Anyway, its a moot point considering that ETH has the final sign-off for all transfers.
Club Sale | It’s done!
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I am sure it will be a different objective and therefore, management strategy. City & PSG were in different situations than United. A fallen giant with the largest fan base in the world versus clubs that need to build a global fan base --- and with City, non-organically.
The soul of the club disappeared when we were listed, it's long gone.
How well have Nice and the Swiss club been run?
He might do now. Will he in the future?
Sure I've read posts like this in the Westminster politics thread
I am sure its in his contract. Then it will depend on the new owners and how much they value ETH. If they are United fans as they all claimed to have been, then they will know.
Exactly!
I don't belive for one second Qatar will buy United because they are "fans". Its a way for them to increase their soft power. They will make decisions that benefit Qatar over United. You just have to hope that those benefits align.
Can you elaborate on that please?
I don't quite get it. You do not believe that the people behind the Qatari bid are "fans" or you do not believe that they bid for United simply because they are "fans".
Please enlighten me.
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It's a massive PR project, so for a basic example, buying big name players that they can use as ambassadors for Qatar. Stick them in adverts and have them promote Qatar and Qatari companies across the world. If the manager doesn't want or need these players then tough luck. He has to take them. The image is more import than reality.
They might be fans but that is secondary to their intentions. So the latter.
Like a multiple-choice question of Life... it usually answer E, all of the above. Bezo bought the Washington Post and looking at buying the Washington Redshins or whatever they are called nowadays.
Its just not a new thing. Even Steve Gibson bought Middlesbrough years ago and did it, on a smaller scale; his company is based in Middlesbrough. There is always a non-altruistic element.
The question is how do you measure 'soft power'? It's longitudinal.
Whereas we can certainly measure the financial gains of say an Elliot or even an INEOS bid (though I think there is some element of greenwashing in their equation.) Its not sustainable at the price/loans/debt that's required going forward.
And also I do not link my personal identity to the Club directly and its supposedly ethos. I think I am more than that as a person -- not someone who is determined by some external 'identifier' and especially something that I have almost ZERO control over.
Thats why so many are upset -- they wholeheartedly support the club and therefore directly see themselves as part of some evil regime. (Nobody ever wants to see themselves as evil --- even the terrorist that flew the planes into some building a couple of decades ago. Everyone likes to see themselves as doing good.)
That's why as they mature they will recognise that the owners or even Manchester United as a club isn't just who they are in terms of their primary identity. They are more than that.
Or when we start winning silverware all this will blow over. But they have not delinked that external identifier of who they are, still.
I think truth be told we might be a less divided fanbase IF there was a middle option. So someone who is able to comfortably fund transfers,stadium, training facilities and hasn't got human rights issues. Unfortunately that option doesn't exist so its Qatar or Ratcliffe.
I'm not happy with the Qatari ownership. However imo they won't manage us the way they did with PSG.
They had to buy those marque signings to make PSG relevant in the football world. We simply don't need that. What we need is to win big things again. If they have a bit of brain they'd realise what they did at PSG won't ever win anything big.
Honestly, as big a project this United buy will be -- not financially, but the global impact of the statue of the club. you can buy that the new owners would have studied their investment report of what the club represents to the hundreds of million of fans. They are silly enough to mess around with the history, Busby Babes, youth academy and the nurturing of stars.
Its been a successful formula in the past. It's just trying to restore or at least put United back in a position that it can compete on all fronts without being weight down by the increasingly expensive, eventually unsustainable debt that it has to service. And that includes infrastructure improvements.
There are probably only a handful of people in the world that would have such a reputation.
Even Bill Gates and all that the Gates Foundation has achieved, will have a bunch of blowhards complaining about how evil he has been --- or the conspiracy theorist who will claim that he will use United to control the world with subliminal messaging at OT.
Even Jesus would struggle in this woke world we are living in.
This is the perfect time for buyers. Six years without silverware -- crumbles (League Cup or the Top 4 Cup) and there will be universal joy. Such low expectations at the moment.
You should be sceptical imo and that's probably a good stance to take with any new prospective owner.
The truth is we don't really know what will happen. But I think the competition in the EPL will dictate how a prospective new owner will run the club. The EPL right now is the most competitive league in the world and it would be naive for any new owner to impose their own will on the football side of the club.
The best run clubs in the world are those clubs who allow their football departments to make the decisions on the football side of the club. And a good owner is one who will then empower those people and expect results. Because when you expect high standards as a owner, then you will create a culture at the club where people will be held accountable for their roles on the football side of the club. The last 10 years under the Glazers, Ed Woodward was bulletproof after making countless mistakes. And it was reported that the Glazers tried talking Woodward out of resigning from him role after the Super League debacle. And you aren't going to create high standards when the owners care more about keeping their favourite employee around, rather than wanting their club to challenge for the highest honours.
But if we look at both PSG and Nice currently, they're both being run well imo. Nice have had ups and downs where mistakes were made. But right now it seems like they have a young up and coming DoF in place and he seems to be doing okay at the moment. And PSG have also put in place Luis Campos, who is well known when it comes to recruitment and he along with Galtier are running the football side of the club. Campos' recruitment hasn't been great but PSG have allowed him the freedom to make the big calls when it comes to recruitment and appointing a new manager.
One thing I'm confident about, is that whether it's Qatar or INEOS, we will have much better owners than the Glazers. And then it's about empowering the people working on the football side of the club. And it's not about how quick players can be signed in a transfer window but rather if those players fit a playstyle that is being developed.
Re the bolded bit - I think this is probably the biggest issue. There is a race to the bottom where unless you accept becoming a marketing tool for some oligarch/sheik/plutocrat then you can't survive. If that is the future then top level football is dead as we know it. It basically becomes like F1. A rich boys playground completely detached from reality.
I'm no fan of Ineos of Radcliffe by any stretch and if they won the bid I wouldn't be throwing them a parade. But at least with them, we wouldn't be jumping on the train that leads to the end of football as we know it. I know that sounds extreme, but as soon as the established top names in football give in then its over in the long term. Everyone kicked off about the super league. If all top clubs become go down this route then it the future. Closed league for billionaires to have a dick swinging contest.
Very well said.
No.
Everyone have their tipping points.
My first nail in the coffin was when Forest paid Birmingham 1 million quid for a player. I thought it was outrageous that football can come to that -- the usual arguments.... about how poorly paid nurses, doctors in the NHS were getting paid etc came to mind. It was immoral.
There were others along the way including Roy Keane's madness wage demand after accusations of the OT prawn brigade.
My view is that the PL is already the super-league.
There are forces outside the UK that want to build their own 'super league' inorganically ie Juve, RM and Barca; for themselves to remain relevant both as a sporting/marketing club and financially.
Having slipped into the $$$ rabbit-hole decades ago and as we look forward; having multi-billionaires on our side will provide us with some political power for the mid-term when the current super league will come to battle it out with the wannabe super league.
That's a pretty low bar tbf
It's good that PSG are finally letting footballing people run the club. Campos seems to know what he's doing but no idea how managers put up with him unless they fully accept they are a lead coach and nothing more. We are in a strange place where everyone clamoured for a DoF to take charge and make calls on transfers etc. But since ETH turned up, its kind of gone the other way and we don't want to do anything to undermine him by having a more activist DoF. In pure footballing terms. I'm on board with this. Let him build a team and don't interfere for now.
I don't believe Erik ten Hag wanted to take the lead on transfers but when the two head scouts were sacked on the eve of the transfer window, then I believe it was a premeditated move to lean on Erik ten Hag whilst the two replacement head scouts and a data science head settled into new roles.That's a pretty low bar tbf
It's good that PSG are finally letting footballing people run the club. Campos seems to know what he's doing but no idea how managers put up with him unless they fully accept they are a lead coach and nothing more. We are in a strange place where everyone clamoured for a DoF to take charge and make calls on transfers etc. But since ETH turned up, its kind of gone the other way and we don't want to do anything to undermine him by having a more activist DoF. In pure footballing terms. I'm on board with this. Let him build a team and don't interfere for now.
I believe we will see the influence of the new team come the summer window.
تعال Qatar
*vomits*
Yeah we don’t need to go all Chelsea. 3-4 strong signings is fine by me. We need competence much more than huge sums of money
I just read 'Pool cost 300m in 2010.
Holy shit.
Holy shit.
Again, the media covered it fairly extensively. Certainly around 2010 when Green and Gold started and the ipo was launched.
There was another issue
A lot of fans largely ignore the Glazers between August 2006 and January 2010. Our greatest ever manager told a small group of protesting fans to "fu** off and watch Chelsea" in August 2005. That did have an impact on the overall narrative. The story was very much the Glazers are bad but fans are just getting on with it now. Again, at least the Green and Gold campaign started around January 2010.
The politics of Qatar would ultimately make it more then just a sports story.
I'm geniunely not sure what you're getting, those who think Bill Gates is some sort of evil overlord trying to kill people would also rail against the 'woke' world.
It's quite clear that neither of you know what woke means. It's the past tense of wake. Feck woke. Gimme corded phones and magazines.
See, there's "woke" and then there's "woke elite". Now that is a whole different kettle of fish.
A few thoughts about Qatar.
In 1993 the population in Qatar was close to 500 000 people.
Today (2023) Qatar has a population of approximately 3 million people. Only 15% of them are original Qataris divided by 75% men and 25% women. The rest are immigrant workers mostly from South Asia. According to their law Qatari women can only marry Qatari men.
It’s fascinating to read about Qatars history from a British protectorate until todays richness.
The Al Thani family seems to be the driving force for them to become independent and it’s still his family who rule the country today. Without defending them I think it’s easy to understand the background to their history and laws. A people dominated by strictly religious Beduins goes from relative poverty to absurd richness in less then 50 years.
The chance to buy a prestigious club like Manchester United is probable to hard to resist for a country with such a history. It will be interesting to follow this journey but one thing I’m certain of is that if Qatar become our new owners then only success will do for them, that’s part of their modern history and how they operate as businessmen.
In 1993 the population in Qatar was close to 500 000 people.
Today (2023) Qatar has a population of approximately 3 million people. Only 15% of them are original Qataris divided by 75% men and 25% women. The rest are immigrant workers mostly from South Asia. According to their law Qatari women can only marry Qatari men.
It’s fascinating to read about Qatars history from a British protectorate until todays richness.
The Al Thani family seems to be the driving force for them to become independent and it’s still his family who rule the country today. Without defending them I think it’s easy to understand the background to their history and laws. A people dominated by strictly religious Beduins goes from relative poverty to absurd richness in less then 50 years.
The chance to buy a prestigious club like Manchester United is probable to hard to resist for a country with such a history. It will be interesting to follow this journey but one thing I’m certain of is that if Qatar become our new owners then only success will do for them, that’s part of their modern history and how they operate as businessmen.
Just calm down people the club is for sale, it will be sold.
I wonder if there are other bids and whom they are
Hate the term of being ITK, but a taxi cab driver told me Knighton entered the race late and put in 15 quid
I personally want Qatar, but isn’t it funny how we were almost begging Ratcliffe to make a bid way before there was even a whiff of us being for sale, and as soon as Qatar became available a lot of people don’t want him.
Im in that camp personally, I don’t trust how the deal is being financed, what the future plans for the club really are and the real motives are.
Qatar, as controversial as it is, I feel is a much safer bet for the future of the club, but if they weren’t available I would have taken Ratcliffe in a heartbeat.
Im in that camp personally, I don’t trust how the deal is being financed, what the future plans for the club really are and the real motives are.
Qatar, as controversial as it is, I feel is a much safer bet for the future of the club, but if they weren’t available I would have taken Ratcliffe in a heartbeat.
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