Manchester United Banter Archive September 03 2013

 

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03 Sep 2013 23:01:23
There are several articles today which actually show just how our transfer strategy became an utterly embarrassing shambles. Reflecting on many years of transfer activity I am struggling to remember such an embarrassing episode as this window. The sight of Michael Knighton came near but even then his ball juggling on the pitch was backed up with some reasonable ideas on how the club could be financially developed. Don't get me wrong we have had very poor buying or selling windows many times but this one was totally different. In three months we have turned from the revered Champions who might notably strengthen to not much more than a laughing stock.

Large companies are concerned about their image, the Glazers must have thought they had weathered the storm, evidenced by a reduction of the green and gold movement, even when appointing a notably inexperienced manager who was nowhere near the fans first choice. Notably SAF then ordered us to support him. It was propped up further by vague but hopeful promises of powerful buying with unlimited funds, hints of major players to support the new managers early tenure. The message was clouded at first, Woodward saying no retooling but that did not go down well so it had to be changed, to be much more encouraging. We were led to understand that months of work had gone into the targets giving the impression they must be big and important. When the CEO returned from Australia to do urgent transfer business hopes were up but it would be another false dawn.

Now today there are press articles damning our club, not in the way they have done before but now mocking our total naivety, laughing at us, exposing bid after unsuccessful bid with almost always one thing in common, the amount wasn't enough. They are highlighting desperation, rather than calm business acumen. Moyes had to come out to say he would be happy with what he had and all the while in the background we were turning down the option to sign Ozil, to make things worse we then appeared to lose direction altogether. We started showing desperation, yet it still appeared we just wanted a bargain or making the offer knowing it wouldn't be accepted.

Companies cannot afford for their image and standing to be affected and I would guess that this debacle will prompt an internal assessment in the club of the window activity. I hope this is a thorough review with no limits because when the window opens again in January we need to be taken seriously and right now it is hard to see that unless there are notable lessons learned or changes particularly at the top. It will also be interesting to see the reaction as and when shareholders get wind of this mess.

Going forward wear green and gold and ask where our money is and don't stop. I don't cheer when a new sponsorship is announced but when a goal is scored. Will any new sponsor be delighted with our activity? perhaps we will find out when the laughter stops.

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I couldn't have put it better myself!

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Is Woodward in charge of the investigation, mate?

If so, I wouldn't count on it being too thorough.

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Great post.

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Steviek

I would expect one of the Glazers to lead it or appoint someone who knew understood the workings at that level, Gill perhaps, and have them report back to the Glazers.

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It was a shambles but all we can do now is regroup, get all the players match fit and start winning games. I am not too bothered about where we are at the moment as our games have been very difficult at a difficult time in the season. One thing we can say is that we have a massive squad and plenty of options for the manager. We are more difficult to break down now, but our goals have dried up. We need to find a happy medium and although the games will not be exciting, the points will keep tumbling in. We have a better side than last season and last season we won the league. We have Fellaini & Zaha, the kids are a year older and more experienced. The younger players all have an EPL medal each and Vidic the beast is fit. Hopefully we can get Rafael & Rooney back in two weeks, get Hernandez and Kagawa 100% match fit and let's start doing what Manchester United do best. WIN!

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03 Sep 2013 22:23:13
I know myself and quite a few posters have been saying they would like to see Zaha, Rooney and Kagawa behind RVP this season but I was just thinking if we pay a little more central so kind of like 3 CAM's why not Januzaj who imo could be world class instead of Zaha, I know he is young but maybe it is time too take that risk using Carrick and Fellaini as the cover and the full backs for the width on the attack. Then you can have all 3 of the attackers constantly rotating around the pitch and they can all dribble and pick out a deadly pass with the option for wide players like Nani, Young, Zaha and Valencia available when needed.

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I think we'll see Rooney playing behind RvP, the two positions either side of Rooney will be fill by two of Valencia, Nani, Kagawa, Young, Welbeck, Zaha and Januzaj.

So they will all get their chance, its down to the youngsters to sieze than chance when they get it.

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Sounds great but I can see him sticking to 4 4 2 and still playing our useless wingers, cleverly and giggs in the hole

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We have what we have now and have to get on with it dispite the persons who own and run the club! I would love to see januzaj getting a chance anyway as well as zaha. Would have liked to have kept Powell on too. Let all the scousers and others laugh hopfully we can turn that in our favour and fight back!

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The fact that Young and Nani are still on the squad, nevermind on the pitch, is proof of how far we are behind the elite of Europe.

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03 Sep 2013 21:15:07
All rivalry aside, it's a shame to see such a once competitive club laid so low. For a healthy Premiership we need Man U to be competing at the top for points, transfers and the best managers - but I'm sure you'll get back there eventually.

Hope you come through your troubles soon,

A Liverpool Fan.

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All rivalry aside, we've been thinking the same thing about Liverpool for the last 20 years

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Don't worry we will be there by week 12. Most of us are pissed off because whilst evreyone else has needed 6 or 7 signings to be competitive, we only needed 2 maybe 3 players and a decent transfer window would have given us the chance to separate ourselves from the pack and give everyone a hiding, but true to united way we are now going to grind it out.

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You need to water your own grass before you look at ours pal.

We just won 21st title if you forgot, when was last time you won the league?

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The one thing I hate about the united fans being so negative on here is that it gives Liverpool fans like this ammunition to talk a load of crap.

When we are worried about us failing it is that we might now finish below city and Chelsea, only the clueless think we will finish any lower than 3rd and even if we did it won't be behind Liverpool.

Arsenal and Tottenham strengthening has sealed your mid table mediocrity once again.

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Liverpool fans forget that this current side minus Fellaini won the league at a canter last season. City and Chelsea still look vulnerable to me, Spurs will need month's to gel and Arsenal's squad is wafer thin. I am not worried about the league at all. I just think we could have kicked on more in Europe with Herrera & Coentrao.

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GDS2

Negative? the whole world is laughing at our transfer calamity and as fans we should never accept people running our club this way.

To be honest, I could have lived with no signings with a reasonable explanation, bleed in the young guys and call it a transition year with a top 4 finish than the alternative of the humiliation and fellaini signing. I keep thinking this is a bad dream and the whole thing is so surreal and still not sunk in.

Who cares what one loserpool poster has to say however it does not change the fact that we have acted like some 3rd grade provincial outfit and that should never be forgotten or accepted.

Blind support of incompetence is not part of our DNA whether it is a player, manager or an executive at the club.

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03 Sep 2013 19:56:52
Did we seriously bid for Sneijder 3 years after we should of?

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Sounds like something Ed would have tried. I can imagine that there were a load of agents bombarding him and Moyes' - trying to sell us all their dross.

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Fresh

After the utter embarrassment of the clubs efforts in the window it is probably easier to do two lists, one for who we didn't bid for and then do at a very short list of one for who we bid seriously for.

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Not sure my last comment posted. Phone error! I really hope this isn't true. On the bright side Geordie fans are having a far worse time of it!

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Hopefully we'll finally get him next season!

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He is still too young, We will wait until he turns 32 and then go for him:)

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03 Sep 2013 19:52:43
There was a genuine reason why we didn't go for ozil! DM was jealous that ozils eyeballs were bigger than his and didn't want to get into a staring contest with him.

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No it was because Edward Woodward thought he could save some money by playing himself in midfield. Apperently he heard lots of people at Anfield shouting that we desperately needed the equalizer.

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Haha! Brilliant.

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03 Sep 2013 19:50:37
Cant believe what I just read further down. KLOOT telling all the "Glazer sheep" I told you so.

Shock! never seen that before

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03 Sep 2013 19:47:16
I have stated before that I would be very happy with Fellaini AND Herrera.We only got the former.But let's be honest, Fellaini will solve our most important problem, which was the lack of a physical, defensive, dominating force in our midfield.Carrick and Fellaini will be a great pairing if you ask me, as long as Moyes won't play him AM, which I'm sure he won't do.

However, I understand that there is frustration about our transfer actions this summer for all the fans, I share it too.

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03 Sep 2013 19:27:58
Sorry eds but this is what I wanted to post.

Sorry for the copy and paste but I think this pretty much somes up man united's transfer window. 

Athletic Bilbao's Ander Herrera, who had even agreed to a pay cut, was left like the proverbial spare part at a wedding as United lowballed the Basque club, having misunderstood or chosen to ignore the Spanish tax system. 

Moyes' reputation for dithering was well-known at Everton. At a club where every penny counted, it was a perfectly acceptable modus operandi. Little did he realise that the same culture now existed at United. "Isn't it great that the club says: 'There's no budget here -- you go get who you want to get. Just go and do it'?" Moyes said in the early days of his regime. Perhaps Moyes had misunderstood the meaning of the words "no budget." United's spending was way down the division's league table, behind Southampton and Cardiff City. 

The villain will be Woodward. A prolific collector of sponsorship partnerships could close just one transfer deal, and ended up being shaken down for that. Woodward's standing as a Glazer family man -- he joined the club from their investment bank straight after the takeover -- had already hardened many against him. His dealings this summer have not lessened their reputation for making big promises and then trying to deliver them on the cheap. Previously, they had the security blanket of Ferguson's genius to shield them.

Backing him properly in cash terms and efficiently in deal-making was the way to give Moyes the best chance of succeeding. Instead, over three long months and one ridiculous late night of farcical failings, United -- the club seen as a slick machine for so long -- became an overnight laughing stock.

Sad but soooo true.

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True words, Nik. We were made to look pretty pathetic last night. But you know what: all the negativity that is emanating from inside and outside the club could stir the manager and players' to really push on. I mean, I expect fellaini is aware that he isn't exactly seting the imagination of the United fans' alight, so he might just go out there and shut all those who doubt his quality – up.

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This makes Woodward sound like the sheriff of Nottingham collecting taxes for the evil prince Malcolm umm I mean John. lol.

But where is our Robin Hood? let's be honest do any of us want to see Moyes in green tights? lol

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03 Sep 2013 19:26:07
I had a think about it and though originally I was happy enough with Moyes, I am having second thoughts.
The reason is in my opinion is that Sir Alex is a genius who was looking ahead 3 or 4 matches ( like a Grand Chess Master). ( Busby, Shankly and Clough were also geniuses in football terms )
Moyes picked a team against Chelsea and Liverpool because the players did well against Swansea.
Fergie would have known his team to play against them well in advance.
So I think Moyes will be a hard working and competent manager, but no genius.

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Sir Alex also fully knew the players and was used to dealing with them and the demands of managing Manchester United. Moyes will do an excellent job, but let's give him more than three games to prove himself shall we, If we judged Sir Alex on his first three games then we would have probably fired him and the last 20 years of success wouldn't have happend.

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If it takes you more than five minutes to realize that Young and Nani should never be played, and that Zaha is a much better option than either, then you're neither competent nor a genius.

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03 Sep 2013 19:04:45
Paul Scholes has retired twice, and still no replacement. This is the highest stake game of Jenga I have ever come across. Tom Cleverly lives to pass back another day.

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03 Sep 2013 18:47:10
Sorry for the copy and paste but I think this pretty much somes up man united's transfer window.

Backing him properly in cash terms and efficiently in deal-making was the way to give Moyes the best chance of succeeding. Instead, over three long months and one ridiculous late night of farcical failings, United -- the club seen as a slick machine for so long -- became an overnight laughing stock.

Sad but soooo true.

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But once we get back playing and winning the window will be forgotten and we move on.

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I've never stopped wanting them out if when successful.

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03 Sep 2013 18:39:27
Ed I posted earlier on but it hasn't appeared, has it disappeared into the atmosphere somewhere? Took me about 15 minutes to write aswell. Not pleased :-) {Ed004's Note - Im not sure where it has gone to it wasn't deleted unless it was put in another page}

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Fair enough, here goes a shorter version then :-)

Basically, I was saying that the window was a disgrace. I have calmed since last night but I am still p*ssed off. Also, I don't think that it was incompetence on the part of Woodward, I think it may have been planned out by those in power (maybe not Moyes), so that we spent the bare minimum.

It just seems far too convenient in my eyes. Apparently, we had plenty of money, Moyes knew the areas that needed strengthening and we were going to do that. How did that end with just Fellaini? Something isn't right and I don't think it is incompetence as I said.

Why would we bid way below Fabregas' price? Why would we bid below a buyout clause when we know how Bilbao do their business? Why did we let Fellaini's clause expire and then pay £4m more? It all stinks as far as I am concerned.

I think it was decided months ago that Fellaini was our only signing. I also believe that it was decided we would under bid for some players to make us look interested in competing. Finally I think we decided to let the clause expire so that we had an extra 4 weeks to throw more names and silly bids around. I think Woodward and friends thought the extra £4m or whatever would be worth it to prevent huge unrest when we went the final 4 weeks and bought absolutely no one. Did they think we would be happy we just had someone as i'm pretty sure that hasn't worked if so.

I honestly feel the club need to know exactly how we feel. let's face it non of them will be on these sites to find out what the real fans think. I have no idea how we put our message across but I think it has to be done. We have become a joke this summer and it isn't acceptable!

On a lighter note, I do feel we will still be competing with City/Chelsea for the league as I don't think they are much stronger than last year. In Europe tho, well we are f*cked for this season at least. Bayern, Real, Barca, Dortmund will be too strong. I do think we will get a piece of silverware though and I hope the youngsters get their chance too.

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Brendan

I bet you think Elvis isn't dead as well. :-) I usually always agree with you but I don't believe this was planned I just believe it was people in new roles who didn't have a clue.

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Wow I basically said this a couple of weeks ago and you told me to shut up!

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They don't give a sxxx. They never have they won't even talk to the fans through the media. They never cared what we think. They own the club hope to make a lot of money and they will do what they want!

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AJH Elvis is alive and well, as is Tupac and Michael Jackson. They're all on an island with Lord Lucan :-)

Jamal, I said wait til today, then if the window was a disaster, come on and say what you like. Slightly different to telling you to shut up.

Pancho, I'm beginning to agree mate unfortunately.

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I'm with AJH on this one, usually I find your posts to be spot on but IMO the problems this summer were:
1) incompetence and poor strategy e.g. leaving Contrao too late and not meeting Fellaini's clause earlier on, and
2) unwillingness to pay the extra few £million it takes to land a key player in a key position e.g. Herrera or possibly Baines (debatable)

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Alright fellas, maybe the planned months ago statement was a bit too '9/11 was an inside job' conspiracy wise :-)

I do think there is more to it than purely incompetence though. Even I could have brought some players in this window and I am no where near the business man that Woodward supposedly is. A few million to United over a 5 year contract is peanuts, especially with the low wage Herrera was going to be on.

It just doesn't add up, but we will never know I'm sure. I'm disappointed in the lack of ambition I guess. I see Bayern win a treble and add Gotze and Thiago for £50m along with Lewandowski next summer, and it should be us doing that.

Oh well, life goes on!

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03 Sep 2013 18:35:39
Well we can all look at the bright side, at least we won't have to watch Tom Cleverley start every single game. Not putting the lad down but he just hasn't got the quality to start week in and week out.

I think it'd do him good as maybe he'll try to impress Moyes when given the chance.

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Can't be anything other than a positive, mate.

Fellaini__Carrick

I know it doesn't inspire many of us on here but it might turn out to be a pretty solid partnership, in the EPL at least. The competition can only be good for Cleverly, he's been given a free run at the team up until now.

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Now we`ve got Fellaini along side Carrick we won`t be conceding sloppy goals, so now is the time for Zaha/Januzaj with Rooney & Kagawa behind Van Persie. We WILL be a force now IMO. Please Moyes let the young blood in before they do a Pogba.

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I agree Gav, Fellaini will be a decent signing for us, maybe not everyones first choice but he is good enough for this season.

We have finally got that defensive midfielder we have been crying out for all these years.

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Anniewithoutmakeup

what happened to '3 signings, 1 that will blow the lid off OT'?

The fact you're back here, unlike that 'seagull' character from a few windows back, makes me believe you were genuinely fed information that proved to be false, rather than talking crap to fellow fans.

Fellaini - okay, he's not a sexy signing by any means, But he's a damned sight better than Cleverly and puts his weight about and we've missed that for years. he WILL make a positive difference. but why, WHY didn't we just buy him before his clause ran out? Was it a way to compensate Everton for taking Moyes?! Not saying that's fact, just a suggestion, it seems SOOOOO weird lads - guy was worth X amount, guaranteed. if he was the signing we wanted, why wait til he was worth Y, then buy him? The fact Moyes clearly wanted him from day 1, makes me think there's something more to this than meets the eye.

The other bids, IMO, such as Herrera and Fabregas were smoke and mirrors to imply we could still target top players. IMO, Fellaini and Baines were our only intended targets this summer.

Fellaini alone isn't enough. Simple as that. Powell out on loan, so like for like. We still have Anderson, Cleverly and Giggs as our 'backups' and that's not a great midfield by any means. If Januzaj doesn't get game time, expect him to want to follow Pogba out of OT for good. come on Moyes, sort it out.

We should hammer Palace, then let's hope the lads kick on. We've been shanked off the pitch, let's hope the boys we have redeem us on the pitch.

But don't expect ANY signings in January unless we're in 6th position or lower.

RED_SKY

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03 Sep 2013 18:27:05
Seen reports that several bids for high profile players were turned down, ozil khedira and sneijder from what I've seen. This window has been incredibly embarrassing for the club and has shown how incompetent woodward is. Not securing our targets and trying to throw money at big players on the last day is a complete joke.

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03 Sep 2013 17:50:30
I remember someone here mocking a person who suggested we sign Guilherme Siqueira as according to him Guilherme Siqueira was an ordinary player.


Apparently Guilherme Siqueira was good enough to sign for Real Madrid and replace Fabio Coentrao who we tried to sign.

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As 2nd choice behind Marcello I assume?

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Yes second choice behind Marcelo, though Coentrao would be pushing for a first team start had we signed him.

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I said that he isn't good enough yesterday when somebody posted that we were linked with him; and I stand by it. As has been pointed out - Real were looking at him as back-up for Marcello (who himself isn't too amazing).

Should we be going after players who are worse than those playing for the teams we're trying to catch up with? In my opinion - no.

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03 Sep 2013 17:41:23
Am I the only person that thinks a front 6 of Fellaini and Carrick behind Zaha, Rooney, Kagawa then RVP could be devastating, perhaps even better if we have a fot and firing Nani as when he is consistently brilliant he is a top player it is just getting them there that's the problem.

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Totally agree

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A midfield 3 however of Fro Carrick and Giggs with Welbeck Rooney and RVP ahead does not appeal though does it?

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George

Remind me when Nani has been consistently brilliant and you can't expect Zaha to step straight in and be immediately successful. I age though that DM needs to find a formation that allows Rooney, Kagawa and RVP to all play together

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That's the point with nani he has never been "consistantly brilliant". If he had been I wouldn't yo ring his neck most of the time! He is consistantly inconsistant!

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03 Sep 2013 17:36:38
Any of you guys who gave me such a hard time when I said what the Glazers were up to want to now come on here and eat a little humble pie. Think of how much money they have trousered this summer and we end up on the last day making a laughing stock of the club. Don't worry they will pull the strings and Davey will come out as Sir Alex used to and say what great owners they are and how the money is there if the right player is available well how many right players did we see this summer. Instead we have a manager who works on the cheap and has won nothing with Everton a back room staff who won nothing with Everton and a Player who we could have bought a month ago cheaper who has won nothing with Everton. See a pattern starting. We are turning into a club very heavily influenced by people who have won nothing with Everton.


So all you people who slaughtered me for my Anti-Glazer rants stand up and defend yourself

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We seemed to be throwing money every where last night, so I fail to see how this summers transfer debacle has anything to do with the Glaziers directly. It seems to me that it was more a case of having a poor overall transfer strategy and a sh.t Chief -Executive. In fact, I'd wager that most of those late bids were originally Fergie targets. Moyes' targets were probably Baines, Fabregas and Fellaini at the outset; but after it became clear Fabregas was using us to get his cuddle of the Barca Chairman, Moyes' probably had to revert too the player dossiers that were complied when SAF was manager, hence why we procrastinated with other targets.

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I know, KLOOT. Let's all start apologising to each other, for all the wrong, stupid things we've ever said on this site.

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Lol, yeah because you always hold your hands up when you're in the wrong don't you, oh noble one?

(I assume I'm one of the names in your little black book lol, who you have aimed this at)

I've said a few times in the last 24 hours that the whole transfer window was a shambles. There may well be financial constraints but I wouldn't know the details as it's just speculation, so won't jump on the bandwagon just yet. Apparently we bid money for the likes of Herrera, Khedira etc. so it's difficult to assess what could have happened in terms of total investment. You will obviously believe these are phantom bids, which is fair enough, none of us know for sure.

But to me, this window smacked more of incompetence in the market, rather than having no money. Again, I may be wide of the mark.

I will blame the Glazer's to a degree for giving Woody the job, perhaps they saw him as someone to pinch the pennies. Furthermore, our owner's clearly run the club as a business 1st and a football club 2nd, which isn't ideal. But I'm not going to pretend I know there was a particular budget or that we have a 'glass ceiling' on transfer fees.

Don't worry I will eat some humble pie as I thought we would make 2 or 3 good signings when we've been left with just 1, who's hardly a world beater. It turns out that the negative poster's version of events was very close to what panned out - so fair play to you guys! (you know who you are :)

Sorry, but I'll fall short of "apologising" to you Kloot, as you seemed to be angling for last night from your fellow poster's. At the end of the day you rarely even respond to other poster's who put a point to you, let alone put your hands up when you are wrong.

Oh and careful not to fall off that horse, it's awful high up there ;)

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I don't understand you Kloot. our owners sanctioned many deals this year. It's not their fault we couldn't get the players. We spent 27.5m on a midfield player that everybody wanted, tried to get a left back bid failed for other players.

Hardly penny pinching are they. I'm quite happy with the titles and CL trophies/finals our owners have financed!

If u prefer big spending/fantasy owners the. I know a couple of teams wearing the blue colour would suit you!

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'everybody wanted' - I didn't see a queue of clubs chasing the Fro even at his original cheaper price - Utd were in a minority of one and were well and truly shafted by Woodchip and Everton on deadline day

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Anyone can talk of throwing money around but to actually spend it is different. They didnt. Partly becsuse theiman woodenhead is totally useless and they did not want to pay too much for anyone no matter how good they are. They then started to panic near the end to the extent they try to get a left back on loan and supposedly bid only around 3 mil less for Ozil's team mate than it would have cost to buy him who is a far better player - a Manchester United type player not some crab! They don't want to go above a certain amount because they haven't got it. So we end up with virtually jack!

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Cumbria red

My position is well known but your post is laughable. To quote you "All the titles and CL trophies and finals our owners have financed"

We managed that on the basis of Rooney, Ronaldo, Scholes, Giggs, Neville, Ferdinand and a great manager. Do tell me which one of the above players, the core of our great side, the owners financed?

When you figure it then check out their real lack of investment to truly replace them and how we have done in Europe recently as they declined without being adequately replaced.

Personally I am sick, embarrassed and disgusted with what the owners are doing

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Some peeps need to wake up, I ain't a fan of Kloot but let's face it, he is right.
Cumbria Red, our owners/manager/Equaliser offered money for players knowing it would be turned down because it just was'nt enough. Our owners/manager/Equaliser got mugged for an extra 4 million(sideshow bob) because they are tight a$$ed when it comes to money.
Our owners/manager/Equaliser will continue to work on an Everton shoestring, why do you think DM was brought in.
Moyes needs to grow some baws and demand from the owners.
Ed Wood ffs, clueless negotiator or yes man to the puppeteers or both.
Very happy to see Bigwig in the United team, very dissapointed in our clubs owners/manager/Equalisers lack of ambition.
Glazers out.

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Can any of you posters remember another guy who sounded just like Kloot? " Glazers out " everytime there was an anti glazer march he was at the front eveytime. His name, Pete Boyle. If you can access MUTV, you will see the guy in all his glory WORKING FOR THE GLAZERS! I am starting to wonder if Kloot is in reality the infamous Pete Boyle?

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Samthered

doesn't it speak volumes mate? What big-money deal, without previous interest (Khedira?) would go through smoothly in the final few hours of a deadline day?

They were token gestures mate. Made to ensure some fans thought we were trying, but deep down, the board knew they would fail.

Cumbria Red - I'd love to know what titles our owners have financed. They haven't spent a penny of their own money on our team, seriously man, get your head in the game, we're all fans and all grateful but giving those leeches credit for SAF and our squad's achievements while they don't spend a PENNY of their own money on us (unlike our rivals, like Chelsea and City), is unreal.

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HERBIE

Why would Moyes demand money? He was brought in to be the manager who worked on a shoestring and would be 'glad to be there and glad to be given the chance'. A bigger boss wouldn't deal with the nonsense. Moyes was cherry-picked as a malleable, likeable, low-maintenance guy who wouldn't demand money, would say all the right things and would quietly go about his business. success comes second to that, in the eyes of leeches like our owners.

I said when the season began, if they give Moyes money, we'll see success. They didn't. He bought 1 out of 3 players we desperately needed to become a world-class team again, and that was in ridiculous fashion.

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03 Sep 2013 17:24:47
We handled that window poorly and I hope this is not an indication on how the new regime will operate in the future. Fellaini is a good buy, we spent too much on him cause his release figure was 4m less. In any other business a head would roll for this obvious incompetance?

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03 Sep 2013 17:35:19
A little bit of perspective needs to be adhered too me thinks. Yes, many of us feel a little bit let down - even embarrassed - by yesterdays goings on; but at the end of the day - manager permitting - we have a fantastic starting 11. The wig has given our team muscle. It will allow the flair players' to operate more in the opposition half as opposed to spending most of the game doing defensive work. Of course, my opinion and that other other fans' is irrelevant, as the manager picks the team; but I hope that now he has got his man in, he will be more courageous with his selection and give Kagawa the role that all of us have been crying out for.

I feel a lot better today about our chances than I did at 11.00pm last night

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We obviously won't repeat what happened in this window. I'm sure Woody and Moyes have learnt their lessons.

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Which ' flair' players might these be? Could it be Cleverley, Giggs and Anderon?

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Paulo, (Sarcastic so and so)

Actually, Cleverley would be better employed in the attacking midfield role; but I was thinking of Kagawa, Rooney, Nani, Zaha, Januzaj.

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Please don't put cleverly in an attacking role, if we get to the edge of the opposition box, he's only going to play it back to the halfway line or keeper, he's like a modern day Wilkins, and I don't mean that as a compliment

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I am now confined to the house, only venturing out in the hours of darkness with false wig and glasses out of sheer embaressment. The wooden fella has got to go & GO NOW! If anyone in the real world had cost his company a fraction of what Ed Woodward has cost his, his feet would not have touched the floor, his desk would have been emptied immediately. The amount of money he lost on Fellaini could have been added to the amount we offered for Thiago/Fabregas/Herrera etc. The guy has made our club into a laughingstock of the football world.

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03 Sep 2013 17:20:00
Whats done is done now. Woodward and united have been shambolic in this window.
But Deeps mentioned in an earlier post, the person I really feel sorry for, is Herrera. He did everything to make the move to united, including a cut in salary and hiring his own lawyers to speed the transfer through. But at the last minute, we pulled the plug on him. Bilbao are a very proud club, and he will not have it easy from his own fans.
He is a superb player and worth every cent that Bilbao wanted. So I hope that united issue the player and the club an apology and make it clear we will go for him in January.
We are a big club with big values, so I hope we can sort the situation.

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NM will now consider changing ure name to 'fro midfield?'

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Has the player said anything? I mean, did he have the medical? Did he even agree terms with us?

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100 % agree with you, it was a disgrace, United have never acted in this manner. Yes in the past we havn't got our man due to the large sums wanted, however we always acted in a professional manner. The amount of players we bid for in the last two days shows how under prepared we were.
De rossi, Sneidjer, Herrera, Khadeira, Baines, Contraeo, Fellaini, clear panic bidding, this would have never happened under Gill. Even G.Neville on twitter wrote "What the transfer deadline gives you is a clear indication of which are the badly run football clubs!" (last year though)

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Hey NM, welcome back. Completely agree

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According to all sources last night, yes he had and that's why we sent delegation. Feel sorry for the player as united are better than that. Let's not try to defend the club on this one.
as for the name! Wish united would have given me a reason to change it to Yesmidfield but alas, still Nomidfield! Of course if wig takes on yaya and beats him in two weeks time, then Fromidfield it is!

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Lets also not start making a martyr out of Herrera.

Whilst undoubtedly upsetting for him, If Barca had came in at the last minute and gazumped us, you wouldn't have seen him for dust.

A little perspective please. He's a highly paid, professional footballer, with options. Not Mother Theresa.

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NoMidfield

Apparently he had decided to take a 900,000 pounds pay cut from his overall 5 years package with United. don't know how true it is, but if it is then just puts things into perspective.

Deeps.

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Or 'SlightlyBetterButStillNotGoodEnough Midfield'?

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Gav

Love it, how about 'panicbuymidfield', or 'theonlyonewecouldgetmidfield'

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Fromidfield is just perfect

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03 Sep 2013 17:17:20
Just got home from working a 10 hour shift on a building site in of all places Liverpool, & have got to admit the sh&t I got today from both red & blue scouse was fully justified because our transfer dealings, or lack of have been embarrassing . To cap the lot was last nights fiasco over Herrara. First question is who were the imposters?, were they arrested, if not why not. Secondly where were our reps if they were not at the meeting where the f$ck were they, were they kidnapped, lost, or still on the way back from Australia. Woodward as the top man ( ha ha ) has to take the blame for this shambles. He constantly put in bids way under the clubs asking price then wondered why we got knocked back. We could have had Fellaini for 23 million 2 weeks ago & end up paying nearly 28 million, what a joke. The extra 4 or 5 million saved could have gone on improved bids for Thiago, Fabregas, Baines, Ozil, & all the others that we underbid on. Woodward just admit your not up to it & let SAF take over all transfer dealings, because I know the clout that he brings to the world of football would ensure we never get humiliated again. Rant over.

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Yeah I think they should arrest anyone pretending to a united official. So I hope woodenhead expects to be knocked up early in the morning!

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Pancho, classic, thanks lol

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03 Sep 2013 17:17:19
Saidy Janko? Ed Wardwood, Just when I think you couldn't possibly be any more inept, you go and do something like this…and totally redeem yourself!

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Yeah, has gone right under the radar.

The lad looks like he is going to be some player in a few years.

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Is this the deal he's been working on urgently since leaving Australia? ;)

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03 Sep 2013 19:30:22
I know its madness, we have one of if not the best young right back in the world in Rafael and yet we sign not one but two young right backs in the same window while not signing a quality left back to replace the 32yo Evra, and while not signing a player who could add that creative spark in midfield.

Well done Ed, top work there.

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Shappy

Reminds me of when we had Rooney, Ronaldo and Tevez ripping the Premier league to bits, and we went and signed Berbatov

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Didn't we sign Berb after Ronaldo and Tevez left?

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03 Sep 2013 17:11:10
I think Ed Woodward would want the club to leave it a week or two, until deadline-day dust has settled, before announcing record-breaking £350m revenue for 2012/13.

On another note Ed, do you think we'll try sign herrera in Jan? Why would bilbao want to do business again.
Also what's this farce about people pretending to be united representatives? {Ed044's Note - No idea mate.}

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03 Sep 2013 17:09:16
I totally agree with Shappy and a few others who have posted about the 4-2-3-1 formation. I am abig fan of this formation, and I think we have the players to play it with great success. The "3" of Kagawa, Rooney and Nani could be devastating if played together regularly. I think Valencia is a bit too one dimensional to play there, so Nani would be my choice, with Zaha gradually being integrated into the team. I would probably prefer Jones to play in his natural position alongside Vidic instead of Evans, but apart from that I think this could be awesome. I even think if he can get himself fit, Anderson could flourish as one of the "3". I also think Fellaini is a very good signing for us. Him and Carrick will provide good cover for the back 4, and will also provide more a threat at set pieces.
Despite the shambles that was our transfer window, we are still in pretty good shape. A left back and another top class midfielder would have been perfect. It didn't happen, so let's move on and look forwards. We have a good squad, and with this formation I am sure we can be successful.

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03 Sep 2013 16:53:25
just looking at fixtures and wow. I forgot how quick the champions league games come up! Byer Leverkusen, Man city, liverpool one after another! I think i'd be happy with getting to the quarters this year

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Terry Butcher played for England for almost 90 mins with a bandage dripping in blood, Wayne Rooney covers his cut with a boil plaster and he is too injured to even get on the team bus. WTF is that all about?

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Annie, could it be that he isn't really injured at all?

Could it be that Wayne had a rubbish summer being wound up by SAF and Stretford and had mentally left the club?

Could it be that a 'heart-to-heart' between Moyes and Rooney ended with the realisation that he wouldn't be sold and in order to draw a line/ let the dust settle/give the player some thinking time without international duty - he was allowed to do a bunk, on the understanding that he came back happier and more focused in a month's time or so?

To me this scenario looks more believable - just saying.

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A lot of " could it be`s " there mate could it be that Rooney was right all along when he said United are not showing any ambition if they are not prepared to spend on world class players, and now he`s seeing ALL our rivals buying "Quality ". I would be PI$$ED off too, and I do firmly believe he never asked for a transfer either. Rooney needs to understand that the club are NEVER going to come out and say he never asked for one as long as SAF is upstairs, so stick the dummy back in and move on. Show the fans who applauded you all through your days at OT, that you will work your bo££ocks off until the day you leave.

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03 Sep 2013 16:34:57
At the begining of the transfer, none of us would have 'believed' we'd end up with only Fellaini.
But now, it looks like none of us are really 'surprised' we just ended up with him only.

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TBF quite a few called it from the start. I didn't believe them but was proved wrong.

I do believe there was money to spend, however, but maybe we were looking to get players at unrealistically low prices, which obviously didn't work out well!

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03 Sep 2013 16:27:11
My thoughts on the utter shambles that has been this transfer window.

Not blaming one or the other but all three (Moyes, Woodward, Glazers) should collectively share the blame.

I feel sorry a bit for Ed Woodward, he was given a nearly impossible deal to do in Fabregas and then a very difficult and expensive deal for Herrera in very short time. I would have expected Gill to fail with both of those as well in those circumstances as well to be honest. Moyes completely changed targets too and Woodward wasn't able to capitalize on deals on which groundwork had already been done during the season like Thiago, Garay, Strootman etc.

Woodward has kept the debt ridden United going with an excellent commercial strategy and especially some of the deals like the Chevrelot deal he did show he is no fool. He is inexperienced with transfer business and being just 40 and being where he is, I would expect him to learn quick.

But I can understand Moyes' view a bit as well. He went for the exact players in Fellaini, Baines, Fabregas/Herrera which were required and coming to United would have expected the club and Woodward to go to far greater financial lengths to get deals done, since he was replacing SAF.

Then it comes down to the Glazers who let Gill go as well and appointed Woodward who has little experience in transfer dealings, they set the budget but don't choose how to spend the money. We ended up with two men who weren't familiar with each other's way of working.

I just hope and rather expect that Moyes and Woodward will have taken a lesson from this shambles and would go about the transfer dealings far more meticulously and plot their moves carefully for next summer, make long term targets and do groundwork on deals. There is a chance for some great deals next summer, both the Gundogan and Ronaldo situations seem really interesting and I would expect United to pounce and go the extra mile if they haven't renewed their contracts by next summer.

Now, more than ever, the players who will take the pitch against Palace and City need our support. We are all appalled and disappointed with the transfer business and should rightly express our discontent at Woodward and Moyes but let's not let that get in the way of support for the lads on the pitch.

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We made bids for Herrera, Baines, Coentrao, Khedira, Sneijder & De Rossi on deadline day. That is desperation.

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03 Sep 2013 17:20:33
and you know this how?

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Sydney, have you entertained the notion that other bids were made because it was touch and go with Fellaini? The players' you mentioned with the exception of Baines, Coentrao and GREDDY & LAZY (Sneijder) are all defensive CM.

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Don't know if the Sneijder and De Rossi bids on deadline day are true mate. But yes, it was desperation and shambolic and shocking.

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Sneijder has said Liverpool bid for him Sydney it wasn't us. Although if the window went on for another hour I wouldn't have put it past us the way we were going.

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When was the last time we bid a hundred million pounds on deadline day. The whole bunch including moyes have been incompetent. The coentrao deal speaks volumes and sounds like they just did not get the fact that baines was not available and screwed up a simple loan deal.

When was the last time we were rejected by so many clubs in one day, NEVER because it is stupid to think clubs will sell key players this late in the window as it would be very difficult to find replacements. I want to know what . ff. they were up to the entire month of august, before turning us into the village whore on september 2nd.

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Sydney, you'd be buzzing if we signed that lot!

if the club had shown that kind of ambition a few weeks ago and backed it up with sensible offers, I bet there was an excellent chance we would have signed some of them

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03 Sep 2013 16:25:13
Copy and paste
I think it's clear to everybody that the blame for this transfer debacle lies squarely with Woodward. He obviously has no idea how football transfers work. Could it maybe be time ton appoint a Director of Football? Someone approved by Moyes, to act as a link between the money and the club. Not someone to dictate who we buy or who plays, but to act upon the demands of the manager and head up the scouting network, who knows football, knows business and can command respect through his previous experience, whether that be in football or business. Then Woodward can carry on his excellent work ensuring every tyre on every car belonging to each of the playing squad has a separate sponsor, and Moyes can have the players he wants at his disposal!

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As long as its not Joe kinnear

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03 Sep 2013 16:14:27
There was actually another transfer in, that went unoticed, Saidy Janko a right sided player was signed from F C Zurich for £700,000 rising to £1 million . He's 17 years of age, obviously one for the future.

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A replacement for Vermijl who joined NEC.

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The lad is a top talent. The club went to some lengths to bring him here; even relocating his family to Manchester.

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Thank god Giggs doesn't play Right Back or Right Wing.

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03 Sep 2013 15:59:04
I think general consensous is that we have been embarrassed this window. The problem is not with the signing of Fellaini, everyone knew that was on from the moment Moyes was appointed. Its just the fashion everything was done. Fellaini should have been wrapped up straight away but we wait till last seconds of window. Why?
The rest was just a bombardment of humilation. Herrera was just bizarre, then it was Khederia which was a panic bid, De Rossi, Fabregas, Baines, Coentrao all handled in an amatuerish way! We bid derisiory amounts for players and seem to walk away when it gets to £30m.
Yet we continue to call ourselves "The biggest club in the world", continue to spout "We will always be interested in the best players" yet the reality is that we arent, and we arent! We like to make the right noises, but when push comes to shove we run away, and this year because everything was public we look ridiculous.
Even Joe Kinnear at NUFC handled the window better than Woodward, and that's really saying something.

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I think one person that he did handle it better than was joe kinnear mate.

We get it now, not sure whether every single person is going to post the same thing for the next 2 weeks until we have a match, but the window is closed now, we must move on and support the lads.

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"We will always be interested in the best players" quote is so funny, really moyes is talking sh!t and I think he's a bit of a liar, he's been saying all window, were working on things.

He said he didn't think the valuation of Herrera was right? Like it or not that was his valuation so 1, why wait so long to walk away and 2, why pay 4m extra than fellani's clause (around 10m more than there 1st bid), yet he can't spend the extra few million for a kid that will be worth it in a year or so time.
Moyes is full of contradictions.

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Thats dithering Dave for you!

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Behave yourself, why are you blaming Moyes for Woodwards complete incompetence?.For a club who imo are the second biggest in the world to mess up the window in that manner is criminal.It looks like losing David Gill is going to be more of a loss than SAF.

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03 Sep 2013 15:43:42
If you look at our first team its really not that bad. Especially if everyone can find some form.

DDG in goal with Rafael, Evans, Vidic and Evra in defence. Fellaini and Carrick in the middle with either Valencia or Nani on the right Rooney in the hole and Kagawa on the left, then RvP upfront. On form that's a strong team and equally as good as any of our rivals teams.

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I would play Nani against the weaker teams as he is a very good player when playing well. I would build his confidence up gradually. I think it's clear that he will sign for Juve on a free next summer, after talks with them last week and them saying he will sign a new deal with us, I think they told him to do a Llorente and come back next summer.

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I completely agree, however I would be brave and play Zaha on the right, but you're point stands true, our first 11 has the potential to be strong.

Like you I'm sure, the concern of the majority is that Cleverly and Giggs will creep in to the side too often - particularly at the expense of our only genuine number 10 Kagawa. I don't feel Rooney plays that role well as he goes chasing the ball too much - even though that is an admirable quality.

Whilst he's not in the team I am also concerned by Rio's form - on the ball. Defending is solid, but his speed of distribution is appalling. Doesn't help that I'm still pissed at how he was tweeting about stupid scores he got on a game app on his phone not too long after the Liverpool defeat.

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I posted the same thing earlier Shappy. I think that's the best 11 in league. We just need everyone fit. Fellaini is a very good signing.

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While I agree we can put out a very strong team indeed, if Moyes keeps making dubious team selections, we're not going to get the best out of our squad. That is a concern of mine.

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The wingers really need to buck up and get a good run of form and quick. They have been poor to say the least and leaves our midfield under huge pressure to create when the wingers don't do much. They also keep losing the ball in great positions which is frustrating.

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I can't see a 4-4-2 being used. I think we'll go between 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3. For me, i'd be playing any 3 of Kagawa, Rooney, Nani, Valencia and Zaha behind RVP. Young needs to be used as injury cover and for lesser games. he's not up to the standard. I genuinely hope Zaha gets lots of games. such an exciting player to watch and seems fairly comfortable anywhere in the final third.

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I actually agree with this, the transfer window was a shambles but our strongest XI is pretty strong. Our squad is incredibly deep across most positions too and we're at least slightly better off than last season. Let's just hope Kagawa is integrated effectively because that makes all the difference IMO.

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Leave Nani, I agree until that point, give Zaha & Junuzaj a chance along with Kags & Rooney behind Van Persie. We can`t let anymore young talent leave because of lack of game time, won`t mention the P word.

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Fairly sure Nani has either signed a new contract or is shortly going to. Moyes seems to have faith in him and let's be honest he's got more talent than Young.

He looks very eager to do well this year too.

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03 Sep 2013 15:21:35
Am I right in thinking that this is the only Premier League season we've started without a Number 7?

Fellaini has been given the number 31 shirt so he won't be wearing the number 7.

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03 Sep 2013 14:38:42
Hi all

I am just wondering what are people's opinion regarding the actual sacking/demotion of DeadWoodWard? At the end of the day, he is a clueless penny pincher. Unfortunately, that is exactly what The Glazers want (Penny pinching not clueless). Squeeze every penny! Could public anger/protest and pressure work?

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A point you have almost touched upon,

IF Woodward loses his job that shows this summer's mess is his fault, IF he does not lose his job then that implies he's just done what the owner's wanted?

From the outside it seemed to me as though we did have money to spend but Woody either tried to be too clever in getting the best deal or was just inept in some other way. This is just my opinion and an explanation would be good!

Final point, if he was asked to step down I wonder if he'd be given his old role back, because it seemed like he was actually good at that job!

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I don't think the glazers will b too impressed with the 4 million on fellaini he pi$$ed away!

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Pennypincher? He lost the club £5 million.

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I've tried to keep relatively calm throughout the transfer window and I'm am prepared to give Moyes a few years prove himself as I believe is an excellent manager and deserves the chance.
Whilst I'm not sure 100% what Woodwards job is, it appears to be cIear that getting a money man to be such footballing part of a football club isn't working. What date was it he left the tour to deal with "urgent transfer business? Well almost 2 months later I'd say we have completely failed in the transfer window, which means he has failed. Fellaini is the absolute bare minimum of what we should have got this summer, especially after all the posturing, saying we haven't got a transfer budget and we are only in for the aabsolute best players. Woodward has made the club look spectacularly ridiculous. The whole situation with Herrera on the last day (incidentally whilst Herrera is a good player he is nowhere near thiago, fabregas etc who we should have been in for/bid for properly) and that late, late cock up surrounding Coentrao, just as one last pie into our faces this summer, these have left more than a bad feeling in my mouth.
The final little cherry on top? That little amount extra that we paid for fellaini seems to be the same few million that we are always reluctant to pay in the 1st place, just as a little bit mote comeuppance for woodwards shocking performance all summer. To me it seems fergie got to choose his sucessor, but Gill did not. As much as I want Woodward gone, I don't think the Glazers will find any reason for firing him

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Annie, and failed to sell anyone. Last summer Nani would have went to Zenit for €27m if we paid him €5m. Now it looks like we will lose him for nothing next summer. So the club are happy to turn their nose up at €22m. It's all about principle with this club, but sometimes you need to just accept what's on offer or pay what is needed.

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Guys, you are focusing far too much on a couple of words there. The fact of the matter is, we hummed and hawed and tried getting cheaper deals. That resulted in a last minute panic buy, whereby, we paid 4mill too much for a player. So yeah, he was penny pinching and it blew up in his face. HB, good points there. Unfortunately, I think he will retain his position.

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Absolutely. Man is a pillock. Wasted the funds on Fellaini (by not using the buyout clause earlier) that could have made the difference on the Herrera deal.

Also, how could we be "too late" for Coentrao? Wasting more time on Baines no doubt. What was worse? Getting both with Coentrao on loan or neither?

Usual story. If any "normal" person displayed this much negligence and ignorance of how to perform within their role they would be sacked.

Also, Gill should have been made to stay on in some capacity - even if just for transfers. Would have been a major help for Moyes in his first year at the club. None of this would have happened if so.

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I agree Sydney,
All this negotiating with clubs for players that weren't for sale is ridiculous. If the player is transfer listed then yeh go for a deal. But the guy thinks he can do what he likes trying to save as much as he can, and looks a person now.

I think the club need to address it, if they don't they clearly think there way is right, which unfortunatly won't get us anywhere in the future.

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03 Sep 2013 14:31:50
i think we really have a good team which on its day can beat anyone in europe but that depends on whether moyes will use head in picking the team. I i would love us to play 4231 and have a back four of rafael, rio, vida and evra then play play carrick and felli in front of the back four and have wayne, shinji and nani as the three behind rvp. heres to hoping we see less of giggs and more of kagawa

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I too think that a combination of Kagawa, Rooney and Nani, playing behind Van Persie, gives us an attacking force equal to any of the top teams in Europe.

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03 Sep 2013 14:27:58
Just read on manchester evening news that the real reason herrera deal fell through is moyes said the buy out clause was to high he's starting to sound like fergie already

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Or he didn't think he was worth £40 million.

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£30m, 36m euros

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03 Sep 2013 14:21:25
Sami Khedira has confirmed that Real Madrid turned down Manchester United's €40 million offer for him before the transfer window closed.

What is going on at Man Utd. Khedira is not worth £34m(€40 million). Woodward left it to late and desperate bids where thrown around. {Ed044's Note - There numbers are wrong but there was a bid.}

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03 Sep 2013 13:43:34
Was watching transfer deadline day at home. Jim white turns to Quinn and says this day is very unlike united
Wasn't what moyes or Woodward would of wanted says Quinn. White says it could be his last referring to Woodward. That for me spelt it out that even the sky pundits know that Woodward is as useful as t::s on a bull

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03 Sep 2013 13:09:58
Hi All


Just thought i'd air my thoughts

Herrera - Should have been signed even if the final bill was more than expected -

Reason: We had plenty of time to find out prior to making the lad tell Bilbao he wanted out and Agreed the contract with us to find out what the final cost would be. If we left it that late in the day ethically we should have bit the bullet.

It's plain wrong what we have done to the lad full stop.

Contreao (spelling) - Real pulled the plug as they failed to bring in the replacement they wanted.

As for the rest of the transfer window debarcle? Woodward is clearly not cut out for player purchasing full stop. He should stick to sponsorship.



Onto Fellaini - He'll be better than most people seem to believe - marquee signing he is not but needed? definately.

****** YOUTH PLAYERS ******

All us fans brag about how good our youth is and whine about them not getting the chance to break into the first team. Well guess what?

This year they will be given the chance as we are going to need them if we want to atleast put up a fight on all fronts.

I fully expect to see Zaha get time along with Jany and expect to see fabio getting game time.

Kagawa has to be played and played in his preferred position - they guy was declared something special by italy's coach when he ran riot against italy.

How he cannot be given the role he is perfect for is beyond me.

****

As for the season ahead will we win? Maybe not but we are sure going to make it as difficult as possible for anyone who wants to try and take our crown.

As a red through and through I expect the best from our club, our players and most of all our fans! But I will never withdraw my support of the team.

Whinge about signings and tactics all you want but always support the lads on match day.

They need our support not our abuse. It can be the difference between winning and losing!

Come rain or shine we will continue to demand the best from our players and expect the best support from our fans. If you cannot support the lads on match day then you are not worthy to call yourself a RED.

Last note:

KEEP YOUR HEADS UP!

after all We are not just a club with a largest fan base in the world we are MANCHESTER UNITED and we are FOREVER!

Monk

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Monk so far Januzaj and Lingard have failed to even make it to the bench and Zaha has been on the bench for one game.

Moyes was reluctant to give chance to Barkley whereas Martinez has been starting him in all games.

I personally think Moyes is a low-risk manager and will not take a bold decision of playing Januzaj and Zaha too often. Hoping I am wrong.

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03 Sep 2013 12:58:46
i get the feeling Kawaga is not rated very highly on here?

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I think I speak for everyone on here when I say Kagawa is quality. World class at what he does. Nobody on here will slate him.

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Kagawa isn't world class and hasn't proven anything at United yet.
Potentially he is and needs a run of games to prove it.
World class are players like Ronaldo, Messi, Iniesta, Xavi.
Kagawa has a long way to go until he's even considered in the same class as the players above.

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We all love Kagawa on here. Personally my fave player, just want him to play more!

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But thn why is everyone so desperate for a creative mf when we have kag

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Not Rooney, Simmo? ;)

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Ignore the last post. u all want creativity from deeper ;)

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Simmo you're a little ray of sunshine you are aren't you? Do you ever post anything positive? What I said was he's world class at what he does. Finding space, creating, picking a pass. He is world class at this. Your constant argumentative attitude & doom & gloom posts are shocking.

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Stebor when I say we need a creative mid (I assume others feel the same) I mean a deep lying playmaker. Kags is more advanced.

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If he was that good Real Madrid, Barcelona and especially Bayern Munich would have been inetrested.
Expecially Munich as he played in the German League and played very well against them.
I agree that he is a very good player and could be potentially excellent but he isn't world class.
United we stand. I may post negative points of view but your clearly one of these red blinkered fans who thinks that everything is cozy at United.
Sorry mate but everything isn't all cozy at United, and please tell me what is negative about saying Kagawa is a good player and could potentially be an excellent player?
And while your at it is he in the same league as the players that I have mentioned?

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United we stand, yeah I got there in the end pal haha. wijnaldum, gundogan, reus we all be good for us, although from what I heard dortmund were not willing to let anybody else leave this season

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Stebor I know mate, sorry I posted before your reply.

Simmo,

I mean your posts in general are just moaning posts. Cheer up dude, get laid or something. I don't look through anything tinted, I see things for what try are & you like many others blow things out of proportion. Come the end of the season we will be up there.

No he isn't in that league but then they are in a league of their own. You're missing my point again, I said he's world class at WHAT HE DOES.

He was the heartbeat of a class Dortmund side & he absolutely ruined Italy, the manager said he's a special player. Klopp called him world class. Do you know better that the above?

IMO he's one of the best players in the league.

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He's actually my favourite player and I rate him highly, hope Moyes works out how to use him effectively in our set up. I honestly believe he could be 'like a new signing' lol, if he's given the right opportunities.

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I can see us having a 4-2-3-1 formation now with Fellaini and Carrick as the defensive mids with Kagawa being able to play any of the three attacking mid positions. Hopefully!

Kagawa has potential to become as good as Iniesta if he's given game time, very similar player. let's not forget that Iniesta developed quite late and has only become know as a world class player in the last 3-4 seasons. Kagawa has plenty of time, we just need to let him spend that time playing! I think he has potential to be our best player I really do.

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03 Sep 2013 12:54:24
How gutted am i? Picked Juan Mata in my dream team and he hasn't played zero points thank goodness for the transfer window lol
Have a super day {Ed044's Note - Mata has played mate.}

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03 Sep 2013 12:40:31
No. 31 for Fellaini. Hmmmm, makes you think that surely we have saved 9 and 7 for a reason, I wasn't expecting him to get 7, but perhaps 9? Maybe we will see some action in Jan and if not big things in the summer

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Elvis - Honestly I expected maybe 2 or 3 players at most if any this summer as I thought Moyes would give everyone a year to prove themselves 6 months if they are poor. So with that I definitely expect a few in January and next summer.

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"if not big things in the summer"

Oh god its started already. Don't think I could handle another window with that clown in charge of the purse strings. Somebody terminate the terminator.

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03 Sep 2013 12:36:39
Felliani has the number 31

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03 Sep 2013 12:05:36
Anyone else think we should use Zaha & Januzaj often this season and should have kept Powell and used him too? These three players are good players and cannot do any worse than some of the seniors.

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Think Powell could have definitely had an impact in the lesser/cup games, a loan at Wigan should do him good though! Hope Zaha and Januzaj get at least as much time on the pitch as Giggs does.

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To be honest I expected this to be a tough year for us and thought that Powell, Zaha and Januzaj would and could have burst on to the scene if given the chance. Powell imo could be that missing link between the strikers and midfielders then Zaha's unprecitable play and very good attacking threat and pace would be devastating and Januzaj imo is one of the brightest young footballers I have ever seen in the Premiership or anywhere. I think a midfield and attack of Carrick and Fellaini behind Zaha, Rooney and Kagawa behind RVP would be class and would give RVP a lot more service in dangerous areas. With Januzaj being used as a sub for some games and starting some imo would be very good team.

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I agree syd, as you say they can't do any worse.
we didn't play well at all on sunday(although I still think we were ever so slightly the better team)

What are your thoughts on our activity or lack of in the transfer window?

also what do you make of Kagawa not having a run yet?

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Syd, do you think that because of his injuries/operations Moyes wants to get him playing regularly (and not just at reserve level)? Hopefully he'll play well and we get to see him in our first eleven next season. I keep forgetting he's only 19!

Bit worried Adnan and Zaha might not be used much. Lack of faith in youth by Moyes? Hope not. As you said, it can't be any worse than some of the phoneys we have at the moment!

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Guys it's been 3 games, i'm sure they will get used along the line, hopefully it will be a busy and long season.

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Definately, I would much rather that than giggs young and cleverly, but do you really believe they will get a chance under this manager in a 4/4/2 syd?

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I was surprised to see Powell leave, I thought he could have played some sort of part this season, but perhaps it's will help him more playing week in week out, which I hope he gets the chance to at wigan, than playing a bit part for us this year. Hopefully he'll come back much more ready for first team football at united next year.

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Lack of faith in the youth Moyes? Rooney, Rodwell are 2 names which spring to mind.

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Lads, I think the problem for our youth is we keep drawing a EPL side in the early stages of the cup comps and have done for a couple of years now. Who was the last lower league opposition we played?

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Sydney, I agree, p!sses me off every time we get a bad draw in the League Cup, those games are the perfect opportunity to blood youngsters into the team.

I fear for Januzaj this year, he's clearly a massive talent but we're so stocked on the wings/AM in terms of numbers that it would take a brave decision from Moyes to give him his chances ahead of 1st teamers on big wages. Finger's crossed he is brave though because Januzaj could easily be better than most of the options we have within 2/3 seasons, if given the opportunity.

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03 Sep 2013 12:18:47
I'm more than happy that we've signed Fellaini. but like most feel that this should have been completed whilst his clause was £23m. He'll give us a more phyiscal aura in midfield and in attack. But saying that. our wingers crosses rarely beat the first defender so unless they start to perform we might struggle for goals from midfield. Also. I think the classic 4-4-2 with wingers is a thing of the past. the archtypal attacking mids (mata, hazard, ozil, william, lamela) who cut in from/to wide. with holding mids behind, is the way forward.

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Everton fan. after watching felli for years week in week out. he will give you strenth in midfield. but only strenth purly because of his size.he is very slow .he ponders up the field .man utd play football on the floor.and break quickly I fear for you this season .i thought you as a club would have gone for a player like coutino at lpool oscar at chelsea total footballers. moyes will play more longball game plus you have a badly ageing squad .and the yonger players are not good enough. just my opionion.

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Richie that's utter drivel mate. I understand you're annoyed at losing your best player.

Fellaini will not need to be involved in the speed of our play, Carrick is not known for his speed but is quality.

And young players not good enough? In Zaha we have one the biggest English talents in the game. In jany we have someone who is going to be very special. A world class talent. In Raffa we have the best right back in the league. In powell we have someone else who could turn out to be very special. There is nothing wrong with our youth at all.

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Ageing squad? I don't think so, we have some excellent youth coming through and our first team squad is a good mix, so your comments are redundant.

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Elvis

Giggs
Ferdinad
Vidic
Evra
RVP
Carrick

6 of the most important players in the squad are over 30. It's not properly aging squad but the Nucleo is a bit old.

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My thoughts also Tenacious, let the 2 fullbacks do the wide work, with Carrick & Fellaini protecting the back four, then Januzaj Rooney, Kagawa behind Van Persie.

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Richie, you obviously haven't watched Utd for a while.

It's been a long time since we, 'broke quickly'.

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03 Sep 2013 12:18:43
Anyone would think we had a 2nd Rate team from reading these posts. Its Embarrassing. To an extent more so that the pitiful display Woodward put in. I feel for Herrera. He would have been a great addition. We all know its our midfield that is our weakest aspect, but our team is has some sheer quality players there. You can not honestly tell me you can look at spurs and arsenal and say you'd prefer that starting line up to ours? The fight for top spot is going to be tough as City and Chelsea have put some serious ££ in to those teams but fact is they are playing catch up to us. Fellaini is a great addition and will do well for us. Stop with the Moyes hate too. 3 games in and you are all so negative . grow up. He has not done too bad at all. People will always disagree with selections but given the opening games we have had I don't think he has done too bad at all.

Come on United

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03 Sep 2013 12:09:46
maybe, just maybe we didn't take özil as we have a deal in place further down the line for the likes of Cesc or Modric already in place and flooding the midfield with short term panic buying is not part of the Utd way. Utd strategise long term - it may tale a year os two, but we'll be holding the CL trophy again if we continually build a solid foundation and get the right players, without panic buying the players who happen to be on sale right now, rather than waiting a few months or a year to get who you really want. Guve Moyes a break, he's just building and he's a couple of months into the most difficult of starts. We'll be fine.

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I suspect Moyes' will make sure such a transfer window will never repeat itself. I think that he would probably want a full season to assess all our needs. He knew that the CM area needed someone with a a bit of presence and got that done, regardless of the circumstances.

I for one believed that Fellaini - or someone of that ilk - was a prerequisite this transfer window.

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03 Sep 2013 12:03:59
Arsenal fan in peace obviously I'm over the moon that we got Ozil but why would you not go for him he is exactly what you need. Fellaini is a good player but I can't see him scoring load of goals from CM if you stick behind van PUSSY he will but you have a plethora of options there anyway. I've seen a few Manchester United fans panicking saying your going to struggle I wouldn't worry as much as I hate to say it your Manchester United you are meant to be at the top and you will probably remain there.



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He'll hopefully be used much deeper alongside Carrick which means we can bench Tom 'sideways pass' Cleverley. That'll then allow us to play Kagawa in front without being too exposed when defending.

You will have a very strong attack, but your defence is still a bit of an issue for you guys.

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We didn't need Ozil. We already have two world class players in Rooney and Kagawa to play the Ozil role.

We would have got Ozil if Rooney would have left.

As for your team, you still have a weak squad.

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You always need an Oezil, he is a top quality player. I just didn't see the club spending £43m on him unless we sold Rooney.

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I think our defence is deceiving because we had the second best defence last year but they don't always look convincing so I see where your coming from. Yes our squad is thin ATM but we have players to come back from injury and I'm sure we will buy a striker in January. I've been saying this to our fans Rome wasn't built in a day the attraction of playing with one of the best midfielders in the world will get big players attention when arsene comes calling.


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The Oezil signing was to stop the fans from getting their knickers in a twist. Don't expect this sort of thing to happen at Arsenal every summer. It will be back to bargains next summer until fans threats start to come again.

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Unfortunately Sydney signing Ozil is just the beginning, the sleeping giant has awaken.

Onwards and Upwards Arsenal!
Class is permanent ;)

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He's right about the chain reaction effect, though Syd.

Makes it a lot easier to attract good talent, when you know the likes of Oezil are already there. {Ed007's Note - There are major changes planned at Arsenal in the next year or so Stevie, I wouldn't be surprised if they have a new manager this time next year.}

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Very interesting, Mr Bond :) Care to elaborate? Not for betting purposes you understand (cough)

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03 Sep 2013 12:01:51
Reading some of the posts it makes you think we had been relegated, the doom, the gloom, the despondency. Lighten up.
Firstly we have improved midfield, not enough maybe, but we have!
Secondly all this talk of Ozil, we have Rooney and Kagawa when fully fit and then coming through Zaha and Januzaj. The issue is getting them all fit and playing. That is easier with a more robust central defensive midfielder, which we have bought.
I agree that some of the transfer dealings have not gone the way they should have. However it is not a disaster if and I do say if, we learn from them. Decide on targets for January and next Summer early. Do the scouting and then make the right bid that makes it attractive to the selling club, without being ripped off. The other issue is everyone saying we overpaid for Fellaini by 4m, well that depends on the structure of the deal and we may never know that exactly, headline figures can often be misleading.

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Agree with you on every point made.

I would like to add that Woodward look very confident guy, he know very well that this transfer window was not great for the reputation of this club and his own.

It's impossible to thing otherwise, the the fact most of United fans won't let this fiasco happen again, will not make him more carefull DG. IMO his pride take hit yesterday.

Lot of fans point out the Big Glazers Conspiracy, true or not this doesn't help anyone.

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I did not join in the critism through out this window as I inherently believed the club would come through with the goods. I am stupid and naive to have believed that this lot running the place are a disgrace.

Zanusaj and Zaha are like 5th and 6th choice and add very little to the team at this time and Kagawa can't get into the match day squad even with Rooney injured, so how did we exactly improve from the boring and poor football we have played for over 2 years.

The wings are still no good and the creativity in the midfield is still not been addressed. Left back has not been addressed either.

A team like Everton has made us look like a bunch of monkeys and must be laughing their ass off this morning. They had a very good day I would say.

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Shahram, I think Zaha & Kagawa are very good players and should be featuring in the league this season. Januzaj should play in some cup games.

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Sydney

I agree with you but don't believe moyes will use them as they can't even make the bench at the moment and yes a few cup games is where they will feature.

So in practice he will go with Fergie's team plus fellaini for most of the pl games and all cl games. The question you have to ask, given everyone of our rivals have made major additions to their squad is last years squad plus fellaini going to be that different in terms of quality of football we will produce.

I am not convinced unless some of the existing players Wingers, Rooney, Kagawa really perform at a much higher level.

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I agree Shahram, Rooney needs to suck it up and play well this season if he wants to win a trophy. I also agree in regards to the youngsters, sadly we cannot seem to get a break with the cup draws. We keep drawing EPL teams and they always play stronger sides.

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03 Sep 2013 11:49:31
If you want cheering up, go on the official website and click on new signings 2013. The thing takes ages and won't load, maybe Ed Woodward is in charge of I.T. as well!

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03 Sep 2013 11:43:49
can anyone tell me where fellaini is going to play, are we staying 4-4-2 with him in the middle with giggs and young on the wings, because that is a bit worrying.

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I really don't want to see Giggs getting anymore games this year only when we have injuries.
Giggs need to retire.

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It looks like we are going to play 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1 going by the players we have and the way we have shaped up so far. Would like 4-2-3-1 with Carrick and fellaini as the 2 but it doesn't look like we are.
I'm curious as to where fellaini will play you would of thought dm but would we pay 27:5 for a dm

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I would not be surprised if he plays as a holding midfielder and Carrick is pushed forward and in some games we push him forward as a link up man between the midfield and forwards.

I think TC23 is going to see a lot of bench time and we will go with carrick fellaini as the main 2 midfielders and still play a 4-4-1-1 or 4-2-3-1.

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03 Sep 2013 11:38:49
As far as I am aware the paperwork for Coentrao had been submitted in time but Real backed out the deal because their back up for Coentrao, Guilherme Siqueira of Granada moved to Benfica on loan so this scuppered the deal.

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03 Sep 2013 11:04:14
Well it was a disaster of a transfer window with an awful lot of mistakes made! But in fairness lads, their first transfer window and there's no way they'll let that kinda farce happen again!

Lesson learned the hard way! But at least lesson learned!

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Shamlk, these people are highly paid 'professionals'. The idea is they get paid the big bucks because they are capable of doing the job in the first place.

It's not like Moyes is in his first year as a football manager is it?

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Nah I know it's not Moyes fault but it's Woodwards first year trying to negotiate deals, Maybe its a good lesson learned for him but on the other hand he's most likely not the man for the job! Stick to the sponsorship!

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Shamlk, I'm not excusing moyes. I hold Woodward and Moyes jointly responsible.

my point is that you can't just say that its OK because for both of them it was their first year in the job.

when you're running a billion dollar corporation you are expected to be able to adequately perform the key duties of your post. I would suggest that bringing in new players is a key part of running a football club.

fair enough if Woodward and moyes don't have the experience, but when you're in their position you have to recognise your weaknesses and bring in people with strengths in those areas who can compensate ie in this case a director of football.

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'lesson learned'?

I'd reserve judgement on that, mate, until we see what happens in the next window.

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03 Sep 2013 11:00:26
Frustratingly we could have signed Thiago for £21m this summer. The answer to our problems. Thiago, Fellaini & Coentrao on loan with option to buy. 001 says Moyes believed Thiago wasn't physical enough for the EPL. Surely Moyes isn't that stupid? Hearing that Cesc played us like a fiddle. Never had any intention of signing for MU, but wanted Barcelona to value him more, if that's true that can only be put down to naivety and inexperience by Ed Woodward. Then we wasted an extra £4m on Fellaini that wasn't needed. That inevitably could have went towards the Herrera tax bill. Dithering on Baines when he was never going to push his way out and leaving it so late to get Coentrao, again amateurish. Apparently it fell through as RM didn't get Siqueira done in time.

All this added to the penny pinching and trying to pay as little as possible for players has cost us this summer. I have to say I feel for Moyes in that respect as he clearly knew where our weaknesses were (central mid and LB). Then again if he did snub the chance to sign Thiago then he deserves everything he has got. One final thing, I think the way we have left Herrera high and dry is disgraceful. He was given a number and everything before he was told it was not going to happen. Why didn't we know about the tax issue when people like us did? Shameful IMO. The least we could do is buy him in January, the lad even took a pay-cut to make the deal go through smoother. Well it is what it is so we must get behind the lads regardless, it's what us fans do.

Can I ask who people will expect to see in the first choice line-ups? I think it will be a 4-2-1-3 with Rooney as the one. Fellaini & Carrick as the two. Welbeck, Van Persie & Nani as the three. Rafael, Ferdinand, Vidic & Evra (sadly) as the back four. What do people think?

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Good post Syd, expecially the section about Herrera.
I can't believe how they have treated this kid.
The kid wanted to join us and now because of our incompetence he now has to go back to Bilbao with his cap in hand.
The Bilbao fans are renowned for there passion and comittment and they expect there players to be the same.
I really feel for him, United have acted disgracefully and amateurish.
Somebody needs to be severely reprimanded fot these mistakes.

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Syd
4_2_1_3 is really just 4_4_1_1
Rvp up top Rooney of him 2wingers and 2 cm. We might even play 4-4-2

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Simmo, the only one's accountable can only be the Glazers. They employed Ed. SAF wouldn't have allowed this to happen, but he did say he will stay out of things this summer to let Moyes settle.

Jred, it's similar but when you play a 4-2-1-3 as opposed to a 4-4-1-1, each side of the 3 (Nani & Welbeck for Example) they are forwards as opposed to out and out wingers. I would expect the fullbacks to act as the wingers with Nani & Welbeck staying more central.

But you are right the point is the same, pack the midfield and attack and rely heavily on the fullbacks when Rafael returns. I think that's why Moyes wanted Baines or Coentrao too as Ev cannot play all the games and Butts isn't ready. I think you have said similar in the past. Formations are rarely fixed.

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From what I have read, Moyes likes the system being pioneered by Basel, where they use one winger. We could see him develop such a system over the coming months. He could use Kagawa as an inside left attacking midfielder and Nani, Valencia or Zaha as an out and out winger. That would allow for two fluid Centre-Forwards: Rooney and Van Persie.

We have some fantastic players'. It is up to Moyes' to now get the best out of them. The Wig can be a great success here as long as he is used as a CM.

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Guillem balague said in an interview with Alan brazil that no additional taxes were due whatsoever, the fee was €36m nothing on top. {Ed044's Note - There is a lot on top for other reasons but obviously not Spanish taxes. I see why Ed02 won't discuss the financial aspects now.}

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Samthered
If you watch United first couple of games United played that way using welbeck. He sort of played as a false lw, coming of the flank and making the numbers up in the middle

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Sam, it's called a sloping formation or something, I can't remember but SAF tried implementing it last season, but struggled. That is what we are doing now but with Welbeck instead of Kagawa. Jred also mentioned this a couple of weeks back and Miguel Delaney mentioned it a few months ago. This is what I meant by formations aren't always fixed and symmetrical.

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Jred, Sydney,

I think that Kagawa has been earmarked for that role. I genuinely think Moyes' went with Welbeck due to his defensive capabilities; but with the arrival of Fellaini, we have a player who will give us a lot more grit, thus allowing the flair players to do their stuff. I think that was the case last season as well.

Kagawa, Rooney and Nani behind Van Persie, is as good as anything currently out there, IMO.

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It's also why evra spends so much time up top as he pushes in to the lw position

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On the radio this morning they said "because the team that was after herrera was outside spain, there would not have been any tax issues.also how totally naive was moyes and everyone connected with utd for thinking fabregas would move to utd, the lad loves barca and arsenal, and further more he dislikes utd and also dislikes moyes for personal reasons, and before some of you mention "its business" the lad fabregas is true to his convictions, which is nice to see in a world of mercenary players

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Jred, after Christmas time SAF started implementing that style. I guess if you have Evra then you may as well play to his strengths. he likes to get forward but struggled to get back. So instead of him coming back he may as well stay up there whilst Welbeck/Young get back and Vidic/Evans fill the LB void.

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03 Sep 2013 10:56:02
alrite everyone!calmed down slightly now!having read a lot of posts I do agree with the fact we do have a strong squad with some very good top players and have no issue with that. My problem was with the starting 11 and I believe we have to many "squad players" in the 11; young, clevs, welbs, giggs (maybe not even good enough squad)!fellaini I think will improve us a lot and we will be there or there abouts come may esp if we dip into the market in jan!

Along with I think all of red fans its just the way our club has been handled the last 2-3 months!i like moyes and believe he's not at fault for this but woodward and the board have a lot of questions to answer!

my question to you guys do you think we will get any answers?;to why we wasted so much time on cesc (mayb realistic while villanova in charge with a realistic bid, why we bid silly amounts for players (ie baines & wig), why wait til the last minutes on deadline day to act hence missing out on coentrao and mostly what happend to the herrara deal? eds can you shed some light on exactly what "went down" with this deal?

long time reader, new poster and love it!keep up the great work eds!C'mon Utd! {Ed002's Note - This is from another Editor but I would trust it to be correct: Putting aside all of this flak and interference related to any "imposters" at the Spanish FA, the efforts made by Manchester United to purchase Ander Herrera were over before Ballague implied that these "imposters" extirpated the transaction. The simple truth is that once the price being asked and the costs to be eventually paid were clear to the club, they could see it was well beyond the value the club placed on the player. At that point the club stepped back. So it was the cost and not the distraction of any "imposters" that scuppered the deal.}

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MU were never going to pay €44m for Herrera, but with more time there could have been a way around paying the extra costs. It was a desperate final day trying to get Modric, Khedira late on, we had all summer to agree a deal with either.

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Cheers ed!

Totally agree syd!just think woodward has made us look abit stupid this window!just seemed everything we did this window had "mug" written on it!low bids, unrealistic offers etc and then to get a player that would have cost 4.5million less a few weeks ago just sums up our last 2 months!but heres to a good season!

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03 Sep 2013 10:46:31
While we are on a bit of a downer I just wanted to suggest to everybody here that they go on the Old Trafford tour or at least go and see the museum.

I went last week (I used to work at the club so know the stadium pretty well but hadn't been to the museum for a long time) and the history within that museum is mind blowing. There are great displays on Beckham, Chalrlton, Best and I was nearly in tears at a lot of the Munich things, there is so much to see and I learnt a few things about the Munich disaster I didn't know before.

It just helped me put into perspective where we were at then and where we are at now. We have come back from much worse things than a bad transfer window, and we have some amazing players that have played for the club.

I had goosebumps at many of the points and learnt quite a lot that you wouldn't find on the Internet, and I like to think I am very very knowledgeable on the club.

Thought I would just throw something different out there amongst the doom and gloom, has anybody else been recently and had a good / bad view of it?

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Gds2. You are right. I went there last year and it really is amazing to see the history and it really makes you proud to be a United fan. I took some friends who are Coventry fans and they were really impressed and moved by the history.

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More than a good point, we all need to reflect and remember our clubs wealth of history and achievements, this is one underwhelming transfer window only. hopefully lessons will have been learnt for the future.
be vocal when supporting our great club, let's avoid dragging it down, the only winners are our challengers.

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03 Sep 2013 10:44:23
Well the one player I definitely did not want we sign lol. Oh well off on hols this weekend beat City when I'm away to cheer me up.

Actually it does mean Moyes has a lot of time to assess our players, now no hitting, I'm looking forward to us being very busy in the transfer market next summer.

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03 Sep 2013 10:38:40
I think Fellaini will add that presence in midfield which we haven't had since Keane or even Hargreaves left, God I hope Moyes doesn't play him behind the striker though, we have Rooney/Kagawa/Welbeck etc for that role.

Good to have someone who can attack and defend set pieces as well, against Liverpool we we're shocking from set plays (they scored from a corner, our set plays never found a man). Hopefully in a more defensive role Fellaini can break up play and provide cover for the back 4 especially when Evra inevitably gets out of position.

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You know what, I was thinking the same thing. I really hope and pray he doesn't put him behind the striker or I think Moyes reign at OT will be very short.

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Yeah playing him behind the striker would definitely be sending out a negative message, would only use him there as a last resort if Roon/Kags got injured!

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03 Sep 2013 10:24:22
dear mr Jomo, finally ngiak reads a voice of reason
ngiak understands the transitional period that the new regime has to go through and moyes has to go through the screening of all our players to find the best fit for his style.

it took sir alex 7 years to get things right. yes, moyes has a much better start with players and funds etc., but it will take time fellaini is a great addition that sir alex has failed to do since roy keane left. ngiak thinks it's a monumentous start.

January will probably see some clear out and more young additions like Herrera and coentrao certainly the squad will be better than last year ngiak will appeal to the youngsters, impatient followers to be the 12th man on the field, lots a confusion and teething problems but ngiak feels we can help moyes and the team pull through this season.
gan

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03 Sep 2013 09:48:46
According to Spanish reports, we tried to hijack the Ozil deal as well as get Khedira and Modric. They all failed. We forgot the paper work for Herrera and were too slow with Coentrao. We went public with Fabregas who we had no chance of and Thiago chose Bayern. We couldn't even get Baines.

Coentrao and Fellaini would of appeased me slightly - after all we have got Zaha this window as well. But I've never been more embarrassed. Woodward has to get a bollocking, I'd love to be a fly on the wall today in his office. I don't know how he can walk into Old Trafford after this disaster.

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03 Sep 2013 09:36:01
Anyone know what number Fellaini will be wearing? Updating my FIFA squads.

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I reckon it'll be 32. Only one left. :)

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"9" I heard

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I reckon 9. we don't have many free really bar 7, but I very much doubt he would get that

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Just buy the new one in a few weeks!

Also, probably a good day for you yesterday with not much action in the window, not much to update.

In all seriousness, nobody knows yet, I would think he might be number 9, I would prefer that over 7.

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100% my thoughts last night! Fellaini Carrick CM, Kagawa V.P and Rooney spear head, not much width but that's the way lot top teams play! Be interesting and a lot quicker than the slow boring football being played recently!
Rooney playing out position might not go down too well tho!
Also Give Zaha a run out! Would Like Powell to come back after good season too!

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I heard it was going to be number 23 but now looking like he will be given the 27.5 number

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Fellaini is getting number 4 on his back as a constant reminder to Woodworm and dithering Dave how many millions trying to prove what expert negotiators they are cost the club.

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Danny, nice to see you back. What a mess eh :(

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03 Sep 2013 09:34:01
Seriously lads I think we all need to calm down. If Moyes opens his eyes we have one of the most technically gifted players in the PL in Kagawa. He didn't go anywhere which means he must be considered. When Rooney is fit we have a first 11 that can match anyones. Carrick & Fellaini will work together very well. A lot of you will be very surprised by Fellaini. Kagawa Rooney & RVP, there's no better top 3 in the premier league. We'll be there or there abouts at the end of the season. Let's just support our great club & get behind Moyes, he knows better than anyone our chances & I'm backing him. We ALWAYS start slow. If we spank palace & get a result against the noisy neighbors we're on track. Come on lads let's have some positivity, I'm sick of reading doom & gloom about our great club. We have a fantastic starting 11, keep the faith.

United till I die. In Moyes we trust.

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Doubters, worriers, the mildly concerned and the confident alike, we will all be behind the team despite what seems to have been a royal cock-up of a transfer window.

This has nothing to do with wanting a debt free club where the profits are spent on the players rather than financing debt.

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United till I die is right but I have no faith or trust in moyes.
All other clubs strengthened and all we do is sign a good premiership player, who is no where need top quality. and pay over the top for him.
Woodward needs to be sacked, he is clueless in transfer details. Herreras deal has made us look a laughing stock and the amount of players who refused to come to us is embarrassing, never seen it before and I've been supporting 30years,,, even players at other clubs don't fancy playing for mr negative moyes and when we struggle against palace and lose to citeh we will be in serious trouble, as no doubt Kagawa won't play and we will have to deal with playing giggs and sir-miss-a-lot welbeck.

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Am trying to be upbeat. Here's hoping to a good campaign and a Fellaini winner against the neighbours.

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Drawback is will Kagawa even get a game in front of welbeck

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Well said pal and I defo agree with the quality of Kagawa, and fellaini is a lot better thn what he's getting credit for! I for one wanted fellaini although we have over paid slightly but we got our man. he will stop us getting over ran in the middle of the park all the time and we could possibly start dominating games again. kagawa will defo undo defences with his vision u all wait and see and no body finishes better thn RVP

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Kinda hard to calm down after this **** up.We were told that there was no restrictions on our abilty to spend in our pursuit of world class players, hence the reason we were expecting the arrival of these additions.But because of unwilliness to meet other clubs valuations we completely messed up.
DM highlighted our weaknesses weeks ago so why the hell did they just go and get the problem areas sorted.No Woodward had to go make a balls of it, leaving us paying over the odds for Fellani and wanting to pay under the odds for Herrara.Then because of our messing Everton around we couldn't get Baines so we beg around europe for a lb at the eleventh hour and as a result of this we messed up on securing Contreau too.Not good enough for a club of the stature of Man Utd. Club should come out with some sort of a statement to explain (to the people who pay their wages) what went wrong, it's the least that we deserve.

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United we Stand,
Are you going to spank Palace like you we're going to thrash the mighty l/pool? You will be lucky not to concead at least 4 by city and by that time you will be minimum 8 points off top spot. Thought you said I would be eating humble pie on Sunday and I would be coming back on here to grovel and say you were right, better team blah blah blah.Noticed you didn't go onto the pool page and say that I was right and you were wrong like you said you would but then again you were going to smash us and probably didn't think you would have to.lol. Only a poor excuse of a human being can't admit they were wrong and that tells me your all mouth and no action mate.You say you trust Moyes but trust him to do what? F/up your stance in English football and everything that SAF work so hard for and built up over the last 2 decades. Your team is on a downward spiral unless Moyes gets the boot. Rabbit in the headlights springs to mind. That is all I'm going to say for now but will keep an eye out for your posts the rest of the season and see if your opinion changes about Moyes as he continues to make your great team( cause it is a great team ) a very poor one. Have a nice season. Lol

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JRC08

Do me a favor will you. We will finish above you & you know it. You have a very poor team IMO, we were rubbish against you lot & you still created nothing apart from the goal. A set piece. I can't see us performing like that again all season. The best right back in the league was missing, there was no Kagawa & Rooney were out. Let's judge at the end of the season when we're 20 points clear of you. Enjoy leading for a few weeks because won't last.

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03 Sep 2013 09:32:00
A lot of united fans slating the signing of fellaini but what I say is this he is something we did not have last year and that's goals from midfield he's powerful, strong and good in the air he's different to what we have got. Massive shame we have lost out on herrera and coentrao as with them 2 coming in aswell as fellaini would of been a cracking window for us. I fully expect powell to have a stormer with wigan and come back and be in contention for our first team squad. All is not lost lads plenty to be positive about, woodward was not organized but maybe this will give them the good kick up the batty they needed for the next window. Now we have anderson, kagawa nani and we haven't sold them so they need to be given a run of games to show what they can do. We have januzaj and lingard aswell who deserve a chance because we don't want another pogba situation. Come on united we will be up there come may we haven't got a chance in champions league but next year I expect we will be lot closer. Rooney fit nani back on his game kagawa off van persie with carrick and fellaini its a strong side

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Fellaini will shock everyone. He's much better than some people give him credit for & will chip in with goals. Something we haven't had in midfield for a long time.

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03 Sep 2013 09:17:04
Fail to prepare. Prepare to fail.

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03 Sep 2013 09:16:37
All I can say is what a complete shambles from start to finish.
Absolutely shocking is the only way that I can describe out transfer dealings.
The Fellaini deal should have been done 3 weeks ago before the buy out clause.
Why was the Herrera deal left so late?
Why was the Conentrao deal left so late?
Nobody has a clue what they are doing.
The best thing that can happen is a Director of Football be brought in to sought this mess out.
It's obvious that this clown Woodward doesn't know what he is doing?
Gutted is the only word that I can say, lots of talk and no action.

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They are the three questions I would ask too Simmo.

We know the Herrera deal was difficult so why leave it to the final day?

Why didn't we give up on Baines much earlier and sign Coentrao?

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Correct Syd, spot on.
Somebody has to be held responsible for this mess. That clown Woodward should at least clome out and apologise for the farcical goings on in this summers transfer window.
It just isn't good enough for Manchester United.

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Simmo, It's alright blaming Ed for being clueless, but it was the Glazers that employed him so THEY should be held accountable here.

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03 Sep 2013 09:16:17
Feel sorry for David Moyes, the stick he will get if United crash out early out of competitions, all this becuase Ed Woodward was too stubborn. If rumours are true that he's upset agents and chief executive, then that's only going to make things more difficult in future windows. If United fail to finish in the top for then expect Woodward to lose his job.

Sadly though this will apply a lot of pressure on Moyes, who has not done anything wrong. Theirs not much he can do if players want to play else where. He can only say who he wants at the club the rest is upto Ed. Sir Alex said we need to back are new manager most have done it so far and hopefully most will continue. The board and Ed Woodward haven't done this, Moyes will bare the brunt of this he's now the face of Manchester United, like Sir Alex was. let's not forget that Moyes will be just as disappointed as we are, as will the players. I'm hopefull lessons we be learned from this and it won't happen again.

A rumour I have heard is that we bid for Ronaldo at around 10pm last night. I don't believe it myself, infact I hope its not true, because it shows how desperate thing got in the end.

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03 Sep 2013 09:16:01
REDzerLFC makes a good point, but that does not take away from the fact that United are clearly not willing or able to compete in the current market place for the best players. Whether that's because there is a belief that it's unnecessary or simply because there are inadequate funds, I could only speculate. If it's the former, so be it, if the latter then we could have some serious problems with the core of the team aging, other senior players under-performing, and the young players not looking any better than those coming through the ranks at other clubs. Either way, United fans, no one other than the media promised us anyone.

I think Fellaini will make a difference, adding some much needed heft in midfield. Nani showed some promising signs on Sunday. If he can stay injury free I expect him to buckle down and prove what a good player he is this year. His decline and his discontent can be linked to his having been shifted to the left, where he is simply not as effective, to make way for a player who has half his natural talent. Hopefully he will be motivated by the sobering reality that the rest of the footballing community did not value him as highly as he valued himself. In a world of inflated prices, no one would pay over 12m for him, or meet his wage demands. So yes, we still have a strong squad, but given the improvements elsewhere, will we make it into the top 4? I think that's now in doubt.

The other area where we can take issue with REDzer is that Europe has been United and SAF's Achilles heel. In 16 consecutive seasons, we have had a lucky penalty win against English opposition, and a last gasp winner against Bayern Munich after having been completely outplayed. More recently, Barcelona have just embarrassed us. Developments in this transfer window wouldn't suggest there is any commitment to developing a style to rectify that problem. So Liverpool fans, do not expect us to threaten your 5 European crowns any time soon.

Our unspoken fear is that the SAF era was coming to an end whether or not he retired. The potential cracks have been apparent for a couple of years now and if Moyes is an attempt to continue his tactical legacy, then the Board including SAF and Gill may have made a mistake. More importantly, sooner or later, the lack of spending, or more properly put, investment in truly top level players, will come back to haunt us. We want a debt free club that can afford to purchase a Ronaldo and/or a Neymar, and we resent the 100s of millions that have gone out of the club in financing costs, when it could have been invested in players. Nothwithstanding the valuation of the club, from a pure assets/liabilities point of view, the residual value of our squad is worth significantly less than the 370m debt the club is still carrying.

We want the Glazers out. Bring on the Sultan of Brunei!

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03 Sep 2013 09:07:48
So we started the summer excited about the prospect of adding thiago baines fellani or strootman and thinking that's it that's what we need and we can finally challenge in europe again and we end up with fellani(just) fellani will help but it is not enough as it still means giggs cleverly young valencia wellbeck nani will get far too many games the only thing that will make this all worse is if they give fellani the number 7 or 9 shirt

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03 Sep 2013 09:07:43
Ewa woowaa(equaliser) needs to go.Glad we signed Fellani but was hoping for some more.The man couldn't organise a p**s up in a brewery.Had months to sort out deals then pays four million more than what we should have in the first place.Bring back David Gill.

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03 Sep 2013 08:42:09
I like a lot of people have woke up this morning feeling let down by the poor transfer window. I had hoped with a new regime we would have gone out and made a statement of intent. The lack of signings and the subsequent disappointment won't stop me going to OT and supporting my team, but what I really would like is for DM to now give the young lads a decent run in the team. We (me included) have slagged off Ando, Cleverley, young and Nani as not being good enough for the high standards that we set and my opinion hasn't changed.

So instead of having to sit through 90 odd minutes of frustration watching these established professionals fail time after time, play the youngsters, yes they may cock up, but I have more patience with lads learning there trade than those posing as United standard.

What I can't understand though is, we have needed to strengthen the central midfield for some years, but we have not done so (even SAF neglected it and DM identified it), since last season we have lost Scholes (again), Fletch has been side lined with illness (again), then we let a promising young midfielder in Powell go out on loan, so in an area that's lacking, we have had three out and one in.

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New regime? They have been there for 8 years!

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It's fairly obvious he means the Moyes/Woodward regime as opposed to the Ferguson/Gill one.

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03 Sep 2013 08:41:55
What kind of mid table mediocrity do we have running our club? It's embarrassing.

Woodward OUT!
Glazers OUT!

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03 Sep 2013 08:35:34
Well I think that was the biggest anti-climax I have been through with regard to a transfer window. I'm glad we got Fellani in the end as it will give something else but that is the only positive.
The way the window was conducted has left most of us with zero confidence in the negotiating ability of the club going forward. The way Herrera was pulled around yesterday is a disgrace and he must now be in total limbo. Bilbao know he wants out, we didn't appear to manage the deal properly and Man U now look incompetent. How will he be received at the next Bilbao game? Will we go back for him in January if he still wants to come after last nights mess?
I know we need to give Moyes a chance as he is filling a massive void left by SAF. I can live with and accept that for this season but the signs at least need to show we are going in the right direction. What I can't accept at the moment is that probably the most important window in the current transition was left to go by in this manner. David Gill didn't leave last week, we had time to prepare and start the ball rolling with a forward thinking plan. It doesn't appear any plan was in place for this window apart from a maybe shopping list.
I may be wrong and it may have been planned for months? It does add fuel to the belief that we are being told one thing with regards funding when the reality is a comparable pittance.
I feel the need for some clarity as others appear to need. Will this come? I doubt it. My money is on excuses around Herrara, Fabregas etc and positive spin on Fellani, with a hint of I am happy with the squad etc etc.

Not very pleased but time will tell and we need to get behind the team until this improves or changes.

Glory, glory Man United!

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03 Sep 2013 08:27:55
Like red man I also said judge the club on 3rd September, so you can all now say you were right and that we handled the window like absolute amateurs. I am extremely disappointed with what has happened, I for the life of me will never understand why we have spent the summer 'considering a bid for. ' Player after player. It's ridiculous, we clearly didn't want to spend and the fans need to do something about this. Woodward out needs to be chanted at the palace game.

Saying this, as fans we now need to get behind the players we do have. Rafael, vidic, carrick, fellaini, kagawa, Rooney and van persie can be top top players for us. Our young lads like Evans, smalling, jones, cleverley, zaha, januzaj, Hernandez, welbeck can be great squad players I am sure we all agree that. If we name our best team now none of them players are in it.

The people suggesting we won't finish in the top 4 are clueless, we showed in the Chelsea game that we can play well against big teams, we won the league last season and have added fellaini to that squad, and I would imagine Herrera will be signed in January and can play champions league.

So as much as I don't agree with how we have handled the window, I think the squad we have can still win the league (like they did last season) and at the worst will finish 3rd.

Be pissed off all you like and moan and complain, but by the palace game we must be behind the team, after the city game we have 7-8 games we should win and if we do this transfer window will be the last thing on people's minds.

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Echoed my feelings there GDS. I must admit I did not expect you to come out and post like this, but nevertheless, refreshing to see you did stick to what you said you will.

Agree with everything you have said. And yes, its time to do what we do best and that can be done only on a football ground. The lads need the backing and so does David. let's restore some of the pride.

Deeps.

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Couple of problems, we wouldn't pay for herrera last night why will we in january, another problem is I can't see why you believe moyes will give the kids a chance, even kagawa hasn't been trusted because he doesn't tackle back, I can't see fellaini being signed makes a difference to gametime for the likes of januzaj, there are no plus points here no matter how you spend most of your post trying to make light of the situation.

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Mick,

I just always try and see the positives, last night was a nightmare for the club and this transfer window needed to be a good one as if it wasn't most fans were going to overreact, as you and many many others have done. I just thought I would try and let people see it isn't the end of the world, signings are always good and I think we are a couple of players short, but we are not going to be finishing outside the top 4 with the quality we have in the squad like some people are saying, surely you can see that?

Deeps,

I will always stick to my word mate, I might be more positive than some but I will tell it how it is as much as I was hoping I wouldn't have to.

Gutted, but we did improve the midfield which is one chink of light, let's judge in May how good we are rather than all sticking the knife in now when there is nothing we can do.

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03 Sep 2013 08:23:45
Is coentrao still possible? Fellaini alone is not enough.
This transfer window must have the worst I have ever seen

Ed Woodward not only looks like Sheldon Cooper but is irritating also just like Sheldon Cooper (although is not any smart )

We still lack creativity in midfield. Bazzinga! {Ed044's Note - No mate.}

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03 Sep 2013 08:13:49
Well that window was abit of an anti climax. It was obvious that it was always going to be a tricky window, with a new manager who has different ideas comes different targets. We would have put months and months worth of ground work into deals under Sir Alex that would have been for players Moyes doesn't want. So Moyes har three months to assess his squad(while there were no competitive games to do so), work out what he feels it needs to play the way he wants, scout the potential targets(again also while there was no competitive games being played), then find the ones you feel are who you want, then try and put a deal together with the player and his club to make a deal happen.

Its not like football manager or what ever games the kids play.

Then just to complicate matters there was a change at the top with Gill leaving and Ed Woodward coming into a job he has never done before and having to deliver under highly pressured and unusual circumstances. I've still not made my mind up about him yet. Is he completely imcompetant as I fear or did he just misjudge the situation. He may have just been trying to get his new job off to a flier by proving how good a negiotator he is, and what great deals he can sort out. But thi may have back fired due to the limited amount if time the club had and bmhis limited knowledge of the people he was dealing with. Depending on whether we do any business in january I think it would only be fair to fully judge Woodward after next summers transfer window after he's had a whole year to lay the ground work and sort the deals out like Gill used to have. But I can say he hasn't got off to a good start and it may take him a long time to win over some fans if ever. But from what I can remember we weren't too impressed with Gill when he took over and we missed out on most of our target who moved to Chelsea after Kenyon gave them the inside track. Essien and Robben being the main ones. At that point we bemoaned Gill and made claims of incompetance. But in hind sight I do wish Gill would have stayed until after the transfer window to help Moyes settle in and given him the best chance of buying his targets.

Right on to the business, I am totally gutted that we didn't sign Ander Herrera. And i'm hoping and preying that we can go back in either January or next summer and salvage to deal. I think he would be an ideal long term replacement for Carrick.

Obviously the failed Fabio Coentrao bid looks interesting. He's a good player who would have improved our team. But with the failed bids for both Baines and Coentrao this window Evra can be under no illusions that this will be his final year at the club.

Now i'd like to welcome Marouane Fellaini to the club and I hope he has a long and successful career here with us. He is a solid player who is proven in the premier league and has that bite and strength we have been missing in the middle for so long. I have a few doubts about the technical side of his game but I hope he can prove me wrong.

My only concern with his signing is where Moyes will play him, if you look at all the other midfield targets we've been linked too and you start to see a pattern Fabregas, Thiago, Modric, Herrera and Gundogan. All these guys play a more active attacking role with their current teams. And of course Fellaini played as an AM for Everton last season, if you notice this season Martinez hasn't once played Fellaini as an AM. Prefering Ross Barkley to great effect so far, leaving Fellaini to play in his best position as a DM. People could point to the fact that we tried to sign Ander Herrera on the deadline day too so maybe that shows that Moyes is looking to play Fellaini deeper. Yet we were also linked with De Rossi, and if Fellaini and De Rossi both had signed then I would have thought De Rossi would have started ahead of Fellaini in the DM role meaning Fellaini would have been left to play a more attacking role.

Hopefully De Rossi was never an actual target and was just used to put pressure ob Everton to sell Fellaini to us for a fairer price, it didn't work by the looks of it. I'm also concerned by the price we paid for Fellaini, its not the money i'm worried about more than how we got to paying that money for him. Either the club was under a false idea that once his buy out clause expired we could squeeze Everton for a lower price. Or that Fellaini was infact always the fall back option and not actually first choice. This could point to Moyes playing him in a more advanced role as all the other midfielders we looked at play a more advanced role, and it makes no sense to have a DM as a fall back option if you fail to sign any of the other AM's you were targeting.

Also Moyes has been saying about Fellaini's versatility and how he can play many roles in midfield and how that can help us. I do have that concern that if we are drawing or losing a game will Moyes look to push Fellaini up in to a more attacking option and play more direct for the last half an hour of matches.

I think Fellaini can be a very good and important signing for us, but aslong as he plays in a deeper role as a holding or box to box midfielder. With players like Rooney, Kagawa and even Welbeck as well as young players like Januzaj and Lingard then Fellaini should never make it onto the field as an AM for a club of our stature.

Well this window has been the longest and most frustrating that I can remember in my life time, but we have at last signed a midfielder people. Yes a MIDFIELDER, he may not have been everyones first choice but he is a player we have a need for. there's no point in moaning about what might have been, I can understand your frustrations as I share them with you. So after today I think we should draw a line under the transfer window and move on. Get behind the team and cheer them onto success this season.

So again I say Welcome to our family Marouane, now show us what you can do.

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Shappy. hats off to you.

Im just in awe that you can write that at 8.00am.

As for Fellani. look guys he's going to crop these fabcy foreigners at City and co so it will be ok. Bit of strength aside Carrick just what's needed and we will go on because we are UNITED!. and we seem to have forgotten. Champions!

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Shaps but ideally in case you don't have enough time with the squad and haven't had enough competitive games with the squad, you tend to OVERBUY as a safety measure but you definitely don't want to UNDERBUY.

And our pursuit of Fabregas shows we had the money to spend.

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Read the last paragraph, so glad I didn't read the rest, the worse thing about your post(s), is youve pushed of redmans post with your inane drivel, its just pointless endless selfish posts, what makes you think everyone wants to read your posts more than the important posts yours push off, i'd much rather read real points of view if I agree or not with the likes of syd or gds, I lean more towards redman and even kloot on occasions, real passion and obvious from the heart, not just repeating same crap and everythings ok.

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Mick,

Give over, anybody is allowed to post and Shappy is one of the best posters on the site. Just because you are upset and overreacting doesn't mean everyone else has to.

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03 Sep 2013 08:02:20
So we made a combined bid of 28m for fellaini & Baines a few weeks ago and now spend 0.5m less on one of those players we were robbed, for an extra 15m why not go for ozil one of the top 10 players in the world?

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03 Sep 2013 07:59:00
Don't let it ruin our long lasting lads. Although it's a disgrace, it's not as bad as Chelski's 50m of Torres or Liverpool's 35m of Carroll. Beside, I'm sure Fellaini would actually add some steel in MF, so let's get behind the player and see the man blended into the team.

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It's still been a huge balls up though mate. I think Moyes needed more targets written down on his bit of paper and I think Ed just failed in every way possible. We had two serious weaknesses in our side and that was lack of a good left-back and creative midfielder. We didn't solve either problem as we left it way too late.

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*lasting season ahead of us

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03 Sep 2013 07:56:37
Coentrao deal didn't make it before the 11pm deadline, serves Woodward right we have had all summer to get this sorted.

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03 Sep 2013 07:56:20
So this has all happened now and is history. we now get back to supporting this team. I as well as many others would love to see the glayzers out, but that's not going to happen any time soon.

So we get behind the team, and make sure we come out fighting. we are still the champions and won by 11 points. that's a lot of ground to make up for any team.

Hopefully we will see some of Januzaj and Zaha in the coming weeks. and maybe anderson will get his chance. plus we have a fit rooney to get back in the team. I just hope that Giggs stays stuck to the bench, as he just doesn't have enough in the tank any more apart from cameo roles.

And then there is always January!

Come on United!

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Nozzla

11 pts it's past already my friend. Please, just forget it and start thinking about what we can do this season.

I'm tired that people always use the same f***g example.

Last season was good and our opponents didn't do much as well, now its a different thing. Move brother.

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Nozzla

As of now we are 5 points behind the Scousers and last season is a distant memory. the 11 points has been well and truly closed while. everyone else REALLY strengthened we have prob gone backwards.

I also don't see Junazaj or Zaha getting too many chances under Moyes now the pressure is even more on so expect Giggs to prob make the bench ahead of them or else be the sub brought on while they sit there looking on thinking what the f@@k am I doing here!

Love your positivity though.

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03 Sep 2013 07:40:32
I'll admit I'm one of the younger fans, but can anyone remember something as farcical as this ever happening before?

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Yes every year with arsenal lol

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03 Sep 2013 07:36:36
Sure Woodward and Moyes can be blamed for the lack of tack and the disrespectful way they appeared to approach other teams but who the hell at United allowed both the Chief Exec and Manager leave without having transfers already in place. It would appear that this is a debacle of Glazer proportions with no succession planning or management whatsoever.

In a nutshell we let Paul Pogba go because we wouldn't pay him a bag of beans and we have now bought Fellani at £4 million over his release clause and probably paying him £100k per week. This is the first time I've looked at our club (not team) and thought "amateurs!"

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03 Sep 2013 07:01:44
So reports of a 36m pound bid rejected for Fellaini and Baines and yet we value an untried player in spain at as much for his total fee 44m euros or whatever.

Whoever decides these bids needs pushed out the club. That is seriously shocking that we would under value the bid for Evertons two top players and also with 27.5 on Fellaini we think Baines is not worth more than 8.5m?

I wonder if Moyes had anything to do with these bids? I know that had that been Jose, Pep, Ancelotti etc maybe even SAF they thought they were worth 40m they would be telling them to f**king bid 40m and get it done. Like SAF said he wanted Berba and told them to get him, not bid for him, not try and save cash just get him!

So either Moyes didn't get involved after sayin 'Please sir could we try for Fellaini and Baines?' when he should bloody know he will be the one falling on the sword should the team under perform.

Yes Ed is getting hammered just now but with the season underway there would be a direc link to and failure and Moyes's transfer targets.

Fellaini was never enough on his own. We knew this, Moyes knew this and the team knew this so we can head into the next few months hoping Fellaini can add something that will bring an extra edge to unlocking tight defences like the Liverpool and Chelsea ones,


or maybe not ;(

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03 Sep 2013 05:22:58
Why is everybody angry, I understand your feelings but do u all forget what sir alex told us on our last match at old traford'get bedind your new manager'.now I know what arsenal fan face every transfer window but de finaly got ozil.so if u known u want hererra go be a athletico bibao suporter or go join mardrid.WE ARE MANCHESTER UNITED TOGETHER WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL PLEASE LET US ALL GIVE MOYES A CHANCE AT LEAST LET HIM FAIL FIRST BEFOUR YOU START CRUSIFYING HIM.IT NOT EASY TO REPLACE SAF.

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03 Sep 2013 06:57:24
I said judge the owners after the window has shut. Now, has what Kloot, I and one or two others have been saying been right all along?

Now surely it is clear for all to see that our owners are not willing to invest in the club to the extent needed. There is obviously a glass ceiling of £30m despite Sydney's furious denials designed to keep us onside with the Glazers.

This morning the facts are undeniable we buy Fellaini for £4m more than we needed to (but less than £30m) refused to pay the £30.5m for Herrera (over the glass ceiling) and use the word "value" to explain why. At the same time a world class midfield player goes to much criticised Arsenal for £42m and we say we are not interested (over £30m, of course), Fabregas bidding stopped at £30m and they allowed people to think we were interested in Bale and Ronaldo. Utter farce. Sydney's lame effort to blame Rooney for not going causing us not to spend doesn't wash with me, they needed to spend big to support our new manager and failed.

There is no excuse any more, this was last chance for the owners and whilst the obvious pro Glazer posters will deny this they obviously have little appetite in investing what is needed, still deny that? Well the proof is in what we have witnessed these last few months. Actions speak louder than words.
We appoint a bargain basement manager who knows how to operate on limited funds and the window has shown our ambition.

Liverpool 1990 Ladies and Gentlemen, I saw this happen with what was once a great club in our situation, we ourselves failed to invest properly from 69 onwards and I remember that. We are sliding but don't worry there will be another sponsorship deal to bring more cash in.

The big question is can we avoid declining too much?

It's a 24 carat mess of our own making and you can hear the laughter from down the East Lancs, they have been down this road. They now make straight for me at work, laughing, because they can't believe their luck.

It is time to put on Green and Gold until we are sold

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Well said Red Man. The 3/4000 fans of FC United who can't afford to go anymore/ don't want to go anymore to Old T will all be waking up this morning saying "we did warn you". As for the rest of us I will support the team but will tend to limit my matches until the leeches go. I was around when Busby stood down and the club has a sense of that about it at the moment, no direction and getting left behind. Why didn't Gill stay on to guide the person man Woodward through till the end of September then he could do one. Fourth if we are very lucky, struggle with our group in Europe, a massive game against the scousers coming up, the future looks bright!

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Red Man, the club clearly targeted two midfielders and a left back. I do not believe lack of funds was the issue this summer, I believe lack of experience and poor planning was the issue. That is also the opinion of all of the media and their sources too. I am very disappointed and I want an apology from the club. I think that's the least the fans should get after all it was the club that employed an inexperienced Ed Woodward. But you need to stop this glass ceiling nonsense, MU have bid £34m for both Cesc and Khedira this summer.

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03 Sep 2013 08:37:20
Your probably right Red Man, but i'm telling you now that there are only two facts that arw certain.

One if the Glazers want to be able to keeo milking the club then at some point they will have to invest. Speculate to accumulate and all that. If the club doesn't win anything over the next five years then when all these commercial deals will expire and they won't be able to replace them with ones of equal value. So it is vital for the Glazers model to work that the club remain successful. We will never match the big spenders of world football even though out stature in world football would suggest we could. But ulitmately we are owned by a family on investers who's first concern is their bank balance.

And second the Glazers love money more then even life itself, they are the real world equiverlent of scrooge McDuck. And no amount of Green and Gold scarves will make them decide that they no longer want to make money off our backs. You could even decide not to renew your season ticket but the club has 600m supporters world wide, do you really think they won't find someone to sit in your seat?

No there is only one way anyone could remove the Glazers from us and that is to kill them. These guys laugh in your face at the protests against them, and they won't let our club go as it is their only money making venture atm. And like I said earlier they love money more than life itself. So nothing short of killing them will remove them from our club, anything less is a meaningless gesture. So have you got the balls to do what is needed? Does any of us? So we can put up or shut up.

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Redman I too want the glazers out but even if there is this 30mill ceiling there are plenty of players around who would of improved not just our squad but our first11 as well but the problem was woodward trying to be this master negotiator when he isn't he needs to address the fans say sorry then f*** off back to his office in london and concentrate on sponsorship deals while we find someone to do transfer deals perhaps this could be an ideal job for fergie

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Sydney

Did we really bid to get them or just to make us look good on the press?

We'll never know.

Fellaini was the plan all along, but they needed to entertain.
We surely don't have the financial power anymore, even Liverpool has a bigger budget than ours(I'm not comparing who they buy, but the amount in overall).

They should indeed apologize because they made Manchester United look like a regional team, desperate, insecure and weak, yesterday.

I know that some people will come with silly excuses, but we surely didn't look good in this past 2 months.

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Syd

I think we can safely assume that there is a difference between "targetting" and "acquiring" players. We can target Messi and Ronaldo, but if we go and bid 10 quid for the two, we will not end up getting them. So the ceiling that Red Man was talking about may well be true. what's the harm in bidding above 30 million for a player who is valued close to 40 by the club? The leeches don't part with the money, simple! Intent and execution are certainly not on the same boat for our club now.

I think you will agree Syd, how did BM end up getting Alcantara in less than a week of concrete interest, when United kept dragging their feet for over a month? It is the execution bit. not petty penny pinching on a few millions. Deep down inside you know it mate.

Deeps.

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Deeps, there is no doubt that the Glazers are penny pinchers, that has never been questioned by me. They do try to pay as little as possible when they know the player is only interested in signing for MU. I have said that we need to pay over the odds sometimes for the right players and we needed to do that this summer for a creative midfielder. No doubt MU thought they had Thiago so tried getting him for a bare minimum, then when BM came in it was too late. We dithered and SAF would have pushed that deal through. We should have paid the £23m for Fellaini, but I think they thought they could get him cheaper, they were wrong. I have no doubt that the Glazers want to pay as little as possible for a player, but I do believe the money was there. Gill and SAF would have got the deals done this summer. In the end according to the editor we became a bit desperate. We made a €40m bid for Khedira which IMO was too much for him, but was rejected anyway. We didn't up our €40m Cesc bid and it was probably a waste of time anyway. So I am not saying MU do not have a glass ceiling, I am saying it isn't £30m simply because we have offered £35m for both Khedira & Cesc and we offered the same for Moura last summer. So perhaps there is a glass ceiling, but it's more like £40m (transfer fee, agent fees, other costs). My point is there are other costs included in a transfer and it's not just the fee alone. It's a total package and all of it would be considered, not just the transfer fee. This summer has been a learning curve for Ed and Moyes, but it's come at the wrong time unfortunately, that being said I still think we will win the league and get to the last 16/8 in Europe. Herrera & Coentrao would IMO have made it much much easier though and we could have been better placed for an all out assault on all four fronts. This summer has been a major balls up.

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03 Sep 2013 06:14:27
Well I guess a short nights sleep has not changed much in my take of yesterday's proceedings.

It looks like we were bent over by Everton on the Fellaini deal and also managed to screw up the Coentrao deal because we were pushing to get Baines to the last hour.

I am not sure what to make of stories floating around on bids being made for khedira and even Pastore and if any truth to it, we look like a bunch amateurs and have made a complete mess of things adding to that the Herrera fiasco.

I know Woodward looks like an person but DM must have played a part in all of this and nothing happens in a vacuum.

I am looking forward to an explanation from the club and whoever was directing our transfer policy and bidding needs to step down.

One final note, where are SAF and SBC as they sit on the board and they have a responsibility to the club and someone needs to come out and explain things. I am guessing there is some serious repercussions coming as this sort of thing for a publicly listed company is unheard off.

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I completely agree Shahram, amateurish to say the least and media claiming Ed's lack of contacts and friends in the business mucked it up for us. The Glazers must be held accountable for employing him.

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03 Sep 2013 06:08:39
We didn't sign ferrera because we handed them the wrong documents/paperwork. How embarrassing. Well done dumwood that tops your first shambolic summer by quute a bit

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Glad about that why would we want Albert Ferrara hasn't he retired ;)

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03 Sep 2013 05:38:28
In the afermath of the shambolic deadline day for us, the one point that sticks out and will be hard to digest as a United fan is the "Ander Herrera" transfer(apparent) incompetence. Spare a thought for the lad. Young lad playing for a Basque club who are infamous in dealing with players who want to leave the club. If his world cup chances are jacked, it is those people sitting at the helm of the biggest club of the world.

He decided to take a pay cut, hired lawyers to push it through, in a nutshell had all his eggs in the United basket and then. When the time came to pay up, we pulled the plug. What an utter disgrace? Left the lad high and dry. All this for 6 feckin million, the amount we over paid for Fellaini. Did Woodskull have no idead about the impending tax amount? He effin did! That leech was only looking at the Fellaini deal going through or not. The moment it went through, he pulled the plug.

Ed Woodward has dragged the name of my beloved club through mud. I can take poor performances, hell I can take a mid table finish but what I can't accept is the clubs name being tarnished and ridiculed. This guy needs to be booted. Fire him immediately. Who on earth would now deal with us with such a chum at the helm? We were offering 28 million for Fellaini and Baines and end up paying 27.5 million for Fellaini? Where are my friends who were suggesting "we are only testing the water" bid.

Trying to save face by quoting an "undisclosed fee" on the website. It is unbelieveable. Heads need to roll and people need to go.

The best part of it(worst) is Woodward was always good at doing what he did, he only fooled us into believing that he is a fool. He makes money for his masters and that's his job. Not spending 100 million on players. What has transpired this summer has done a lot of damage to our reputation as a club. The public courting of targets to shifting feet for Thiago(and saying we were never interetested!), to the Herrera non deal, the Fellaini deal, missing out on players like Gustavo and Capoue(how on earth were we not interested). Top it up by missing out on Coentrao due to delay in paperwork. What an excellent day at work!

I think ed 001 was spot on with his assessments this year. He called out our strategy pretty much accurately. I hope somehow Herrera has a stormer of a season and puts everything that happened behind. I am already a huge fan of his!

Time to get behind the lads. what's gone has gone, let's give it our best. I presently don't care about where we will end up finishing this season. Its all about restoring a bit of pride and showing why we are Manchester United. I hope Moyes can rally the troops around. ED Woodward needs to be sacked, there is nothing that will give me more happiness than this. I feel bad for people(younger) fans like Fresh!, who had thought that the we would get in players like Ronaldo etc. Well in reality this is the present state of affairs. Sorry for the rant guys!

Deeps.

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Don't apologise Pink, it was not a rant. It had to be said. But there is no way Woodward will be sacked. As you say he has done a tremendous job at saving the Americans money.

The only way he would be sacked would be if fans boycotted the games and merchandise. Revenue streams need to be directly impacted. a half full old trafford would send a much larger message than 35000 green and gold scarves. Not going to happen though.

Don't shot me, but what about offering David dein the job? Or at least as director of football. He has not really done anything since leaving arsenal.

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He fluffed up big time Deeps didn't he, media saying its a learning curve, well sorry but this is not the time for a learning curve. We needed to strengthen this summer and Ed failed.

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Syd

I can't believe how someone can put "learning curve" as an excuse. This is Manchester United FFS. Not a playground for young and aspiring interns to experiment. This is not a training module. You are right, if one thing the Glazers are responsible for, it is appointing this person. The rest we can speculate on, this one is FACT. My biggest fear is, will other clubs or world class young talents want to do business/join us in the near future? The Herrera example won't go down well with everyone around.

Deeps.

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03 Sep 2013 05:31:22
This is from Tr!balfootball.

Amid claims of imposters meddling in negotiations, Manchester United pulled the plug on a deal for Athletic Bilbao midfielder Ander Herrera over his buyout clause.

The Mirror says United were poised to land the Athletic Bilbao midfielder, but were unwilling to pay the fee needed to trigger his release clause.

After a frantic day of negotiations in Spain, the Old Trafford giants called off the deal less than an hour before Monday night's 11pm deadline.

And United's bid to sign Herrera ended in farce, as three imposters posing as a delegation of Red Devils officials helped scupper the deal.

Reports from Spain claimed the trio of men were not United officials, despite visiting the offices of La Liga in Madrid to try to finalise the deal.

Herrera had been told United were ready to complete the deal to buy him but the bogus officials left when they were required to make the payment.

Spanish star Herrera was even ready to undergo a medical but saw his dream move to Old Trafford dashed when United decided to end their interest.


CAN U Believe it?

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Unless we were able to overcome the tax issue, we were never going to pay £38m for Herrera. He's a good player, but not worth £38m. Like 001 said, £8m is a lot of money to pay on top of £30.5m. But that is no excuse, we didn't need to leave it for the final day.

Amateurish.

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Aha, brilliant, what makes you think they where imposters? 3 clueless men who didn't bring enough money lol, I know 2 of them, moyes and woodward but not being a utd fan i'm sure you would know the 3rd one, anyway think of the money you will make when the truth comes out, new monty python script anyone! lol
COYG

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03 Sep 2013 05:09:34
Ed "greasing the slope" woodwood, needs to resign today. After the way he's conducted things this summer his position is untenable. How are we going to attract players now with most other clubs thinking we're a joke! January will see all the best players cup tied and those that are left will be snapped up by forward thinking teams. I can see us not only not finishing in the top four, but behind spurs and probably the scousers, and then it will cost even more to attract world class players. We're on a downward spiral and its frightening! One things for sure, the club will be valued a lot lower with no CL football so potential buyers of the club may start to circle again, and hopefully they'll be successful

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03 Sep 2013 03:34:23
This window has turned into a farce, it's an absolute disgrace. Woodward should leave his post immediately. And I think it's time to bring back the green and cold. All these years we were doing fine only because of Sir.Alex Ferguson, and he was the one in control of the club. But now, the leeches that are the Glazers who suck everything from our club & Woodward are destroying our reputation. We need owners who love the club and what it stands for.

And I can't help but think about poor Herrera, hope we do get him in the next window. He actually wanted to come to us, even agreed to take a pay cut.

Woodward is absolute disgrace. Fools like these will ruin the name of our great club shaped by the greats like Sir.Matt Busby and Sir.Alex Ferguson.

#GlazersOut

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Dear mr adey
ngiak totally disagrees with you
it's a transition period
give them a chance
adding pressure like this will not help
and it will make things worse
at least give them till January or a season.
moyes is Scottish and he has sir alex backing .
ngiak believes he will stamp his authority soon
and things will improve
chill and give them time
gan

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Ngiak, I know it's a learning curve for Moyes and Ed, but this summer we really needed that creative midfielder and this summer wasn't a time for mistakes. We have just lost our manager of 27 years. Moyes should have got the players he identified as important for this coming season. Left-back, creative midfielder and Fellaini. Out of the three I would say Fellaini was the least important and we may now pay the price for Ed's inexperience and lack of contacts in the game.

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Gan Sir,

Are you including Woodward in "them"? If you are then I am sorry, we are not a practice ground for incompetent fools like Woodward. We are not a subject for a trial and error experiment. He needs to go, first and foremost. I don't believe after all of this farce, we came across as arrogant dimwits.

Deeps.

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03 Sep 2013 03:28:49
For everyone wondering why we payed more for fellaini than the release clause it was because he simply wasn't first, second, or third choice. We needed someone and settled for him. I understand why we didn't go for ozil as we wanted a box-to-box type with Rooney in the number 10 role, but it concerns me that we were unable to either identify available targets or negotiate effectively to sign them.

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Imposter reps my Arse! Woodward made a balls of the whole situation and coming up wit some rubbish story t cover his mistakes!
They were all well known Spanish football-related lawyers!
How were they going to get away with any money? Ridiculous story!

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03 Sep 2013 03:15:28
In the midst of all this unbelievable crap happening at the moment, spare a thought for Moyes. This shambles is not why he came to United. He's been seriously compromised by SAF and his Rooney saga to impostor reps in Spain. He's getting one hell of a Baptism of Fire. I think he'll get us back on track, but this is too will pass and Utd will rise above all this chaos and confusion to continue to dominate. But one thing a absolutely certain after the past weeks confusion - we've just seen the beginning of the change of personnel around Utd. Moyes will be beyond livid at what's gone on in his first weeks. I expect Woodward to publicly apologise or graciously resign but it probably won't happen. But the Spaniards must receive a public apology for that impostor stunt.
jomo

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03 Sep 2013 02:40:33
Well now it's over and Marouane Fellaini has been confirmed i'm happy with him, obviously would have been great to get Herrera along with either Baines or Coentrao too. But to be honest I think Fellaini is underrated just because he's big and uses his strength a lot, he does have more ability than that. Can safely say he's going to be very handy indeed for the upcoming City game.

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03 Sep 2013 02:25:03
Ive tried to be patient and make sense of this whole summer and try and look at the positives but eventually patience runs out and it finally has.
We are a laughing stock, our club has been dragged through the mud this summer and for what. 1 sometimes effective midfielder who we overpaid by 4m!
Woodward needs to go immediately and moyes needs to get a grip. We lack creativity so let's leave kagawa out the squad. Ozil. mesut bleeping ozil is available-were not interested. Good young midfielder who offered to take a paycut to join us-unregistered imposters turn up. coentrao-messed up paperwork. etc etc etc were after the best players no transfer limit blah blah blah clearly that was a lie
I knew it would be tough when fergie left but this is a joke its almost as if they want us to spiral down the table
Rant over

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Sorry for the spelling. Too many gin & tonics3 Sep 2013 02:00:00
Disgusted by what seems to have happened with Herrera.
Pleased to get curly mop ad I think he will add tour team.
SStill hope for the best but have never known United act like this. We have always been a respectful club but the behavior of Woodward is ridiculous. For the first time on 50 years I feel ashamed of our clubs behavior.

Sorry for the spelling. Too many gin & tonics

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03 Sep 2013 01:54:34
What a complete and utter f#cling shambles! I cannot believe the utter incompetence of all those involved in United's dealings this summer. I rate Fellaini but why the hell spend 4mill more than we could have done? And what the hell was going on with Herrera? And why didn't we go in for Ozil who is exactly the type of player we need? And what's happened with Contraeu?
I am totally disgusted, this whole transfer window has been one bad, bad dream. We are not in safe hands and I for one am seriously worried about the future of this great club.

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03 Sep 2013 01:27:16
Strategy leaked :

Based on Tampa model - Sell tickets based on expectation of marquee signings and announce that money will be spent like never before.

Make all the noises and leak all the media fodder to appear to be active.

Appearing to have been "unlucky" we then announce the signing of Felaini who we agreed to buy for £21m - The figure announced will be 27.5 but that will include the £6.5m compensation for taking Moyes but will make it appear to the fans that we threw money at a signing like we promised we would.

We Loan out players like Powell and Daeli so that we don't have to pay wages and that will subsidise the Felaini salary. Same for Bebe if anyone is daft enough.

Lets be clear about Woodward - Ed Woodward structured the leverage buy out for the Glazers. A FANTASTIC deal for the Glazers. He is the Glazers man and he is all about the bottom line on the balance sheet and gets renumerated accordingly. It is specifically NOT in his interest to spend 100million on players.
Woodward isn't a fool, he just fooled us into thinking he was one.

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I've been starting to think this for the past 3 hours. While we're all here thinking he hasn't got a clue what he's doing, he knows exactly what he's doing. You can tell by looking at his little sly face.

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Bit like George Bush Jr lol.

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03 Sep 2013 01:14:58
Missed out on the Fabio c from Madrid would of been a solid player like a tackle and can play left midfield

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03 Sep 2013 00:57:12
There have been official announcements on Real Madrid site on ozil and kaka, but nothing about fabio contrao?dont think this is contrao move is true!utd have announced nothing!

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03 Sep 2013 00:51:07
we didn't get coentrao, so bad, surely has to be a statement fromthe club, the new regime area disgrace.

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My thoughts exactly Mick, the club must make an apology of some sort. But I guess it may be swept under the carpet with Moyes saying he is happy with the squad. Even though we know he wanted and missed out on Coentrao & Herrera :(

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03 Sep 2013 00:50:22
i had it rubbed in my face personally I had it over the phone I had it over the internet united fans saying baines definitely going this summer and saying 'baines will join on deadline day and youse will sign no one haha' I had that for weeks well youse didn't get him and we kept hold of him so HAHA IN YO FACE!, c'mon did youse honestly think he wanted to leave us? typical arrogance of united fans so let's see this, arsenal have ozil wilshere and cazorla, spurs have capoue paulinho dembele and ericksen, city have toure fernandinho and silva and united have cleverley carrick and now fellaini omgomg I love felli and think he is great and honestly though youse would get him for like 18mbut nope! 27mwhich us more than he is worth, 22-24m at most so anyway goodluck I promised on the everton banter that I would come on this site and laugh at youse when you never got baines and i'm sticking to my word oh and don't worry I won't be back on this site so no need in replying really but feel free to do so even though it will be aggressive replies but u won't be on here to check so yenno bye bye just remember at least you kept cleverley! (ed please post thus I did make a promise after all

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If you are naming attacking midfielders for the other teams why are you only naming centre mids for united? How about kagawa, Rooney, zaha, nani, Valencia, januzaj?

Just a negative post for the sake of it.

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03 Sep 2013 01:19:37
ahh blackberry playbook froze (phone broke) so am still on this unfortunately and saw your reply so uh capoue, fernandinho, wilshere, paulinho and toure are attacking midfielders? wow also guess buffon, cech, hart and neuer are centre backs then and btw cleverley is an attacking midfield isn't he? valencia, nani and zaha are wingers jeez man but my phone is back on working so I will be calling it bye byes have a goodnights sleep!

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No but ozil, cazorla and silva are attacking midfielders and play behind the striker are they not?

Hilarious you replied and had to make up a daft excuse. Obsessed.

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03 Sep 2013 00:43:57
No loan deal, a fitting end to this embarrassing window and shameful day. I would like to apologies to Ander Herrera on behalf of United fans all over the world. You were willing to take a pay cut and took the medical and were promised everything would be resolved. I hope you have a fantastic career and you have given me a reason to watch as many of your games as I can.

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03 Sep 2013 00:43:19
Honestly we bid £28m for both Baines and Fellaini and then end up signinf one for £27.5m. I think Woodward is obviously new to this and I think he is learning. I think he may have realised now how much you have to be paying for good players.

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Arsenal went and bid £42.5m for Ozil, if we went in and bid that for Fabregas as a first bid it could have happened. He's definitely worth it.

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03 Sep 2013 00:37:48
Embarrassing and pathetic. Did someone honestly think that Everton would ask for a lesser amount when Fellaini's buy-out clause expired?

And poor Ander Herrera, I bet my house on him playing at a rival Premier League club next season, there would be no way I'd come to a club that managed to send a bunch officials who didn't even work at the club to seal probably the biggest move of my career! The lad was willing to take a pay cut to wear the shirt. When have you ever heard of a player willing to do that? Shows a level of class you handily ever see in a modern day footballer.

An utter disgrace of a Summer! I for one am completely deflated.

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I echo your sentiments. I feel for the guy. And to add insult to injury, we sent a bunch of no-marks to seal the deal.

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03 Sep 2013 00:31:05
I always liked Fellaini, and I think he'll do a good job for us, even if others on here don't.

It'll certainly stop teams from steamrolling over the top of our porous midfield, and I think he's underrated as an actual footballer.

We've been crying out for a hardman in the middle of the park for years, and they don't come much harder than Fellaini. Yet when we get one, people still complain.

No need for him to take time to acclimatise to the premiership either.

Really think he'll become a crowd favourite, as long as supporters don't make him a scapegoat for our rather lacklustre transfer window.

Might not help us in Europe, seeing as we didn't get the creative midfielder in too, but I certainly think he'll make us a stronger force in the league.

Only downside was the farce over his fee, which I just don't understand. Either DM genuinely thought he might be able to get his first choice targets, and have no need for Fellaini, or our CEO has made a hash of things.

Anyway, welcome to Manchester United, Marouane Fellaini. Give everything out on the pitch, and you'll do alright here.

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You have hit the nail on the head in this post, spot on mate. I really like Fellaini and think people are harsh about him just because he isn't an Iniesta type player, it is simple to me he is a big guy with the attributes of a very good footballer.

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You've got yourselves a grest player in Fellaini, but I don't understand why Manchester United tried getting him on the cheap then paying 4m above buy out clause.
Lost all respect for moyes.
But I wish Fellaini well and he deserves champs league football.
You'll be more impressed than you think once he's settled in.

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He's not a Hardiman.hes a person!he is an average player coming from an average team!yes he's strong and has had his moments but so has most players in the premiership!hes good in the air.but if you think he can play tactical football with elite passing and quick movment or set the pace of a game you are very very wrong!players like roy keane could do all this!the chap
cannot even make good tackles or
break down the opposition with interceptions!instead lumps around awkward and clumsy like!gives away stupid free kicks!i don't like him, we were robbed!I just hate his style of play!and I don't like what Moyes is thinking!he won't do anything more defensively than what carrick can do!Carrick actualy is more useful on the ball and is quicker across the field than him, and carrick is slow!he is not a good footballer!

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We have got a very creative midfielder in Shinji Kagawa though. Maybe now because we have a good defensive option in Fellaini we can play Kagawa and not worry about getting overun? Fellaini, Carrick and Kagawa I think will be a good balance in midfield.

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Oh be quiet Supered you're obviously clueless if you think Fellaini's average.You'll be raving about him in a few weeks.BTW Everton are a good side, we were just lacking a bit of firepower but now we have Lukaku we will do ok this season.Get ready for a trophyless era under dithering Davie!. {Ed007's Note - Everton signed a better player than Fellaini in MCarthy. If you honestly think Fellaini is any better than average it's you that's clueless. I wouldn't have swapped Anderson or even Cleverley for Fellaini, never mind any other Everton player.}

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03 Sep 2013 00:31:04
Has the deal for Coentrao fallen through due to it being to late? Total farce if that's the case!

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03 Sep 2013 00:30:51
If it is true that we are looking to play evra at LW ahead of Zaha and Januzaj I will effin' fume!

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I don't think the reporter outside old Trafford is going to be picking our team so should be alright.

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03 Sep 2013 00:27:56
GOOD NEWS! Apparently whilst everyone was distracted with the Hererra non-deal Woodward was securing a deal for Pirelli to become the club`s fourth official tyre sponsor thereby making the club the first in history to have a sponsor for each wheel of the Team Bus.
Get in there!
Now who thinks he`s incompetent

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I thought you'd never come back to this site after posting that detailed Ronaldo runour a while back. Make that, we all wished you'd never come back.

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03 Sep 2013 00:20:28
The good name of Manchester United has been set back several years. A quality and reputable club has been reduced to an embarrassing, bumbling and humiliating shambles of an organisation, open to ridicule, jokes and laughter. Woodward has a lot to answer for. He's put the fans through hell, messed up the Herrera deal, paid £4.5 million more for Feillani than he should have, and all this after we were told about an unlimited budget, and only the best players are being pursued. I'm angry, hurt, upset, frustrated, and p****d off. Anyway to the signings! Feillani should add some much needed power and strength to the middle of the park. Granted, no one's going to confuse him for Yaya Toure, but he's a player we badly needed, even if we did get fleeced bigtime, and deservedly so! Coentrao is an interesting player, who if he manages to perform like he can will be a good acquisition, albeit for 1 year. He can also play in central mid, aswell as down the left side, so he does offer some versatility. Fingers crossed these two are enough to win the league, but I think the quarters is the best we can hope for in the champions league

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We didn't get the paperwork in on time for coentro.

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03 Sep 2013 00:19:28
With the window closed over an hour, is there a reason the club haven't announced anything yet?
Obviously its late but I thought they may have announced their signings? Any reasons besides the obvious?

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03 Sep 2013 00:16:45
Looks like we haven't got Contreau! What a let down this has been i'm glad I never re-newed my season ticket why should we pump money into the 'biggest' club in the world when nothing is invested in our beloved club! We are always interested in the best players - JOKE - Fellaini ain't the answer but better than nothing!

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Your support for the club should not and should never be dependant on transfer business . Disgraceful from our own fan.

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But don't we just support tje shirt?

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Bye leebo,

Embarrassing post of the night.

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03 Sep 2013 00:15:13
I had high hopes of United turning into also rans once Moyes was appointed but thought it would be a slow gradual decline. With every decision you guys are just making my year. Spanked by Everton today and the Fro is not even close to what you need.

BTW, you guys are no worse off points wise than last year. You got 2 points more than last years Swansea away game and a point extra against Chelski at home MINUS the 3 points from Liverpool away.

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Spanked by Everton for their best player? Good job mate!

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03 Sep 2013 00:08:59
Lets get some press credentials for some posters on this site. Ask moyes some real questions from some real supporters. I'd call him out on paying more for Fellaini than his release clause, the fact that neither player is a world class player, that they wasted the whole summer getting nothing done, and that it seems like the behind the scenes of the club are in complete shambles. And someone to stand in the back to yell "u don't actually believe that do u?" when he says absurd things like "we played well against Liverpool" or "Fellaini is a top top player". Bc no one who isn't drunk would actually believe that garbage.

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We paid a bit more because if we activated his release clause the money would have had to have been paid in one lump sum, but now we can play instalments over a certain amount of years.

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Oh great. So he'll be killing future transfer budgets too.

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03 Sep 2013 00:07:19
After Liverpools signing of Moses, Moyes searched desperately for a player named Noah to help with the sinking ship.

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03 Sep 2013 00:08:04
Evening guys. Not a great window, but what's done is done. Worrying for the future. What has happened to the way we do deals. I said a few weeks ago that Gill going at the same time as saf was going to make life difficult for Moyes. And so it has proved.
Worryingly, is the way other clubs will treat us in future. Can we see Bilbao dealing with us in January?
Does Moyes fill us with hope when he says kagawa is fit but he chose to play Giggs and select nani ahead of him? What do we think is in store for the future. That is my worry.

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NO MIDFIELD. there u r. I was looking for u. I m sure u don't want to change your name now with only inclusion of fellaini? I think u may consider if herrera deal came to us.

so wait until january to change it. those 31days will also pass and I will request u to wait for anothe 6 months. never mind.

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03 Sep 2013 00:06:38
There's a suggestion Madrid might try to scupper the loan deal by trying to argue it wasn't done in time simply because their deal for a replacement fell through - sounds like something they'd be at but being genuinely late would be no surprise either if Woodchip mixed up his homing and carrier pigeons - loan deal might be in a loft in his garden as he toasts his sterling performance 2day

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They could play Bale left baxk if Marcelo got injured. That would be funny

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03 Sep 2013 00:05:44
So where will fallaini play dm or up top.

Would United pay 27:5 mill for a dm?

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Jred mate no. more nightmares! Pls!

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03 Sep 2013 00:04:50
Really happy with the fellani signing adds much needed steel. People gona hate but I for one am happy welcome to united fellani best of luck

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03 Sep 2013 00:04:32
Apparently contreao deal missed the deadline. Or there is at least a lot of confusion. Wouldn't bank on that one being a done deal yet.

Just to echo most of the sentiments. I'm genuinely ashamed of the club. Disappointed doesn't do it justice. Why weren't we in for oezil? Yes costly but the best are. And watching us the last few games someone with the ability to break down a defence is what we desperately need.

Might sound reactionary but with all the other clubs strengthening I pray we stay top 4 we should but so far the new regimes should hasn't stood up to much. Rooney and kagawa are going to be hugely important for us this year.

Fingers crossed.

The best thing that can come out of this is Woodward learns his lesson and makes sure we don't screw up like his again.

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Probably because we needed Fellaini more than Ozil for the two reasons you listed. Rooney and Kagawa.

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02 Sep 2013 23:58:50
This whole window has been a shambles and then to say contrao(spelling) on loan doesn't make things better. Yes he is good and an improvement on evra but why couldn't we solve the midfield problem and let evra do the job for a season. The LB wasnt as bad as the midfield problem which fellaini won't solve by himself. Plus its a loan deal so i'm hoping either we are going for shaw or someone else next season or we have a option to buy because then it is a waste as he won't win us the title and solve the midfield problem.
Lets hope we are 6th/13th come January so woodward/glazers/DM are forced to buy some talented midfielders and not overpay for afroninja.

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Why don't you wish us relegated so we have to buy a whole new team. Deary me.

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02 Sep 2013 23:56:42
Fellaini is a cross between Roy Keane and Dimitar Berbatov.
He will be great with our guys around him.

A lot of steel and a lot of goals!

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02 Sep 2013 23:56:19
Its a joke that one of the highest grossing sports clubs on the planet are missing out on quality players because of a few million quid.when our competition who don't make half what we do are investing heavily to compete for the top prize we really should not be holding back.
How many sponsorship deals have we signed in the last couple of years to then piss around and get screwed on fellaini and miss out on Herrera, its bad business for us this window when we clearly need improving. Arsenal, chelsea, spurs, city, the must all be delighted. I know its easy to say we were so far ahead last yr but i'd rather invest and stay ahead, don't think we did that but let's keep the red flag flying high.

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02 Sep 2013 23:56:07
So we could have got Fellaini cheaper with his buyout clause, then argue over Herrera fee? Can anyone else see the obvious solution?

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02 Sep 2013 23:55:48
Scenario 1. SAF retiring was the biggest thing to happen in football for over 20 years. I think the board have assessed Moyes early on and doubt his ability to deliver the style of football and trophies we expect. Therefore they have deliberately not backed him in the knowledge he might be gone by next summer.
Scenario 2. Moyes actually thinks Fellanie is the missing link required to turn us into European champions again
Scenario 3. It's all been a bad dream and I'm going to wake up and CR7 will still be an MUFC player and everything will be good in the world
UNITED!

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02 Sep 2013 23:54:23
What an embarrassment. The way we have approached this window is a joke. If there was a release fee and we wanted the player, pay it. Look at Bayern, bish bash done. The reputation of our club has been tarnished with the amateur approach our chief exec has shown.
If we have loaned Contreao so that Evra plays on the wing, I will give up. i'm so disappointed with the way the whole day. Fellani. I'll reserve judgment. I'd rather him in the team than Cleverley.
Lets sign Levy!

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02 Sep 2013 23:53:48
27.5m haha

Jesus wept!

Welcome Maoam now your first job is to headbutt Ed, then take Clevs spot and we have 6 months to repair bridges and look at another CM in Jan.

Cabaye anyone?

Coentrao?

Well didn't see that coming that late but shows he was second choice to Baines and he better be coming in at LB as he has played further up before.

Clev will be licking his lips at only 1 CMer

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02 Sep 2013 23:52:51
no midfield you were right all summer, all your accusers will start with the at least we can play the kids now, it won't happen, kagawa doesn't get a chance so the kids ave no hope, totally gutted.

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02 Sep 2013 23:51:26
Have Bilbao European football this year? I'm hoping we can come back for the lad in January. Although, I wouldn't blame the boy if he wants absolutely nothing to with our club. When was the last time a player offered to take a damn pay cut to move to us (Let your mind dwell on Rooney and Sneijder for a moment)? Looking forward to the full details on what exactly transpired over there. Guillem Balague:"No he isn't worth that money now--he will tell you that himself--but the room to grow is there and I think we could be looking at one of the best midfielders in the EPL in a couple of years time". I hear this talk about Impostors in Spain, possibly. No, the Impostors are here. Tom Cleverly in midfield, and Ed wood in the office. Not going to even start with the owners (Kloot has this one covered) It's going to be a Green and Gold winter, my friends.

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Even if they play europa, I think he would be eligible (given that if we are in the champions league group stages)

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Bilbao finished 12th last season, remarkably further away from european football than liverpool!

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Why would he be put off of us by people thst are nothing to do with us? Just saying.

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