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

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Sports Witness have a story linking us to the Lille DOF, Luis Campos if someone can post a link. Not able to do so.
 
Judas said:
Yes. We still need one. A DOF isn't about just the here and now, it's about building for the future, setting up a blueprint going forward. Woody is still Woody, I don't know why everyone would suddenly back him just because we've got Ole, that's naive.
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If Ole is here to stay for 5-10 years then why does he need somebody to tell him what players he wants?

Unless it's to do Woodwards job and sign the players while he does commercial deals then fair enough, but i'm not sure that's going to happen.

In theory it only really works if Woodward takes a backward seat, but it seems like he's very hands on which is a good thing.
 
A DOF should still come in. But Ole should also be able to build the team in the image he desires. It doesn't have to be one or the other and the DOF doesn't have to the final say over aspects
 
pcaming said:
That's fair, but there's also the concern of getting in the wrong person. There's no point in bringing in DOF just to say we have one. How many good ones are out there anyway and are willing and able to move? I don't think it's an easy process at all.
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That's fair too. Maybe that's what it is, a lot of time has been spent on this but it just hasnt been possible, despite those efforts. In which case fine, this summer we carry on as before and maybe the DOF is in place in time for Jan and then next summer. I agree that getting right is more important than getting quick. At the same time it is frustrating, as a fan, when nobody has the first idea what is going on.

Either way, this would be more urgent if a) the decision on the manager was more complex, which it isnt, and b) if Ole wasnt at the wheel, which he is (and, in answer to everyone's next question, it feels very good thanks for asking.) I dont know how good Ole will prove to be at signing the right players but at least we are all comfortable with the direction of travel now, if it takes an extra year before the structure we all want is properly in place and functioning, so be it.
 
RussellWilson said:
Sports Witness have a story linking us to the Lille DOF, Luis Campos if someone can post a link. Not able to do so.
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Hopefully this is true. That man can build a good recruitementteam and got the eye for talent.
Also got great knowledge regarding french football, which might be the best place to buy younger players from.
 
Nickosaur said:
I really hope not. I don't think he's as impressive as a lot of people seem to think.
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He's unearthed tons of gems, and working with a big budget for once he can acquire even better targets. If he goes to Arsenal he'll just stay on the same level of low-budget transfers as he's been his entire career. If I was him I'd want a step up.
 
Adam-Utd said:
So.. all the people with Mourinho swore we needed a DOF to start playing good football.

Now he's gone and Ole is in charge, do we really need a DOF again? If Ole targets people like De Ligt / Sancho, do we really need a glorified scout to tell us that?

I'm honestly not sure we need one, but if Ole is a short term option then maybe.
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What if Ole does a bad job next season and has us in 8th place in March? He’ll be sacked. Then the process begins again of finding a new manager who may have completely different strategy. This new manager might not have the same approach in mind as the previous one, requiring further firing and hiring of players that met the previous manager’s requirement but not the current one’s.

It’s been said countless times before in this thread; A DOF in in place to encourage continuity, ensuring that there’s a philosophy in place for the club so we recruit the manager who has the same vision as the DOF has for the future of the club.
 
If Evra had the experience, I would almost unequivocally give it to him. The guy just gets United and would work well with Ole. There are players that are stars and then there are players who are simply United players. We need to target the latter since the two may not almost coincide with each other.
 
I doubt they would announce anything before the summer. Would cause too many further questions on Oles position.

So either way we will find out when the season ends if this was serious or not
 
Forget your Campos’ and Monchis.

Give Paul Mitchell a promotion and bring him back home. Paul Mitchell as DOF, Ole as head coach and obviously Phelan, Carrick, McKenna, Dempsey and Emilio as the main staff. Filled with people who are local, understand the club and have the quality to boot.
 
beingshe7don said:
If Evra had the experience, I would almost unequivocally give it to him. The guy just gets United and would work well with Ole. There are players that are stars and then there are players who are simply United players. We need to target the latter since the two may not almost coincide with each other.
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That makes him a good ambassador, but definitely not a DoF.
 
What does a DoF bring to the table that a manager, head scout or CEO can't do?
Is it just a case of delegating duties?
If Ed is picking the DoF, won't he just be an Ed clone?
Would it make more sense for Ole to pick the DoF?
Where do I send my CV to get this job?
 
Forget the star names. Man Utd have an idenriid. The DOF doesn't have to be a former player but someone that exudes those values.
It think the parameters are the same for the managerial appointment.
 
Few things are as tedious as the belief that a Director of Football will solve everything.

We’re seeing now what many of us predicted. When we bring in a coaching team that promotes attacking football, understands what the club should be about and actually coaches patterns of play over time, we will win lots of football matches. If Ole continues to be that man then we will continue to win matches, without or without some fancy Dan from Italy.

That isn’t to say that employing a member of staff to focus on player recruitment and negotiations is a bad idea. I don’t. But I’m not having someone come in to try and tell Ole Gunnar Solskjaer what a Manchester United football should look like.
 
unitedbhoy said:
What if Ole does a bad job next season and has us in 8th place in March? He’ll be sacked. Then the process begins again of finding a new manager who may have completely different strategy. This new manager might not have the same approach in mind as the previous one, requiring further firing and hiring of players that met the previous manager’s requirement but not the current one’s.

It’s been said countless times before in this thread; A DOF in in place to encourage continuity, ensuring that there’s a philosophy in place for the club so we recruit the manager who has the same vision as the DOF has for the future of the club.
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While that’s true, I have faith with ole and the rest of the staff that won’t fall apart. There’s no way he will lose the dressing room unless he has some sort of major break down and changes personality.
 
Kag said:
Few things are as tedious as the belief that a Director of Football will solve everything.

We’re seeing now what many of us predicted. When we bring in a coaching team that promotes attacking football, understands what the club should be about and actually coaches patterns of play over time, we will win lots of football matches. If Ole continues to be that man then we will continue to win matches, without or without some fancy Dan from Italy.

That isn’t to say that employing a member of staff to focus on player recruitment and negotiations is a bad idea. I don’t. But I’m not having someone come in to try and tell Ole Gunnar Solskjaer what a Manchester United football should look like.
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Well, the DoF's responsibility isn't mainly to ensure short or long term sporting results. It is more structural than that, and as I have understood this role, it is for ensuring that the club moves within set values in terms of player transfers and the overall sporting direction of the club, like through decisions in the academy and other aspects of club development.
 
pcaming said:
That's fair, but there's also the concern of getting in the wrong person. There's no point in bringing in DOF just to say we have one. How many good ones are out there anyway and are willing and able to move? I don't think it's an easy process at all.
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That's the type of agreeable nonsense logic that politicians say to sidestep an issue. Of course we're not going to "bring in a DOF just to say we have one" that just isn't an argument as to why we've failed to do so.

I'm hopeful we've sorted it out in the background because if not this summer will be another feck up.
 
cathari said:
Well, the DoF's responsibility isn't mainly to ensure short or long term sporting results. It is more structural than that, and as I have understood this role, it is for ensuring that the club moves within set values in terms of player transfers and the overall sporting direction of the club, like through decisions in the academy and other aspects of club development.
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Some people seem to think it is, though. Personally, I think with Ole, Phelan, Carrick and Butt at the club we have lots of personnel who can make accurate decisions about the sporting direction of the club already. At least in terms of what we see in regards to play style and attacking football. Any incoming bloke must complement these people, not rip it all up.
 
Adisa said:
Forget the star names. Man Utd have an idenriid. The DOF doesn't have to be a former player but someone that exudes those values.
It think the parameters are the same for the managerial appointment.
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Agreed. I would like to see someone like VDS come in. Just some random continental guy who signed some great bargains while being DOF for some club in Spain or France isn't interesting. We need someone that understand United and will make sure that the "United way" is preserved from top to bottom, irrespectible of who the manager is.
 
Adam-Utd said:
So.. all the people with Mourinho swore we needed a DOF to start playing good football.

Now he's gone and Ole is in charge, do we really need a DOF again? If Ole targets people like De Ligt / Sancho, do we really need a glorified scout to tell us that?

I'm honestly not sure we need one, but if Ole is a short term option then maybe.
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I think we need one. Ole is just one man and we shouldn't be overly reliant on him. The main need of the DOF, for us, in my opinion, is to set out a clear direction in terms of the style of football we want to play, and the types of players we want to acquire or mould in the academy, and then to keep that continuity going between managerial appointments. Instead of the stop-start, slash-and-burn approach of the last 6/7 years that costs us a bomb in the transfer market.

If we could go back and appoint a DOF 5 years before SAF retired, even though we didn't need one back then, I think we'd be in a much better position now if we had. Putting all the emphasis on Ole to do it all is just repeating the same mistakes of the past. Previously we got lucky because SAF could do everything, and maybe/hopefully Ole can too, but why take the risk?
 
Tarrou said:
If we could go back and appoint a DOF 5 years before SAF retired, even though we didn't need one back then, I think we'd be in a much better position now if we had. Putting all the emphasis on Ole to do it all is just repeating the same mistakes of the past. Previously we got lucky because SAF could do everything, and maybe/hopefully Ole can too, but why take the risk?
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Exactly this.
 
Kag said:
Few things are as tedious as the belief that a Director of Football will solve everything.

We’re seeing now what many of us predicted. When we bring in a coaching team that promotes attacking football, understands what the club should be about and actually coaches patterns of play over time, we will win lots of football matches. If Ole continues to be that man then we will continue to win matches, without or without some fancy Dan from Italy.

That isn’t to say that employing a member of staff to focus on player recruitment and negotiations is a bad idea. I don’t. But I’m not having someone come in to try and tell Ole Gunnar Solskjaer what a Manchester United football should look like.
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It wouldn't solve everything but it does mitigate quite a bit of risk. I think someone like Van Der Sar could come in as dof and do a fantastic job.
 
Most important thing now is that we bring someone to fit with Ole and not upset what we have going on in any way, only enhance it.

Last thing we want is someone with completely different ideas about the club and it’s direction.
 
Woodzy said:
Most important thing now is that we bring someone to fit with Ole and not upset what we have going on in any way, only enhance it.

Last thing we want is someone with completely different ideas about the club and it’s direction.
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Would probably be a perfect timing to bring in someone in some sort of capacity if thats the plan;

1) Oles position at the club is very, very strong. A sporting director/head of recruitment/technical director is unlikely to challenge him. We will probably not see a power struggle between coach and this new position.

2) Ole is not a coach that is difficult to work with. He do not have the ego some of our former managers have had. He is pragmatic and I’m sure he appreciate working with specialists. A bit like Klopp when he talked about Zorc and Edwards.

Still feel Mislintat is the most likely option.
 
You need someone who understands the past the present and the future. Someone not looking to use it as a springboard. Someone who listens. Someone who is strong.

Honestly don't think we need one at all.

Ole's at the wheel
 
Unfortunately I don’t see Luis Campos coming. He tends to like to have a small team of 5/6 super scouts that he works closely with. We have lots of scouts reporting into Marcel Bouts. Structurally it is too different and we’d have to sack like 20 scouts and maybe even Bouts to make it work.

We probably will go for someone who is more of an overseer, strategy type with lots of contacts to sit between Bouts and Woodward and parallel with Matt Judge who helps with negotiations.
 
SparkedIntoLife said:
Unfortunately I don’t see Luis Campos coming. He tends to like to have a small team of 5/6 super scouts that he works closely with. We have lots of scouts reporting into Marcel Bouts. Structurally it is too different and we’d have to sack like 20 scouts and maybe even Bouts to make it work.

We probably will go for someone who is more of an overseer, strategy type with lots of contacts to sit between Bouts and Woodward and parallel with Matt Judge who helps with negotiations.
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The logical thing to do is, give Marcel Bout the job. Bout is also under consideration for the job from what i've read and has the potential to be good at the job.
 
NYAS said:
Forget your Campos’ and Monchis.

Give Paul Mitchell a promotion and bring him back home. Paul Mitchell as DOF, Ole as head coach and obviously Phelan, Carrick, McKenna, Dempsey and Emilio as the main staff. Filled with people who are local, understand the club and have the quality to boot.
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I am all for it.
 
ROFLUTION said:
And sign Van der Sar, ffs.

Has a background as director, understands youth, understands United, has lived and played in different countries and also been at small clubs. Also calm and collected, we'll respected.

Simply ticks ALL the boxes.
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Yes, VDS tick all the boxes. Only unknown or concern is his negotiation capability, as he needs to handle agent/clubs in future.
 
cyril C said:
Yes, VDS tick all the boxes. Only unknown or concern is his negotiation capability, as he needs to handle agent/clubs in future.
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He is Ajax's CEO (more or less the equivalent of Woody here, though Woody is technically only vice-executive director), not a DoF. And before that he was Ajax's marketing director (same as Woody here).
 
Adebesi said:
It isnt about moving things along at a speed that satisfies fans or caftards, its about having someone in place in time to do his job this summer. How can someone come in now, fresh to the job, and have time to oversee our transfer business for July / August? Its already too late for him to have any role whatsoever in the appointment of Ole, but that's OK because that's turned out to be a rather easy decision to make. But player transfer targets? Those take months to sort out, and that is from the moment you decide what you want to do, unless the incoming DOF already knows he has the job, nobody has even started thinking about this yet, so that is more time on top.

Basically, it seems to me that we have already left it too late for a DOF to have any significant influence over the upcoming window. So yes, if we get one that will be great for summer 2020, but that's a long way away to be getting excited now.
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Why do you think it is too late already? For argument sake if we should hire Poch, who can ONLY come onboard after June, would it be too late for next season? No, right. So why is it too late for DOF to come onboard in April or May to oversee transfer business for July / Aug? DOF doesn't have long term contract, he should just be an office job with a month notice, 3 months at most, and we can easily pay it off.

As for players acquisition, do you believe clubs will make such decision as early as March? This is only the agents / newspaper talking, most clubs don't make decision (on positions to fill, let alone which player to pursue) until May. This is certainly not too late to hire now. Beside, you are not talking about graduate trainee, you are talking about someone already in the business, so he can hit the road almost immediately.
 
Adnan said:
The logical thing to do is, give Marcel Bout the job. Bout is also under consideration for the job from what i've read and has the potential to be good at the job.
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I guess he is well positioned for a bump, but one of Van Gaal's disciples, well, it doesn't sit all that well with me. Guess it doesn't really matter, but I'd rather it be someone younger or someone with United pedigree, and ideally both. VdS rings out, but also Butt, Giggsy or even Steve Bruce would be more interesting appointments to me, but rationally speaking, only VdS is the likely candidate of those.

Does anyone have more information on Bout, other than his past experience?
 
cathari said:
I guess he is well positioned for a bump, but one of Van Gaal's disciples, well, it doesn't sit all that well with me. Guess it doesn't really matter, but I'd rather it be someone younger or someone with United pedigree, and ideally both. VdS rings out, but also Butt, Giggsy or even Steve Bruce would be more interesting appointments to me, but rationally speaking, only VdS is the likely candidate of those.

Does anyone have more information on Bout, other than his past experience?
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Vds is also one of LVG's disciples and he has no experience of being a scout or DoF. Marc Overmars is the DoF at Ajax.
 
I don’t really understand what qualifies someone to be a DOF...

There seems to be very little graduation between manager to DOF which I find quite intriguing. Granted it’s a different job entirely but surely one with transferable skills, and both requiring elite level knowledge of the game.

What makes Van Der Sar, to take one example, suitable as a DOF but not a manager? What makes Ole suitable as a manager but not a DOF? Why is Guardiola a coach and Begiristain a DOF and not vice versa? You’d expect them both to have similar skill sets and passion for either role.

Why does Schmeichel think he’s qualified to be a DOF when he’s never worked as a director in a club before?

(Okay I probably know the answer to the last one... he’s a fecking goon)
 
ravi2 said:
It wouldn't solve everything but it does mitigate quite a bit of risk. I think someone like Van Der Sar could come in as dof and do a fantastic job.
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Initially, I thinks it’s a more of a risk. If the bloke is a plonker then we’re in a bit of bother. Van Der Sar is the sort of figure I can get on board with, though. He understands what an attacking footballer for Manchester United should look like.
 
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