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

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Yeah I don't really get the love-in for Gill. Our problems with player recruitment go way back under his watch.
 
Fitchett said:
According to Wikipedia, we've had 21 managers since 1892 to the current date (Walter Crickmer and Sir Matt Busby each had two stints). We have won the League a record 20 times. But, we have won the league under three of those managers only (Mangnall (2), Busby (5), Ferguson (13). Therefore, 18 managers failed to deliver us a league title win. This shows how as a club, we have heavily relied on the genius of three exceptional managers, rather than any solid club structure, to deliver sustained success, on a par with the likes of Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Barcelona et al.

Surely this demonstrates the need for the club to get a proper structure implemented, with a Director of Football at the helm, assisted by a Head Coach and team of specialists, so that we aren't dependent on an exceptional manager to provide us with success.
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I really like this write-up.
 
steffyr2 said:
So to recap..........

The Utd board decided not to invest in players this summer.
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Could have sworn we signed two first team players for nearly £75m combined plus a third choice keeper.

Was it a good window? Not at all but we did invest didn't we? Just not what we hoped it would be.
 
el3mel said:
They have spent 240m since they sold Coutinho. This exceeds the money sold by Coutinho and they're not going to spend it for life.

We'll see. They had a problem in GK and CB, splashed 75m on a defender and 67m on a GK. City also splashed 290m on defense and GK alone in 2.5 years under Pep away from their other spending on other areas. What they splashed on defense and GK alone is nearly equal to what Mourinho has spent in his entire reign here. If that's not a cheque book then what is it ? Even Chelsea lost Coutinho for 35 then splashed the cash on unknown GK for 75m.

The only reason if they won't spend big next summer is because they have already covered most of their weaknesses in all areas like what City did, while we have been 6 years post SAF and still have exactly same problem and weaknesses in certain positions year in year out. We have only solved the midfield issue.

That's what planned and well run clubs do. Sell unneeded players for a huge profit, splash the cash in 1 or 2 summers on all weaknesses of the team to build a nearly complete squad, then you can spend less and only on additions or luxury players the next summers. We have done nothing of that since we sacked Moyes.

We'll enter next season with exactly the same problems we have entering the current season.
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My point is that a huge sum of money in, has probably assisted in the money that has been able to go out. I don't think that's particularly controversial is it? You have suggested in a previous post that they're now operating on an "open chequebook" policy. There's no evidence of that. Their owners don't have limitless pots of money.

They have spent big to try and address issues in the squad. Klopp will now be expected to deliver. I suspect they wont continually had over huge sums of money to him if he doesn't. That's how football works. Clubs spend in cycles. Few clubs can spend mega-millions every year.

And the arguments about addressing issues could equally be made about United. Pogba, Matic and Fred cost north of £160 million. Sanchez was arguably one of the best players in the league over the last 18 months to 2 years at Arsenal. Lukaku was £90 million. To say the club haven't backed Mourinho simply isn't true. The bolded paragraph just doesn't hold any water because the club has spent a fortune. A failure to bring in a centre-back doesn't change that fact.

In my opinion we needed another centre-half. That said, there is a distinct lack of high quality available and in a market where Maguire is a £60 million plus player on the back of a decent season and a good world cup I can see why the club doesn't see it as viable.

At the end of the day, you might think that the club have to had Mourinho whatever he wants and that's fair enough. I disagree. There has to be some common sense and to go back to the basic point I was making in this thread at the outset, there seems to have been a shift in Mourinho's attitude in the middle of last season. He has, in the past engineered situations and picked fights seemingly with the intention of making his position untenable and justifying a departure. I can see why the club would be reticent to allow him to spend huge sums this summer if there's a chance he walks.
 
RedRover said:
My point is that a huge sum of money in, has probably assisted in the money that has been able to go out. I don't think that's particularly controversial is it? You have suggested in a previous post that they're now operating on an "open chequebook" policy. There's no evidence of that. Their owners don't have limitless pots of money.

They have spent big to try and address issues in the squad. Klopp will now be expected to deliver. I suspect they wont continually had over huge sums of money to him if he doesn't. That's how football works. Clubs spend in cycles. Few clubs can spend mega-millions every year.

And the arguments about addressing issues could equally be made about United. Pogba, Matic and Fred cost north of £160 million. Sanchez was arguably one of the best players in the league over the last 18 months to 2 years at Arsenal. Lukaku was £90 million. To say the club haven't backed Mourinho simply isn't true. The bolded paragraph just doesn't hold any water because the club has spent a fortune. A failure to bring in a centre-back doesn't change that fact.

In my opinion we needed another centre-half. That said, there is a distinct lack of high quality available and in a market where Maguire is a £60 million plus player on the back of a decent season and a good world cup I can see why the club doesn't see it as viable.

At the end of the day, you might think that the club have to had Mourinho whatever he wants and that's fair enough. I disagree. There has to be some common sense and to go back to the basic point I was making in this thread at the outset, there seems to have been a shift in Mourinho's attitude in the middle of last season. He has, in the past engineered situations and picked fights seemingly with the intention of making his position untenable and justifying a departure. I can see why the club would be reticent to allow him to spend huge sums this summer if there's a chance he walks.
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They have exceeded Coutinho money by already 100m now. For how long are we going to say they're still spending depending on this 140m they got when they have exceeded it and still spending ?

If they didn't spend money next season it'll be because they already covered most weaknesses in the squad and now have a new complete one that only few additions will be enough. They entered this summer having a problem in midfield and GK, improved both massively, and we previously mocked on their defense issues, and that as well was improved by VVD. Their attack was always great anyway so they don't have any weak points left in the squad to cover. They won't need to spend big not because of FFP issues or things like that but because they already splashed the cash and in right places.

We on the other hand, in these 6 summers post SAF how many positions have we improved ? Midfield and striker are the only positions we have spent well in, the rest were either not spent well on or spent money on wrong set of players that didn't improve. We're still entering 6 year post SAF with glaring issues in our defense, fullbacks and right flank, and we're ignoring 2 of those positions almost every year it's frustrating to see.

Not sure when I said the board didn't back Mourinho. They did very well in his first summer and decent in his second one, but as Neville said, you don't build a three quarters of house then decide to stop midway. We entered this market having glaring issues in RW, full backs and even our defense looked average and covered by Dave last season. How many of those improved ? Zero. We signed one starter in midfield and a 19 years old youngster that will be lucky to feature in 15 games. We improved none of our issues from last season. Compare that to how City overhauled their defense, GK and fullbacks in 1.5 seasons, and how Liverpool completely changed their midfield, defense and GK in 1.5 seasons, then compare this to us entering the next season without even improving the problems we had from last season and how can you be happy with that ? Don't give Mourinho everything he needs but it's ridiculous to enter another season with yet exactly the same problems in the squad without improving. Another season with 2 declined wingers as your fullbacks, attacking midfielders playing as on right flank and shaky defense covered by Dave. It's not just the CB. To enter 6th post SAF and still have glaring issues in the team despite all this spending means something is wrong with how we're spending this, while the other rivals need only 1-2 seasons to overhaul the whole squad and become in better shape.

Our problem is we either don't spend on the positions we need to improve in or even when spend, we spend very poor and without a plan or strategy. We only want as much marketable players as possible, and seems fans are agreeing on this principle which I can't grasp. I don't think City and Liverpool signed much marketable players under both Pep and Klopp, but they're signing the very good and functional options available that will make the team balanced and well functioning and will suit their ideas. We want to sign the top players then think later how we'll use them, leading to an unbalanced squad. You have to think 6 years, 3 managers, and the issues of transfers are the same it's time to point figures to who is responsible for managing the football side of the club.

60m for Maguire won't be as crazy as 75m for VVD and as VVD improved Liverpool defense, Maguire would have also improved ours and spending money on a player that's going to benefit the team is better than keeping this money in Glazers bank account without spending it on anyone. Which top class CBs are there present with less than 70m ? Chelsea spent 72m on an unknown GK with no name. Market has moved and we'll need to adapt if we don't want to be left behind.

Next season we need a DOF to organize the transfers and managerial appointment, put a certain plan for the team and force the board to spend on important signings. Otherwise, nothing is going to change if our only strategy in the market is waiting for the most marketable player and sign him. It's not a gallery of big names. It's how to build a proper team.
 
Nou_Camp99 said:
Could have sworn we signed two first team players for nearly £75m combined plus a third choice keeper.

Was it a good window? Not at all but we did invest didn't we? Just not what we hoped it would be.
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Not signing 1 player means we didn't invest. That's been the narrative since the last week of the transfer window
 
Back in 2013 everybody would support saf if he moved up to become a dof.

And his first policy is to sign david moyes. Veto the purchase of gareth bale for 90m. Instruct moyes to plat zaha.

Hypothetical off course, hindsight is always 20/20 but it just shows that there's no guarantee having a dof would be a good thing.

Just as manager finding a good dof isnt an easy task. In modern history the dof the caf envisioned is only johann cruyff, even then he's not involved much in purchasing player.

The dof that the caf wanted doesn't exists. I mean, look at what he has to master : negotiation, tactical, love united, great contacts, classy, etc. Even fergie and gill rolled into one would not be suffice.
 
el3mel said:
If what the board perceived as value was Varane we would have never got anyone. The standard the board set as a value to spend according to the briefing means that they weren't ready to spend any farther but wanted to save face and show that they have intent but didn't find good targets, exactly what was Arsenal were doing for years. If you're fooled with that, Ok.



Some of these players have performed pretty well for Mourinho on several occasions, Pogba, Jones, Smalling, Bailly, Rashford, hell even Martial all had pretty good games mixed with some bad ones. They haven't poor the whole run at all. Mikhi and Lindelof are the ones who were mostly rubbish here thus can be considered flops.

Pogba has performed in World Cup in a role that Mourinho wants him to do here. A CM with defensive duties and can launch counters, play simple football and be a part of the team. People were talking about Pogba should be given a free roam role without restrictions but when he actually did well with restrictions at World Cup they're using this as a base. That's the funny thing.



I'm talking about the current season.

We have finished second last season, ahead of everyone bar one. The next step was to improve the team farther to close the gap with City and mount a title challenge, to move from second spot to challenging the first who has unlimited funds, like what City did for Pep after his first season when finished 3rd, 15 points away from first spot or what Liverpool did for Klopp after finishing 4th, 17 and 25 points in respective away from the top. They now have a better and more balanced team than us thanks to their board plans.

Instead, we decided to feck up the market, don't sign any targets and told the manager to feck off and do with what he had, different from City approach with Pep after he finished 3rd and win nothing. He said he gave a list of 5 players, then said he wanted 2 but got only 1, didn't get any. That means we got him 2/5 or something of the targets that we were supposed to continue improving and move from second spot to challenge for the first.

If you reached the point in which you don't trust the manager and think his targets are shite and not suited for the club, that he won't improve anyone and it's useless to spend more money for him, why even keep him in charge ? Sack him immediately and bring another one to spend money for. How is that concept very hard for some to gather ?! You're fine with your board not backing the manager in his 3rd season, ok, what's your point of them not sacking him then ?

The end is the situation became a manager who the board didn't trust and decided to not back him any farther, but also decided to not sack him and left him to manage a squad that he wanted to improve and doesn't trust some of its players.

Your board has simply written this season off before it even began. They didn't sack Mourinho but refused to back him any farther. How can both happen exactly in any decently managed club ? Impossible.

Back him or sack him, but don't leave the team in a fecking nutshells at the start of the season. If you trust your manager ideas of the team like what City and Pool did away from the results, back him to the heart and bring him all his targets. If you don't like the approach of your manager and think his targets are too old and don't represent value for money, sack him immediately and bring a manager who suits your ideas as a CEO. Both situations are much better than the shite show we decided to make.

What we did is the board decided to write this season off completely and wait for the next one. No good managed or well run club will do this shite. More importantly, no club board will do this and be appreciated by the fans like what you're doing. The only reason for that is that it's coming under a hated figure of a manager from the most like Mourinho. Any other manager having the same problem and I doubt the reactions would have been the same.
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ALL of this. Back him or sack him. Giving him a new contract was stupidity.
 
This is the reality. We have entrusted Ed Woodward to make personnel decisions for this team. He has hired the coaches and signs off on the player bids and signings. This is his product on the field. We can blame Mourinho, we can blame the players, at the end of the day, I blame Woodward. Do we need a new coach? HELL YES. Do we need some better players? HELL YES. But if any heads roll, I hope the first is Woodward. It's obvious the players have no interest in playing to their best ability under Mourinho, so he too must go. I imagine this season will go much like the Chelsea season went in 2015 when they finished tenth, between two EPL Championships. I look at all of the signings since SAF left and find only five of value. Zlatan, Pogba, Di Maria, Sanchez, and Matic. Every other signing, including players like Mata, Lukaku, Martial, and Fellaini, are simply not MUFC quality. Sure they have their moments, but not at the frequency expected of the MUFC squad. Same goes for United youth players like Lingard and Rashford. While I admit, on a good team they might be lethal, neither has shown the ability to carry the club when others are not. I don’t need to spend my Saturdays or Sundays watching boring football, and I certainly don’t want the ulcer that accompanies watching our biggest rival win 6-1 as we lose to a 16th place team immediately following. With the fiscal resources and capital this club holds in pocket, there is no reason why they should not be at the level of a Barcelona, Real Madrid, Juventus, or Bayern. But they are not. They penny pinch and reach on marginal players and I don’t think I am interested in this club anymore. They are not the same team I knew when I came to love them. It’s like Coors. If one day they decided that instead of using Rocky Mountain Spring water, they’d use Mexican pond water, I’d probably stop drinking Coors. Yes I realize that is a stretch here, but the point is made. Everything wrong with MUFC currently can be traced directly to Jose or Ed. If the players say they like Jose and there is no rift, then the players are of poor quality, and that falls on Ed (and Jose). If the players are purposely tanking games like they did at Chelsea in 2016, then that’s on Jose. If the team cannot score goals, that falls on the engineer of their offensive attack. Which is Jose. I can go on and on.
 
Another thing I don't understand. If our defense was one of the top defenses last season, why the urge to buy defensive players? Is that going to somehow help our offense? Because this team cannot score against some of the worst clubs.
 
Matthew1972 said:
Another thing I don't understand. If our defense was one of the top defenses last season, why the urge to buy defensive players? Is that going to somehow help our offense? Because this team cannot score against some of the worst clubs.
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While it may not be a drastic change, having defenders who are comfortable playing out from the back absolutely can improve your attack as defenders can find players in advanced positions, allowing attackers to get further forward. Not to add, having better defenders generally means a manager will be more comfortable allowing players to get into advanced positions.

Also, our defence last season really wasn't that good. We had a good defensive record due to De Gea and our defensive style.
 
Womp said:
While it may not be a drastic change, having defenders who are comfortable playing out from the back absolutely can improve your attack as defenders can find players in advanced positions, allowing attackers to get further forward. Not to add, having better defenders generally means a manager will be more comfortable allowing players to get into advanced positions.

Also, our defence last season really wasn't that good. We had a good defensive record due to De Gea and our defensive style.
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Yes, I agree, but what I saw was a larger failure by our offensive players, players like Martial, Lindgard, Rashford, Mata, and even Lukaku. Sanchez even looked poor, but at least i have seen evidence of his quality. I find it a stretch to say those players failures were a result of defensive shortcomings.
 
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When is the current tv deal set to expire? Given there were lots of stories about how viewership and paying subscribers have been down the last few seasons, I wonder if there's any concern there.

At the same time, if Facebook or Amazon were to get the rights, could blow it all wide open.

I'm not sure that many clubs make enough to be spending the kind of transfer fees we're seeing this summer. If in 2 seasons time there are fire sales everywhere and clubs are going into administration, Ed might not look so quite so stupid.
 
Need a DOF alright. One that will stay for twenty years. With an attacking philosophy and who will hire a manager with the same philosophy.

Like Gary Neville said, you would have to critisize Ed Woodward. We have gone from Moyes, to Van Gaal to Mourinho all who play different types of football. Then the dynamics of our transfers is different because of the managers different philosophies.
 
It's time this chinless wanker packed his bags and left town.

I said it before the start of the season and was laughed at on here. 3 weeks is a long time in football. Already gathering momentum.
 
If we have to fire a third manager in a row, this clown needs to go with them or at least be buried at the bottom of the accounting books in some basement at Carrington or the London office.
 
Should feck off whenever Mourinho leaves.

2 failing appointments, and several disastrous summers. Spending shite loads on average players for years and letting them run their contracts down next season, then we have this current summer. Why the hell should we trust him with a third managerial appointment ?

He has made the club a complete mess. Should feck off.
 
I really want a behind the scenes documentary now. Not getting entertained on the pitch, might as well see what clowns operate backstage to make us look so ridiculous for 3 years.
 
Every game we play is just proving more and more what an idiot Woodward was to not back Jose in buying CBs.
 
Just remember guys, Maguire and Alderweireld are NOT better than Jones or Lindelof :rolleyes:

Woody has sabotaged the manager, he can feck off for all I care. A fecking accountant should never be making football decisions.
 
It's funny to watch him pretending he's suddenly interested in football and watching games from the stands.

When he will let United be all about football again ? This club doesn't need parasites and it can run itself just fine.
 
Beachryan said:
When is the current tv deal set to expire? Given there were lots of stories about how viewership and paying subscribers have been down the last few seasons, I wonder if there's any concern there.

At the same time, if Facebook or Amazon were to get the rights, could blow it all wide open.

I'm not sure that many clubs make enough to be spending the kind of transfer fees we're seeing this summer. If in 2 seasons time there are fire sales everywhere and clubs are going into administration, Ed might not look so quite so stupid.
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Meanwhile we are currently 13th on the league. I wonder when Ed will not look so stupid?
 
el3mel said:
Should feck off whenever Mourinho leaves.

2 failing appointments, and several disastrous summers. Spending shite loads on average players for years and letting them run their contracts down next season, then we have this current summer. Why the hell should we trust him with a third managerial appointment ?

He has made the club a complete mess. Should feck off.
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Not to mention giving players big wages so we have trouble selling them.

Im glad people are starting to wise up and realise that Woodward is part of the problem at this club.
 
el3mel said:
Should feck off whenever Mourinho leaves.

2 failing appointments, and several disastrous summers. Spending shite loads on average players for years and letting them run their contracts down next season, then we have this current summer. Why the hell should we trust him with a third managerial appointment ?

He has made the club a complete mess. Should feck off.
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Truth to be told he Ed didnt have much choice when he appointed The Idiot and Mou. Most fans considered these appointments as sensible ones.
 
Hawks2008 said:
Just remember guys, Maguire and Alderweireld are NOT better than Jones or Lindelof :rolleyes:

Woody has sabotaged the manager, he can feck off for all I care. A fecking accountant should never be making football decisions.
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Sabotaged the manager :lol: As if the entire fate of our season hinges on the signing of a fecking defender.
 
The only constant in our failures post Fergie. Why the feck would you keep a manager you can't trust? Surely if you're not gonna back him, then you sack him! Fecking idiot.
 
Hawks2008 said:
Just remember guys, Maguire and Alderweireld are NOT better than Jones or Lindelof :rolleyes:

Woody has sabotaged the manager, he can feck off for all I care. A fecking accountant should never be making football decisions.
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Woodward has not only sabotaged the manager, he has managed to sabotage the club as well and the sad thing is he will get away from this laughing all the way to the bank. feck this arrogant, ignorant investment banker and feck the Glazers too.
 
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