Omar Berrada | Man Utd CEO

Matt Varnish said:
It's easy to look good when you've been playing on cheat mode.
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Some people underrate what the Abu Dhabi did for City. Just 10 years before they bought the club, City were in 2nd division and they were reduced to loan players from us to keep themselves afloat. Sure cheating happens but its not that different to what the likes of Chelsea did under Roman Abramovich. None of these sugar daddies were able to take a small club, gain and retain success and dominate in almost every field (ex academy) on a consistent basis the way they did. They managed to successfully export their model outside the UK (ex Girona whose dominating the Spanish liga). City admin team had played a huge part to that. I mean it takes alot of maturity for a club with near unlimited funds to comprehend and implement concepts such as strengthening the youth academy and saying no to certain expensive transfers simply because its not good to sign those players on the long term. City lost their battle with us ie their rivals not once, not twice but three times (Maguire, Sanchez and Ronaldo). I can't see many sugar daddy ran clubs having the vision and the maturity to do so, certainly not PSG, Berlusconi's AC Milan or Galactico Real who always struggled on letting their arch rivals beat them on the transfer market.

I am not glorifying City. Most of their ideas (youth academy, having affiliate clubs, having state of the art training facilities, hire the very best people, being responsible of the transfer market, aiming to be the best in everything) were copied by clubs like ours and in some ways further improved. The Glazers helped them a great deal. United was saddled with a huge debt which was there simply to fund their buyout, they hired mediocrity who ironically removed the many policies we had in place that made City great (affiliate clubs, hiring the best people, investment in the youth academy and facilities etc) and this mediocrity (Woodward, Judge, Murtough etc) took a scattergun approach on the transfer market. United changed style four times since SAF left. We went direct under Moyes, we then tried to play high possession based football under LVG, we went counter attack football under Mou and then high press under ETH. Every style required a new squad to be successful all of which came half baked due to us overspending in terms of salaries and fees. I am just putting things into the right perspective. As said its very simplistic and quite frankly wrong to say ah that City rise was solely down to money. Its the same accusation they used to do to us during the 90s as well. Yes money plays a huge part in things but that money was carefully invested. Good investment brings more money to the team which in turn helps making the team more successful
 
Tom Van Persie said:
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same PR bullshit as before. I will wait till I see actions are taken rather than all this talk.

Yes, I understand the sentiment, but how are they expecting to clear off players on high wages without taking a massive loss on the transfer fees we paid for.
 
Josep Dowling said:
Why not just go for Alonso? Ancelotti has signed a new contract with Real and Klopp won’t be leaving Liverpool so seems like we would have a good chance of getting him (his Liverpool connection aside).
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Oh I have no problem at all, I just assumed he wouldn't come to this shit show. The job is manager kryptonite - high expectations, lots of media attention but the squad quality is not there yet to reach those expectations.
 
Mickeza said:
Common sense. No slight on him as a person but Martial still being at this football club is an utter fecking disgrace. How can you expect to set a culture of excellence where winning is only to be accepted by doing shit like that? What message does it send?
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Indeed. In fact, Martial is the single biggest offender in my opinion. Sure we've had other players sticking around longer than they probably should have but he takes the cake. I mean ffs we got rid of players like Chicharito, Blind for far less. This is not personal of course, I am sure Anthony is generally fine individual, but you don't win things with just that. The sulking and injuries alone are excessive to say the least.
 
Saying it and doing it are different things, I don't really care what he has to say, let's see what he does - At the minute this is all nonsense as the Glazers have to allow the value to be written off, sold at a loss etc so let's see if any of that happens
 
This sounds all well and good but players have contracts. You can't just force them to leave. Look at Maguire in the summer. We may be more willing to take a loss on transfer values than previously (this could result badly in FFP) but if a player digs his heels in then there's nothing Berrada can do.
 
This guy is a smart cookie, just the sort of person Ineous covet. He will not be the last. Forget any City shit attached to him. He's not likely to implicate himself in any cheating although that has already been proven that the club did. I'm not sure he was there when the actual offences took place. Anyhow, forget that and look forward to more 'professional' people being hired and no more Glazer sycophants destroying the club and what it stands for.
 
Borussia Teeth said:
This sounds all well and good but players have contracts. You can't just force them to leave. Look at Maguire in the summer. We may be more willing to take a loss on transfer values than previously (this could result badly in FFP) but if a player digs his heels in then there's nothing Berrada can do.
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The secret lie in the football structure. If we don't overpay + we have competent people who can handle a high staff turnover then its can be done
 
Borussia Teeth said:
This sounds all well and good but players have contracts. You can't just force them to leave. Look at Maguire in the summer. We may be more willing to take a loss on transfer values than previously (this could result badly in FFP) but if a player digs his heels in then there's nothing Berrada can do.
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There are things that can be done, but they have their own pros and cons.

Look at Sancho for instance. The club took a stance of not playing him. If they do something similar with players they want gone and they won't go, then players will think twice about digging their heels in. Of course there will be the odd duck who'll be happy to take a pay check not playing but most would want to play.

The issue we have currently is that there's always a way back for players like Maguire, McTominay, Martial etc because we never replace them until we have sold them. Hence they still get game time. If you make a point of absolutely not playing someone you want gone, then that will discourage players from digging their heels in.

But I do recognize that this might have an adverse effect when recruiting players ( at least until we start winning stuff) because players might not want to join a club where they suffer a perceived injustice.
 
The bar is so low :lol: . Great to hear and exactly what is needed but this is common sense.
 
RedBanker said:
Erm....players who have NOT performed for 3-4 years will AGAIN be given more time to prove themselves. Gulp.
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I don't think that's what it means.

The new culture is that you have 1 or 2 years to prove yourself. That current players that have not proved themselves in the last 2 years will be on the chopping block now.
 
Of course they might struggle to shift those on high wages for any meaningful fees, but the key, going forward, would be to not hand out fat contracts to players who are either too young or have not proved anything in the game yet. Fast we start handing out more sensible wages etc. - moving on underperforming players will become less of a challenge.
 
Jordan_mufc said:
I don't think that's what it means.

The new culture is that you have 1 or 2 years to prove yourself. That current players that have not proved themselves in the last 2 years will be on the chopping block now.
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Ah ok. That's something good.
 
Honestly, that's half our squad.

Easy to point to the likes of Martial who've been here for ages, but likes of Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof etc would have all been moved on ages under more competent ownership.
 
bleedred said:
same PR bullshit as before. I will wait till I see actions are taken rather than all this talk.

Yes, I understand the sentiment, but how are they expecting to clear off players on high wages without taking a massive loss on the transfer fees we paid for.
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Agree somewhat -- people are getting far a little too excited over this appointment. I guess in relation to your secondary point is to stop giving inflated salaries going forwards and bring wages in line.

I could swear we were going to implement some sort of salary cap?
 
bleedred said:
same PR bullshit as before. I will wait till I see actions are taken rather than all this talk.

Yes, I understand the sentiment, but how are they expecting to clear off players on high wages without taking a massive loss on the transfer fees we paid for.
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I agree, but this is actually a new structure so there's cause for optimism. As for your second point, there's not much they can do with existing players / contracts but I imagine new signings going forward will adhere to a stricter wage structure meaning it won't be as difficult to move them on. All speculation of course but that's what they do at City.
 
Andycoleno9 said:
I wonder who is his choice for DoF. I hope he will make that signing soon.
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Sounds like the leading candidate is Dan Ashworth, considering we've supposedly been in talks with Berrada for a while then I'd guess Ashworth is the one he wants.
 
The problem so far as Martial is concerned is that he is injured during every transfer window just as he is right now. Makes it impossible to lever him out. Stealing a living.
 
Tom Van Persie said:
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As long as there's flexibility eg younger players getting a little longer, then this is well overdue. For three reasons.

Firstly, we know from bitter experience that if a player hasn't played well in their first two seasons, they probably never will. The number of people who suddenly come good after all that time is far outweighed by those who don't. The odd player that flourishes elsewhere is not worth wading through crud for.

Secondly, a couple of seasons is where the transfer fee starts to plummet. Look at Kalvin Phillips at City. They paid £40M or so, and despite barely kicking a ball for 18 months, they could probably get a fair chunk of that back if they sell him this summer. But after 4 seasons of sitting on the bench, he'd be worth peanuts.

Finally, its a kick up the arse for the entire squad. Players at United are just too comfy. They know that even if they play crap, they're guaranteed of a fat wage for year after year with little pressure to move on or step up. This has to end.
 
Borussia Teeth said:
We may be more willing to take a loss on transfer values than previously (this could result badly in FFP)
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Could our losses on transfer values be any worse? Getting rid of players more quickly that don't meet our standards or needs should result in better transfer values. As we hopefully transition to a more competitive team with a clearly defined style of play, getting rid of players quickly leaves open the possibility that they aren't quite good enough to beat out an incumbent (but are still quality players), or just don't fit our playing style.

Keeping them around as long as we have been emphasizes that they just aren't very good.
 
Ish said:
Of course they might struggle to shift those on high wages for any meaningful fees, but the key, going forward, would be to not hand out fat contracts to players who are either too young or have not proved anything in the game yet. Fast we start handing out more sensible wages etc. - moving on underperforming players will become less of a challenge.
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That is one of the many things that is likely to be on his 'to-do' list when he takes up the post (presumably in July), along with overseeing the summer transfer window (which will have already opened), getting to know United's new DoF (whoever they are) and, probably, finding a new manager. A tough start!
 
Great sentiment! but it's been proven very difficult to get players on fat salaries out of the club.

You would have to move away from 4+1 year contracts to smaller lengths, otherwise they are not gonna budge if they fail to impress after a season or 2.

Also I'll be very interested to see if Sir Jim can buy players for sensible transfer fees, which is another thing easier said than done. As soon as clubs/players see that United badge the numbers go up and up!
 
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bleedred said:
same PR bullshit as before. I will wait till I see actions are taken rather than all this talk.

Yes, I understand the sentiment, but how are they expecting to clear off players on high wages without taking a massive loss on the transfer fees we paid for.
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By balancing wages based on performance etc.

This isn’t a 6 month fix that will solve any current squad issues in the summer. It’s a long term approach that will be more easily implemented when players are given appropriate, realistic wages and contracts.
 
Tom Van Persie said:
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That's just daft, with crazy thinking like this, we would have gotten rid of Phil Jones after only 2 years on the physio table, makes no sense... think of all the images of that face we would have missed out on.... this guy is small picture!
 
FrantikChicken said:
By balancing wages based on performance etc.
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I see this presented a lot here but do any other clubs actually do this?

If I'm a player and my wages are mostly made up of appearances, goals, assists, clean sheets etc, then I'm not gonna be happy if my manager decides to rotate me. This would mean money out of my pocket. I don't think many players would be willing to sign these contacts. I wouldn't.
 
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