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

[Lash]

hahha, so if we do finally get a DoF, the majority in this place are still gonna go bananas because it's not the "right" DoF?

Beggers can't be choosers peeps.

I think people have a right to be skeptical, due to the way he departed PSG, that being said, his work at Porto allows him to still hold some sort of credibility though. The rational reaction is somewhere in the middle of blindly accepting and outrage, not sure where though.

 

[Hoof the ball]

Not sure if posted before but some disturbing shit in here:

There's no way this is true. Sorry, but I refuse to believe it. With all the crap that this club is in right now, surely they'd never go ahead and appoint this guy of all guys. It would be the dot on the exclamation point.

 

[MiracleInMadrid]

My main concern, besides if we actually will see a sporting director with the right amount autonomy, is, that I fear that Ed and his team will still be in charge of negotiations when new players are broad in. A lot of the criticism during this whole Bruno saga is not that we are after him, but that we drag it out for so long. If rumours are to be believed, we have taken almost a month of negotiating without us seeming much closer to a deal.

If we hire a sporting director, wouldn't it still be people above him who does the negotiating and wouldn't we face the same approach that doesn't seem to have worked for years? The only thing I can see working against this, is that a sporting director may have a list of options, instead of putting all of our eggs in one basket, which would allow us to move on and not be held up by tough and rigid negotiations.

 

[Colin Clarke]

Must be Woodward getting tired of the stick he's getting, going to employ a DOF then veto any off his transfers behind the scenes and then the DOF gets the blame. What guy in his right mind would come to United at this moment in time? I really think we are financially broke!!! We have so much debt and the Glazers all want their cut there very little left after wages. That's what it is begining to look like. Club, no the board are a joke and not a very funny one either

 

[red thru&thru]

We're going after the wrong Portugeeza!

 

[JPRouve]

Porto fans probably think differently. It's an awkward one.

I know Antero very well from his work in Porto. He's in the same mould as Woodward. Businessmen rather than football directors. He gets the transfers done, even if it means going through less licit ways but he gets them done, no question about it. In that regard he's a big upgrade on Woodward/Judge or whoever is dealing with the transfers.

He won't bring a recruitment plan or anything similar to that though.

.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

.

Well I did say it was an awkward one. We cannot get transfer done as well as we should, he might do it, but from what some have said he can also p*ss people off.

 

[JPRouve]

Well I did say it was an awkward one. We cannot get transfer done as well as we should, he might do it, but from what some have said he can also p*ss people off.

It's not just that he can piss people off, at PSG he was useless because he didn't focus on some very basic things like the center midfield, players extension and something that slipped my mind, the Lo Celso nonsense where he loans a player in a position of need with a ridiculously low buy option but never replace that player.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

It's not just that can piss people off, at PSG he was useless because he didn't focus on some very basic things like the center midfield, players extension and something that I slipped my mind, the Lo Celso nonsense where he loans a player in a position of need with a ridiculously low buy option but never replace that player.

Now we know why Woodward is after him then.

 

[JPRouve]

Now we know why Woodward is after him then.

And I forgot something else, he eventually had to bring Paredes for 40m, which is more than what they got for Lo Celso who is a better player, because he decided that he was going to go to war with Rabiot who was until that point a starter and one of the captains despite the contract talks issues. While it's fair to give him all the credit that he deserves for his work at Porto, what he did in his most recent job is alarming.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

And I forgot something else, he eventually had to bring Paredes for 40m, which is more than what they got for Lo Celso who is a better player, because he decided that he was going to go to war with Rabiot who was until that point a starter and one of the captains despite the contract talks issues. While it's fair to give him all the credit that he deserves for his work at Porto, what he did in his most recent job is alarming.

From what was posted I doubt Lucas Moura thinks much of him either.

 

[red thru&thru]

The man we should be after...

Rangnick fumes as Leipzig players met celebrity barber before losing

https://mol.im/a/7939135

 

[roseguy64]

It's not just that he can piss people off, at PSG he was useless because he didn't focus on some very basic things like the center midfield, players extension and something that slipped my mind, the Lo Celso nonsense where he loans a player in a position of need with a ridiculously low buy option but never replace that player.

I would hope if we're bringing him then the rest of the committee structure stays in place. Where the manager and the scouts still have their vetoes. Henrique would just be the guy working with Judge and his team to do the deals.

 

[tjb]

I would hope if we're bringing him then the rest of the committee structure stays in place. Where the manager and the scouts still have their vetoes. Henrique would just be the guy working with Judge and his team to do the deals.

Personally see no problem with this given the mistakes listed there. If we are using him to get things done and have relationships with agents, he can reduce our transfer and wage bills. He would not be in charge of hiring or firing managers. As long as he can help us push through difficult negotiations and keep relationships with agents, he ll be fine

 

[Kag]

Whenever we hire the fabled DOF!!!!! I will be watching with a solid dose of cynicism. It’s already fascinating and funny to see criticism of the current superhero we’re linked with; who knows what he may, or may not, achieve. What we do know is that individuals all over the internet, will be able to assess his contribution from the confines of their bedroom.

 

[Adnan]

Crafton is saying what I've been banging on about for months. Until we have a head coach who is independent from the recruitment team we will keep seeing this mis-mash strategy. Our scouts are also not utilised and I'm glad Crafton pointed that out too. Why we haven't learned from our mistakes I will never know.

 

[Ian Reus]

Crafton is saying what I've been banging on about for months. Until we have a head coach who is independent from the recruitment team we will keep seeing this mis-mash strategy. Our scouts are also not utilised and I'm glad Crafton pointed that out too. Why we haven't learned from our mistakes I will never know.

But surely the fact we are getting him on a 6 month loan with the option to buy is a different direction than the last 7 years?

If it was Mourinho still in charge, he'd probably want to bring in Cavani on a million quid a week with a 4 year contract.

It's a stop gap until the summer so there obviously must be other targets available then.

 

[Adnan]

But surely the fact we are getting him on a 6 month loan with the option to buy is a different direction than the last 7 years?

If it was Mourinho still in charge, he'd probably want to bring in Cavani on a million quid a week with a 4 year contract.

It's a stop gap until the summer so there obviously must be other targets available then.

The point was letting the manager pilot the direction of recruitment has been our downfall and seen us waste vast sums of money post SAF. Signing Ighalo on loan isn't a big issue but the problem is why was there no plan after Haland rejected us? We've gone into panic mode on the last day of the window and people can disagree all they like, but the issue is giving far too much control to the manager which is a big problem imo.

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

It's nothing to do with not using the scouts, it's about getting an easy quick loan deal done in a tricky January window in which neither Chelsea nor Spurs have had any luck.

But hey, let's use it as another stick to beat United with, in any other World replacing 2 rather unwanted fullbacks where you're well stocked with a CAM and CF where you have almost zero numbers is brilliant work in January.

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

Ighalo on loan isn't a big issue but the problem is why was there no plan after Haland rejected us?

How do you know there was no plan @Adnan? Chelsea and Spurs have tried and failed all window, did they have no plan?

I'm sure United had targets 1, 2 and 3 after Haaland (why on Earth do you think they don't?) but how many will want or be allowed to leave mid season? And if they were allowed to leave, my God, how expensive would they then be? Bournemouth wanted 27m for King for fecks sake.

 

[Grande]

Crafton is saying what I've been banging on about for months. Until we have a head coach who is independent from the recruitment team we will keep seeing this mis-mash strategy. Our scouts are also not utilised and I'm glad Crafton pointed that out too. Why we haven't learned from our mistakes I will never know.

You and he could have a point, but it could also be viewed differently: we have bought under Solskjær four players: Wan-Bissaka, Maguire, James and Bruno (he's juat a first name kinda guy); all of which could be seen to fit more or less the playing profile talked about by Solskjær, but none of them.with much of a Solskjær-sramp on. To the contrary, they have the mark of longer term scouting networks. Haaland we were interested in, and I would say the majority were disappointed he didn't come, hoped Solskjær would be able to sway him, and we actually didn't go far enough to get him.

These last minute loan deals/opportunistic swoops for a back up striker however, look like Solskjær suggestions. And they are short term investments aimed at giving us more of a shot at the CL stakes when clearly, the club couldn't secure any scouted targets.

From this angle, it looks like they're doing things the way they've said they would be doing them for a while now, and didn't in the past.

 

[charlenefan]

Crafton is saying what I've been banging on about for months. Until we have a head coach who is independent from the recruitment team we will keep seeing this mis-mash strategy. Our scouts are also not utilised and I'm glad Crafton pointed that out too. Why we haven't learned from our mistakes I will never know.

The head coach should never be independent from the recruitment team and it's mental to suggest they should

 

[Andersons Dietician]

The point was letting the manager pilot the direction of recruitment has been our downfall and seen us waste vast sums of money post SAF. Signing Ighalo on loan isn't a big issue but the problem is why was there no plan after Haland rejected us? We've gone into panic mode on the last day of the window and people can disagree all they like, but the issue is giving far too much control to the manager which is a big problem imo.

My guess is the plan is Dembele and was probably Dembélé before Haaland started ripping up the champions league. I would imagine Haaland was a reaction signing as in we need to do it now.

Didn't work out so probably back looking at Dembele and this is the stop gap we need until the summer when maybe we’ll have a shot at him.

Some of the other thing written have been that Ole and Phelan are very involved with the scouts with Marcel Bout as head scout, Jim Lawlor Analyst some other guy and then Ed making up the decisions on transfers. Ed is not some all ruling voice there. Neither is Ole.

Signings like James are surely Scout department and Fred was apparently Scouts and McKenna That pushed for him.

We might be moving at a glacial speed but seems like there for once might actually be a plan already in place and finding someone to help back that up that can work within that group.

 

[Bastian]

How do you know there was no plan @Adnan? Chelsea and Spurs have tried and failed all window, did they have no plan?

I'm sure United had targets 1, 2 and 3 after Haaland (why on Earth do you think they don't?) but how many will want or be allowed to leave mid season? And if they were allowed to leave, my God, how expensive would they then be? Bournemouth wanted 27m for King for fecks sake.

Them being underprepared doesn't make us look any better. We've been underprepared for 7 years now. If we were run in a professional way, this "long-term" approach bandied about, could actually be authentic.

 

[Adnan]

It's nothing to do with not using the scouts, it's about getting an easy quick loan deal done in a tricky January window in which neither Chelsea nor Spurs have had any luck.

But hey, let's use it as another stick to beat United with, in any other World replacing 2 rather unwanted fullbacks where you're well stocked with a CAM and CF where you have almost zero numbers is brilliant work in January.

I'm not sure why people use other clubs to cover our deficiencies regarding recruitment. I don't care what Chelsea and spurs are doing. We need to focus on ourselves and not make ourselves feel better by pointing at two other clubs who are also struggling in that regard in the current window.

The scouts are not being utilised because the manager in this case has far too much power in our recruitment and has his own independent scout(s)

The scouts are best utilised under a Sporting Director who becomes the point of contact between the CEO, head-coach and scouting department. The sporting Director is key to getting the best out of a scouting network because he works closely with them.

How do I know there wasn't a plan? I know because of how we panicked on the last day of the window with a rejected bid for Josh King and eventually settling on the underwhelming Ighalo. If there was a plan, we would've signed someone capable alot sooner by making decisions as soon as Haaland rejected us. We knew we needed a striker when Lukaku departed and putting all our eggs into the Haaland basket is what we did.

Was it Gary Neville who said the worst run clubs are the ones that are scrambling to sign players on the last day of the window?

 

[passing-wind]

Crafton is saying what I've been banging on about for months. Until we have a head coach who is independent from the recruitment team we will keep seeing this mis-mash strategy. Our scouts are also not utilised and I'm glad Crafton pointed that out too. Why we haven't learned from our mistakes I will never know.

Yes 100 percent the truth Solskjaer was always apart of the problem the moment he was content to work without a DOF.

 

[Adnan]

The head coach should never be independent from the recruitment team and it's mental to suggest they should

Try telling that to Barca, Madrid, Bayern etc.

 

[charlenefan]

Try telling that to Barca, Madrid, Bayern etc.

And likewise you try telling Klopp and Guardiola they're removed from the recruitment process

You also list really bad examples

 

[Adnan]

And likewise you try telling Klopp and Guardiola they're removed from the recruitment process

You also list really bad examples

Txiki and Edwards run the recruitment at City and Liverpool and have a bigger say than either.

 

[charlenefan]

Txiki and Edwards run the recruitment at City and Liverpool and have a bigger say than either.

A- having a bigger say is different from the manager having no say which is what you were saying before
B- I can almost guarantee that there's not a player brought in to City or Liverpool without the current managers green-lighting them

 

[Adnan]

A- having a bigger say is different from the manager having no say which is what you were saying before
B- I can almost guarantee that there's not a player brought in to City or Liverpool without the current managers green-lighting them

My point was that the managers at United shouldn't have a bigger say and too much control is given to them post SAF which has contributed to our downfall. The ultimate control should be with a Ralf Rangnick type figure.

Klopp wanted Brandt over Salah but was over ruled by the recruitment department according to reports.

 

[charlenefan]

My point was that the managers at United shouldn't have a bigger say and too much control is given to them post SAF which has contributed to our downfall. The ultimate control should be with a Ralf Rangnick type figure.

Klopp wanted Brandt over Salah but was over ruled by the recruitment department according to reports.

What's been our downfall is non football people thinking they know better than the football people

Woodward didn't give LVG the players he wanted and then sacked him
He then didn't give Mourinho the players he wanted and then sacked him
He now has Ole who it remains to be seen whether or not will be backed and survive in the job

 

[Adnan]

What's been our downfall is non football people thinking they know better than the football people

Woodward didn't give LVG the players he wanted and then sacked him
He then didn't give Mourinho the players he wanted and then sacked him
He now has Ole who it remains to be seen whether or not will be backed and survive in the job

Van Gaal was backed and got his wish with blind, Schweinsteiger, Depay, Falcao, Di Maria etc. He also wanted Muller and Hummels who we tried signing but Bayern wouldn't sell. Not sure what else Woodward could've done apart from hiring a DoF.

Mourinho was backed like no other manager and we even broke the world transfer record for him. Woodward was right in not backing him for certain players because for the total spent under him he wasted large sums on underwhelming players. And when the child keeps saying want want want to paraphrase Glaston, Daddy will eventually say NO SON that's enough.

 

[charlenefan]

Van Gaal was backed and got his wish with blind, Schweinsteiger, Depay, Falcao, Di Maria etc. He also wanted Muller and Hummels who we tried signing but Bayern wouldn't sell. Not sure what else Woodward could've done apart from hiring a DoF.

Mourinho was backed like no other manager and we even broke the world transfer record for him. Woodward was right in not backing him for certain players because for the total spent under him he wasted large sums on underwhelming players. And when the child keeps saying want want want to paraphrase Glaston, Daddy will eventually say NO SON that's enough.

Did LVG want Falcao? Did he even want Di Maria? You eluded to report that Klopp wanted Brandt well by the same token there's reports that LVG didn't even want Di Maria

As for Mourinho same question did he want Pogba? The reports are that that was a transfer Woodward was working on for 2 years prior and while yes Mourinho was backed 70% of the way he was never given all the tools - he got a lump of a target man and no one to cross the ball to him

And then when both of the above were sacked they were replaced by managers who wanted completely different types of players hence the churn

Everything comes back to the board and their poor manager recruitment if they'd of got that right then the manager picking which players to buy wouldn't be an issue

 

[Krieger]

What's been our downfall is non football people thinking they know better than the football people

Woodward didn't give LVG the players he wanted and then sacked him
He then didn't give Mourinho the players he wanted and then sacked him
He now has Ole who it remains to be seen whether or not will be backed and survive in the job

We've actually given our managers a lot of players that they wanted. Managers don't always get every single player they ask for, so in some cases the scout department must come up with players to go after. I posted the other day in another thread pointing to many examples where Woodward and the board had backed our managers during the post-SAF period, and backing the mangagers too much in some cases if anything (click on the quote for context, I was replying to another long post):

It's fairly obvious though that Moyes, van Gaal and Mourinho were able to pick certain players, it was not always just about a certain profile. Often they had specific names in mind. And sometimes the players they wanted were simply unattainable.

Moyes specifically asked for Fabregas, Bale, Ronaldo, Fellaini, and Baines, in the end he got Fellaini. The mistake here is that Woodward gave too much power to the manger and there was no sporting director or some form of transfer/recruitment committee in place to find players for the manager. But our club thought it could still give managers the SAF role of doing everything.

Van Gaal specifially asked for Neymar, Robben, Hummels, Vermaelen, Rojo, Blind, Memphis, Valdes, Schweinsteiger Mane, and Romero, and got some of them. An here example of giving too much power to the manager is Rojo. Van Gaal craved a left footed CB. So much so he spent months of trying to integrate an awful Tyler Blackett into the side. According to Andy Mitten the club tried first for Hummels but Dortmund had no interest in selling and Hummels didn't want to move. Then van Gaal asked for Thomas Vermaelen instead. Arsenal only wanted to do business if they got Smalling in return. The club backed of that deal right away. Knowing van Gaal's obsession with left footed CB's I would guess van Gaal would have been fine with swapping them. Then we end up signing Rojo on van Gaal's recommendation. Rojo had caught van Gaal's eye during the world cup.

Mourinho asked for Zlatan, Pogba, Lindelöf, Matic, Lukaku, Perisic, Willian, Maguire and Dalot and got most of them. The club did spend a lot of time to get a deal with Inter to sign Perisic but Inter wanted an obscene amount and wanted Martial on loan in return as well. It's quite understandable that the club backed out of that deal. Again, the mistake is not to have a sporting director in place to find players at a good age who don't cost an arm and a leg. Also it was under Mourinho where the policy of giving the manager too much power with regards transfers seemed shift. In the first two years the club spent a lot of money to give him most of the players he asked for and then he failed to get the best out of them. After all, as he is the coach, it's his job to coach the players during training and manage the team on match days. That's got nothing to do with Woodward or the board. Also, the fact that Fred was probably signed on scouting recommendation and Mourinho's insistence on signing a CB was put aside would point to that. Mourinho really should have been fired after the 17/18 season (although I didn't think so at the time, but hindsight is 20/20) and the club should have moved into a different direction. Woodward made a big mistake in keeping him at the club for the incoming season.

As far as I know van Gaal wanted to keep de Gea at all costs and we did exactly that. De Gea didn't feel the right mindset to play so van Gaal dropped him while the window was still open. These kinds of thing have happened at other clubs, not just ours. It's a bad/tricky situation to be in but it happens.

We bid 30 million pounds for Mane, which was a lot of money back then, especially for someone who had only been in the league for one year. A lot of posters on here even laughed at that amount. But Southampton weren't keen on selling so soon and Mane didn't ask to leave either, so there wasn't much we could do. Again, the mistake is not to have a sporting director in place. A director with a clear vision would have made another attempt a year later and probably managed to sign him. But we give to much power to the manager and Mourinho did not ask for Mane.

Another example of giving to much power to the manager. The club allowed van Gaal to organize that schedule all by himself. He didn't want to play matches during pre-season, only train, so he asked the club to arrange only two proper pre-season matches. But then when Mourinho came in he wanted to play more matches, so asked the board to add another two matches to the schedule, which they did.

We had loads of CBs on our books but had just lost Carrick so I would argue we desperately need a midfielder first. Not much wrong with that.

Again, too much power was given to the manager. Moyes has stated that he didn't want Fellaini to be his first signing at Man Utd so he asked the club not to sign him before anyone else. He wanted a big name like Ronaldo, Fabregas or Bale to be his first signing because they would be better at handling the pressure. The club shouldn't have listened to that and just sign him before his release clause expired (or not sign him all together). Also Moyes thought his mates at Everton would allow him to sign Fellaini and Baines in a two-for-one special so the club wasted a lot of time trying to broker that deal at the behest of Moyes but Everton had no interest in that obviously.

I do agree with this to an extent, but Mata had previously had two great years for Chelsea so it was difficult to say no that. Moyes just wasn't cut out for the job and had no idea how the get the best out of everyone.

Van Gaal always spoke about needing speedy creative players such as Neymar or Robben but the club gave him Di María who evidently was not on his "list" but he said that he had wanted him before at AZ so he was happy enough with it. It was clear at the time that Di María's best positions were either on the wing or on the left side in a midfield three. But van Gaal would later insist on playing him as a number 10 or as a striker. Di María was a very talented player, the club gave him a creative player and in my view it's van Gaal's should have gotten more out of him by playing him in positions that suited him better. Di María has done well under Mourinho and Ancelotti at Real Madrid and under Emery and Tuchel at PSG, the only coach he's has trouble with is van Gaal.

Dithering Dave was given too much power and spent to much time asking for Baines. With a sporting director in place this mistake wouldn't have happened.

Moyes didn't want Herrera. Herrera was on a list that SAF had compiled before he retired but Moyes wanted his own targets in first. When that failed the club suggested Herrera, which Moyes was OK with. But the club made a mistake waiting so long to sign him and couldn't deal with Bilbao's difficult selling policy. It was a mistake from the club (or Woodward) to give Moyes too much power to ask for his own players. But to they did learn from that mistake (that one time at least) and signed him early on in the next window (with van Gaal being OK with it).

We did spend way to much time trying to convince Fabregas but to be fair Fabregas wasn't sure himself what he was going to do. He even spoke to Moyes on the phone a few times and it looked like for a while that a deal would be possible. But again, the mistake is not to have a sporting director in place to make decide to move on to other targets.

At the moment it does kind of look like the club was right about that one because he hasn't lived up to his price tag and he hasn't performed much better than Smalling would have. But we give a lot of power to the manager and Solskjær really wanted Maguire so Woodward delivered him Maguire.

Nothing wrong with trying to bring the price down in my view. Sporting are asking for an insane amount of money. But we need a sporting director. Fernandes isn't the only AM in the world, I'm sure there must be AMs out there that are just as good or have more potential but wouldn't cost that much.

I don't remember us wasting a summer trying to buy Varane. I do remember us spending a long time trying to buy Ramos though, only for him to be using us to get a new bumper contract.

This is a fair criticism on Woodward. It highlights yet again why we need a sporting director. I agree that Woodward has handled most contract issues badly, but that doesn't change the fact that he has given managers too much power with regards to transfers over the years.

My main gripe with Woodward is that he hasn't hired a sporting director and has no clear vision for the football club, so he hires managers on the fly who turn out to be incompetent. Moyes (although not Woodwards pick) and Solskjær arent' good enough for top level and van Gaal and Mourinho are football dinosaurs. But despite this he gave them too much power. Incompetent people like that shouldn't have been given so much power. Their main jobs should be to coach and let a sporting director (or some form of committee) handle transfers and contracts.

We are a badly run football club, a lot needs to be changed. But if the Glazers and/or Woodward aren't going to change anything upstairs, I still think that we would to a lot better under a competent coach. We probably wouldn't win or compete for the title and cups every year and would have ups and downs, but I would expect a good coach to get us to play half decent football in most matches, because we have some good players in the squad. And a good coach would be able to get the best out of most of them.

Also, could you perhaps provide a link to the part that I bolded? Not that I'm doubting you, I just don't remember reading anything like that and it would be good to see what he said exactly.

 

[Bastian]

I'm not sure why people use other clubs to cover our deficiencies regarding recruitment. I don't care what Chelsea and spurs are doing. We need to focus on ourselves and not make ourselves feel better by pointing at two other clubs who are also struggling in that regard in the current window.

The scouts are not being utilised because the manager in this case has far too much power in our recruitment and has his own independent scout(s)

The scouts are best utilised under a Sporting Director who becomes the point of contact between the CEO, head-coach and scouting department. The sporting Director is key to getting the best out of a scouting network because he works closely with them.

How do I know there wasn't a plan? I know because of how we panicked on the last day of the window with a rejected bid for Josh King and eventually settling on the underwhelming Ighalo. If there was a plan, we would've signed someone capable alot sooner by making decisions as soon as Haaland rejected us. We knew we needed a striker when Lukaku departed and putting all our eggs into the Haaland basket is what we did.

Was it Gary Neville who said the worst run clubs are the ones that are scrambling to sign players on the last day of the window?

Spot on. And yes, it was Neville.

 

[Adnan]

Did LVG want Falcao? Did he even want Di Maria? You eluded to report that Klopp wanted Brandt well by the same token there's reports that LVG didn't even want Di Maria

As for Mourinho same question did he want Pogba? The reports are that that was a transfer Woodward was working on for 2 years prior and while yes Mourinho was backed 70% of the way he was never given all the tools - he got a lump of a target man and no one to cross the ball to him

And then when both of the above were sacked they were replaced by managers who wanted completely different types of players hence the churn

Everything comes back to the board and their poor manager recruitment if they'd of got that right then the manager picking which players to buy wouldn't be an issue

Van Gaal name dropped Di Maria and said "I need a winger like Di Maria" in a press conference. Many on here will remember that press conference.

Van Gaal again pointed to the goal scoring record of Falcao as the reason to sell Welbeck to Arsenal. He also spoke in glowing terms of the Colombian striker and was extremely happy with the purchase.

According to Jason Burt of The Daily Telegraph, every player signed during Mourinho's tenure at United was signed on his say so. Only the biased Duncan Castles would say otherwise.

Mourinho wasted too much funds and lost the faith of the United hierachy. Woodward was right to reign in his spending. He was heavily backed without question.

Everything comes back to actually having a Sporting Director that understands the market. And until that happens be prepared for more signings that are vastly over priced.

 

[Infestissumam]

BILD say Rangnick is going to Milan as their new manager and sporting director.

Damn shame, would have been perfect for us.

 

[golden_blunder]

I'm not sure why people use other clubs to cover our deficiencies regarding recruitment. I don't care what Chelsea and spurs are doing. We need to focus on ourselves and not make ourselves feel better by pointing at two other clubs who are also struggling in that regard in the current window.

The scouts are not being utilised because the manager in this case has far too much power in our recruitment and has his own independent scout(s)

The scouts are best utilised under a Sporting Director who becomes the point of contact between the CEO, head-coach and scouting department. The sporting Director is key to getting the best out of a scouting network because he works closely with them.

How do I know there wasn't a plan? I know because of how we panicked on the last day of the window with a rejected bid for Josh King and eventually settling on the underwhelming Ighalo. If there was a plan, we would've signed someone capable alot sooner by making decisions as soon as Haaland rejected us. We knew we needed a striker when Lukaku departed and putting all our eggs into the Haaland basket is what we did.

Was it Gary Neville who said the worst run clubs are the ones that are scrambling to sign players on the last day of the window?

I think Haaland was a situation where he was available now so we needed to try. Otherwise I think we would have left him on the long finger til summer at least. When he rejected us then I think we decided we’d hold off and stick with what we have til summer to look at a deal for demebele or someone of that ilk. Rashford got injured so then we started scrambling for short-term stop-gaps

 

[Rhyme Animal]

BILD say Rangnick is going to Milan as their new manager and sporting director.

Damn shame, would have been perfect for us.

The reality is - we have a DoF...

It' just that no-one wants to admit it, including the club themselves.