I hope for a brutal summer

[Bastian]

I assume we are going to approach next season with ETH fully backed in which case what I want to see is him giving our board a list of targets and us going hard one after another trying to deliver all of them. I don’t care if they are all Ajax players and we need to spend a billion bringing them here, we need to create a situation in which he will have zero excuses if he fails to perform next year. I don’t want another ‘free pass’ kind of season where we play horribly but manager is not responsible because of some mitigating factors like he needs more time to get to know the players or we have not got him exactly the players he needs.

I think that's possibly the worst idea that's been presented on this forum in the last few weeks, no offence. It would make sense if ETH was some talent identifying genius, but if not it would just stack us with more players that will be almost impossible to shift, of which we have almost a full squad.

We need a coherent strategy regardless of manager. And we need the hierarchy to help the manager (whether that is Erik or someone new) by going all out in shifting players out the door this summer. As we see there are plenty whose contracts are up in a year's time so theoretically we'd only be subsidising wages for a year to get them to move on.

Not gonna happen. Throwing out this set of players will be a process that is gonna take multiple windows. The key thing is to come up with a team above the manager that can make the correct decisions and stick with it. Not change their decision because a player came up with 6 months of good form just before his renewal.

That's been on the Glazers and their people. I don't think any manager we've had has fought to give a mediocre player a fresh contract. We've had a board that upgraded Bruno's deal with zero pressure to do so (ample time remaining and no rumoured interest) and reportedly wanted to do so also for Maguire which thankfully was somehow averted.

 

[Dr. Dwayne]

I see sad Pablo memes in your future.

 

[JeffFromHK]

It's not so much my suggestion, but what will realistically happen. If it was my suggestion I'd go more aggressive. But like I keep saying. We are not going to do major changes with Ashworth and others on gardening leave and the structure not in place. The major, more aggressive rebuild changes will start in 2025 because we'll hopefully have the structure in by then with time for them to analyze and decide on plans, and hopefully our FFP situation will be better. That means we'll have the flexibility and cash to make big changes, while also the people who we employed to make the changes will actually be able to lead them. That's not the case this summer. So it's a standard safe summer.

Also add Greenwood to my list, I keep forgetting he exists but he'll be sold too so will make money there.

okay, so it is a difference of "what should we do" and "what will be done"

 

[Sandikan]

Love the thread title.

The irony is we'll very likely get one, but not at all like the poster meant.

One where the new management aren't properly bedded in yet, and thus there's no sensible plan of recruitment, mixed in with another manager change.

 

[justsomebloke]

I assume we are going to approach next season with ETH fully backed in which case what I want to see is him giving our board a list of targets and us going hard one after another trying to deliver all of them. I don’t care if they are all Ajax players and we need to spend a billion bringing them here, we need to create a situation in which he will have zero excuses if he fails to perform next year. I don’t want another ‘free pass’ kind of season where we play horribly but manager is not responsible because of some mitigating factors like he needs more time to get to know the players or we have not got him exactly the players he needs.

That would be complete lunacy. ETH should not be dictating transfers, though certainly he should have a voice in the process. We can't actually spend without regard, because of FFP. Unless you want to be docked ten points or worse. Last year we had record revenue, but still made a loss. We no longer live in a world where a club like United can spend whatever it likes or whatever it takes. Also, it would be idiocy to do all of this simply to create a situation where "he will have zero excuses". If they don't think he's up to it, it should be possible to figure that out without spending a billion pounds to make the decision easier.

 

[Snow]

Why would there be any new reports when there has been no news since? If we'd have triggered the option, that would have been reported.

With his wages and how injury prone he's been, it makes no sense at all for us to take that option up. There haven't been any reports about other clubs being in for him because nobody else would be daft enough to take him at that wage bracket either. There's every chance it plays out like the De Gea situation unless he either accepts a lower wage here or elsewhere in Europe, or the Saudis want him.

Only if there were such trigger to begin with. We've only heard one report from one reporter and he wasn't showing us any facts.

We'd be much more likely to hear reports if a player of ours was talking to other clubs because you have agents involved trying to drum up the prize for themselves. United have no reason to say anything if there wasn't anything to talk about.

I genuinely don't know why people trust sports reporters as face value. They talk so much shit. Romano constantly quoted when he's literally paying people to make up stuff for him to tweet about. Their whole career isn't about integrity of the material. It's about getting clicks for the ad revenue. That's it.

 

[Buster15]

By selling / kicking out lots of players and I dont mind a transition season with young and youth players. You shape a culture by kicking out people, and Fergie was brilliant at it. Time to be bloody ruthless

Yes indeed.
Has to happen for any progress to be made.

 

[bosnian_red]

okay, so it is a difference of "what should we do" and "what will be done"

Yeah. And we have to be realistic about what is possible. No Wilcox, no Ashworth, Berrada doesn't start til the summer, FFP issues, unknown manager .. there's not much we can do this summer.

 

[UDontMessWith24]

Nothing will change until this happens. It doesn’t even have to be a mass clear out just something that establishes a standard that players who don’t work and fight on the pitch don’t get to wear the shirt. This is the bare minimum at most clubs big and small.

 

[FootballAI]

By selling / kicking out lots of players and I dont mind a transition season with young and youth players. You shape a culture by kicking out people, and Fergie was brilliant at it. Time to be bloody ruthless

Brutally it should be. Who would you recommend to go first?

Priority to let go for me would be:

1. Martial
2. Rashford
3. Antony
4. Bruno
5. Malacia
6. McT (if he is not happy to be a sub/impact player)
7. Eriksen

Wishful thinking of replacement:

1. Ivan Toney
2. Anthony Gordon
3. Bowen
4. Maddison
5. Theo Hernandez


Promote 3 more youth and actually rotate and play them from time to time not just bench them all year round.. Realistically, it would be better to search for talents outside of PL, our scout system needs to be massively improved hopefully with a smarter technical director.

 

[ROFLUTION]

I'm hearing on the grapevine that Ineos have decreed that Rashford, Bruno and McTominay are not for sale

So much for a clear out.

Please do put in real sources, so it’s possible to actually have a factual conversation/discussion with you.

 

[MancunianAngels]

I'll maintain the point I've made on here for ages. Until the wider structure/culture is sorted, it's completely pointless making wholesale changes.

There's also the issue that it's going to be difficult bringing in more than 6/7 players of sufficient quality.

Despite glaring issues all over the pitch, the priority this summer has to be the defence. If we can bring two centre backs and a fit left back (I don't think Shaw is ever going to stay injury free now) then we are looking strong in that area. Probably gives you the ability to let Maguire and maybe Lindelof go.

The next step would be moving Casemiro on and replace him with someone younger.

From an attacking perspective, getting decent money for Sancho and Greenwood is a priority. A back up striker is a must aswell. You don't want someone to harm the development of Hojlund but a player who gives us a plan B.

 

[Woziak]

I'll maintain the point I've made on here for ages. Until the wider structure/culture is sorted, it's completely pointless making wholesale changes.

There's also the issue that it's going to be difficult bringing in more than 6/7 players of sufficient quality.

Despite glaring issues all over the pitch, the priority this summer has to be the defence. If we can bring two centre backs and a fit left back (I don't think Shaw is ever going to stay injury free now) then we are looking strong in that area. Probably gives you the ability to let Maguire and maybe Lindelof go.

The next step would be moving Casemiro on and replace him with someone younger.

From an attacking perspective, getting decent money for Sancho and Greenwood is a priority. A back up striker is a must aswell. You don't want someone to harm the development of Hojlund but a player who gives us a plan B.

Don’t see Sancho going anywhere, his form is improving, United will want £50m, no one will pay that fee and his ridiculous wages plus the club wiill have a new coach who will give most of the squad a clean sweep.

Omar Berada, Ashworth and Wilcox all know him and will probably want to keep him, especially if he goes deep in the CL this season. I doubt they want to get rid of Greenwood but know they must!

 

[stefan92]

the club wiill have a new coach who will give most of the squad a clean sweep.

I read this all the time and I just wonder why. Why do people think like you that it's a given that a new coach will give a clean slate again? It's absolutely plausible that whoever comes in just pushes through with such measures, especially if there is a DoF involved who can ensure some continuity in this regard.

 

[Woziak]

I read this all the time and I just wonder why. Why do people think like you that it's a given that a new coach will give a clean slate again? It's absolutely plausible that whoever comes in just pushes through with such measures, especially if there is a DoF involved who can ensure some continuity in this regard.

I hope your right but younger players will get at least 1 year reprieve, we simply can’t sell Antony, Sancho and Greenwood in one window plus lose Martial on a free, our squad options in attack are diabolical, we never ever have a goal threat currently on the bench, this is on ETH with his awful recruitment strategy, if you play low block, high pressing counter attacking football you must 6 strikers to fill 3 starting places and 4 or 5 top quality full backs as those 10/11 players are the ones who run more than anyone else and are the ones most responsible for goals and assists, we have only two full backs who contribute sparingly to goals/assists, a lot of young kids, some who don’t get a chance, like Amad to help in this area and a lot of players like Martial, Antony and to a lesser extent Bruno and Rashford that are not fit to wear the short this season.

 

[Shinjch]

At this stage it is probably more important that we are able to clear out so many of the players who have proven they aren't up to it than it is to make any particular signing. I still don't trust we will capable of it though