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

[Harold_Giles]

A question for those that want a poll, who would remove Woodward? He's the highest at the club running day to day business that the owners have nothing to do with. There is nobody above him.

It's like any other business.
The board is above him. You see CEO's get fired if they are incompetent in the eyes of the board.

Right now I would think he's walking a fine line.
He's been doing a fine job on the business side of Manchester United. However I'd think if we continue to struggle on the footballing side, those mega deals he's been making would probably not be on the table right now if sponsors would take into account the horrendous football on display and the growing unrest among the fans.

For me, I think he's seriously thinking about replacing Mourinho soon. Mourinho is a ticking timebomb and has been for a while.

 

[Foxbatt]

I do not want Woodward to go and anyone with any sense would not want him to leave. He needs to do what he does best which is the running of the company and the commercial side and get a Director of football to look after the all footballing issues.
Someone mentioned VDS. He is not capable of running an operation like Manchester United at all. He does not have the financial and commercial knowledge or experience. Woodward has.
His problem is that he is trying to do things which he has no clue and that is the footballing side of things. But in hindsight. SAF had been doing this as the Manager and the club is not to know that managers with good reputations like LVG and Jose is going to feck up.

 

[ash_86]

Woodward has been here since 2005. His job is a lot safer than Mourinho's. It's not rocket science.
Mourinho will be gone next season and Woodward will still be here. Don't see the point of this debate.

Well thats the bigger problem than Mourinho. How many more failed managers are we gonna need before realizing the problem is somewhere else? We need to be raising more voice to get Ed out of the club before anyone else. If not, nothing is going to change.

 

[Judas]

But if you're sensible, you don't want him out of the club, because he's good at part of his job. We just need him away from the football side of things.

 

[Moriarty]

A lot of people on here seem to have forgotten or forgiven the fact that Woodward engineered a leveraged buyout of our club that put the Glazers in power and has seen over £1 billion drained from the club to pay bankers and the Glazers. Woodward stepped into Gill's shoes and they are about five sizes too big for him. Gill was bad enough, with his 'debt is the road to ruin' speech then letting £90 million of Ronaldo money flow into the pockets of those fecking shylocks while we got Valencia and Michael Owen in return. Woodward has a lot to answer for.

 

[fezzerUTD]

We don't need to remove Woodward, but we do need a business side and a football side to the club and they both need to work hand in hand. Woodward should not be doing both and should appoint someone to run the footballing side its as simple as that.

 

[Maticmaker]

Ed Woodward is an excellent CEO at recruiting sponsors, but he needs to leave the authorising/directing of player purchases to others.

Woodward is a money-making manager, not a money spending manager; he should stick to where his expertise lies and if necessary the board need to enforce this, possiblly through establishing a triumvirate senior manager structure, with the third senior manager inserted between Woodward and Mourinho, to adjudicate where there are differences between these two; call it Technical or Sporting Director, it doesn't matter, the role is to 'hold the ring' between the other two.

 

[Foxbatt]

A lot of people on here seem to have forgotten or forgiven the fact that Woodward engineered a leveraged buyout of our club that put the Glazers in power and has seen over £1 billion drained from the club to pay bankers and the Glazers. Woodward stepped into Gill's shoes and they are about five sizes too big for him. Gill was bad enough, with his 'debt is the road to ruin' speech then letting £90 million of Ronaldo money flow into the pockets of those fecking shylocks while we got Valencia and Michael Owen in return. Woodward has a lot to answer for.

The moment SAF went to court over the horse the Irish tycoons were going to sell the club. If not the Glazers someone else would have bought it. At least up to now they have not denied investment in the club whenever the manager has asked for players within reasons.
Woodward has done his job well on the commercial side of things. It is the footballing side that he has fecked up. For that he needs to it sorted out ASAP by installing a DOF or anyone else to be above the Manager to get the footballing side sorted out.
Someone with an excellent footballing back ground too .
I think Jordi Cruyff who is now in China would be an excellent choice as he has had lot of footballing knowledge and having played for Barca and United and done the DOF job very well in Israel too.

 

[Handsome Devil]

I think most people on here agree that we need a DOF and little Ed can continue to count the beans (whether we like him or not.)
The big problem however is that we don't seem to be any nearer to appointing one. Is it because there is no one deemed suitable or have they just been paying lip service to us all along?
It all just contributes to the general air of negativity and fatalism surrounding the club.

 

[The Real No7]

What I find interesting is that he never gives interviews or says anything about backing the manager etc.

The only way to make an impact on a weasel like Ed is to hit him where it hurts and that's with United losing money and being asked questions about the failures by investors. I do not think he cares about the fans as United will still make money even if there is protests etc. There is a reason he hasn't sacked Jose and it's quite simple. If United was run like a football club he would be sacked no matter the costs. Since it is run like a business the best way to get rid is the cheapest way just like the previous 2 managers getting sacked ONLY when top 4 wasn't possible as this was the cheapest option.

He is taking the heart and soul of the club away. More ex players need to come in to the club in some meaningful way as they will care about the club and the decisions being made.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

But if you're sensible, you don't want him out of the club, because he's good at part of his job. We just need him away from the football side of things.

Meh, he's set a blueprint which I'm sure someone else can easily follow.

In fact, you could argue that if someone replaced him they could have ideas/thoughts on how to move the club beyond what Woodward is doing.

 

[nikineil]

What exactly is Richard Arnold's ( I hope I got his name correct) role in all of this?

 

[Foxbatt]

could it be in Jose's contract that is is written that he has final say on the transfers or the at least the players that is bought? This could be a factor in not getting a DOF before Jose is sacked. United is also a PLC and it is not that easy to sack someone without informing the NewYork stock exchange where it is listed.
This is where the Press found out about the sacking of LVG and also Moyes.

 

[Handsome Devil]

What I find interesting is that he never gives interviews or says anything about backing the manager etc.

The only way to make an impact on a weasel like Ed is to hit him where it hurts and that's with United losing money and being asked questions about the failures by investors. I do not think he cares about the fans as United will still make money even if there is protests etc. There is a reason he hasn't sacked Jose and it's quite simple. If United was run like a football club he would be sacked no matter the costs. Since it is run like a business the best way to get rid is the cheapest way just like the previous 2 managers getting sacked ONLY when top 4 wasn't possible as this was the cheapest option.

He is taking the heart and soul of the club away. More ex players need to come in to the club in some meaningful way as they will care about the club and the decisions being made.

There is some truth in this even though it is astonishing. You would think Ed and the Glazers would know that this is not sustainable and you can't divorce the business from the football completely. It would be comparable to a plush hotel like the Savoy letting their standards drop but thinking "Hey, we are the Savoy, people will always want to stay here!"
People will go elsewhere, sponsors will go elsewhere, the inflow of new fans will become a trickle.
But maybe they aren't in it for the long-term anymore?

 

[MackRobinson]

A lot of people on here seem to have forgotten or forgiven the fact that Woodward engineered a leveraged buyout of our club that put the Glazers in power and has seen over £1 billion drained from the club to pay bankers and the Glazers. Woodward stepped into Gill's shoes and they are about five sizes too big for him. Gill was bad enough, with his 'debt is the road to ruin' speech then letting £90 million of Ronaldo money flow into the pockets of those fecking shylocks while we got Valencia and Michael Owen in return. Woodward has a lot to answer for.

I don't understand why people are still hung up on this. The leveraged buyout would have been bad if the club were truly mismanaged and became insolvent. None of this happened and by all accounts the Glazers managed the debt well (and they took the responsibility of a good portion of the debt). Leveraged buyouts are commonplace in mergers & acquisitions and United are beyond the point of worrying about insolvency. I honestly don't believe £1 billion was drained from the club, as almost half of that debt was the responsibility of the family.

Also Gill had no power to stop the take over so I don't understand his inclusion.

 

[Class of 63]

Think I get you - everyone else is culpable except Woodward eh? Company is doing badly, but its everyone else's fault except for our infallible CEO

I've already said he(Ed)dropped a bollock by appointing Jose Mourinho so i'm not absolving him of all blame, but on a football level I can understand why he did it, and is the company doing so badly ? We're told that we're more a business than a football club these days(was always the case, but hey), we've got debts that would cripple most businesses yet in the last 2 years this apparent clown has sanctioned deals for Pogba and Lukaku for fees SAF could only have dreamed about, and agreed to pay out circa £2,000,000 a month to another player wanted by the Manager, in short the guy couldn't have done anymore, can the same be said of the Manager(s), or players ?

The buck stops with the Manager, and they take the job on with that understanding.

There is a clear difference between ending in failure and being a failure. Mourinho's and Conte's tenures at Chelses ended in failure but were not failure, given the each delivered PL titles.

I worded that wrong, I meant overall, apart from SAF, Wenger, Benitez, Mourinho, Conte and Ranieri everybody else in the Premier League era could be considered a failure, or at least not met their CEO's requirements, or they wouldn't have been replaced.

None of those manager's could be said to have had a successful tenure even by their individual standards. The only thing they had in common is having to work with Ed.

There's no guarantee they'd have been any more successful under Gill, Kenyon, Edwards jnr et al, would you have been calling for them to be replaced ?

It is easy to see from the decisions he makes.

As an example, anyone with basic familiarity with the game would know what kind of manager LvG and Mourinho were both in philosophy and personality (afterall each had been coaching for 30+ and 20+ years respectively and at various top flight clubs). To appoint LvG after Moyes was to start upon a unique path (possession football, moldable youth players, flexible players etc), but after 2 season he replaces LvG with Mourinho who is the total antithesis of LvG (proven and matured players, direct system etc). In fact Mourinho first press conference, made it clear when he said he preferred 'specialists'.

What happens, the first two seasons of Mourinho's tenure are basically spent undoing what LvG had done, with most players acquired by LvG being sold (depay, Schneiderlin, Blind, Schweini) or consigned to the bench (Darmian, Rojo, Herrera). A player like Di maria, who would have fit well into Mourinho's system (and had played for him at real)

When Barcelona and Bayern fired LvG, he was succeeded by Rijkaard and Guardiola respectively, two coaches who shared philosophical roots with LvG and offered continuity. Ed could have also appointed a manager (e.g. Koeman) along that line of thought.

That he appointed Mourinho and thus inevitably wasted 2 seasons of transfers and thus left us with a mish-mash squad of aging and overpaid mediocre players is clear evidence of his arrant ignorance.

I might be wrong, but I don't recall fans calling for Louis or Martin Edward's head when we were going from one extreme to the other(Docherty - Sexton - Atkinson - SAF)and back again, so why blame Ed for doing exactly the same ?

And on a lighter note can you imagine the meltdown on here if Ed had appointed Ronald Koeman

I've just put a fiver on Neil Warnock to be named the next Manager if we are going down the seamless continuity route.

 

[Moriarty]

The moment SAF went to court over the horse the Irish tycoons were going to sell the club. If not the Glazers someone else would have bought it. At least up to now they have not denied investment in the club whenever the manager has asked for players within reasons.

The day we became a PLC and Martin Edwards got his hands on all that money was the day it turned. It did not need to be a leveraged buy out with the Glazers' costs being dumped on the club. The Glazers and Woodward are nothing but scum and unworthy to be associated with United. I cannot get my head around the loss of £1 billion. If half of that had been invested in our academy and infrastructure, we wouldn't be looking at City across such a chasm. And we are supposed to grateful to them for reasonable investments? This club buys nobody these days without first running the rule over their commercial potential.

Falcao. I mean, what was the point? Conned by an agent. Di Maria, big commercial potential but never wanted to come. I remember the look on Van Gaal's face at Turf Moor when it was clear that the player would rather be in Paris. Pogba. Transfer was two years in the works. That was a commercial buy and he too wants away. I'm no fan of the Saudis but if it meant seeing the back of that lizard-faced bastard Avram Glazer, I'd hold my nose and take it.

 

[Moriarty]

I don't understand why people are still hung up on this. The leveraged buyout would have been bad if the club were truly mismanaged and became insolvent. None of this happened and by all accounts the Glazers managed the debt well (and they took the responsibility of a good portion of the debt). Leveraged buyouts are commonplace in mergers & acquisitions and United are beyond the point of worrying about insolvency. I honestly don't believe £1 billion was drained from the club, as almost half of that debt was the responsibility of the family.

Also Gill had no power to stop the take over so I don't understand his inclusion.

Why? Because they took a solvent club, the richest in the land, and dumped a massive debt on it. I don't give a toss if they managed it well. That's what shylocks do. And if you don't believe £1 billion has gone down the shitter, there's enough information out there by people far more knowledgeable than me that says it has. Gill did nothing to fight the takeover when he might have done. His voice was powerful and people would have listened. He took the Glazer shilling and when Fergie, the cement holding the club together, retired, Gill scuttled off with his bag of gold.

 

[Thiagoal]

Clearly Woodward is an exceptional businessman and has strengthened United considerably as a brand! To the Glazers he must be some sort of hero!

However, he clearly knows the square root of feck all about running football operations so has to step aside or the commercial progress will soon start falling drastically too! I, for one, will not be going to another game (too late for Fulham) this season while Mourinho is in charge; the brand of football is atrocious and the players are a bunch of unlikable cnuts too (barring a couple)

 

[Class of 63]

He's fecking clueless when it comes to football and neglected to hire someone who actually knows what they're supposed to do while overriding the very managers he hired over transfer matters .

If he hired Jose because our fans wanted it, he's a bigger idiot than we all thought. He's the CEO, not a bloody yes man to the fans. Following your logic, he's just a bloody puppet and not someone who should be CEO.

I suggest you dig out an interview Ed Woodward did exclusively for MUTV not long after the start of the 2013/14 season then comeback with your fecking clueless comment, I dare you

And do you seriously think David Gill, or Martin Edwards never overrode SAF when it comes to transfers ?

 

[Adisa]

Andy Mitten.

There is no obvious way to get out of this mess. A sporting director has been mooted, but Mourinho is reluctant to accept one.

 

[Adnan]

Andy Mitten.

Mitten doesn't know anything

 

[steffyr2]

Really basic question -- who hires and supervises the medical staff? We seem the have had the biggest collection of broken players in the last few years.... who looks at the staff and decides if they're the best for their job?

We're could go thru the rest of the tracks at utd and see if it's clear who runs them, like -- does the junior team managers report to Mourinho? Who do the groundskeepers report to?

Basically, how poorly run are all aspects of the club?

 

[AltiUn]

Mitten doesn't know anything

He gets constantly quoted on "r/reddevils", you'd have thought people would have caught on by now.

 

[Class of 63]

The moment SAF went to court over the horse the Irish tycoons were going to sell the club. If not the Glazers someone else would have bought it. At least up to now they have not denied investment in the club whenever the manager has asked for players within reasons.
Woodward has done his job well on the commercial side of things. It is the footballing side that he has fecked up. For that he needs to it sorted out ASAP by installing a DOF or anyone else to be above the Manager to get the footballing side sorted out.
Someone with an excellent footballing back ground too .
I think Jordi Cruyff who is now in China would be an excellent choice as he has had lot of footballing knowledge and having played for Barca and United and done the DOF job very well in Israel too.

So much so that he'd often stop training sessions and try and tell SAF and his staff how things should be done

 

[Adnan]

He gets constantly quoted on "r/reddevils", you'd have thought people would have caught on by now.

I thought people caught on when he was sure we were gonna sign Vidal.

 

[golden_blunder]

Les Reed was mentioned in this thread previously

Now been booted by Southampton

 

[cheeky_backheel]

I've just put a fiver on Neil Warnock to be named the next Manager if we are going down the seamless continuity route.

1. The appointment of the managers is one problem, the management of the managers was something else. With Mourinho, his reputation precedes him: buy expensive proven quality players and nin return you get immediate results even if the football is not pleasing to the average viewer. Ed seems to have been clueless about how Mourinho assembled his squads and now starts to talk about player resale value.

2. Those managers have not failed cos clubs at different levels have different ambitions. If Everton qualifies for CL, then the manager has been successful.

3. The most likely wouldnt have been hired, but more importantly those people would have known what they were signing up for when the hired those managers and provided the right environment to them. Ed on the other hand is half-in half-out, hires Mourinho and first season EL and back in CL, 2nd season contract extension and finishes 2nd but come summer you start giving excuses for not signing players wanted by the manager

4. Back then was a different Era and we were even relegated. The current status of the club and associated expectations are different. The landscape is more competitive and a club needs to be on top of their game in all aspects to be successful.

 

[United Junkie]

So much so that he'd often stop training sessions and try and tell SAF and his staff how things should be done

This guy doesnt even know Jordi isnt even being taking seriously in the Netherlands. All he got is his name this total joke.

 

[Powderfinger]

Maybe Man Utd are delaying this until they sack Mou at the end of the season and appoint a new manager. They want to get a DoF or Tech Dir that can work well with the new manager. Lots of moving parts.

Having a DoF and manager that can work well together is vital. But the obvious way to go about it is to get the DoF into place first and then have that person hire a manager that fits their system.

Just from the Arsenal experience, it was also really important that we got Mislinstat (in November 2017) and Sanllehi (February 2018) in well before the summer. They not only guided the process of hiring Emery, but also got a head start on turning the squad over . When Emery was hired, Mislinstat had already moved on a bunch of players the preceding winter, brought in Aubameyang, and identified players like Torreira, Guendouzi, Leno, and Sokratis as summer transfer targets.

United just need to rip the band aid off, sack Mourinho, hire a caretaker, and get a DoF into place as soon as possible.

 

[FootyGirl88]

Les Reed was mentioned in this thread previously

Now been booted by Southampton

He was doing a good job at Southampton up until last year - he sold off all their crown jewels he couldn't get away with that here.

 

[RedDevilRoshi]

Having a DoF and manager that can work well together is vital. But the obvious way to go about it is to get the DoF into place first and then have that person hire a manager that fits their system.

Just from the Arsenal experience, it was also really important that we got Mislinstat (in November 2017) and Sanllehi (February 2018) in well before the summer. They not only guided the process of hiring Emery, but also got a head start on turning the squad over . When Emery was hired, Mislinstat had already moved on a bunch of players the preceding winter, brought in Aubameyang, and identified players like Torreira, Guendouzi, Leno, and Sokratis as summer transfer targets.

United just need to rip the band aid off, sack Mourinho, hire a caretaker, and get a DoF into place as soon as possible.

That last sentence is what I want to see but it ain’t going to happen, I’m afraid. Mourinho will only get sacked until top 4 is mathematically impossible to achieve.

Also I doubt the board are even searching through DoF’s and making approaches for one. They will just look to hire a manager and have him working under these crappy conditions.

 

[MackRobinson]

Why? Because they took a solvent club, the richest in the land, and dumped a massive debt on it. I don't give a toss if they managed it well. That's what shylocks do. And if you don't believe £1 billion has gone down the shitter, there's enough information out there by people far more knowledgeable than me that says it has. Gill did nothing to fight the takeover when he might have done. His voice was powerful and people would have listened. He took the Glazer shilling and when Fergie, the cement holding the club together, retired, Gill scuttled off with his bag of gold.

Have you ever read those articles or looked at the evidence presented? They calculate the cost of the interest payments ignoring events like refinancing, bond issues (which happened), IPOs (which happened), and the fact that the club will be worth significantly more than what it was purchased for at the end of those interest terms.

I understand the outrage in 2005 but it's 2018 and the outlook is much different. There are very few people in the world who can fund a £800 million takeover without a leveraged buyout, shylocks or not.

 

[Moriarty]

Have you ever read those articles or looked at the evidence presented? They calculate the cost of the interest payments ignoring events like refinancing, bond issues (which happened), IPOs (which happened), and the fact that the club will be worth significantly more than what it was purchased for at the end of those interest terms.

I understand the outrage in 2005 but it's 2018 and the outlook is much different. There are very few people in the world who can fund a £800 million takeover without a leveraged buyout, shylocks or not.

Yes, I've read numerous articles about it. I understand what you're saying but you're missing the point. The money that went to pay interest and into the Glazers' pockets did not get spent on the club as it rightfully should have. Money that should have been spent improving the infrastructure, the academy, and the first-team squad was squandered. Sure the club will be worth more, eventually, but it would have been anyway, given the way football has gone since 2005. We should be competing with the likes of Real, Barca, Bayern, and Juventus, but instead, we've been subjected to penny-pinching by carpetbaggers who should have been shown the door when they first showed up.

 

[fezzerUTD]

I suggest you dig out an interview Ed Woodward did exclusively for MUTV not long after the start of the 2013/14 season then comeback with your fecking clueless comment, I dare you

And do you seriously think David Gill, or Martin Edwards never overrode SAF when it comes to transfers ?

You think either of them 2 knew more than SAF when it came to transfers and bought players without his say so?

 

[Yakuza_devils]

This idiot really doesn't have any plan otherwise he would have "leaked" to the press on imminent manager change.

We are the biggest club in the world and I don't see any reasons to persist with this dull football with Jose. Even West Ham sacked Big Sam because of his dull football even though he was producing results for them.

 

[el3mel]

This idiot really doesn't have any plan otherwise he would have "leaked" to the press on imminent manager change.

We are the biggest club in the world and I don't see any reasons to persist with this dull football with Jose. Even West Ham sacked Big Sam because of his dull football even though he was producing results for them.

You're right. At this time during LVG era we were having loads of leaks about Mourinho getting the job and LVG getting sacked when he loses on top 4. This time, absolutely nothing. The guy doesn't know what to do. Probably Zidane said he's not interested in the job and he's now waiting for any manager to get sacked to appoint him, just like what he did when he panic appointed Mourinho after he was sacked from Chelsea. I said previously it would be funny to know what Ed would have done if Mourinho hadn't been sacked by Chelsea when LVG was passing through his crisis.

 

[CA1]

You're right. At this time during LVG era we were having loads of leaks about Mourinho getting the job and LVG getting sacked when he loses on top 4. This time, absolutely nothing. The guy doesn't know what to do. Probably Zidane said he's not interested in the job and he's now waiting for any manager to get sacked to appoint him, just like what he did when he panic appointed Mourinho after he was sacked from Chelsea. I said previously it would be funny to know what Ed would have done if Mourinho wasn't sacked by Chelsea when LVG was passing through his crisis.

I firmly believe Zidane would have been here weeks ago if he'd been up for it.

Woodward is a fecking disaster.

I can't believe we have so many fans worldwide who aren't willing to do anything about him.

 

[BrianMcClair'sBarnet]

I firmly believe Zidane would have been here weeks ago if he'd been up for it.

Woodward is a fecking disaster.

I can't believe we have so many fans worldwide who aren't willing to do anything about him.

Well,if we're talking about Woodward,he gets dog-abuse at home and away games when things aren't going well and only recently there was a plane-banner with the words 'Ed Woodward.A Specialist In Failure' which was flown over Old Trafford.
What exactly do you want done to him ?

 

[MackRobinson]

Yes, I've read numerous articles about it. I understand what you're saying but you're missing the point. The money that went to pay interest and into the Glazers' pockets did not get spent on the club as it rightfully should have. Money that should have been spent improving the infrastructure, the academy, and the first-team squad was squandered. Sure the club will be worth more, eventually, but it would have been anyway, given the way football has gone since 2005. We should be competing with the likes of Real, Barca, Bayern, and Juventus, but instead, we've been subjected to penny-pinching by carpetbaggers who should have been shown the door when they first showed up.

This assumes either a) the previous owners or b) other interested owners would have invested more than the Glazers in infrastructure, the academy, and the first-team. I don't think there is enough information to draw that conclusion. The Glazers managed the debt and commercial side of the club well. I don't think that's a stick you can beat them over with anymore.

Finally, the teams you mention play in 1-2 team leagues. They can afford mistakes since they are virtually guaranteed a place in the Champions League group stages. The top teams in England don't have that luxury.