martial.

Maybe Woody/the board think that it's pointless to sack him without having an agreement with the best possible option. After Moyes, LVG and Mourinho it is important to appoint the right manager and not shoot in the dark.

So, there is logic to what Woody/the board are doing. This does not absolve them from the mess at the club. Their problem is that they are mainly business people and do not understand much from football.
 
There's open fecking revolt at the club and somehow this clown still has a job and he's sitting impotently with his dick in his hands. No wonder the club's reputation has gone down the drain.
 
I have little faith in him to do the right thing. Who knows how bad it's got to get before he acts.
 
Surely he has to sit down with Mourinho during the international break.

For the first time last night, Mourinho looked and sounded like a man who wanted out of Manchester United. If he’s all but thrown in the towel, Woodward keeping him on would mean we’d be getting even less out of Mourinho than we already are.

Mourinho, the players and Woodward all seem to be in denial. Turning up for work, going through the motions, saying ‘yes boss’ - all without addressing anything.

We’re sleepwalking yet again.
 
Real Madrid and Barcelona will sack their respective coaches before we do.
We have lost sight of what's important as a club. We are lifeless. With each passing day, I hate this idiot more and more. The only thing he's worried about is how the optics reflect on him. Cnut!
 
Treble said:
He extended the contract when things were going relatively well (January).

He didn't back him in the transfer market because Jose wanted to add too expensive experienced players who could turn out to be another Sanchez. Our rivals have younger squads. Adding experienced players to this squad would mean a massive rebuilding job for the next manager. Add that Jose was in conflict with the most talented youngish players - Pogba and Martial.

Maybe Woody/the board think that it's pointless to sack him without having an agreement with the best possible option. After Moyes, LVG and Mourinho it is important to appoint the right manager and not shoot in the dark.

So, there is logic to what Woody/the board are doing. This does not absolve them from the mess at the club. Their problem is that they are mainly business people and do not understand much from football.
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Agree
 
Rolaholic said:
It's a likely long shot but what are the chances we could get Juve's outgoing CEO, Beppe Marotta, in to replace Ed in non business matters? He's been linked to the club ever since announcing that he'd be stepping down in Turin and it would be quite a welcome sight having a football man back at the helm of football related decision making.

He's also got an impeccable record when it comes to reclamation projects,he helped bring Juve back from the ashes and into the powerhouse they are now after coming in while they were undergoing a period of mediocrity and stagnation on the heels of the Calciopoli scandal (a much more dire situation at the time than United are in presently)

It's hard to see it happening under our current management but it's a nice pipe dream to have
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Love this post. This is the type of thing the club should be looking at. Proven record of being in a similar position and fixing things. Even if he doesn't want to, we should be taking him out for dinner in Turin and picking his brains; what structural changes does the board need? What type of director of football head coach board triumvirate relationship is needed? What challenges did you face? How would you go about doing it with United? That sort of thing. We need a full on restructure; the fish rots from the heads but we know the Glazers arent going anywhere; so we have to work with them and figure out how to mitigate their stinkiness...
 
Rob Bowman said:
Agree with this...

This is where the problem starts for me. Our actions in the transfer window were unacceptable. Last summer we should have supported Jose or gotten rid of him. Really it is that simple, any club who wants to improve needs to have a clear strategy going forward and we clearly do not.

Our team now is 2/3 of what Jose wants and this results in the mess we see every game day. Jose doesn't trust all his players and as such he fields a team that he feels the need to compensate for tactically and with illogical personnel selections. Do not get me wrong Jose should have soldiered on like Pochettino, but as he chose not too we now have a complete mess. So while Woodward is the root of the problem, to fix this I would jettison Jose now and get a director of football to move Woodward out of the way as well.
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Two different situations. Whilst Poch did want to sign a couple of players, it wasn't a dire need. He already had a very strong squad, and if he didn't get who he wanted he was happy to crack on as is, which is why you haven't seen Poch throw his toys out the pram.

Whereas with Mourinho, you can tell he desperately wanted and needed a senior CB to come in for starters, and he didn't get him. The question really should be, why did Mourinho waste so much money on Lindelof and Bailly and then not get the best out of them? You can't keep signing expensive players non stop, until one works out. You have to develop and coach them. Look at how Davinson Sanchez is being developed by Poch, to how Bailly is being "developed" by Mourinho. Mourinho has wasted huge sums of money, not got the best out of the players, and then now wants even more to replace them. Complete cheque book manager unable to develop players himself. I don't blame Woodward for being reluctant to back Mourinho even more.
 
Treble said:
He extended the contract when things were going relatively well (January).

He didn't back him in the transfer market because Jose wanted to add too expensive experienced players who could turn out to be another Sanchez. Our rivals have younger squads. Adding experienced players to this squad would mean a massive rebuilding job for the next manager. Add that Jose was in conflict with the most talented youngish players - Pogba and Martial.

Maybe Woody/the board think that it's pointless to sack him without having an agreement with the best possible option. After Moyes, LVG and Mourinho it is important to appoint the right manager and not shoot in the dark.

So, there is logic to what Woody/the board are doing. This does not absolve them from the mess at the club. Their problem is that they are mainly business people and do not understand much from football.
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I find this so odd though....

I mean, if your a manager and someone in your team is doing a dreadful job and is acting out... you don't wait until you find the perfect replacement to fire them, you get rid and then get someone to fill in until you find the right person for the job.

Other clubs do this all the time... I mean look at West Brom (different kettle of fish granted, but still) they went with Moore as their caretaker, and look how thats going now.

There's nothing wrong with having a caretaker manager - a lot of times in fact, clubs improve under a caretaker as the dark cloud the previous manager carried with him is gone.
 
I've always thought if the only reason you have for not sacking a manager is oh well who else is there? then you should sack them asap.

How much worse could things get? Genuinely?

We play awful boring negative football and the results are terrible. 5 wins in our last 14 competitive games under Mourinho.
 
Primativ said:
Two different situations. Whilst Poch did want to sign a couple of players, it wasn't a dire need. He already had a very strong squad, and if he didn't get who he wanted he was happy to crack on as is, which is why you haven't seen Poch throw his toys out the pram.

Whereas with Mourinho, you can tell he desperately wanted and needed a senior CB to come in for starters, and he didn't get him. The question really should be, why did Mourinho waste so much money on Lindelof and Bailly and then not get the best out of them? You can't keep signing expensive players non stop, until one works out. You have to develop and coach them. Look at how Davinson Sanchez is being developed by Poch, to how Bailly is being "developed" by Mourinho. Mourinho has wasted huge sums of money, not got the best out of the players, and then now wants even more to replace them. Complete cheque book manager unable to develop players himself. I don't blame Woodward for being reluctant to back Mourinho even more.
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So the squad that finished above Spurs last season was in dire need, but the Spurs squad that finished below United wasn't'?

Jose fans revisionism is amazing. We needed a CB yes, not any CB though we needed a one that would improve us and we couldn't get one. Jose should have moved on, and got on with the job, and waited till January. You can't always pull off the transfers you need to.

Example Liverpool wanted VVD, but they couldn't get the deal done in the summer, they had to wait. Klopp didn't throw his toys out the pram, in fact Klopp actually improved the Liverpool defence from October onwards before even completing the VVD deal later in Jan.

In a summer where it was difficult to make transfers due to the shorter window. The only CBs we were linked with of sufficient quality Alderweireld and Godin were difficult transfers to pull off. Alderweireld because Spurs themselves couldn't pull off a replacement and were asking for silly money, and Godin well, he didn't want to leave his club.

The club were right not to panic buy more shite players (like Maguire) and wait. If Jose can't handle that he isn't the right man for the job.

Its amazing also to me that a player like Tuanzebe who has shown he has quality on the ball and is a CB who Jose himself praised hasn't had many chances. After playing vs Arsenal and having Sanchez in his pocket all game. But Jose moans about CBs who don't have enough technical ability on the ball. Well maybe if he invested time in the kid he supposedly rates Tuanzebe then he would have another option.

Anyway the point is do your best with what you have and wait for the next window.
 
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Zidane saying no.

The fans who have hounded Mourinho will deserve the nothing manager who will replace him.
 
Annihilate Now! said:
I find this so odd though....

I mean, if your a manager and someone in your team is doing a dreadful job and is acting out... you don't wait until you find the perfect replacement to fire them, you get rid and then get someone to fill in until you find the right person for the job.

Other clubs do this all the time... I mean look at West Brom (different kettle of fish granted, but still) they went with Moore as their caretaker, and look how thats going now.

There's nothing wrong with having a caretaker manager - a lot of times in fact, clubs improve under a caretaker as the dark cloud the previous manager carried with him is gone.
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It's not odd. It's an option to appoint a caretaker but it is used mostly by non-top clubs.

Imagine that Carrick is appointed as a carataker and does brilliantly in the first months. The board decides that he is good enough to give him a longer contract. And then things go bad and we are back to the same problem.

As things stand, Woody/the board are not sure that a caretaker would do a much better job than Mourinho. They prefer to secure a top replacement. That might be wrong but ain't odd.
 
I've been defending him for a long time but this failure to sack Mourinho is an extremely spineless act, there's no reasonable explanation for this non-action.
 
Treble said:
It's not odd. It's an option to appoint a caretaker but it is used mostly by non-top clubs.

Imagine that Carrick is appointed as a carataker and does brilliantly in the first months. The board decides that he is good enough to give him a longer contract. And then things go bad and we are back to the same problem.

As things stand, Woody/the board are not sure that a caretaker would do a much better job than Mourinho. They prefer to secure a top replacement. That might be wrong but ain't odd.
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Well then that would be a dumb decision by the board.

You install a caretaker with just that idea in mind... to take temporary charge until the actual appointment is ready to take over.

If the club genuinely thinks that a caretaker wouldn't do better then Mourinho then a) I would worry how they are currently viewing the job Jose is doing and b) I would worry about their ability to actually select a manager - if they can't even select a caretaker that would - at the very least - not be a toxic influence on the team.
 
CA1 said:
Are you serious?

Months of shit from everybody.

When the next manager doesn't come up to scratch, I'll remember that. Never forget.
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:lol::lol: Jose FC
 
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