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

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I don’t understand Woody on this one at all...

Hire someone like Campos give him a budget to work with and profit.

Less work for him and more recognition by the fans. And it’s not like the Glazers are going to fire him. He’s their adopted CEO after all.
 
Madness to think we are still operating without a DoF considering Woodward is so inept at his job.

A good DoF would have planned for the long-term once SAF left. We just don't have any long term strategy. Good clubs will have numerous options for different positions. I can imagine City having 5 14-17's year old CM's on their radar that they are working out who is the best to bring 1/2 of them in, they will then have another 5 from 18-22 who are playing first team football around Europe and are ready for the next step up, and then short team options if someone needed replacing for 6-12 months.
 
Guys, don't get your hopes up about a director of football coming to United anytime soon.
 
Xaviesta said:
Guys, don't get your hopes up about a director of football coming to United anytime soon.
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Indeed. This has reportedly been on the agenda for a long time, without any progress being made. Judging by Woodward's investor call last month, I'd say that any plans that did exist have been shelved indefinitely.

Not going to happen.
 
Caesar2290 said:
I don’t understand Woody on this one at all...

Hire someone like Campos give him a budget to work with and profit.

Less work for him and more recognition by the fans. And it’s not like the Glazers are going to fire him. He’s their adopted CEO after all.
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The more I think of it the more baffling this becomes for me too. The Glazers are in it for the money and here you have a man who has made hundreds of millions for a couple French clubs coming out with an obvious and loud 'come and get me' plea and they indulge Woodward or Ole in resisting. Shocking mismanagement.
 
Beyond Woody's own ego, I just struggle to understand why we're not getting this sorted. From a money point of view it makes so much sense to get someone in, sort the place out, and then no doubt see profits come in.
 
It makes too much sense for this board. The whole world (not literally) can see that we need this kind of person within our ranks, bar the board. Why? What is there reason?
 
Judas said:
Beyond Woody's own ego, I just struggle to understand why we're not getting this sorted. From a money point of view it makes so much sense to get someone in, sort the place out, and then no doubt see profits come in.
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Looking at it entirely objectively, some reasons:

  • Despite what people might think, hiring a DOF is no certainty in terms of future success. We don't trust the board to hire the right manager, why the hell would we trust them to hire the right DOF?

  • The commitment is not to just one position. You hire a DOF and it changes the entire structure of the footballing operation. Lets say that things have not gone very well, he is already on his second manager and he wants to replace him too. Do you continue to trust your DOF and let him replace the manager, coaches and any other staff he thinks are the problem or do you replace the DOF? It's essentially shifting the responsibility and blame onto a different position. If you replace the DOF, do you embed the same trust and responsibility in the new man and let him replace any staff he sees unfit?

  • You have to trust your DOF, otherwise there is no point in hiring him. What if your DOF doesn't trust the structure or personnel in your scouting setup? Are you prepare to let him terminate the contract of 10+ scouts and replace them with 10 more? Same goes for the coaching setup and that's before you even get to the squad.

  • Does a DOF have to conform to the club's principles and methods or are you bringing in a DOF for contemporary ideas to bring the club up to speed in the modern game? What if we've been attempting to get a DOF in but each candidate has balked at the conditions set on the advice of SAF and SBC?
 
Maybe Ed just doesn't think a Director of Football is in the spirit of the "United Way".
 
LawCharltonBest said:
They know we need one. They aren’t stupid.

They just don’t want to spend money and submit power on something that only helps our footballing side and not our corporate side
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That would be idiotic and certainly something you can't put beyond them. However the correlation between football success and commercial success is strong and this post helps the club achieve success efficiently as compared to Mourinho demanding £40m for a 29 year old Matic who is now done just two years on.

A great DOF will benefit the Glazers more than the current situation where the club is being played on the market paying outrageous fees for average players or those over the hill. Consequently the fan base is now looking at them more than they would if the team was relatively successful. I think the fans will revolt soon and I doubt whether the sponsors will find it amusing to be associated with a brand at war with its fans.
 
red thru&thru said:
It makes too much sense for this board. The whole world (not literally) can see that we need this kind of person within our ranks, bar the board. Why? What is there reason?
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Most of the board are Glazers. American sports don't live in the same cut-throat, competitive, world, as the rest of the world. For example: in basketball, baseball, and gridiron they have leagues without proper relegation and promotion. They bring in new players from universities. etc. Sometimes with a draft system where the weakest team get first pick!
I don't think it's malice by Glazers. Probably more like disinterest, or ignorance. Or perhaps a fear of losing control over things they believe they should be in control of. From their point of view - it's their money at risk.
 
Fluctuation0161 said:
The lack of investment started over 6 years ago from the owners. Look at our net spend since they came in.

The club spent alot of money poorly in the years following 2013 but transfer fees are much higher now, they lurch between managers who require totally different styles of players and they are still paying off those transfers in installments. This has led to the low levels of net spend the last 2 Summer's. £65M per Summer.

Minimal investment doesn't guarantee anything. That's the problem. But strategically, in the Glazers eyes, it has the potential to have the highest return on investment.

For the record, finishing 2nd IS finishing in the top 4. Pull yourself together.
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When did I say it wasn't?

Finishing 1st is top 4 too.
 
If enough fans make it clear we want a guy like this here, the club might listen! They and the media both definitely monitor social channels, as evidenced even in a few recent articles which mention ideas from United fans that are blatantly from topic titles here.

I'd love us to bring in a guy like this, someone with experience and some pedigree. Hopefully he'd help us bring in a top coach too. I don't mind the committee idea, but I'd love a guy like this at the head of it.
 
AneRu said:
The more I think of it the more baffling this becomes for me too. The Glazers are in it for the money and here you have a man who has made hundreds of millions for a couple French clubs coming out with an obvious and loud 'come and get me' plea and they indulge Woodward or Ole in resisting. Shocking mismanagement.
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This is the kicker, they dont actually want help. If a DOF was genuinely a concern it would have happened by now
 
I had Campos and Jardim as our metaphorical dream ticket in the early days of the OGS reign as DoF and head coach respectively ... but Jardims stock has fallen a lot but I’d still have Campos in our club.
 
What are the Glazers thinking? Surely they realize the cnut is destroying the club, only a matter of time before the revenue streams dry up. They have to sack the cnut if they want to keep milking the cash cow. We really are one of the worst run club in the league.
 
Eventually we'll hire Berba into this role and the smooth fecker will charm the best players from around the world to OT. Can imagine he'd wine and dine even the most volatile agents into desperation for more face time with him and have Raiola sitting on his lap like Blofeld's cat in no time.
 
Redlips said:
If enough fans make it clear we want a guy like this here, the club might listen! They and the media both definitely monitor social channels, as evidenced even in a few recent articles which mention ideas from United fans that are blatantly from topic titles here.

I'd love us to bring in a guy like this, someone with experience and some pedigree. Hopefully he'd help us bring in a top coach too. I don't mind the committee idea, but I'd love a guy like this at the head of it.
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EXACTLY. Too many fans are of the attitude of, "what can I do?!"
 
Chairman Steve said:
I had Campos and Jardim as our metaphorical dream ticket in the early days of the OGS reign as DoF and head coach respectively ... but Jardims stock has fallen a lot but I’d still have Campos in our club.
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Jardim is a good case of why a good DoF is so important. Poch not been so great after Mitchell left neither
 
ash_86 said:


TWO. One must laugh at this point.
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I do think we need more than one personnel in that department tbf.

I think we need a head of recruitment, who manages the scouts and compiles the final transfer list.

And a sporting director above who manages the head coach, head of recruitment and also the head of the academy to tie the three functions together.
 
Skills said:
I do think we need more than one personnel in that department tbf.

I think we need a head of recruitment, who manages the scouts and compiles the final transfer list.

And a sporting director above who manages the head coach, head of recruitment and also the head of the academy to tie the three functions together.
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Timing of this is what gets me. I mean there were multiple reports that we shelved the DOF/TD search during beginning of the season.
 
For a club our size, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to have more than one sporting director /technical director/DoF/however you want to term them.
 
It would be good to just try one first. We are a big club but no bigger than Real or Barca. We just need not reinvent the wheel. Just go with some evolution rather than revolution.
 
I was listening to a podcast earlier and while I think they were perhaps exaggerating a bit, and while I dont agree with him that Ed is more under threat than we think, they raised the point of, while he makes money, how much has he also cost the club by having to keep paying off the managers he has appointed and the money spent on signings that haven't worked out? I think he also might have said about the huge money contracts we are giving to underperforming players but that may have been the 2nd one I listened to.

Obviously like I say i think the guy doing it was exaggerating a bit and it's probably "small change " compared to what we bring in but imagine if that didn't have to keep happening
 
I like the idea of two. They'd need to be on a similar wavelength but it'd make for a less daunting task therefore better results, an opportunity to discuss, and a better chance of longevity (which is half the point) should one leave.
 
ash_86 said:


TWO. One must laugh at this point.
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So we’re playing shit and it’s an international break, the whole we’re still looking for a TD/DOF gets reported in the press...go figure. Ed really does think we’re cnuts doesn’t he?
 
Judas said:
Beyond Woody's own ego, I just struggle to understand why we're not getting this sorted. From a money point of view it makes so much sense to get someone in, sort the place out, and then no doubt see profits come in.
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I really don’t see what Woodward’s issue is, the transfer policy has been disastrous for years, and the squad you have is simply not fit for purpose.
Hire a good DOF, give him a budget and let him get on with it, ultimately he will report to Woodward, therefore he retains the power he currently has anyway.
 
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