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

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devilish said:
Jeez that's why I find it hard to discuss with you

A- First of all giving long contracts to stars like Rojo and Jones doesn't mean anything apart from us being stupid. Some might even see that as a way to avoid us being forced to buy 1-2 top CBs
B- Clubs go in financial cycles. The same owners who allowed SAF to spend big in a bid to win the treble forced the same man to sell Stam off a few years down the line
C- If a club is on sale (any club not just Man United) then it tend to avoid hiring staff unless its strictly necessary. New owners might have their own vision of running things and wouldn't appreciate having to pay huge fees to get rid of staff they don't rate/don't want.
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Again this is why it's hard to discuss anything with you. Spend money = we are stupid. Try to go for proper candidate = some conspiracy stuff.

It won't cost much to get rid of staff not named "head coach/manager".

If we are going for internal appointment then at least it's a sign of Woodward and co making proper decision than just going for hipster choice. Ironically this is something you accused woodward of and for once club is trying to make right decision to go for sensible candidates who knows the club, you are coming up with conspiracy stuff.

My initial point wasn't even about whether club is up for sale, it's about tightening belt which is just wrong considering the 20 million pay off for Jose, huge contracts to 2 players already.

There are so many good examples of clubs doing well with internal promotions, I don't see why people are coming out with conspiracy theories.
 
roonster09 said:
For some reason Jones is every manager's favorite, so can see why he was given extension (which I disagree with btw). Jones and Rojo earn huge wages, it makes much more sense to buy 1 CB who will earn lot less than combined wages of Jones and Rojo.

It's a big mess though, the squad numbers and quality.
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When you say every managers favourite, he wasn't favoured by LVG and Mourinho had a terrible defensive record for half his spell here.

How much are their respective weekly wages? From one of the sites on Google I can see Rojo at 80k and Jones at 50-70k.

No doubt they'd have got some element of a pay rise but I bet not much given their role is reduced to squad level rather than a first team basis. Both combined they wouldn't command the salary of a top level centre half.
 
VP89 said:
When you say every managers favourite, he wasn't favoured by LVG and Mourinho had a terrible defensive record for half his spell here.

How much are their respective weekly wages? From one of the sites on Google I can see Rojo at 80k and Jones at 50-70k.

No doubt they'd have got some element of a pay rise but I bet not much given their role is reduced to squad level rather than a first team basis. Both combined they wouldn't command the salary of a top level centre half.
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When Jones was fit, he played for Van Gaal and Jose. He was injured a lot but as soon as he was fit, he started game.

I have no idea how much they are earning, there are reports of both earning more than 100K.

Rojo was on more than 120K according to Telegraph. Assuming Jones got at least as much considering how much wages have increased since he last signed contract and how much players like Lingard are earning it's easy to say they both make lot of money combined and we can easily pay less than that for top level center back.
 
Can't We bring David Gill back?

We've tried a lot of managers and in the end We had to go for someone who knows the club. If We appoint someone 'unknown' to Manchester United for the DoF position, I hope it won't end the same as Jose and Van Gaal.

I can't help but to think the DoF needs to understand the club too. We aren't City.
 
tenpoless said:
Can't We bring David Gill back?

We've tried a lot of managers and in the end We had to go for someone who knows the club. If We appoint someone 'unknown' to Manchester United for the DoF position, I hope it won't end the same as Jose and Van Gaal.

I can't help but to think the DoF needs to understand the club too. We aren't City.
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feck, no. Unless you want to go back to the days of "no value in the market"
 
After listening to what Ole said today,I think it’s crystal clear now that we will appoint a DOF this season.Its about time really...
 
The Eddie briefs on this have dried up since Jose's departure. Otherwise there was some news about a DOF after every shoddy performance and bad result. May be this means that an actual appointment is imminent.
 
roonster09 said:
Again this is why it's hard to discuss anything with you. Spend money = we are stupid. Try to go for proper candidate = some conspiracy stuff.

It won't cost much to get rid of staff not named "head coach/manager".

If we are going for internal appointment then at least it's a sign of Woodward and co making proper decision than just going for hipster choice. Ironically this is something you accused woodward of and for once club is trying to make right decision to go for sensible candidates who knows the club, you are coming up with conspiracy stuff.

My initial point wasn't even about whether club is up for sale, it's about tightening belt which is just wrong considering the 20 million pay off for Jose, huge contracts to 2 players already.

There are so many good examples of clubs doing well with internal promotions, I don't see why people are coming out with conspiracy theories.
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First of all clubs go in financial cycles. United had them in numerous occasions even before the Glazers bought the club. For example we broke the bank the season before the treble season (Stam, Blomqvist and Yorke) only to go for the likes of Bosnich, Taibi, Silvestre and Fortune the year after.

Regarding your second comment its ethical for a prospective seller not to tie potential buyers with people they might not want. That might explain why we have allowed so many contracts to run down to the last second, why we went for a low budget manager and why we might be employing from within. Sure some clubs do like to do that. However we're not that sort of club, certainly not with Woody in command. Alternatively it might be the case of the CEO being incompetent. Which isn't so surprising either.

Finally we're discussing the club we all love for god's sake. I have an opinion, you've got an opinion and other might have different opinions. Think of the forum as the digital version of taking a beer among friends at a pub. Just because someone might say something you don't like that doesn't mean he's inventing conspiracy theories against it.
 
roonster09 said:
Jones and Rojo barely plays, so there is no short term gain in signing them. It's just a financial mismanagement by the club, believing in the proven injury prone players.
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There is if the club is using them as an excuse not to buy players or they think they can get a decent fee out of them. United had been traditionally reluctant in getting rid of the deadwood and that was way before the Glazers bought us (although things went worse with them around on that regard).
 
We need a boom bust cycle for this place. Every time, this time of year, the board and Ed are fecking useless, come August everyone's talking about building a statue of Woodward outside Old Trafford.

Why don't people just chill the feck out and see where we are after the summer transfer window? It's easy to criticise right now but lets not forget how turbulent this season has been. The boards biggest priority right now is giving Solskjær the tools he needs to be successful and if he turns around and says, "You know what, I don't need a DOF, I'd rather confer directly with Woodward and involve Fergie in the recruitment instead", then his opinion has be respected and backed.

I hate to break to you all but signing a DOF will not automatically improve the squad or our recruitment over night. We're more likely to end up with a load of shit instead.
 
Suedesi said:
One is a generational talent, the other is a braindead English athlete.
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Under Murtough, Barkley was amongst the best talent in British football. Murtough also did absolutely fantastically well with shaping their structure, especially pertaining to youth.
 
Adnan said:
Under Murtough, Barkley was amongst the best talent in British football. Murtough also did absolutely fantastically well with shaping their structure, especially pertaining to youth.
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Barkley was vastly overrated as most emerging young English players typically are.

Regarding Everton, what exactly are his achievements there? "Shaping their structure" seems kinda vague. What are the actual results of his work?
 
roonster09 said:
For some reason Jones is every manager's favorite, so can see why he was given extension (which I disagree with btw). Jones and Rojo earn huge wages, it makes much more sense to buy 1 CB who will earn lot less than combined wages of Jones and Rojo.

It's a big mess though, the squad numbers and quality.
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Jones is on a 4+1 deal, he'll be 31/32 when it's run his course, he'll never been more expensive than he is now and it maintains some resale value in his "prime" years. Apparently it's 120k a week which given his injury record is probably too expensive, but hopefully someone had the common sense have some of it be playing based.

Rojo was a 3+1 deal, to retain value rather than lose him on a free, at 80k not sure that was a great idea tbh, but I understand the rationale
 
Suedesi said:
Barkley was vastly overrated as most emerging young English players typically are.

Regarding Everton, what exactly are his achievements there? "Shaping their structure" seems kinda vague. What are the actual results of his work?
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Barkley was considered amongst the very best young players when he was coming through at Everton. Most young players are hyped and overrated, not just our players in England. The American Adu is possibly the most hyped and overrated and currently you have Pulisic.The Portuguese had some too, like Postiga, Viana, Quaresma and Fabio Paim.:lol:

Murtough's work was so impressive at Everton that the Premier League offered him a senior role. He was only mid 30's when he revamped the Everton structure and had the young Everton youth teams amongst the best in the country, that to me is impressive. He was then poached by United who were looking for a outstanding candidate to improve and restructure our youth teams and he's done a fantastic job in improving us thus far, and we will improve further.

He's been very impressive in every job he's had thus far, he's excelled infact. It's no surprise he's considered for the role due to his excellent work.
 

"...MEN understands United have renamed the inaugural club role as technical director and believe they are 'much, much closer' to making an appointment...
New full-time manager Solskjaer revealed he would have an input into United's process to identify a technical director but indicated executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward would make the final decision. Head of scouting Marcel Bout and head of development John Murtough have been touted as possible candidates...'
 

"...Atletico Madrid’s Andrea Berta and Fabio Paratici from Juventus were leading candidates – but it now seems increasingly likely United will appoint a name more in tune with the club’s traditions. That could be an internal option like the current head of football development John Murtough or academy director Nicky Butt.
Mike Phelan, who is still to finalise his new role after his pivotal contribution to the revival under Solskjaer, also has the qualities to fulfil the job.
..."
 
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United_We_Stand said:

"...MEN understands United have renamed the inaugural club role as technical director and believe they are 'much, much closer' to making an appointment...
New full-time manager Solskjaer revealed he would have an input into United's process to identify a technical director but indicated executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward would make the final decision. Head of scouting Marcel Bout and head of development John Murtough have been touted as possible candidates...'
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Molde have expressed a interest in having a strategic partnership with us. Would be brilliant to send some youngsters to play first team football at a much better level than the current u23 format.

That's very interesting indeed, and I can see that coming to fruition. Ole possibly had a huge hand in it of course..
 
Yes. Why on earth would you want to hire someone who has done the job before for a high-level position that's never existed at the organization and for which we have no internal candidates with direct experience.
 
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Nicky Butt, Marcel Bout or John Murtough?

Looks like the three candidates..
 
Adnan said:
Nicky Butt, Marcel Bout or John Murtough?

Looks like the three candidates..
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I wondered if it would be possible/make sense to have McKenna heading the academy and Butt becoming a technical director.
 
I don't see why it has to be a big name. Monchi is the biggest name around and he didn't work out at Roma did he?

This job isn't just about working with Ole to find our new right back. Its about making sure the under 14's are being coached in the right manner and that the new Carrington canteen extension suits our needs. Fergie handled all that stuff because he is a footballing god, but no modern United manager has the time to micro manage those factors anymore.

I often think that this sort of role would have been ideal for Gary Neville. And suspect that Van Der Saar would be very good at it, or atleast the non-first team aspects
 
JPRouve said:
I wondered if it would be possible/make sense to have McKenna heading the academy and Butt becoming a technical director.
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It would make alot of sense actually, but not sure Ole will want to let McKenna go from his back room staff..
 
Adnan said:
Nicky Butt, Marcel Bout or John Murtough?

Looks like the three candidates..
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I reckon they all know a lot more about football than Ed Woodward, so that's got to be a positive.

Hopefully whoever is put in charge is given the authority to completely restructure our player recruitment processes, and is also afforded some measure of autonomy from the corporate board.
 
It seems like the club has convinced itself that it's this utopia that only ex players or people already in the club 'get' rather than tackle the pertinent question of how other top level elite clubs can change managers and maintain success

I don't want to be negative but it feels to me like they still don't actually have a clue what theyre going to do next but given a proven winner like Mourinho didn't work for us the next thing to 'try' is someone like Ole and whoever they have lined up for this DOF position
 
Adnan said:
Barkley was considered amongst the very best young players when he was coming through at Everton. Most young players are hyped and overrated, not just our players in England. The American Adu is possibly the most hyped and overrated and currently you have Pulisic.The Portuguese had some too, like Postiga, Viana, Quaresma and Fabio Paim.:lol:

Murtough's work was so impressive at Everton that the Premier League offered him a senior role. He was only mid 30's when he revamped the Everton structure and had the young Everton youth teams amongst the best in the country, that to me is impressive. He was then poached by United who were looking for a outstanding candidate to improve and restructure our youth teams and he's done a fantastic job in improving us thus far, and we will improve further.

He's been very impressive in every job he's had thus far, he's excelled infact. It's no surprise he's considered for the role due to his excellent work.
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Fair enough mate, thanks for the color.
 
Adnan said:
It would make alot of sense actually, but not sure Ole will want to let McKenna go from his back room staff..
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Send Phil Neville to work with Ole and tell him answer to the name ‘McKenna’. No one will know the difference.
 
United_We_Stand said:

"...MEN understands United have renamed the inaugural club role as technical director and believe they are 'much, much closer' to making an appointment...
New full-time manager Solskjaer revealed he would have an input into United's process to identify a technical director but indicated executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward would make the final decision. Head of scouting Marcel Bout and head of development John Murtough have been touted as possible candidates...'
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Why would the head coach have any input into hiring his own boss? Only this club would run in such a completely stupid manner.
 
Cloud7 said:
The difference between the two of them. McKenna and Phil Neville look quite alike. Guess my joke didn’t go over too well with you :lol:
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McKenna is a far superior coach to Neville IMO. The way he had our u18s playing was an absolute joy to see. He also did a good job at Spurs before he joined us.

Your joke didn't register due to there being a big difference in Neville and McKenna's coaching abilities IMO.
 
charlenefan said:
It seems like the club has convinced itself that it's this utopia that only ex players or people already in the club 'get' rather than tackle the pertinent question of how other top level elite clubs can change managers and maintain success

I don't want to be negative but it feels to me like they still don't actually have a clue what theyre going to do next but given a proven winner like Mourinho didn't work for us the next thing to 'try' is someone like Ole and whoever they have lined up for this DOF position
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I can understand where you are coming from, because it feels like we are never truly moving on from a bygone era, in some respects its amazing seeing all this happen and having the likes of Ole at the helm is a great feeling. People will argue well we tried going away from 'United traditions' with the likes of Mourinho and it certainly never worked out, and this is true, but I feel like there is still a way for us to stick with 'United traditions' without having to make sure every appointment in the club is an ex player or "gets" the club.

Still, i'm interested to see where this goes, if the role of Technical Director is as described as above, the candidates seemed to have already been named, but it will be interesting to see if the likes of Peter Schmeichel or Eric Cantona throw their hat in the ring, I know Pete was interested wasn't he.
 
Skills said:
Why would the head coach have any input into hiring his own boss? Only this club would run in such a completely stupid manner.
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Because it would be beneficial for our head coach and technical director to be on the same wave length.
 
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