The John Murtough Era

[roseguy64]

Not a Murtough sycophant or anything. It's just ridiculous to speculate about what impact he had with decisions prior to Rangnick coming in when it was clear that Woodward was far more hands-on. The nature of his promotion definitely means he was maybe slightly influential before but for the club to go internal appointment, he was one of the best options we had to do that. He's given the chance now and he no longer has the Woodward excuse.

 

[TwoSheds]

Whoever has appointed Ten Hag has done a good job on that front I think. On almost everything else, no.

 

[Ali Dia]

Failing to get top four after appointing Ragnick will go down as having failed the first test.
There are obviously mitigating factors but still.
I am happy though if it's a case of short term pain for long term gain.
United extending Pogba's contract would be the biggest indication nothing has changed.

What if Murtough and ETH don’t want Pogba and Rashford but the owners insist on them staying at any cost. Who’s to blame then when things don’t change? The staff are just caught between the owners and the players

 

[Roboc7]

Why is it the Murtough era, he might have a new or more formal job title but he’s still not the one making decisions, he doesn’t have any authority to appoint managers.

The guy was a fixer for Woodward, unless Ed ignored him a lot (which would t make sense) then he’s almost certainly been involved in a lot of poor decisions.

Some like Murtough is just a middle man, the biggest reason why there’s been a proper recruitment process is probably because there was no easy, attainable option so the owners have had to do it.

 

[Crashoutcassius]

Before being appointed as the Man United director of football, he served as the head of football development and has been credited with the work done on recruitment structures and the women's team.

sancho varane amad and even donny were hailed as genius signing when they were made. ronaldo is nothing to do with recruitment department. Cavani on a free was inspired for me, and helped us achieve more than we would have. i think the recruitment has been good the last few years. the major issue with receuitment is positions we didn't recruit to, basically the centre mid gap. my best guess is this was down to oles prioritisation, and maybe prioritizing ronaldo on big wages over a centre mid this summer, which has been well covered as a crazy mistake

 

[OmarUnited4ever]

Why would Sanchos wages be so high? The hard part was dealing with Dortmund, literally no one else was after him so why would we have to offer such a high contract?

Exactly, KdB, one of the best PL players in the past 5 seasons only recently started to earn 350k+, no way someone like Sancho would earn anything like that, he is probably on 150k/170k.

 

[OmarUnited4ever]

What if Murtough and ETH don’t want Pogba and Rashford but the owners insist on them staying at any cost. Who’s to blame then when things don’t change? The staff are just caught between the owners and the players

I think Arnold will stay away from football matters, and leave it to Murtough, that includes incomings and outgoings, as well as contract renewals, the one thing Arnold will want from Murtough is to remain within budget and be sensible with transfer fees (not pay exorbitant fees for to sign a new player or allow a player under contract to leave on a free).

Those with expiring contracts will definitely leave this summer, and it doesn't seem like the club is trying to convince any of them to re-sign.

 

[OmarUnited4ever]

Why is it the Murtough era, he might have a new or more formal job title but he’s still not the one making decisions, he doesn’t have any authority to appoint managers.

The guy was a fixer for Woodward, unless Ed ignored him a lot (which would t make sense) then he’s almost certainly been involved in a lot of poor decisions.

Some like Murtough is just a middle man, the biggest reason why there’s been a proper recruitment process is probably because there was no easy, attainable option so the owners have had to do it.

According to credible reports, Murtough is in a position of authority and was appointed as Football Director, it's also been reported that he's been given autonomy in matters related to football.

Let's see how it goes.

 

[ShinjiNinja26]

Spot on, and below is more evidence to support your post.

Woodward strikes again! The unwanted gift that keeps on giving.

 

[lsd]

Whoever has appointed Ten Hag has done a good job on that front I think. On almost everything else, no.

That's an answer you might be able to give in a year or twos time hopefully.

Right now though it's not

 

[r3idy]

Still too many question marks how will the board & Glazers react if Ralf & Erik cooperation will try overwhelm marketing side with football matters during the regular season. I guess for now we can demand Murtough in key moments to choose the right side and work for ruthless expansion, not conformism which is rotting the club atm.

Isn't that the crux of our current problem though? With Woodward, some of the vanity signings made zero sense other than for nostalgia value, Schweinsteiger being an example. The problem United have, and of course this is through my own eye's but Woodward was far more concerned about off the field stuff and vanity signings. What he seemed to always miss was the point, if you get it right on the field then the money will role in like a casino. United is a money printing machine.

I genuinely don't see Ralf or ETH having any agenda to overwhelm the Marketing (or commercial) side of things. I know the OP is the ' The John Murtogh Era' but really the acid test is the Richard Arnold era

 

[Seven Seas Sardines]

Woodward strikes again! The unwanted gift that keeps on giving.

Pretty sure Murtough and Judge were just as culpable but are now trying to blame all their mistakes on a guy who's already out. United DNA flowing through them.

 

[hobbers]

Spot on, and below is more evidence to support your post.

What's way more sickening is that Matt Judge is still our chief negotiator on contracts.

 

[clarkydaz]

What's way more sickening is that Matt Judge is still our chief negotiator on contracts.

yes, his repuation is horrific. Sure when flectcher first came in he had to babysit Judge for negotiations with players

 

[devilish]

I have no doubt that Woodward like him or that he didn't do everything himself. It's just hard to judge Murtough when he's had the chance only this season to be more influential than he was prior to that. Do I believe he was a key figure in our decision to not make January signings? Yes. Can I call him influential in anything fist team related prior to his appointment of Rangnick? No.

He know Rangnick prior and so it was clear that was his decision. Solskjaer had the backing of all the top brass and the decision to sack him was clearly Woodward/Glazer/Arnold influenced. No way did Murtough have any real influence there. They sacked Ole and with Woodward leaving, Murtough got his way after that.

Rangnick appointment onwards is Murtough in charge of football matters entirely. Before that it's pretty clear with how Woodward was running things that all Murtough had was an opinion. It's impossible to decipher what impact he had. Maybe Woodward just liked him because he's a good personality and the previous work he'd done for the club. We won't know. It's unfair to judge him on that.

Woodward did some mental things. It was reported quite credibly he refused to spend big money on Koulibali (or similar) because he wanted to only spend that kind of cash on Varane.

He also said stupid shit like "we can do what others dream of doing". He was pretty daft and materially fecked us up.

sancho varane amad and even donny were hailed as genius signing when they were made. ronaldo is nothing to do with recruitment department. Cavani on a free was inspired for me, and helped us achieve more than we would have. i think the recruitment has been good the last few years. the major issue with receuitment is positions we didn't recruit to, basically the centre mid gap. my best guess is this was down to oles prioritisation, and maybe prioritizing ronaldo on big wages over a centre mid this summer, which has been well covered as a crazy mistake

Prior to SAF's departure, the football side was mostly handled by the manager and the business side was handled by the CEO. There was a shift to that as early as LVG's last years but it reached breaking point during Mourinho's last year when he basically went full meltdown for not getting the players he wanted. Such a thing give the impression that Woodward was calling all the shots. However while theoretically true its not as simple as we think. United is a juggernaut of a company. Even smaller sides can't afford having the CEO calling all the shots let alone United. So what happens in such circumstances is for the CEO to appoint his men in the football side of things. To give an idea at other clubs Moratti had Branca while Berlusconi had Galliani

Jon Murtough is the Woodward's answer to that all. The guy joined United as part of Moyes team and not only survived past his manager's sacking but ended up thriving without him. In the end he reached the top of the football pyramid, a role SAF's men and former players Phelan and Butt aimed at but failed to get and which would see him acting as Woodward's own mate's boss aka Matt Judge. Jon would be part of almost everything including the academy, the woman's team, contract negotiations, the much discussed transfer signings committee (alongside the likes of Ole and his Murtough's no 2 Fletcher) and even interviewing prospective managers. That despite having no previous experience in the role and basically growing (career wise) in a system that keeps failing.

United address 4 feathers in Jon Murtough's cap as the reason why they gave him the job ie the women's team, and his involvement in restructuring the academy, the scouting department and recruitment. We'll pick on each one separately

The women's team was seen as a success. However the very Casey Stoney who was instrumental to such success left the job 3 years after she took it. Soon enough persistent reports came out of the poor treatment the women team were getting, with conditions bordering to the amateur. Well managed indeed. On the second point, the academy had seen improvements. However a quick look to the U23 and U18 tables clearly show that such improvements is hardly something to be write home about. We're currently 4th in both leagues 10 points (U23) and 16 points (U18) away from first place City. Scouting and recruitment haven't covered themselves with glory either. Throughout the past years we went for the obvious big name signings on silly money from Maguire to AWB right to injury prone Varane and Cavani + a 37 year old Ronaldo. We also went for VDB a player we didn't need (instead of buying a DM) and we opted for a right winger who was more comfortable on the left then on the right. Sure Ole has to be blamed on that as well especially when he decided to go from a counter attacking team to a high line defence which basically threw 130m worth of defensive talent in the bin. However you expect a mature transfer committee to sign players who are able to adapt to a change of tactics, something that didn't happened when we signed AWB/Maguire and as said transfers were decided by a transfer committee which of course was also made up by the likes Jon Murtough and Darren Fletcher as well, none of whom has paid the ultimate price Ole had paid.

Now let's focus on what happened this year.

- we gave Pogba an eye watering 400k a week contract. The offer is said to still be on the table despite the guy clearly treating us like shit
- we gave contract extensions to Mata and Grant (god knows why).
- We signed Heaton (despite last year having issues with having 3 EPL proven GKs, 2 of which among the highest paid goalkeepers in the world), Varane who had question marks on his injury record, a 37 year old Ronaldo who was showing signs of struggle in the slower Serie A, a winger to play as RW despite clearly showing that he plays best as LW and Paul McShane who was shit in his prime let alone in his mid 30s.
- we forced Lingard to stay at the club twice. Now he'll walk on a free
- the club insisted on keeping Ole despite it was evident that it was clearly not working out. In fact we spent the entire international break with our manager on holiday when we should have been working on replacing him
- we brought a manager in who had never managed a top club in his life and whose football philosophy was completely opposite to that of Ole. Somehow we thought it would work out despite Rangnick couldn't even rely on a pre season
- we stopped the manager from bringing in any players in January
- we've yet to announce our permanent manager despite we're in mid April

That hardly fills me with confidence especially if rumours that our scouting team have kept no tabs on Nkunku is true.

 

[AltiUn]

yes, his repuation is horrific. Sure when flectcher first came in he had to babysit Judge for negotiations with players

Yeah, there was an article floating about that we basically needed a former player in the room with him when we were negotiating, think it's because he wasn't as good at selling the club to potential signings as a former player would. If I remember rightly there were articles about them impressing Varane's camp after they became a duo.

 

[TwoSheds]

That's an answer you might be able to give in a year or twos time hopefully.

Right now though it's not

Well not really. He's a good gamble to take, regardless of whether it pays off its the right idea in my view.

 

[Matt851]

Well the appointment if ralf was misguided/ill judged. We hired someone whose strengths are in long term strategic transformation and gave them a short term tactical role. This doesn't give me a lot of faith in murtough

 

[Ali Dia]

I think Arnold will stay away from football matters, and leave it to Murtough, that includes incomings and outgoings, as well as contract renewals, the one thing Arnold will want from Murtough is to remain within budget and be sensible with transfer fees (not pay exorbitant fees for to sign a new player or allow a player under contract to leave on a free).
Those with expiring contracts will definitely leave this summer, and it doesn't seem like the club is trying to convince any of them to re-sign.

That’s the thing. I don’t think it was Ed or it will be Arnold that are responsible. They are just the owners guy on the ground doing their bidding. They report to the owners and the owners have final say. I’m fairly sure it’s always been the owners at fault for how we fall in between each new direction we seemingly want to go in and revert back to the old approach before releasing that doesn’t work anymore either

Our owners are rich and smart enough to understand how to pull off a hostile takeover but not clued up enough about the sport to put us on a more sustainable and successful track. It’s nearly always a Hail Mary once things are failing instead of methodically building something that could become a sporting dynasty again.

 

[Tango80]

It's early days, and plenty of question marks still hang over him.

The Ralf appointment on a managerial scale hasn't been great, but it was an impossible task regardless - any manager would have found it extremely difficult to turn things round in six months when everyone knows they're going after that. Whether that was a masterstroke or not depends on how well Ten Hag does - if we suffered short term pain to get what turns out to be the best guy out there, it's a great move. But that at the moment is an 'if'.

He clearly needs help as well and that's where the assistant director recruitment comes in. It's all wait and see, but the fact that we're effectively working with a clean slate instead of the same old is more reassuring than I would normally view it.

 

[Sparky Rhiwabon]

First the appointment of Ralf Rangnick to take the helm as interim manager known for his progressive footballing philosophy after which he'll have enough insight to advice the board regarding the way forward.
Then the strategic process of hiring a manager who plays a brand of football united would be proud of most likely its going to be Ten Hag.
Early days but this seems promising, if we're this thorough and strategic regarding recruitment and awarding contracts then I feel its only a matter of time before we're back to competiting with the best sides.

Rangnick has been a failure as Interim, in hindsight maybe Carrick should have continued in that role with Ralf focusing on more strategic footballing matters, whilst assessing the squad.

Ten Hag - remains to be seen but, like the vast majority of people on here, I am excited by the appointment

 

[Forevergiggs1]

Anyone believing we're paying Sancho more than Bruno, Pogba and Rashford isn't thinking correctly. Point noted.

Wasn't there a list compiled on the top 5 best paid PL players with Sancho coming in at number 4 behind Ronaldo, De Bryune and De Gea?

We're willing to accept De Gea earns 375k, Pogba 290k, Martial 250k, Rashford 200k but Sancho who's on the same lists at 350k couldn't be true? While I agree it's a ridiculous wage would you put it beyond United to agree to it?

Anywhere you look his wage fluctuates between 250k up to 350k so even if the bottom number is to be believed he'd still be on more than Bruno. That is if his wage of 240k is to be believed. There's too many variables to know for sure but we either take heed as a guide to the lists available or we ban talking about wages on the forum altogether for lack of reputable sources.

Just because we don't want it to be true it doesn't mean it isn't.

 

[Roboc7]

According to credible reports, Murtough is in a position of authority and was appointed as Football Director, it's also been reported that he's been given autonomy in matters related to football.

Let's see how it goes.

It’s been widely reported that the final decision on who new manager will be wasn’t/isn’t being made by Murtough he was just involved in the recruitment process. The idea he has autonomy simply isn’t true, when it comes down to it this is a business to the owners, they won’t suddenly have started running a football club and given the keys to Murtough.

Murtough is someone in between the manager and the board/owners, he’s not running the show.

 

[lsd]

Well not really. He's a good gamble to take, regardless of whether it pays off its the right idea in my view.

A gamble that doesn't pay off is never the right idea especially if you are in charge of Manchester United.

 

[Adnan]

We really have made some baffling contract decisions over the last few years. Jones, Mata and Bailly stick out as the most baffling.

Completely agree mate.

The issue is a very simple one and that is that the club post Fergie has relied on the managers to fix everything at first team level. And they've made a mess and created a team in their image, which is a image that doesn't correlate to the modern day reality. That has then caused a instability at the club where decisions have fallen directly on Ed Woodward and he's made mistakes sadly. So it's a knock on effect of what's transpired imo.

So even when Murtough had created a recruitment structure, the board still allowed Mourinho to work with his own scouts that he was working with independently from the club's very own recruitment department. I provided the evidence for that via the telegraph at the time of his sacking.

The club then created a transfer committee in 2018, and the recruitment staff vetoed Mourinho from signing Maguire, Alderwereild, Boateng etc. But a year later, Woodward still went ahead and allowed Solskjaer and Phelan to sign Maguire, over-ruling the club's own recruitment staff. I provided the evidence for that as well via a article from the credible Daniel Taylor who quite clearly stated that Maguire wasn't deemed any better than the CBs already at the club.

You'd also think the club would have learnt after allowing Mourinho to utilise his personal scouts. But no, they also allowed Solskjaer to have his own personal scout to sign players. So one must ask the question why have the club created a recruitment structure to mesh with the modern game, when they're still allowing the manager to utilise recruitment staff, that aren't part of the club's own recruitment staff. So you've created a big team and a small team, and the small team was setting the directive with Solskjaer, Phelan and Simon Wells leading the way.

So basically what I'm saying is that when a football club doesn't have a buffer (active DoF model) between the manager and the board, then a instability can occur in the modern game, and in our case did occur, which has a knock on effect. And one of the side effects is giving silly contracts out.

It's only since Solskjaer departed that we've transitioned to a DoF type setup. Because whilst Solskjaer and Mourinho were at the helm, they were running the football department when it came to setting the mid to long-term plan.

Now its Murtough that's reportedly in charge and he's made the decisions to bring in Rangnick and ten Hag, and he will be judged. But I'm not going to blame him for the mistakes of others, like Michael Edwards at Liverpool who shouldn't have been blamed for the errors pre Jurgen Klopp.

 

[JPRouve]

It’s been widely reported that the final decision on who new manager will be wasn’t/isn’t being made by Murtough he was just involved in the recruitment process. The idea he has autonomy simply isn’t true, when it comes down to it this is a business to the owners, they won’t suddenly have started running a football club and given the keys to Murtough.

Murtough is someone in between the manager and the board/owners, he’s not running the show.

No DOF has the keys of a Football club, Football clubs are run by the CEO or the owner.

 

[TwoSheds]

A gamble that doesn't pay off is never the right idea especially if you are in charge of Manchester United.

Literally every decision you ever make is a gamble, what a daft comment.

 

[Adnan]

Literally every decision you ever make is a gamble, what a daft comment.

I do agree with what you're saying mostly, but we should look at this as a opportunity and not a gamble.

 

[Roboc7]

Completely agree mate.

The issue is a very simple one and that is that the club post Fergie has relied on the managers to fix everything at first team level. And they've made a mess and created a team in their image, which is a image that doesn't correlate to the modern day reality. That has then caused a instability at the club where decisions have fallen directly on Ed Woodward and he's made mistakes sadly. So it's a knock on effect of what's transpired imo.

So even when Murtough had created a recruitment structure, the board still allowed Mourinho to work with his own scouts that he was working with independently from the club's very own recruitment department. I provided the evidence for that via the telegraph at the time of his sacking.

The club then created a transfer committee in 2018, and the recruitment staff vetoed Mourinho from signing Maguire, Alderwereild, Boateng etc. But a year later, Woodward still went ahead and allowed Solskjaer and Phelan to sign Maguire, over-ruling the club's own recruitment staff. I provided the evidence for that as well via a article from the credible Daniel Taylor who quite clearly stated that Maguire wasn't deemed any better than the CBs already at the club.

You'd also think the club would have learnt after allowing Mourinho to utilise his personal scouts. But no, they also allowed Solskjaer to have his own personal scout to sign players. So one must ask the question why have the club created a recruitment structure to mesh with the modern game, when they're still allowing the manager to utilise recruitment staff, that aren't part of the club's own recruitment staff. So you've created a big team and a small team, and the small team was setting the directive with Solskjaer, Phelan and Simon Wells leading the way.

So basically what I'm saying is that when a football club doesn't have a buffer (active DoF model) between the manager and the board, then a instability can occur in the modern game, and in our case did occur, which has a knock on effect. And one of the side effects is giving silly contracts out.

It's only since Solskjaer departed that we've transitioned to a DoF type setup. Because whilst Solskjaer and Mourinho were at the helm, they were running the football department when it came to setting the mid to long-term plan.

Now its Murtough that's reportedly in charge and he's made the decisions to bring in Rangnick and ten Hag, and he will be judged. But I'm not going to blame him for the mistakes of others, like Michael Edwards at Liverpool who shouldn't have been blamed for the errors pre Jurgen Klopp.

You’re making assumptions which aren’t correct. Take AWB signing, recruitment team filters down 804 right backs to a shortlist of 3-5. They then worked with Ole to agree a consensus on who to sign. Even if ultimate decision rested with Ole the recruitment department played a big role in the signing not just Ole and his scout.

Manager using personal scouts is common, they’ll recommend their players but also be used to give opinions on players recommended by the recruitment team. It’s perfectly reasonable for manager to ask advice/opinion of someone they trust, good chance Ten Hag will do the same. The club have recruited by Committee for 3 years and it’s been a disaster, can’t all be blamed on Ole, it’s collective failure.

 

[OmarUnited4ever]

It’s been widely reported that the final decision on who new manager will be wasn’t/isn’t being made by Murtough he was just involved in the recruitment process. The idea he has autonomy simply isn’t true, when it comes down to it this is a business to the owners, they won’t suddenly have started running a football club and given the keys to Murtough.

Murtough is someone in between the manager and the board/owners, he’s not running the show.

You should understand what division of work and responsibilities mean, of course the CEO/Owners will ultimately have the final say, that's obvious, but a DoF will have his or her responsibility and be given autonomy to run the football dept, the CEO/Owner will empower the DoF, otherwise why create a football structure headed by said DoF, if it doesn't have the freedom to function and operate the football dept?

No DOF has the keys of a Football club, Football clubs are run by the CEO or the owner.

Exactly , these mega clubs that turn in 500m yearly in revenues aren't controlled by a DoF, the DoF's main responsibility is matters related to football, there is a huge commercial aspect to these clubs such as sponsorships and TV deals that is not the DoF's responsibility.

 

[Greck]

It’s been widely reported that the final decision on who new manager will be wasn’t/isn’t being made by Murtough he was just involved in the recruitment process. The idea he has autonomy simply isn’t true, when it comes down to it this is a business to the owners, they won’t suddenly have started running a football club and given the keys to Murtough.

Murtough is someone in between the manager and the board/owners, he’s not running the show.

Why I try to implore people to wait and see. Arnold can't actually decide for his bosses to be less involved. This is a transitional year and the boundaries of his involvement haven't actually been defined. It's hard to know how the Arnold regime will be off of his first half season. The reports already said he was going to review our transfer policy after the January window. My guess is he will be involved, just not as bad as Woodward micromanaging aspects he knew little about.

 

[Adnan]

You’re making assumptions which aren’t correct. Take AWB signing, recruitment team filters down 804 right backs to a shortlist of 3-5. They then worked with Ole to agree a consensus on who to sign. Even if ultimate decision rested with Ole the recruitment department played a big role in the signing not just Ole and his scout.

Manager using personal scouts is common, they’ll recommend their players but also be used to give opinions on players recommended by the recruitment team. It’s perfectly reasonable for manager to ask advice/opinion of someone they trust, good chance Ten Hag will do the same. The club have recruited by Committee for 3 years and it’s been a disaster, can’t all be blamed on Ole, it’s collective failure.

Mick Court is one of the 3 recruitment heads who was part of the transfer committee.

 

[Roboc7]

Mick Court is one of the 3 recruitment heads who was part of the transfer committee.

Only taken a few years for story to change, almost like now AWB is a bad signing everyone is washing their hands of him but people lap this up. We’ve recruitments by committee for 3 years, it’s been a disaster. The reason we changed our minds over players like Maguire was most likely circumstance, finishing 6th as opposed to 2nd not because of Ole and his personal scout.

 

[Roboc7]

You should understand what division of work and responsibilities mean, of course the CEO/Owners will ultimately have the final say, that's obvious, but a DoF will have his or her responsibility and be given autonomy to run the football dept, the CEO/Owner will empower the DoF, otherwise why create a football structure headed by said DoF, if it doesn't have the freedom to function and operate the football dept?



Exactly , these mega clubs that turn in 500m yearly in revenues aren't controlled by a DoF, the DoF's main responsibility is matters related to football, there is a huge commercial aspect to these clubs such as sponsorships and TV deals that is not the DoF's responsibility.

I understand which is why I don’t believe much has changed. Murtough was appointed to work within parameters set by the owners at a time everyone at the club was patting themselves on the back. That’s a key point people forget, he hasn’t been brought into revolutionise everything, just keep it ticking over.

When it comes to big decisions Murtough will only be giving his opinion, he will not have authority to make them.

 

[Adnan]

Only taken a few years for story to change, almost like now AWB is a bad signing everyone is washing their hands of him.

Luckhurst was asked the question a few days ago via a Q&A, and said the story was made up. This is a Phelan/Simon Wells signing imo.

 

[Elcabron]

Spot on, and below is more evidence to support your post.

If we sell Bailey for 15m this summer, will people still think it was a stupid decision to give him a new contract last season?

 

[Roboc7]

Luckhurst was asked the question a few days ago via a Q&A, and said the story was made up. This is a Phelan/Simon Wells signing imo.

I’m sure some signings were largely down to Ole but most were probably based on information provided to him by the recruitment department, some maybe even driven by them. Like I said initially it’s collective failure,.

 

[dubplate warrior]

Luckhurst was asked the question a few days ago via a Q&A, and said the story was made up. This is a Phelan/Simon Wells signing imo.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2019/10/15/manchester-united-have-method-madness-dont-talk/

Not sure if it was made up, either Luckhurst doesn't know as much as he let's on or people in the hierarchy are washing their hands off any responsibility.

 

[Adnan]

I’m sure some signings were largely down to Ole but most were probably based on information provided to him by the recruitment department, some maybe even driven by them. Like I said initially it’s collective failure,.

We know from reports that the recruitment staff vetoed Maguire and were not happy with the Fernandes signing. We also now know that they weren't involved in the AWB signing.

So on whose authority were they signed? You can't look past Phelan and Simon Wells. I don't know any other successful big club that allows their head coach (not manager) to sign players whilst utilising scouts that are independent from the club's own recruitment staff. The last time I saw that happen at another big club, was at Liverpool under Brendan Rodgers and Michael Edwards was ridiculed by fans and media alike.

 

[Adnan]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2019/10/15/manchester-united-have-method-madness-dont-talk/

Not sure if it was made up, either Luckhurst doesn't know as much as he let's on or people in the hierarchy are washing their hands off any responsibility.

I can't read that article due to it being behind a pay wall.

Solskjaer had his own scout (Simon Wells) who is known to utilise a AI data app, which Burnley also use in the Premier League. It's not difficult to see where the scout reports were generated from.