16 Nov 2023 15:54:33
ED002,

What's your opinion on Jean-Clause Blanc as the potential new CEO for the club?

Thanks.

{Ed002's Note - I don't know him but he is a businessmen who has an excellent background in sports management. He should be fine.}

1.) 16 Nov 2023
16 Nov 2023 17:04:37
Thanks ED002.

2.) 16 Nov 2023
16 Nov 2023 23:00:27
Surely we can't hire him, he seems actually qualified for the role. Surely that's against company policy? ??.

3.) 17 Nov 2023
17 Nov 2023 07:01:58
Agree Shappy

That and Paul Mitchell will be an improvement.

4.) 17 Nov 2023
17 Nov 2023 09:59:18
Regardless of everyones preferences on the sale if Blanc and Mitchell do come in it will be the most positive move that the club has made in years.
Hopefully it will lead to a change in approach to the transfer market with a cohesive long term approach rather than short termism.
Lets hope the rumours come to fruition.

5.) 17 Nov 2023
17 Nov 2023 12:41:36
The Glazers have been terrible owners, but our performances on the pitch are not about who owns the club, but how it is run.

It doesn't matter if the owners are "football" people or not, in fact its probably better if they aren't. We've seen it many times where owners want to get too involved in the day to day running of the club and that never ends well.

In my eyes a good owner wants the club to be successful on and off the pitch, but they hire the best people, with subject specific knowledge to run the club rather than get involved in every aspect. They should be enablers and not dictators. Give the club what it needs to be successful, and show authority when things aren't working, being decisive.

At Manchester United the owners have made enough funds available for us to be successful. Where the club has failed is the one of the owners wants too much say (Martial is his favourite player, and he pushed for his last contract renewal for example), and this both slows the process and means that someone who doesn't have the footballing knowledge is ultimately at times going against the advice of people who know better. The other area the club has failed is we fell into the same trap that sunk Liverpool in the early 90's. The club has become too much of a boys clubs, cronyism and people holding positions of power not based on experience and proven expertise but due to who they know. It has created a club that is too much of an echo chamber. If you want to be successful you don't surround yourself with hangers on or sycophants. You surround yourself with people who'll challenge you and question your ideas.

Not every idea you have will be a good one, in fact many will be bad. You need people around you who'll point that out, not nod and say "yes boss, great idea".

United have too many people who won't challenge things when they think something isn't right. The proof of that being the case is in the pudding. A decade of repeatedly making the same mistakes. If there was anyone of substance within the club they would challenge a decision to do something that has previously failed rather than sit by meekly and let it happen again.

There is a fine line between hiring people who you can work with and hiring people who will challenge and question things. A lot of that is based on you and your ability to be open to people questioning why a decision has been made, and being open to have a dialog when making decisions. It might ultimately be your responsibility to make a decision, but that doesn't mean others don't have valid points that you might want to consider and factor in. You want to hire confident, critical thinkers with area specific knowledge and experience.

At United we just haven't done that, off the pitch we have tended to hire people we know, regularly promoting from within, moving people up into positions they have no experience of.

I have nothing against Darren Fletcher, he's no doubt a great guy. Yet he is the best example of hiring someone for a role that for ages didn't even have a job title, and is a role that no one could quite define. While obviously Fletcher himself could have no experience or expert knowledge for a role that just didn't really exist.

I mean what was he hired for? What was he there to do? And what qualified him to be there doing that role?

I don't mind hiring ex-players for some roles at the club, but it has to be on a basis of them earning it by being the best candidate for the role. Edwin van der Sar for example went away and studied, got the qualifications needed after retiring from playing. Started off in a junior role and had to prove himself to work up at Ajax. If we were to hire him I would hope it was based on what he has done off the pitch and not because he once played for us. But at least he has done the job and proven he is capable, we tend to hire people connected with the club for roles they have never done before.

When we get told we are amateurish, this is what it is referring to. A consistent approach to bring in the wrong people for the wrong reasons. Then for some reason be surprised that it doesn't work out. So continue to do the same thing over and over again rather then question the ability of the friends we employed to make those decisions.

SJR is a self made billionaire, he has done so entirely because he doesn't surround himself with sycophants. He hires the best people and builds good, healthy working relationships with them. He wouldn't be able to be where he is today if he didn't. Everyone who knows him speaks highly of him because he's highly competent and he's personable. Able to build those good relationships and get the best out of those around him. That in itself draws the best people to him, they respect him and want to work with him.

He looks to be trying to use that same approach that has made him the success he is to our club. If he can do that then I am confident he will make a success of our club.

It all sounds promising, JCB likely to come in at CEO. A man who has held that position at Juventus and PSG and performed with distinction at both clubs. No doubt he'll shake thing up at the club and clear out those who aren't helping to progress the club. He will be a massive upgrade on Richard Arnold who proved how out of depth he was by meeting fans in the pub. It's actions like this that give credence to the rumours of his lack of professionalism. He has made a career out of being Ed Woodward's understudy. He was in no way qualified to be running the club.

While the links to Paul Mitchell also sound promising. Again hiring someone who doesn't have a connection with the club, but has proven his ability at other clubs.

These two appointments will only be the start, and what happens next will be impossible to accurately predict because until these new guys come in, assess the situation and decide what (and who) needs to change then we won't see those changes. Assessing then implementing will take months, maybe a year. While it won't be until those changes have been full implemented and refined and done over a period of time will we be able to fully see the results of that. It'll be years before we can appreciate the changes. But they are coming and they are starting now.

Finally something to truly look forward to, some real hope.

6.) 17 Nov 2023
17 Nov 2023 14:37:38
We've kept replacing managers but not the execs or the players they bought.

7.) 17 Nov 2023
17 Nov 2023 14:45:51
I don't know how these guys will pan out but it's been a long time since I truly felt there was anything other than blind hope that the stars aligned and it would all come good.

Getting in top level execs who are competent is a very good place to start.

8.) 17 Nov 2023
17 Nov 2023 15:02:10
So you rely on journalist when it suits, like martial is Glazers favourite player and they wanted to overpay him millions only way to know that would be if they actually told you which I doubt
You know how SJR conducts business and made his millions too and what calibre of people he surrounds himself with again you’re listening to journalist, the same journalist you say talk rubbish and are lazy all the time! But you listen when it backs up your view unless he shared that information personally with you
Your making all this up as per usual and trying to pass it off as factual when in reality it’s just your view yet again and to be fair you jump on every band wagon for past 10 years and ride it out till it goes pear shape and abuse everyone else when they jump ship before you only for you to eventually jump ship and back track anyway.

9.) 17 Nov 2023
17 Nov 2023 18:26:41
Rangersred, It's been said by ex-managers that Joel Glazer refused to sanction selling Martial. There are direct quotes. Could be a lie of course, but at least there is something tangible. Someone has put there name to it.

Either way someone at the club agreed to give him a new deal in 2019 after Jose wanted him gone, and Ole had come in and didn't want him either.

The point I'm making is that people are making bad decisions at the club not based on football knowledge or understanding.

I don't bother commenting on anything in the media that doesn't have a direct quote. If no one is willing to put their name and reputation on it, then its most likely b*****ks. Whenever you read "reports" or "someone close to" or "sources" then assume that its simply rubbish. It's just a way for the media to write something made up while attempting to give it some level of authority.

Even the things that are quoted you should still be sceptical and critically analyse it. Who is saying it, did they actually say it, has it been taken out of context, why are they saying it, is there an agenda or motive.

The problem is we have a tendency to lean into confirmation bias. We already have an opinion on something, so what we are looking for is proof we are right rather than gathering information to make an informed decision. We all tend to be guilt of that to varying degrees. What separates people though are the ones who acknowledge their own biases and factor that in when making decisions and forming opinions, from those who don't. The one that do tend to be the actual confident ones, the one who can accept being wrong or openly change their mind without concern of how it will make them look. The one's who ego isn't so fragile they can accepting they were wrong or misinformed.

As for who SJR surrounds himself with, no I do not know them personally. I also cannot personally vouch for their competence.

However, my point was about that how successful you are is directly correlated to who you spend time with and who is in your inner circle. That's a well known and proven fact with hundreds of articles of academic literature to support that.

if you read what I wrote with an open mind rather than with an attempt to find fault then you'd have spotted that I said:

"He wouldn't be able to be where he is today if he didn't. "

highlighting that in order for him to go from regular Joe to billionaire, that to do so he would HAVE to surround himself with the right people and hire the best. Simple you can't go from nothing to billionaire by hiring the wrong people and surrounding yourself with sycophants. It's just not possible.

So no I don't need to know these people personally or get the words right from the horses mouth. Somethings are just common sense based on the evidence before you.

I've never said what I write is anything other than my opinion. If you don't have the comprehension or intellect to read accurately what is written, rather than what you want to see or expect to. Well that's on you and there's not a lot I can do about that.

I do support managers and players when they join the club, even if I'm not personally convinced they are the right person when they join. I do that because I consider that THE fundamental aspect of being a supporter of the club. You can't be a supporter without showing support.

So I do until it gets to the point where its clear and obvious that the situation is no longer recoverable and a parting of the ways is inevitable.

I'd argue that I don't abuse anyone, I'll have a little banter, but I appreciate and respect the editors on here and anything that crosses over to being abusive will not make it through to the pages. Although I appreciate that we have some posters with a delicate disposition who can't handle people disagreeing with them, saying they are wrong, or light hearted banter. To those people I'd imagine they consider anything other than total agreement lavished with praise and compliments to be abusive towards them.

Of course not everything that makes you angry, upset, sad, feel stupid or hurt is abuse.

The abusive posters simply get banned. Their abuse doesn't get posted but their account gets blocked. Forcing them to have to create new account after new account to enable them to keep posting.

I've had the same account for more than 15 years, which tells you something. I was banned once for a week, about 10 years ago, for something I said which was called out as ignorant. On reflection it was, I apologised, learned from it, grew up and got on with my life. Which seemed the my progressive approach rather than create a new account and refuse to anything.

10.) 18 Nov 2023
18 Nov 2023 19:06:25
It’s been also said my ex managers and ex players and pundits that ETH is out of his depth, but you ignoring them ones but taking note of the ones that say something you like! Normal service resumed….

11.) 18 Nov 2023
18 Nov 2023 22:03:29
Ex players and ex managers who are removed from the situation and actually have no idea what is going on. Or the ones who are being paid to say things that can be clipped up and put into print?

I'd imagine if you gave your noggin a wobble it'd rattle?.

12.) 19 Nov 2023
19 Nov 2023 02:48:47
Stalker alert Shappy, it’s so embarrassing.

13.) 19 Nov 2023
19 Nov 2023 07:57:08
Rangersred is entitled to his opinion is he not? After all it’s a discussion forum! Bit of digression beats the same boring monopoly…….

14.) 19 Nov 2023
19 Nov 2023 11:17:24
Fireman,

Opinion is fine, trolling as different usernames, getting blocked then doing the exact same thing again isn’t fine. Do you actually think all of the negative stuff and nothing positive is his opinion or the opinion of a troll just trying to get a reaction from Shappy (that he never gets)