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Circus ManUnitus - Nobody's At The Wheel

jts1882 said:
Was having a look at United's record in the transfer market and you have to go back to Fellaini in summer 2013 and then Mata in Jan 2014 for signings they could claim to have got good value from. I include Fellaini as he suited their style more (not something you would have said when he signed) and been a regular. Before then there were van Persie (2012) and De Gea (2011), the last good signings.

Since 2014: Di Maria, Shaw, Herrera, Depay, Martial, Schneiderlin, Mkhitaryan, Bailly, Pogba, Sanches, Lindelof, Matic, Lukaku, and Fred (all over 30m euros), plus Schweinsteiger.

Compare with the early 2000s: van Nistelrooy and Veron (2001-02); Rio (2002-03); Ronaldo (2003-04); Rooney (2004-05); Vidic, Evra and van der Sar (2005-06); Carrick (2006-07); Anderson, Nani, Hargreaves and Tevez (2007-08); Berbatov (2008-09); Valencia (2009-10). A player they got good value from every year and only one big dud.

It was largely downhill from Bebe and Smalling in 2010-11.

Source: https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/manchester-united/alletransfers/verein/985
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Moyes knew what he was doing after all!

It is a valid point through, there does not seem to be any accountability on so many high value failures.
 
The accountability for the Glazers is share price and profitability. Woodward is doing a good job on this score. It's bizarre that he can't see that his control of transfers is not delivering on the pitch and delegate the task. But football seems to do this to successful businessmen. The obvious current example is Mike Ashley, a ruthless and effective operator in his sportswear business, but a buffoon in charge of Saudi Sportswashing Machine.
 
jts1882 said:
The accountability for the Glazers is share price and profitability. Woodward is doing a good job on this score. It's bizarre that he can't see that his control of transfers is not delivering on the pitch and delegate the task. But football seems to do this to successful businessmen. The obvious current example is Mike Ashley, a ruthless and effective operator in his sportswear business, but a buffoon in charge of Saudi Sportswashing Machine.
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I tend to think that Man U make money in spite of the footballing side, such is their scale and brand. They actually hamper themselves financially and are still one of the biggest players in the transfer market. Commercially Woodward has grown the income, but is that not just part of the growing appetite for football worldwide and a willingness to allow anyone to sponsor parts of the club that were previously not considered? Either way we need Ed at the helm for a lot longer to continue the cracking job he is doing of undoing their dominance!

I think Ashley is going a great job at Saudi Sportswashing Machine btw :D
 
United have survive the Glazers so far, with some Fergie brown-nosing and some Mr Ed economics, but at some point the football will have a significant effect on their appeal. They still have enough money, despite the Glazers, but Woodward is not using it properly.

The financial and historical football power of United is remarkable, but there is a limit. Look how close bad owners (Hicks and Gillet) were to taking down our second biggest club, only to be saved by some generous judicial decisions.
 
Is the yellow and green scarf protest stuff still a thing? Or did they get preoccupied with all the other brick that's been going on lately?
 
https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/man-utd-losing-valuable-time-as-frustrating-transfer-tactics-threaten-ole-gunnar-solskjaers-rebuild-a4171876.html

Man Utd losing valuable time as frustrating transfer tactics threaten Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's rebuild
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Manchester United rebuild is being held up by their increasingly frustrating negotiating tactics.

Now Old Trafford’s power-brokers are coming under mounting pressure to speed up their recruitment process, with opposition clubs irritated by a series of low-ball offers for targets.

Solskaer wants the majority of his squad in place for the start of pre-season training on July 1. Yet Daniel James is the only new recruit - and that deal was delayed for weeks as United haggled over his price.

Aaron Wan-Bissaka is expected to join the Wales winger imminently – but negotiations with Crystal Palace are following a familiar pattern.

Swansea were stunned by United’s initial offer of around £10m for James – less than half their valuation. And while the tragic sudden death of his father saw him given personal time to grieve, protracted negotiations between the clubs were down to the structuring of the deal.

Now it is Palace who have been exasperated by United’s failure to get close enough to their £60m valuation of Wan-Bissaka, despite the England Under-21 international being identified months ago as Solskjaer’s first choice target at right back.

United have come in with two offers - both involving up-front payments of £35m, plus add-ons.

Palace are expected to deal at around £40-45m up front, with add-ons taking the fee to a potential £55m.

It’s anticipated United’s third bid will finally see them reach a breakthrough - but the concern for Solskjær is that valuable time is being lost due to the club’s drawn-out negotiations.

Their initial approach for Harry Maguire is believed to have been as low as £40m - despite Leicester valuing the England centre back at more than double that figure.

It is becoming a well-worn strategy that is being openly discussed within football circles

Matt Judge - head of corporate development - is United’s chief negotiator, in charge of striking deals with agents and clubs.

He is also responsible for renegotiating player contracts.

It has been noted that during a pivotal summer of squad rebuilding, one of United’s most significant pieces of business has been to hand 31-year-old Juan Mata a contract that will effectively tie him to the club for three years.


Supporters have also been disdainful of the decision to tie Chris Smalling and Phil Jones down to long-term deals at a time when the club is still in need of a top class centre-back.

Meanwhile, Ander Herrera was left frustrated by the amount of time it took United to come up with a suitable contract offer - prompting him to walk away at the end of the season in favour of Paris Saint-Germain.

Marcus Rashford is still to commit his future to Old Trafford.

Anger among supporters threatens to reach boiling point.

On Wednesday night #glazersout was the top trending topic on Twitter.

It comes after fans publicly demonstrated against Ed Woodward last season - hiring an aeroplane with a banner labelling the executive vice chairman as a ‘specialist in failure.’

On the back of a wretched campaign that saw United miss out on the Champions League for a third time in six seasons, the scrutiny on this summer is intense.

And their recruitment is the main focus of attention.

Considering they have faced little competition for the signings of James and Wan-Bissaka, there are concerns about how successful they will be in pursuit of a Maguire, who is also being targeted by Emirates Marketing Project.

With Paul Pogba and Romelu Lukaku both intent on leaving during this window, all eyes will be on United’s ability to secure profits on the two most expensive players in their history. Then there is the added issue of replacing them with top class players.


Jose Mourinho was angered by the club’s failures in the transfer market in two of his three summer windows.

He believed he was left short-handed after delivering two trophies in his first season and a return to the Champions League, with the club refusing to meet Inter Milan’s valuation of Ivan Perisic.

A year later, Mourinho’s pursuit was justified as the Croatia winger led his country to the World Cup final.

The former manager was even more infuriated last summer when moves for a centre-back were vetoed. Among his targets was Maguire, who United are desperate to land during this window.

United are well aware of supporters’ perception that commercial interests are being prioritised over success on the pitch.

Woodward is determined to prove the two factors go hand-in-hand - but unless significant investment is made this summer, he will once again face their fury.

Solskjaer’s intention to sign as many as five new players - even before the potential departures of Pogba and Lukaku – and he needs as long as possible to try to gel his squad.

That’s why it’s vital their recruitment is completed before the squad fly out to Perth for the start of their pre-season tour of Australia and the Far East in less than three weeks.



Sound familiar? Maybe its more to do with being a EUROPA league level side? I wouldnt have considered Utd short of money but this smells a lot like tightening their belts...
 
Manchester United’s ‘culture’ is overrated. Busby and Ferguson swam against the tide

"... clubs that like to mythologise themselves, to talk of an enduring club “culture”, some vital collective identity that must be honoured and nourished for the team to prosper ..."

... in reality this is all entirely misguided. The idea that some innate winning culture exists, some golden thread within these ever-changing commercial beasts is in itself a myth, and one that United are far from alone in following. Elite level football is shot through with the idea of cultures and “philosophies” and DNA. Frank Lampard’s possible return to Chelsea has led to much frowning speculation over whether the philosophy of Frank Lampard will fit with the philosophy of Chelseafootball club (it, you know, probably will).

Look properly and there are few periods of success in any sport that haven’t involved junking much of what went before. The opposite is closer to the truth: chuck out the chintz, tear apart the colony. Matt Busby’s time at United was built on rejecting the brutal culture he’d found as a player and building something else. Alex Ferguson had to spend five years helping the whole place walk off a mind-bending hangover before he could go forward. Arsène Wenger didn’t recreate The Arsenal Way, he binned it completely.

Still, it isn’t hard to see how this kind of myth-making gains a foothold. Supporters want to believe in the idea of a calling, a culture, something innately right and good. It is intoxicating. It mixes memory and desire. We all want to be told the past was great, that it will rise again, that it will taste just the same.

Meanwhile for the owners of a club like United, intent on nothing else but sweating the asset, success is less important than the maintenance of a brand, retaining that core, deeply wedded support. Let’s face it, United would probably reappoint Ferguson if they could, just for the partner-buzz, the revenue uplift, the social media eyeballs.

There is no sense of any hunger for a proper plan while the business thrums on. In the meantime the past will continue to cloud the future. The clubs leading the way will continue to become more effective machines. And Manchester United will continue to linger in its own timeline, clanking shut the doors on the DeLorean, cramming the furnace with coal, creaking out across the prairie once again in pursuit of the year 1985.
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For me United are actually offering reasonable money for those players, it’s the inflated fee’s smaller clubs think they can get which I raise an eyebrow at, is it because it’s United or just because that’s where the think the line is now?
 
galeforce said:
For me United are actually offering reasonable money for those players, it’s the inflated fee’s smaller clubs think they can get which I raise an eyebrow at, is it because it’s United or just because that’s where the think the line is now?
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United can thank themselves, really. Other clubs know they are willing to pay big money for players who are not neccessarily worth big money. And of course you have the lottery winners with their unlimited funds also affecting smaller club's ambitions in the transfer market.

Can't really blame smaller clubs. Of course they wanna squeeze their lemons to the max when they sense an opportunity to do so.
 
MAGUIRE SET FOR £80M CITY SWITCH

Leicester defender Harry Maguire is set to seal an £80m switch to Emirates Marketing Project, says the Mirror.

And the Premier League champions will pay the England international £280,000-a-week in order to move to the Etihad.


UNITED CONFIDENT OVER MAGUIRE CHASE

However, Manchester United are also confident they can beat their city rivals to sign Harry Maguire, according to reports in the Daily Star.

Sky Sports News understands City and United are set to go head to head for the Leicester centre back.


This is just embarrasing...
 
He doesn't strike me as Guardiola's idea of a footballing centre back. Perhaps Stones has converted him to a different approach.

If City get him, it will certainly rile the United fans.
 
I like Maguire, and I think he would thrive in a side like City.

Stones? Reaching the point of no redemption for me. Obviously talented, has potential, but is at the stage where its looking like he wont realise that potential. Really needs to shape up or ship out.
 
nayimfromthehalfwayline said:
I like Maguire, and I think he would thrive in a side like City.

Stones? Reaching the point of no redemption for me. Obviously talented, has potential, but is at the stage where its looking like he wont realise that potential. Really needs to shape up or ship out.
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Stones needs to drop down a level and play every week in a side that needs to defend. In some ways the ability he has on the ball is his weakness as he doesn’t seem to have the awareness of when to play and when not and City is not the pace to learn, let alone from their bench.
 
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