Dan Ashworth (no longer working for Manchester United)

[TBG]

1 hour ago, TRon said:

 

I could understand that narrative if we hadn't been watching the best football played here since the Keegan/Robson years.

 

Arguably all that goodwork was undone by drawing with Luton at home.

 

If you ignore their three points against Brighton, their point against Liverpool, their point against Wolves and god know who's else. 

 

It's clear teams with aspirations of playing in Europe and or teams currently in the European spots, simply don't drop points to Luton.

 

 

Edited February 26 by TBG

[Kanj]

2 hours ago, Sibierski said:

Come on, let’s be realistic. Howe isn’t scouting and putting ground work in for players, guy is busy training and working on plans for opposition and day to day management of team to be doing that stuff  

 

Then again, maybe that’s why the form has nose dived and we stick with same tactics, because he’s too busy on teams calls with agents and putting in ground work for summer transfers.

 

I never said Howe was our scout. But Howe had a heavy hand in telling Nickson/Staveley/Mehrdad/Reuben/Yasir who he wanted and pushing for the player or the cost etc. It all came to him and Tindall and his team. 

 

Howe green-lit our offers for all the players I mentioned BEFORE Ashworth was here. 

 

1 hour ago, KaKa said:

 

What was mentioned at the time regarding Bruno was the concern on how quickly he would settle due to the precarious position the club were in as we were in the bottom three. That was it. Nothing to do with uncertainty of his quality.

 

 

 

Yep, and just like Howe's interview about Tonali after the Villa game. "I fell in love with him" quote. 

[wormy]

Sorry I can't keep up. Are we now gutted at the prospect of more input from Howe because he's going to sign British cloggers?

 

I thought we were excited because we decided that darn rat Ashworth was the clear problem behind our recent transfer disasters and we were having a jolly old time before he stuck his nose in? 

[Gallowgate Toon]

Ashworth was apparently responsible for 9 departments, more than at any other job he'd had. I think that's genuinely too many, really, and a DoF (or equivalent) should have tighter remits to ensure they actually deliver well.

 

Having a sporting and a technical director might be the way forward or some other structure.

[SUPERTOON]

I don’t think any manager should have ultimate control over transfers, but they should have a large say since they are the ones blamed and inevitably sacked if it all goes wrong. There is definitely a balance to be had between to the two.

 

 

Edited February 26 by SUPERTOON

[Jonas]

2 hours ago, TRon said:

 

I could understand that narrative if we hadn't been watching the best football played here since the Keegan/Robson years.

 

1 hour ago, TBG said:

 

Arguably all that goodwork was undone by drawing with Luton at home.

 

If you ignore their three points against Brighton, their point against Liverpool, their point against Wolves and god know who's else. 

 

It's clear teams with aspirations of playing in Europe and or teams currently in the European spots, simply don't drop points to Luton.

 

 

And Keegan dropped points to teams that got relegated every season he was here and only beat Luton once in four games. Bet Sir Bobby the same.

Ferguson dropped 7points to West Ham, Luton and Notts County who were going and did go down.

Its not indicative of anything other than just what happens in football. Thankfully.

 

 

Edited February 26 by Jonas

[Big Jow]

We do seem to be really good at having our valuations and sticking to them from a selling point. Can’t think of a single player who has left who I would’ve expected more for and if we start getting £20m for backroom staff we are taking the piss.

 

 

[Mikky]

1 hour ago, Gallowgate Toon said:

Ashworth was apparently responsible for 9 departments, more than at any other job he'd had. I think that's genuinely too many, really, and a DoF (or equivalent) should have tighter remits to ensure they actually deliver well.

 

Having a sporting and a technical director might be the way forward or some other structure.

Definitely - was thinking this the other day when there was some gossip around the Brentford duo - one to look at the playing side - the other around the structures in place.

[The Prophet]

1 hour ago, Gallowgate Toon said:

Ashworth was apparently responsible for 9 departments, more than at any other job he'd had. I think that's genuinely too many, really, and a DoF (or equivalent) should have tighter remits to ensure they actually deliver well.

 

Having a sporting and a technical director might be the way forward or some other structure.

 

Could be mistaken, but isn't that how Villa set up?

[janpawel]

I think every team wants athletic players these days, I think it's starting to become the baseline requirement for even the lower end teams if they want to compete, all the way to the best teams. Even Madrid have changed their approach and have way more physically imposing players than they used to

 

I think we'll be okay with Howe having more input in transfers, as we did before we got Ashworth. However if for example we sacked Howe and got someone like Conte in who wanted 5 new wing backs and a target man, then I'd be shitting myself and wanting someone to tell him to fuck off

[Ikon]

How do you/we know that Howe had more input before Ashworth? All we can do is speculate. 

[Gallowgate Toon]

15 minutes ago, Ikon said:

How do you/we know that Howe had more input before Ashworth? All we can do is speculate. 

I thought it was pretty clearly explained by Ashworth how we use a traffic light system between himself/Howe/Rod Stewart and, presumably, the board to go ahead with a deal.

 

But folk seem to think Howe swung things in his favour due to his nephew being on the scouting team and therefore had more say.

 

Other than a few rumours, it's as clear as mud.

[The College Dropout]

39 minutes ago, janpawel said:

I think every team wants athletic players these days, I think it's starting to become the baseline requirement for even the lower end teams if they want to compete, all the way to the best teams. Even Madrid have changed their approach and have way more physically imposing players than they used to

 

I think we'll be okay with Howe having more input in transfers, as we did before we got Ashworth. However if for example we sacked Howe and got someone like Conte in who wanted 5 new wing backs and a target man, then I'd be shitting myself and wanting someone to tell him to fuck off

Madrid have been a physical team since Mourinho was there a good 12 years ago.  

[Ronson333]

3 hours ago, Jonas said:

 

 

And Keegan dropped points to teams that got relegated every season he was here and only beat Luton once in four games. Bet Sir Bobby the same.

Ferguson dropped 7points to West Ham, Luton and Notts County who were going and did go down.

Its not indicative of anything other than just what happens in football. Thankfully.

 

 

 

Keegan took the shitest team you could imagine from about to get relegated to league one, to challenging for the PL title within four and half seasons…

[Strawberry]

28 minutes ago, Ronson333 said:

Keegan took the shitest team you could imagine from about to get relegated to league one, to challenging for the PL title within four and half seasons…

Keegans biggest assets replacing any player with a better one doesn't work for Howe he is too loyal to individuals and he doesn't like to disturb squad balance.

 

Hence he will never be a better one.

[timeEd32]

1 hour ago, Ronson333 said:

Keegan took the shitest team you could imagine from about to get relegated to league one, to challenging for the PL title within four and half seasons…

I hesitate to say this because that post was in reply to a comedy act and I’m not trying to start a Keegan vs Howe debate, but Eddie took a team the world had never heard of that was about to get relegated to the Conference and was under a transfer embargo for 14 more months to the Premier League in six years (and kept them there for five).

[Abacus]

5 hours ago, Strawberry said:

Keegans biggest assets replacing any player with a better one doesn't work for Howe he is too loyal to individuals and he doesn't like to disturb squad balance.

 

Hence he will never be a better one.

 

But then he left when the politics became too much, and was working in a different era when the restrictions weren't as much to be able to reset his squad.

 

Not a slight on Keegan, just saying that the comparison with Howe isn't like for like as we don't know what each would have done in the other's shoes.

[toontownman]

5 hours ago, Strawberry said:

Keegans biggest assets replacing any player with a better one doesn't work for Howe he is too loyal to individuals and he doesn't like to disturb squad balance.

 

Hence he will never be a better one.

While we have seen hints of that with Burn, it's the total opposite of what all of the Bournemouth fans told us when he came. They said he was absolutely ruthless when it came to replacing favourites when an upgrade was needed.

 

Makes me wonder if it's more the fact our hands have been tied by FFP and we can't shift enough players or get the upgrade ones he wants in ?

[RS]

Did Keegan not buy the worlds most expensive striker and right back in that era?

 

No FFP for that fella

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, RS said:

Did Keegan not buy the worlds most expensive striker and right back in that era?

 

No FFP for that fella

 

Going for the title and he was able to add to the squad with the 2nd/3rd most expensive striker in the league at the time. 

[macphisto]

11 hours ago, Gallowgate Toon said:

Ashworth was apparently responsible for 9 departments, more than at any other job he'd had. I think that's genuinely too many, really, and a DoF (or equivalent) should have tighter remits to ensure they actually deliver well.

 

Having a sporting and a technical director might be the way forward or some other structure.

What are they classifying as a department? We have a new Psychology department but it's only one guy.

[Ronson333]

8 hours ago, Strawberry said:

Keegans biggest assets replacing any player with a better one doesn't work for Howe he is too loyal to individuals and he doesn't like to disturb squad balance.

 

Hence he will never be a better one.

Yep he was ruthless in the transfer market, let’s see what Howe does this summer.

[Guest]

He signed Wood and he was gone 12 months later, he bought Targett and barely given him a sniff. Tino could arguably have been used more, same with Hall. Not sure ruthlessness is an issue?

[Ronson333]

6 minutes ago, Optimistic Nut said:

He signed Wood and he was gone 12 months later, he bought Targett and barely given him a sniff. Tino could arguably have been used more, same with Hall. Not sure ruthlessness is an issue?

Let’s see if Almiron, Burn,  Longstaff and Wilson are here after the summer. Just saying we need to be ruthless if we want to get to where we want to be. Can’t stop our progression because they are nice guys, we’re not going to be regular top 4 with these guys, need more ruthlessness. Eddie may be that guy, let’s see what happens in the summer.

 

 

Edited February 27 by Ronson333

[Cf]

5 minutes ago, Ronson333 said:

Let’s see if Almiron, Burn,  Longstaff and Wilson are here after the summer. Just saying we need to be ruthless if we want to get to where we want to be. Can’t stop our progression because they are nice guys, we’re not going to be regular top 4 with these guys, need more ruthlessness. Eddie may be that guy, let’s see what happens in the summer.

 

 

 

 

It's quite clearly FFP why these lot are still playing for us.  

 

And it's the reason why some of them will still be here next season. 

 

Moving on from the squad Ashley left us under the current rules was always going to be a multi season thing, though we at least should be starting to be at the end of that process now.