Man Utd explore Saudi Arabia mid-season friendly

[Spark]

The top teams from Saudi league are no pushovers. We’re in for a rude awakening.

We can't beat Grimsby, we've been rudely awakened. Multiple times.

(But yes, I fully get what you're saying).

 

[AndySmith1990]

I've no Interest in watching this sort of soulless rubbish, but if it brings in a few million then great

 

[IsoJoe]

Potential injuries etc, how about we focus on some team bonding instead of selling ourselves 24/7 or what about more intense training sessions that willl focus on the obvious mistakes we make during a match?

 

[GreatDane]

I remember when everyone on here didn't want us to get bought out and funded by the Saudis due to their moral concerns. People were extremely vocal and aggressive about their stance on the matter.

This is fine though. It definitely isn't in any way the same thing.

I remember this.

 

[Raoul]

Seems Whitwell needlessly stretched one line of information (United are looking at a possible Saudi mid-season friendly) into an entire article that didn't really tell us more than the title.

 

[bosnian_red]

So any "benefits" for missing out on Europe we complete bullshit.

The benefits are you have 1 game a week for training the whole season. 1 or 2 friendlies won't break that

 

[shabin_d_great]

scenes when Amorim plays 4-3-3 in saudi matches and still gets beaten by some random opponent.

 

[Lash]

Seems Whitwell needlessly stretched one line of information (United are looking at a possible Saudi mid-season friendly) into an entire article that didn't really tell us more than the title.

Probably desperately trying to write something else that another piece on United being in a bad place. Usually he'd have his midweek piece lined up, can't really write about training.

 

[2 man midfield]

Don't mind this tbf

 

[stu_1992]

I understand the money factor, but no not for me. We shouldn't do this. I've no interest in seeing us sell ourselves out to Saudi. It will just make an already depressing season worse.

 

[VP89]

Seems Whitwell needlessly stretched one line of information (United are looking at a possible Saudi mid-season friendly) into an entire article that didn't really tell us more than the title.

Think they all have a quota of articles to release

 

[Chevap]

What a slap to the face from Sir Jimmy for anyone who didn't want dirty money from Qatar.

 

[RedDevil@84]

Good opportunity to add to the weekend misery by losing to Saudi teams.

 

[Martinez4midfield]

So, the squad was not ready for Europe so that we can play some meaningless friendlies?

Wonderful. We should also explore going out of FA Cup at the first calling itself so that we can play more meaningless friendlies.

Interesting point what if it is more lucrative to play mid week in Saudi, aren't the other big clubs going to want to get in on that vs playing Grimsby town.

 

[Lash]

Interesting point what if it is more lucrative to play mid week in Saudi, aren't the other big clubs going to want to get in on that vs playing Grimsby town.

It was all part of the master plan...

 

[ROFLUTION]

I remember when everyone on here didn't want us to get bought out and funded by the Saudis due to their moral concerns. People were extremely vocal and aggressive about their stance on the matter.

This is fine though. It definitely isn't in any way the same thing.

Is it the same thing really?

It's a game that gives you maybe 5-10m and maybe a way to build a connection to ship players to Saudi. The other is a bad purpose every day, maybe the next 50 years.

 

[RuudTom83]

Don’t turn this into another thread to slag off the coach and players.

Limited number of games makes the idea of lucrative friendlies a very good way to replace the lost revenue.

 

[horsechoker]

So, the squad was not ready for Europe so that we can play some meaningless friendlies?

Wonderful. We should also explore going out of FA Cup at the first calling itself so that we can play more meaningless friendlies.

I mean Amorim never said the latter and we get beat by average PL teams so we'd be equally useless in Europe. Even if we had a better manager we wouldn't do much better than the 2nd round.

 

[acnumber9]

It’s really hard to like this club currently.

 

[Mike Smalling]

The Saudification of all things culture is so depressing.

 

[astracrazy]

At least Amorim will have a new excuse to give in yet another interview after a loss.

"Team were tired after a 14 hour round trip to play a friendly in 35c heat"

Perhaps he'll sub all three centre backs that week.

 

[manutddjw]

I think it's a good idea and will generate revenue that is needed for this club. We don't have Europe and will likely finish in the bottom half of the table. I know people have their opinions on Saudi and I don't want to derail this thread, but I will say, I think if these people are stupid enough to keep tossing big money around we should take advantage of them before the gravy train stops.

 

[SalfordRed18]

That's not his game, though. He's a pretend face to all these deals. He basically owns WWE, UFC, that boxing league they set up and everything else. He has access to unlimited funds and does whatever he likes on under the illusion he's got independent wealth.

Eh? He doesnt own TKO...

 

[FujiVice]

Eh? He doesnt own TKO...

Didn't say he did. Im saying he controls them due to how much money he has access to. Look at how the board of directors bow to him

 

[Insanity]

Maybe we can win two friendlies in a row.

 

[El Zoido]

Europa is too much for us according to Amorim. Saudi's fine though.

Is Amorim responsible for arranging this, then?

 

[RedRocket9908]

Is Amorim responsible for arranging this, then?

It might just be the clubs way of raising funds to cover the cost of paying off Ruben and his staff

 

[saik]

I mean Amorim never said the latter and we get beat by average PL teams so we'd be equally useless in Europe. Even if we had a better manager we wouldn't do much better than the 2nd round.

Well he had such a influence on proceedings that he was basically allowed to do whatever he wanted. Even ETH was persuaded into a truce with Sancho for pre-season while Amorim was allowed to sideline 5 players completely, allowed to tank game after game so that he can steadfastly stick to his system/philosophy. Surely he can oppose these pointless friendlies and say there's an injury risk to the players if he wanted to?

 

[noodlehair]

Is it the same thing really?

It's a game that gives you maybe 5-10m and maybe a way to build a connection to ship players to Saudi. The other is a bad purpose every day, maybe the next 50 years.

I mean, yeah, to anyone who isn't a hypocrite or wasn't just pretending it was about their morals to exert some pointless sense of superiority, it is the same thing.

There isn't really any getting around that. I just think it should be pointed out how full of sh*t some people are if we're now suddenly ok with this.

 

[Chip]

Raising funds to afford Amorim's pay-off perhaps?

 

[avgp_1]

Can Sancho come with us to meet his employers?

 

[Rodgerzzz]

Don’t turn this into another thread to slag off the coach and players.

Limited number of games makes the idea of lucrative friendlies a very good way to replace the lost revenue.

Yeah, especially after going out of the League Cup, you'd imagine the club were expecting a couple of homes games out of that to bring in some money. With that gone and a lot of mid weeks to fill, from a financial perspective I reluctantly suppose it makes sense to explore friendlies like this to make up that difference.

 

[witchtrials]

Is it the same thing really?

It's a game that gives you maybe 5-10m and maybe a way to build a connection to ship players to Saudi. The other is a bad purpose every day, maybe the next 50 years.

I mean it's clearly not the same thing as Saudi ownership - but I'm not sure anyone says it is.

I think the point would be that it's bad for the same reason i.e. that both things involve participating in sportswashing for an unsavoury regime.

 

[gaffs]

Not against this. This season, we will be down around 10 home games compared to last season which costs the clubs about 55mil in revenue. If we continue as is and don't qualify for Europe, it will be the same next season. We have to recoup some of that money somehow.

 

[Sarni]

I thought no mid week games was a blessing because we could spend more time on the training ground to learn the magic system.

We will probably find out that we can make more money by traveling to these places in the middle of the season than we would have made by toiling away in CL/EL.

 

[FortunaUtd]

We will probably find out that we can make more money by traveling to these places in the middle of the season than we would have made by toiling away in CL/EL.

I seriously doubt that

 

[devilish]

His net worth is only around £2bn, given that the PIF own newcastle, i'm pretty sure that saudi ownership is now off limits for us.

well they can always use Newcastle as a feeder club

 

[stevoc]

I understand the money factor, but no not for me. We shouldn't do this. I've no interest in seeing us sell ourselves out to Saudi. It will just make an already depressing season worse.

Yeah it's a poor move from the club.

 

[nacho cheese]

I remember when everyone on here didn't want us to get bought out and funded by the Saudis due to their moral concerns. People were extremely vocal and aggressive about their stance on the matter.

This is fine though. It definitely isn't in any way the same thing.

I expect similar or even more outrage from those people. Definitely the Saudi regime is worse than Qatar? Blood money earned from slave labor is same irrespective of what medium, way or form it comes into the club. So, either it's all fine or not. There should be no ifs and buts about it.

Also, what does it say about their beloved local boy Jim Ratcliffe, who has no problem joining hands with the evil Saudis?

 

[Yakuza_devils]

Try closer to £5-£8m....

I doubt we would play there for so low. It would be probably closer to 20-30m including sponsors and match tickets for maybe 2-3 games.

This is important for us to have more funds for next year rebuild as we are out of Europe and in financial constraints.

Hopefully, we can also strike a back door deals of selling Bruno and Casemeiro to them next year for 160m combined! Fingers crossed