I'm open minded but remain skeptical until I see the good work you speak of behind the scenes come to fruition because from my viewpoint it's the same messy united under a different guise. Ten Hag or whoever takes the helm has a hell of a job ahead. I see absolutely no reason why Fletcher should be in his role over Butt no matter how you paint it. He's there because he's a former player for me, simples.
That's absolutely fine mate and I can understand you being sceptical. And that's a perfectly normal stance to take. But don't you think it would be fair for us to wait and then evaluate the work of Murtough and his team? They've (the recruitment team) never from my understanding been given such a major say in setting the direction when it comes to the first team. That honour was always left to the first team manager who was also allowed to bring in his own recruitment staff.
I don't know if Murtough and his team will be successful. But what I do know with the benefit of hindsight, is that clubs who are successful in the modern game, have their recruitment department, control the direction and decision making on the football side of the club, with input from the head coach. The head coach's role is to primarily focus on the training ground/match days and squad management. And that hasn't happened at this club, until possibly now, if reports are to be believed with Murtough taking control. And that's not Murtough on his own taking control, but he's also making the likes of Marcel Bout, Henny de Regt, Jim Lawlor and Mick Court extremely influential when it comes to the decision making process, which should be noted. Bout and de Regt have experience of working at at Ajax for 18 years (de Regt) and being a coach/analyst under Jupp Heynckes
(Bout) at Bayern. Jim Lawlor is vastly experienced and has been a prominent member of the staff since 2005. Mick Court who I admittedly know very little of, is the Head of data analytics and has been at the club since 2011. So both Lawlor and Court have been at the club when we've won the big titles.
And one thing I must say, is that John Murtough may or may not succeed at the task at hand. But he's never been a Glazer guy. Murtough's actually worked his way up from the 1990s, when he was part of Everton's youth staff, which resulted in them winning the 1998 FA Youth Cup. He then was hired by multiple other clubs in the early to mid 2000s where his job was to modernise the scouting/youth and data analytics departments. He was eventually hired by the Premier League where he was the Head of Elite performance. Which is basically him making sure things are running at a optimal level. Murtough has got to where he's got to through his hard work and dedication in understanding the running of football in the modern game. And it was Moyes who brought him to the club, because Moyes has always been a coach that has been ahead of the game when it comes to understanding the complexities of a recruitment structure in the modern game and the data analytics aspect. Murtough's job at Everton in his early career as a youth analyst saw him promoted by the late Walter Smith to the first team as analyst before Moyes arrived in 2002, as described by Laurie Whitwell in the below article.
The Athletic: Coleman,
who led Wales to the Euro 2016 semi-finals and is now managing Atromitos in the Greek top flight, tells
The Athletic: “(Murtough was) easily one of my better signings since I’ve been a manager. He has really good qualities. Proper fella. Intelligent, integrity, hard worker, bright personality.
“You can trust him. He knows his football. Just because he never played for Man United doesn’t mean he can’t do the job he’s doing.”
It was Murtough who appointed Gary Brazil as Fulham Under-18s manager. Brazil would go on to play a major role in
youth development at Nottingham Forest, bringing through the likes of now full internationals
Matty Cash and
Ben Brereton Diaz.
Coleman took Murtough with him when he was named Coventry City manager in 2008 before Moyes got in touch six months later offering a return to Merseyside.
"Everton had moved to a new training ground at Finch Farm, with their academy and first team housed on the same site, and Moyes wanted someone to bring the whole operation together and also add to the club’s European recruitment network".
"Murtough also oversaw Everton’s Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP) audits. The brainchild of Ged Roddy, the Premier League’s then director of youth, EPPP changed the terrain of youth development in 2012 by bringing in a set of criteria to rank academies from category one to four. It meant professionalising the process and spotting any gaps in education or training that needed filling".
"Roddy saw Murtough’s submission and hired him to assist coaches at other clubs who were struggling to get what was in their heads down on paper".
"Then, in May 2013, Ferguson retired, and Woodward asked successor Moyes for recommendations about a hire to cover academy and scouting departments. United’s new manager proposed Murtough"
https://theathletic.com/3127282/202...-man-tasked-trying-fix-manchester-united/?amp