Murtough has to be one of the most damaging figures we ever had. Essentially burned half a billion pounds to make the team worse than it was. An utter failure in every aspect, I do not think that he did a single thing right.
Manchester United name John Murtough as Football Director and Darren Fletcher as Technical Director
- Thread starter Tom Van Persie
- Start date
I cannot help but wonder if Fletcher will be the next to follow. To be fair, his job description seemed vague from the beginning and there didn't seem to be any clarity except for few articles mentioning his role as 'talking united up'. It was strange to see him on the bench sometimes and having a go at the ref (probably under Ole or Ralf though). Just curious if there are any other 'Technical Directors' in football? Bayern seem to have few players in similar roles but more as ambassadors so wouldn't be against keeping few ex-players if there is clarity over roles.
Nooooo my boy!
The general consensus (or so I thought) was that he did a decent job backing the manager and his targets. The downside of that, with benefit of hindsight, has been over the top transfer fees on one-dimensional players who would be hard to get rid off if you abandon the manager. A more astute director would try to stay ahead of the media news leaks, agent stories etc. and try to put some smokescreens in for better bargains, so can't really applaud Murtough for being average.
Worse than jaysus Woodward??
Short memories around here.
He said "one of", not "worst".
Sweet Jesus.
You're singling out Fletcher for some odd reason in every post - my point was, why aren't the football people (any of them) at the club ever talk to the fans?
What’s he going to talk about?
About his job. Isn't he supposed to oversee progression of players through the youth teams? Can't he talk about how well they work, who looks promising to move up the ranks and such stuff?
If he is doing his job right he should be able to give the fans hope for the long run, albeit not for the near future as that doesn't seem to be his job.
But to be clear this is just what I expect based on this thread, as he simply doesn't seem to say anything in public.
True - Conte, like Mourinho before him etc are coaches, operating under a budget to achieve some milestones - they're not setting the milestones, ambitions, budgets that go with it etc.
It’s not usual to just come out abs talk in an uncontrolled manner about these things. Perhaps the new direction could have him interviewed with MUTV
Paul Mitchell talking and discussing about the process of signing players
I don't think you don't really hear about, or from, people in roles like Fletcher's though. It's a behind the scenes gig. You might get a short piece once every few seasons but it's not really the done thing. As for Perez he's an egomaniac who wants to put himself at the centre of everything so no surprises there.
I think a fair amount is cultural as well though. In England the manager tends to be the face of the club.
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Murtough has been a complete disaster as DOF, he should have never been appointed but the club clearly didn’t want a proper DOF otherwise they would have appointed one. He is the poster boy for the club rewarding and recruiting internally despite the club repeatedly failing.
I expect Fletcher to stay but maybe with a different job title, Steve Brown will surely go soon as well. another ex Everton man in a key recruitment role who has been promoted internally despite our terrible recruitment.
I expect Fletcher to stay but maybe with a different job title, Steve Brown will surely go soon as well. another ex Everton man in a key recruitment role who has been promoted internally despite our terrible recruitment.
Well yes, if we’d already got people in place who were capable of doing it themselves.
Any truth to this at all or are we going to get worked up over rumour as per?
If the only source is Jeremy Cross at the Daily Star for this story then Murtough will probably be around a while longer
Thanks - Yeah so he said he didn't want to be the 'sole ruler' meaning he didn't demand total control.
Murtough was always unqualified
His background was that of an administrative fixer, at which he was fine by all accounts, and was something that United needed at the time he was appointed.
I don’t think he ever held himself out to be any sort of football visionary.
And yet he failed to make our deadwood 'disappear'
Splendid news, if true. Hopefully, a better source corroborates it. A man woefully out of his depth to the surprise of absolutely no one.
I do not think that a good DoF backs the manager. A good DoF hires a manager that suits the club’s style of play, and then signs players for that style of play. This way, the manager becomes easy to fire without needing to do a full rebuild.
Murtough completely failed at that. Thus, when ETH gets fired, we would need to do another full rebuild. Which is what having a DoF is supposed to prevent.
Again I’m not sure how much that was down to him. You’re right that our squad management (not just our signings) has been awful for ages, but it’s hard to tell who’s been calling the shots.
I’m not inclined to put the blame on the managers either. It’s daft to believe that Ole was desperate to hang onto the likes of Bailly.
That wasn't the structure. Think people here are being harsh. I don't think Murtough was ever a DOF at United. He wasn't a direct manager to ETH, rather he worked in collaboration with him, which is how the position was sold. The premise to his appointment was a lack of support to the manager, Murough provided that. It just turns out that supporting the manager was never the actual problem. Our problem was we gave them a bit too much freedom, and Murough's role wasn't going to curb that reality. He needed to go, but he also wasn't at fault either.
Murtough should go. Giving rashford that new huge contract cannot be justified.
but if he have veto rights, then it's basically total control
Well no it's not, but do we know if he does and, if so, do all parties have one? Or are we just inventing things again?
Why should he say anything? How many TDs give interviews and talk to public? It's on managers, DoF to do all that.
I don't remember anyone doing that.
Not sure what the benefit is in sacking him.
Under his leadership, key scouts have been promoted, he has already introduced a data analytics team and we got rid of a significant load of deadwood. Too many people on the forums expect every signing to be perfect, every contract to be minimum wage and every youth player to be a success.
His role is not to determine which players to sign. His role is to ensure the various departments within the club work in tandem (and similar ideas) to ensure the best conditions to get results on the pitch. And granted we have been shite this season but you can quite legitimately look at the terrible injuries we've had and say that this hasn't helped.
Continuously firing people, in the hope that the next fad (like Mitchell) solves all the problems is not a solution either. The solution is to actually get all the departments working towards a common goal and, contrary to what the media writes, this does seem to be happening, albeit frustratingly slowly.
Under his leadership, key scouts have been promoted, he has already introduced a data analytics team and we got rid of a significant load of deadwood. Too many people on the forums expect every signing to be perfect, every contract to be minimum wage and every youth player to be a success.
His role is not to determine which players to sign. His role is to ensure the various departments within the club work in tandem (and similar ideas) to ensure the best conditions to get results on the pitch. And granted we have been shite this season but you can quite legitimately look at the terrible injuries we've had and say that this hasn't helped.
Continuously firing people, in the hope that the next fad (like Mitchell) solves all the problems is not a solution either. The solution is to actually get all the departments working towards a common goal and, contrary to what the media writes, this does seem to be happening, albeit frustratingly slowly.
But you see this is where you are incorrect, Mitchell is not a 'fad' he has been well established at many big clubs around Europe and well reknowned as a Head of Recruitment and Development at these clubs. He has vastly more experience in this kind of role than John Murtough does, who for all intents are purposes has pretty much been a Glazer yes man. We want elite footballing minds in these positions, not bankers and Glazer yes men. Not to say he hasn't done some good things, but new ownership of the sporting side are going to want to bring in their own people with their own idea of how the club should be run, quite frankly I think the sporting side of the club has been absolutely horrendous and think most people that have been recruited by the Glazers into positions of power should have their jobs questioned.
I'm all in for a wholesale clearout. All departments will be working towards a common goal when INEOS get all the people they want who will work with them to do so, Murtough can have all the data and analytics he wants but he pretty much bent over for ETH's transfer targets instead of building a team for Manchester United as a club now and in the future with our without ETH, which is what a proper DOF should do.
We need someone who is a certified hawk at identifying talent form and potential relative to the demands of PL football and at a huge club that wants to be the best again. The scrutiny and level of self belief and professionalism that goes with that is obviously another issue. And just as important is spotting interesting gaps in the markets, contracts expiring on slightly older players to pad out the squad and add a sprinkle of guidance and then find the very top youth who could come in and play regular football here. The wage bill could drop by nearly half and we’d get the same return on the pitch so why not? We might finally even get a few top players peaking here at the same time again which is something we’ve never really achieved post Fergie.
Also last thing but having Nice and that Swiss club as a partnership is so much better than youth football for under 21s and for getting transfer targets to come here. All the big clubs are doing it now because It works. It’s the ultimate work around for Brexit and work permits too. Young players don’t want to sit in an academy for years and then get released without at least a fair crack at the senior game somewhere before they go. It also adds value to the player putting them in the shop window more than just an odd pre season game.
There are a few pluses with jimbo for sure but ultimately I think it’ll be a band aid on a bullet hole, simply because it makes the glazers richer and he was their hire. All their hires have been questionable and this will be more of the same most likely.They can’t get anything right and only care about themselves so why would this be any different? It just feels like more half measures and the slow endless grind to modernise the club on their watch
Also last thing but having Nice and that Swiss club as a partnership is so much better than youth football for under 21s and for getting transfer targets to come here. All the big clubs are doing it now because It works. It’s the ultimate work around for Brexit and work permits too. Young players don’t want to sit in an academy for years and then get released without at least a fair crack at the senior game somewhere before they go. It also adds value to the player putting them in the shop window more than just an odd pre season game.
There are a few pluses with jimbo for sure but ultimately I think it’ll be a band aid on a bullet hole, simply because it makes the glazers richer and he was their hire. All their hires have been questionable and this will be more of the same most likely.They can’t get anything right and only care about themselves so why would this be any different? It just feels like more half measures and the slow endless grind to modernise the club on their watch
Just to refresh my mind, Murtough doesn’t have any prior football director experience before United does he?
Yeah they shouldn't have accepted that but when your board is full of bankers not football people it's inevitable they lack strength
All the departments aren’t up to scratch and continually promoting from within when the club has been consistently failing was and still is a terrible idea. Firing people and looking to bring in new ideas and better qualified people is not a fad it’s what should have happened years ago.