400 MILLION!
Man Utd set to appoint Director of Football (when hell freezes over)
- Thread starter RedMachine03
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Despite the sarcastic tone of this post I wouldn’t be surprised if this was close to the truth.
I don’t think Woodward intended for things to spiral out of control like this. The way Phil de Bruin tells it Karen Shotbolt was giving a press briefing and Ed Woodward chanced by. The briefing we’ve got, which Gary Neville confirmed came from Ed defending himself to journalists, I think mostly happened because Ed got cornered and reached for some explanations he thought would be well accepted.
The more I look at the situation, and the way United is now trying to prop up Mourinho, I wouldn’t be surprised if Woodward never even considered Jose’s position would be fatally undermined by what he said. He was probably thinking ‘I’m getting flack here so I’m gonna deflect a bit.’ I could be wrong but the mixed messages don’t give the impression that there was a coordinated plan to do for Jose.
I’m not sure Woodward realised what he said would be interpreted as ‘Woodward doesn’t back Mourinho.’ Both by the media but also the players and their agents. In fact, based on the latest briefings about Zidane, I am guessing Woodward would never have said anything had he anticipated Mou’s authority would be hurt to the point that Pogba’s agent started trying to run roughshod over United in public.
This could all have been a series of very bad coincidences.
PS) In a world where Pep was able to replace Hart, Clichy, Sagna, Kolarov, Zabaleta, DeMechellis etc. Then replace some of the replacements, Bravo with Ederson, Stones with Laporte, £30m per centre back is nothing. Stones & Laporte alone cost over £100m.
Agree. Back him or sack him. Infinitely better than this bullshit predicament we're in now, not knowing what the deck is going on. It just doent make sense, and I completely blame Woodward and the board for this.
Spurs' and City's sqauds were valued at over £1bn last year. What was the value of our squad when Jose took over? Apart from DDG, Martial and Rashford, we had nobody who was worth over £30m.
Sadly the ideal scenario is getting rid of the Glazers, Woodward and Jose, but that's not looking very likely is it.
Jose has over seen 400 million, but he didnt buy all the players during his tenure.
I don't believe that for a second.
Pogba was a club purchase. His agent even said almost as such.
And he has spent 400 million and added very little value to the club.
Oh his agent said that ( almost).
Jose takes all the glory and the success, but when things are going wrong he has nothing to do with it.
Bit like the Glazers then.
Edgar, Riaola said he worked for 2 years on the Pogba to Utd deal. When Pogba arrived Jose was there a few months, do the maths. Get your head from your rear.
People talk about money. Yes it plays a big part. Let's just look at what we faced on Sunday. Can we compare our squad value to theirs? Without even bringing any stats about who spent money, you know that this team is better than their squads. When playing to their full capabilities, our squad would demolish Brighton.
Also, why talk about money when it comes to a philosophy of playing in an attacking way? You have league 2 sides playing better than us. How is spending 200m pounds extra on better players going to help?
Our Old Trafford crowd has seen the fullest football since Fergie left. 3 of the worst playing manager's in terms of style. Woodward needs to get blamed wholeheartedly. You can hire a sack of potatoes and give it 500m pounds, it still will play like a sack of potatoes. People complain why it's so quiet etc. We all know why in all honestly.
Also, why talk about money when it comes to a philosophy of playing in an attacking way? You have league 2 sides playing better than us. How is spending 200m pounds extra on better players going to help?
Our Old Trafford crowd has seen the fullest football since Fergie left. 3 of the worst playing manager's in terms of style. Woodward needs to get blamed wholeheartedly. You can hire a sack of potatoes and give it 500m pounds, it still will play like a sack of potatoes. People complain why it's so quiet etc. We all know why in all honestly.
Ed will not be leaving as he is making united more revenue than ever before. However, the club should make a few changes going forward for stability purposes.
1. It is clear the club is no longer supporting Mourinho ( whether justly or unjustly), and therefore should sack him regardless of the cost and move on, as stalling will only delay the process of a new vision and focus for the future.
2. Bring in a new director of football/ technical director/ any form of general manager. They can use this guy to sort out recruitment or at least be a supporting staff for managers in the transfer windows, as clearly we have found it difficult over the last 5 years to make valuable signings and profitable sales. Clearly there is an issue with dealing with clubs and agents that have made it seem more difficult for united.
3. Get a manager that suits the values and ethos of the club, and that can work hand in hand with the new director role. Maybe we go back to the British thing and get a progressive manager like Eddie Howe.
4. Sell Pogba or let him play under the new manager and evaluate. If sold use that money to get a new AM or CM. and Get a right winger
1. It is clear the club is no longer supporting Mourinho ( whether justly or unjustly), and therefore should sack him regardless of the cost and move on, as stalling will only delay the process of a new vision and focus for the future.
2. Bring in a new director of football/ technical director/ any form of general manager. They can use this guy to sort out recruitment or at least be a supporting staff for managers in the transfer windows, as clearly we have found it difficult over the last 5 years to make valuable signings and profitable sales. Clearly there is an issue with dealing with clubs and agents that have made it seem more difficult for united.
3. Get a manager that suits the values and ethos of the club, and that can work hand in hand with the new director role. Maybe we go back to the British thing and get a progressive manager like Eddie Howe.
4. Sell Pogba or let him play under the new manager and evaluate. If sold use that money to get a new AM or CM. and Get a right winger
First it's ill-advised to use anything coming out of the CIES and secondly it's even more ill-advised when these players have been purchased for relatively little and developed by their coach which increased their value.
Why do you assume it is soley Ed that strikes all these deals? Theres a group of people that work on such deals. Richard Arnold is one. Surely if Ed left he would be easily replaced.
Why are plane banners the go-to method of protest for football fans in England?
Yeah the banner is complete waste of time but it’s amusing at least - a bit of banter if you like.
Not that Jose is abolished of any fault - that Sevilla tie is the biggest stick if beat him with but so far has proven to be much more successful than any of our past options since Fergie.
Well it can be somewhat humorous, albeit pointless.
It’s traditional, like roast dinners, warm beer, leather on willow, googlies, village greens and the sound of a sopwith camel cutting through a summer evening sky. Either that or we’ve got more money than sense.
Bullshit. We went from 5th with one FA cup to getting 2 cups and qualifying for the CL during Mourinho's first season. In the second season we finished second comfortably and had a FA final. That is an improvement no matter how you look at it. The players Jose brought were generally good purchases - Zlatan, Lukaku, Alexis (granted he has not played as well as we would want, but he came basically for free which is a bargain), Fred and Dalot remain to be seen.
You talk about spending that kind of money, but is Mourinho the only one who spends money? Look at City, Liverpool, Chelsea. Are they not spending ridiculous amount of money, as well? Chelsea just brought a keeper for 70 million and Guardiola is buying players left and right with no care in the world.
Furthermore, I will repeat this shit again because some of you do not seem to get it. The squad Jose inherited was miles inferior to what Guardiola inherited. Let's be honest here. City had world class players in KDB, Silva, Aguero, Kompany and a decent-good player in Sterling. We had a world class player in De Gea and a decent-good player n Martial. When you compare the situations, it becomes crystal clear how miles better Guardiola had it compared to Mourinho and yet Guardiola has spent even more so than Mourinho. Yet people here are praising Guardiola like he is Jesus Christ and putting down Mourinho
I am not comparing him to Pep as there is no comparison. I am comparing our progress to that of Liverpool and Chelsea that have only now matched us for spending.
Those two minor cups in his first year have bought him some time but the signs for long periods last year were of a team going backwards. We finished a distant second in a year that both Chelsea and Arsenal had dead duck managers and a Liverpool were distracted by a CL run. Let's see how our title challenge pans out this year.
I would like to see a protest in the stadium that when we go to this slow square and back passing in our own half everyone stands up and turns there back to the pitch and only turn round when we begin to attack, take some brave soul to co-ordinate it. Or everyone chant attack attack when we have the ball in our own half.
This is what I find funny. When we were signing everyone was singing Jose's praises and his Portuguese contacts. When we were signing Pogba he was what Jose wanted and had tried to sign him at Chelsea. Jose was so happy with the Sanchez signing that he prematurely announced he wouldn't by signing any forwards in the summer.
When he can't get the best out of them all of a sudden they are not his signings. That's a load of bull. I saw the same thing about Baily recently too now that he is performing bad he was handed to Jose by the scouts. But before the narrative was that Jose knows how to pick a defender.
Haven't you thought that some of us care about the long term future of the club not Jose's short term plans. Had we got willian we would have a 29 year old winger on the left and a 30 year old on the right. If they fail on the field it's gonna take so much to get them off the books.
And what success did Liverpool have? 2 fourth places, one 8th and an CL final is that worth 200-300m what Klopp spent so far to call it a success?
Jose also tried to sign for Chelsea so wouldn't he still want him? I am sure he still had the final say just like LVG had on Ander and Shaw
And the long term plan is what? Hiring and sacking managers every 24 months? Think the Ed defenders are really failing to grasp that the problem is up top. Not who they will hire as a yes man to sit on the bench.
I’ll always side with someone like Jose - proven track record on the footballing side. What is Ed’s proven track record? Striking noodles deals?
Another briefing?
Lvg had a proven track record too. Hiring and sacking managers is part of modern day football. Look at the other big club's they are still winning. You couldn't even tell what's Jose's attacking philosophy for us now could you?
But Ed is working, as even though we have not been successful on the pitch, during his tenure we remain productive and even more marketable than ever.
So?
I want the club to spend another £400M on new players. I'd much rather that than the money go into the pockets of the Glazers.
I want to see better players at our club and a manager who is satisfied with his squad, confident of mounting a title challenge.
I want to see Jose get the same financial backing as Pep, so we can go toe-to-toe with MCFC.
I'm beginning to think that there are people on this forum who are supporters of Glazers and want to see their bank balance get as big as possible.
Tell us what's the plan of the club in general then. What was Ed's plan when he sacked Moyed ? What would have happened if Mourinho hadn't fallen with Chelsea while LVG was having his crisis here ? Who would have been our manager now ? LVG ?
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They are winning cause they are spending boatload of cash.
Don’t pull the LvG crap. His last big job was being sacked at Bayern 6 years ago or so. Mourinho won the league a year ago he was hired.
I give up with that attacking philosophy crap. I guess you weren’t around in Fergies later years when everybody was calling him out on negative approach.
Anyone who complains about a plane protest because its 'August' is a buffoon. The protest is not against the players or the manager. Its against the board who have constantly let us down. Not just in 'August' but for years. In the haggling, penny pinching and stupid decisions when negotiating. The club being poorly run is what is being protested and it being 'early on in the season' has absolutely nothing to do with that. In fact, the protest could lead to the Glazers seeing Woodward needs to be away from the footballing side. And lead to us not only hiring a 'technical director' but an actual DOF with a vision.
Lets discuss this again at the end of the season.
This club needs a revolution in its ideas. Don't support the banner but hope it reminds the owners that there are standards they and he manager aren't meeting. I want Ed taken off football duties, I want a DoF and Mourinho out.
It's not a protest, it's a bunch of wankers with delusions of grandeur making yet another embarrassing attempt at trying to stay relevant. Woodward is Glazers' yesman, they won't make any moves against him as they trust him, due to his obvious financial/commercial success, which translates into money, the only thing they'll care about.
It's down to Woodward to ask for help in footballing matters, seeing how things how I cannot see him giving up any soon, he'll do everything he can to prove that he can handle it, even if he cannot. The 'United is set to appoint a DOF' is a cheap talk, at best Woodward will appoint somebody who'll be his yesman because he won't want to give up a good chunk of power that he currently possesses.
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