Yep all hired by the same clowns.
Who is to blame for our appalling/shambolic transfer decisions?
- Thread starter Wumminator
- Start date
Yes, I think that's a pretty astute summing up.
The manager and the scouts, you can't tell me Woodward is going to the managers and saying 'I'm going to sign this, this and this player' and not giving the manager any say. It is just Woodwards job to go out and purchase the targets he is given, true he is often garbage at it but he isn't picking the targets.
A better question is who gave Jones, Young, and Smalling new contracts whilst screwing up Herrera who should have been sorted out a long time before the above clowns.
Sometimes I don't like this about CAF, why shout down the original poster ' ffs ' when he has created a good thread. Especially when you don't even know the facts yourself, not jumping on you, but be a bit more positive to a fellow poster.... we signed his brother Vanja Milinković-Savić the GK for 1.5m 5 years ago.
We haven't spent that much. Also, the Glazers are to blame as they have kept Ed Woodward in charge who is failing. The Glazers have botched fergies retirement, tried to woo Klopp by saying we are an adult version of disneyland, waiting to sack Van Gaal and Moyes until it was mathmatically impossible to make top four, let players contracts run down, hired wrong managers, recruitment has been awful, and no change in structure in 6 years. We need new owners as there isn't even any sign of even getting a director of football in place and no direction either.
We get ‘low-balled’ when selling because we’re actively trying to get rid of underperforming/old players who nobody will pay high money for.
If we sold Pogba, who still has some desirability in the market, we wouldn’t be low-balled.
Nobody is going to pay a decent fee for Rojo, Smalling, Jones, Sanchez, or even Lukaku as they’ve done nothing to make them worth anything while here.
We haven’t spent that much? You could build a team to challenge on half the money we’ve spent. Millions and millions on dross. If we’d have spent even a quarter of it on players who actually fit the team and were managed properly we’d be in a much better position. We’ve broken world record transfers ffs, something Liverpool could only dream of and look where we are compared to them.
Woodward and every manager after Sir Alex.
They've got the most expensive defender and the most expensive goalkeeper ever so lets not act like they're skint.
We've spent disgracefully poorly though no doubt.
I’m not. We’re just next level as a club yet they’re several levels above as a team. That’s due to our flops-only recruitment strategy. The money has been there over the years.
Saying its not the Glazers fault is just wrong. We have been run poorly. The decisions I mention that the Glazers have made is shocking. That is not how a big club should operate. Glazers are as much to blame as the players. It's not about how much money we have spent as I admit we haven't spent shit like Arsenal have. This fecking thing of absolving the Glazers from blame needs to stop.
Like I said earlier in the thread.
From 2009 to 2013, when we still had the best manager in the world and most of the core of that dominant 06-09 squad the Glazers knew they could penny pinch and coast along and we'd still be competitive. We went from Ronaldo and Tevez and Giggs and Scholes to Owen and Valencia and Ashley fecking Young and we still won because we had Fergie.
Then when the miracle worker Fergie left and everyone realised oh wait we're shit they panicked and started spending money. Unfortunately we've had bad manager after bad manager and so we've blown almost all of it I would say.
In the post Fergie era it's difficult to name any out and out success.
Woodward.
No one else.
His reign as a CEO from start to finish has been an absolute disaster for the club.
No one else.
His reign as a CEO from start to finish has been an absolute disaster for the club.
Well they are obviously to blame as they run the club. However, it’s the point that people make that they haven’t invested enough and that’s the reason we are shite. We’ve spent millions and millions on crap.
Fellaini one of the better signings.
Eat it haters!
Eat it haters!
It's the Glazers, it's always been the Glazers, even when it hasn't been them, it's been them.
Their lack of ambition and understanding of the sport creates a huge void in the club, huge lack of accountability, used by frauds like Woodward and his crew.
And Woodward is supposed to pick DOF and modernise the club... I'm sure he'll pick another jellyfish, who's only purpose will be to milk the Glazers. Like the 100 new scouts we have.
Football comes last at United these days.
Their lack of ambition and understanding of the sport creates a huge void in the club, huge lack of accountability, used by frauds like Woodward and his crew.
And Woodward is supposed to pick DOF and modernise the club... I'm sure he'll pick another jellyfish, who's only purpose will be to milk the Glazers. Like the 100 new scouts we have.
Football comes last at United these days.
After you’ve gone and had a kip and a cuppa, you need to go find another sport to follow. Why on earth would anyone follow a team they hate? Life’s too short dude.
The last decent run of signings we had were the three windows from summer 2005 to summer 2006 - VDS, Park, Evra, Vidic and Carrick. All of them played absolutely crucial roles for us in the success that followed (Park maybe to a lesser extent than the others). After that period, there are few if any signings you can look at and say they were crucial to any success we had. Some of them managed to play an important role at specific times (e.g. Nani and Berbatov first half of 10/11). Van Persie won us the league. And De Gea proved a good replacement for VDS. And that's about it. With the exception of De Gea for VDS, none of the players we had going into the 06/07 season have been replaced with comparable quality. In pretty much every case there's been a drop.
Imagine these guys in their prime or on top form
Basically because Ed's appointment and ongoing employment is due to his organising the purchase of the club with little financial input from the Glazers and his ongoing commitment to their ability to withdraw funds from profits and sponsorships.
The abominable failings as Controller of the football club is so stark, that it is amazing that he still controls that position and seems unlikely to appoint anyone to take decision making from him. The scattergun approach of signings, from those with marketability to fit his image of clickbaits is destroying what was regarded as the most widely known football club in the world. For instance extending Jose and then not supporting him, to resigning average at best squad players on wages that make them almost untransferable is astounding. Then the wages paid to Sanchez etc etc
If your common denominator is TeflonEd, who is bound with cable ties to the know nothing owners, then what we as supporters get in return is what we are seeing, with the end of tunnel a long way ahead. It's difficult to see any improvement up under this structure and leadership, the current manager is in a no win situation.
The abominable failings as Controller of the football club is so stark, that it is amazing that he still controls that position and seems unlikely to appoint anyone to take decision making from him. The scattergun approach of signings, from those with marketability to fit his image of clickbaits is destroying what was regarded as the most widely known football club in the world. For instance extending Jose and then not supporting him, to resigning average at best squad players on wages that make them almost untransferable is astounding. Then the wages paid to Sanchez etc etc
If your common denominator is TeflonEd, who is bound with cable ties to the know nothing owners, then what we as supporters get in return is what we are seeing, with the end of tunnel a long way ahead. It's difficult to see any improvement up under this structure and leadership, the current manager is in a no win situation.
I would like to know how many at the time thought that - Shaw, Herrera, Mata, di Maria, Falcao, Depay, Martial, Schweinsteiger, Schneiderlin, Zlatan, Pogba, Mkhitaryan, Bailly, Lindelof, Sanchez & Fred - were bad signings.
Please be honest.
Please be honest.
When we signed Fellaini I knew our transfer strategy was a disaster, but I had no idea how long it would remain a disaster.
A few signings were decent, such as Shaw and Martial. Some were swings and misses that are just inevitable, such as Memphis.
But how many of our signings since Ferguson left would anyone say were a signing of genuine United quality? Only Pogba.
A few signings were decent, such as Shaw and Martial. Some were swings and misses that are just inevitable, such as Memphis.
But how many of our signings since Ferguson left would anyone say were a signing of genuine United quality? Only Pogba.
Your post sums up and my thoughts and the bolded part makes me feel completely terrible about our current situation.
The number of bang average players we have is alarming. I am not even excited by the transfer window anymore because I know next season the likes of Jones, Smalling Young, Lingard etc will still be here and play a decent number of games. These players are not up to the standard of some top clubs squad players and they have been key .
Sometimes I feel like we are truly cursed and I see no light at the end of the tunnel. No matter who we buy, I feel like it will not be enough to sustain a league challenge cos those players will be surrounded by the usual mediocre shit who have been with us and been up to no good.
I get a perverse enjoyment from how bad we are at the moment. It’s like when the fourth went in yesterday i was that enraged that I laughed because I hadn’t felt such disgust in a long time.
If you can look at that list and have a mild reaction fair enough. When I copied and pasted it my AppleWatch told me to take a second and breathe because my heart rate was increasing.
Woodward now.
Glazers during the 'no value in the market' time. Clearly they restricted SAF from spending too much. And they continue to employ Woodward. Giving no care to our performances as long as the commercial side of the club is still fine and dandy.
Both are a huge stain to this club and will continue being in the future.
Ideally both should be replaced.
Glazers during the 'no value in the market' time. Clearly they restricted SAF from spending too much. And they continue to employ Woodward. Giving no care to our performances as long as the commercial side of the club is still fine and dandy.
Both are a huge stain to this club and will continue being in the future.
Ideally both should be replaced.
Ibra, Martial and Lukaku are decent transfers. But the fact we had 3 other managers from 2013 to Ole (obviously not including Giggs) is also a factor. The whole director of football argument is based on our lack of long term transfer strategy that came with 3 different football approaches. Baring in mind that Moyes was out of his depth unlike the other two managers who had a decent looking CV.
There's only one man who's fingerprints have been all over this shit show since Sir Alex retired. He's the one who's hired the managers, handed out contracts and had the final say in transfer dealings.
Ibra shouldn't be mentioned in that list along with the dross. AdM looked good on paper, even Depay.
I feel like our managers have resorted to signing players they know because the scouting system is so poor.
LvG
Blind/Depay - knew them from Dutch squad
Schweinsteiger - knew from Bayern Munich
Rojo - admitted signing Rojo after being "mesmerised" by his performances at the World Cup
Valdes - knew from Barcelona
Jose
Matic/Lukaku - knew from Chelsea
Lindelof/Dalot - appear to have been recommended personally by people Jose trusts back home in Portugal
Zlatan - knew from Inter
Moyes
Fellaini - knew from Everton
Mata - felt like a panic buy, would have been very familiar with Mata after managing in PL for so long
We will never really know who is too blame without understanding what is going on behind the scenes, however, the facts are that between Ed, our scouts and our managers, recruitment has been a problem for a long time now going back to SAFs last 6/7yrs
We also know that Moyes was on record as saying that he was surprised by how amateur our approach to scouting was and how poor our intelligence was on players after joining from Everton.
LvG
Blind/Depay - knew them from Dutch squad
Schweinsteiger - knew from Bayern Munich
Rojo - admitted signing Rojo after being "mesmerised" by his performances at the World Cup
Valdes - knew from Barcelona
Jose
Matic/Lukaku - knew from Chelsea
Lindelof/Dalot - appear to have been recommended personally by people Jose trusts back home in Portugal
Zlatan - knew from Inter
Moyes
Fellaini - knew from Everton
Mata - felt like a panic buy, would have been very familiar with Mata after managing in PL for so long
We will never really know who is too blame without understanding what is going on behind the scenes, however, the facts are that between Ed, our scouts and our managers, recruitment has been a problem for a long time now going back to SAFs last 6/7yrs
We also know that Moyes was on record as saying that he was surprised by how amateur our approach to scouting was and how poor our intelligence was on players after joining from Everton.
Its allmost funny, to me the 2 worst are Alexis and Pogba.
Ibra was pretty good signing, he was also consistent.
Ibra was pretty good signing, he was also consistent.
4 or 5 players (possibly) out of around 105 signings in total indicates that that type of signing way far from typical.
And I say possible because of the increased price of players relative to our income.
The prices I see quoted for Sandro (100 mil) make it too much of a risk. That is around one sixth of our operating income no? Ronaldo at 11 mil did not represent anything like the same risk. Ditto the others. Sancho for around 50 mil might make more sense but the general consensus on here is that he will cost a lot more than that. Man City have somehow bought the right players without paying that sort of money so it can be done.
I probably should dig out the club's turnover at the point at which each of those players was purchased but even without exact numbers I think the point is clear.
Aye, good post @Djemba-Djemba worst summer ever that. Never fully recovered.
I’d argue we’ve at least tried to replace Ronaldo/Tevez over the years, spending massive on Di Maria, Lukaku, RVP, Sanchez, Mata etc but what we’ve done in “replacing” Rio & Vidic (and even RB) has been absolutely disgusting.
RB after Gaz Nev was always “filled”, be it with Wes Brown, JOS or a failed winger, only Rafael came close to actually taking that position.
Rio and Vidic, two of the best defenders in our history have been replaced by complete dogshit.
We reward failed players with long tern contracts. The club is a joke. I don't trust anyone at United, seems everyone from the glazers down is just trying to get whatever they can financially without any duty to the club.
Woodward has to take the blame, and we must keep him away from transfer dealings.
What part of the dealings should we keep him away from? Identifying the players? Agreeing a salary? Offering a transfer fee? What bit?
All of these. Just leave him to do what he does best ( commercial dealings) and keep him away from Football matters which he knows nothing about. The biggest mistake was Sanchez who has caused all this unrest, with players wanting what he is on.
It's not just the signings. The management of contracts for the playing staff is disgraceful. The strategy appears to be to let players run their contracts down so the club has to pay them a fortune to stay because it's "cheaper than spending £50m on a replacement".
The main assets of any football club are the players. The lack of attention afforded to the development and maintenance of the playing squad at United is shocking.
The main assets of any football club are the players. The lack of attention afforded to the development and maintenance of the playing squad at United is shocking.