Ed Woodward | Post season 2017 edition

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Yep ha ha etc

Its a genuine question

i think a team of professionals perform the actual negotiations. Woodward is unlikely to leave his office in London. Unless its some big deals like say Messi signing for united, woodward will be likely just doing a supervisory role.
 
I think it's you whose struggling with this.

I've said no one has had more transfers derailed or become a circus in the past few years than us, then I've supported that claim by giving numerous examples of our failed transfers.

If you disagree with this then plz show some work on another club with more high profile failings, the onus isn't on me to disprove my own opinion.
FFS you can't say one thing is worse than another whilst offering nothing to show how bad the other thing is.

"X is worse than Y"
"prove it"
"X is bad"
"What about Y?"
"Erm, that's on you to prove!"

:wenger: I'm out.
 
off the top of my head

arsenal

1. bid for vardy (lol) rejected and vardy signs a new contract
2. both alexis and ozil decide to not renew their contracts
3. gets rejected by lacazette benzema and many other strikers
4. not buying anyone in 15/16 other than Cech.
5. sagna decide to leave them for city on a free

liverpool

1. gotze fires his agent because he is linked to liverpool
2. sanchez prefers arsenal over them
3. Buying Balotelli and unsurprisingly he flops for them
4. letting chelsea swoop in for salah in the 11th hour
5. missing Alli's signing who is a liverpool fan because of gerrard
6. their then best player sterling chooses to reject liverpool contract and move to city

Wait, what? What happened there??
 
My concern is that teams like City seem to have a long-term strategy in place. They have Txiki and Soriano in the background moving pieces around and making sure agents are connected with the team. Their work ensures they make quick, decisive moves in the market and there's very little mess. Look at Silva this year and in past the transfers of De Bruyne and Jesus. They just seem to get things done without it being a huge media event. It's a much better way to run a sports team.
This City love in on here is just annoying.

Let's look at what happened just last Summer.

They signed :

1. Nolito: poor signing that looks like he will be sold after just one season with the manager hardly selecting him for games in the second half of the season.

2. Gundogan: a crock. Was a crock before he was signed. Surprise surprise, has been a crock at City too.

3. John Stones: the gift that keeps on giving. After having a woeful season at Everton were he struggled for form, City splashed 50m on him to be their main CB. Goes to City and has a plethora of blunders in yet another poor season.

But no, we should go full Moyes and aspire to be like City. Compare that our own signings last Summer. Utter nonsense really.
 
My concern is that teams like City seem to have a long-term strategy in place. They have Txiki and Soriano in the background moving pieces around and making sure agents are connected with the team. Their work ensures they make quick, decisive moves in the market and there's very little mess. Look at Silva this year and in past the transfers of De Bruyne and Jesus. They just seem to get things done without it being a huge media event. It's a much better way to run a sports team.

That's because we sell papers and they don't. Even if we sign a Defoe that would get more publicity and become a circus. Also, who is to say if its even true that we are after those players who are linked with us. I see two to three new players linked to us every day. And when those players join other club , we fans moan.

I am not saying our transfer strategy is perfect but it's not that bad like many point out.
 
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Also, why are some acting as if its july 31 and the season is about to begin. Bar city no team has made major signings . And pep is making early inroads because he knows his last summer business was bad. Jose has already stated he won't be bringing many players , maybe 3 or 4 max so why are we so restless . We will get our players
 
This City love in on here is just annoying.

Let's look at what happened just last Summer.

They signed :

1. Nolito: poor signing that looks like he will be sold after just one season with the manager hardly selecting him for games in the second half of the season.

2. Gundogan: a crock. Was a crock before he was signed. Surprise surprise, has been a crock at City too.

3. John Stones: the gift that keeps on giving. After having a woeful season at Everton were he struggled for form, City splashed 50m on him to be their main CB. Goes to City and has a plethora of blunders in yet another poor season.

But no, we should go full Moyes and aspire to be like City. Compare that our own signings last Summer. Utter nonsense really.


You missed the worst of the lot - Claudio Bravo.
 
Also, why are some acting as if its july 31 and the season is about to begin. Bar city no team has made major signings . And pep is making early inroads because he knows his last summer business was bad. Jose has already stated he won't be bringing many players , maybe 3 or 4 max so why are we so restless . We will get our players
People are just feeling disappointed at the names were being linked, which is understandable given how shit we were in attack last season. But your right, it's the beginning of June ffs.
 
People are just feeling disappointed at the names were being linked, which is understandable given how shit we were in attack last season. But your right, it's the beginning of June ffs.

Again there is nothing to say that names we are linked won't do the job. Last 2 or 3 seasons have made us spoilt because of our transfer activities and we want galactico signings. Remember those days under sir alex where we hardly made any galactico signing. Now any player we sign less than a pogba caliber we term him average. Look at perisic, who is to say he won't do the job effectively.

We have to back our manager as his last summer signings were spot on. We may very well sign a galactico player but there will be se.other signings too which we must welcome
 
Again there is nothing to say that names we are linked won't do the job. Last 2 or 3 seasons have made us spoilt because of our transfer activities and we want galactico signings. Remember those days under sir alex where we hardly made any galactico signing. Now any player we sign less than a pogba caliber we term him average. Look at perisic, who is to say he won't do the job effectively.

We have to back our manager as his last summer signings were spot on. We may very well sign a galactico player but there will be se.other signings too which we must welcome
Yeah but people can use their own minds and decide whether they feel a signing will be good or not. No point in mindlessly deciding whoever the manager signs will be great because of him being the manager. I do agree that the names people are enthusiastic about can be big successes too. But obviously they might be duds. My hope is that if we to for these so called unfancied signings then we shouldn't get fleeced for it. Save the big spending for a superstar signing not system players and options.
 
FFS you can't say one thing is worse than another whilst offering nothing to show how bad the other thing is.

"X is worse than Y"
"prove it"
"X is bad"
"What about Y?"
"Erm, that's on you to prove!"

:wenger: I'm out.

It's hilarious that I work in a field entirely based on logic and rationale decision making to see such terrible arguments. Not surprising though.

When Y is every other club in world football then yes I can. Showing how bad the other thing is what exactly? Listing all the transfers made by elite clubs in the previous 3 years along and directly comparing them all with United's?

If any one single club has been worse than us it shouldn't be too difficult for you to name them and outline why it was worse. I've already gave a number of examples as to why I think it's us, you've provided nothing.
 
off the top of my head

arsenal

1. bid for vardy (lol) rejected and vardy signs a new contract
2. both alexis and ozil decide to not renew their contracts
3. gets rejected by lacazette benzema and many other strikers
4. not buying anyone in 15/16 other than Cech.
5. sagna decide to leave them for city on a free

liverpool

1. gotze fires his agent because he is linked to liverpool
2. sanchez prefers arsenal over them
3. Buying Balotelli and unsurprisingly he flops for them
4. letting chelsea swoop in for salah in the 11th hour
5. missing Alli's signing who is a liverpool fan because of gerrard
6. their then best player sterling chooses to reject liverpool contract and move to city

Thankfully someone gets it.

Vardy rejecting them was definitely embarrassing but Alexis and Ozil could still renew their contracts so I wouldn't count that until it's over. I don't think the links to Benzema have been legit although I'd believe Lacazette. I'd also add the 40m + £1 Suarez fiasco to Arsenal.

Sanchez and Balotelli were bad but I don't believe the Gotze troll, Liverpool get linked to all those ex Dortmund players because of Klopp. Ali is maybe the worst of the lot given what's he turned into.

In the United camp I'd add that Bale/Varane and Kroos chose Madrid over us.
 
It's hilarious that I work in a field entirely based on logic and rationale decision making to see such terrible arguments. Not surprising though.

When Y is every other club in world football then yes I can. Showing how bad the other thing is what exactly? Listing all the transfers made by elite clubs in the previous 3 years along and directly comparing them all with United's?

If any one single club has been worse than us it shouldn't be too difficult for you to name them and outline why it was worse. I've already gave a number of examples as to why I think it's us, you've provided nothing.

Jesus, I hope you don't have stock options.
 
No team has had more transfers derailed or become a circus in the past few years than us. Needs to get it sorted.
Do you not think that's because United gets far more press and because us, the fans, pay much closer attention to our club?
 
Yeah but people can use their own minds and decide whether they feel a signing will be good or not. No point in mindlessly deciding whoever the manager signs will be great because of him being the manager. I do agree that the names people are enthusiastic about can be big successes too. But obviously they might be duds. My hope is that if we to for these so called unfancied signings then we shouldn't get fleeced for it. Save the big spending for a superstar signing not system players and options.

To be successful we need system players and options. That is far more important than an marquee signing imo. Look at the players Mou brought in last season. Not many knew who Bailly was, he has been a revelation.

The market is absolutely inflated at the moment. Many teams has plenty of cash to throw around, and that's why very solid system players and options will cost us more combined with the fact everyone knows how wealthy our club is. Liverpool is chasing Salah, touted fees are around 40 million euros. You can't compare last years prices with this years prices. A lot more money around this summer.
 
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Oddly, big Dunc doesn't seem to be banging this drum quite as much recently (see the replies to the tweet)

 
Ed's going to get his pants pulled on the Morata deal.

While I don't question his business acumen (having been an I-Banker myself), I think we need a Director of Football to a) get creative in the market and b) drive a hard bargain. Ideally a DOF would have identified our glaring problems upfront since the LVG era and would have targeted throughout the year 5-6 solutions who could fill that role for us.

At this juncture, we are bargaining with a club that is under no pressure to sell their reserve player, in a market with low striker supply. And they're pissed about DDG / Ramos transfer sagas from a couple of seasons ago. And they know we're the richest club by revenue.

So we will get absolutely fleeced, for a guy that ultimately, might not even be the answer to our puzzle upfront.
 
Ed's going to get his pants pulled on the Morata deal.

While I don't question his business acumen (having been an I-Banker myself), I think we need a Director of Football to a) get creative in the market and b) drive a hard bargain. Ideally a DOF would have identified our glaring problems upfront since the LVG era and would have targeted throughout the year 5-6 solutions who could fill that role for us.

At this juncture, we are bargaining with a club that is under no pressure to sell their reserve player, in a market with low striker supply. And they're pissed about DDG / Ramos transfer sagas from a couple of seasons ago. And they know we're the richest club by revenue.

So we will get absolutely fleeced, for a guy that ultimately, might not even be the answer to our puzzle upfront.
Oh, the DOF faithful. I have absolutely no idea why people want to add a highly paid person to interfere between Woodward and Mourinho. It worked for decades with Sir Alex Ferguson. Everyone that cites needing a DOF always cites the success stories, and conveniently disposes of the catastrophes that result in bringing in a DOF. Basically all a DOF accomplishes is having to pay twice as much in salaries and severance pay when you change regimes.
 
Oh, the DOF faithful. I have absolutely no idea why people want to add a highly paid person to interfere between Woodward and Mourinho. It worked for decades with Sir Alex Ferguson. Everyone that cites needing a DOF always cites the success stories, and conveniently disposes of the catastrophes that result in bringing in a DOF. Basically all a DOF accomplishes is having to pay twice as much in salaries and severance pay when you change regimes.

I would like a DOF because our transfer strategy since Fergie retired has been a disaster.

We have spent the following amounts since Fergie and Gill retired:
13-14 Season: £64.03m
14-15 Season: £124.15m
15-16 Season: £46.69m
16-17 Season: £117.17m


That is £352m of net expenditure in 4 seasons not counting the current one and we still have a very unbalanced squad in desperate need of a striker, a #10, a winger, a DM and of a LB.

So all I'm saying is our squad building strategy post-Fergie hasn't worked, we have gone through Moyes, Giggs, LVG & Mourinho and our transfer policy appears to be scattergun. A football person (s) in charge of scouting / transfers / recruitment to solve these issues before they become problems, and let Woodward run the business/operations/marketing side of the club and Mourinho run the coaching and training side.
 
I would like a DOF because our transfer strategy since Fergie retired has been a disaster.

We have spent the following amounts since Fergie and Gill retired:
13-14 Season: £64.03m
14-15 Season: £124.15m
15-16 Season: £46.69m
16-17 Season: £117.17m


That is £352m of net expenditure in 4 seasons not counting the current one and we still have a very unbalanced squad in desperate need of a striker, a #10, a winger, a DM and of a LB.

So all I'm saying is our squad building strategy post-Fergie hasn't worked, we have gone through Moyes, Giggs, LVG & Mourinho and our transfer policy appears to be scattergun. A football person (s) in charge of scouting / transfers / recruitment to solve these issues before they become problems, and let Woodward run the business/operations/marketing side of the club and Mourinho run the coaching and training side.
Look at the spending from other clubs. Everything has increased dramatically, and the "gold standard" in directors of football are perched up in the crap side of town, adorned in light blue, and they spent a fortune on Mangala. You cannot convince me that hiring another highly paid executive will:
1) Dramatically improve our scouting department
2) Reduce spend in what is a hyperinflated market
3) In any way act as a positive conduit as a barrier between our manager and CEO
 
Look, for a club to be successful long term you need football men running the club. Either the President/CEO (Bayern Munchen model) or you need a highly competent football man in charge of transfers/recruitment (Juve, Sevilla, Monaco, Lyon etc). Otherwise you spend 400 million quid to take a team of champions to 6th in the league in 4 seasons.
 
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It's hilarious that I work in a field entirely based on logic and rationale decision making to see such terrible arguments. Not surprising though.

When Y is every other club in world football then yes I can. Showing how bad the other thing is what exactly? Listing all the transfers made by elite clubs in the previous 3 years along and directly comparing them all with United's?

If any one single club has been worse than us it shouldn't be too difficult for you to name them and outline why it was worse. I've already gave a number of examples as to why I think it's us, you've provided nothing.
Seeing as how you made the original claim, the onus is on you to provide evidence that backs it up. You gave a list of United's transfer failings, but when asked how that compares to other teams, you instead insisted your opponent disprove your claim. If you were arguing in good faith, you'd have tried to actually back up your claim.

As for you claiming your are just expressing your opinion: Saying "We've had way to many transfers fail or end up as a circus in the past few years" would be stating an opinion. "No team has had more transfers derailed or become a circus in the past few years than us" is a factual statement, and one you shouldn't be making unless you either have the data to back it up, or are willing to find the data to back it up when challenged. If you don't have the data, or can't find it, you should concede the point and move on, not try to force others to do your job for you and then declare yourself the winner when they rightly refuse to do so.
 
Even if he doesn't, it will likely be the same with or without a DOF

No, it does change things with managers bringing in new philosophies and players suiting to those. We have seen it with lvg.
 
No, it does change things with managers bringing in new philosophies and players suiting to those. We have seen it with lvg.

We would still have to pay a lot for players. Because PL has more money. Under lvg all signings made sense. Maybe DoF would help choose managers but I doubt Woodward just picks out a random manager and appoints him. Both lvg and mourinho were the best choice when they were appointed
 
We would still have to pay a lot for players. Because PL has more money. Under lvg all signings made sense. Maybe DoF would help choose managers but I doubt Woodward just picks out a random manager and appoints him. Both lvg and mourinho were the best choice when they were appointed

Yeah, we always pay if we buy, but it also ensures you only buy players for the philosopy you have established in your team and not go on to buy wrong fits so you have to put square pegs in round holes just like out squad was when the philosophy changed 2 times from Fergie / moyes to Lvg to again Mourinho.

Lvg sold Di maria welbeck hernandez rafael which Mourinho would never have sold putting our squad incaable of challenging for epl title,which made no sense at all.

Even Ryan giggs has admitted that someone should be working behind the scenes in the future as an advisory voice if their is change in magerial position frequently. Without stability in management there is a huge risk to buy and sell wrong players suiting your squad and philosophy which disturbes team balance.
 
It's incredibly naive to think that someone with the title Director of Football might be able to negotiate better fees for players than Woodward.

Are they also going to disguise the fact they are negotiating on behalf of Manchester United, a club with over half a billion in revenues per year?
 
TIL that someone called Matthew Judge is also in charge of United's summer acquisitions. He's apparently the head of corporate development of our club.
Since signing Dimitar Berbatov from Spurs in 2008, United have not gone back to negotiate seriously with Levy for a player despite there having been interest in Luka Modric and Gareth Bale. Woodward and head of corporate development Matt Judge are in charge of United’s summer acquisitions and Mourinho has made it very clear that he wants Dier.
 
Yeah, we always pay if we buy, but it also ensures you only buy players for the philosopy you have established in your team and not go on to buy wrong fits so you have to put square pegs in round holes just like out squad was when the philosophy changed 2 times from Fergie / moyes to Lvg to again Mourinho.

Lvg sold Di maria welbeck hernandez rafael which Mourinho would never have sold putting our squad incaable of challenging for epl title,which made no sense at all.

Even Ryan giggs has admitted that someone should be working behind the scenes in the future as an advisory voice if their is change in magerial position frequently. Without stability in management there is a huge risk to buy and sell wrong players suiting your squad and philosophy which disturbes team balance.

Nah all of them were to be sold. Maybe Hernandez but he was never going to start and he wanted to start. Rafael was always injured and even when he played he wasn't anything of his 2012 self. Welbeck we got an amazing deal and would easily have sold him even if I were to go back to that time. Di Maria we had no choice but he wanted to leave citing many reasons.

Even DOF will have that risk of buying and selling wrong players. Take Dortmund for example. After lewandowski left they bought Adrian Ramos and Ciro Immobile. Both turned out to be flops. They bought back Sahin, also a flop. they are also quite often buying and selling the wrong players. That's not something you can eliminate having a DOF. It's a general risk you have to take with every player.
 
Seeing as how you made the original claim, the onus is on you to provide evidence that backs it up. You gave a list of United's transfer failings, but when asked how that compares to other teams, you instead insisted your opponent disprove your claim. If you were arguing in good faith, you'd have tried to actually back up your claim.

As for you claiming your are just expressing your opinion: Saying "We've had way to many transfers fail or end up as a circus in the past few years" would be stating an opinion. "No team has had more transfers derailed or become a circus in the past few years than us" is a factual statement, and one you shouldn't be making unless you either have the data to back it up, or are willing to find the data to back it up when challenged. If you don't have the data, or can't find it, you should concede the point and move on, not try to force others to do your job for you and then declare yourself the winner when they rightly refuse to do so.

Some posters have already had adequate responses listing a number of other clubs with high profile transfer failings in line with what a reasonable counter argument would be, I'm very willing to back up my claim when challenged as evidenced in the thread. Saying that I somehow need to list of every transfer from every major club over the past few years and then compare it to United's is ridiculous, if you can think of any club whose been worse than us then go ahead and argue that point.

What data is there for the three amigos showing up in Spain trying to sign Herrera and fail? I've already listed the majority of United's high profile failings over the past few years so if you can't be bothered to read the thread it's you who should move on.
 
Agree, but acknowledgment is always a good start to improvement.
:lol:

Seeing as how you made the original claim, the onus is on you to provide evidence that backs it up. You gave a list of United's transfer failings, but when asked how that compares to other teams, you instead insisted your opponent disprove your claim. If you were arguing in good faith, you'd have tried to actually back up your claim.

As for you claiming your are just expressing your opinion: Saying "We've had way to many transfers fail or end up as a circus in the past few years" would be stating an opinion. "No team has had more transfers derailed or become a circus in the past few years than us" is a factual statement, and one you shouldn't be making unless you either have the data to back it up, or are willing to find the data to back it up when challenged. If you don't have the data, or can't find it, you should concede the point and move on, not try to force others to do your job for you and then declare yourself the winner when they rightly refuse to do so.

Very well put.

@goin4glory you can't state something as factual, then not provide evidence that supports the whole of your claim.
You work in a ''Field of logic''? May I enquire what this 'field' is?
 
:lol:



Very well put.

@goin4glory you can't state something as factual, then not provide evidence that supports the whole of your claim.
You work in a ''Field of logic''? May I enquire what this 'field' is?

Autism.

(SORRY, HOPE NOBODY IS OFFENDED BUT I COULDN'T RESIST!!!!)

We've been OK in the transfer market for 3 seasons now, I can't see how anyone can complain about Woody's work
 
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