Beckham will have his own club to be dealing with - we won't be hiring him.
Man Utd set to appoint Director of Football (when hell freezes over)
- Thread starter RedMachine03
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Seems like a job made for Sir Alex.
Have never been a fan of DoF and never seen the point, but in our case, this is well needed at the minute. Take transfer dealings away from Woodward, and have a proper football figure deal with these. Keep woodward focusing on what he's good at, commercial sponsorships. Jose might engage closer with closing sponsors then
At the contrary, hard to find someone worse than him for this position.
I'd say there are some great guys floating around under the radar in the premiership. Guys like Reed at southampton. I honestly think the person either has to be english or has to have a big affinity to the club. This should be a 10 year appointment.
Is the person already at the club?
Really tough to get this one right. The closest thing to a club man who could hit the ground running - Butt, Jaap Stam, Ole? Bring back Brian Mcclair?... I dont know much about why he left
Hard to get the balance between a real club man and someone who is instantly going to be delivering what this forum wants. My heart says to make a long term appointment who has lots to learn and let Mourinho carry the team through the learning curve. Better than appointing some random foreign guy with no affinity to united who leaves in 3 years and puts us at square one. Nicky Butt has already made some impact on the academy by all accounts so would be an interesting appointment - underwhelming now but if he can build his reputation from here could be the continuity the club has been looking for. Don't think it would be a very popular appointment judging by the comments that we just get someone else's director of football and pay them double
Is the person already at the club?
Really tough to get this one right. The closest thing to a club man who could hit the ground running - Butt, Jaap Stam, Ole? Bring back Brian Mcclair?... I dont know much about why he left
Hard to get the balance between a real club man and someone who is instantly going to be delivering what this forum wants. My heart says to make a long term appointment who has lots to learn and let Mourinho carry the team through the learning curve. Better than appointing some random foreign guy with no affinity to united who leaves in 3 years and puts us at square one. Nicky Butt has already made some impact on the academy by all accounts so would be an interesting appointment - underwhelming now but if he can build his reputation from here could be the continuity the club has been looking for. Don't think it would be a very popular appointment judging by the comments that we just get someone else's director of football and pay them double
Why is it easier to have a long term DoF as opposed to a manager? Sounds like the manager just becomes the fall guy for when the DoF fails to get the right players.
Could Dan Ashworth be tempted?
One of the main men behind WBA’s good club management/stability a few years ago. They crumbled after he left.
Fantastic work for the national team since his appointment. Setting the direction for the future of English football.
One of the main men behind WBA’s good club management/stability a few years ago. They crumbled after he left.
Fantastic work for the national team since his appointment. Setting the direction for the future of English football.
I wonder when we'll actually appoint someone.
Before the January window or whether we'll avoid rushing it and choose wisely ahead of the Summer window in 2019, leaving enough time for that person to actually plan for it.
Knowing the way we go about things, I think we'll get someone the day before the window closes.
Before the January window or whether we'll avoid rushing it and choose wisely ahead of the Summer window in 2019, leaving enough time for that person to actually plan for it.
Knowing the way we go about things, I think we'll get someone the day before the window closes.
his transfers have hardly been brilliant here. not sure I have seen anything really about the owners wanting to cut spending. moneys there if the targets are right. if get the right DOF and we as a club decide the direction we all want to go in then it could work. but cant see a DOF working well with Jose to be fair.
Honestly i don't the names of the DOF at other teams, except for Monchi. I would like whoever Atletico Madrid is having though 
Give it to Jose and get a coach who plays attractive football?
1) GM stay long, coaches don't. Proven fact. There is SAF in football, Wenger too (but then he failed for the last decade), Popp in NBA and that's it when it comes to long term managers who also serve as GM. On the other side, there are countless examples of long term GMs.
2) Contrary to the beliefs of modern football fans, transfer windows are not the most important part of football. Titles - for most part - are won based on how the coach manages to get the best of the team, not based on transfer windows.
3) GM-coach is the structure which works in practice and has been so for decades. All powerful coach works when you have an anomaly like SAF or Poppovich, and you just can't neither plan for it, not expect it to happen.
4) GM doesn't do training, doesn't have to work and fall out with players, doesn't have to fight with media and so on, so it makes the job far less stressful and so doesn't get spent after 3 years like coaches do.
I have no issues with David Gill, but people need to remember he got to work with Ferguson. Which probably made life somewhat more comfortable.
Who are the likely candidates? Who are the experienced DoFs with good track records / reputations in world football?
Re #2-who wins is related directly to who spends the most on their team. How can the transfer window not be important?
Good post
Took me a while to realise it but this is how we need to instill continuity. It just can't be done via manager as they get sacked too much. I always thought it would be easy to just not sack a manager and give him time but it seems to be impossible.
Honestly i don't the names of the DOF at other teams, except for Monchi. I would like whoever Atletico Madrid is having though
Andrea Berta he has been linked to United before
They are important, but nowhere as important as the other part of football, getting the best of players you have. For most part in the last 15 years, there have been 3-4 teams in England with comparable quality (not necessarily equal). In Spain, Real and Barca have had comparable quality as long as I remember. Maybe one slightly better than the other in terms of players, but comparable. Who won the titles for most part is the team who got the best out of its players. Be that cause of manager, a sense of togetherness and harmony, some player having an once in lifetime season, a bit of luck, and quite often most if not all these things coming together at the same time.
Transfers are important. Getting the best of your players and tactics are even more important. Otherwise, always the team whose spends most / gets the bear players, would have won, which is clearly not the case.
DoF stuff in the British media is always funny, as a lot of them seem unable to fathom not resting the entire business on the shoulders and judgement of one person, as if wanting others to have a say in the decision making process is the gravest insult imaginable for a Proper Football Man. Personally, if I was an owner, I'd have grave misgivings about entrusting hundreds of millions of quid to one guy, who is probably lining the pockets of his own agent or people known to him and who has little to no regard to the business' financial security.
Also, as an example, for the people who get very riled up about the style of football and want us to play The United Way, hiring someone to ensure a long term, overarching philosophy which fosters a sustainable structure that managers/coaches have to fit into. People keep mentioning SAF and his 'most important thing in football is control' quote but it ignores a couple of things: he was, in almost every sense, the exception to the rule and even he, for a great many reasons done to death on here, had his issues with recruitment near the end.
Also, as an example, for the people who get very riled up about the style of football and want us to play The United Way, hiring someone to ensure a long term, overarching philosophy which fosters a sustainable structure that managers/coaches have to fit into. People keep mentioning SAF and his 'most important thing in football is control' quote but it ignores a couple of things: he was, in almost every sense, the exception to the rule and even he, for a great many reasons done to death on here, had his issues with recruitment near the end.
A DOF won't keep the entire business on his shoulders and won't take decisions on its own, he still needs to present stuff to the board and the board to accept it.
He's more of a middle man between the manager and the board on the sporting front, planning for the future, making sure the club has a good sporting ideea etc. But he still needs to go through the board.
I was referring to the fact that some of the British media believe that the sensible approach is to put everything on the manager's shoulders.
Their agent also confirmed we were in for him at end of 2016. I guess our board is very patient and searching for a right profile of DOF, I guess it is better safe than getting random because they just have DOF on their CV.
This thread is an embarrassment.
It's not impossible but you have to have the manager who satisfies the board and fan base with his football and winning mentality.
Is a centre half really going to improve things. Woodward should be commercial manager. Thats it. Watching the major prem players this weekend we are miles away. Woodward or Jose or Both?
Mourinho signings have all been clear upgrades and largely excellent. Woodward said in a conference call that the club wouldn't maintain it's level of spending. If the club are choosing the targets then they're also choosing how much they'd like to spend, telling fans we were willing to spend 100m on Varane is just laughable, why not tell them we're willing to buy KDB for 100m too.
David Beckham? Doubt some of you could run a tap.
Unrelated to United's search (I think!) but I reckon Zidane will make a brilliant DoF with a lot of gravitas one day.
He has strong connections in Italy, France and Spain speaking all 3 languages fluently. Also I can't imagine many future managers claiming that they know better than one of the best footballers of his generation and the only manager to have managed 3 CL wins in a row. If a board can trust someone's judgement and vision, a man like Zidane can be that.
I have severe doubts that a man who could take leadership roles in Madrid, Turin or Paris would end up in Manchester though. Especially since he neither speaks English nor does he have any connections here. So like I said I don't think he's one for us.
He has strong connections in Italy, France and Spain speaking all 3 languages fluently. Also I can't imagine many future managers claiming that they know better than one of the best footballers of his generation and the only manager to have managed 3 CL wins in a row. If a board can trust someone's judgement and vision, a man like Zidane can be that.
I have severe doubts that a man who could take leadership roles in Madrid, Turin or Paris would end up in Manchester though. Especially since he neither speaks English nor does he have any connections here. So like I said I don't think he's one for us.
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport...atici-domenico-teti-ed-woodward-a8489861.html
Well this is promising if true. Hopefully it's not like our transfer strategy where we just aim for the biggest name and settle for the lowest price.
Well this is promising if true. Hopefully it's not like our transfer strategy where we just aim for the biggest name and settle for the lowest price.
Why would David Gill come back to United in an inferior position? He resigned his job as the CE of United and now is the VP of FIFA and also the on the Board of the FA, UEFA and FIFA and also United.
They would be great options, and van der Sar would tick all the boxes.
It will take a lot to get them away from their current roles though.
Maybe Arsene Wenger? LOL.
SAF likes him.
SAF likes him.
What did the article say? Seems to have been taken down.
Mentioned Paratici at Juve and Monchi at Roma. Both would be difficult. Said that we have also contacted Teti at Novara.
Might end up being re-uploaded later, there may have been errors.
Okay thanks, both interesting choices, Monchi only recently moved didn't he?
Hate to be the contrarian but this might be a case of careful what you wish for. Call me old fashioned but could it be a case of too many cooks spoil the broth?
Mourinho has clearly known this is happening for a while so now maybe he has started engineering his own exit? Which with everything that has happened over pre-season, would make a hell of a lot of sense.
Furthermore, it may hinder our next choice of manager because nobody wants to be a "yes" man and a puppet. And it also may mean if said next manager does initially agree to be that "yes" man, they may find out quickly their vision cannot be fulfilled and move on quickly, thus, our turnover of managers will turn into a perpetual revolving door. It's why Real Madrid have never been able to keep a coach longer than a few years, likewise Barca and I'm confident Pep will at most be at City for no more than a couple more seasons due to this very reason.
Mourinho has clearly known this is happening for a while so now maybe he has started engineering his own exit? Which with everything that has happened over pre-season, would make a hell of a lot of sense.
Furthermore, it may hinder our next choice of manager because nobody wants to be a "yes" man and a puppet. And it also may mean if said next manager does initially agree to be that "yes" man, they may find out quickly their vision cannot be fulfilled and move on quickly, thus, our turnover of managers will turn into a perpetual revolving door. It's why Real Madrid have never been able to keep a coach longer than a few years, likewise Barca and I'm confident Pep will at most be at City for no more than a couple more seasons due to this very reason.
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We'll spend the next six months preparing a bid for our new DOF
Seems like Miguel Delaney reads the caf and has just written this based on the names thrown in this thread.- Status