That’s just we didn’t know any better than SAF.

It's was just as bad the Mourinho/Ole season, it was even worse the season right after Ferguson.

Souness defending the Glazers again

Past caring

Also, Maguire is the worst signing in utd history. The guy can’t even do basics

Yes I’m aware we signed Bebe

Ten Bands

maguire with a real dm in front of him

He’s kind of right regarding the recruitment part tho. Liverpool also have s*** owners, but their team is way better while having spend roughly the same (I think even less) amount of money. Glazers an easy scapegoat for the team being s***, but idk much you can blame them instead of the managers/recruitment team. I think the part they lack most in is other investments such as the training ground and our stadium, where there basically have not been any investments.

The Glazers hold the keys to good recruitment and supporting managers structurally within the club.

They’ve failed on both counts while taking dividends out of the club over the last decade

Keep an eye on Alessandro Schoenmaker, makes a lot of sense on paper

transfermarkt.us/alessandro-schoenmaker/stationen/trainer/10873

Am with @Marble on this

Pinning everything on the Glazers overlooks an avalanche of managerial shortfalls.

I can't point to much evidence that managers haven't been supported structurally. I can point to managers who've made poor structural decisions. Moyes chose to sack Sir Alex's staff. Mourinho fought against a DoF. Ole stood by his mates - inexperienced staff incapable at this magnitude.

And it was just a few years ago that most of British football was against the idea of a DoF. Most viewed it as undercutting the manager and something that didn't have a place in the Premier League. We can say in hindsight that one should have been in place. But did the Glazers necessarily do anything wrong by not providing that structure to outdated managers like Mourinho and LVG who didn't want it? Of course not.

In regards to player signings, they've plowed a lot of money in. They've never had a major say in transfers. That power has always been retained by management. And again, there are a plethora of poor decisions that prior managers have made. Moyes wasting a summer on Fabregas and Bale, instead of Thiago and Herrera who had been earmarked already. LVG turning down Kroos. Matic certainly wasn't a Glazers signing; Mourinho bought an ageing favourite.

People like to point to Ferguson's final few years as evidence of the Glazers being stingy. But in doing so they overlook the fact that Sir Alex was incredibly averse to dealing with agents and wary of just how much money players were now being valued at. It's why we didn't get Lucas Moura or Hazard. Again, there's not an ounce of evidence that the Glazers weren't prepared to pay those sums had Sir Alex wanted to.

Where they have overwhelmingly failed is in making the right appointments. Until now..

sick as f***, this is why your team is going downhill

I think this is almost entirely on the Glazers

The decision to wait until 2021 to hire a director of football was a massive oversight for the largest club in the world, like you mentioned.

A director of football especially around the time of losing Ferguson and David Gill would have had a massive impact on the long term structure of the squad. The Glazer's appointed Ed Woodward. A proper owner who prioritizes football would look past the "conventional British consensus" at the time and look to the future and the structure of our peers globally.

Ten Hag's knowledge of the Ajax system/structure gives me hope he'll at least attempt to implement a similar structure. Rangnicks track record at RB (as a director) also gives me hope.

My issue is football has never been the priority with the Glazers, it's everything else. (ex. finishing second with Jose and signing Lee Grant, Dalot and Fred) A director of football would have had the authority to speak to those types of decisions which I think is the real reason we did not see one, until the club was in freefall.

It's hard to imagine that we would have the current collage of players for different types of systems, if we had a structure in which prioritized the football at the club. If this had been the case there would be little need for a massive overhaul, like is expected this summer/happened to some degree under Ole.

Say what you want about our former managers but they have all had pretty interesting things to say about how the club is run and who holds the power. I still rate Moyes pretty highly and think he was the worst victim out of the past appointments post-SAF. He signed a five year contract, inherited a squad that was entering a transition period and was given Felliani and Juan Mata.

The ten Hag appointment seems to be a football first appointment but I would like to see a structure develop that will implement ten Hag's style of every level of the club (academy, reserves, first team) I hope we start thinking about the big picture in regards to our squad and not just sack a manager/scrap the whole project, when media pressure piles on.

Should also be reiterated that the Glazers bought the club on loans and the "investment" they make is club revenue..