It's a step in the right direction but could also turn out terrible depending on who they hire. I don't trust Woodward and the Glazers for shit when it comes to finding the right people.
Man Utd set to appoint Director of Football (when hell freezes over)
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I think Jose said what he said because of the news Woodward decided none of the signings Jose wanted were suitable. I.e he doesn't manage players coming in or out, just coaches them.
I love how Woodward used Man utd as his project to learn, grow and make mistakes. This should have been done since 2013 and have an actual vision for the club. He has made so many mistakes in hiring managers and being 'played' in the transfer market. Well, it took him 5 years to get up to speed with the rest of the world.
Yeah. Sound spooky af. As if DOF is mostly to work with Women team...
Only if We can get an experienced one, otherwise let's not hire a DoF. It's not a position for newbies. I hope the board is sensible enough when it comes to this.
The hope that kills. We don't know who are in this board beside Woodward to begin. And Woodward doesn't strike as a football man.
The thing with DOF is that that role is less a public role, so there is necessarily football men to keep him in check. DOF doesn't get as much pressure as head coach or manager. Somebody with football knowledge needs to make judgement whether it's head coach or DOF fault when the team perform badly. A bunch of talents doesn't necessarily equate to a great team. Just because DOF sign well, and the team still underperform doesn't mean head coach is incompetent. It's still a teamwork. It's just sharing the workload rather than focusing on a manager, which of course doesn't have no flaw. There are bunches of team badly run by DOFs
So who would be the judge here? Woodward and his mysterious board?
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In theory this is good move, however I dont think Ed will appoint anyone who he thinks he cannot control.
The DOF will be his puppet and in essence take the heat for all Ed's bad footballing decisions.
The only way this will work if Ed doesn't have the final decision on who the DOF will be
The DOF will be his puppet and in essence take the heat for all Ed's bad footballing decisions.
The only way this will work if Ed doesn't have the final decision on who the DOF will be
Isnt SAF and Sir Bobby on the board?
If they all have an equal vote then maybe we might get someone suited to the role.
True
.Most likely yes but I don't know if We might.. I mean They chose Moyes. I hope They've learned from that and will go for the most qualified candidates available and not "the people They know well".
They and Gill are of a board with no executive power. Somebody quoted Gill in one of the other threads
This could be a very good move by United. Your club clearly lacks a long term strategic vision - the managers who have been signed have all had very conflicting styles - Mourinho with pragmatic counter-attack football, Van Gaal with posession and patience based approach, and Moyes with with the criss-cross-cross...cross? approach.
Either that, or give the manager free reign like at Liverpool, where he is supported 100% by the money men and their recruitment strategy is very well aligned - allowing for efficient decision making and going after the perfect player for the system.
This summer it was evident that there was a difference in opinion from the higher ups with the type of player they'd sanction, and what the manager wanted.
Either that, or give the manager free reign like at Liverpool, where he is supported 100% by the money men and their recruitment strategy is very well aligned - allowing for efficient decision making and going after the perfect player for the system.
This summer it was evident that there was a difference in opinion from the higher ups with the type of player they'd sanction, and what the manager wanted.
"The view from the top of club is that the Portuguese can be too reliant on short-term fixes and that given United’s strong defensive record in his two seasons in charge Mourinho should be able to mount a credible title tilt.
The executive believes that if an increased number of goals can be provided in support of Romelu Lukaku – who top-scored with 16 in the league last season – then the 19-point gap to City can be bridged."
How the heck are they qualified to determine this? Defence and attack aren't two completely separate unrelated components, and like Gary Neville said on Friday, SAF and SBC are the only executives who know(/knew) about football and they aren't being involved so who are the other executives to assert this redcafe-level football analysis over Jose's?
The executive believes that if an increased number of goals can be provided in support of Romelu Lukaku – who top-scored with 16 in the league last season – then the 19-point gap to City can be bridged."
How the heck are they qualified to determine this? Defence and attack aren't two completely separate unrelated components, and like Gary Neville said on Friday, SAF and SBC are the only executives who know(/knew) about football and they aren't being involved so who are the other executives to assert this redcafe-level football analysis over Jose's?
To expand on what @ti vu said, Gill was quoted as saying they were non-executive directors. Functioning more like ambassadors than anything else. If their counsel is sought, it's on an individual basis, not seated at some roundtable.
Personally, I think they're an ornament.
Perhaps he left because he wasn’t going to get the job with United. It’s all speculation, of course.
Hopefully a DOF will actually back the manager in the boardroom and take away football decisions from Glazer spawn. Did I want a cb, no. But I don't like the manager being over-ruled unless what he's asking for is impossible. If the bastard wants an over-priced cb, let him have it, not like we can't afford it. If you don't trust his opinions, sack him.
I'd be getting my CV uploaded and ready to hit send. Any moment now.
So why do away with it at first team level? That makes no sense.
Depending on what you choose to believe, Mou has apparently been told to stop wasting money on players towards the end of their career and focus on developing the young talent we have and will hopefully bring in. Begs the question of why he was employed in the first place if that's what the board want. He's not the man to carry out that mandate. Should've stuck to the LVG-Giggs plan.
And don't get me started on Raiola. Guy is a snake.
Sounds good if Woodward has ZERO say on footballing matters.
If he's still got a strong say, then it seems pointless.
If he's still got a strong say, then it seems pointless.
You mean the board of directors? It's public info obviously. It's filled with Glazers.
http://ir.manutd.com/corporate-governance/board-of-directors.aspx
You mean the board of directors? It's public info obviously. It's filled with Glazers.
http://ir.manutd.com/corporate-governance/board-of-directors.aspx
When we, football fan, saying the board, we pretty much meant a football board. This board of directors would give football fan despression.
Cantona.
5 years late but hope we get a good one.
Yeah, this is the fear. That we'll get a DOF with this amount of thought put into it.
This is my worry too. Everton poached DOF from Leicester and the signings he's made is shocking.
Our commercial side of the business has been light years ahead of everyone.
Hopefully, in the not too distant future, the actual football side catches up with our commercial side, we will be unbeatable.
Hopefully, in the not too distant future, the actual football side catches up with our commercial side, we will be unbeatable.
Whoopie. If this guy is any good then he'd have jettisoned pretty much all of Mourinho's alleged transfer targets anyway. I've said it in another thread. Boateng for a quoted £40 million? feck me.
The brief (although it's Jamie Jackson so it's probably a fantasy piece) that says the board believe we should be getting more goals out of our attacking players is also a fair response. One I agree with and have argued for over a year now. Our top scorer in the league was Lukaku with 16. Jesus. It's criminal for a club of this stature. The bloke had more service at Everton.
Of course, it's far easier to blame easy targets like Smalling and Jones for their inability on the ball rather than identify the more uncomfortable truths relating to the manager and his set up. Bailly and Lindelof playing each week and a similar return of goals should smash that theory to pieces soon enough, mind you.
The brief (although it's Jamie Jackson so it's probably a fantasy piece) that says the board believe we should be getting more goals out of our attacking players is also a fair response. One I agree with and have argued for over a year now. Our top scorer in the league was Lukaku with 16. Jesus. It's criminal for a club of this stature. The bloke had more service at Everton.
Of course, it's far easier to blame easy targets like Smalling and Jones for their inability on the ball rather than identify the more uncomfortable truths relating to the manager and his set up. Bailly and Lindelof playing each week and a similar return of goals should smash that theory to pieces soon enough, mind you.
I once signed him for my FM Save... didnt do too well.. so based on that alone i would say bad idea!
It is just another unnecessary layer of bureaucracy in my opinion. Ed needs to pouch his balls, come together with Jose to work it all out. Let Jose continue and then build a rapport and then operate. A la Ferguson with Gill during his tenure.
The club needs some kind of continuity in what it’s trying to accomplish on the football side of things. Managers come and go, we can’t change everything each time we get a new manager. That’s the whole point of the DOF. It’s not “unnecessary bureaucracy”.
At the moment it is, Ed needs to pouch his balls and come together with Jose and work it all out, like I said. Jose can continue to manage and continue to build the club up in the way that Ferguson and Gill did. Unless you remove Ed Woodward being Mr Billy Big Bollocks then a DOF will just be another level that isn't required for a manager like Jose. But Ed is going nowhere, he's rightfully the commercial behemoth behind the curtain of the that side of the club.
So good luck if you become director of football. Seems like the outrage over Nicky Butt being academy manager because people genuinely had no idea what that role actually did. Now nobody even talks about it. If will be the same with a DOF between Ed and Jose. I don't see us binning off either side in a hurry.
Mourinho isn’t going to be here forever. What happens when we get another manager who plays a different style of football to Mourinho? Do we tear up everything and start over again. That’s the whole point of the DOF. Together with the club hierarchy, they figure out what direction they want for the club and target players and managers to suit that vision.
Most big clubs function like this now, and it seems to be a very successful system.
Or you can just keep talking about Ed’s balls if you choose to.
Then what is the point of a DoF if it's just to back the manager 100% and ensure no one can stop him spending however he wants?
I don't agree with this "back him or sack him" argument. The manager is hired to do a very important job in the club, but ultimately he's an employee who answers to senior management. The senior management are responsible for the sustainability of the club, the manager has to take direction from them and work within the resources allocated to him by them. The manager shouldn't be given complete autonomy because firstly, his perspective is going to be limited, and secondly, he's not accountable for the club as a whole.
As for sacking the manager if you don't trust him - you can compare the situation to having an employee who's extremely competent in many areas but who wants to do certain things that aren't good for the company in the long term. As his superior, do you: (a) sack him despite all the good things he brings; or (b) veto the questionable ideas but keep him on board for his other contributions?
This is my take on it anyway.
People are still bogged down by the memory of Fergie. Ferguson earned the right to be completely autonomous, and even he didn’t always get things completely his way, yet many on here want every single manager we have to be given a Ferguson-like level of control in the club.
Managers are not infallible, and should be regarded in the same vein as the players, employees of the club and very much replaceable, not an untouchable figure.
Absolutely not. Woodward needs to be removed from player acquisitions. He's a bad negotiator, leaves things late and basically interpreted JM's list like it was some grocery list for unnecessary goods. And I don't even like most of Mourinho's targets but Woodward is out of his element.
I would like extra virgin oil...Ed: Sorry, all you're getting is vegetable oil.
Potential candidates anyone?
Well, yeah. If you want it to function properly you have to structure the whole thing properly. As I said, getting rid of Ed and/or Mourinho and rebuilding the entire management/board/scouting structure would be the first option but I don't think that is going to happen and I won't be holding my breath until it does, that is for sure.
So, like I said you just wait until Mourinho leaves. Or you get rid of Woodward. Which of those two is likely to happen? This is so tiresome. In a perfect world we would have loved to have blown the entire structure up as a club after Ferguson but we have to accept what he built for the mechanized part of United and that it doesn't work like that with an organization of this magnitude. It takes time, energy and a willingness for all parties to change. These things don't come easy. The academy restructure took nearly a year to plan from a root and branch level. Now we want to re-structure the entire football/meets/corporate side of the United behemoth?
Okay, on a general level it might work great. But good luck with that at United. Football and marketing move way to much for us to stop time for 10 years and restructure the entire business. We only just updated the website for the first time in 20 years.
He needs to put them away and work with Jose.
While professional football remains, primarily, a sport rather than a business then a manager should be allowed to fulfil his vision (unless dire results follow, of course). In contrast, administrators - so accustomed to being decision-makers that they often go beyond their remit - should not be encouraged to try their hand at playing the football expert given their entire want of experience.
Working life is increasingly full of these dilettantes, hobbyists who 'quite fancy' becoming the stars themselves; they have enough authority as it is without those of us with a vested interest giving our blessing for them to assume the elite positions of proven, experienced specialists.
When managers feck up then they are sacked. The only person who doesn't get sacked is the CEO who is the common denominator that links LVG, Moyes and Mou
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