Ed Woodward GONE!!!

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Fuck the Glazers
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fat maradona wrote: 2 years ago It's what we have come to expect from this Corporation. When the Owners are on the other side of the Atlantic, how can they be emotionally vested in the success of the club. All they see is the 'bottom line' and the 'profits available for distribution'. Control has been handed over to money men like Woodward and they make the decisions, which will be within the remit set out by the Glazers. As long as the cash keeps coming in, the debt financed and the Glazers stomachs fed, who gives a shit about the football.

Jonathon Wilson made an interesting point in a recent piece - "What happened to the talk, after José Mourinho was sacked, of appointing a director of football to offer a coherent philosophy? Did that just melt away when the decision to give Solskjær the job permanently was made? Was it assumed that nostalgia, which had largely neutralised the Mourinho toxicity, would be enough going forward? What happens next? Is there a plan?"

It does just seem like 'oh look, we've found a quick win solution, let's forget about the plan and get back to the finances'.

I own a business which employs 51 people. I need to be in the office ALL THE FUCKING TIME so that I can manage the Managers, so that the our business ethos and strategy is being carried out, so that we are meeting targets. Luckily I have a couple of business partners to help me out but I can't imagine running the business from another country, not even with the decent mgmt I have put in place. I still need to be overseeing, directing, getting involved.
Well said. The Glazers just see United as another external business venture that brings in the readies. They appoint a team to run it in the UK, while they take the profit in the US. And when there's dissent in the camp eg players fed up of the manager or fans breaking in to Old Trafford, they show their face, do a bit of PR, say whatever the fans want to hear ("data led recruitment", "coherent philosophy") in order to continue extracting the wealth.

The only thing that makes them perform better is when we put our boot on their neck and threaten their wealth. That's what's forced them to spend money. They never used to. Remember the "no value" years. But it requires more than just spending money, it requires infrastructure, a plan etc. They basically have to care, to listen and learn from other clubs. But they won't cos so long as they're getting their money, their primary objective is being realised. The rest, the anger, dissent etc can be managed through PR, lies and fake promises.
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JoelfuckingGlazer
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Agree with the above. I've never been able to understand the Glazer refusal to marry their own commercial interest's with appointing capable, football people to run the football operation. 400m in 4 years and we're no nearer to winning anything than we were previously. Now, in football terms they may not give a shit, but a successful team would surely enable more commercial opportunity. Not only that, but beyond the fact that we're no nearer to winning anything, we're no further ahead in terms of 'guaranteeing' top 4 football. If Conte sorts Spurs, or Arsenal continue to improve, or when Newcastle come to the party in 2 or 3 years, we may struggle for top 6 let alone top 4.

I wonder how much sway Ferguson still has and whether that's part of the reason behind a reluctance to modernise. We know he chose Moyes, we know he brought Ronaldo back, we know he's still advocating for the club to back Ole. His whole ethos was about the manager having control - the idea of a DoF and coach model is probably against everything he believes.

And Fletcher as a DoF is a joke. It shows how much of a token gesture it is, or we'd be getting someone in that's proven. Its the equivalent of a FTSE100 company appointing a solid middle manager as CEO because 'they know the company'.
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dozer
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JoelfuckingGlazer wrote: 2 years ago Agree with the above. I've never been able to understand the Glazer refusal to marry their own commercial interest's with appointing capable, football people to run the football operation. 400m in 4 years and we're no nearer to winning anything than we were previously. Now, in football terms they may not give a shit, but a successful team would surely enable more commercial opportunity. Not only that, but beyond the fact that we're no nearer to winning anything, we're no further ahead in terms of 'guaranteeing' top 4 football. If Conte sorts Spurs, or Arsenal continue to improve, or when Newcastle come to the party in 2 or 3 years, we may struggle for top 6 let alone top 4.

I wonder how much sway Ferguson still has and whether that's part of the reason behind a reluctance to modernise. We know he chose Moyes, we know he brought Ronaldo back, we know he's still advocating for the club to back Ole. His whole ethos was about the manager having control - the idea of a DoF and coach model is probably against everything he believes.

And Fletcher as a DoF is a joke. It shows how much of a token gesture it is, or we'd be getting someone in that's proven. Its the equivalent of a FTSE100 company appointing a solid middle manager as CEO because 'they know the company'.
I agree with all of this, except the Moyes appointment.
He did very well with Everton. In hindsight he was fucking terrible.
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Sid wrote: 2 years ago
jason_uk wrote: 2 years ago https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footb ... -club.html

We are fucked as a club if there's any truth to this, you honestly couldn't make it up.

Football genius Woodward may be retained in consultancy role. The glazers really are clueless from a sporting/football position.
Honestly there aren't the words. He's waited until the hatred and anger has died down, and snuck back in. He'll still be pulling the strings. How the fuck can he work in football when he burned so many bridges. The lack of accountability for powerful people is fucking abhorrent. At this point they do what they want, and it's not just in football. I can't be fucking arsed
I'm hoping this is just something that is quite commonplace among senior executives, and that he won't be a puppet master making key decisions in the shadows.
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bman2
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fat maradona wrote: 2 years ago It's what we have come to expect from this Corporation. When the Owners are on the other side of the Atlantic, how can they be emotionally vested in the success of the club. All they see is the 'bottom line' and the 'profits available for distribution'. Control has been handed over to money men like Woodward and they make the decisions, which will be within the remit set out by the Glazers. As long as the cash keeps coming in, the debt financed and the Glazers stomachs fed, who gives a shit about the football.

Jonathon Wilson made an interesting point in a recent piece - "What happened to the talk, after José Mourinho was sacked, of appointing a director of football to offer a coherent philosophy? Did that just melt away when the decision to give Solskjær the job permanently was made? Was it assumed that nostalgia, which had largely neutralised the Mourinho toxicity, would be enough going forward? What happens next? Is there a plan?"

It does just seem like 'oh look, we've found a quick win solution, let's forget about the plan and get back to the finances'.

I own a business which employs 51 people. I need to be in the office ALL THE FUCKING TIME so that I can manage the Managers, so that the our business ethos and strategy is being carried out, so that we are meeting targets. Luckily I have a couple of business partners to help me out but I can't imagine running the business from another country, not even with the decent mgmt I have put in place. I still need to be overseeing, directing, getting involved.
But the Glazers have never run a proper business. They’re just landlords. There are plenty of reports of how they penny pinch and micromanage the club’s expenses to a ridiculous degree. They couldn’t even imagine hiring professionals and giving them an appropriate budget to get on with the job. That’s why the likes of Klopp and potential DoFs walked away laughing after initial meetings. Working for United only appeals to clowns like Woodward who are satisfied with the illusion of being a decision maker.
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Richard Arnold to officially take over from Ed. But it looks certain now that Ed will stay on in a consultancy role.

https://www.skysports.com/football/news ... d-woodward
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bman2
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Sid wrote: 2 years ago Richard Arnold to officially take over from Ed. But it looks certain now that Ed will stay on in a consultancy role.

https://www.skysports.com/football/news ... d-woodward
I wonder what it means that Arnold is going to be CEO, which is theoretically a more senior position to the one Woodward had. I’d like to think that it makes more room in the organization hierarchy for senior people focused on the football side of things, but that’s probably too optimistic.
sheesh
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Sid wrote: 2 years ago Richard Arnold to officially take over from Ed. But it looks certain now that Ed will stay on in a consultancy role.

https://www.skysports.com/football/news ... d-woodward
Ed will hold a consultancy role 'for a number of months'. Not sure why we can't let him go now.
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bman2
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sheesh wrote: 2 years ago
Sid wrote: 2 years ago Richard Arnold to officially take over from Ed. But it looks certain now that Ed will stay on in a consultancy role.

https://www.skysports.com/football/news ... d-woodward
Ed will hold a consultancy role 'for a number of months'. Not sure why we can't let him go now.
I can actually see that as being really valuable. The club should know what Woodfuck would do in any given situation, so that they can do the opposite.

What a worthless pile of shit who has somehow become wealthy and somewhat famous through the travesty of late stage capitalism.
fat maradona
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bman2 wrote: 2 years ago
sheesh wrote: 2 years ago
Sid wrote: 2 years ago Richard Arnold to officially take over from Ed. But it looks certain now that Ed will stay on in a consultancy role.

https://www.skysports.com/football/news ... d-woodward
Ed will hold a consultancy role 'for a number of months'. Not sure why we can't let him go now.
I can actually see that as being really valuable. The club should know what Woodfuck would do in any given situation, so that they can do the opposite.

What a worthless pile of shit who has somehow become wealthy and somewhat famous through the travesty of late stage capitalism.
You're basing his value on being a DoF when you say he's a worthless pile of shit. But he's a phenomenal commercial director, he has managed to secure some of the best sponsorship deals in the clubs history, managed the finances through a period where the club was paying out huge amounts of interest and dividends and generally kept the club in money. At the end of the day, he will only carry out his duties to the instruction of the Glazers. I'm in no way a fan of his but in terms of Woodward carrying out his remit on the financial side, you can't criticise him. It's the owners fault for not having a DoF in place and having a team managing that aspect of the club rather than one bloke trying to do it all.

Regards keeping the cunt in a job, it does make sense. He will give Arnold a proper handover and allow the Glazers to spend yet more unnecessary money on a frivolity.
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