Manchester United Banter 3

13 Sep 2026 18:29:02.
Are we still going to support Carrick? New coach, new energy - that was the reason for good results last season. Nothing new in football. It was obvious there was no improvement in the way we play. I'm not saying it just now, I was saying it the last season as well. We are turning a new page soon. Again...

13 Sep 2026 18:41:23
Terrible performance. I never bought into this new midfield; it’s still terrible. Not enough strength or pace. Left wing not good enough, nor left back. Cunha leaves a lot to be desired. Very shoddy play, giving City regular free kicks. City looked like they had the extra man. Questionable decision from Carrick to leave Sesko on the bench until the mid-60 min mark.

Why weren’t the team passing the ball faster as soon as Foden was sent off? It should’ve been a siege on the City goal for the whole game. This isn’t an overreaction, btw - we’ve beaten Sabah and Ipswich all season. New manager bounce gone. Will do good to put a few wins together and get some momentum, but we just don’t have the quality on the pitch nor the quality in the dugout.

13 Sep 2026 22:59:01
The most expensive / best signing of the summer hasn't played yet, we need him back as soon as possible.

14 Sep 2026 09:15:50
Hope he can reproduce his best form, GD. Also, play Sesco from the start. And, Maz must be really poor if Dalot gets the nod!
Can Heaven play left back? Yoro right back?
Strange decisions by Carrick.

13 Sep 2026 15:14:01
On Sunday, there will be no flag display on The Stretford End. In its place, a single banner will hang above the players' tunnel with a clear message to the owners, directors and decision-making staff at Manchester United:
"THE WAY YOU TREAT US IS A DISGRACE"

13 Sep 2026 16:15:44
I agree with some of it but this lumps in a crackdown on some people touting their season tickets and getting theirs revoked. Quite frankly, I don't have any sympathy for them and wish all clubs clamped down on it.

13 Sep 2026 18:31:03
Never seen anyone on this site ever back the owners like you, DonRed.

13 Sep 2026 18:49:06
What the hell are you on about, Scholes? I detest them.

13 Sep 2026 18:53:36
Point out when I have ever backed the owners. I've pointed out when complaints about them weren't valid but they have saddled the club with debt and mismanaged a successful club into almost defaulting on debt.

They put Ed Woodward on us. That alone has my ire. But I won't say we haven't spent a lot on transfer fees and I won't support ticket touts just to have a dig.

13 Sep 2026 20:04:06
Don, I feel your pain. 🤣

14 Sep 2026 07:47:57
It will not matter if 25000 people don't go into the stadium. There will be another 25000 waiting to jump in the seats.

Even if people paid for tickets to tie up the seats, and then didn't go in, the club has made its money.



One of the problems, if you can call it that, is that there are plenty of fans willing to take up the seats.

United, whether we like it or not, don't care about atmosphere or who is sat in a seat, as long as it's sold. It's a business.

12 Sep 2026 16:14:08
Plenty time to go in the Chelsea Hull game, but even now it's fair to say that at the moment Hull are showing themselves to be a very difficult team to beat. They're well coached and motivated. Their goalie is good. It wouldn't surprise me if they tail off as the season wears on.

13 Sep 2026 10:31:42
We say it all the time, but there really is no easy games in the EPL.

The amount of money that the EPL generates, and thus the spending power it gives the clubs, is unrivalled.

This summer the EPL spent EUR1.5bn. The second highest spending league was Serie A with a total of EUR420m.

Our league is spending more than three times as much as the next highest spending league.

This summer, if you looked at the top spending clubs in world football, the top 7 are EPL sides, with Real Madrid 8th, and Ipswich 9th. Coventry spent more than the super wealthy PSG.

In fact, all three of the promoted clubs in the EPL were comfortably inside the top 20 clubs in the world for spending this summer (Ipswich 9th, Hull 13th, Coventry 17th).



It's not even just the promoted teams trying to catch up, or the top EPL clubs either; Brighton, Forest, and Brentford also feature in the top 25, alongside the promoted clubs and the established top EPL sides (Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, United, City, Newcastle, Spurs, and Villa). Meaning 14 of the top 25 spending clubs in the world this summer are EPL clubs.

Being back in the UCL this season is a huge coup for us, one that very few genuinely expected at the start of last season. However, it's highly unlikely that we will face many, if any, teams in the UCL that have outspent 90% of the EPL teams this summer. Which begs the question, where is the real challenge?

12 Sep 2026 11:25:12
{Ed's Note - Ed001 has posted a new video entitled entitled, C U Next Time - The Seamus Runs The Show Edition}

12 Sep 2026 07:39:01
{Ed's Note - HughesGetPhckd has posted a new article entitled, Liverpool 2 Atletico Madrid 1: A Victory of Character

11 Sep 2026 21:46:41
My first United game was 1979, I was 14 and a bunch of us caught the bus from Longsight. In those days it was pay as you entered, sometimes you wouldn't get in if too many turned up.

It was always the Stretford End, sat on the bar with our legs through the railings (remember that? ) so you felt close to the action. A few years later we moved to above the tunnel in the Stretford End which was often scary with the crush of people in a small space.

It was an FA Cup 4th round replay against Fulham, we won 1 nil, with a goal from Jimmy Greenhoff, I remember it snowed. There were only about 40, 000 in the ground, people forget that Old Trafford wasn't always full in those days.

I went to most most home games for about 6 years before becoming more of an occasional visitor, getting to about 10 games a year. Then when the Stretford End was rebuilt in 1992/3, I bought a season ticket. The year of getting soaked in an unfinished stand was well worth it as we won the title the year after, and man, I can't believe we gave those tickets up as they were in a perfect spot.

When Steve Bruce headed the winner against Wednesday, the ball was heading straight for us, happy days. In those days, people actually sat down for most of the game. We then went home and away thriugh the '94 season, when United fans were dotted throughout most awa grounds. How times have changed.

My most bizarre experience was when I got player complimentary tickets from a friend who knew Sparky, I arrived to find Bryan Robson sat in my seat, a steward quickly found me another seat.

I loved going to games, the hum of the crowd, the expectation of what was to come, applauding Paddy Roche for stopping a backpass, taking the p1ss out of Ralph Milne, applauding Colin Gibson sarcastically after another cross hit row Z, looking after opposition fans who found themselves in the wrong part of the ground, it was such an experience.

Nowadays it is so corporate and money focused and the fun has gone. I still get to the odd game and in the main I don't enjoy it. Winning is all that matters, that's what it's all about, but the fun has gone.

I'm probably an old fart but the game has changed so much, and for me, not always for the better.

12 Sep 2026 00:08:34
Ajh, I think that's just a part of getting older.
I remember my father saying all that to me in the 90s.
Your priorities change as you get older, things that used to excite you don't have the same effect anymore. Nothing is ever like the good old days.
You get older and wiser, more cynical, less tolerant, and more resilient. Back then, the fans could relate to the players, and the players could relate with the fans.
Players now, in the main, couldn't care less about the fans or the clubs they play for.


I now wouldn't cross the street to greet any of them. Very few of them inspire me nowadays. I'm not just talking United, it's footballers in general.
Harry Kane is someone I want to sit and have dinner with and talk to.
Rhodri, Mainoo, Haaland, Martinez would be others that I think I'd enjoy talking to. They all intrigue me for many reasons. I'd like to pick their brains on certain things and learn about certain sides of their character that I admire and identify with.

12 Sep 2026 01:49:11
Haaland is a good shoot, Ken, I think. Very underrated character.

12 Sep 2026 06:55:06
AJH, my story is similar to yours. The difference being, growing up in the late 80's, early 90's, I split my match days between Utd and Hereford Utd (getting to Manchester on Saturdays was sometimes difficult). The gulf between the two clubs was huge, but the matchday experience was pretty similar in terms of atmosphere.
A few years on, I stopped going to both, due to playing myself at a half decent level, and then getting married and having 3 boys.
2 years ago it had been 20 years since I went to watch either team, and my then 13 year old begged me to take him to Old Trafford. After finally getting some tickets, off we went to Manchester, and blimey, how a matchday experience had changed. Maybe I just picked the wrong game, but it was like sitting in a morgue, no atmosphere, people watching through their phones (someone please explain this), more interested in filling their faces, and God forbid anyone did shout and try and start an atmosphere, people just seemed to stare at them like they were from another planet.

Utd lost 2-1 and, somewhere around £250 later, I was left wondering what had happened.
2 years on, I took my now 15 year old to watch Hereford a few weeks ago. As we drove there I wondered what might have changed, and I'm pleased to say pretty much nothing had, apart from buying an e ticket, and my son absolutely loved it.
There's no way I'll ever grow away from following Utd, but that loyal, friendly, local club feel seems long gone, and I know I'm stupid to compare that to Hereford due to the gulf between the clubs, but if I had to pick which team to go and watch, there's only 1 winner.

12 Sep 2026 07:48:21
My feelings and experience as well, AJH. My first game at OT was in 1972/3 when I was living in Ashford, Kent at the time. The only difference is that I never lived in Manchester, so I invested a huge amount of time and money, with like-minded friends, travelling to OT and away games. TV only for me now. Nostalgic? Yes. Sad? Absolutely.

12 Sep 2026 08:25:07
I was over from Australia and got some "dodgy" website tickets. Ended up next to away Liverpool fans for an FA Cup game. Brilliant atmosphere, but I was sat behind a row of people either spending all the time on phones or knitting!!

Last game was the Stretford End, and it was almost exactly where my season ticket of close to 25 years was.

Sadly, just not the same atmosphere. I put it down to the people who had the passion can no longer afford to go to games, and the fans these days are perhaps a little more conservative.

11 Sep 2026 17:22:23
Seems like common sense, methinks!

I do post about Academy issues sometimes and this seems to be worthy of comment.

As we know, we mainly play a 4-2-3-1. There will no doubt be occasions when this is altered, but it is the default set up.

As of now, both the U18s and U21s will be moving to this system, changing from the usual 4-3-3.

This seems a perfectly sensible thing to do, instigating uniformity throughout the club.

It is part of the plan to increase the chances of Academy players succeeding in the transition to first-team player, clearly knowing what is expected of you should significantly smooth the path.

Would not be surprised to see J. J. making a first-team cameo before 24th October! That is the final day for him to be our youngest ever player in a competitive match.

He cannot appear (as yet) in ECL.

12 Sep 2026 00:29:50
He really does look special iwotb.
I don't think he is training with the 1st team regularly, but maybe a League Cup tie if we get past Brighton. If it happens, it happens. It's not a big deal. 5 min cameo and not seen again for months is not how the record was set, and I don't think it should be broken that way.


There is no rush with him, which I'm sure you agree with.
Hopefully we can tie him down with a contract and see him flourish over the next few years. Without doubt the best prospect I've seen at youth level since Ravel Morrison, and id say JJ is even streets ahead of him. He has the world at his feet.

12 Sep 2026 10:05:14
Is there any danger that he will sign for someone else?

12 Sep 2026 11:36:36
There is always that gamer, Patrick. He could decide to do that.
Fingers crossed he stays.

12 Sep 2026 17:51:05
Ken, yes I totally agree, there is no rush. It does seem to matter to some though!

I was told that it is more a case of appearance's sake, and showing JJ how valued he is.

He has been training with the 1st team a fair bit, again, much about making him comfortable in that environment.

Patrick, yes, he could sign for someone else, every big club in Europe is watching him, including Liverpool!! Barcelona in particular are trying very hard.

There is concern at the club that it could happen, indeed the summer before last was his first opportunity to do so and there was genuine worry it would happen. It was down, mainly, to Wilcox and Vivell that he was persuaded to stay.

There will be another opportunity next summer for him to leave on a free transfer.

Clearly we are doing our best to convince him where his future lies and that, in the future, the 1st team could be built around him. Obviously, subject to him achieving expected levels.

I believe his father, obviously, a massive influence on him, has been offered a couple of private boxes, free for life, in the new stadium.

There is also significant effort being put into keeping his feet well and truly on the ground. Imagine being 15 yrs old and having all the talk and expectation he is enduring and not succumbing to some of the pressure.

Remember what happened to Ravel Morrison! Although I do not expect him to go anywhere near that road.

I just hope, for his sake, he manages to navigate a safe passage through it all, and ends up being a Man Utd true great.

11 Sep 2026 15:39:28
{Ed's Note - Ed001 has posted a new article entitled, Ipswich Town v Liverpool - A Quick Liverpool Perspective

11 Sep 2026 14:10:01
Job done last night. Strange Bruno was taken off to rest up. I feel we have great players for when we have the ball and going forward, but you need workers when we don't have it. Hopefully Balaba is that player. Still worried about our work rate and closing down without the ball; it needs to improve all over the pitch.

Been really impressed with Kobbie so far he's just a class act. Wonder will we see a midfield 3 for tougher games, 4-3-3 to be more solid, but who plays in that team?

11 Sep 2026 15:44:00
I could see us playing a 442 diamond midfield with split strikers, especially if Baleba comes in, as he can cover a lot of ground.

Can't see us moving to a more traditional 433 with Bruno in the team, as I don't think he would want to play as one of the wide players, and he is so good as a number 10/second striker role.

11 Sep 2026 15:44:26
He was seen limping leaving the stadium.

11 Sep 2026 16:17:43
I get the impression that Bruno wants to play every minute of every game. Carrick needs to be a bit more proactive in resting him, especially with him being in his 30s.

Last night was an opportunity to start Santos and rest Tielemans. Then Carrick could have brought in Mount for Bruno at halftime.

11 Sep 2026 17:05:39
I thought Bruno could have come off around the 75 or 80 minute mark, once we had the win in the bag, tbh, but he's never been one to be injured or subbed, so not gonna happen.

11 Sep 2026 17:29:40
We do play 433 already.

11 Sep 2026 07:48:20
I spent some time talking to a Newcastle fan this last couple of days and he loved Eddie Howe, gutted he left and said the OT job is too big for him.

I recalled to him that I saw Malcolm McDonald live in the black and white at OT. I believe it was circa 1972 and from the Stretford End I just have this memory he had incredibly bowed legs. Have you seen and noticed something unusual or different about a player?

11 Sep 2026 08:58:17
Yes Onana had very slippy hands.

11 Sep 2026 10:12:24
David Beckham had more hairstyles during his Manchester United career than we have won major trophies since Sir Alex Ferguson left.

11 Sep 2026 10:17:38
He also had sharp studs in his boots apparently. 🤣

11 Sep 2026 10:32:15
You could drive a bus through the legs of McDonald.

The thighs of Mark Hughes were pretty impressive.

The weirdest of all had to be the comb over of Sir Bobby Charlton.

11 Sep 2026 11:07:55
IWOTB, I was going to mention Mark Hughes's legs. I've never seen such big legs on a man! The joke at after-dinner talks from ex-pros like Lee Sharpe and Ryan Giggs was that opposition players have broken their own legs trying to kick Mark Hughes, and he never needed shin pads; his legs were tougher than the shin pads!

11 Sep 2026 14:11:01
Mark Hughes was my fav player for a long time. Big game expert too.

11 Sep 2026 14:47:37
Ports, Sparky was one of my all time favourites also. It was tragic what happened to his son recently.

Talking of thighs, see if you can find an old picture of the inimitable and true great that was Duncan Edwards. He had thighs to match Sparky.

Don't forget that was the 1950s when training was endlessly running around the pitch, eating steak and chips, yum yum, going to the pub and smoking 20 a day!

Although, I have to say, Duncan did not smoke or drink.

He was a clean living boy. Besty certainly did not use him as an example!

11 Sep 2026 20:28:37
I think it was Sheffield United away in the FA Cup when Sparky lost his temper. After being kicked all over, he lost it and kicked one of them up in the air. We loved Sparky on the terraces. He had big calves, and I think, away at QPR, they kept going through the back of him, but he was immense.

11 Sep 2026 21:06:54
I always felt he was one of us, although later found out he was a Chelsea fan. He typified a United player - tough, no-nonsense, never give up, and he scored some critical goals for us. Cup Winners' Cup Final and FA Cup semi-final spring to mind. Selling him the first time was scandalous.