Manchester United Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread - 2013/14 mod warning post#7259

intellectual dosser

I was fairly annoyed this morning that not only had United not signed more players, but had seemed to have made themselves look a bit ridiculous in the process. But as the morning turned into afternoon I've become more positive about it all.

United have signed a Central Midfielder, adding to an already strong squad more than capable of winning the title. Should we win the title we'll have done so spending 27.5m, which compares favorable to Tottenham (£110m), Man City (£100m), Arsenal (£46m) and Liverpool (£40m). *

I also think it shows United aren't in the habit of handing over blank cheques for future signings.

*I realise my figures aren't exactly bang on.

bullvine

Anyone following Rooney on Facebook, his last couple of posts have been very positive, one about how good player Fellaini is and the other about being gutted to miss the Liverpool game!

Mitch Connor

master-t wrote: »

Jesus........I know Stephen from twitter and have interacted with him a good bit - normally a level headed bloke from what dealings I have had with him in the past, but this letter is embarrassing.


He talks about how our failed bids made the club look pathetic and we are the laughing stock etc, but the harsh truth is, it's letters like THIS that are embarrassing and making us the laughing stock.


Like a bunch of spoiled brats in a playschool.


Again, I think Stephen does a lot of great work with the sites, but this is a bit cringey for my liking.

Its both, to be honest.

Clubs aren't going to care about what our fans say.

However, it is being said in a few places that Woodward is seen within Football as being out of his depth, and United's credibility has been damaged by the actions of the last 2 months.

Chagan

v3ttel wrote: »

Lads, I don't mean to worry you but I've just been to the shop. There are no chicken rolls left.

Damn it. I knew I shouldn't have waited so long to buy what I needed.

Bleating Lamb

Did Coentrao move happen???....am at work.

Oranage2

Pro. F wrote: »

Are you going to pay out on this bet or what? Two and a bit weeks now since the bet fell due and you still haven't paid me.

Yes I made a big effort to sort it ASAP, I'm 5000 miles away and I work. And I only got your message thursday last week.

kippy

Bleating Lamb wrote: »

Did Coentrao move happen???....am at work.

No

How Soon Is Now

Sooner the better the league settles down and everyone fits into there rightful places only so much jumped up Liverpool fans can listen to..... Why the **** do i have to know so many of them :pac:

Three wins in a row and three goals for whats his face you would think they won the league......

Your Airbag

Athletic Bilbao not so innocent in Herrera to Manchester United collapse, claims Spanish journalist

“What a mess”. Those were the words quickly doing the rounds on Twitter last night when news trickled through that the deal for Ander Herrera was called off. Newly appointed Manchester United CEO Edward Woodward was blamed thousands of times for multiple things, but one word came up more than once: “incompetent”. It's hard not to agree with the accusations, but a question everyone wants answered is “what actually happened?”.


First of all, it's worth nothing that the “three wise men” spotted walking in and out of the LFP (Liga de Fútbol Profesional) headquarters were not impostors, but a group of Bilbao lawyers who had dealt with Athletic Bilbao (especially in the Javi Martinez transfer) before.



Other than talks of the deal breaking down over the release clause, it appears there was an obstacle that even Bayern Munich struggled to overcome when they attempted to sign Javi Martinez.


Lartaun de Arizmendi, a journalist for Cadena COPE (the radio station who first broke the news that Manchester United were interested in Ander Herrera), has revealed in a post on his personal blog that, irregardless of the reported clause, the Herrera deal was near impossible to complete and that Bayern Munich needed external help to force through the Javi Martinez transfer.


He says that after much reflection on the Javi Martinez case, Athletic Bilbao came to realise that the player depositing the cheque on Bayern Munich's behalf (even if Athletic were against the move) wasn't enough to make the deal 100% go through. Once they had discovered this detail, Athletic used it to their advantage and told Bayern Munich that for a unilateral deal like this one to go through, the club has to agree to receive the fee in their bank account.


If Bilbao refuse to receive the money, and there was no obligation for them to do so, the will of the paying club (Bayern Munich) and the player (Javi Martinez) counted for nothing. In order to force the deal to go through, Munich contacted the Financial Council in Bilbao to tell them that this offer was being refused. The Financial Council, who would benefit from this deal going through, pressured Athletic Bilbao in accepting the money by telling them that if they did not do so, they would be required to immediately pay all the debts they owed the Financial Council and would not receive anymore help from them in the future.


It is only after this happened that Athletic Bilbao accepted the offer for Javi Martinez and have the money placed in their bank account.
Returning to the Herrera deal, it appears that there was never any panic on Athletic Bilbao's side and it was reported many times that they were confident the deal would not go through.



If what Lartaun de Arizmendi has written is true, Bilbao knew that Manchester United would never have the time to get the Financial Council on their side in time for a similar process to happen.


If Bilbao refused to accept the money in their bank account, this would explain why the three Laffer lawyers were turned away at the LFP headquarters yesterday evening.


Edward Woodward (or whoever was in charge of the deal) was not aware of the loophole exploited by Bayern Munich and why would they be? Athletic Bilbao will have clearly done their best to keep it a secret in order to hold on to their best players.


As we all know, Juventus had to wait an extra year to get Fernando Llorente on a free because they hit a stumbling block similar to the one Manchester United crashed into late last night. Again, if what Lartaun writes is correct (and logically, it seems to be), Juventus would not have known of the Javi Martinez loophole and Bilbao stubbornly refused to accept the money.


Lartaun writes at the bottom of his post: “This is what I have managed to find on the Ander Herrera/MUFC deal. Now, it is up to you to draw your own conclusions as appropriate”.


We will, Lartaun, we will. If what you say is true, perhaps Manchester United are not the only ones to blame for this deal falling through.

http://sportwitness.ning.com/forum/topics/athletic-bilbao-not-so-innocent-in-herrera-to-manchester-united-c

jameshayes

bullvine wrote: »

Anyone following Rooney on Facebook, his last couple of posts have been very positive, one about how good player Fellaini is and the other about being gutted to miss the Liverpool game!

I always thought that account was managed by his PR, compared to his twitter account you'd swear he swallows a dictionary when going from one to the other

Rubber_Soul

dahat wrote: »

Any official line on what exactly happened in Spain yesterday?

Nothing official from the club anyway but just reading an article on Sport Witness about it there. According to them they weren't actually imposters (that was just Balague talking out of his arse as usual) but were lawyers from the same firm that did the Martinez to Bayern move and have previously worked with Arsenal, apparently they specialise in Spanish Sport law.

They also say that there was no confusion as to how much his buy out clause actually was, although there was some late fee that was unforeseen. It seems Utd tried to offer €30m on Thursday but tried to do it over 4 installments which obviously Bilbao rejected out of hand, after that it just seems to be a case that we decided not to up our offer.

Why the lawyers were there in the first place if Utd had actually already pulled out of the deal is kinda baffling. The Spanish press seem to be taking the line that Utd were stringing Bilbao and Herrera along and that it was an either/or situation between him and Fellaini.

http://sportwitness.ning.com/forum/topics/manchester-united-ander-herrera-and-the-impostors-picking-through

Giggsy11

Athletic Bilbao not so innocent in Herrera to Manchester United collapse, claims Spanish journalist

“What a mess”. Those were the words quickly doing the rounds on Twitter last night when news trickled through that the deal for Ander Herrera was called off. Newly appointed Manchester United CEO Edward Woodward was blamed thousands of times for multiple things, but one word came up more than once: “incompetent”. It's hard not to agree with the accusations, but a question everyone wants answered is “what actually happened?”.

First of all, it's worth nothing that the “three wise men” spotted walking in and out of the LFP (Liga de Fútbol Profesional) headquarters were not impostors, but a group of Bilbao lawyers who had dealt with Athletic Bilbao (especially in the Javi Martinez transfer) before.

Other than talks of the deal breaking down over the release clause, it appears there was an obstacle that even Bayern Munich struggled to overcome when they attempted to sign Javi Martinez.

Lartaun de Arizmendi, a journalist for Cadena COPE (the radio station who first broke the news that Manchester United were interested in Ander Herrera), has revealed in a post on his personal blog that, irregardless of the reported clause, the Herrera deal was near impossible to complete and that Bayern Munich needed external help to force through the Javi Martinez transfer.

He says that after much reflection on the Javi Martinez case, Athletic Bilbao came to realise that the player depositing the cheque on Bayern Munich's behalf (even if Athletic were against the move) wasn't enough to make the deal 100% go through. Once they had discovered this detail, Athletic used it to their advantage and told Bayern Munich that for a unilateral deal like this one to go through, the club has to agree to receive the fee in their bank account.

If Bilbao refuse to receive the money, and there was no obligation for them to do so, the will of the paying club (Bayern Munich) and the player (Javi Martinez) counted for nothing. In order to force the deal to go through, Munich contacted the Financial Council in Bilbao to tell them that this offer was being refused. The Financial Council, who would benefit from this deal going through, pressured Athletic Bilbao in accepting the money by telling them that if they did not do so, they would be required to immediately pay all the debts they owed the Financial Council and would not receive anymore help from them in the future.

It is only after this happened that Athletic Bilbao accepted the offer for Javi Martinez and have the money placed in their bank account.

Returning to the Herrera deal, it appears that there was never any panic on Athletic Bilbao's side and it was reported many times that they were confident the deal would not go through. If what Lartaun de Arizmendi has written is true, Bilbao knew that Manchester United would never have the time to get the Financial Council on their side in time for a similar process to happen.

If Bilbao refused to accept the money in their bank account, this would explain why the three Laffer lawyers were turned away at the LFP headquarters yesterday evening.

Edward Woodward (or whoever was in charge of the deal) was not aware of the loophole exploited by Bayern Munich and why would they be? Athletic Bilbao will have clearly done their best to keep it a secret in order to hold on to their best players.

As we all know, Juventus had to wait an extra year to get Fernando Llorente on a free because they hit a stumbling block similar to the one Manchester United crashed into late last night. Again, if what Lartaun writes is correct (and logically, it seems to be), Juventus would not have known of the Javi Martinez loophole and Bilbao stubbornly refused to accept the money.

Lartaun writes at the bottom of his post: “This is what I have managed to find on the Ander Herrera/MUFC deal. Now, it is up to you to draw your own conclusions as appropriate”.

We will, Lartaun, we will. If what you say is true, perhaps Manchester United are not the only ones to blame for this deal falling through

http://sportwitness.ning.com/forum/topics/athletic-bilbao-not-so-innocent-in-herrera-to-manchester-united-c

Pro. F

Oranage2 wrote: »

Yes I made a big effort to sort it ASAP, I'm 5000 miles away and I work. And I only got your message thursday last week.

So you are saying you are going to pay it? But chose to just not acknowledge my last PM about it? Sounds likely. I'll wait with bated breath.

Lucky I didn't give you my bank details like you asked for first off, I'd be very worried now if I had.

Zico

This will all die down after a while but a huge amount of damage has been done to the club's image. There's a long list of players we've failed to sign and fans have been angry about transfer failures before but Utd have never been made a global laughing stock in this way.

Some will argue that it's wrong to jump to conclusions without being in possession of all the facts and that Woodward is being unfairly vilified. Fair enough but Utd is not a private members club where public perception doesn't matter. Most fans outside of Britain and Ireland have only a facile attachment to the club. They're the consumers of the brand not the club and when the brand becomes a target of ridicule they won't be long buying a different coloured jersey.

The cost to the club could be far more than the inflated fee for Fellaini and once the slide starts it could be very hard to stop. In these situations you need a scapegoat. It may not sound like the Manchester United thing to do but you need to explain why half a dozen very public bids failed, demonstrate that you've solved the problem and vow to never let it happen again. The most surgical way of doing this is to replace Woodward immediately with someone who has a record of success in buying and selling high value assets.

Blatter

Pro. F wrote: »

What sort of sources do you have for this? It seems like the majority of the press were wrong about when the release clause expired so that does automatically bring into doubt their claims about how much the release clause was. But it would be good to see what sources you have for there being different claims on the release clause amount, I know you pay attention to which sources are reliable.

That Everton fan on Twitter, fourth official. Apparently he has been always pretty reliable with info on Everton. I heard he was correct with the release clause expiry date and always maintained that the release clause was closer to 30m. That's all I know on it tbh but that, and the fact that it'd be incredibly illogical behaviour from United to let it pan out the way it did if he did have a 23.5m clause, is enough to make me have doubts on what the clause actually was.

However the fact that United haven't leaked that the clause was higher to the press yet (which is what I'd expect them to do) is making me lean towards thinking the clause was 23.5m. Couldn't possibly say for sure either way though, hopefully more info comes out when the dust settles.

Oranage2

Pro. F wrote: »

So you are saying you are going to pay it? But chose to just not acknowledge my last PM about it? Sounds likely. I'll wait with bated breath.

Lucky I didn't give you my bank details like you asked for first off, I'd be very worried now if I had.

You asked me how I was nothing about the bet.

I told you already about WU, there is one form and it wants your address and phone number.

I also said I'd get someone to meet you with the money. Pick a time and place in the city centre and I'll get a female to give you the money since your hard man persona doesnt show in real life

googled eyes

Ah Giggsy11 I was just about to say these were the 3 lads involved in the Herrera deal.

bucketybuck

A lot of sanctimonious people in here just horrified that anybody would dare call the club embarrassing or a laughing stock. Very delicate they are indeed, but I wonder how they feel when even the BBC is getting digs in.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23944068

See items one and two on this list. Feels good to be a laughing stock doesn't it lads. (Hint: No, it ****ing pisses me right off)

Vic Vinegar

bucketybuck wrote: »

A lot of sanctimonious people in here just horrified that anybody would dare call the club embarrassing or a laughing stock. Very delicate they are indeed, but I wonder how they feel when even the BBC is getting digs in.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23944068

See items one and two on this list. Feels good to be a laughing stock doesn't it lads. (Hint: No, it ****ing pisses me right off)

Wow yeah. Incredibly harsh words from the beeb. Really put the club in its place.

bullvine

jameshayes wrote: »

I always thought that account was managed by his PR, compared to his twitter account you'd swear he swallows a dictionary when going from one to the other

he hasnt updated his twitter in ages, I think his Facebook his him. He had pics of the kids and stuff on it!

Rubber_Soul

Blatter wrote: »

That Everton fan on Twitter, fourth official. Apparently he has been always pretty reliable with info on Everton. I heard he was correct with the release clause expiry date and always maintained that the release clause was closer to 30m. That's all I know on it tbh but that, and the fact that it'd be incredibly illogical behaviour from United to let it pan out the way it did if he did have a 23.5m clause, is enough to make me have doubts on what the clause actually was.

However the fact that United haven't leaked that the clause was higher to the press yet (which is what I'd expect them to do) is making me lean towards thinking the clause was 23.5m. Couldn't possibly say for sure either way though, hopefully more info comes out when the dust settles.

Yeah the fact that it appears Utd tried to not disclose the fee and Everton leaked it with no official/unofficial correction from Utd makes me doubt the validity of the higher clause value myself.

The only possible logical reason for the delay I can think of apart from it is that we were still confident of landing other targets and for reasons, tactical or otherwise, felt if they came off we wouldn't want Fellaini. Otherwise it just appears to be poor business.

Pro. F

Oranage2 wrote: »

You asked me how I was nothing about the bet.

I told you already about WU, there is one form and it wants your address and phone number.

I also said I'd get someone to meet you with the money. Pick a time and place in the city centre and I'll get a female to give you the money since your hard man persona doesnt show in real life

What the fúck are you talking about hard man persona? I don't want to be trolled in real life waiting around for somebody who is probably not going to show up.

I told you about Western Union. You don't need my address and phone number for such a small amount of money. I checked with Western Union and they said you only need my name and city. But when I tell you that you just don't respond. Whenever you are ready to pay you can send me the WU code.

But you won't pay. That is obvious. You made an idiotic bet and you never had any intention of paying when it didn't come off.

Giggsy11

Blatter wrote: »

That Everton fan on Twitter, fourth official. Apparently he has been always pretty reliable with info on Everton. I heard he was correct with the release clause expiry date and always maintained that the release clause was closer to 30m. That's all I know on it tbh but that, and the fact that it'd be incredibly illogical behaviour from United to let it pan out the way it did if he did have a 23.5m clause, is enough to make me have doubts on what the clause actually was.

However the fact that United haven't leaked that the clause was higher to the press yet (which is what I'd expect them to do) is making me lean towards thinking the clause was 23.5m. Couldn't possibly say for sure either way though, hopefully more info comes out when the dust settles.

Fourth Official said the clause is much higher than what is reported in papers and he said that from day 1 and didn't change. Like you said he is very reliable at least when it comes to Everton news and I hope it was bigger than what was reported.

GavRedKing

Pro F & Oranage2, regardin gthis bet, take it to PM and keep it their, it has nothing to do with the thread and will likely derail it.

If ye dont ye both will pick up cards, thanks.

Cypher_sounds

Fellaini looks like he could be a great personality in the dressing room seems like a bit of a joker, can only be good for squad morale. A boost in every sense.Now i need to find one of those wigs for matchday.

ericzeking

bucketybuck wrote: »

A lot of sanctimonious people in here just horrified that anybody would dare call the club embarrassing or a laughing stock. Very delicate they are indeed, but I wonder how they feel when even the BBC is getting digs in.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23944068

See items one and two on this list. Feels good to be a laughing stock doesn't it lads. (Hint: No, it ****ing pisses me right off)

It's an opinion piece, the opinion of one guy...

Headshot

Pro. F wrote: »

What the fúck are you talking about hard man persona? I don't want to be trolled in real life waiting around for somebody who is probably not going to show up.

I told you about Western Union. You don't need my address and phone number for such a small amount of money. I checked with Western Union and they said you only need my name and city. But when I tell you that you just don't respond. Whenever you are ready to pay you can send me the WU code.

But you won't pay. That is obvious. You made an idiotic bet and you never had any intention of paying when it didn't come off.

I nerver knew you were a Nigerian Prince

master-t

Nalz

homerjay2005 wrote: »

so what do you think it is then? 50-50?

it wouldnt be far off 80% in my opinion, 70% at least as there really is no justification for him at this stage and people realise that. probably was 50-50 already before yesterday, but i would expect a 25%-30% swing, probably would have even be 90% last night at 11.00 before Fellani was signed.

You asking a part-time fan that apparently bítched all summer so and defended Woodward ?

I'm sorry I didn't and I am not a part-time fan, far from it.

To be honest I'd agree with you though it's hitting at least 60% if not 70%... but (and please don't jump down my throat) in the modern world and with the hypertinternet people are quick to jump at things.

I'm not overally happy about it all either but I seriously doubt he will be sacked. I'm interested to see what happens in January and excited about Fellaini who in my eyes is a very good signing.

Maximus Alexander

Oranage2 wrote: »

You asked me how I was nothing about the bet.

I told you already about WU, there is one form and it wants your address and phone number.

I also said I'd get someone to meet you with the money. Pick a time and place in the city centre and I'll get a female to give you the money since your hard man persona doesnt show in real life

None of my business, but since you're having a public conversation about it: is PayPal not a thing wherever you are?

bucketybuck

Bombleswizzum wrote: »

Wow yeah. Incredibly harsh words from the beeb. Really put the club in its place.

Manchester United boss David Moyes ... resembled stressed-out husbands on Christmas Eve as they shopped around at the last minute

United's botched transfer policy

Thats public opinion at the minute lads, and not from some twitter blog, but from one of the most respected news organisations in the world.

master-t

bucketybuck wrote: »

A lot of sanctimonious people in here just horrified that anybody would dare call the club embarrassing or a laughing stock. Very delicate they are indeed, but I wonder how they feel when even the BBC is getting digs in.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23944068

See items one and two on this list. Feels good to be a laughing stock doesn't it lads. (Hint: No, it ****ing pisses me right off)

Yeah, but he also says no one can do a deal like Real Madrid.........as if that's a good thing. 100m on Bale.....300k a week......when they already have Ronaldo, Benzema, Isco, Di Maria and had Ozil......OK then.

homerjay2005

Trilla wrote: »

I'm not overally happy about it all either but I seriously doubt he will be sacked.

he wont be sacked, however there is a difference between saying this and he should be.

we talk about stability and all this, he is giving everything buy stability. Moyes now will be under constant extra pressure and focus that could have been easily avoided with proper signings.

people admiring Woodward for putting in bids is just laughable. where did i say you were a part time fan by the way?

Vic Vinegar

bucketybuck wrote: »

Thats public opinion at the minute lads, and not from some twitter blog, but from one of the most respected news organisations in the world.

It doesn't matter if its one of the most respected blah blah...... It's still one persons opinion.

Did we have a good summer - no

Will we learn from our mistakes - for sure

caffrey

master-t wrote: »

Yeah, but he also says no one can do a deal like Real Madrid.........as if that's a good thing. 100m on Bale.....300k a week......when they already have Ronaldo, Benzema, Isco, Di Maria and had Ozil......OK then.

He didn't actually say it was a good thing, he just pointed out nobody does it like them, which while true is also (as you pointed out) a bit crazy. It does remain though that, they got their target and consistently do so.

master-t

The window is over (Thank f**k), we now have the squad we have until January at the earliest.


Can we please move on until then at least?


It's clear we are all not overly thrilled with out business was conducted this summer. I for one am DELIGHTED we got Fellaini and have actually signed a proven, potentially World Class CM finally. Something the club horribly over looked the last 4 years.


That to me is progression.

Nalz

homerjay2005 wrote: »

people admiring Woodward for putting in bids is just laughable. where did i say you were a part time fan by the way?

here... but we'll move on. Its been a pressure pot time for us all.

homerjay2005 wrote: »

id say right now from what i read, 80%+ have no faith in Woodward. we all cant be wrong and not knee jerking or part time fans like you and the comical ali brigade seem to want to think.

homerjay2005

Bombleswizzum wrote: »

Will we learn from our mistakes - for sure

i wouldnt be so sure about that.

Cantona's Collars

I'm raging we didn't get our transfers sorted instead of looking like a teenager in a strip club,going for anything that looks appealing.

However I'm sure the past few weeks will be forgotten if we go on a run of wins,what odds for hairy to get the winner against City.

Vic Vinegar

homerjay2005 wrote: »

i wouldnt be so sure about that.

Yeah, you wouldn't.

homerjay2005

Trilla wrote: »

here... but we'll move on. Its been a pressure pot time for us all.

errm no i didnt. read it again and keep reading it properly until you understand it.

Kylo Ren

Looking past all the faults of yesterday, I am delighted we got Fellaini.

---

Carrick

---

Fellaini

---

Nani

---

Rooney

---

Kagawa

---

RVP

---

Do it Moyes.

Vic Vinegar

Rafael on Instragram saying he's back training and will be able to play from next week!

Class.

Mitch Connor

Bombleswizzum wrote: »

Yeah, you wouldn't.

why would you be?

What over the course of the last 2 months gives you faith that Woodward can completely turn around from bumbling incompetence to efficient, deal closing, CEO?

I do hope lessons are learned, they need to be, but I don't see how anyone can be confident they will be.

At the end of the day, we will soon announce record revenue, and that is all Woodward and the Glazers care about. That is their focus, not signing players.

onemorechance

I think that this has been a good transfer window. United really only needed a CM and they have bought the best one available in the Premier League. There may be need for fullbacks as we really don't have good cover for Rafael, who can defend and attack, while Jones and Valencia can't do both as well as Rafael. Same can be said for Evra. Centre backs there is Vidic, Rio, Evans, Smelling and Jones. Wingers we have Nani, Zaha, Valencia and Young, and now with Fellaini around, he might be able to reach their often skyed crosses. CM United now have Carrick and Fellaini for the big games, maybe even Anderson too, and Cleverley and Giggs for the easier opposition. Centrally between midfield and attack United have Rooney, Kagawa, Danny, and hopefully Adnan gets some games. Up front, RVP, Wayne, Hernandez and Wellbeck.

As for the club being an embarrassment, that's just a perception, an opinion and an emotion of the weak-minded. The fact that the other clubs have to spend so much to try and bridge the gap with United while United really only needed one is something to be beaming about!

Bienvenu Marouane!

master-t

caffrey wrote: »

He didn't actually say it was a good thing, he just pointed out nobody does it like them, which while true is also (as you pointed out) a bit crazy. It does remain though that, they got their target and consistently do so.

With complete disregard for financial acumen?


So, if we signed Cesc for 100m you'd be happy? Because we got our man? Things in perspective I would think. 1 person's opinion is all and everyone spouts it about like its gospel.


It certainly doesn't sound 'damning':

Real Madrid underlined their status as the richest club on the planet by breaking the world transfer record for the fifth time in a row to make Bale their latest "galactico".

The summer-long deal to capture Bale may have moved along at the pace of a Terrence Malick film at times, but it ended with fanfare straight from Hollywood as more than 20,000 supporters turned up at the Bernabeu to greet their new idol as he was unveiled on a giant stage before performing tricks out on the field.


My opinion piece would read:


Real Madrid were at it again. Throwing money up against the wall on a player who has yet to fully establish and prove himself on Football's Elite Stage.


Whilst breaking their transfer record, again, and offering Bale matching wages to that of Ronaldo, the man who actually breaks records himself, they have managed, yet again, to completely offset the balance of football sense.


Despite the transfer being dragged out for the whole summer, Real Madrid just about got it done on the last day. Real resorted to dirty tactics in their pursuit of the target, not for the 1st time either, by allowing and encouraging their players to speak openly and publicly about how Bale should join Madrid.


They then decided, after their public and sour tasting pursuit of Bale, to parade him around the ground to their fans with Florentino Perez showing off his new addition to the Galaticos, as a hunter would a Boars head.


Madrid Got Bale - Yet something still tastes sour.

Mitch Connor

onemorechance wrote: »

emotion of the weak-minded.

FO.

grames_bond

"Four points from his first three games as manager of Manchester United. Similar lacklustre performances and reliance on the same ol' players as the last regime. Liverpool top of the table. A bloke with a ridiculous afro in midfield.

Not sure about this Alex Ferguson fella."

Critics, October 1986.

homerjay2005

grames_bond wrote: »

"Four points from his first three games as manager of Manchester United. Similar lacklustre performances and reliance on the same ol' players as the last regime. Liverpool top of the table. A bloke with a ridiculous afro in midfield.

Not sure about this Alex Ferguson fella."

Critics, October 1986.

so the game hasnt changed in 27 years then?

master-t

homerjay2005 wrote: »

so the game hasnt changed in 27 years then?

22 players, 2 managers, 2 goals, 1 pitch, 1 ref and 1 ball.............not much