Manchester United Transfer Rumours/Discussion 2006 :)

marius

Hobart wrote:

Torres has announced that he is going to stay in Spain.

But he held a press conference in Madrid on Tuesday to say: "I want to stay. If I had wanted to leave Atletico Madrid I would have done it years ago.

"I feel fine here. There has been a lot of discussion about my possible exit but I am here for another year."

Full story here => http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/5187184.stm

"Neither us, nor the club, has received an offer from Manchester United, or any other clubs for that matter."

hmmmmm was it all press b0ll0x?

hawker27

duff is a very ordinary player space cadet,who came in for him when he was leaving chelsea.he,ll suit the geordies and gel well with owen lmao.

Rollo Tamasi wrote:

go back to space kid

quad_red

Saha, Rooney, Rossi & Ole up front.

But until Utd sort of the midfield we are 100% batch f*cking loco screwed

Carrick is a dead deal (and at that price it had to be). Diarra still hasn't gone to Madrid - what's going on there?

Gill is a plank.

Don't get me wrong - selling Duff for a bag of chips and a can of coke to Newcastle shows that cuddly Pete Kenyon still has the anti-midas touch.

But Gill was clearly an eager and quick apprentice.

PHB

Personally I'm happy United told Spurs to **** off about that sorta price. It's just bull****. Carrick should hand in a transfer request and force the issue.
We've still got two weeks.

Also to all the people who are saying that Fergie thinks he is happy with the squad, stop being stupid. Of course he wants to get in some midfielders, he's said it like 50 times, but what the **** do you want him to say? Oh yeh we're ****ing desperate, we're stuck with Fletcher and O'Shea, what the **** do you think? Please please please rip us off. Stop being silly.

quad_red

PHB wrote:

Also to all the people who are saying that Fergie thinks he is happy with the squad, stop being stupid. Of course he wants to get in some midfielders, he's said it like 50 times, but what the **** do you want him to say? Oh yeh we're ****ing desperate, we're stuck with Fletcher and O'Shea, what the **** do you think? Please please please rip us off. Stop being silly.

Carrick still isn't what we bloody need though. He's a start though.

And Fergusons does share responsibility for the situation we find ourselves in. Years of dud signings in midfield. Of shadey deals and ....suspicious agent fees. And of being too bloody occupied with the f**king nags.

As Ferguson himself has always said - you're a hero for what you achieve now. Football waits for no man. Ferguson has passed his sell by date. He needs to go before he totally sullies his legacy. Was watching Haughey last night and I think Fergie could learn some lessons from it.

PHB

I believe in loyalty, and if Fergie wants to stay for 5 more years, I'm happy to let him. I think after all he has done for United, he deserves to decide when he should leave.

LegacyUser

disgrace...utd can't attract quality anymore

quad_red

PHB wrote:

I believe in loyalty, and if Fergie wants to stay for 5 more years, I'm happy to let him. I think after all he has done for United, he deserves to decide when he should leave.

Ferguson has made ALOT of money with Utd.

And like a player, when the time comes, the time comes.

He had no compunction about showing Utd 'legends' the door - in Keane's case, alot of it had to do with Keane's rage at the way Utd is now being run.

The extent of what's gone on in Utd over the last few years is yet to come out.

SAF is a legend, undoubtedly. He will stand beside Sir Matt in the clubs history.

But his time is over. He has lost the respect of the players. And the club is now poised in an extremely perilous situation. Thanks to the American poison dwarfs we are now laden with loan shark debt.

We need someone new to re-engerise the players and the club. Things are stale and rotten.

If not, mark my words, in 2 years time Rooney will be off. As will anyone with an ounce of drive and ambition.

Hobart

marius wrote:

"Neither us, nor the club, has received an offer from Manchester United, or any other clubs for that matter."

hmmmmm was it all press b0ll0x?

I don't know tbh. It is quoted that he said "I am here for another year." That hardly translates into "I commit my future to Atletico". Maybe he is just leaving the door open for himself. he is also a "united" type player , and I would be flabbergasted if Manu did not make some approach for him.

On the loyalty front, I understand where PHB is coming from. SAF has been the yard stick, when it comes to achievments over the last 12 years. Even as a Liverpool supporter, I was in awe of what he managed to do in '99. However, I feel, that he has overstayed his time at this stage. The team, from anybodies perspective, have underachieved over the last 2-3 seasons and the buck has to stop somewhere. His decision to let RVN go (a proverbial goal machine) and to stick with the squad he has, is a bad one imo. All this hype surrounding the singing of Carrick, a frankly mediocre midfielder in United terms, for £20M+ has a touch of spin about it.

Let the results speak for themselves, but I fail to see how a team which is supposed to be in transition, can actually achieve that, without bringing in some new and talented blood.

quad_red

Hobart wrote:

Let the results speak for themselves, but I fail to see how a team which is supposed to be in transition, can actually achieve that, without bringing in some new and talented blood.

Utd have been 'in transition' for 4 years now apparently.

I'm just tired of SAF's staggering levels of BS. I remember the bad old days before the Premiership bonanza. I know what Ferguson achieved.

But Utd are in decline. That we managed to get 2nd place last year was jammy beyond belief. The culture in the club is wrong now. We are getting progressively less driven, progressively less attack minded. Listen to that clown Carlos go on about one nils etc.

Winning is not a prerequisite. But playing with heart and playing positive attacking football is what Utd are about.

I think Ferguson has lost sight of that.

Players like Rooney, Smith, Heinze, Park and Brown play with heart and conviction.

But watching lazy sunshine boy clowns like Richardson, Ferdinand and Silvestre make a mockery of that is galling.


And the thing is - there is so much potential there. But read between the lines - all the Utd back room staff who have left. The fact that many senior people are now in precarious positions due to the dirt that has been gathered on them.

It's just depressing. Utd are stuck in a quagmire of debt, corruption and ineptitude.

It's only the youthful brilliance that shines through anymore.

sprinkles

PHB wrote:

I believe in loyalty, and if Fergie wants to stay for 5 more years, I'm happy to let him. I think after all he has done for United, he deserves to decide when he should leave.

That's retarded


Loyalty is one thing but the club comes first. If he's not pulling his weight then he should go.

blastman

Comment: Midfield vacuum requires Fergie fill
Stuart Brennan : MEN : 25th July 2006

MANCHESTER United fans are starting to get that twitchy feeling, as the fuse leading to the start of the Premiership campaign sizzles like the summer heat.

Chief executive David Gill said that the club would wrap up its close-season transfer business before the World Cup had even started.

Here we are, over six weeks later and that gaping hole in midfield looks darker and wider than ever.

Not only that, but the fall-out with Ruud van Nistelrooy has ripped another big gash in the fabric of Fergie's squad, and one that looks like it will not get filled. The words emanating out of Old Trafford are becoming of increasing concern to the support. Fergie says replacing Ruud is not a priority, and that his limited transfer budget will be spent on a midfielder or two - if they can get the right men at the right price. But replacing Ruud, whose days at Old Trafford are clearly numbered, IS a priority.

Fergie's pronouncements about having Ole Gunnar Solskjaer back in contention, and that the return of Paul Scholes is like having a new signing, look feeble to say the least.

Van Nistelrooy's departure will turn the strike-force into a blunt instrument, and one that is riddled with uncertainties.

Wayne Rooney remains the gem around whom a team can be built, but he has not yet developed into a proven goalscorer, and his temperament was again called into question during the World Cup finals. Louis Saha looked terrific at times last season but you sense he is always just one challenge away from another injury lay-off.

The return of Solskjaer has warmed the cockles of every Red's heart. But whether he will ever again reach the required heights remains to be seen.

Then there is Giuseppe Rossi, a smashing little talent. But this is a season too soon, and the fact that both he and the club have talked about farming him out on a season's loan proves that he is still a year away from being ready for the fray.

Brinkmanship

United have been trying to bring in new faces, and are now involved in several games of brinksmanship as they seek to sign Michael Carrick, Mahamadou Diarra and Tomasz Kuszczak.

"We will not be stupid. I am adamant about that," says Fergie. The problem is that United have earned themselves something of a reputation for being `stupid' in the transfer market.

Thirty million for Rio Ferdinand, and £24m for flop Seba Veron were followed by another £30m for Wayne Rooney. The last deal could still turn out to be a bargain, but the truth is that United were panicked into it by some sharp manoeuvring by Everton, stalking horses Newcastle and an agent or two.

Now when United are in the market, clubs believe they can bump the fee up and hope that their nerve goes first. And the nerves of the supporters are already starting to twang. If United fail to buy, they start to look a little like the Liverpool side of 15 years ago, a force in decline, while the powers within the club sit on their hands and hope for the best.

The showpiece pre-season game to mark the new, expanded Old Trafford is almost a metaphor. After talk of Barcelona and Real Madrid, the game will be against ... Sevilla, the Blackburn of the Spanish league.

The simple truth is that United can no longer afford to splash cash around, with the Glazers about to dump another £250m of debt onto the club, bringing estimated interest payments of around £42m a year.

With finances on a knife-edge, the gambles played out over the next few weeks could have dire ramifications for the club.

Twist, and come up with more money for players, and the coffers could be empty by the time the banks and hedge funds want their cash. Stick and the risk is stagnation, a poor league season, and no qualification for the 2007-08 Champions League.

astrofool

It's great how someone can say they dump debt on the club and comment on the interest repayments without mentioning that the extra debt was there to reduce the repayments.

PHB

Loyalty is one thing but the club comes first.

I don't see the two things as seperate.

That we managed to get 2nd place last year was jammy beyond belief

That's just bull****, why? United earnt that position, and despite having a midfield pairing of Giggs and O'Shea, we were still better than everybody else in the premiership. You think we're lucky? What the **** does it say about the other teams

herbieflowers

the league table never lies....

quad_red

PHB wrote:

I don't see the two things as seperate.

I do.

Manchester United is more than Alex Ferguson. Years of personal vendettas, personal business disagreements and nepotism having a disastrous effect on the club are in danger of tarnishing his memory for many reds.

Ferguson himself has always said it. He is not the manager he once was.

PHB wrote:

That's just bull****, why? United earnt that position, and despite having a midfield pairing of Giggs and O'Shea, we were still better than everybody else in the premiership. You think we're lucky? What the **** does it say about the other teams

Ha ha. So what you're saying is despite our midfield we got second place?

I never said it wasn't earned. And the table never lies indeed :rolleyes:

We should be in pursuit of Chelsea. Not patting ourselves on the back that we dragged ourselves into second as a result of Liverpool not being able to hit a donkeys arse with a banjo in terms of goals and Arsenal blooding youth.

And what were the consequences? Keane disillusioned and angry and is offloaded. Ruud is disillusioned and angry and is offloaded. Ronaldo is pissed off and wants out. According to sources close to Rooney he is increasingly weary of Utds 'Carry On' style of management and tactical outlook.

Utd are quickly losing the ability to attract new talent.

I don't blame Torres. Utd are struggling under massive debt. A manager who seemingly breeds discontent. A managerial/board team who seem incapable of signing any player without it descending into a debacle.

bucks73

Of course we didnt come second by fluke. Thats crazy talk. Joint top scorers and 4th best defence...thats why we came second. Arsenal or Liverpool didnt beat us in the league either so we well deserved it.

herbieflowers

this season will be the test, Pool have strengthened and can only really get better, Arsenal's youngsters have a had a year's experience playing together (added to the run to the CL final), Spurs have added to their squad and Chelski...

herbieflowers

The real problem for Man U, imo, is they look very very average without Rooney - he's become too much of a talisman, too much of a go-to guy all of the time. In the past the squad has been able to cope well with injuries - true no-one could replace Rooney but Utd do look short of options when he's not in the team.

PHB

Just like Arsenal without Henry, that's what happens when you have grreat players.
Although, when have you seen United without Rooney to make this conclusion?

----


I'm sorry, it was earnt, you accepted that, but it was still jammy beyond belief? What exactly do you think jammy means?

herbieflowers

PHB wrote:

Just like Arsenal without Henry, that's what happens when you have grreat players.
Although, when have you seen United without Rooney to make this conclusion?

Champions League, after hsi sending off vs. Villareal and the games he was suspended for

quad_red

And he is at the age when a team should be built around him, to let him do what he does best.

Instead, he is being forced into plugging the alarming holes that present themselves in the current Utd team.

Without Ronaldo and with Rooney forced back into midfield, Utd looked completely toothless and without pace on many an occasion. Ruuds stationary positioning did not help.

The Premiership was very poor last season. This, combined with a mean enough defence and an attack that struggled valiantly to throw off the shackles thrown on it, is why we came second.

This isn't luck in the sense that we worked hard. But it is jammy in the sense that our main competitors weren't in a position to take advantage of our glaring inadequecies. Something I don't believe will happen again this year.

Giggs and Scholes are in their thirties. Giggs should only be used sparingly and Scholes still hasn't resolved a potentially career ending injury. Neither is capable of sustained runs of form. They are no longer capable of it imo.

Fletcher is absolutely pathetic. John O'Shea is also complete muck - and not because he doesn't have talent per se. But cos he is so without conviction and energy. Miller - well, no comment.

So we're left with a horrible limited make shift midfield that will discourage and drain the rest of the team.

Chucky the tree

Whats the deal with the rumours the Valencia have asked united to name there price for Ronaldo? Where have they suddenly found all this money?

Little-Devil

Yeh i saw that one on the internet yesterday, if i was SAF id just turn around and say you can have him for £40million and they would soon F**K Off and stop all this rubbish in the papers.

I agree with some of the previous post that Manutd have being in decline for the last 5 years. The last time we won the league we were quite lucky in the sense that arsenal was just rubbish and Manutd were grinding out the results and playing well as a team. I always hear Manutd fans saying we are the biggest in the world, which makes me laugh ( im a Manu supporter myself ) But when is the last time we attracted a real top class player to Manu? SAF always says that he has agents on the phone during the transfer window saying such and such would love to come play, but were the hell are they? I can honestly say i can’t remember when we signed a really top class player and someone who wanted to come (please don't mention Veron) as he was rubbish before he came in my view.

In my view its not only the club that attracts the best players but the manager, now im not saying Ferguson isn't a good manager, but you would have to wonder why? There are a load of top players who have turned down Manu over the years. I would put the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid, AC Milan, ahead of Manu as a top club. We have the biggest name in football, but that’s all down to the merchandise and that waste of a preseason trip to South Africa.

herbieflowers

Bear in mind, though, that this is a team in transition. The days of Keane, Beckham, Scholes, Giggs, Butt, the Nevilles, Schmeichel etc. are over. Season by season these players have been filtered out without being properly replaced.

With the most important of this generation gone - naemly Keane - the real test comes. Can Fergie build a side that could match that of the treble winning season? He's done it before!

quad_red

I think Veron was many things - but rubbish he was not.

Utds success was never built on a galactico model. Buying the best & flashiest players around the place. In fact, as Veron illustrated, such buys usually ended up failing.

Look at the players that Utds success was built on and you'll easily see what Utd now lack.

Character. Leadership. Utd seem to have abandoned their youth policy. What's to be learned from having ****wits like Fletcher and O'Shea in midfield? Why not give some of the young ones a chance?

The youth, as always, will be Utds saviour. But not before the senile Fergie and Carlos Wormtongue are deposed. The rubbish needs to be cleared out.

herbieflowers

The youth system hasn't gone anywhere, the class that produced Beckham et al was a one in a million chance. The likes of that happening again are very very slim. It's incredible to think that that class produced, essentially, the spine of Man U during the mid to late 90s. Youth systems rarely do this, with usually one or tow players rising up through the ranks every couple of seasons.


Also it isn't that failing of the youth system, if the players met the standard they'd be playing.

quad_red

herbieflowers wrote:

Bear in mind, though, that this is a team in transition. The days of Keane, Beckham, Scholes, Giggs, Butt, the Nevilles, Schmeichel etc. are over. Season by season these players have been filtered out without being properly replaced.

With the most important of this generation gone - naemly Keane - the real test comes. Can Fergie build a side that could match that of the treble winning season? He's done it before!

We've been 'in transition' since 2001.

Transition is Fergusons buzz word for 'i haven't played Rooney at left back and Heinze up front yet, so there is plenty more retarded experimentation to come'.

Transition. Transition to what? Transition to attempting to buy our way out of trouble again??!?!

What is Fergusons masterplan? Fair enough, Torres would be a good buy. But what the hell are we going to do in midfield? At the end of the season we were going to have all our transfers signed up before the World Cup. Then it was after the World Cup. Then it was a wait to see what happened with Juve.

Utd can no longer hemorrhage money on over priced, agent infested shadey deals. We no longer have the money or back up.

And nothing I've seen in the last few years reassures me that Ferguson has the ability, the determination or the honesty to get us out of this.

quad_red

herbieflowers wrote:

Also it isn't that failing of the youth system, if the players met the standard they'd be playing.

They're not been given a chance! How depressed would you be if you couldn't get any chance of playing even when someone like Fletcher who is
a) muck
b) muck playing out of position
c) hated by his team mates

As I said - at least give some of the young players a chance. We dragged ourselves along last year in spite of some of players, not because of them. And running sublime talents like Rooney into the ground is too depressing to countenance.

blastman

astrofool wrote:

It's great how someone can say they dump debt on the club and comment on the interest repayments without mentioning that the extra debt was there to reduce the repayments.

You definitely work in the financial sector, don't you? The part of it that does a lot of advertising on daytime telly, I'd say.

blastman

herbieflowers wrote:

The youth system hasn't gone anywhere, the class that produced Beckham et al was a one in a million chance. The likes of that happening again are very very slim. It's incredible to think that that class produced, essentially, the spine of Man U during the mid to late 90s. Youth systems rarely do this, with usually one or tow players rising up through the ranks every couple of seasons.


Also it isn't that failing of the youth system, if the players met the standard they'd be playing.

United's reserve/youth team won the Treble last year (I'm pretty sure, I'll have to check this though). Yet since the Glazers have arrived, one of the reserve teams have been done away with and the existing reserve team will only play 18 games this coming season. This doesn't strike me as the actions of a club serious about developing their young players.

bucks73

I hate that word "transition". Thats just another way of telling the fans "I expect us to be poor this season because I wasnt able to buy anyone decent to replace Vieira, so dont expect too much this season" and then roll it out week in, week out when a joke of a back four cant defend against the worst in the league.

Not a word I have heard used by Ferguson mind. Whinger rolled that one out early last season and then used it all season to hide the fact that the gooners were crap. Just because you sell 2 midfielders and play 2 younger ones does not mean you are in transition.

As has been said, United just havent bought quality midfielders in a long time. This is not transition. This is poor dealing in the transfer market. Could be blamed on Ferguson or Gill or Yanks. Who knows?

And decent sigings doesnt have to mean huge names. Look at the midfielders on the market in the last couple of years who would get on ahead of O,Shea or Fletcher and could do a good job: Duff, Parker, Alonso, Davids...

Ruskie4Rent

Yet now you have players like fabregas, senderos and eboue likely to be regulars and key players thanks to that season under their belt.
Transition means out with the old and in with the new, sacrafices have to be made for the benifit of the younger generation.
Now lets hope Jones, Rossi, and Gibson will progress and give us something to smile about because all this pesimism is annoyin.

PHB

This doesn't strike me as the actions of a club serious about developing their young players.

Well perhaps you should stop just assuming things and actually look at the situation.

That team was scrapped because the reserve leagues quality is shockingly low. Fergie took the decision to scrap one of the reserve teams, and instead decided to loan out a lot of the young players.
McShane to Brighton, Jones to Preston and NEC, Eagles to Watford, Foster to Watford, Spector to West Ham, and about 4 more than aren't instantly coming into my head.

It was a fantastic decision, resulted in one reserve team playing a very high level of football, compared to two playing a decent level of football. Beyond that, it gave players like McShane, Jones, and Foster incredible chances to impress, which they did.

Maybe it doesn't impress you, but it doesn't seem to impress you because you appear to know jack **** about the situation.

p.s. They won the treble last season, they won the quadruple the season before that.

Why?
Mostly Rossi, Gibson, Jones(the previous season), Evans, Pique[Who btw is in the semi's of the under-19 championship, after scoring a brace on the way]

sprinkles

PHB wrote:

I don't see the two things as seperate.



That's just bull****, why? United earnt that position, and despite having a midfield pairing of Giggs and O'Shea, we were still better than everybody else in the premiership. You think we're lucky? What the **** does it say about the other teams

Loyalty to a manager that transends loyalty to the club is not benificial to the club. Seriously. How can you say that you'd like to see Fergie stay on for 5 more years if the slide continues as it has. That's pure nonsense

herbieflowers

quad_red wrote:

We've been 'in transition' since 2001.

Transition is Fergusons buzz word for 'i haven't played Rooney at left back and Heinze up front yet, so there is plenty more retarded experimentation to come'.

Transition. Transition to what? Transition to attempting to buy our way out of trouble again??!?!

What is Fergusons masterplan? Fair enough, Torres would be a good buy. But what the hell are we going to do in midfield? At the end of the season we were going to have all our transfers signed up before the World Cup. Then it was after the World Cup. Then it was a wait to see what happened with Juve.

Utd can no longer hemorrhage money on over priced, agent infested shadey deals. We no longer have the money or back up.

And nothing I've seen in the last few years reassures me that Ferguson has the ability, the determination or the honesty to get us out of this.

Whoa, slow down! Transition isn't an instantaneous flick of a switch that happens because of a few signings. It's a process that takes time, time to blood young players, time for new signings to gel, time to make the right choices tactically and personnel-wise. It's not an overnight sensation. Look at Liverpool, they've (practically) been in recession from the days when they were the formidable force of English and European football. Man Utd were that formidable force (particurlarly in England) of the 90s.

Your post seems ott, like you expect success every season. You take the good with the bad, no? And have the last four seasons (the "transition" period as you mark it) been that bad? Title winners in 2001 and 2003, FA Cup winners in 2004, League Cup winners last season. Is that really THAT bad?

You say that Fergie's exprimentation is "retarded". Fair enough, that's your opinion, but would you really doubt the judgement of a man who's won 19 trophies? I don't need to give you the whole history of his time at Old Trafford.

And when have we "bought ourselves out of trouble"?

Aquos76

If any one is interested Smithy was back in training today. Fergie expect him to be available from the end of Aug.

link

Nalz

PHB wrote:

Spector to West Ham

Was sold not loaned for 500k i think

PHB wrote:

It was a fantastic decision, resulted in one reserve team playing a very high level of football, compared to two playing a decent level of football. Beyond that, it gave players like McShane, Jones, and Foster incredible chances to impress, which they did.

Yeah agreed, and he's lookin to loan out Pique and Richie Jones this season.

quad_red

PHB wrote:

Maybe it doesn't impress you, but it doesn't seem to impress you because you appear to know jack **** about the situation.

Who pissed in your cornflakes?

You're a moderator. Your attitude is hardly helpful. If you disagree with him, say so.

Responses like that illustrate that
a) You know jack **** about how to how a civil conversation.
b) You take opposing opinions as some sort of lambast against the obvious (ie. your) truth.

The Muppet

Appparently Michael Carrick has turned down a contract extension from Spurs so with only two years left on his contract it looks likely that he will now be sold as Spurs will not want to allow another Campell situation develope and they have alread purchased a suitable replacement.


The rumour that United will offer £12 for Defoe has grown legs after Torres ruled out moving.

Hobart

Any sources for this?

quad_red

The Muppet wrote:

The rumour that United will offer £12 for Defoe has grown legs after Torres ruled out moving.

Even twelve pounds is too much for Dafoe

jobonar

Hobart wrote:

Any sources for this?

its in 1 of the papers this morning but cant remember which 1....

Aquos76

Not once this summer have Fergie mentioned Defoe, mind you he hasnt mentioned Torres either. This is just paper talk ****e again. The Carrick deal will probably be complete in the next few days, but it wont be for the 20mil which spurs value him at. With him turning down the new contract, it now puts spurs ina different position.

gracehopper

i wouldnt bother with Defoe. Saha and Smith are both better options for us.

I hope we can get carrick now for around 12 million now that he's rejected his new contract. He wouldnt be my first choice or my second or even third but we need a midfielder badly at this stage. I think he'll do ok at United.
My trouble is that i'm so used to United playing with Roy Keane and now nobody compares to him. Carrick will be able to pass and will provide an option for the defenders in order to start an attack but that is about it.

quad_red

gracehopper wrote:

My trouble is that i'm so used to United playing with Roy Keane and now nobody compares to him. Carrick will be able to pass and will provide an option for the defenders in order to start an attack but that is about it.

That's the problem - we've been spoilt. At United we've had the best 3 gritty box to box of our generation. Robson, Ince and Keane.

I don't see any player around to match those in terms of strength, determination, skill and ability to read the game. Our game flowed around Keane, around centre mid.

But not anymore. Rooney will be our next captain.

What we need now, if we can't have brilliance, is competence and drive.

Cos we are clearly lacking that in the centre mid now.


As for Dafoe - this has been going on for years. Dafoe is small, doesn't have much pace and won't bag that many goals. The papers dredge this up every so often as a filler.

PHB

Was sold not loaned for 500k i think

Yeh sorry, last year he was loaned to Charlton, then sold this summer to West Ham.

blastman

PHB wrote:

Well perhaps you should stop just assuming things and actually look at the situation.

That team was scrapped because the reserve leagues quality is shockingly low. Fergie took the decision to scrap one of the reserve teams, and instead decided to loan out a lot of the young players.
McShane to Brighton, Jones to Preston and NEC, Eagles to Watford, Foster to Watford, Spector to West Ham, and about 4 more than aren't instantly coming into my head.

It was a fantastic decision, resulted in one reserve team playing a very high level of football, compared to two playing a decent level of football. Beyond that, it gave players like McShane, Jones, and Foster incredible chances to impress, which they did.

Maybe it doesn't impress you, but it doesn't seem to impress you because you appear to know jack **** about the situation.

p.s. They won the treble last season, they won the quadruple the season before that.

Why?
Mostly Rossi, Gibson, Jones(the previous season), Evans, Pique[Who btw is in the semi's of the under-19 championship, after scoring a brace on the way]

I don't profess to be an expert on the reserves, that's true (my subscription to MUTV must have got lost in the post), however I don't see where anything I stated is factually incorrect i.e. one reserve team was abolished, the reserves did win the treble last season and they will play fewer games this season, so I "apparently" do know a little bit more than "jack ****" about the situation.

Fewer reserve games means more players need to go out on loan to get experience, both these conditions are cheaper for the club's owners. The owners come from a sports tradition where the idea of a reserve system is completely different or doesn't exist, so it's just another expense to them. Two reserve team coaches have also left this year in relatively quick succession. Sorry, but without the benefit of your rose-tinted glasses, I can't see how this adds up to a club commited to improving the development of its reserves and young players.

PHB

Sorry, but without the benefit of your rose-tinted glasses, I can't see how this adds up to a club commited to improving the development of its reserves and young players.

That's because your posts are just doom mongering. Taking pieces of facts which are first glance appear to be 'bad', and just ignoring the surrounding situation, and then complaining about them.

Fewer reserve games means more players need to go out on loan to get experience, both these conditions are cheaper for the club's owners.

How much do you think it will cost to enter a league? Also, the idea of trying to pass on the wage bill is laughable. Most of these players can't be on more than a grand a week, which is 52 grand a year. Which is roughly the weekly wage of a first team player.

The owners come from a sports tradition where the idea of a reserve system is completely different or doesn't exist, so it's just another expense to them.

And?

Two reserve team coaches have also left this year in relatively quick succession.

Indeed, want to know why? Because they did so ****ing well that they were wanted by clubs as managers, and Fergie desperately tried to keep them, but couldn't, as they were being offered managerial positions in other clubs.

What's happened is you'd like United to no longer being developing youth seriously, cause it would fit nicely into your general thesis, but it's just flatly untrue.
What's funny about this is that there are plenty of things to complain about with the state of United, yet you choose to pick on something which is probably in the best state of anything at United.

adox

quad_red wrote:

As for Dafoe - this has been going on for years. Dafoe is small, doesn't have much pace and won't bag that many goals. The papers dredge this up every so often as a filler.

You are kidding right? One of Defoes plus points is his pace.

I for one wouldnt mind seeing him at Old Trafford at all.If he did sign,he`d be the only real proven goal poacher that United would have on their books and in that way some sort of replacement for Ruud.