Manchester United Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2015 Mod Note Post #2331

dr.kenneth noisewater

Few big signings for City this summer I would imagine, they will need to sort out central defense and CM. I can see Toure getting the push out the door and the others there are poor enough.
We need to get our transfer business down asap as we can no longer go up against City with Pep's pulling power

Quandary

Bitterly disappointing to see Pep go to City. Pep + unlimited cash is very likely going to make City the dominant force in the EPL for years to come. In fact, if he didn't turn out to be a success it would be a surprise.

Utd desperately need to get their sh1t together fast. Moyes didn't work, LVG hasn't worked, and things are getting worse under his rule. Appointing Giggs would be suicide IMO. FFS, even Mark Hughes would be a safer bet than Giggs.

The next Utd manager simply has to be a success.

StringerBell

Yaya will be gone alright, potentially a big enough rebuild to happen there, they need to strenghten everywhere really, they have some very good attacking midfielders but they are still a little light up top when Aguero gets injured, too reliant on him. Kompany misses too many games now and Demi will be off you would imagine, full back positions too, central midfield obviously, busy summer ahead

paulbok

kstand wrote: »

I'm hoping after reading about the 15% cuts yesterday that those leeches are planning to sell the club.
Did I read correctly that they could get 3bn for it?
All this money that they are bringing in with every sort of a partnership deal yet they are cutting back on investment in the academy which has fallen miles behind Cities one.

I posted the same question during the summer.

We are looking like turning a profit on transfers this year and taking a huge chunk off the wage bill.
Add in the record sponsorship and tv money kicking in and the company balance sheet will be looking pretty damn impressive, debt or no debt.
Are the Glazers about to put the club up for sale? I don't think the tv or sponsorship money can go up much higher next time around so optimum time to cash out.

Add in the internal department cuts this week and it's classic venture capitalist play,
Buy asset,
increase income,
slash outgoing,
Get the books looking good, (debt really manageable now compared to 5 years ago),
& sell.

TheDoc

homerjay2005 wrote: »

My stomach turns to say this, but f*ck me do Man City have ambition.

they are making us look like a championship club at the moment compared to them. they will never have the global base we have and never match our size, but it wont be long until that gap is small and their trophy count starts to grow.

if we dont win anything this year (which is highely likely)weve won 1 trophy in 5 years, they have 3 and probably will add another 2 this season.

meanwhile our ambition is to grow our revenue and sponsor volume and have the best noodles in the premier league with f*cking disney tunes playing as the teams come out.

As has been said before, and shouldn't be forgotten, confused, or mixed up. The work the club do for sponsorship and revenue generation, is not exclusive to the improvement and investment in the squad.

As in, we have never lost, or will not lose, a transfer target, because someone was tied up signing a commerical partner.

Already I can see comments and posts about how Woodward was too busy singing a new noodle partner. It's important to really separate that stuff as total nonsense, and not let those types of myths become fact.

That our club is financially a powerhouse, and sustained and grown by our own revenue streams, is something to actually consider a good thing. I don't take any issue with a new noodle partner, or tyre sponsor etc. As it is expanding revenue so that we can sign big players, and pay big wages, which will be required to take the club back to the top.

So this craic about Woodward being more interested in the $$$ needs to stop. That revenue is intrinsically tied to the investment in the squad, and the more revenue created provides bigger possibilities for the team itself. That revenue can only be generated, by having a succesfull football team. Our football and success is the product being sold around the world. So it's actually just daft to try separate the two out, and indicate there is more focus on one then the other.

homerjay2005

going to be interesting tomorrow night if we fail to win, today shouldnt change anything but in some fans eyes it will.

eitherway, i think Woody is in for a rough night if things dont got our way in the next 2 games.

Rayne Wooney

That's that then City will pull clear ahead in the next couple of years if they hadn't already.

Why didn't we get Mourinho a month ago, even getting him in the summer will leave him at a major disadvantage because City already have a far better squad

StringerBell

Were those cuts confirmed or rumours?

bucketybuck

weisses wrote: »

So was Van Gaal ... well almost

Not even close. Van Gaal had one meaningful title and no european success in over 15 years before we signed him. Whereas even when "failing" in his last two jobs Mourinho won the title at both. There are no guarantees at that level but Mourinho is as close to a guaranteed trophy winner as you are going to get.

TheDoc

StringerBell wrote: »

Yaya will be gone alright, potentially a big enough rebuild to happen there, they need to strenghten everywhere really, they have some very good attacking midfielders but they are still a little light up top when Aguero gets injured, too reliant on him. Kompany misses too many games now and Demi will be off you would imagine, full back positions too, central midfield obviously, busy summer ahead

And that is another worry, as we will most likely be looking to strengthen similar areas. Players are going to be enticed by Pep himself, and City as a club going forward, while City themselves will want to make a real statement of whose the big club in Manchester.

Summer spending could be astronomical in terms of fees and wages. So our club best be going into it with a well worked and defined plan.

bangkok

so pep to City confirmed. He already told a board member of Bayern at the xmas party he was going there, was never going to remain a secret for long. Big worry now is City are going to spend big next summer (which they will) and blow everyone out of the water.

Yaya will be sold, can see City signing Pobga and also the other day Neymar was just saying he would love to play under Pep, he probably knew he was going to city, so wouldn't be a bit surprised to see Neymar in a city shirt next season as well.

We need to do something big this summer

Mitch Connor

StringerBell wrote: »

Were those cuts confirmed or rumours?

RUmoured - United issued a denial last night i believe. Or some may have said it was a denial. I didn't read the statement carefully - I only saw a bit about our accounts being the most transparent around.

Rubber_Soul

StringerBell wrote: »

Were those cuts confirmed or rumours?

Who cares? It makes the club look bad and that's all that matters. [/sarcasm]

Rayne Wooney

Rayne Wooney wrote: »

That's that then City will pull clear ahead in the next couple of years if they hadn't already.

Why didn't we get Mourinho a month ago, even getting him in the summer will leave him at a major disadvantage because City already have a far better squad

So Jose was to come in at January and panic buy??!

Rubbish tbh

Jose would have to have time to buy players in the summer, not spunk silly money at mid table fodder

Mitch Connor

TheDoc wrote: »

So our club best be going into it with a well worked and defined plan.

:pac:

Oh you're seriously expecting that?:(

TheDoc

Ramifications aside, this is actually going to be interesting, for Guardiola to be put to the test. There is a lot of stuff thrown at him in terms of "right guy right time" and various other things. I think he is a fantastic coach, and the best in the world right now. Not without his issues, flaws and question marks mind you. His time in England is very much going to cast in iron if he is a great or not.

StringerBell

Neymar is coming up for a contract renewal, I'd pay little attention to what he says till he signs on again at Barca, Pogba is one I would hate to see going to City alright

Mitch Connor

M!Ck^ wrote: »

So Jose was to come in at January and panic buy??!

Rubbish tbh

Jose would have to have time to buy players in the summer

I reckon Jose and Woodward's BFF Mendes could have found a player or two to help out the side. Get Garay out of Russia and Moutinho out of Monaco (with both apparently wanting to leave) and we'd have helped the defence and midfield.

Rubber_Soul

TheDoc wrote: »

As has been said before, and shouldn't be forgotten, confused, or mixed up. The work the club do for sponsorship and revenue generation, is not exclusive to the improvement and investment in the squad.

As in, we have never lost, or will not lose, a transfer target, because someone was tied up signing a commerical partner...

RobertKK

United having a bad PL season so far, yet only 7 points behind both City and Arsenal.

One would think have changed with the news of Pep. This will be his first really competitive league, and all clubs will be improving as the amount of money in the PL increases.

When Pep was in Spain it was mostly a two team league and he had Messi. In Germany a one team league and he has Muller, Lewandowski and Neuer.
In England, he will have his first really competitive league.

David Moyes nearly managed to put Bayern out of the CL...when we led for 17 seconds or so in the 2nd leg, before our defense crumbled.

Mitch Connor

StringerBell wrote: »

Neymar is coming up for a contract renewal, I'd pay little attention to what he says till he signs on again at Barca, Pogba is one I would hate to see going to City alright

Barcelona are, apparently, within a whisker of the wage cap - and both Neymar and Messi are due massive pay rises this summer according to their current contracts. There is a good chance they have to look at selling on of them.

He is looking to renegotiate his contract; so there will be games played - but there is a good possibility of Barca not being able to pay him what he wants.

TheDoc

Mitch Connor wrote: »

:pac:

Oh you're seriously expecting that?:(

"Best be", indicating, they should and need to.

NIMAN

I would be surprised to see either MEssi or Neymar playing in Manchester, no matter who the boss is.

Mitch Connor

TheDoc wrote: »

"Best be", indicating, they should and need to.

I honestly fear the first month of the summer is going to be spent pissing about on managerial targets.

TheDoc

Mitch Connor wrote: »

Barcelona are, apparently, within a whisker of the wage cap - and both Neymar and Messi are due massive pay rises this summer according to their current contracts. There is a good chance they have to look at selling on of them.

He is looking to renegotiate his contract; so there will be games played - but there is a good possibility of Barca not being able to pay him what he wants.

I've meant to ask previously(maybe La Liga thread more apt) but so many La Liga journalists and even general European correspondents say things like "everyone knows Barca financial situation" and things like "Barca will need to sell"

Is this actually an accurate representation of their situation, or blown out of proportion. When I hear it, I'm assuming fringe players like Sandro and Munir being sold for big fees because they are Barca players, as opposed to them being forced to sell a Neymar or Messi.

Rayne Wooney

M!Ck^ wrote: »

So Jose was to come in at January and panic buy??!

Rubbish tbh

Jose would have to have time to buy players in the summer, not spunk silly money at mid table fodder

6 months head start to find out what players he needs and hopefully have deals prepared is rubbish?

Is that not an advantage over Pep who is going to rock up in June, with euro 2016 in progress so he'll only have a couple of months to assess the squad

weisses

bucketybuck wrote: »

Not even close. Van Gaal had one meaningful title and no european success in over 15 years before we signed him. Whereas even when "failing" in his last two jobs Mourinho won the title at both. There are no guarantees at that level but Mourinho is as close to a guaranteed trophy winner as you are going to get.

His failing at his last 2 jobs says to me the Mourinho magic has worn off.

I think he would do more harm then good to United

The United players need a completely different style of management after LVG and I highly doubt Mourinho will fit that profile

bangkok

TheDoc wrote: »

I've meant to ask previously(maybe La Liga thread more apt) but so many La Liga journalists and even general European correspondents say things like "everyone knows Barca financial situation" and things like "Barca will need to sell"

Is this actually an accurate representation of their situation, or blown out of proportion. When I hear it, I'm assuming fringe players like Sandro and Munir being sold for big fees because they are Barca players, as opposed to them being forced to sell a Neymar or Messi.

they have massive debt. They had to sell Sanchez and Fabregas to finance moves for Neymar/Suarez.

StringerBell

TheDoc wrote: »

Ramifications aside, this is actually going to be interesting, for Guardiola to be put to the test. There is a lot of stuff thrown at him in terms of "right guy right time" and various other things. I think he is a fantastic coach, and the best in the world right now. Not without his issues, flaws and question marks mind you. His time in England is very much going to cast in iron if he is a great or not.

I'm looking forward to seeing his nastier side come out a bit more

homerjay2005

weisses wrote: »

His failing at his last 2 jobs says to me the Mourinho magic has worn off.

I think he would do more harm then good to United

The United players need a completely different style of management after LVG and I highly doubt Mourinho will fit that profile

so who is left then apart from jose?

could you see Spurs and Ath Madrid giving us their manager for example?

would any top class manager want to touch us given where the clubs ambition currently is and the fact that we may not have CL football next season.

TheDoc

Mitch Connor wrote: »

I honestly fear the first month of the summer is going to be spent pissing about on managerial targets.

Lets say "if" the club as a whole (all theories on board positions aside) did not want Mourinho for a number of very valid reasons, why wouldn't they wish to give full support to Van Gaal.

"If" Van Gaal finished second this season, few points of City (who I believe will win the league)wouldn't they be in a precarious position when it comes to the managers position. Do we persist and let Van Gaal finish his contract(which he said he would win the title by the end of his three years) as it would constitute progress.

Or do we remember him flagging first half of the season, and call it a day. Who comes in? what are the options(again, rule out Mourinho here for this theoretical)

While I can appreciate, see, and agree with those calling for a change and removing Van Gaal asap. I can fully understand and appreciate why the club are holding onto him.

He is basically now, around this point, half way through his employment. If lessons are learned and standout issues dealt with, his second half could be good. And a fully in command, comfortable Van Gaal, whose team are doing what he wants and winning, is a pretty formidable proposition for the league and our rivals. I suppose they need to make the call if he will reach that level again, or can.

StringerBell

Mitch Connor wrote: »

Barcelona are, apparently, within a whisker of the wage cap - and both Neymar and Messi are due massive pay rises this summer according to their current contracts. There is a good chance they have to look at selling on of them.

He is looking to renegotiate his contract; so there will be games played - but there is a good possibility of Barca not being able to pay him what he wants.

I just can't see a scenario where they will let him go, I think they would sell Suarez before letting him go if it came to it and use the wages saved there to help, get rid of other players, do whatever they need to do to make it work.

It is of course entirely possible he ends up leaving at some point, but I don't think it will be in the near future

Korat

paulbok wrote: »

Add in the internal department cuts this week and it's classic venture capitalist play,
Buy asset,
increase income,
slash outgoing,
Get the books looking good, (debt really manageable now compared to 5 years ago),
& sell.

I hope you're right. That day can't come soon enough. Just got to hope whoever buys the club uses their own money.

kstand

Forget Van Gaal - he has had over 18 months, he has spent all that money and the standard of football from us in the EPL (forget the lower league sides we have met in the cup) has been nothing short of putrid predictable muck and there is nothing to suggest that it is going to change. Only a shower of idiots who know nothing about the game would fail to see that. I'm just wondering if they are planning to sell the club and dont wnat to get into a managerial merry-go-round and dont want to spend money now so as not to affect the books.

Cantona's Collars

weisses wrote: »

His failing at his last 2 jobs says to me the Mourinho magic has worn off.

I think he would do more harm then good to United

The United players need a completely different style of management after LVG and I highly doubt Mourinho will fit that profile

Allegri or Simeone,definitely not time to take another risk.Never mind becoming Arsenal,we are in danger of turning into Liverpool-depending on our history and being left behind.

Maybe Pep will find the EPL a lot harder than his previous 2 jobs in leagues dominated by only a couple of teams,this season has shown the EPL is even more competitive as the minnows show they can fight with the big boys.

The lack of activity this window for the club could be a sign that something big is planned for the summer,maybe LVG gone and a new man in with new players to follow.

bucketybuck

weisses wrote: »

His failing at his last 2 jobs says to me the Mourinho magic has worn off.

He won the title at both those clubs.

brinty

Lads, maybe I’m in the small minority that couldn’t give a fiddlers flute about Pep and City..
He’s taken the easier option (£$€) after proclaiming he loves clubs with history and tradition and that he could develop.
He was never coming to United so I’m not disappointed by todays announcement
Its shows no class on his part that with 4-5 months left with Bayern he’s already announced where he’s going, its hard to respect someone like that
City have a lot of work to do on the squad their defence is aging and not improving, Yaya is not getting younger and the base players Fernando and fernandinho haven’t been great
He’ll spend a rack load of money and still not have a Messi Ronaldo Neymar et al in the squad because those players don’t want to go to Manchester…
He’ll be gone in three years after stress off not getting a champions league victory

brinty

Lads, maybe I’m in the small minority that couldn’t give a fiddlers flute about Pep and City..
He’s taken the easier option (£$€) after proclaiming he loves clubs with history and tradition and that he could develop.
He was never coming to United so I’m not disappointed by todays announcement
Its shows no class on his part that with 4-5 months left with Bayern he’s already announced where he’s going, its hard to respect someone like that
City have a lot of work to do on the squad their defence is aging and not improving, Yaya is not getting younger and the base players Fernando and fernandinho haven’t been great
He’ll spend a rack load of money and still not have a Messi Ronaldo Neymar et al in the squad because those players don’t want to go to Manchester…
He’ll be gone in three years after stress off not getting a champions league victory

weisses

homerjay2005 wrote: »

so who is left then apart from jose?

could you see Spurs and Ath Madrid giving us their manager for example?

would any top class manager want to touch us given where the clubs ambition currently is and the fact that we may not have CL football next season.

Ahh come on you end up with Jose because you cannot think of anyone else ? That's quite desperate

You need the right manager that fits the squad and not just a top class by name

TheDoc

homerjay2005 wrote: »

so who is left then apart from jose?

could you see Spurs and Ath Madrid giving us their manager for example?

would any top class manager want to touch us given where the clubs ambition currently is and the fact that we may not have CL football next season.

You've referenced ambition a few times now. What do you mean by this?

Are you in the camp that you believe Woodward and his teams are only interested in securing more money via commercial deals, to basically line each others pockets and ignore the team.

Or are you referencing some of the issues with the club that have not been addressed that are maybe leaving us a bit behind post ferguson era.

Interested to know if the club is no longer interested in challenging for titles, european crowns and being generally succesfull. I must have missed that memo.

Coat22

Missing out on Ancellotti was the biggest f*ck up this season

bangkok

if man city offered 100m for neymar, it would be very hard to see Barca refuse that sort of money. Every player has a price.

pep probably also has a Bayern player or 2 lined up to take with him to City as well.

worrying times for United

StringerBell

homerjay2005 wrote: »

so who is left then apart from jose?

could you see Spurs and Ath Madrid giving us their manager for example?

would any top class manager want to touch us given where the clubs ambition currently is and the fact that we may not have CL football next season.

Spurs, Ath Madrid, or whoever don't have to give us anything. If they refuse to do a deal compensation wise, the manager can simply resign and sign for whoever he wants.

Maybe the other managers out there have a different opinion on the clubs ambitions etc then you do

brinty

brinty wrote: »

Lads, maybe I’m in the small minority that couldn’t give a fiddlers flute about Pep and City..
He’s taken the easier option (£$€) after proclaiming he loves clubs with history and tradition and that he could develop.
He was never coming to United so I’m not disappointed by todays announcement
Its shows no class on his part that with 4-5 months left with Bayern he’s already announced where he’s going, its hard to respect someone like that
City have a lot of work to do on the squad their defence is aging and not improving, Yaya is not getting younger and the base players Fernando and fernandinho haven’t been great
He’ll spend a rack load of money and still not have a Messi Ronaldo Neymar et al in the squad because those players don’t want to go to Manchester…
He’ll be gone in three years after stress off not getting a champions league victory

If anyone in the PL is likely to get that calibre of player then it's going to be City. With the money they have and Pep at the helm I don't forsee any other team in England having a hope going up against them in the transfer market.
It is worrying tbh
To note: He has already built a relationship with these players.

weisses

bucketybuck wrote: »

He won the title at both those clubs.

correct but failed miserably after

6 years between managing Chelsea

Bret Hart

It was just a matter of when,not if Pep was going to be named City manager,it was the worst kept secret in the game.Seeing two of the best managers around at both of your two biggest rivals will now put enormous pressure on the United board to make a decision on Van Gaal and make sure they appoint the right man for the job this time around.

I'm not Joses biggest fan but he's there, he's currently free and he craves the Utd job. He needs to be appointed at the end of the season,regardless of how our season pans out.

Cantona's Collars

weisses wrote: »

correct but failed miserably after

6 years between managing Chelsea

TBF,a lot of the blame seems to lie with a certain clique within Chelsea.He fell out with a couple of them and the rest seemed to down tools.

Madrid is a circus.

Bret Hart

bangkok wrote: »

if man city offered 100m for neymar, it would be very hard to see Barca refuse that sort of money. Every player has a price.

pep probably also has a Bayern player or 2 lined up to take with him to City as well.

worrying times for United

They'd have to go I'd say about maybe 150 for him.He'll be in for Alcantara,I reckon from Bayern.

loyatemu

can't see Utd going for Pellegrini, would look terrible to be signing City's cast off. Besides, I don't think he's done that well, like Mancini before him he's had the best squad in the league but has really struggled to make it count.

I said this earlier in the thread but there's this assumption that we can only go for someone who is already on the big-club manager-go-round (Mourinho, Ancelloti, LVG, Pep, Pellegrini) but somewhere along the line some of the big clubs have to take a punt on someone new. Utd were burned by Moyes and have become risk-averse as a result, but I'd rather they went for someone younger and hungrier - maybe Pochettino, let's see if he can win something this year...

TheDoc

Bret Hart wrote: »

It was just a matter of when,not if Pep was going to be named City manager,it was the worst kept secret in the game.Seeing two of the best managers around at both of your two biggest rivals will now put enormous pressure on the United board to make a decision on Van Gaal and make sure they appoint the right man for the job this time around.

I'm not Joses biggest fan but he's there, he's currently free and he craves the Utd job. He needs to be appointed at the end of the season,regardless of how our season pans out.

A fired up, hungry, something to prove Mourinho could be exactly what the club needs now in an environment with fierce competition and really excellent managers operating throughout.

Ferguson always seemed to be at his best, when a new challenger emerged and he needed to re-assert himself and the club as the best and champions.