Manchester United FC are one of the biggest and richest clubs in the football world and are held with a lot of respect amongst the elites. It is also the biggest club in terms of English top-flight trophies and the richest club in England. Yet, the club has found it difficult to roll back the glory days, especially after the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson.
Sir Alex Ferguson is surely the greatest manager Britain has ever seen as he had a knack of winning no matter what. But there was someone else who played a huge role in United’s success, David Gill. Gill was the predecessor of Ed Woodward, and was the chief executive of Manchester United, and had a huge role in the signings made by the club.
Gill stepped down of his post at United in February 2013, after eight years of service to Manchester United. Ed Woodward, who replaced Gill, had no further experience in a footballing position, even though he was highly successful while handling United’s sponsorship deals. But with Ferguson’s retirement, United have been on a downward spiral since then and have missed David Gill and Ferguson.
Woodward has tried his best to be successful in his position, but without footballing knowledge, his tenure has been dreadful. Looking at the trend of having Directors of Football in other clubs, fans have demanded to have their own Director of Football at Manchester United. Let us have a few things that a Director of Football will be able to achieve with United.
HANDLING OF PLAYER CONTRACTS AND WAGES –
The Director of Football is hands-on with the contracts of existing players and their wages. Manchester United have one of the most bizarre wage bills, which is the highest in the Premier League, without winning the league in seven years. The club has been the culprit of handing out unnecessary contracts and high wages to players who barely play for United.
For example, Phil Jones has been at the club since an eternity despite not playing for United a lot. Most of the fans even believe that Jones doesn’t deserve to play for United and his stats only make their argument stronger. Last year, the defender was handed a four-year contract extension, with him earning about £70,000-per week.
To put that into context, Andy Robertson of Liverpool earns the same amount of money at Liverpool per week. Another example of such high wages given to United players is that of Juan Mata. The veteran midfielder £150,000-per week at United, whereas the likes of Sadio Mane, Riyad Mahrez, Bernado Silva and Rodri earn the same or lower at their respective clubs.
United have also seen some of their good players leave for free as they ran their contracts down. The likes of Angel Gomes and Ander Herrera are prime examples of such cases, as both the players have been great servants of United. But, as they were not handed the contracts they deserved, the players chose to leave for free.
This in-turn causes United loses, as the players were very valuable in the market and could have generated funds for United to sign other players.
MAKING NEW SIGNINGS –
Manchester United have struggled to make impactful signings since the departure of Ferguson and David Gill. Although the club has spent loads of money on players, hardly a signing since the post-Ferguson era has come good. A Director of football has his contacts and scouts and uses them to sign players of the highest quality at the right value.
The Red Devils have made some panic buys in the post-Ferguson era despite being very close to signing great players. In Moyes’s first summer, United only signed Fellaini very late in the window, despite being linked to Thiago Alcantara throughout the summer. In the winter of 2019/20 season, United were craving for a striker and were heavily linked to Earling Halland, but only ended up signing Odion Ighalo.
The Director of Football, using all his contacts will make sure that the club gets the best player according to the available budget.
HANDLING NEGOTIATIONS –
Manchester United, for the past four or five years, have been pathetically slow in having negotiations and signing players. Matt Judge and Ed Woodward have been reportedly handling the negotiations of transfers and have been very slow in making signings. The duo also lacks knowledge of football and thus other clubs try to take advantage of such a situation.
For example, United signed Maguire for a world-record transfer fee for a defender from Leicester City. This summer, the Foxes asked the same amount for Ben Chilwell as Chelsea got linked to him, but to their credit, Chelsea signed him for only £50m. This was a classic example of United’s lack of negotiating skills at the table.
The Red Devils have been closely linked with Jadon Sancho for the past 18 months, but still, a bid hasn’t gone in for the winger. From the start of this summer, Dortmund’s asking price was clear and United had reportedly agreed on personal terms with Sancho and his agents. With about three days to go for the Premier League to begin, United have signed only one player.
These are some of the many problems which can be sorted if Manchester United get a Director of Football in the club.
