I was listening to the Bill Simmons podcast a few months ago and they were talking about NBA contracts and how the mantra around the league was you have to "preserve the asset", with Bill essentially arguing outside a few heavy hitters that win you championships, this mantra doesn't actually make sense in sports. Whilst listening I couldn't help but flashback to Woodward and Phil Jones. Not to target Jones, but woodward, I believe if INEOS are going to succeed at MUFC we have to see them break this mantra which has infected the club. They have to set in motion a system which rewards a very minute number of players with good contracts and then take the club back to academy development, "hidden diamonds" and those that are focused on club over the biggest contract. Big spends limited to RVP/RvN, Berba type players that actually fill the holes and fix issues that managers are having with their squad options to make them championship/treble winners.
We cannot continue to be a club that fills out a squad with cashed up players that are, at best, squad-rotation players. It seems like we've done this to the worst excesses in the Post-SAF era because of some bizarre belief that "maintaining value" means we can either re-sell high or cook the books for our assets. Not every player deserves a bloody contract extension at 150-200 grand a week. It's ok to say no and lose players. I think we are seeing the mess play out at MUFC and are seeing it on steroids at Chelsea. We are bloating football clubs with "asset value" and how many of these contracts are we going to have to watch expire because European sports isn't treated like US sport? There's no salary cap for everyone to cap out on. We have uber-rich clubs, we have middling clubs and then we have poor clubs. No one below us is taking Maguires wages, no one below is is taking Martial's wages and so on.
So what does INEOS success look like, imo:
1. Our big purchases are limited to making the system work.
2. When we go into contract negotiations, we make it about the club over a pay-day. Not to screw players, but to say you are not irreplaceable to this club, we believe this is fair, if you are here only to "grab the bag", we'll find you another club.
3. We don't try to extend varane, Casemiro etc. Or if we do, it's made clear that these types of players are "niche" players and they are basically required to fill squad numbers and take enormous pay cuts.
4. Our squad buys are not panic buys. If you value Antony at 20 million and you can't get it done in time. That doesn't mean you spend 100 million. It means you move on to another target or hope there is an academy prospect. Get your evaluations correct, rank them and then stop acting like embarassed children that can't get their lollipop. Pick targets, value them, negotiate and move down the list if you can get them.
5. The manager doesn't dictate the club, but the club doesn't dictate the manager. When a manager comes in, its either someone that plays to the "club's style" or the club actively believes in the manager's system. Both sides then work to achieve the best transfer and footballing outcomes.
6. A realisation this isn't a one season fix. That next season the goal is not to win the league, but to see if the new personnel, the new club structure, some new in's and out's actually makes us look different on the pitch. I am sick of every season, every manager, every game essentially devolving into the same beige mush. When we are at our worst, it ALWAYS looks the same.