[Mike McGrath] Manchester United's transfer budget to be slashed if they fail to make Champions League

AFC NimbleThumb

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Might not be a bad thing to have to take a step back & look for talent instead of paying a premium to latch onto others work. When’s the last time we got in an Evra-esque signing, I’m over the £50mil+ signing that’s meant to change everything. We should cut our losses on players that don’t want to be here & actually scout players that can be nurtured into world beaters.
 
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Bastian

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Look at it this way, how much sick in your mouth would you produce if you knew AWB cost 7m, Maguire 20m, Fred 8m, etc. I suspect a lot less. And if they don't work out, they can be shipped on.

Losing out on CL next season could be a blessing if we decide to not take Europe seriously and drastically cut down the squad for the league as the only priority. We can shed more than half this squad and build in line with a vision.
 

KiD MoYeS

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I think the club should avoid £50m plus signings for a little while anyway. Most, if not all, of the big money signings have been dreadful. Hopefully Rangnick and the scouts can uncover some players that suit the new manager's system but I won't hold my breath - someone in the club recommended Wan-Bissaka be bought for £50m.
 

Ayush_reddevil

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Also need to sign the right age profile & players who want to take the next step in their career so are hungry for it.
 

DSG

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Yeah, it’s a crisis for sure. That’s why RR needed to make the top 4 minimum, and now that looks pretty tough. Dropped too many points v bad sides.
 

ti vu

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So the new manager get punished for the higher up previous mistake? Creative way to persuade new manager to join...

Clearly money oriented. Missing CL next season, but if there is chance to complete a title challenge team, why you would not spend now, and spend less in 2023 summer? Football club should have football vision to follow, no?

When they appointed RR as interim manager, they didn't account for this scenario? I meant almost nobody should expect RR, and as an interim manager to guarantee top 4. This team was not built for him, and he's more of laying the foundation than result oriented type of manager.

If true, it's just businessmen shifting the blame, to preserve their cut. And seems like there is a social engineering effort to condition fans for a long rebuild.

Yes I think this team need rebuild, but the point remains that getting the right player when available should not be restricted by a budget set by those who created this mess in the first place.
 
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Huddsred

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Throwing money at yet more players isn't the answer. We need leadership both on and off the pitch.
 

led_scholes

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The signs were there in January. Instead of strengthening the squad, even with cheap options, we just loaned out players.

Just avoid the British market or big teams. The budget maybe reduced, but if we sell Maguire, AWB, Rashford, Henderson, Martial we can easily add 150 millions. And Noone of these players should be regular, with 2 of them already benched, one out of the team, and probably gonna be benched again.

If we implement a good offload strategy and take the sunk costs, then we can easily buy good quality from foreign markets.
 

Red00012

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If we stopped handing out big feck off contracts to players who don’t deserve it we might have more money to be spending on players
 

DRJosh

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To think that some of us expected a title challenge at the start of the season with Ronaldo, Varane and Sancho coming in.

If a reduced budget means a move away from throwing a squad together of random superstar misfits with no concerted plan, then I'm all for it.
 

Leftback99

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Of course it will be less, hardly newsworthy.

Embarrassingly Arsenal are showing us what we should be doing having taken our place in the CL. Buying young hungry players on their way up rather than overpriced, overpaid, over age stars.

Hopefully we'll make Europa, trim the squad and use it as a chance to develop our youth.
 

Ralph1386

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The signs were there in January. Instead of strengthening the squad, even with cheap options, we just loaned out players.
But the Glazers took their dividends un January. So it was a good January to them. Not so much to the club.
 

eire-red

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OK so we can't throw money at the problem then. Well it hasn't worked the last 7/8 years anyhow..

Surely between player sales and freed up wages, we will have some extra cash, but we actually need to be smart and not piss away 50m on every single player. I hated this ridiculous idea of a "marquee signing" every damn window like Woodward wanted, while we passed up the chance to sign genuine players that could have improved us without breaking the bank.

Let's try and get the managerial appointment right for a change. Then we can focus on the profile of team we want to build. That's priority number 1 and 2. Then recruitment comes into it. You don't start to build the house before you have the designs drawn out.
 

Devil may care

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Well at least it'll prevent us pissing away £80-100M on the likes of Rice and Kane.
 

Isotope

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I think the club should avoid £50m plus signings for a little while anyway. Most, if not all, of the big money signings have been dreadful. Hopefully Rangnick and the scouts can uncover some players that suit the new manager's system but I won't hold my breath - someone in the club recommended Wan-Bissaka be bought for £50m.
And Longstaff could possibly our main CM if Newcastle didn't put ridiculous price tag.
 

amolbhatia50k

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Nice.

"Seems we are doing worse than expected. So we'll have to spend less on improving the squad!".

Makes sense.
 

amolbhatia50k

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OK so we can't throw money at the problem then. Well it hasn't worked the last 7/8 years anyhow..

Surely between player sales and freed up wages, we will have some extra cash, but we actually need to be smart and not piss away 50m on every single player. I hated this ridiculous idea of a "marquee signing" every damn window like Woodward wanted, while we passed up the chance to sign genuine players that could have improved us without breaking the bank.

Let's try and get the managerial appointment right for a change. Then we can focus on the profile of team we want to build. That's priority number 1 and 2. Then recruitment comes into it. You don't start to build the house before you have the designs drawn out.
Sure but I doubt our managerial targets will be excited by the idea of taking on a club with huge expectations which is slashing transfer budgets and getting schooled by its rivals.
 

christy87

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There is more than enough free agents this summer to do a rebuild on the cheap, anyone would be an upgrade on McGuire even tarkowski, brozovic and Kamara would instantly upgrade our midfield and there is a whole lot of decent players with a year left on the contract.
 

ti vu

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OK so we can't throw money at the problem then. Well it hasn't worked the last 7/8 years anyhow..

Surely between player sales and freed up wages, we will have some extra cash, but we actually need to be smart and not piss away 50m on every single player. I hated this ridiculous idea of a "marquee signing" every damn window like Woodward wanted, while we passed up the chance to sign genuine players that could have improved us without breaking the bank.

Let's try and get the managerial appointment right for a change. Then we can focus on the profile of team we want to build. That's priority number 1 and 2. Then recruitment comes into it. You don't start to build the house before you have the designs drawn out.
While your conclusion is spot on, the point you made is contradictory. Going from one extreme to another.

We made expensive mistake not because we only sign expensive superstars, and ignoring cheaper alternative. It's more down to the issue that we lack the structure, and a vision. We can't identify the right players, and have no alternative if our main targets are too expensive. Managerial change leaves a big rebuild job because previous managers don't build toward a long term vision, and the new manager require a big change for his own ideas. This leaves in desperate situation for example where we have to overpay for Maguire who should never cost that much.

Almost all long term successful teams are among the biggest spenders. So the issue is not spending money, however big, it's. Liverpool made 2 previous world record signings for their positions which became the core their successes in VVD and Allison. Spending smart maybe inclusive with spending big too. The difference is having an clear vision which requires competency from positions above the manager/head coaches. Those people are responsible for manager appointment and most of the transfer dealings, which leave the manager freedom to coach the team.
 

NoPace

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There is more than enough free agents this summer to do a rebuild on the cheap, anyone would be an upgrade on McGuire even tarkowski, brozovic and Kamara would instantly upgrade our midfield and there is a whole lot of decent players with a year left on the contract.
I don't think Brozovic would come here honestly, but if we miss out on the CL and need to sell to buy, there are worse ideas than selling Maguire for 30M, getting Tarkowski on a free and using the money to address other needs.
 

NewYorkRed

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The owners are a joke. The glazers are killing this club, we can talk about mangers, players etc all we want but the problem will always be the glazers and we’re not getting rid of them anytime soon.
 

hobbers

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Would be a good thing if we had transfer budget slashed at the same time as a player exodus. Force us to look elsewhere. Force us to stop going after the most obvious possible English signings in every position, like Maguire, Sancho and Rice.
 

Roboc7

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The spending will slow down at some point and there has to be cost cutting on wages. Whether our budget will drop as low as £50m I’m not sure.

Reality is if you can’t recruit we’ll you will waste money whatever your budget, post SAF we are the perfect example. If we offloaded some dross, added those funds to a more modest budget we could still come back stronger next season but I imagine we’ll make a huge mess of buying and selling as usual.
 
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Richard Arnold new CEO was saying this week that our only goal is the premier league and the champions league :lol: hope he is good at scouting!
 

ThierryHenry14

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So the new manager get punished for the higher up previous mistake? Creative way to persuade new manager to join...

Clearly money oriented. Missing CL next season, but if there is chance to complete a title challenge team, why you would not spend now, and spend less in 2023 summer? Football club should have football vision to follow, no?

When they appointed RR as interim manager, they didn't account for this scenario? I meant almost nobody should expect RR, and as an interim manager to guarantee top 4. This team was not built for him, and he's more of laying the foundation than result oriented type of manager.

If true, it's just businessmen shifting the blame, to preserve their cut. And seems like there is a social engineering effort to condition fans for a long rebuild.

Yes I think this team need rebuild, but the point remains that getting the right player when available should not be restricted by a budget set by those who created this mess in the first place.
If Xavi can work with limited transfer budget and wages, so should the new manager. The issue is the expectation of the board, the fans, and the Neville/Keane/Rio Pundits.
 

r3idy

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Bullshit article is still Bullshit. Do not need to be a rocket scientist to know if we don't have CL football them revenues will drop.
 

AneRu

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The spending will slow down at some point and there has to be cost cutting on wages. Whether our budget will drop as low as £50m I’m not sure.

Reality is if you can’t recruit we’ll you will waste money whatever your budget, post SAF we are the perfect example. If we offloaded some dross, added those funds to a more modest budget we could still come back stronger next season but I imagine we’ll make a huge mess of buying and selling as usual.
We are in dire straits, a flawed squad with rotten attitudes on scandalously huge contracts making it near impossible to move on from them. We have a long road ahead and I guess, even if it's forced, it makes sense to slow down on the spending and introspect.

The only way out is a couple of lean years or more whilst we dump all the the mercenaries and bring in young players on the up. The only internal conflict I have is that our current manager is best qualified for the type rebuild we need right now, forget the Pochs and the EHTs what we need right now is a great talent spotter who can build a team on the cheap. I don't see many guys better at this than Ralf but then we already have a DOF.
 

ti vu

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If Xavi can work with limited transfer budget and wages, so should the new manager. The issue is the expectation of the board, the fans, and the Neville/Keane/Rio Pundits.
For however bad the situation at Barcelona, they have a foundation of football philosophy. Laporta knows how to run that club, and they still have senior players from their successful time. Then La Liga is very different than PL. Even with the demand to lower their wage bill, Barcelona is not losing out to other La Liga teams that not has Madrid in the name.

So still not comparable to our situation. Even Aston Villa can afford to loan in someone like Coutinho, so it is not that straight forward in PL to spend less and still competitive with the best. The same group that currently among the best in Europe too. Our structure is work in progress, and from RR point of view, it is way behind the other established like City, Liverpool, Chelsea.
 

eire-red

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While your conclusion is spot on, the point you made is contradictory. Going from one extreme to another.

We made expensive mistake not because we only sign expensive superstars, and ignoring cheaper alternative. It's more down to the issue that we lack the structure, and a vision. We can't identify the right players, and have no alternative if our main targets are too expensive. Managerial change leaves a big rebuild job because previous managers don't build toward a long term vision, and the new manager require a big change for his own ideas. This leaves in desperate situation for example where we have to overpay for Maguire who should never cost that much.

Almost all long term successful teams are among the biggest spenders. So the issue is not spending money, however big, it's. Liverpool made 2 previous world record signings for their positions which became the core their successes in VVD and Allison. Spending smart maybe inclusive with spending big too. The difference is having an clear vision which requires competency from positions above the manager/head coaches. Those people are responsible for manager appointment and most of the transfer dealings, which leave the manager freedom to coach the team.
Which part is contradictory?

I have no issue with us spending money if it is done properly and delivers success. Show me a club that has had success that hasn't spent large sums.

My issue is that sometimes it seems like we have spent for the sake of it. We've bought players that don't want to be here, players at the end of their careers and overspent on players simply not good enough. We went for the marquee signing in Pogba when Kante was available for a third of the price. We signed Di Maria who didn't want to be here, 50m on AWB when someone like Trippier was available for probably half the price (maybe I'm stretching there).

I mean we could go on and on and compare our horrible deals every summer where comparative players have gone somewhere else for only a fraction of the price. Now of course these players might not have wanted to come here, fair enough.

My point was that we should be more prudent in how we build a team that is contingent on how a coach wants to play and the long term plan the club has (if any). I'm not saying that we should go all bargain busters, bottom fishing in the Dutch League for players. But maybe having to stop and think before we throw money at the problem again is not such a bad thing.

We've had the most success signing players a little under the radar that are on the cusp, that's where you find the value (in my opinion). Those quality players a tier below that have that extra level to go when they come into their prime years, and are young an hungry. Instead, for the last 8 years we've been chasing the likes of Fabregas, Bale, Kroos, Ronaldo, Pogba, Lukaku, Maguire, Varane. The marquee signings, as Woodward puts them.

Now we didn't get the majority, and the ones we did get haven't worked out at all (jury still out on Varane). Even look across Europe at the big name signings: Griezmann, Coutinho, Dembele, Hazard, Lukaku, Ronaldo to Juve. Rarely do they seem to work out.
 

eire-red

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Sure but I doubt our managerial targets will be excited by the idea of taking on a club with huge expectations which is slashing transfer budgets and getting schooled by its rivals.
Our two main targets seem to be Pochettino and Ten Haag. They don't/didn't have massive budgets at Spurs and Ajax respectively.

And the expectations should be adjusted to reflect where we are now as a club. This isn't an overnight job to get back to the top. Realistically, we need someone to get us closer, so that when Guardiola finally finishes with City, and this Liverpool squad passes its peak, we're there.

That's the goal, because there's no way we're catching them at the levels they're at now.