United in this Summer transfer window

[Comsmit]

When you act with at times, a breathtaking arrogance, you often get what you deserve in life. Manchester United have got everything they deserve out of this summer transfer window.

No clear transfer strategy
No major targets acquired
Ridiculous media statements resulting in the heightening of expectations and in turn pressure to deliver
Pissing off virtually every club we have contacted with at times appalling arrogance and lack of foresight
Overpaid embarrasingly on someone who should never have been the sole acquisition of note
Made Moyes a target for derision in his first few months
Probably unsettled and upset our best left-back, who incidentally was our best player at Anfield
Significantly reduced our positive reputation in European football, carefully upheld throughout Ferguson and Gill's tenures
Potentially damaged a young Spanish footballers' short-term career with amateurish actions & borderline contempt
Made the institution a target for uncomfortable criticism from the media and indeed our own supporters

Just when all we needed was a quiet few months post-Ferguson. Let's hope there is a positive reaction where it matters most...on the pitch.

fecking joke....and yes.....embarrassing.

 

[Antisocial]

When you act with at times, a breathtaking arrogance, you often get what you deserve in life. Manchester United have got everything they deserve out of this summer transfer window.

No clear transfer strategy
No major targets acquired
Ridiculous media statements resulting in the heightening of expectations and in turn pressure to deliver
Pissing off virtually every club we have contacted with at times appalling arrogance and lack of foresight
Overpaid embarrasingly on someone who should never have been the sole acquisition of note
Made Moyes a target for derision in his first few months
Probably unsettled and upset our best left-back, who incidentally was our best player at Anfield
Significantly reduced our positive reputation in European football, carefully upheld throughout Ferguson and Gill's tenures
Potentially damaged a young Spanish footballers' short-term career with amateurish actions & borderline contempt
Made the institution a target for uncomfortable criticism from the media and indeed our own supporters

Just when all we needed was a quiet few months post-Ferguson. Let's hope there is a positive reaction where it matters most...on the pitch.

fecking joke....and yes.....embarrassing.

What's worse is that so much of this was so incredibly avoidable - we've failed in the past to get the targets we want, but what you list above goes beyond that. Woodward is new to the job, fine, but his was a promotion - he's been at the club long enough in a different capacity for us/the club to expect better. Much better.

 

[Mister Ed]

When you act with at times, a breathtaking arrogance, you often get what you deserve in life. Manchester United have got everything they deserve out of this summer transfer window.

No clear transfer strategy
No major targets acquired
Ridiculous media statements resulting in the heightening of expectations and in turn pressure to deliver
Pissing off virtually every club we have contacted with at times appalling arrogance and lack of foresight
Overpaid embarrasingly on someone who should never have been the sole acquisition of note
Made Moyes a target for derision in his first few months
Probably unsettled and upset our best left-back, who incidentally was our best player at Anfield
Significantly reduced our positive reputation in European football, carefully upheld throughout Ferguson and Gill's tenures
Potentially damaged a young Spanish footballers' short-term career with amateurish actions & borderline contempt
Made the institution a target for uncomfortable criticism from the media and indeed our own supporters

Just when all we needed was a quiet few months post-Ferguson. Let's hope there is a positive reaction where it matters most...on the pitch.

fecking joke....and yes.....embarrassing.

Had Moyes just been quiet about our dealings and had he just done his business early, everything could have been avoided.

Fellaini could have been acquired for his release clause early on, and went with us on pre-season. If the release clause was too much to pay, we should have given up on him and put our focus on Khedira, or Paulinho or Gustavo. But instead we kept pushing Everton, to no avail, and we ended up paying more than his release clause because we ended up without alternatives and without time on deadline day.

He could have sorted the left-back with offering higher for Baines if he really wanted him, else I think the Coentrao deal would have been very easy to complete aswell, as Madrid didn't need him anymore and he wanted away. Ofcourse if you leave it late, all becomes so much more complex.

Those 2 positions could have been out of the way very early on, perhaps both in time for pre-season, which would have benefited us, given our tough opening 5 games. It is really indefensible that Moyes is still searching for his best type of squad given our difficult start, result is that we already lost 5 points in 2 games by playing poor football.

He should have also added more creativity. He could have sorted a deal for Thiago I think if he acted faster. He should never have been around Fabregas, as that deal was a pure waste of time. If he couldn't get Thiago, he could still have gone for Herrera or for Modric. I think both could have happened if we acted faster in the window. As it happened Ozil became available only after the Bale deal, I think it should have been easy to snap him up for us, if we would have been prepared to offer as much as Arsenal, or a little more. Surely Ozil just chose Arsenal, because he had no other alternatives.

With Fellaini for £23.5 Million, Ozil for £42.5 Million and a loan deal for Coentrao with option to purcashe him. I think everybody would have been overjoyed and would have called this the best summer ever. Defiantly if he had made some room in the squad, i wouldn't have mind for example if we had sold Kagawa to Arsenal or Dortmund, given we had secured Ozil.

If he had also refrained from making stupid statements about no budget and going for only topclass players and if he hadn't made the stupid bids for Fabregas and the combo deal of Fellaini and Baines. It would have saved us much embarrassment.

 

[Danny1982]

Manchester United to launch internal inquest into summer transfer failures

Manager David Moyes and assistant vice chairman will conduct a special review of the club's failures during the window, with Marouane Fellaini the club's only significant signing

EXCLUSIVE (goal.com)
By Paul Clennam

Manchester United officials including David Moyes and assistant vice chairman Ed Woodward will conduct a special internal inquest into the club's disastrous summer transfer dealings, Goal can reveal.

The Old Trafford outfit completed the £27.5 million signing of Marouane Fellaini in the final minutes of the transfer window on Monday - their only major deal of the summer.

But United's inability to secure other marquee targets this summer, including Spanish trio Thiago, Cesc Fabregas and Ander Herrera - over whom the club enquired about on deadline day - has led to senior club figures preparing an informal investigation into what went wrong.

It is thought that the club will look to use the international break to analyse their summer dealings, ahead of the players returning to training before hosting Crystal Palace on September 14.

Moyes, who remained at the club's Carrington training base late into Monday night to ensure the signing of Fellaini was completed before the 23.00BST deadline, has earmarked a number of potential incomings in recent months but saw all but the Belgian fall by the wayside.

Thiago, who joined former boss Pep Guardiola at Bayern Munich, had been the subject of talks between United and Barcelona in July, with the Red Devils keen to add a central midfielder to their ranks following Paul Scholes's retirement and the ongoing illness of Darren Fletcher.

Moyes also publicly declared an interest in signing Fabregas from Camp Nou but saw the former Arsenal star commit his future to the Catalan giants, with United having had two bids for the midfielder rejected.

The Premier League champions also saw a deadline day offer for Leighton Baines rebuffed by Everton chairman Bill Kenwright, who maintained the full-back was not for sale throughout the summer.

As such, United brought in only two players over the summer, with 20-year-old Uruguayan Guillermo Varela the only other arrival alongside Fellaini at Old Trafford.

 

[UnofficialDevil]

Whats a special internal inquest? this is just a silly goal com article with nothing official.

 

[RexHamilton]

Now that silly season is finally over, I spent parts of today looking forward to the rest of this season and realised it's not as bad as it's being painted in the press. Yes we have only brought in Fellaini and we have missed out on many of our other targets. Yes, there was a sense of embarrassment with how the Herrera deal was handled yesterday and there is a major disappointment in manner in which we have gone about our business. But I think that is the only major disappointment, not the missed transfer targets. I know they are connected, in that, we possibly missed our targets because of the ineptitude of Woodward and his team but I'm more disappointed with them than the actual missed targets.

Our club became a laughing stock for a few hours last night and if we are all being honest, had the stories coming out about us been about Liverpool, the RAWK thread would have gone into over drive.We would have taken so much enjoyment out of their misery and they have enjoyed our club being dragged through the mud. But you know what, in my opinion, it's not all doom and gloom.

We have added Fellaini to our squad, a squad that won the title at a canter last season. We've added proven premier league quality in the area of our squad where it was needed most. Sure, it's an anti-climax when you're being linked with some of the world's best midfielders, but it's still a quality signing. We have also held on to Rooney. Love him or hate him, he's a quality player and he wasn't fully fit last year. If he is fit and healthy this season he'll add plenty more this year than last. Likewise, Kagawa. He missed good chunks of last season through injury and never really got an extended run in the team. When he did, he showed plenty of quality. The worrying thing is, Moyes doesn't seem to fancy him.

So we have improved our team from last year. But so did our rivals. But let's look at those teams. City have spent nearly £90m and have undoubtedly improved on last season. However, they already had a squad of the highest quality and the additions of Navas and Negredo will improve them, but I don't see Fernandinho improving them as much as they would like considering what they paid for him. They have improved, but they haven't added a world beater who will improve their first 11 all that much. Chelsea and Spurs have also improved, but does anyone think they have improved to the point where we would be scared of them? I don't. Arsenal have made the signing of the summer, no doubt. But as good as Ozil is, one player will not improve them by 16 points.


Anyway, it's a pretty long winded way of saying I still reckon we can win the league this season. I think at board level there are questions to be answered, but we now have a better midfield than we had last year and therefore a better squad.

 

[Danny1982]

Whats a special internal inquest? this is just a silly goal com article with nothing official.

I tend to agree. Besides, I don't want Woodward to do the investigation, I actually want him to be investigated..

 

[Rednails]

When you act with at times, a breathtaking arrogance, you often get what you deserve in life. Manchester United have got everything they deserve out of this summer transfer window.

No clear transfer strategy
No major targets acquired
Ridiculous media statements resulting in the heightening of expectations and in turn pressure to deliver
Pissing off virtually every club we have contacted with at times appalling arrogance and lack of foresight
Overpaid embarrasingly on someone who should never have been the sole acquisition of note
Made Moyes a target for derision in his first few months
Probably unsettled and upset our best left-back, who incidentally was our best player at Anfield
Significantly reduced our positive reputation in European football, carefully upheld throughout Ferguson and Gill's tenures
Potentially damaged a young Spanish footballers' short-term career with amateurish actions & borderline contempt
Made the institution a target for uncomfortable criticism from the media and indeed our own supporters

Just when all we needed was a quiet few months post-Ferguson. Let's hope there is a positive reaction where it matters most...on the pitch.

fecking joke....and yes.....embarrassing.

Good post but I don't think Moyes is blameless either. His targets did not suggest a firm strategic plan and he has got to take some blame for paying over the odds for Fellani and possibly unsettling Evra. Plus he put his foot in it with his RVP/Rooney comment on tour.

Whenever I see Moyes speak I get the district impression that he might be a good coach but he is not on the same intellectual level as SAF. He is just not as clever and that worries me. And I also worry at what effect all this has had on the players.

 

[Sunny Jim]

Manchester United to launch internal inquest into summer transfer failures

i suggest they read mu summary from this thread.

 

[Brophs]

Not many clubs have the balls to go for the latter in the phrase "Go big or go home".

 

[#07]

Whats a special internal inquest? this is just a silly goal com article with nothing official.

True but the Guardian is running a similar story. Its entirely possible that they just copied the goal.com story but at the same time it wouldn't be surprising if United sources briefed this out as an attempt to draw a line under the fiasco and put down a marker to the market that this won't be happening again.

Guardian piece: Manchester United inquest begins after David Moyes era opens in farce

 

[Earthquake]

I tend to agree. Besides, I don't want Woodward to do the investigation, I actually want him to be investigated..

Inquest,

Moyes: "What the feck laddies? What the feck"
Woody: "Sorry la, not used to this malarkey, January'll be better......"
Moyes: "All right then, January....."

 

[UnofficialDevil]

Manchester United inquest begins after David Moyes era opens in farce

Good read that. This part says a lot

United will have known the size of the clause and should have been fully aware that Bilbao would not let Herrera go for any less.Instead they continued to try and haggle to the end as Bilbao held firm, only finally walking away late on Monday.

 

[RonaldoVII]

I don't get how we bid €40m for Khedira with hours to go when we weren't prepared to bid €36m for Herrera in the few days before, unless the €40m bid was more structured over a few years etc compared to the Herrera clause being paid up front.

 

[Sunny Jim]

I still laugh at the Fabregas bids. I honestly lost hope when we launched them.

 

[psychdelicblues]

True but the Guardian is running a similar story. Its entirely possible that they just copied the goal.com story but at the same time it wouldn't be surprising if United sources briefed this out as an attempt to draw a line under the fiasco and put down a marker to the market that this won't be happening again.

Guardian piece: Manchester United inquest begins after David Moyes era opens in farce

The Guardian copy Goal? There is no suggestion of an special internal inquest in the Guardian story. The headline 'inquest begin...' is used in the most broadest sense of the word. Whether there is a internal review or not, regarding what has happened this summer, fans will be the last to know about it.All the Guardian is speculating, is whether United will try to bring players in the next transfer window. Apart from that the it's a excellent article. The Goal article is just pure conjecture.

 

[LR7]

When you act with at times, a breathtaking arrogance, you often get what you deserve in life. Manchester United have got everything they deserve out of this summer transfer window.

No clear transfer strategy
No major targets acquired
Ridiculous media statements resulting in the heightening of expectations and in turn pressure to deliver
Pissing off virtually every club we have contacted with at times appalling arrogance and lack of foresight
Overpaid embarrasingly on someone who should never have been the sole acquisition of note
Made Moyes a target for derision in his first few months
Probably unsettled and upset our best left-back, who incidentally was our best player at Anfield
Significantly reduced our positive reputation in European football, carefully upheld throughout Ferguson and Gill's tenures
Potentially damaged a young Spanish footballers' short-term career with amateurish actions & borderline contempt
Made the institution a target for uncomfortable criticism from the media and indeed our own supporters

Just when all we needed was a quiet few months post-Ferguson. Let's hope there is a positive reaction where it matters most...on the pitch.

fecking joke....and yes.....embarrassing.

Couldn't agree more.

 

[Spoony]

I don't get how we bid €40m for Khedira with hours to go when we weren't prepared to bid €36m for Herrera in the few days before, unless the €40m bid was more structured over a few years etc compared to the Herrera clause being paid up front.

I doubt we showed an interest. That one just doesn't seem plausible to me when we're were trying to seal a deal with Herrera. It's possible that we made an inquiry but nothing more.

 

[Earthquake]

Aye, that Khedira one just doesn't add up.

 

[sammsky1]

In the past 12 months the club has lost SAF, Gill, chief scout Martin Ferguson, Rene, Phelen and long time club solicitor Watkins. The collective smarts, experience and savvy of that group of people with regards to player scouting, football economics and transfer business etiquette is staggering.

When Moyes walked into the club, for one reason or another, it was all gone. And so he started his job heading immedialy into the transfer window with a completely new team that had never worked together.

It was always going to be the clusterfeck car crash that we eventually witnessed.

 

[UnofficialDevil]

In the most important summer for us in the past 26 years now that Sir Alex Ferguson retired instead of making a statement what do we do? make complete fools of ourselves.

 

[fatboy]

I think most of us knew it was gonna be a tricky summer, but don't think anyone foresaw the complete farce it descended into. All the "feel good" element about our 20th league title, Fergie leaving on a high, the pledge to back our new manager with a sizeable transfer fund to build on the championship winning squad ... all of that has been effectively wiped out by Woodward and Co in 4 short months.

And Moyes is partly to blame too. His comments on Rooney/RVP were poor, and his suggestion that Everton should "do the right thing" and sell Fellaini and Baines was naive and counterproductive and best. I always thought he came across as rather savvy, but maybe I was wrong. I hope he's better coaching, tactics and getting results, because after such a shit summer he's gonna need it.

 

[Edgar Allan Pillow]

Manchester United to launch internal inquest into summer transfer failures

Manchester United officials including David Moyes and assistant vice chairman Ed Woodward will conduct a special internal inquest into the club's disastrous summer transfer dealings, Goal can reveal.

As if EdWood is going to acknowledge self blame and sack himself

Realized late that we missed the Coentrao loan move too

 

[iAm20Legend]

I still laugh at the Fabregas bids. I honestly lost hope when we launched them.

<sigh> the +5 million bid made me wince. Not sure what we were expecting.

 

[Danny1982]

Some positive news today:

1- We're still in for Herrera (and Baines) in January.

2- Eventually we only paid £23.5m for Fellaini, but Everton announced it was £27.5m because Fellaini sacrificed his £4m loyalty bonus (which was the main point behind his last minute meeting with Martinez). (Although I'm not sure this is 100% positive news, because I don't like this habit we seem to be developing that we push players to pay part of the price)..

3- We tried to sign Sneijder, but failed (thank God)!

One negative thing though (could very well be bullsh*t though because the media are sensing that United are in a weak position right now, so what's better than kicking them while they're down?!):

It's reported that we rejected an offer to sign Ozil 2 weeks before the deadline, but then called Madrid again on Monday morning to see if we can hijack the deal they had with Arsenal in the last minute. Reportedly Ozil chose Arsenal.

http://eurosport.yahoo.com/news/premier-league-paper-round-united-made-bid-ozil-034818499.html

 

[Devil may care]

This clusterfeck is over, we need a "United in the January Transfer Window" thread now.

I just have one question, did we actually sign Nani to a new contract?

 

[RonaldoVII]

This clusterfeck is over, we need a "United in the January Transfer Window" thread now.

I just have one question, did we actually sign Nani to a new contract?

Nothing has been announced yet. Hopefully they are just crossing the Ts etc.

 

[#07]

The Mirror: Why Manchester United's shambolic deadline day shows they have no coherent transfer policy
The Guardian: Marouane Fellaini transfer can't mask Manchester United's deadline-day farce
The Express: Ed Woodward in firing line after Manchester United transfer farce

 

[Sunny Jim]

The Mirror: Why Manchester United's shambolic deadline day shows they have no coherent transfer policy
The Guardian: Marouane Fellaini transfer can't mask Manchester United's deadline-day farce
The Express: Ed Woodward in firing line after Manchester United transfer farce

i guess the Glazers, SAF, Moyes, Gill and Woddie wanted that kind of attention in transtion period.

 

[Sunny Jim]

<sigh> the +5 million bid made me wince. Not sure what we were expecting.

let me quote some posters: we defo had some private encourgment, no way we would have launched a bid without that

 

[#07]

let me quote some posters: we defo had some private encourgment, no way we would have launched a bid without that

 

[Name Changed]

Everything we did in the transfer window was so amateurish, it was beyond belief. I am just going to forget about it. Hopefully they will learn, although I doubt it.

 

[Name Changed]

When you act with at times, a breathtaking arrogance, you often get what you deserve in life. Manchester United have got everything they deserve out of this summer transfer window.

No clear transfer strategy
No major targets acquired
Ridiculous media statements resulting in the heightening of expectations and in turn pressure to deliver
Pissing off virtually every club we have contacted with at times appalling arrogance and lack of foresight
Overpaid embarrasingly on someone who should never have been the sole acquisition of note
Made Moyes a target for derision in his first few months
Probably unsettled and upset our best left-back, who incidentally was our best player at Anfield
Significantly reduced our positive reputation in European football, carefully upheld throughout Ferguson and Gill's tenures
Potentially damaged a young Spanish footballers' short-term career with amateurish actions & borderline contempt
Made the institution a target for uncomfortable criticism from the media and indeed our own supporters

Just when all we needed was a quiet few months post-Ferguson. Let's hope there is a positive reaction where it matters most...on the pitch.

fecking joke....and yes.....embarrassing.

Good post.

Good post but I don't think Moyes is blameless either. His targets did not suggest a firm strategic plan and he has got to take some blame for paying over the odds for Fellani and possibly unsettling Evra. Plus he put his foot in it with his RVP/Rooney comment on tour.

Whenever I see Moyes speak I get the district impression that he might be a good coach but he is not on the same intellectual level as SAF. He is just not as clever and that worries me. And I also worry at what effect all this has had on the players.

I agree with this. Moyes looked really bad throughout the whole summer. He has to have an input on who we buy. And we spent the whole summer dithering about. And he spent the whole summer saying the wrong things.

 

[Name Changed]

Some positive news today:

1- We're still in for Herrera (and Baines) in January.

I don't think the Herrara thing is true. I have the feeling we have burnt our bridges. Hopefully I am wrong.

 

[psychdelicblues]

Was Moyes serious about getting both Fellaini and Herrera? or was it one or the other?

 

[KiD MoYeS]

Was Moyes serious about getting both Fellaini and Herrera? or was it one or the other?

Both, we tried for Khedira when it was clear we'd made a balls of Herrera.

 

[Smores]

Half of this shit everyone is moaning about probably happens every season its just kept quiet. When we kept saying there's no one available for value in previous seasons do you not think the exact same issues were occuring, we just had a tighter control on the press. The press were always go to try and portray us negatively.

 

[Rudie]

When you act with at times, a breathtaking arrogance, you often get what you deserve in life. Manchester United have got everything they deserve out of this summer transfer window.

No clear transfer strategy
No major targets acquired
Ridiculous media statements resulting in the heightening of expectations and in turn pressure to deliver
Pissing off virtually every club we have contacted with at times appalling arrogance and lack of foresight
Overpaid embarrasingly on someone who should never have been the sole acquisition of note
Made Moyes a target for derision in his first few months
Probably unsettled and upset our best left-back, who incidentally was our best player at Anfield
Significantly reduced our positive reputation in European football, carefully upheld throughout Ferguson and Gill's tenures
Potentially damaged a young Spanish footballers' short-term career with amateurish actions & borderline contempt
Made the institution a target for uncomfortable criticism from the media and indeed our own supporters

Just when all we needed was a quiet few months post-Ferguson. Let's hope there is a positive reaction where it matters most...on the pitch.

fecking joke....and yes.....embarrassing.

Sums it all nicely.

Some positive news today:

1- We're still in for Herrera (and Baines) in January.

How's this positive? Haven't we learnt anything - should we be discussing January targets at all in public? Surely assessing our squad between now and then will give us a better idea on where we need to bring in re-reinforcements before conducting any business in private.

 

[KiD MoYeS]

Half of this shit everyone is moaning about probably happens every season its just kept quiet.

Why didn't we keep it quiet this summer? That's another point of criticism.

 

[Mystry]

The annoying thing about all this is that it's given some the excuse to give Moyes the kicking they so desperately wanted to as soon as he was appointed as manager.