Woodward (old thread)

Should Studward remain as CE of Manchester United?

  • No - he should be sacked also.

    Votes: 40 22.6%

  • Yes - he should stay.

    Votes: 137 77.4%
  • Total voters
    177
  • Poll closed .
Status
Not open for further replies.
The Red Thinker said:
Why don't you read the papers eh? Times, Guardian, Telegraph... Read the credible ones. Watch the credible news channels. Sky and BBC. This is how I have come to my conclusions.

They may not get it right all the time but when their thoughts all coincide then that goes beyond opinion and becomes an unannounced fact.
Click to expand...

The same papers/outlets which have been announcing van Gaal's appointment endlessly, only to postpone? Yup, been reading them.

"Unannounced fact?" Ye Gods...
 
Loon said:
The same papers/outlets which have been announcing van Gaal's appointment endlessly, only to postpone? Yup, been reading them.

"Unannounced fact?" Ye Gods...
Click to expand...
People do need to relax and be patient though. Clubs usually don't announce their managers in a hurry. Take Chelsea for example. Every man and his dog knew they'd be hiring Mourinho. Yet they took quite a while to actually announce it.
 
There's nothing happening at the moment and the press are scraping round for any old shite to print, there was a tweet yesterday saying something like "LVG will not be appointed manager today"....FFS!

We all need to chill, exciting times are ahead, to put it in perspective this time last year we had dithering Dave to look forward to along with the inevitable recruitment of the Belgium bog brush.

On Woody, he looks sly & sneaky and without doubt has a large slice of little man syndrome, I like him!
 
I don't know hands on Woodward is with the transfers, but going by rumours he does seem be involved quite a lot, so with him trying to sort out the LVG contract, share holders meeting and sorting out the futures of the coaching staff, it seems as though he has his hands full.
 
MDFC Manager said:
People do need to relax and be patient though. Clubs usually don't announce their managers in a hurry. Take Chelsea for example. Every man and his dog knew they'd be hiring Mourinho. Yet they took quite a while to actually announce it.
Click to expand...

Totally understand that, mate, and there's ways of making points and ways of making points on this forum, but it is the daft, "tomorrow" "Thursday" and all the other stuff even the broadsheet journalists are engaging in which only add to the impression nobody knows what's going on. None of us actually knows anything. I'd rather United said: "we'll announce in June or whatever after our selection process is complete."
 
PlayerOne said:
I don't know hands on Woodward is with the transfers, but going by rumours he does seem be involved quite a lot, so with him trying to sort out the LVG contract, share holders meeting and sorting out the futures of the coaching staff, it seems as though he has his hands full.
Click to expand...

I would have thought Woodward is front and centre with the transfers.
 
Loon said:
The same papers/outlets which have been announcing van Gaal's appointment endlessly, only to postpone? Yup, been reading them.

"Unannounced fact?" Ye Gods...
Click to expand...

They're called developments. Things change and it's reported. It's how the newspaper industry works. (Follow development strands. I suggest you use Storify)

Yes Unannounced fact - A technical jargon that is meant to imply that an upcoming event or moment is inevitable based on a reading of existing facts and trends.

Example: If the unrest in Ukraine continues and Russia does not scale down political pressure, more parts of Eastern Ukraine will likely secede.
 
Loon said:
Totally understand that, mate, and there's ways of making points and ways of making points on this forum, but it is the daft, "tomorrow" "Thursday" and all the other stuff even the broadsheet journalists are engaging in which only add to the impression nobody knows what's going on. None of us actually knows anything. I'd rather United said: "we'll announce in June or whatever after our selection process is complete."
Click to expand...
Oh I completely agree with that point of view. The club has actually made a statement about the recruitment process. It said something along the lines of "no further announcement will be made until the entire process is completed"

So basically they're doing what they said they'd be doing.
 
PlayerOne said:
I don't know hands on Woodward is with the transfers, but going by rumours he does seem be involved quite a lot, so with him trying to sort out the LVG contract, share holders meeting and sorting out the futures of the coaching staff, it seems as though he has his hands full.
Click to expand...

And we lost Bolingbroke who was the one in charge of contract negociations amongst other thing.
 
MDFC Manager said:
Oh I completely agree with that point of view. The club has actually made a statement about the recruitment process. It said something along the lines of "no further announcement will be made until the entire process is completed"

So basically they're doing what they said they'd be doing.
Click to expand...


Yet somebody is allowing these "trusted" papers to supply specific dates instead of just waiting. ARRGH! :)
 
JPRouve said:
And we lost Bolingbroke who was the one in charge of contract negociations amongst other thing.
Click to expand...

Yup, it seems as though there is too much to handle for Ed right now. We're meant to be in talks for Kroos and Shaw, combine that with a new contract for Giggs, the LVG situation and it starts to make sense why he still hasn't sorted out the futures of Butt, Phil and Scholes.
 
Loon said:
I think it is safe to assume Woodward has lawyers and the like with him.
Click to expand...

Yep outsourced lawyers, like our Greek fella, but you need a member of the organisation to manage all that.
 
ravelston said:
Not really. Richard Arnold is the commercial director - Maurice Watkins was a partner in the law firm that gave us legal advice (and had been a director since well before we went public the first time).
Click to expand...

Ah yeah my mistake, i was thinking about bolingbroke.
 
Crashoutcassius said:
Re: Woodward, very talented businessman. Still has lots of the football side to develop, but given his talent he is well worth sticking with
Click to expand...

And for the football side he is not alone, if he has doubts (for a player price for instance) he can ask SAF, Mcclair or a super agent.
 
I think only in 3-4 years time we can really evaluate him, if he will right the ship and bring in some trophies, re-establish us as a real title contenders in next couple of years, i'd say he would have done a good job. It's been tough start for him. This summer is really important in terms of his rep. He knows he needs to deliver in the market. And it will be tougher without CL. Although i do believe a lot players would prefer go to United than in Roma for example, that will play in CL.
 
Ed Woodward takes power from Sir Alex Ferguson with appointment of Louis van Gaal at Manchester United
By Mark Ogden

When Ed Woodward takes his seat in the Old Trafford directors’ box, it is usually two or three rows behind Sir Alex Ferguson, therefore denying the former Manchester United manager the opportunity to keep an eye on the club’s new powerbroker.

There are those who would suggest it is a tactical move by Woodward, one designed to keep Ferguson guessing as to what he will do next.

But while there is a danger of paranoia running away with itself among the rival camps within United, it is an inescapable reality that the control Ferguson once held at Old Trafford now lies in the hands of an Essex boy with a degree in physics.

Woodward’s appointment of Louis van Gaalas United’s manager is as symbolic for the 42-year-old as Neil Armstrong planting the Stars and Stripes on the surface of the Moon.

While Ferguson held the steering wheel in both hands when United’s owners, the Glazer family, handed David Moyes the opportunity to manage the club last summer, the recruitment of Van Gaal has been driven by Woodward and, from this point on, it is his club, with no ghost of the past in place to carry the can if this appointment turns out to be as disastrous as the last one.

Ferguson may be a club director at United, but despite initial indications that he would play a central role in identifying Moyes’s successor, the 72-year-old ultimately proved to be a peripheral figure as Woodward whittled down a shortlist to the point that Van Gaal was the chosen candidate.

Van Gaal has dealt with enough internal politics during two decades as one of Europe’s leading coaches to understand there will be issues to address at Old Trafford.

His ability to manage those above him will be just as crucial as his work with United’s players, but the Dutchman would be foolish to focus his sights on Ferguson with the real power lying in Woodward’s hands.

Appointed as successor to David Gill last summer, Woodward has endured a difficult first 12 months in charge, with his inexperience in the role exacerbated by Moyes’s inability to grasp the magnitude of the job he had inherited from Ferguson.

Woodward was never afforded the opportunity to bed into the job with Moyes’s innate caution and indecision leading to last summer’s shambolic transfer window, which resulted in the 11th-hour panic purchase of Marouane Fellaini.

Moyes and Woodward rarely appeared a good fit, despite Woodward’s consistent support of the Scot.

In terms of personality, Woodward is the guy who would walk into a Las Vegas casino and plunge £1 million on red, while Moyes would shake his head and reluctantly put a fiver on black.

Woodward’s frustration with Moyes was tactfully hidden, but always just beneath the surface, and the relationship was never going to work, yet the Glazers were also only ever going to get rid of one of them and Moyes had no chance.

This is the reality that Van Gaal must understand.

Whereas Ferguson and Gill built up a relationship and trust and respect, Gill’s communication with Joel Glazer, the United co-chairman, was weekly at best.

Woodward, however, has always spoken daily to Joel, having impressed the family by driving through their 2005 takeover of the club as an investment banker with JP Morgan.

Once the deal was done, Woodward was handed a job at United and he has now climbed the ladder to claim the top job and the power and control that comes with it.

It has enabled him to appoint his own manager in Van Gaal, one who possesses the ambition and self-confidence Woodward sees in himself, and the ball is now firmly in his hands.

But so is the accountability and those within United who deride Woodward as being ‘power mad’ are now waiting to discover if he can be as successful running the football side of the club as he was in transforming their commercial arm.

He will be expected to move quickly and successfully to sign the players United desperately need and to avoid the embarrassing drawn out sagas of last summer when the club pursued Cesc Fabregas, Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale but ended up with none of them.

But in one sense Woodward has already displayed a ruthless streak by turning to Van Gaal and ignoring the claims of Ryan Giggs, who had the support of Ferguson and a large section of the club’s supporters.

Woodward has taken the emotion out of the appointment by looking to the future rather than the past, despite angering some of those within the Class of ’92 by failing to offer clarity on their positions during the negotiations with Van Gaal.

But when he takes his seat in the directors’ box for the first home game of next season, he will not have to choose his seat carefully to emphasise his power.

Whether he can sit comfortably without Ferguson having chosen the manager remains to be seen, though.
Click to expand...
The Telegraph
 
Woodward seems to have a ruthless personality. The way Moyes was dealt with clearly shows that there is no sympathy in Ed towards those who fail to deliver. Van Gaal will also be ruthless to his players and get rid of those, who fail to meet his demands. Overall, I think it's good for the club.
 
That Ogden article makes me more positive to be honest. Yeah he might be a Glazer guy, but he´s also ruthless and isn´t prone to emotional decisions, such as appointing Giggs on the basis of him being a great player. Makes me feel much more confident, especially as it appears that SAF and the Class of 92 had a bit too much power at the club.
 
Woah that article by Ogden shows a completely different side to Woody. From the looks of it Ed likes a challenge so he will be happy to take on more responsibilities when it comes to getting transfers done.
 
He was my scapegoat for our embarrassing transfer summer a year ago, but he's really growing on me. Seems to have the right combination of ruthlessness and ambition.

I think he and LvG could forge a good relationship assuming the latter is given sufficient autonomy.
 
Yorkeontop said:
Lets see how the transfers go.
Click to expand...
Yep, big summer for him. After van Gaal comments (“We don’t talk about money,” Van Gaal said. “We talk about the players I want. We’ll see if we can get them. We also talked about who can go.”), it's all on Woody now.
 
This summer is the litmus test for him. Last summer he'd just come in, had to deal with losing Fergie and being given (with little choice in the matter) Moyes as his replacement. And potentially he was fighting against or suffering under the assumption that we could continue with the spending pattern that we'd been getting away with under Fergie (i.e: not buying the top CM we so obviously needed) and not suffer too much for it.

This summer there are no illusions. We need top players, we have the money to get them, we have a manager whose name carries weight and who has a great track record with top talent, and Woody is basically completely in charge. No excuses.
 
Will have a massive part to play this summer in carrying out LVG transfer wish list while he's in Brazil.
 
Lets bump this thread at the end of August. This transfer window is huge for Man United. Never have we needed to fill as many voids.
 
A lot of pressure on Ed now, LVG is off to the WC soon and he left with the list of players he wants, so it's all pretty much in Woodward's hands now. Hopefully he learned from last summer, but at least he can start early with the transfers now.
 
We could put down last summer's window to a dithering Moyes but he has no excuses now when van Gaal has already given him a list of players he wants in and players he wants out as early as May and now it's up to Woodward to make these targets a reality for the club. He has no more excuses for failure. van Gaal isn't to be blamed for any sub-par results should we go into next season without any proper midfield and defensive signings.
 
It really depends on how many targets we bring to the club this summer. I have faith Woodward would have learned from the last time and the subsequent embarrassment and horrific season tang followed due to missing out on the players we needed. I'm glad it appears we have a clear list of targets and back ups in place should their clubs pay hard ball but Woodward simply has to deliver this time round.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.