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

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When the manager starts asking you to sell one of your brightest talents in a swap deal for a 32 year old winger, you have received to start asking questions.

Well there is no proof of that, just media speculations who just make things as they go along.

It was martial's agent who came out in public about wanting to leave as his opportunities reduced.
 
What evidence is there that Jose was going to sell Martial but Woodward stopped it?
Oh come on. It was widely reported. If you're asking for concrete evidence, this is a forum, how are we supposed to provide that? Plus Jose's done everything to show us how much he doesn't fancy him - that you can see with your own two eyes.
 
But Ed is right to say he's not spending loads of money on a other old player.

I do feel ed was wrong on that front. Any expensive young player will not have that character to lead the defense no matter how much money you spend. Young players need guidance alongside them.
 
The board cant win things. The team can. The board get a manager who they think is capable of winning trophies and buy players for him. Now into the third season and after spending more than 350 m pounds, why would the board have blind faith in the manager?
When you inherit the squad which needs 10-15 new players and you need to build squad for title challenge, then 400 mil is not much in todays football, especially when you are fighting with teams who spend the same and have better squads than you.

And for this season it was either you trust your manager or you don't. This was the worst scenario. "Jose you are staying but i decide what players you need"
 
I do feel ed was wrong on that front. Any expensive young player will not have that character to lead the defense no matter how much money you spend. Young players need guidance alongside them.
Our success rate on transfers since Mourinho arrived is 20% at best. Regardless of the merits of an older defender, you can't blame Ed for saying he's not spending £50m on an old player he would not be able to sell for a reasonable price. The chances are whoever we we signed would have struggled, based on our record.
 
Oh come on. It was widely reported. If you're asking for concrete evidence, this is a forum, how are we supposed to provide that? Plus Jose's done everything to show us how much he doesn't fancy him - that you can see with your own two eyes.
Yeah I'm not sure what 'evidence' people are asking for. Woodward during that press call took a shot at Jose's short termism stating Martial wasn't going anywhere. Every paper present reported the same thing. Besides that it's been widely reported Jose was the one trying to broker the Willian swap. I'm sure if you check their posting history we'd see some of these people now denying it were calling Woody an idiot for not allowing it at the time. Good God we'd be stuck with Sanchez on the left. Woodward will be patting himself on the back after the last 2 results.
 
When you inherit the squad which needs 10-15 new players and you need to build squad for title challenge, then 400 mil is not much in todays football, especially when you are fighting with teams who spend the same and have better squads than you.

And for this season it was either you trust your manager or you don't. This was the worst scenario. "Jose you are staying but i decide what players you need"

When the managers keep spending the money badly then there is no guarantee backing him will make the slightest bit of difference.

The solution can’t always be a new player, For the salary Mourinho is being paid Woodward should be expecting a higher standard of coaching players individually and collectively, man management etc etc.

SAF didn’t always get what he wanted, no manager does but there is a right and wrong way to deal with that and Mourinho only seems to know the latter.
 
I do feel ed was wrong on that front. Any expensive young player will not have that character to lead the defense no matter how much money you spend. Young players need guidance alongside them.

There is a whole lot of room between the 29-30 year olds we've been after to young centerhalves. Someone at 25-27 can certainly have what it takes.

To be honest, I'm not sure where the idea Mourinho wanted an older defender in order to guide the young ones came from. As far as I know we know who he wanted, but not why.
 
Our success rate on transfers since Mourinho arrived is 20% at best. Regardless of the merits of an older defender, you can't blame Ed for saying he's not spending £50m on an old player he would not be able to sell for a reasonable price. The chances are whoever we we signed would have struggled, based on our record.

While, woodwards argument was that he would be buying a varane for 100 m for example if he was available when Real Madrid are on exactly in same point as us struggling with a 3rd straight loss now. He won't plug the gap either.

The crux of the problem is Matic and def mid and how we play without pressing which is putting additional pressure on Cbs and they are get to g exposed with lack of exp. If Jones has to be replaced some one with exp will solve the problem better who knows this league than a young player who has never played in the league.

If Mourinho's success rate is not good enough, neither is woodwards. We have the obligation to solve a footballing problem while we don't sell our players most of the time so talking about a resale value is pointless.

If sir Alex wanted a 29 year old rvp, would Woodward have the audacity to block that as well and go for someone younger with more resale value? While his signings like zaha, Kagawa, jones, obertan flopped as well?
 
While, woodwards argument was that he would be buying a varane for 100 m for example if he was available when Real Madrid are on exactly in same point as us struggling with a 3rd straight loss now. He won't plug the gap either.

The crux of the problem is Matic and def mid and how we play without pressing which is putting additional pressure on Cbs and they are get to g exposed with lack of exp. If Jones has to be replaced some one with exp will solve the problem better who knows this league than a young player who has never played in the league.

If Mourinho's success rate is not good enough, neither is woodwards. We have the obligation to solve a footballing problem while we don't sell our players most of the time so talking about a resale value is pointless.
Whether it's pointless or not, I would guess that was his thinking.
He has to be asking himself why transfers at the club keep failing. I can't see any CEO in that position, with those doubts sanctioning money on another expensive older player. By definition, they carry more risk from a finicisl pov.
It's a fecked up situation the club should have never been in.
 
Our success rate on transfers since Mourinho arrived is 20% at best. Regardless of the merits of an older defender, you can't blame Ed for saying he's not spending £50m on an old player he would not be able to sell for a reasonable price. The chances are whoever we we signed would have struggled, based on our record.
20%? Nonsense. Only defenders are flops. And maybe Alexis. Others are not.
 
Our success rate on transfers since Mourinho arrived is 20% at best. Regardless of the merits of an older defender, you can't blame Ed for saying he's not spending £50m on an old player he would not be able to sell for a reasonable price. The chances are whoever we we signed would have struggled, based on our record.

Since when did we become a selling club?
 
20%? Nonsense. Only defenders are flops. And maybe Alexis. Others are not.
We've signed 11 players under Mourinho. How many can be said to be successful?
I'd say Ibrahimovic and Lukaku. At a stretch, Pogba. The rest too early to judge and haven't shown anything.
We've spent €400m under Mourinho and we are simply no getting a bang for a buck.
Not talking about Mourinho now but Ed has to be asking why we aren't getting more out of it.
Unless a club has unlimited funds would it continue spending without questioning the return it's gotten from what it has spent.
 
Since when did we become a selling club?
Buy a expensive youngish player with resale value, and they can be easily moved on for a decent fee if they couldn't settle in here. Di Maria is an example of that. Buy a player like Alderweireld for 60m and he fails to settle, that's 60m gone.
 
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Whether it's pointless or not, I would guess that was his thinking.
He has to be asking himself why transfers at the club keep failing. I can't see any CEO in that position, with those doubts sanctioning money on another expensive older player. By definition, they carry more risk from a finicisl pov.
It's a fecked up situation the club should have never been in.

If he still can't get that then he surely is not the right person sitting on that seat making footballing decisions for this club.

Why they keep failing? The managers you hire have a totally different footballing vision than the players at this squad's disposal and the players we are forcing the managers to work with.

Juventus has made a living on older players in last decade, but they have a vision of how to play them as a team. Our vision is to buy the players who suits this clubs marketing and talent potential but hire managers who plays in totally opposite vision. It's not a rocket science why it ain't working. That's why English clubs are made fun of all over the world in recent decade.

A football club has to primarily think with football point of view.
 
If he still can't get that then he surely is not the right person sitting on that seat making footballing decisions for this club.

Why they keep failing? The managers you hire have a totally different footballing vision than the players at this squad's disposal and the players we are forcing the managers to work with.

Juventus has made a living on older players in last decade, but they have a vision of how to play them as a team. Our vision is to buy the players who suits this clubs marketing and talent potential but hire managers who plays in totally opposite vision. It's not a rocket science why it ain't working. That's why English clubs are made fun of all over the world in recent decade.

A football club has to primarily think with football point of view.
I don't disagree. But I am discussing why he failed to sanction big money moves for players like Alderweireld, Willian, Boateng etc.
The core of the porblem is the club(Ed) and the manager are on different pages when it comes to profile of signings. Should never have been allowed to happen as you say. But I'm on about those specific cases, I can see why Ed did not sanction those moves. It's just that it should never have been allowed to reach that point.
 
Evra would be the typical big name nonsensical sort of signing I can see Woody making for what is such an important role. I'd probably roll my eyes so far into the back of my head they'd get lost.
 
We've signed 11 players under Mourinho. How many can be said to be successful?
I'd say Ibrahimovic and Lukaku. At a stretch, Pogba. The rest too early to judge and haven't shown anything.
We've spent €400m under Mourinho and we are simply no getting a bang for a buck.
Not talking about Mourinho now but Ed has to be asking why we aren't getting more out of it.
Unless a club has unlimited funds would it continue spending without questioning the return it's gotten from what it has spent.

Ibra, Pogba, Lukaku and Matic without question. Bailly is out of form but arguably another in the success category, over the 2 seasons hes had hes regularly been cited as our best defender. We can put Mkhitaryan in the flop column, with Lindelof on the verge of falling in. Fred and Dalot haven't been here long enough at all and the other is a stand in 3rd choice keeper.
 
Ibra, Pogba, Lukaku and Matic without question. Bailly is out of form but arguably another in the success category, over the 2 seasons hes had hes regularly been cited as our best defender. We can put Mkhitaryan in the flop column, with Lindelof on the verge of falling in. Fred and Dalot haven't been here long enough at all and the other is a stand in 3rd choice keeper.
Bailly has not been a success by any metric.
 
Bailly has not been a success by any metric.

Until this poor start to the season, quite a few would argue that with you. I'm willing to let him have a period of poor form and see how he regovers before chalking him off as a failure.

Same with Lindelof, but he's much closer to the flop column. And flop here is used loosely, because not one of these signings turned out like a Bebe, or Di Maria.

At the same time I wouldn't consider any of them as signings we will talk about for years to come, like a Rio, or a Ronaldo.
 
Bailly has had a few good months in his career at Utd, he's injury prone and a headless chicken. I would say he's vastly overrated on here, but I think most on here are pretty fair about him now. There's some potential there, put him next to quality older wiser head and he'd improve, but I wouldn't call him a success, far from it right now.
 
Bailly has had a few good months in his career at Utd, he's injury prone and a headless chicken. I would say he's vastly overrated on here, but I think most on here are pretty fair about him now. There's some potential there, put him next to quality older wiser head and he'd improve, but I wouldn't call him a success, far from it right now.
He just needs an experienced head next to him to learn from like you say, his potential was evident in his first season. No way he's going to get more composed next to the likes of Lindelöf, Rojo or Jones. :lol:

Let's hope that Tuanzebe turns into a beast playing regularly for Aston Villa, and that Woodward can get Alderweireld in the Summer for 25m. Send Lindelöf on loan to a promoted PL team for a season and get rid of Rojones.

Alderweireld - Bailly
Tuanzebe - Smalling
 
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How sure are you?



I don’t see him coming in as a DOF role.

I can however imagine him coming in to work alongside Carrick and McKenna under Mourinho with Woodward having an eye on keeping Pogba at the club. Evra is just the personality that dressing room needs right now.
 
Evra would be the typical big name nonsensical sort of signing I can see Woody making for what is such an important role. I'd probably roll my eyes so far into the back of my head they'd get lost.

So Van Der Saar/Overmars and Zidane can do it at Ajax and Real Madrid respectively but Evra can't? your reason for it please explain?
 
I don’t see him coming in as a DOF role.

I can however imagine him coming in to work alongside Carrick and McKenna under Mourinho with Woodward having an eye on keeping Pogba at the club. Evra is just the personality that dressing room needs right now.

Makes no sense. So we are getting a guy to bridge the gap to make Pogba comfortable?
 
I remember a while ago that Patty said in an interview that he was the one that told the club, particularly SAF, about Paul Pogba and that he thinks he'll become something special in the world of football. SAF reacted to this proposal and scouted PP and guess what voilà Evra was absolutely right. I don't want to draw him as the perfect man to be our football director but remembering him being the first to report PP tells you many things.

One, he's a knowledgeable fan of the sport and knows who's a footballer and who's not and can make a shrewd judgment about that. Second, he's a likable person to those who know football and are represented in the board such as SAF & SBC and can make huge calls regarding the club's future. He could be the missing link that can connect the Manager to the board. SAF doesn't just listen to anyone as he once told Rooney to f*** off for telling him to sign Ozil after a great WC and humiliated a friend journo for fabricating and trying to push the subject of Wesley Schneider to the point that we might actually be interested in him. Lastly, he loves the club and is known to be a hardcore fan, he's well into the club history and love everything about United as he once contributed his amazing goal against Bayern to the Busby Babes who lost their lives while serving Manchester United.

We need all of the above and he seems to chick a lot of the boxes.
 
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So Van Der Saar/Overmars and Zidane can do it at Ajax and Real Madrid respectively but Evra can't? your reason for it please explain?

Didn't realise Zidane was a DOF. Not to add, Ajax isn't even in the same universe as us. Completely different expectations and requirements. Teams like Ajax are allowed to get it wrong, we aren't.
 
Our vision is to buy the players who suits this clubs marketing and talent potential but hire managers who plays in totally opposite vision.

That's not true, since we don't land players on the managers. We might not get everyone they want, but we don't sign anyone then don't. And they still fail.

Actually, the problem with 'our vision' is that we don't have one. Only the of the manager in charge, whether it's LVG or Mourinho.
 
Makes no sense. So we are getting a guy to bridge the gap to make Pogba comfortable?

Rui Faria was said to be that guy and he’s obviously no longer here. While Mourinho apparently struggles to keep things smooth with some of our most precocious talents, you don’t think it would make sense to bring in a mentor who knows the club inside out, knows the culture and both commands respect as a footballer who has been there and done it all and as a personality who can get on the same level as even our most exuberant characters?
 
How about if Evra is being looked at in another role? Next manager? Doesnt make sense I know, but after the feck fest of the last 5 years what does? 3 managers with lots of experience hasnt worked , lets try an unknown :lol:
 
Didn't realise Zidane was a DOF. Not to add, Ajax isn't even in the same universe as us. Completely different expectations and requirements. Teams like Ajax are allowed to get it wrong, we aren't.

Really? Half the people on here want us to give it Cantona, Giggs, G.Neville etc so why is it a stupid idea when it’s Evra?

Zidane had some sort of director role at Real before he became B team coach. He helped ceil Varane ahead of us at the time.
 
Rui Faria was said to be that guy and he’s obviously no longer here. While Mourinho apparently struggles to keep things smooth with some of our most precocious talents, you don’t think it would make sense to bring in a mentor who knows the club inside out, knows the culture and both commands respect as a footballer who has been there and done it all and as a personality who can get on the same level as even our most exuberant characters?

Rui Faria has been with Jose the majority of his coaching life, he probably trusts him with his wife. I don’t see why he would need Evra to do that role, he doesn’t know him.
 
Really? Half the people on here want us to give it Cantona, Giggs, G.Neville etc so why is it a stupid idea when it’s Evra?

Zidane had some sort of director role at Real before he became B team coach. He helped ceil Varane ahead of us at the time.
It's a stupid idea regardless of which ex player, now is not the time for us to be taking risks.
 
It's a stupid idea regardless of which ex player, now is not the time for us to be taking risks.

Which is kind of funny seeing as our last two management appointments emphasise not taking risks.

We are not asking Evra to negotiate sponsorship deals. His job would be to identify a vision for the club. Where we should be amongst other big clubs; the ethos of play and attitude; the pathway from youth team to first team.

I’m sure he has enough about him to do that, whilst only finishing football 6 months ago, playing in France, England and Italy he has more than enough experience.

There are plenty interviews of him speaking about Manchester United he clearly gets it and us. Whilst being pretty much biased which is something else we have been missing since Fergie left. Someone that actually believes we are the best club in world football.
 
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