The beginning of the end... (the original board vetoed Mourinho's transfer wish list thread)

charlenefan said:
tbh the briefing doesn't even make sense when you analyse the players Jose has brought in, Zlatan, Sanchez, Matic none of them were for the long term but we still got them as we did with the likes of Pogba, Fred and Lukaku those who have a longer shelf life. When you look at it that way this briefing is just an excuse for the boards transfer failings and one that doesn't actually add up
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I think it could easily be 'that's enough of those types of signings' rather than being ignorant of 'short-term' fixes already made.
 
If it's true, the Board have that right. But who the hell is actually identifying the players we will try and sign then?
 
charlenefan said:
Whilst that's true would you not agree that Jose has targeted a higher calibre of player since he's been here? Pogba, Zlatan, Sanchez? Ok Bailly hasn't hit the heights but that's been more due to injuries than performances, Mhkitaryan was promptly moved on but probably due to necessity to get Sanchez

The board surely know Jose is not Moyes, he's not LVG, he's better than both and we're unlikely to do better if we force him out
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By all accounts we were looking at Macguire, Toby, Boateng and Mina. I would say among those only Toby is significantly better and Macguire may be slightly better than what we have. So only spending money on Toby would have made sense but spurs never sell to us. The only attacking targets we have been linked with are Perisic and Willian. Board are right not wanting to overspend on 30 year old above average wingers.
We have multiple managers in the league that are doing better than us both in terms of style and results (City in the league and Liverpool in the CL). No one can guarantee another manager can do better than Jose in terms of results but doing better in terms of style is a pretty safe bet with another manager.
 
charlenefan said:
It's not one idiot, every paper is covering the same story tomorrow. They've been briefed
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We didn't sign a centreback and every paper is reporting that we didn't sign a centreback.

It's Jose's job to say who he wants. It's the board's job to decide whether they spend x amount of money or not. What is unusual about this?

I don't think much of Wooodward when it comes to this stuff, but if Jose wants say, Maguire, and LEicester want about £80m for him, or say he isn't for sale, what do you expect to happen. Woodward isn't going to be able to sign him, and it isn't going to stop Jose from saying he wants a centreback.
 
bucky said:
I think we are better off the sooner it ends, but this is just not true. Fred, Dalot, Lukaku, Pogba, Bailly and Lindelof have time on their side and aren't short-term fixes at all.
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The question is if all of them are United or Jose targets. It is baffling they dont want to back him, it is not liel every signing is an old bloke. I just think as many posters suspected the club dont want to spend heavy and expect him to be his last season.
 
The board are only just learning Mourinho is a short term manager?

Nice to see Woodward would have been willing to spend 100 million on Varane, if available.

Guy's catching unnecessary heat.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Found a piece in the Guardian. Mindblowing stuff altogether.



THEN WHY DID YOU HIRE THE MISERABLE TWAT, YOU GOGGLE EYED DIPSHIT?!?

*and breath*

Obviously hope it’s all paper talk but why in the hell is Woodward even allowed an opinion on who to sign? Or are there other, actual football people, in the mix here? Sir Bob?!
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You have to question the validity of this article given the circumstances. I mean if any of this was even remotely true, Jose would have walked by now. There is no way he would stand for such a blatant undermining of his management.
 
Not buying it, there's something else beneath the surface.. Name one top club that doesn't have one experienced central defender leading from the back? Ye, they all do. As if Alderweireld wouldn't have improved us..
 
Tired of Mourinho's constant moaning, if he doesn't think he can do anything with the team he has and the countless millions he's already been given then maybe he should have the decency to resign.
 
charlenefan said:
tbh the briefing doesn't even make sense when you analyse the players Jose has brought in, Zlatan, Sanchez, Matic none of them were for the long term but we still got them as we did with the likes of Pogba, Fred and Lukaku those who have a longer shelf life. When you look at it that way this briefing is just an excuse for the boards transfer failings and one that doesn't actually add up
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Or, they gave Mourinho some freedom early on to make short-term signings to be immediately competitive, but expected a longer-term view going forward. He's not delivering that and he never will. He's not interested.
 
United hierarchy would have felt that Mou is angling for a move away from United and didnt want to burden the team with Short term fixes. Mou to PSG or Inter is very much a possibility this season..
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Is it me or have the briefings become MILES more obvious in the post-Fergie (aka Woodward) era?
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Yep. There seem to be a power struggle, with the manager(s) tempting their fate by trying to get more and more power and Ed not being on the business of giving it.

Under Fergie-Gill it was easier, with both of them knowing their part and being on perfect harmony. With Kenyon it was quite bad, almost on fight with each other. Too young to remember Edwards, but Fergie praises him.
 
I'm happy with not signing Maguire or Toby for £60m+. I think we're blinckered a bit when it comes to other players - both of them had mistakes in them in the PL last season.

That said I feel like we should have signed another full back and attacker. If those weren't on Jose's list then the buck stops with him.
 
Random Task said:
You have to question the validity of this article given the circumstances. I mean if any of this was even remotely true, Jose would have walked by now. There is no way he would stand for such a blatant undermining of his management.
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There's always tomorrow
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Found a piece in the Guardian. Mindblowing stuff altogether.



THEN WHY DID YOU HIRE THE MISERABLE TWAT, YOU GOGGLE EYED DIPSHIT?!?

*and breath*

Obviously hope it’s all paper talk but why in the hell is Woodward even allowed an opinion on who to sign? Or are there other, actual football people, in the mix here? Sir Bob?!
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Yeah I agree

I'm all for the long term approach and not signing 29 year olds unless they're an exceptional player (ie RvP, Alexis Sanchez)

But if you want the club to be like that, why appointment the complete opposite in Jose Mourinho?!

When Mourinho does eventually leave (which is inevitable) I really hope United actually take time and think about who they want to hire for once. A manager with a long term goal and similar values.
 
Random Task said:
You have to doubt the credibility of this article. I mean if any of this was even remotely true, Jose would have walked by now. There is no way he would stand for such a blatant undermining of his management.
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When has he ever walked? Did he walk at Chelsea in 2007 (genuinely can't remember)?
 
This is just the new version of "no value in the market". Only difference is there's no more Fergie to cover the cracks for the board and win the title while playing anyone anywhere.
 
Sayros said:
Prestige to try and appease the fans? I mean, it's quite clear he hasn't been one of the best managers in the world for a few years now, but you still have people on here to this day who would defend Mourinho against all logic. He clearly has a following, and the club has been struggling to find a manager that garnered the respect of the fans.

One thing is for sure is that it's never been more clear the board and Mourinho are at odds over their philosophy. One would think this was discussed before his hiring, but I'm sure they didn't expect him to have such a hard time finding an identity for this team, or how he would end up treating Martial who is a favorites of the Woodward and ownership apparently. I can't see Mourinho lasting much longer.
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If you hadn’t been on here it got unbearable. There were Mourinho references everywhere. As someone who was (rightly) worried about the short term nature I got derided (see my tag for example) but it was OBVIOUS this was going to happen.

The day he goes will be the day we finally move on post Ferguson. There were fans who have posted about Mourinho for six/seven years here. As a club and a fan base we needed to get him out of our system and move on. I’m sure we will come back stronger than ever.
 
I'm with the board too. I think it's very sensible to save the budget if there isn't value for money and look for the long term instead of overpaying for average players that aren't going to be big improvements on what we have. Question is why did we hire Jose then? Didn't they know he is a short term manager?
 
Samid said:
A 'win at all costs' quick fix manager wanting to sign players that are ... wait for it ... quick fix. Although I agree with Woody's current stance you've got to wonder why he and the board didn't see this coming when they hired Mourinho. Baffling management all around.
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We have let him sign quick fix players though. Sanchez & Matic (and don't forget Mkhitaryan & Ibra) should be bang in their prime now, and if they don't help us win their signings will be failures. So far Mourinho hasn't been able to get them to help us win (or challenge for the big trophies).

We can't just stack the squad with players of that age, and then have to do a full turnover (the epic rebuild that we've been apparently doing for the last 5 years) and screw ourselves over once he's left.
 
If the board wanted a long-term approach, then why did they hire Mourinho in the first place?
 
What is most baffling is that this is all about a fecking CB, when we clearly needed a RW and LB, but maybe Mourinho didn't even request that?

If the fees involved for Alderweireld were out of this world, then fair enough by the club. I also am glad we didn't sign the likes of Mina, Boateng and so on. Keeping tabs on Maguire is a smart thing, but if Leicester really wanted 75m or similar this season, then fair enough that we think twice about it, maybe next year.

We have 5 CB's so before talking about buying one, we should sell. But i don't get why we couldn't try getting a player like Alex Sandro and maybe Malcom/Pulisic, hell, even Shaqiri would probably have improved us.
But if Mou didn't want one then Woody won't go for one i guess. That's why i think we should get a DOF, someone who look at our weaknesses and correct them, and the manager will have little say, as it's in the best interest of the club.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
I’m perversely happy with our lack of activity too. Let’s see him get the current lot to play a tune. They’re better than we saw last season. If he can’t do that, then cheerio. Time for a fresh start.
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I'd have loved a left back and right wing but think the club needs to be wise and spend big on younger players than the ones mentioned.
 
noodlehair said:
We didn't sign a centreback and every paper is reporting that we didn't sign a centreback.

It's Jose's job to say who he wants. It's the board's job to decide whether they spend x amount of money or not. What is unusual about this?
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No, they all have the same specifics regarding why, player by player:
Alderweireld - not better than current centre backs. Conversation with Levy was only about Martial and Mata.
Mina - Agent fees were prohibitive and didn't want to set a precedent
Maguire - Not good enough
Godin - We were approached by intermediary but never made a bid
Varane - We would have spent £100m if he was available. Woodward met with Perez but he said no

This is the most obvious 'briefed' story I've ever seen coming out of the club.
 
It's a tought situation. You need to improve the squad to win the titles but the value in the market is just nuts. Something really needs to be done because we're seeing the world record for goalkeepers being broken year after year. 70m for a keeper with 2 seasons of top football. You think you've stopped being suprised by the fees but it just keeps going. It's not healthy business and something will go wrong soon.

I'll accept this explanation from the board and not be unhappy about it.
 
In the end we've simply pissed away too much money over the last years, mostly during Van Gaal's tenure and we have struggled to offload players. Now we're fecked, or paying the price so to speak.

It's an incredibly difficult and inflated market currently and we can't afford to make more mistakes I guess. Over the last 5 years including this window we seem to have a net spend that's hundreds of millions higher than for example Liverpool, so that explains why they've been able to invest freely this year.

This particular press briefing is silly though, and the obvious bigger problem is that while our summer window might make sense from a financial point of view, it seems completely pointless in terms of challenging for the league, meaning it's very likely the season is over before it has started. Shades of Arsenal.

An even bigger problem is that surely there could've been creative and affordable solutions for the positions Mourinho wanted to enforce. It is a difficult market, but it seems like we didn't even try and take a punt at an unknown gem other than Dalot. Head scout Ribalta leaving and our manager being unhappy is very telling in this situation, and it probably also says a lot about the competence of Ed Woodward and 'the club'.
 
Random Task said:
You have to question the validity of this article given the circumstances. I mean if any of this was even remotely true, Jose would have walked by now. There is no way he would stand for such a blatant undermining of his management.
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When would he go though? Sacked for Madrid after a mutiny on the dressing room, sacked from Chelsea for almost relegating them and falling out with everyone. This might well be his last big job.

Mourinho knows it (which might be why he chickened out after the previous moaning) and Ed seems to know it and not taking his shit.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
I’m perversely happy with our lack of activity too. Let’s see him get the current lot to play a tune. They’re better than we saw last season. If he can’t do that, then cheerio. Time for a fresh start.
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Agreed, there are some very good players in this team who aren't playing anywhere near their potential, if Mourinho can get the best out of what he's currently not then we can put an actual challenge in IMO.
 
Red Katie said:
I'd have loved a left back and right wing but think the club needs to be wise and spend big on younger players than the ones mentioned.
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I think that's the sensible opinion. Full-backs, a winger and maybe a back-up striker would have been welcomed but none of that is needed to play better football this season.
 
noodlehair said:
We didn't sign a centreback and every paper is reporting that we didn't sign a centreback.

It's Jose's job to say who he wants. It's the board's job to decide whether they spend x amount of money or not. What is unusual about this?
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You should check the reports and details mate. It's pretty much same stories aligning into one. It's not only Jose, Woodward has produced multiple feck ups in the past. Have we had such bollocks in the past under Gill?
 
There is no way anyone can just blame Mourinho for this. Both Mourinho and the board should have had a clear strategic plan before the transfer window even opened. This should include the level of player we are looking to bring in and the level of player we will not bring in.

The bird knew Mourinho was a shirt-term fox manager before they hired him, so if they are so worried about it then what is the justification for his appointment in the first place?

In this instance, Mourinho is probably right. We do need short term fixes otherwise we will fall too far behind and who knows what happens then.
 
DesiBD said:
If the board wanted a long-term approach, then why did they hire Mourinho in the first place?
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Few options available with the ego necessary to manage such a massive club. Woodward had failed to woo Klopp ("adult Disneyland")
 
The Stain said:
Not buying it, there's something else beneath the surface.. Name one top club that doesn't have one experienced central defender leading from the back? Ye, they all do. As if Alderweireld wouldn't have improved us..
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France just won the World Cup with two 25 year olds. And City will probably have two 24 year olds in Laporte and Stones as their first choice CBs.
 
I used to laugh at clubs like Liverpool and Chelsea self implode while we quietly romped to a league title
 
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