Woodward (old thread)

[Americano]

Some people will never 'like' him as he's a glazer man. Thats the bottom line.

'tis true.

That won't change the fact that he is the most important & powerful man at Manchester United. If he can master investment banking, PIK loans, corporate takeovers, putting part of the team on the NYSE, and global sponsorship how hard can it be to buy a few mercenaries to kick a ball around?

 

[Morpheus 7]

This window is finally picking up for us. It's going to be an exciting season if Woodward get's more deals done. I'm still not convinced on Woody but we will see come the end of the window. He's flashing the cash isn't he. For me Mata is the only signing that had big negotiating. Fellaini was a mess of a signing considering we could have activated his buy out clause. Herrera's signing was meeting the buy out clause which could have been done last Summer. If Shaw is over 30m it's hardly a bargain, great player though. I'm really happy how quickly the Herrera deal was wrapped up, surprised many journos. We will improve with LVG and signings the quality of Herrera and Shaw. No European football and good fixtures at the start could help us turn a corner. It's been a hard year watching the decline so fast from being Champions. There was no sign of football getting better under the wild one Moyes. Go for Vidal, Hummels, Depay and we will be hard to beat. At least we have the momentum now and things are getting done. Genuinely optimistic that it's going to be a good year for us.

 

[Matador8]

When are you guys going to listen. Walking in a Wooidawrd wonderland. The Woodward revolution, would you prefer, David Moyes's methods at this point?. Let him get on with it.

 

[alibaba]

This window is finally picking up for us. It's going to be an exciting season if Woodward get's more deals done. I'm still not convinced on Woody but we will see come the end of the window. He's flashing the cash isn't he. For me Mata is the only signing that had big negotiating. Fellaini was a mess of a signing considering we could have activated his buy out clause. Herrera's signing was meeting the buy out clause which could have been done last Summer. If Shaw is over 30m it's hardly a bargain, great player though. I'm really happy how quickly the Herrera deal was wrapped up, surprised many journos. We will improve with LVG and signings the quality of Herrera and Shaw. No European football and good fixtures at the start could help us turn a corner. It's been a hard year watching the decline so fast from being Champions. There was no sign of football getting better under the wild one Moyes. Go for Vidal, Hummels, Depay and we will be hard to beat. At least we have the momentum now and things are getting done. Genuinely optimistic that it's going to be a good year for us.

It's really strange about the last few seasons..

Shitty won the title and they self destruct the next season, when shitty imploded we won the title and then we self destruct
Shitty won last year so will they self destruct again this year and we win it again only to self destruct next season.

 

[Verminator]

I'm so pleased i planted one on a few cabbages in the beer garden when i First noticed this thread.

Fixed (I'll understand if you don't get the slang in there)

 

[Matador8]

Fixed (I'll understand if you don't get the slang in there)

It's all gravy baby, unles you don't like wet food.

 

[fallengt]

Difference in view, I am Dutch and here the transfer fees are very important. Clubs don't really have money so you have to be careful with the money you have, here it isn't splash splash. There was a Luke Shaw topic at a dutch football site today, reporting him signing soon, people are calling United idiots etc while over here it is like the most normal transfer ever. That's the reason why it bothers me and why I care a little, but excuse me.

It's true, your people got a point and I won't deny it but there're 2 factors why We're overpaying for Shaw. Firstly, he's British, the price is inflated by his nationality obviously. we can always look for cheaper options abroad but we don't do it because balancing foreigner and British is club's policy, If that wasn't the case, the like of Ashley young would have had no chance to be here and he should be fined every time he set foots in the stadium, that's an insult to our club. Secondly we had an abysmal season under Moyes and want to get back to the top as son as possible, the rebuilding task is huge and spending premium money to buy players seems inevitable this season, there's no other way around. But again I admit its a bad business but something just has to be done.

 

[roseguy64]

Are you being sarcastic? We were desperately in need of a few signings. Of all the big clubs in England, we are the ones who haven't thrown our weight in the transfer window for quite a while and this season it was absolutely necessary to do in order to give a signal of intent in terms of our ambition. Also, these are very special situations. One player bought himself out of his contract and the other is the best player his current club has ever produced.

I'd say Bale and Walcott are better. Le Tissier wasn't too bad himself.

 

[tombombadil]

I see him for what he has done. He is obviously a good manager and he knows the commercial side of things very well. He's done a brilliant job there. The issue for me, was the football side of things. With the entire David Gill team leaving, he has no one to advise him about the football side of things. Which explains last year. While I wasn't impressed with him last season and even in January, and also the way he handled Rio, at least he seems to be getting better and getting the job done this time around. I don't see any reason for complaints about the Herrera transfer.

Now let's see how he handles Shaw. It'll be great to get Shaw, but isn't 34 Million Pounds pushing it a little bit? I hope it's broken down into installments and clauses, like appearances or trophies won, or clean sheets, etc. If he gets the job done within a reasonable budget, I suppose he'll have proved that he is up to the task now. If things go south, then perhaps all the calls for a Director of Football to handle the football side of things for him are justified.

It's true, your people got a point and I won't deny it but there're 2 factors why We're overpaying for Shaw. Firstly, he's British, the price is inflated by his nationality obviously. we can always look for cheaper options abroad but we don't do it because balancing foreigner and British is club's policy, If that wasn't the case, the like of Ashley young would have had no chance to be here and he should be fined every time he set foots in the stadium, that's an insult to our club. Secondly we had an abysmal season under Moyes and want to get back to the top as son as possible, the rebuilding task is huge and spending premium money to buy players seems inevitable this season, there's no other way around. But again I admit its a bad business but something just has to be done.

It's not just club policy. It's UEFA policy. And also Premier League policy.

 

[.Rossi]

Wonder who'll get the Ed Woodward player of the season award this year

 

[goldenstatesplash]

ITT: People that think they know how high finance and business work arguing about their own made-up perceived view of how it works.

 

[Jammydodger7]

That we buy isn't the problem, but we should also look at the amount and are those amounts in proportion to the situation/player etc imo.

We earn crazy amounts of money, even without champions league so if we weren't spending the money it would just be going in the owners pockets. This won't be a regular occurrence though, we fecked it up in recent years by not signing players in positions we needed to, now it has come back to haunt us and we have no choice but to have a big overhaul at once.

 

[Utd7]

Ed has gone from a goat to hero in less than 24 hours with two signings. Keep up the good work Woody.

 

[Siorac]

Two bloody good signings, Woody. Nice job. Especially as one of them is an actual, bona fide central midfielder. And neither of them is Cavani or any striker. It feels odd, to be honest. But I'm so happy right now, especially as I haven't followed all the transfer bullshit closely enough so the element of surprise is there.

 

[Gaeilge]

Two top class signings in positions that we actually need - genius! I mean, to think that we've actually spent big bucks on an CM is outstanding.

Now, with the remaining 130odd M available, go throw copious amounts at the likes of Schweinsteiger/Carvalho/Hummels and if you can believe what the bookies say - he should do everything in his power to nick James Rodriguez! positive signs I must say and even more refreshing is the timing of the signings.

 

[Shane88]

I've grown accustomed to this one new player a day lifestyle. Wonder who he has lined up for Saturday?

He better have someone lined up for Saturday....

 

[hobbers]

I think his performance last summer was heavily affected by the dithering of David Moyes. As far as we've heard we had several deals already lined up when Moyes arrived, potentially with everything already sorted out. Ed probably thought he'd have a fairly relaxed first month.

Moyes then comes in and pulls the plug on all of the current targets, because he hadn't had enough time to personally scout them. And replaces them with an unattainable target and two players who, despite the fact he was managing them a couple of weeks earlier, Moyes was completely ignorant about the club's financial position and attitude to selling them. Add in a concerted effort on Ed's part to hijack Bale's sale to Madrid, and Moyes' inability to come up with alternatives until the final few days of August, and the end result was inevitable.

He'll probably be so relieved to have a manager in LvG who just gives him a list of targets and alternatives, and lets him get on with it.

 

[fishfingers15]

Ed has gone from a goat to hero in less than 24 hours with two signings. Keep up the good work Woody.

He may still go from a hero to GOAT in another 24 hours if he pulls of Shaw and Vidal.

 

[ManUtd43vr]

Anybody who has fecking moaned the whole time that we are a small time club, that we are pathetic and would never be able to attract top talent and feck up transfers should be shamed!

 

[Werder Herzog]

I am naming my next son after him.

 

[Walrus]

That's exactly United like. We've promoted youth yes, it's been the backbone for a lot of our success. But United has always had an apetite for smashing transfer transfer records right from the 60s

Dennis Law, Alex Stepney, Ian Storey-Moore, Ray Wilkins, Gary Burtles, Gordon McQueen, Brian Robson, Andrew Cole, Mark Hughes, Roy Keane, Mark Hughes, Dwight Yorke, Gary Pallister, Jaap Stam, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Juan Sebastian Veron, Cristiano Ronaldo, Rio Ferdinand, Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov, David de Gea were all big money deals.

We were also close to record deals to the like of Gascoigne, Shearer etc.

So true. We have always balanced our academy products with signing the best young players in the world - especially British ones when they become available.

If we spend £30m on an 18 year old and be stays with us for 10 years, that's far better value than spending £25m on a 26 year old who lasts 4. And unlike other clubs who will remain nameless, we are spending money which the club had earnt and generated itself.

 

[united_99]

As I have mentioned in the past, Ed has made mistakes, but he is a quick learner and very flexible. I also think he is the right man to keep a healthy balance between United's traditions (backed Moyes for longer than he should have, made Giggs care taker manager, agreed to Giggs as AM, still trying to fit/keep Butt (and maybe someone else) in the coaching staff, etc.) and modernisation (fired Moyes, hired LvG, broke transfer record for Mata, now Herrera and Shaw, gave record-breaking contract to Rooney, commercial deals, etc.)

I also hope that now finally ppl stop blaming Glazers for a lack of spending. We have always spent money (on transfers and wages) and say what you want about Glazers, but it shows a certain degree of commitment to spend so much on transfers WHILE having no CL income next season (and before ppl claim that they are responsible for the state of our squad, no they are not. They gave SAF and Moyes enough money to at least remain in the top 4, they couldn't have done more here (especially during Moyes' reign who immediately was allowed to first offer more than a player's release clause and then break our transfer record, both in his first season).

 

[Plugsy]

I do think maybe van Gaal isn't getting as much credit for this as say Sir Alex would if he was still here. I think Woodward has been unfairly treated but this whole "go executive vice-chairman" thing when we make a signing just seems...wrong. It's van Gaal's team that he's assembling. Credit for Woodward for getting the deals done but in terms of identifying and going for players, van Gaal's name needs to be mentioned far more than it is.

 

[Amir]

While paying huge money for Shaw and hitting Herrera's release clause are hardly acts of CEO genius, it needs to be done. We're also paying a price for not doing things early enough - we're years late with that midfield. I guess last summer was down to two new men in charge, although while Woodward has the excuse of being new to football, Moyes does not. Whatever. If you put last summer behind, things seem to have picked up nicely in terms of Woodward's work.

 

[Adebesi]

I do think maybe van Gaal isn't getting as much credit for this as say Sir Alex would if he was still here. I think Woodward has been unfairly treated but this whole "go executive vice-chairman" thing when we make a signing just seems...wrong. It's van Gaal's team that he's assembling. Credit for Woodward for getting the deals done but in terms of identifying and going for players, van Gaal's name needs to be mentioned far more than it is.

That'll happen. Its inevitable when he is on the other side of the world, doing a different job, and he hasnt arrived for his first day at work yet. I think people know he has given all these signings his approval at the very least but clearly both these signings are the culmination of work that started before he was even in contention for this job. Once he has his feet under the desk all the credit for this kind of stuff will be directed at the manager, as is usual.

 

[Amir]

I do think maybe van Gaal isn't getting as much credit for this as say Sir Alex would if he was still here. I think Woodward has been unfairly treated but this whole "go executive vice-chairman" thing when we make a signing just seems...wrong. It's van Gaal's team that he's assembling. Credit for Woodward for getting the deals done but in terms of identifying and going for players, van Gaal's name needs to be mentioned far more than it is.

Partly, though I think when it comes to Herrera and Shaw Van Gaal probably deserves credit for showing trust in the scouting department more than anything (something which Moyes seemed to lack). I doubt he knows both players deeply - especially Shaw - so he must be basing his decision on things he's heard from our scouts and his own contacts in football.

 

[Plugsy]

Partly, though I think when it comes to Herrera and Shaw Van Gaal probably deserves credit for showing trust in the scouting department more than anything (something which Moyes seemed to lack). I doubt he knows both players deeply - especially Shaw - so he must be basing his decision on things he's heard from our scouts and his own contacts in football.

Hopefully he's actually spent time and watched videos of all our targets. Plus as someone who was anticipating a return to club football for a while anyway he's probably already got his own scouts and contacts out there who were keeping an eye on who was about. Getting a job and then doing some homework/preparation seemed to be beyond the last manager, who after mid May seemingly fecked off for the best part of two months and switched his phone off.

 

[Adebesi]

While paying huge money for Shaw and hitting Herrera's release clause are hardly acts of CEO genius, it needs to be done. We're also paying a price for not doing things early enough - we're years late with that midfield. I guess last summer was down to two new men in charge, although while Woodward has the excuse of being new to football, Moyes does not. Whatever. If you put last summer behind, things seem to have picked up nicely in terms of Woodward's work.

I was thinking the same thing. In a way it doesnt need to be said, after the season we had we can allow ourselves a bit of hysteria, but reading all the Woody love-in yesterday I was marveling at how much praise he was getting. Its human nature that a man who does his job quietly and efficiently gets little praise, while a man who is first completely inept, and then turns things around to achieve a level of competence, will be treated as if he is actually excelling.

I dont want to take anything away from Woodward and I was one of the ones who always felt he needed to be given time to grow into the role. I may have slated him last summer but I never called for his head and I always expected him to learn quickly because he has proven himself in business - and football is increasingly just another business. He was never incapable, simply inexperienced.

Still, all this talk of Woodward Day and the like... its fair enough, as I said, for us to overreact a bit, given the trauma of last season. But it has to be acknowledged there is a massive overreaction going on. We have secured two very good players by overpaying for both. Still, it needed to be done to get us back on track and hopefully we are not going to end up with too big a mismatch between how much we are spending and what those players are delivering on the pitch.

 

[Barca84]

That's exactly United like. We've promoted youth yes, it's been the backbone for a lot of our success. But United has always had an apetite for smashing transfer transfer records right from the 60s

Dennis Law, Alex Stepney, Ian Storey-Moore, Ray Wilkins, Gary Burtles, Gordon McQueen, Brian Robson, Andrew Cole, Mark Hughes, Roy Keane, Mark Hughes, Dwight Yorke, Gary Pallister, Jaap Stam, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Juan Sebastian Veron, Cristiano Ronaldo, Rio Ferdinand, Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov, David de Gea were all big money deals.

We were also close to record deals to the like of Gascoigne, Shearer etc.

Sorry but Sparky joined us from school

 

[Drummer]

Woodward actually does his job competently this season and is hailed a hero!!! Don't remember too many David gill fans and he presided over some of our most successful moments.....

Oh how the bar has been lowered to ridiculous levels when fans are applauding somebody for doing the job they failed to do last season....

Is there anybody on this thread over 15 or is this doubling as the twilight/united appreciation society!

 

[Matador8]

Cheer up drummer. Anyone would think David Moyes was still in charge. David Gill was a nobody, compared to Woody the transfer slayer.

 

[bishblaize]

Woodward actually does his job competently this season and is hailed a hero!!! Don't remember too many David gill fans and he presided over some of our most successful moments.....

Oh how the bar has been lowered to ridiculous levels when fans are applauding somebody for doing the job they failed to do last season....

Is there anybody on this thread over 15 or is this doubling as the twilight/united appreciation society!

That's because David Gill was a complete hypocrite.

 

[Eyepopper]

Last summer was a fecking shambles from start to finish... this summer is much more 'Utd like'.

You have to be fair and say that, while a complete pigs mickey was made of our dealings last year, it was somewhat of a unique situation... with Fergie & Gill going and the spotlight firmly on the new men in their places..... in that context it's not majorly surprising that things didn't go smoothly...... good to see they're getting things sorted more quickly and quietly this time around.

 

[sammsky1]

Sorry but Sparky joined us from school

we then sold ... and resigned him from Barcelona for a huge fee.

 

[Invictus]

Sorry but Sparky joined us from school

Resigned from Barcelona for a club record £1.8 million in 1988.

 

[Plugsy]

Resigned from Barcelona for a club record £1.8 million in 1988.

Kinda funny someone called 'Barca84' missed that

 

[mcGonigle]

It's true, your people got a point and I won't deny it but there're 2 factors why We're overpaying for Shaw. Firstly, he's British, the price is inflated by his nationality obviously. we can always look for cheaper options abroad but we don't do it because balancing foreigner and British is club's policy, If that wasn't the case, the like of Ashley young would have had no chance to be here and he should be fined every time he set foots in the stadium, that's an insult to our club. Secondly we had an abysmal season under Moyes and want to get back to the top as son as possible, the rebuilding task is huge and spending premium money to buy players seems inevitable this season, there's no other way around. But again I admit its a bad business but something just has to be done.

Do we know how much we paid for Shaw? Was it 30 million??
This whole nationality argument is bollox, look at it, England didnt even get out of their WC group this year and have been sh1t since 1990 WC (even then they were just ok), I understand that age comes in to it but I never understood the nationality thing, just because Shaw is one of Enlands best up and coming "ok" players, shouldnt mean we need to pay over the odds for him..

Having said that, I'll take him in a heart beat

 

[Plugsy]

Do we know how much we paid for Shaw? Was it 30 million??
This whole nationality argument is bollox, look at it, England didnt even get out of their WC group this year and have been sh1t since 1990 WC (even then they were just ok)

Yes I too think we shouldnt have signed Shaw due to our failure to do well at Euro 92. We should also send Herrera back. LOL @ Spain. In fact the whole Ferdinand signing was abig mistake. If this was 1966 sure, but 40 years later? Waste of time.

I think we should go for some Nigerians given their strong showng this year

 

[Barca84]

we then sold ... and resigned him from Barcelona for a huge fee.

Resigned from Barcelona for a club record £1.8 million in 1988.

Kinda funny someone called 'Barca84' missed that

Not missed at all you pedantic twats Yes yes we sold him for £2 million and resigned for £1.8 million. In the context of buying people in versus bringing them through the ranks Hughes originally joined us a a nipper, was one of our own, was sold and then brought back at a small profit. Reel your neck in Plugsy.

 

[vanthaman]

The guy is a genius