Brophs
The One and Only
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2006
- Messages
- 50,695
Inspired by something Pogue said the other day and what others have said recently. We all know that Fergie has picked up some absolute gems for the club, but in the later years did the number of misses start to rise sharply? Obviously there are arguments to be made as regards the diminishing returns being down to a lack of resources, or the oil clubs coming in and skewing the market.
And, before I get any snarky replies, I'm not saying Fergie was anything other than a great manager who had us consistently overachieving. This is really just about whether a (relatively) low success rate in the transfer market had crept in, much of which was covered by the players he had at the club - many of whom he had brought through as young players - and his overall managerial brilliance. I find it pretty interesting that even when we were having mixed success in the market, we were still flying on the pitch, for the most part.
I've mainly taken the fees from http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/manchester-united/alletransfers/verein/985 so if they're wrong, that's why.
I've bolded the players I think have been success to-date. I've put the ones I think either are likely to be successful, or it's too early to judge, in red. I've put the ones that were decent business overall without being massive successes here in blue and the rest I think were poor buys. I've judged them on the basis of what we paid, what was expected of them and how they've done. For example, I'm no great fan of Lindegaard, but for the price we paid, he's done a reasonably fine job when called upon and provides decent cover to DdG, so I've stuck him in blue. Likewise PIG, even though he's utter shite. Similarly as we brought in Foster for a much smaller fee and sold him for a higher price and with international caps under his belt, I've done the same. Basically if they didn't do too much damage on the pitch and didn't lose us much money, I've put them in blue.
2012/2013
RvP - £24m
Kagawa - £14m
Zaha - £15m
Powell - £6m
Henriquez - £4m
Buttner - £4m
2011/2012
DDG - £18m
Jones - £17m
Young - £15m
2010/2011
Bebe - £7m
Smalling £12m
Chicharito - £7m
Lindegaard - £4m
2009/2010
Valencia - £16m
Diouf - £4m
Obertan £3m
Owen - Free
2008/2009
Berba - £28m
Tosic - £7m
De Laet - Free
Fabio - £?
Rafael- £?
2007/2008
Anderson £27m
Nani - £22m
Hargreaves - £18m
Tevez - Loan
PIG - £2.5m
Possebon - ?
Manucho - £500k
2006/2007
Carrick - £18m
Larsson - Loan
2005/2006
Vidic - £7m
Evra - £7m
Park - £4m
VdS - £2.5m
Foster - £2m
2004/2005
Rooney - £27m
Heinze - £7m
Smith - £6m
Pique - ?
Miller - Free
To me it looks like we had a good few years between 2004 & 2007. Then in 2007/2008 we went on that big splurge, most of whom have proven to be underwhelming to differing degrees. After that for a couple of seasons the only really good signing that has made an immediate, consistent and significant impact was Valencia, when you consider what we paid for Berba and how it ended up. I'd probably argue that in his last three seasons he looked to be warming to the task again, as in 2010/2011 Chicharito was a great bit of business, Smalling has shown massive potential, albeit had a poor season this time around and Lindegaard has given us solid back up in goal. In 2011/2012 DDG was a great signing and Jones will hopefully prove to be one too (he might be our best ever player!!). 2012/2013 he got RvP who was an inspired signing and Kagawa who, IMHO, has been underwhelming thus far. Beyond that Zaha and Powell will hopefully be really good signings for us. Henriquez is a bit more of an unknown.
Obviously the other thing that hasn't been discussed is the transfers he didn't do i.e. the midfield. Whether that was a genuine blind spot I doubt we'll ever know but I think it goes without saying that we could and should have better options available to us right now.
So what say ye? Is his a normal hit/miss ratio for a manager at a big club, or did he slightly lose his way in the market?
And, before I get any snarky replies, I'm not saying Fergie was anything other than a great manager who had us consistently overachieving. This is really just about whether a (relatively) low success rate in the transfer market had crept in, much of which was covered by the players he had at the club - many of whom he had brought through as young players - and his overall managerial brilliance. I find it pretty interesting that even when we were having mixed success in the market, we were still flying on the pitch, for the most part.
I've mainly taken the fees from http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/manchester-united/alletransfers/verein/985 so if they're wrong, that's why.
I've bolded the players I think have been success to-date. I've put the ones I think either are likely to be successful, or it's too early to judge, in red. I've put the ones that were decent business overall without being massive successes here in blue and the rest I think were poor buys. I've judged them on the basis of what we paid, what was expected of them and how they've done. For example, I'm no great fan of Lindegaard, but for the price we paid, he's done a reasonably fine job when called upon and provides decent cover to DdG, so I've stuck him in blue. Likewise PIG, even though he's utter shite. Similarly as we brought in Foster for a much smaller fee and sold him for a higher price and with international caps under his belt, I've done the same. Basically if they didn't do too much damage on the pitch and didn't lose us much money, I've put them in blue.
2012/2013
RvP - £24m
Kagawa - £14m
Zaha - £15m
Powell - £6m
Henriquez - £4m
Buttner - £4m
2011/2012
DDG - £18m
Jones - £17m
Young - £15m
2010/2011
Bebe - £7m
Smalling £12m
Chicharito - £7m
Lindegaard - £4m
2009/2010
Valencia - £16m
Diouf - £4m
Obertan £3m
Owen - Free
2008/2009
Berba - £28m
Tosic - £7m
De Laet - Free
Fabio - £?
Rafael- £?
2007/2008
Anderson £27m
Nani - £22m
Hargreaves - £18m
Tevez - Loan
PIG - £2.5m
Possebon - ?
Manucho - £500k
2006/2007
Carrick - £18m
Larsson - Loan
2005/2006
Vidic - £7m
Evra - £7m
Park - £4m
VdS - £2.5m
Foster - £2m
2004/2005
Rooney - £27m
Heinze - £7m
Smith - £6m
Pique - ?
Miller - Free
To me it looks like we had a good few years between 2004 & 2007. Then in 2007/2008 we went on that big splurge, most of whom have proven to be underwhelming to differing degrees. After that for a couple of seasons the only really good signing that has made an immediate, consistent and significant impact was Valencia, when you consider what we paid for Berba and how it ended up. I'd probably argue that in his last three seasons he looked to be warming to the task again, as in 2010/2011 Chicharito was a great bit of business, Smalling has shown massive potential, albeit had a poor season this time around and Lindegaard has given us solid back up in goal. In 2011/2012 DDG was a great signing and Jones will hopefully prove to be one too (he might be our best ever player!!). 2012/2013 he got RvP who was an inspired signing and Kagawa who, IMHO, has been underwhelming thus far. Beyond that Zaha and Powell will hopefully be really good signings for us. Henriquez is a bit more of an unknown.
Obviously the other thing that hasn't been discussed is the transfers he didn't do i.e. the midfield. Whether that was a genuine blind spot I doubt we'll ever know but I think it goes without saying that we could and should have better options available to us right now.
So what say ye? Is his a normal hit/miss ratio for a manager at a big club, or did he slightly lose his way in the market?