Why are United board/owners so slow to act?

Swedish_Plumber said:
Because whilst we’ve won trophies with LVG and Jose, there’s never been a clear plan or strategy for the long run.

It’s made up as we go along. Ole was brought in as caretaker and yet after a few good games he’s thrown into it full time. That’s despite there being established managers available.

If we bring in a manager capable of winning trophies, that person will be failed by the same old problems of the board eventually. They haven’t a clue about things on the field yet stick their oar in anyways.
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And you think the problem is the owners? Does Sheik Monsour (or however it's spelled) develop the City strategy in his spare time when he stops running his country?

There's the owners -- control the money They also own the club so it can be a toy for them or a business. I'm happy it's a business for them rather than their personal plaything.
There's the people at Utd -- set the policy for the football club, figure out who the manager should be & what players to buy.
There's the team management.
There's the players.
There's the fans.

Of them --
- The owners have provided the money. They appear not to interfere with the mgmt or player selections, which is what the fans want. Right???????????
- The players are often some of the alleged best at their position, but seem lost and demoralized.
- The team management seems like onlookers during a game, also lost and demoralized. (Honestly if someone paid me millions for 3 years, I feel like I could have learned how to manage a football game by now.)
- The fans want to blame the owners who provide the money when things don't go well. I suggest you start flying planes over with the sign "Joel, you need to fix this club. They're incompetent grifters." Or whatever. Also, the fans are very much a mob who can be manipulated.
- Which leaves the people at Utd....Is it still Ed running things? Who is in charge? What's the strategy? What's the long term plan?
 
Every organisation or company have vision/aim and objectives. Glazers and Ed vision/aim and main objectives are not to make Man United winning UCL or PL but just to make the club profitable by using the club’s reputation that had been built by Sir Alex and Sir Busby. If you compare it to Chelsea, Abramovich vision/aim is to make Chelsea become the most successful club in the world and the objectives are by winning as much major trophies (PL & UCL) as they can which are the clubs objectives set and planned by the board. That’s why they sack Lampard quickly. Owner and board with different vision and objectives.
 
This is the million dollar question and I would love to know the answer. All these theories make absolutely no sense.

a) The board are not football people but bankers, lawyers etc. - Well no sht. All boards are like that. Football people couldnt run a business for sht. Imagine Gary Neville, Giggs and Ole running United. We would be fkd. Its the same of all football boardrooms and owners.
b) The Glazers just care about top 4 and making money. This statement contradicts itself. It doesnt make sense. Why would they spend so much money? Why would top 4 make them more money than winning something? Being sht loses you money not gains it. If they want to make money then they need United to be good. Its an illogical and stupid business plan made by stupid people if thats the case. And if anything I doubt they are stupid.
c) Ole is a shield for the Glaziers. Do you really think they give a sht? They dont need a shield. Why would they. And even if they did how is having a Ole shield helping them when he has our team playing so sht. Is sacking Ole and bringing in another coach all of sudden going to get them more nasty tweets and they are scared and they might cry?

The hard truth that many have alluded to in this thread are that there are a core of actual football people at United that are advising the board. Along with the pressure from ex players and an ingrained ethos in the club. Until these people whoever they are change then United wont change.
 
UNITED ACADEMY said:
Every organisation or company have vision/aim and objectives. Glazers and Ed vision/aim and main objectives are not to make Man United winning UCL or PL but just to make the club profitable by using the club’s reputation that had been built by Sir Alex and Sir Busby. If you compare it to Chelsea, Abramovich vision/aim is to make Chelsea become the most successful club in the world and the objectives are by winning as much major trophies (PL & UCL) as they can which are the clubs objectives set and planned by the board. That’s why they sack Lampard quickly. Owner and board with different vision and objectives.
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I've always disagreed with this idea. Of course they want to be winning trophies. Even if it's all about money and nothing more, more trophies = more money. The Glazers themselves are just clueless, and they have the wrong people advising them, including Ed and Ferguson. I'd stake my house on Fergie being one of the vocal voices to give Ole more time, and he has a lot of sway. I know it's sacrilege to criticise the great man, but he's not always right.

Wouldn't be surprised if the board couldn't agree on anything, but when you look at say, Spurs, is anyone but Levy making these decisions? We've invested all this money and time in to Ole's "vision", and I suppose it's hard to admit that we have to give up on it. It's not just changing the head coach, it's everything. This is why we're so reluctant to have to do it.
 
5 points off top 4 as it stands. The cash cow alarm bells ringing for the Glazers. If they don't sack him now it could cost them their coveted top 4 spot delaying what we all know should have happened 2 weeks ago. I couldn't give a shit about top 4 as its meaningless unless you are serious about winning the Champions League which we are clearly not under clown Ole
 
I think we acted a bit too fast with Moyes then after that as an over correction we've acted far far too late. So now each manager is staying on at least half a season too long
 
El Zoido said:
I've always disagreed with this idea. Of course they want to be winning trophies. Even if it's all about money and nothing more, more trophies = more money. The Glazers themselves are just clueless, and they have the wrong people advising them, including Ed and Ferguson. I'd stake my house on Fergie being one of the vocal voices to give Ole more time, and he has a lot of sway. I know it's sacrilege to criticise the great man, but he's not always right.

Wouldn't be surprised if the board couldn't agree on anything, but when you look at say, Spurs, is anyone but Levy making these decisions? We've invested all this money and time in to Ole's "vision", and I suppose it's hard to admit that we have to give up on it. It's not just changing the head coach, it's everything. This is why we're so reluctant to have to do it.
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Organisation's vision created by the owner and the board not by the manager. There is no such a thing that a manager in one department like Ole the football manager can have total control of the organisation's vision. The reality is Glazer is accepting mediocrity because Man United could finish 4th without winning EPL/UCL and we could still be more profitable than Chelsea, City, and Liverpool. The Glazer accept that. Why trying to take risk and complicated route if the easier route provide similar result? That's what they are thinking. If Glazer vision is the same as Abramovich, they would have sack Ed first for not doing a competence job for 9 years, and hire better CEO who can translate their (owner) and fans vision into strategies how to achieve them together. And this CEO will find the right manager who can execute the strategies. Then the manager will find the right players/coaches to deliver.
 
It feels like my workplace sometimes witch is a big organisation. It takes so long to make decisions due to too much bureaucracy and regimented structure. It's probably not so bad in my industry though, whereas in the football industry you need to be agile.
 
I think that everyone is just organising loads of MS teams meetings to set up times for more MS meetings, with the important meetings once a month, only for the decision to be taken to a more important meeting.
 
They are the equivalent of buying a meme stock, it going down, but persisting to not sell it cause you don’t want to lose money.

It will eventually go to 0.
 
Ekeke said:
I think we acted a bit too fast with Moyes then after that as an over correction we've acted far far too late. So now each manager is staying on at least half a season too long
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How on Earth it was too fast? We finished seventh, more than thirty points behind the champions. Against teams who finished higher than us, we had a single victory, against Arsenal. We lost both matches against Liverpool and City, the away matches against Spurs, Chelsea and Arsenal, and to make things even worse, fecking Everton defeated us in both matches, including giving us a hammering.

In any non-masochistic club, Moyes would have been sacked in October.
 
From the POV of the club:

Liverpool - OK this was bad but has obviously been written off as a bad day at the office, a one-off, otherwise he would have been sacked straight after this. He wasn’t, so this one can be disregarded

Spurs - a fantastic win against a direct top four rival

Atalanta - a good away draw, CL group qualification remains on track

City - a narrow defeat in a game we were expected to lose anyway

So onto Watford - a result here and they'll be preparing a new contract.
 
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steffyr2 said:
What has he done? We have players we don't use, and (apparently) players we need.

We have appointed John Murtough as football director and Darren Fletcher was promoted to technical director. Somewhere (on here?) I read that one of these positions wasn't a typical job and they weren't sure what that person actually did.

Anyway, do they give regular press conferences? Speak to supporter groups? Do we hear of them traveling to other teams and looking at prospective players/managers?

(this is nothing about Darren btw, he was just the 1st example I came up with)
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Considering the conversation was exclusively about Darren Fletcher's role, I will talk about him exclusively.
His job wasn't a 'typical' job, it's not a traditional role in the grand scheme of things.
Which I find ironic, as several people on here claim that United are stuck in the Sir Alex ways and in the past. Yet here is a new analysist role which is a modern appointment yet it's being slagged off.
Fletcher is often in the analysists office, and sometimes on the training ground, he is the go between from the first team and the recruitment team.
I'd say our recruitment so far has been pretty good, although we should of had a midfielder, however this owes more to finances rather than neglect of that position.
 
It’s fine to mock the board but a 93rd minute winner Vs Watford and 40% of the Caf will be genuinely demanding apologies from ‘Ole outlets’ regardless of how shit we play
 
Champ said:
Considering the conversation was exclusively about Darren Fletcher's role, I will talk about him exclusively.
His job wasn't a 'typical' job, it's not a traditional role in the grand scheme of things.
Which I find ironic, as several people on here claim that United are stuck in the Sir Alex ways and in the past. Yet here is a new analysist role which is a modern appointment yet it's being slagged off.
Fletcher is often in the analysists office, and sometimes on the training ground, he is the go between from the first team and the recruitment team.
I'd say our recruitment so far has been pretty good, although we should of had a midfielder, however this owes more to finances rather than neglect of that position.
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Analyst is a very specialist role - you can’t just appoint a random ex footballer into it and hope for the best. Unless Darren has recently completed a relevant degree, PHD and built up relevant analytics experience since leaving United, in which case I take all this back.
 
They saw how Moyes is taking West Ham to the top of the league and don’t want to make the same mistake twice.
 
Ekeke said:
I think we acted a bit too fast with Moyes then after that as an over correction we've acted far far too late. So now each manager is staying on at least half a season too long
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I think Moyes should have been gone months before, like all the others.
 
Because, I suspect, they're not actually full of deep knowledge about the came as it currently exists.

Sports of all types are seeing athletes that are, as athletes, on another level to what the world has seen in the past. You ability to sprint and recover and sprint again is now your most important asset.

This also makes first touch, vision and passing more important, because you beat the press by passing around and through it. You don't have to move the ball fast, but you have to be able to get rid of it immediately if pressed.

Were going to be stuck as a counter attacking team until we get a squad full of players who can control a ball at a higher level. It's just too sloppy, too slow, to beat the press consistently and pin teams back. And with what we've spent, counter attacking shouldn't be good enough.
 
When the glazer speaks to these fans forums (dont know how often or when the next one is) why aint the fans asking why he doesnt bring in a proper DOF who has a football pedigree and experience of doing it at a good level elsewhere. Give them a transfer/wage budget and full automony to move the club forward on the pitch, manager/head coach, coaches, scouts, other staff and team building. That way all the blame goes from the Glazers onto the DOF shoulders. Surely this would make sense to the Glazers instead of the shit show under Woodward. Woodward or Arnold would run the financial side selling the club sponsors etc. That is their expertise, and leave them to that.
 
Ekeke said:
Not even giving 1 season is ridiculous
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If the appointment is so clearly wrong, then why just cling onto blind faith.
Rectify the situation ASAP.
 
BS. They're not generally slow to act. They just don't make the decisions you want. There's a massive difference.
 
They're in the business of selling a marketable sport identity to consumers. They work for their shareholders, not their fans.
Ole has been critical in restoring the 'United way'. The money making identity behind the brand 'Manchester United'.
Conte would have won more games, but he would have left fans feeling distanced from the club thus reducing viewership/commercial deals.
They want to make sure the next manager after Ole can resonate the 'United' brand so the shareholders are not unhappy.
 
Sparky Rhiwabon said:
Analyst is a very specialist role - you can’t just appoint a random ex footballer into it and hope for the best. Unless Darren has recently completed a relevant degree, PHD and built up relevant analytics experience since leaving United, in which case I take all this back.
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I think you are misdirected here.

You don't need a PHD, or any degree in fact for the role that Fletcher has.

Dan Ashworth was actually in line for the same job as Fletcher, the fact that Fletcher knew the club well stood him in good stead, so he got the job.
Dan Ashworth is probably one of the best of his kind, it's a shame we didn't get him, but I feel confident that the club knew what they are doing with Fletcher. Time will tell I guess.
 
WR10 said:
They're in the business of selling a marketable sport identity to consumers. They work for their shareholders, not their fans.
Ole has been critical in restoring the 'United way'. The money making identity behind the brand 'Manchester United'.
Conte would have won more games, but he would have left fans feeling distanced from the club thus reducing viewership/commercial deals.
They want to make sure the next manager after Ole can resonate the 'United' brand so the shareholders are not unhappy.
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This isn't reality, the share price is lower than when Ole was appointed while both markets and competitors are higher. In pretty much every sport, the way to grow your revenue is to win silverware. Look at the low Liverpool sank to after not winning consistent silverware for decades even with the legacy they had. The idea the 'United' brand will persist to the next generation without winning stuff is utter rubbish, paticularly with the trash being played. If you compare our revenue or market cap to other big clubs, we've relatively done awfully over the past decade, while other clubs have seen huge increases we have stagnated. It won't be long until stagnation turns to decline.
 
NewGlory said:
Have you seen the list of who is on the board? Glazer family members with zero understanding or appreciation of the game, and a bunch of accountants and friends. We are nothing more than a cash cow for these f..cks.
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as someone already said, even from a financial perspective Ole is doing bad. If all they care about is money then they would be livid that 100m+ was spent and the talent isnt being utilised.
 
The owners don’t care. Ironically they do care about the Buccaneers and actually run that organization fairly well. At least recently since acquiring Brady. Ditto with Kronke. He cares about the Rams in the NFL over Arsenal.
 
Utd7 said:
The owners don’t care. Ironically they do care about the Buccaneers and actually run that organization fairly well. At least recently since acquiring Brady. Ditto with Kronke. He cares about the Rams in the NFL over Arsenal.
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Except they don't. Even the bucks have been an utter shit house during their entire regime until they were lucky enough to get Brady.
 
BlueHaze said:
Except they don't. Even the bucks have been an utter shit house during their entire regime until they were lucky enough to get Brady.
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Fair enough. However they did manage to win 2 Super Bowls under different coaches (Gruden/Ariens).
Conversely, we’ve struggled to adapt post Sir Alex.
Our biggest issue is the Glazers don’t care. SAF was the club’s ambition/high standards. Without him, that’s absent until we get a manager who demands the same excellence and is a serial winner.
Ironically that manager was available a week ago. And willing to come here. But we let him get away to a domestic rival.
 
Utd7 said:
Fair enough. However they did manage to win 2 Super Bowls under different coaches (Gruden/Ariens).
Conversely, we’ve struggled to adapt post Sir Alex.
Our biggest issue is the Glazers don’t care. SAF was the club’s ambition/high standards. Without him, that’s absent until we get a manager who demands the same excellence and is a serial winner.
Ironically that manager was available a week ago. And willing to come here. But we let him get away to a domestic rival.
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True man. As soon as Sir Alex retired they got exposed for the absolute inept clowns they are. There's been a shit ton of quality dofs out there and we've had Ed Woodward operating in that role for 10 years. Absolute shit house.
 
noodlehair said:
When you spend hundreds of millions on a squad, it's not to market and profit from them as a midtable second tier side.
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That's my point too. For all the complaints about the Glazers, they've spent fortunes. We've outspent City, Chelsea, Bayern and Liverpool. I have less doubts about their ambition than I do about their competence.

DeGea said:
But the football side is not “stable” is it?
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A ship on the bottom of the ocean floor is stable, still won't sail far.

Dante said:
The next manager is undoubtedly being worked on behind the scenes, so it's paramount the team keep getting support to tide us over until them.
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I don’t have any confidence in that and it doesn't seem like support is helping this team. If anything, fans turning on them may finally end this situation.
 
El Zoido said:
I've always disagreed with this idea. Of course they want to be winning trophies. Even if it's all about money and nothing more, more trophies = more money. The Glazers themselves are just clueless, and they have the wrong people advising them, including Ed and Ferguson. I'd stake my house on Fergie being one of the vocal voices to give Ole more time, and he has a lot of sway. I know it's sacrilege to criticise the great man, but he's not always right.
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This is so very true. I have heard/read conflicting opinions regarding the Ronaldo to Man Utd. (2021) move: some say OGS asked Fergie to help get it done, others say Fergie got it done and Ole couldn't so 'No' - I think the later is true and its causing problems. Consequently, Fergie feels some loyalty to OGS for this recent transfer that has thrown his plans off track and consequently he will back him to the hilt. This is the main reason Ole didn't go after the Liverpool game, I think. SAF still has too much power at O.T. and until people face up to that and start to say something about it, this wont change.
 
They will act only after starting losing sponsors but could be too late and the club which is in auto destruction mode could be behind clubs like City, Liverpool, Chelsea (which United is already a few steps below them), but we could be even worse and behind Arsenal, Spurs and Newcastle.
 
L1nk said:
Because it costs them money to act. They just gave him a new 3 year contract, he will require suitable compensation when he’s sacked, they don’t want to pay it.
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It'll be peanuts to letting Pogba escape on a free.


Again
 
barros said:
I’m surprised Ole been a legend for the club doesn’t resign, he’s damaging his name badly.
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I genuinely feel bad for him, and it makes me furious with our cowards on the board. Ole won't sack himself - if it's true that they have no one lined up to replace him, he's not going to leave the club in limbo by walking out. Instead of protecting Ole by sacking him, our board is dragging this shit out until most of the fans have well and truly turned on him. That will be such a shame. Ole has done some good work as a manager, and now it's becoming forgotten more and more by the day. The board should be ashamed and do the right thing - sack Ole.
 
Champ said:
Considering the conversation was exclusively about Darren Fletcher's role, I will talk about him exclusively.
His job wasn't a 'typical' job, it's not a traditional role in the grand scheme of things.
Which I find ironic, as several people on here claim that United are stuck in the Sir Alex ways and in the past. Yet here is a new analysist role which is a modern appointment yet it's being slagged off.
Fletcher is often in the analysists office, and sometimes on the training ground, he is the go between from the first team and the recruitment team.
I'd say our recruitment so far has been pretty good, although we should of had a midfielder, however this owes more to finances rather than neglect of that position.
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No, it's more due to neglect of that position. Presumably the club knew how much they had to spend. They chose not to spend it on a midfielder.
It's good that Fletcher walks between the training ground and the analysts office. What good comes from that?
 
Ekeke said:
Not even giving 1 season is ridiculous
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Every other club board without exception would have sacked him by christmas. Maybe they're all wrong and we were right to give him till the end of the season but what good did it do? It made him a laughing stock, completely demoralised everyone involved with the club, created a toxic atmosphere with weekly leaks about who's fault it was and what an amateurish clown everyone was and every performance was worse than the last.
When Paddy Power are sending the grim reaper to sit behind your manager for a match and opposition supporters are putting up statues of your manager you've waited too long to act.
 
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