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

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the chameleon said:
How about Beckham + Rio or Gary Neville.

One would be more involved with all business facets and beckham would be great for transfer related stuff!
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Yes, add Ando to it so they are never hungry while working, and Add Young too as well, so there is always some great music to lift the atmosphere while working.
 
Beckham would be interesting. But would we want that media circus? Already have one with Jose! I think we should be bringing in someone low key.

I like the idea of a United head but they all (other than Fergie) annoy me in the media.

To be fair a lot of last year I was screaming for SAF to be DoF. He was at every match anyway. He was already running the club the right way pre retirement. He could do the same, with a head coach taking the duties he wanted to let go of when he retired. I personally thought this was going to be the case when we hired Moyes, but then knew it wasn’t when he cleared out the backroom staff.
 
I don't understand why folks want an ex-player who has no experience in this position. I wonder how many people would want the same player coaching their team? This club is going to need someone with experience building a football operations staff. There's a lot of restructuring that needs to be done and to expect someone completely new to the job to be able to do that is unreasonable. I'm fully supportive of whoever we choose bringing in some of the old guard as assistants, but they'll need quite a bit of grooming before they're ready to take this kind of job.
 
Someone who knows what they are doing please. Some name isn't what we need unless that name knows the job. I don't how any of our ex players are that person.
 
liamp said:
I don't understand why folks want an ex-player who has no experience in this position. I wonder how many people would want the same player coaching their team? This club is going to need someone with experience building a football operations staff. There's a lot of restructuring that needs to be done and to expect someone completely new to the job to be able to do that is unreasonable. I'm fully supportive of whoever we choose bringing in some of the old guard as assistants, but they'll need quite a bit of grooming before they're ready to take this kind of job.
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My fear is that lots of people want that same former player coaching their team, and this is just a way to make that happen.
Just like the ideas to give all of Mourinho's authority to someone obviously less qualified is just a way to run him out of the club.
Otherwise how to explain it?
 
How are people suggesting ex-players. Drop the sentiments for a second. A bad DoF can be even more detrimental to the club than a bad manager because he commits us to a long term direction that will significantly affect the club. If LVG was our DoF for instance he would do double the damage he did as our manager because he would change our youth teams and scouting to support his philosophy

It has to be someone who knows the ins and outs of the business or we'd back to 2013 with a newb learning the job from scratch. Preferably someone proven in the role, good at negotiations, has contacts with other clubs and agents and can oversee a strict structure. Ideally he shouldn't be a yesman to either the board or the manager because he should have footballing wisdom that can inform and improve their decisionmaking.
 
goin4glory said:
I disagree that there's only a risk of betterment. I think a DOF is being brought in to remove the blame from Woodward/Glazers and that's it. It was ultimately the Glazers decision to not spend large amounts this window and Woodward has said in the past that they didn't see the level of investment continuing. The owners are perfectly happy to rake in the ££ as long as we make top 4, they have zero intention to match City/Madrid in the transfer market even when we have the resources to do so.
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Funnily enough I don't disagree with you there. A short aside - folks here really underestimate the motivation of [our] American owners. It's all about the dollar sign, eps, what have you. There's no heart in this ownership...to be frank, as an American I'll be forward in saying you'd probably be hard pressed to find that with 4 out 5 American owners anyway. Such is the way business is run here. So were Liverpool to have won the title last season, I'd have expected no more investment than we got. The Glazers, Woody, they don't give one single feck about this club, the nature of that rivalry for instance or any other history of ours.

That said, you dont think the DOF would at least help us to improve us make better value purchases? Maybe I'm being idealistic, but we're always going on about how smartly Juve and Bayern are able to do their business, win a few trophies and stay in the bracket of elite teams without constant galactico signings.
 
No Idea For Nickname said:
That guy from B.Dortmund, or that guy from Atletico. We need a great DoF, and experienced one, and respected one, and we need him now!
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Michael Zorc from Dortmund? I don't know if he is the one responsible for their best signings, as it was Sven Mislintat that recommended most of these players. And he is head of recruitement/cheif scout for Arsenal know.
The Sporting Director of Atletico M Andrea Berta was rumored to join us in 2016.

The one we need is Monchi. He would do wonders with £100m per season to spend on transfers.
 
Hopefully these rumors regarding appointing a DoF come true. But!!! the issue is wether the Glazers/Woody would still be the ones to get the final say regarding signings and not give the required authority to the future Director of Football.
Ideally they have finally understould that there should be a separation between the financial aspect and the football aspect of this club and that the only involvement Woody/Glazers should have regarding football and Manchester United should be to set the limit on how much to spend on transfers and wages this season. Let Woodward concentrate on increasing the revenue from "monetization" of all that can be monetized, and let footballpeople do football related jobs.

If we where to appoint a DoF, the first man on that list should be Monchi.
 
Accountability has to come with authority. If Jose is ultimately accountable for the achievement of footballing goals/objectives for the club, he should have the authority to decide on the footballing resources and means within pre-defined parameters such as budget.
 
Sterling Archer said:
Funnily enough I don't disagree with you there. A short aside - folks here really underestimate the motivation of [our] American owners. It's all about the dollar sign, eps, what have you. There's no heart in this ownership...to be frank, as an American I'll be forward in saying you'd probably be hard pressed to find that with 4 out 5 American owners anyway. Such is the way business is run here. So were Liverpool to have won the title last season, I'd have expected no more investment than we got. The Glazers, Woody, they don't give one single feck about this club, the nature of that rivalry for instance or any other history of ours.

That said, you dont think the DOF would at least help us to improve us make better value purchases? Maybe I'm being idealistic, but we're always going on about how smartly Juve and Bayern are able to do their business, win a few trophies and stay in the bracket of elite teams without constant galactico signings.
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We would have won more if we didn't have to content with 2 petrodollar club in our league.
 
Sky1981 said:
We would have won more if we didn't have to content with 2 petrodollar club in our league.
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That's a piss poor attitude. United were in such a position of strength, with regards to the football, the global appeal and financials it's an absolute travesty in sports management that injecting countless amounts of money could just sway things. And that's the problem - it was not just money. Those "petrol dollars" were spent on building brands and an image, countless iterations of squads so that the manager could play his type of football and have the success that got him hired in the first place.

We've all been laughing at the 'small time' marketing campaigns and announcements. The arrogance and complacency is coming to bite us in significant fashion now that tv rights extend cash into newly promoted teams. The distance between us and the rest should have been enormous. We had three decades of SAF brilliance to get us there. And it's been squandered.

Money alone won't get us back there now either. It requires harmony in many aspects of the Club, which is what I'm hoping a DOF begins to help with.
 
Absolutely the way forward. But the fit needs to be right with the ethos and direction of the club. Equally important to fit with the manager, but the club comes first. After all, the whole point of a DOF is to have a consistent plan and strategy regardless of who is at the top and bottom.
 
Sterling Archer said:
Funnily enough I don't disagree with you there. A short aside - folks here really underestimate the motivation of [our] American owners. It's all about the dollar sign, eps, what have you. There's no heart in this ownership...to be frank, as an American I'll be forward in saying you'd probably be hard pressed to find that with 4 out 5 American owners anyway. Such is the way business is run here. So were Liverpool to have won the title last season, I'd have expected no more investment than we got. The Glazers, Woody, they don't give one single feck about this club, the nature of that rivalry for instance or any other history of ours.

That said, you dont think the DOF would at least help us to improve us make better value purchases? Maybe I'm being idealistic, but we're always going on about how smartly Juve and Bayern are able to do their business, win a few trophies and stay in the bracket of elite teams without constant galactico signings.
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I don't see how a DOF would improve much when the chief executive is under orders from the owners to cut the spending. End of the day it'll be Woodward telling a DOF that Alderwereld/Boateng aren't value for money and not sanction it, so unless the plan is to hand a DOF £150m every summer and say do what you want then no. Mourinho is very good in the transfer market for the most part. Some fans here have gotten it into their heads that a DOF would somehow solve all the problems without actually recognising what the main source of problems is.
 
rpitroda said:
Absolutely the way forward. But the fit needs to be right with the ethos and direction of the club. Equally important to fit with the manager, but the club comes first. After all, the whole point of a DOF is to have a consistent plan and strategy regardless of who is at the top and bottom.
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Yeah, it's definitely not the end of any issues. We can't even get the manager conforming to the ethos of the club.
 
Sterling Archer said:
That's a piss poor attitude. United were in such a position of strength, with regards to the football, the global appeal and financials it's an absolute travesty in sports management that injecting countless amounts of money could just sway things. And that's the problem - it was not just money. Those "petrol dollars" were spent on building brands and an image, countless iterations of squads so that the manager could play his type of football and have the success that got him hired in the first place.

We've all been laughing at the 'small time' marketing campaigns and announcements. The arrogance and complacency is coming to bite us in significant fashion now that tv rights extend cash into newly promoted teams. The distance between us and the rest should have been enormous. We had three decades of SAF brilliance to get us there. And it's been squandered.

Money alone won't get us back there now either. It requires harmony in many aspects of the Club, which is what I'm hoping a DOF begins to help with.
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that's naive of you. bravado and elitism doesnt get you points.
 
Valencia's Left Foot said:
Beckham? Hmmm, interesting, at first I thought this was an dumb suggestion, but transfer recruitment is such a major factor for the director position which Beckham with his level of respect in the game would be great at, but there are a lot of other facets of the job that would concern me with him, the day to day details and grind, not sure he would be up for it.
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That's not entirely fair to the man. He's always been about the grind, even in business. We just don't see it as much because of the glitz.
 
Pep's comments post match yesterday re: 'The CEO, the Sporting Director we go in the same path...at the end Manchester City gave me a great squad, I can not complain' is surely a dig at Utd, our board, and Jose.
 
My thoughts on Woodward have been the same since the Moyes days. Commercially, he does wonders with the club but transfer business seems to have been a farce since Gill and Ferguson retired. Other than a few signings (all from the same agent who managed to bring 3 of his players into united in one summer) we haven't had any success at all.

I can't think that players wouldn't want to play for us so I can only conclude that he can't do that side of the job. Jose certainly seems to point the finger of blame Woodward's way with his "he has my list" comments. Maybe a director of football is required? Especially in days where the average tenure of a manager is so short.
 
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There is so much misunderstanding for the figure of a DoF/GM in this thread going on, and it seems that a lot of people live in a bubble when the GM-coach structure is the bizarre one with the God-Emperor manager being the common one, when in truth is the exact opposite. GM-coach structure is by far the most common structure in both football and American sports and has been so for decades, while the all powerful manager has been the dominant structure in English football until recently. And despite the money on English football (as a result of wise financial/advertisement decisions, going global in TV before the others and English language), English clubs historically have lacked behind European counterparts. I guess that European clubs have been doing something right.

God-Emperor manager model works only if you have a long term manager. You cannot plan for a long-term manager, it happens organically when it happens. You can plan long term with a DoF though and short-term managers. Some long term planning (even if not perfect) is much better than give you half a billion, build your own team, get sacked, rinse and repeat which is what we have been doing.
 
el3mel said:
They BBC briefing said that we didn't even make an official bid and a club source said he will be our 5th best defender so not worth the effort :
That's shambolic.
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I guess Jose felt that Toby would be an upgrade to your current CBs. But our DoF (Woodard), felt that he would be the worst defender in first team squad.
Perhaps we should let Woodward manage the team for a month or so, as it is clear that he knows a thing or two about footballers, their abilities and what they can bring to our team.
 
This is great news. We're crying out for changes to our football model and operations, a DoF is a great start.

We need to start copying our European friends because I still think we're stuck in the dark ages with some apsects to how the club is run. Ed Woodward needs to step aside and just control the marketing/sponsorship business side of the club. A DoF needs to shape the long term philosophy of the club, we need a determined style of play, a 'type' of player we want to bring in and not the scattergun approach we've adapated since Sir Alex retired.

I've seen some people mention Giggs for DoF and I'm not sure if this is for giggles but let's stay well away from that kind of appointment. We need to poach on the best, experienced DoFs in the game, like the guy at Roma or the Atletico DoF? Can't remember their names.

It's all a step in the right direction anyway.
 
This appt is bound to be an ill thought out disaster. Lets get someone who knows the club or has experience of the role at an elite European club.
 
Andy_Cole said:
Beckham would be interesting. But would we want that media circus? Already have one with Jose! I think we should be bringing in someone low key.

I like the idea of a United head but they all (other than Fergie) annoy me in the media.

To be fair a lot of last year I was screaming for SAF to be DoF. He was at every match anyway. He was already running the club the right way pre retirement. He could do the same, with a head coach taking the duties he wanted to let go of when he retired. I personally thought this was going to be the case when we hired Moyes, but then knew it wasn’t when he cleared out the backroom staff.
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Beckham as figurehead with an experienced chief scout as a DoF team might actually be a good idea. Beckham more in the position at selling the players the idea of United, and how awesome we are, some experienced scout/DoF to identify the players.
 
I think Zorc from Dortmund would be good
 
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Michael Zorc of Dortmund would be great, but he's been a one club man his entire life, I can't see him leaving personally unless it was Dortmund who said they didn't want him any more, we'd probably have more joy with Andrea Berta.

I wouldn't mind seeing Van Der Sar in the role, someone who has played for both us and Ajax, two clubs of great attacking footballing heritage, and he's just a great guy, he is currently CEO of Ajax however and I don't see him vacating this position. So, at the moment, you'd have to say Monchi or Berta would be the best bets but it could also be someone out of left field like Ralf Rangnick of RB Leipzig who would also be my top choice.
 
Revan said:
Beckham as figurehead with an experienced chief scout as a DoF team might actually be a good idea. Beckham more in the position at selling the players the idea of United, and how awesome we are, some experienced scout/DoF to identify the players.
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I could get behind this.
 
Something has to change in order to create some kind of identity and structure at the club, whether it will actually happen or not though I am not convinced. There were similar stories in the past and nothing came of it.

Since SAF and Gill left from a football perspective the club has been poorly run on and off the pitch. I can’t see that changing unless something is done to create a structure at the club, whether that is a DOF or a couple of people in different roles I have no idea.
 
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