Manchester United Banter Archive May 03 2013

03 May 2013 22:47:07
I believe this summer Ferguson will bring in mostly midfielders, a CB and a lb, so releasing nani, Anderson, macheda, although he will listen to offers for 1 of young or Valencia. i'm looking at Garay, Baines, Strootman, Gundgon, Rodriguez and bale. , although I also understand that he is monitoring fabregas and Sanchez situations at Nou Camp.

No Name

I think the chances of what you are saying are as good as zero as that amounts to 80 to 100 million of transfer activity and will not happen.

I just hope we buy early and be done with it whoever they are looking at.

Shahram

03 May 2013 20:29:15
Hearing that Strootman deal has been agreed. 4 year contract. Any truth?

Matt

03 May 2013 19:50:14
I hope fergie is monitoring the fabregas situ just think of the link up play with kagawa rooney and of course rvp


bfro

Arsenal have first refusal on Fabregas (in the contract) and as Barcelona haven't fully paid for him yet can't see utd getting him
Paul Belfast

03 May 2013 19:25:10
I keep reading posts about signing players X and players Y, what I don't see is people taking into consideration how our team plays.

The only two people we would change for are Ronaldo and Messi.

As of that, I look at the likes of Bale, and think to myself. would he really fit into our style? Personally, I don't see it, however please do voice your opinions, Ed's too. {Ed007's Note - I am not a fan of Bale at all, I think in a year or two he will be average. He's an athlete rather than a footballer and when his pace goes he will be find out the prices being bandied about for him are verging on the ridiculous.}

"Our style" has got us destroyed in Europe repeatedly. This year we had RVP to cover our deficiencies, can't get away with it every year.

Bale was a kick and run winger like Valencia. This season he has been mostly playing as a second striker hence the sudden influx of goals. Not sure where he would play for us as he isn't the best LW. He is also not worth anything near what is being mentioned. Spurs would be laughing all the way to the bank if they got £50m for Bale.

Sydney!

I think you are getting him mixed up with Walcott Ed ;) Maybe being over hyped but average and not a footballer is a bit harsh to say the least
Invisible STuey {Ed007's Note - We'll see......

When Bales pace goes in a year or two I'm not sure there's much left. Certainly no Ronaldo and not worth the megabucks that Levy wants for him.

So, PFA player of the year and Young Player of the year, and Football Writers Payer of the year. Clearly everyone is wrong and Sydney and and and Ed07 know better.

Another no name with a totally useless negative comment, ah how I love them.

I do tend to agree with ed and syd on this one, bale is a top top player but his game relies on pace, once this goes he will not be the same player. This isn't to say he wouldn't improve us massively at the current time, but he is not worth what levy would make us pay.

I agree Usain bolt once he loses his pace would be very average too :)

Shahram

04 May 2013 09:43:11
Bale is man of the moment no doubts. But just because he wins a few meaningless awards doesn't mean he's able to avoid criticism or critique of his game. He started out as a left back, wasn't good enough defensively so because of his pace he got converted to a winger. As a winger he was good against attacking full backs who pushed up too much such as Maicon. But when he came up against a full back who had the pace to cope he disappeared in games. Every time he came up against our very own Rafael for example. He was in Rafael's pocket. Hence this season him playing behind the striker. Part out of necessity due to Spurs squad weakness there but also I think because Villa Boas maybe recognised Bale could be more effective and had limits as a winger. His crossing for example isn't great. I do think though that when his pace goes he will lose a major part of his game and wonder how he will adapt. Obviously this season he's impressed his peers but it was hardly a stand out season from many. The time of the vote helped him as it was when he had his usual ten game a season scoring run and at the same time van Persie was having his ten game goal drought. This influenced voting. I'd discount the sports writers. Most of them know no more than anyone on here, their just paid to express opinions. We do that on here for free, and some could probably do a better job than the sports writers. After all how many of them have written United off over the years? I even remember one saying when we bought van Persie he wouldn't even get to double figures. Sorry for the length. MrE

Can't believe you're still trying to devalue Bale's quality Syd, and I'm surprised at you too Ed007. He's a fantastc player and only 23. And this from the 2 people who have talked up and rated Tom Cleverly & James McCarthy (respectively) yet Bale is going to be average?

Gav, I never said Bale will be average.

Good player, I just think he is vastly overpriced and wonder where he would play in our team. If you were willing to spend £40m-£50m on a player he needs to be world-class in a particular position. Or astoundedly good in more than one position. I think he can be kept out of a game when playing LW. He certainly wouldn't play as a second striker for us. (where he is scoring his goals). Can you justify paying that amount of cash for a player who is a jack of all trades, master of none?

Sydney!

03 May 2013 19:16:05
So it looks like Fergie has 2 players on his mind for this summer and another if they become available.

What I have been trying to figure out is which are the two he wants position wise? Strootman looks like he may be one of the players mainly due to him being a center midfielder and he ticks all the boxes for a United player.

But this is where I cannot figure out who the second player is? Could it be Lewandowski, a winger or even a defender? Most would say it's Lewandowski but maybe he is the player Fergie said he will push the boat out for.

But maybe it is Lewandowski and Strootman for the two main signings and the big signing we are supposedly going to 'push the boat out for' is a winger? or even another midfielder? It seems to be a big player who won't be brought cheaply.

There are a few players some have mentioned such as Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo, Marchisio, Falcao.

But then we also have to take into account the outings during the summer and which players we may bring in to replace them.

First team players who are certain or might be leaving are:

Rooney, Nani, Anderson, Fletcher, Scholes, Hernandez, Ferdinand.

So I can see this summer being really unpredictable with certain signings such as last season with Van Persie.

Also to all the people getting all upset with the comments from the club about signings stop worrying.

We will undoubtedly sign players and we should be in good shape for next season! The likes of Kagawa, Jones, De Gea and Rafael will all hopefully excel further and the squad should start to look even stronger.

Heres to a exciting transfer window!

-JakeW

03 May 2013 15:50:42
Wish people would look at our youth before saying we need to spend X why and Z on players 1 2 and 3.

We don't need a Gk if linderguard is sold as we have Amos and Johnstone Aswell as Sutherland and gollini in a few more years

We don't need a RB as cover for rafeal, not only can Valencia, smalling and jones all play RB but we have vermilj coming through whom I think will be great cover

Cb we have jones Evans smalling all establishing themselfs atm with Thorpe keane and wootton all coming through

Lb why spends around 10mil replacing evra when we have fabio (rafeals twin so hopefully can get the same level) and buttner both capable of trying to put there stamp on that position Aswell as the likes of Blackett coming through

Cm yes we need one player such as strootman or gundogan to come in this summer but then in the future we have the very promising mats moller dealhi coming through,

Wings yes I'd agree even though we have just got zaha that we should look at one more winger such as Rodriguez as I can't see nani and young been about much longer

Cam kagawa owns that position but we also have Powell and januzaj both highly promising players coming through hence we don't need to spend there

And strikers, our strongest department, as exciting as it would be to get lewandoski do we really need him when we have the henriquez coming through Aswell as will keane and James Wilson

Also factor into this players from clubs we have deals with I. e Bruno Gomes and beuno

That's just my opinion anyway, what does everyone else think to that

19JackC94

Backfired.

You are listing all the plays for the FUTURE. We need certain players right NOW. Our squad is very strong but for us to compete in Europe we need much better players.

Midfielder and a winger are the positions we should hopefully target.

-JakeW

Completely agree Jack. I have said the same thing before in my posts. Strootman and either Bale or Rodriguez would be the perfect summer imo. And to everyone who thinks there will be a lb signed this summer just forget about it there will be NO lb signed this summer!
Andy H

03 May 2013 17:29:15
I think your spot on. We need a couple of midfielders and a winger to add quality to the first team and in a couple of years we'll have plenty of talented youth coming into the squad. MrE

I did love the phase "X, Why and Z" though :D

So how did it backfire? If you read through those are the two positions I suggest we spend on and the rest of the post basically states that we don't need to spend in other areas due to our youth

I. e your reply backfired

19JackC94

Are these youth you mention setting the world alight like the boys did back in the 90's? I don't think so. Spurs have got much better youth than ours. So while I would love us to bring youth through, apart from Powell and possibly Wilson and Michael Keane, I can't see the others challenging Bayern Munich, can you?

As good as daehli is you won't see him in the 1st team for another 2 years in my opinion
johndenton

My apologies, I didn't read your post correctly.

I agree with bringing the youth through though.

-JakeW

It is okay listing promising players and I am all for bringing them through but what happens if De Gea gets a cruciate injury or something Amos is not good enough to step up for months as the same with RVP who have we got who can effect a game from nowhere and score as many goals. All we need is 1 or 2 central midfielders a left back and a top class winger then if Lindegaard goes then bring in a good enough number 2.

03 May 2013 13:33:42
hi guys, on the midfield/defensive front i'd like to know your thoughts on what players we'd like to see come in as these are areas which need strengthening due to age/injury etc or do you think sir alex will go down and give some of the younger players a go as see how they adapt? I mean we could all say spend £££££'s but we all know that's not an option?

cheers!

also fergie did say 2 or 3 signings? now we all know we don't take that as gospel - this is fergie as we say!

He's come out today and said one signing maybe 2 but it could all change if players are sold that are not expected to be

03 May 2013 12:29:46
What about Angel Di Maria? Apparently not wanted at Real? However expect Strootman and Lewandowski to be brought in early, talks of James Rodriguez as well. opinions?

-Jono

Just read that he could be available for 15M.
If true i'd buy him, he's better than all our wingers.

JK92

He's not my favourite player but I do think a narrow 4231 would work with Di Maria coming off the right onto his left foot and Kagawa doing the opposite from the left. That would leave either Rooney behind RvP or RvP behind Lewandowski, whatever your preference.

Sounds good HoneyBadger, would prefer RVP behind Lewandowski though if this was how we were going to play.

Brendan81

Always rated him when I thought we might get him from Benfica, but hate his 'baggage'.

£15m would be a bargain for a top class player, who is leaps and bounds ahead of any of our current wingers, and who would fit in brilliantly in the system we seem to be trying to move towards.

The original poster is not me btw.

I am not a big fan of him at all. Never thought much of him at benfica and has only set the world alight in a handful of games for real. I could do them at playing with their forward line.

IMO we would see the exact same as Nani with inconsistent performances and an unwillingness to work, he is technically better than Nani but not by a massive amount, I would massively rather spend an extra 15m and get a younger, far bigger potential star in the likes of Rodriguez.

In fact I would even have gatian ahead of Di Maria.

Steviek

15 million would be a steal but doubt it he would go for that kind of money.

I think once mourinho moves we will see some interesting movements of managers and players. It will be fun watching the musical chairs:)


Shahram

03 May 2013 12:17:53
Even Fergie has no come out and said he's only planning on bringing one maybe two players in for next season.
I really think a lot of people on here are going to be greatly dissapointed considering all the names that people are spouting about.
I just hope that if it is one or two players they are top class and are going to take us to that next level in the Champions League.
We shall see!

Simmo

Simmo, I have been saying for a while that outgoings will determine our summer spends. When the manager says one maybe two players will come in, I think he means if no one from the first team is sold. Obviously if Anderson & Nani are sold that changes things.

Sydney!

Syd

Do you think Nani and Anderson will go? I can't see us getting a lot for the two. Maybe 12-15 million for Nani and 6-10 million for Anderson?
Get rid of Bebe and Macheda for a couple of million and that should give us around 25 million plus whatever Fergie has already been given. That should be enough to get some really good players in.

Simmo

03 May 2013 13:27:08
We already have Zaha coming in who excites me. Left back and centre back aren't high priority and can wait a year. Striker like Lewandowski depends pretty much on Rooney or Hernandez leaving. We'll sign a midfielder because of Scholes and Fletcher. Another midfielder and winger depend on anyone being stupid enough to want Nani and Anderson. I'm not expecting a great deal or really want a lot. Two centre mids and another wide or inside forward and i'd be happy especially if the dead wood departs. I agree with Sydney on a lot could depend on outgoings. But I think some people are dreaming too much and as Simmo says are going to be disappointed. We need some tinkering not a complete overhaul. MrE

With scholes and maybe fletcher retiring

Simmo, I'm with u on that one, I think we were talking the talk, but whether we will walk the walk will have to be seen.
I think we're going to be hugely disappointed in the transfer window.
Nomidfield

I would be over the moon with Lew, Strootman & Baines. As long as Rooney stayed put.

Sydney!

03 May 2013 11:52:01
The more noise coming from people within the club regarding transfers the more I am getting worried. We DO need a pretty major retooling. I know we won the title comfortably, but Man City had a very poor season consistency wise and Chelsea's managerial merry-go round didn't help them. Both will be much stronger next year and so will Tottenham, particularly if they hang on to Gareth Bale. We should get rid of six or seven fringe players who haven't done enough to warrant being kept on. Nani, Anderson, Macheda, Bebe, Valencia should be sold and Scholes and Fletcher will probably retire. So that's seven players potentially going out, so pay the money to replace them with 3 quality players and we will be improved for next year to hopefully have a proper crack at the Champions League. Ronaldo (£50m + Hernandez), Strootman (£15m) and S. Bender (£15m) wouls be my choices. We will need to spend money in the summer because City & Chelsea will most certainly do so and with Jose looking like returning to Chelsea they will be very, very strong next year imo. They have quality players as it is.

IDM

What do you expect them to say? Do you want other clubs to inflate their prices knowing the directors have made public commitments to buying X amoutn of plaeyrs or spending X amount of money. don't be so naive!

03 May 2013 13:34:34
So eight players out as you added hernandez to your discard list but only three in? I agree with three quarters of your outs but disagree on a major retooling. A quality midfielder preferably two and another fast creative and we'll be fine.

03 May 2013 09:31:58
Record profits, debt has fallen again. there is no excuse for not buying top quality players this summer.
I will be extremely dissapointed if we go out and buy middle of the road players, we need 2-3 real quality players if we are to make some kind of impact in the champions league.
For me it should be Strootman, Rodriguez and Baines. My ideal purchase would be Gareth Bale but I can dream.

Simmo

I think Woodward is saying things to please financial analysts. Costs, in particular wages were notably up so if he said yes big purchases they want big wages which worsens the numbers

He is new but the message from SAF is clear and he is in his last years and should want to finish with a flourish. If we don't sign the major players needed this summer then there should be no argument where the problem is, none and the Glazer apologists should hold their hands up.

Red Man

Apologists will always find a way to justify or lack of spending. Last year it was that it didn't matter that we didn't sign a cm because we signed RVP, the year before it was that Sneijder asked for too much money etc.

I doubt we will sign someone as expensive as Rodriguez. I think we probably have a deal in place for a new cm, that Lewandowski may come in, and that we have our eye on another young prospect. If you read any club statement about transfers over the last few seasons it's all about managing expectations. They try to pretend that the team has no real weaknesses and that we don't actually need to sign anyone so when we do it's like a bonus for the fans.

Wait and see, for the next few months people on here will keep banging on about not criticising until the transfer window closes. Then when we don't sign the three top class players we need, the tune will change to, just get behind the players we do have. Same story every summer.

Danny Pughnited

United seem to have no problems paying £25m-£30m for the right player. What I think is a sticking point for the Glazers and SAF to an extent is the £6m agent fees on top of that. No self sufficient club like ourselves are happy about paying agents/reps a fortune on top of a transfer fee, but the clubs run by sugar daddies seem to not care about it. That does give them the edge sadly. Sooner or later the club will need to overpay for a player, hopefully it's this summer so SAF can try and win his 4th UCL.

Sydney!

Good post Danny
Let's wait and see what the summer brings?

Simmo

Danny, I think some of us are happy that the club have spent £100m in two seasons. Was Kagawa & Van Persie not good signings last summer?

If we sign Lewandowski, say Strootman & Rodriguez/Gaitan, would that not be good enough for you?

Sydney!

Syd, it is fine to say we signed one top class player last year and another very good prospect. But that doesn't negate the fact that there is a clear unwillingness to recognise and address the major weaknesses in our team, namely cm, lb and our wings.

If we signed those three players I think we will still be light in cm, and even more exposed at lb because Evra isn't getting any better with age. But I would be happy that it at least shows a commitment to bring in top class players.

RVP showed us this year the difference bringing in the best makes. But I think this year we will see that this type of signing is the exception.

Danny Pughnited

Syd

I would be delighted if we got the three out of the four that you have put on your post.
If we managed to secure them I would see us a real contenders for the Champions League next season.

Simmo

Sydney is right here with his argument.
Lewandowski will be an idea no 9.
Strootman can be ideal partner to both carrick and cleverly, and if lewy comes rooney will be dropped to mid attck role so strootman can be ideal with him also. and a left footed winger in james rodriguez or gaitan will be a perfect summer

Rodio17

But the thing is, Danny, that money has been spent in the last 2 summer windows. What positions it was spent on is solely down to SAF, is it not, and nothing to do with how much the club are willing to spend. RVP and Kagawa were luxuries not necessities at a time we needed to improve the areas you mention. Obviously RVP in particular has now proven himself the latter but the money was there to spend, however SAF decided how to spend it, not the owners.

TK-Red

Danny Pughnited,

I asked you yesterday but I don't think you replied - who do you blame for your disappointment in our transfers?

Surely it's the manager who picks the players or what positions we are looking to improve on? I just get the impression you are pinning this on the owner's when this is what it's generally been like under SAF.

If you're just saying you're not happy with what SAF does in the transfer markets then fine but don't try and make out he's been told not to buy a CM or LB, it's down to him what he goes for.

Personally on last summer - I was somewhat disappointed we didn't buy a CM (AGAIN!) but I got over it because I was very happy with the signings we made, particularly Kagawa and RvP.

I trust the manager to pull it off at the end of the day, as he's done this season again. And I won't go along with the argument that the owner's are crippling us in the market just because SAF has failed to buy the CM'er that the fans have wanted.

HBadger

Sydney

Yes united had no problem paying £25m but top players cost more than that. Hazard and Lucas went elsewhere. How much would Falcao or Ronaldo or Bale cost? How much was Gotze or Martinez? We look limp standing waving our £25m and refusing to deal with agents when the cost is higher. Were we only keen on Lewandowski because he was in his last year and our £25m might have got a bargain?
If we want European success £25m a player almost certainly won't get it

Red Man

Danny, sorry but Kagawa isn't a very good prospect. He tore the Bundesliga to shreds. He is a top class player.

You also seem to be getting confused with who's fault it is we haven't got that midfielder. The money has been there for the manager.

If he has chosen to strengthen elsewhere than how is it the fault of the Glazers? £100m and still no midfielder. That's not the Glazers fault Dan, that's SAF's fault.

Sydney!

Exactly Syd, we've spent enough money in the last 3 years to buy 2-3 top clas CM'ers. But SAF spent it on CB's, a keeper, forwards and wingers. If people aren't happy with that then blame the manager as it's his decision.

HB

HB and Syd,

I think it's very naive to blame it all on SAF. Yes he is stubborn, and yes this has cost us, like it did with Ronaldihno before the Glazers took over. But what is far more important here is the financial constraints SAF is working under. This is a man who was more than happy to break the transfer record throughout his career if it was for the right player. Now, despite managing a club bringing record profits he is suddenly cash shy. Does this not seem suspicious.

Lest not forget that we sold a player for £80m which cannot be ignored when we talk about the Glazer's big investment into the club. Last season is a prime example of how we under major constraints. Start if the summer we had signed Kagawa for relatively cheap because his contract had run down. By all accounts we were looking at bringing in a cm, we were looking at attacking players like Hazard and Lucas, and we had a big interest in Baines. Then RVP became available and as Fergie admits he had to try to sign him. This is exactly the type of situation in which the Ronaldo money (obviously not the physical money but the extra money we had in reserve) should have been used for. Allowing us to buy a world class player and address the weaknesses in our first team. Instead SAF was made to choose between RVP and sorting out the rest of our team. He chose RVP, and instead of signing Baines (the best lb in the league) and a cm. We made an insulting bid of £5m for Dembele and bought a cheap lb who has only played a handful of games.

Our transfers are SAF's choice but these are choices under the financial constraints set by the owners. Not one penny of Glazer money put in the club, unprecedented profits and yet we are spending comparatively less on transfers than we did as a plc.

Danny Pughnited

So you think £100m in two seasons is bad?

Sydney!

Danny Pughnited,

I don't get your reasoning there TBH, the only known facts are that the manager has spent a lot of money over 2 seasosn's but has not spent any of it on a CM'er. You can try to dress it up how you like but we don't KNOW any of the things you've said to be true (about Baines etc. ) - in fact Ed002 dismisses that we were in for Baines.

You honestly believe if SAF wanted a CM'er that bad he wouldn't have got one? And would have blown all his budget on other areas because of 'financial constraints'?

Doesn't tie up for me, sorry.

'Financial constraints' is a very intersting phrase. Would a manager under such constraints spend around £20m on a teenage goalkeeper when we could have bought a more experienced one for half the price?

Why did we splash almost £20m on a teenage CB in Jones when we already had Rio, Vidic, Evans & Smalling? Hardly the decision of a manger under heavy constraints?

Also, £16-20m on Young when we already had Nani/Valencia/Giggs.

Yet £0 on a central midfielder!

Are these the actions of a manger under 'financial constraints'.

As far as I'm concerned - it's the manager's job to make the most of the resources available to him. SAF has used plenty of resources in recent times, yet has spent none of this on a CM'er.

HBadger

Syd do you think a net spend of about £40m is good enough since 2009?

Danny Pughnited

DannyP

I wouldn't judge our whole transfer policy purely from 1 total net spend figure, does that figure include the £80m for Ronaldo for instance because that's obviously going to skew any 'net spend' figure? I was disappointed we never got a recognised replacement for Ronny but I've been generally happy with the transfers since, particularly the last 2 summers. I was happy we paid £30m for Berba (at the time), happy we paid good money for Ando & Nani (at the time), Smalling, Jones & DDG, happy we got Kagawa & RvP thi year, glad we keep buying promising youngsters like Nick Powell too. And apart from Ronaldo (which was inevitable) we haven't sold anyone I didn't want us to since 2009.

So to answer your Q I don't think the net spend is the way to judge what's good enough but I've been generally happy with our transfers (apart from SAF's insistnce on not getting a CMer).

My point has always been that the transfer policy feels the same now as it did immediately before the Glazer's takeover.

My question to you (that you keep skirting past lol) - do you feel the transfer policy has changed radically since the years just before the Glazer's took over? And if so, how?

As I have said a number of times. Our transfer policy has changed in the last few years in two main ways.

1. We are spending comparatively less on transfers than we did as a plc. As in the percentage of our income that is being reinvested in the team has significatly been reduced since the Glazers took over.

2. We are no longer breaking the transfer record or paying high fees to land top class players. During the 1990s and into the early 2000s. We were payign record fees for the likes of Keane, Cole, Yorke, Veron, Rio, Rooney etc because we had a club that wanted to sign the best players. Kind of like what Bayern have done in the last two years with Martinez and Gotze. Since the Glazers took over we are no longer doing whatever it takes to sign the best. Instead we are whining about the price of players being driven up by City et al, whining about wages, whining about agent fees, and generally complaining that football is too greedy. And all this from a club who are gobbling up record profits from their fans.

Do you think that Bayern will leave their spending at Gotze, or that City won't heavily invest, or Real or Barca or PSG. During the PLC years I always felt that the club wanted on pitch success as a firt priority and it was reflected in a transfer policy that tried to bring in top class players. Under the Glazers the main goal is profits, so instead of buying Hazard or Lucas or Gotze we bought Zaha. And I think people will see this summer that despite our record profits we will spend less on players than we did last summer

Danny Pughnited

Danny, is "about £40m" close to £100m?

We have net spent close to £100m since 2009. The club's accounts do not lie.

Sydney!

Yes, we spent £18.3m on a 19 year old GK. We could have signed Adler for free, Stekelenburg for £5.5m, but the manager has financial constraints ;)

Every self sufficient club will have a limit for the manager to spend. SAF has had £100m to spend in two seasons and still hasn't bought a midfielder, yet it's still the owner's fault.

Sydney!

Thought you were addressing me there Danny, I went off on one slightly, lol! The Q still stands though if you have time :)

Please Syd, list out our transfers since 2009 including the sale of Ronaldo and show that we have spent £100m more than we took in. Don't post links to the accounts, there haven't been that many transfers so just list the players we sold and the players we bought and what we paid or received.

Danny Pughnited

DP

I disagree, if you take away the Ronaldo fee I think the figures would look more favourable. Whether Ronaldo sold for £40m (still more than Fabregas) or £80m we would still have spent £15-20m on his replacement (Valencia) regardless because that's SAF's style, which skewes the 'net spend' figures IMO.

Also, I do admit we could have been hampered by the debt in the initial 2 years (just guessing) but since then we have seen the debt become managebale and the real transfer policy come into place.

The revenue is always growing and hopefully spending will increase somewhat with it but I'm not sure a straight look at the ratio of revenue/transfer spending is a sure fire way of looking at things, there are many other factors - have you taken the massive inflation of player's wages into account?

On point 2 - we weren't competing with City, Chelsea or PSG back then, the likes of which have pushed spending levels up beyond what is sustainable for most clubs (by spending large sums on average players rather than the top stars necessarily). We are still sustainable so unfortunately don't hold your breath on us breaking the £80m record whatever happens with our finances. Madrid never worried too much about money (which wasn't always theres) and paid a ridiculous amount in an already inflated market.

Lastly, are your figures correct or are Syd's?

Since the 2008/09 season, the same financial year as Ronaldo was sold Tosic, Berbatov, Valencia, Owen, Obertan, Diouf, Hernandez, Smalling, Bebe, Lindegaard, DDG, Young, Jones, Kagawa, RvP, Henriquez, Buttner, Powell & Zaha.

Sydney!

Longest discussion in a long time

Yep and tend to agree with Danny as he makes valid points.

Shahram

03 May 2013 08:54:26
according to ed woodward there's not going to be much transfer activity.

03 May 2013 08:24:42
Here we go again? Sir Alex has said he wants a couple of players, intimating they are already working on recruiting them, but says he will find room for anyone that may improve the team. Then long comes the new Chairman saying that there is no need for 'major retooling' of the squad! Is this to be another summer of young, almost unknowns instead of the world class players we need? Gill and SAF have said we will be active in the market? Who do you believe?

I believe that no top businessman would come out and tell all it's competitors how they're going to act in the market, that would be silly.

I believe that talk is just that, talk.

I will be waiting to see what actually happens not what people say will/will not happen.

HBadger

Both, summer of buying a decent player and couple of unknowns that most of will scramble to find out who they are.

Shahram

03 May 2013 06:59:10
Was it really 20 years ago today when the commentator said at the end of the Villa game that we were champions which set me off running and screaming into my front garden on my knees not caring what the neighbours thought. Then the Blackburn game on the Monday night what a night that was at OT

If anyone had said then it would be the first of thirteen I would have laughed. However the two European successes whist great leave us short of what we should have had.

If Mr Woodward has ambition he should worry about negotiating for the 2 to 3 top quality level players we need rather than enjoying the commercial success. He will as all accountants do, worry about cost control, however this is a football club, despite that being removed from the badge and we should be aiming for number 14 and more Nou Camps and Moscows.

Twenty years where did it go but we should want far more

Red Man

Red Man, well said. It's funny because everyone I know insists they were there against Blackburn when Sir Matt had a tear in his eye. However, the ground only held 40,000!

03 May 2013 08:01:38
I think it will be your last bit of glory for some time, the EPL given to you by the mess City and Chelsea made of it, close to if not the worst football playing side to win the EPL.

No where near the likes of the other big European teams, do you really believe any of them are afraid of Utd in their current form.

You only had to watch the Champions League after you exit to see what another level they are from you.

You will not win any kind of trophy next year or the year after that. To many big teams in England will be coming at you let alone Europe.

All good things come to an end.

UFB

Well said redman, I think every other united fan feels the same. It might need a bit more money this summer than past summers but it will reap huge benefits both success wise and commercial wise too.

My personal opinion would be to go all out for Ronaldo, Strootman, Lewandowski and Baines/Sandro. Leaving would be Rooney (unless he takes a paycut for an extension), Hernandez (part of ronaldo deal), Nani, Anderson, evra, Macheda, Bebe, Lindegaard. If Rooney stayed it would mean a net spend of about £60m which is well worth it in my eyes.

Brendan81

Red man, I agree with you. We did however, meet barca twice in the final when they were at their strongest.
That said, you are right, a club like ours should have had more European triumphs, especially for the 1999 and 2007 squads. And who is to say that the busby babes wouldn't have won a load of European cups bar the tragedy.
On Woodward, he does worry me. He's already saying that our squad is is big enough and there won't be major changes. But more worryingly, he also said that we are way ahead in the premiership. Yes, we are this year, but trust me Mr. Woodward, we won't be this time next year, City, Chelsea and arsenal will all be much stronger. If we sit down and enjoy the win too much, then we'll be left behind. We need to get up to Bayern's standards, and for that we need "major" signings. Before anyone says this isn't FIFA, you can just look around you with the investments that Bayern and the other top clubs are making. The last time I checked, we were also a top club, so it all depends how far our football ambition goes.
The only thing for sure, is saf will not take any bull off anyone, so hopefully he will insist on the strengthening.
Good day to all.
Nomidfield

UFB - been hearing that for years pal. Keep trying to make yourself believe it though, if it makes you feel better ;)

I agree with ufb, 12 months will be a long time to wait for more glory. unless we win the league cup in feb

02 May 2013 23:40:19
Guys. As expected, no lewandawski, no falcao, but now we've set our sights on the mega star that is vucinic! Wow. I can't contain my excitement. Not.
We always thought there was No Value in the market.
To be honest, I would rather we kept our strikers than buy vucinic. Bayern have shown the way, and we go for vucinic.
Help! Meanwhile Glazers fill their pockets.
Nomidfield

NM,

Why believe this rumour and not all the others?

Oh yea it's so you can post yet another negative post. Stop being so bloody pessimistic it's a bit pathetic don't you think?

Wtf are you rambling about dude, get a grip

nikz

03 May 2013 01:04:40
If your daft enough to believe a web site then you deserve to be lied too. They are one of the biggest peddlers of B/S on the internet. Vucinic has been linked to us every year for about 6 years now, maybe there was interest once, but more than likely it was just his agent using us to get him a move/new deal, as he seems to keep flapping his gums to the media with the b/s of us being interested in his client every summer.

You need to sit back and relax, we will sign who we sign but let's not moan about signings or potential signing until something more concrete happens.

Snappy, you're right, let's wait and see who we sign. I'm sure fergie is on the case. To be honest, I would rather sign someone really good or not sign anyone at all.
The youngsters are getting older, and sooner or later they need to be put in the first team squad. Powell for instance.
But of course it will be nice to sign Bale or lewendawski or modric.
We shall see.
Nomidfield

NM you must be under 12 years old surely? Get a grip of yourself mate it's May 2nd! You're losing it

HBadger

Or May 3rd even, lol (before anyone else notices haha)

HB