Why is Woodward not spending more?

[sammsky1]

2 successive summer transfer windows with much lower than expected transfer spends from Woodward/Glazer's.

Its even more curious this time around, given we've taken 4 high salary players off the wage bill (Fellaini, Valencia, Herrera, Lukaku) and received £75m transfer fee for Lukaku.

What is the real reason for this? Why isn't Woodward/Glazer's spending more? Is the club in financial trouble?

Because 'no value' or 'difficult market' don't cut it for me, given our income, squad weaknesses and competitive context.

 

[clarkydaz]

if he got a midfielder it would have been a good window. Why on earth there was a clusterfeck scattergun approach in the dying days for Dybala/Erikson I will never know

 

[Rhyme Animal]

2 successive summer transfer windows with much lower than expected transfer spends from Woodward.

Its even more curious this time around, given we've taken 4 high salary players off the wage bill (Fellaini, Valencia, Herrera, Lukaku) and received transfer fee £75m for Lukaku.

What is the real reason for this? Why isn't Woodward spending more? Is the club in financial trouble?

Because 'no value' or 'difficult market' don't cut it for me, given our income, squad weaknesses and competitive context.

Glazers looking to sell I reckon.

They're doing their best to not damage their own brand and reputation as businessmen, but they're not interested in running the club anymore, and are looking to sell.

 

[sammsky1]

if he got a midfielder it would have been a good window. Why on earth there was a clusterfeck scattergun approach in the dying days for Dybala/Erikson I will never know

No. Squad needs 2CMs and a striker, to be of similar standards to last season. Likewise, the defensive investments is 12 months overdue.

 

[Patrick220571]

I can't stand Woodward, but it isn't his money. He needs permission from the owners to spend. Perhaps he isn't getting it.

 

[sammsky1]

I can't stand Woodward, but it isn't his money. He needs permission from the owners to spend. Perhaps he isn't getting it.

I'll edit my OP from Woodward to Woodward/Glazers. For me they are one and the same thing.

So why won't Glazers's invest as is required?

 

[Rampant-red]

Honestly wish ed and the glazers would just feck off

 

[Womp]

Glazers looking to sell I reckon.

They're doing their best to not damage their own brand and reputation as businessmen, but they're not interested in running the club anymore, and are looking to sell.

A man can dream.

 

[Ralph1386]

Glazers looking to sell I reckon.

They're doing their best to not damage their own brand and reputation as businessmen, but they're not interested in running the club anymore, and are looking to sell.

Aren’t people saying that they’re making too much profit from the club to want to sell?

 

[yumtum]

If I was a billionaire I'd wait until the last minute of negotiations with the Glazers and just say, you know what, there's clearly no value in the market here...and walk off.

Bunch of leeches, the Glazers and their cronies will hopefully bugger off sooner rather than later.

 

[clarkydaz]

No. Squad needs 2CMs and a striker, to be of similar standards to last season. Likewise, the defensive investments is 12 months overdue.

You are driven to improve the team, they are not. They are content competing for 4th. The cost of catching up with City will be of no interest to them

 

[Giggs86]

They don't care about the club, for them it's just an investment like any other publicly traded business. They have zero ambition and as long as their investment creating revenue they don't see any reason to spend.

What we need is owners and CEO who have pride in the clubs they own, like Abramovic, oil sheikhs, Barca/Madrid etc.

 

[King Eric 7]

Lost trust in Mourinho, so didn't give him the funds. Is a little unsure about giving Ole a massive war chest for this coming season and would rather wait and see how he does with what he's got first. If he does well (top 4), he'll get a nice wedge of cash to spend next summer and maybe a Jan transfer.

That's my version of events that I'm sticking to anyway.

 

[GloryHunter07]

Lost trust in Mourinho, so didn't give him the funds. Is a little unsure about giving Ole a massive war chest for this coming season and would rather wait and see how he does with what he's got first. If he does well (top 4), he'll get a nice wedge of cash to spend next summer and maybe a Jan transfer.

That's my version of events that I'm sticking to anyway.

Very sensible analysis

 

[R'hllor]

Not his money, we aint football club, their main ambition isnt related to things happening on the pitch. Football side has no vision, no idea, bet commercial and finance side are total opposite, sitting there and smashing their corporate brains, thinking about different paths and ways how to drain money via Manchester United brand.

 

[GimmeThatBall_M8_NL]

If I was a billionaire I'd wait until the last minute of negotiations with the Glazers and just say, you know what, there's clearly no value in the market here...and walk off.

Bunch of leeches, the Glazers and their cronies will hopefully bugger off sooner rather than later.

You will need to speak to representative of the Glazer family for that. And you know what he will say? The answer is: No.

The Glazers will milk this club till it dies. They have no intent to sale because this is a stable income for them.

 

[Nytram Shakes]

We don't have the money.

Last year our turn over was massive, but we had a opperating profit of only 44.1 million:
https://www.skysports.com/football/...ester-united-announce-record-revenues-of-590m

look at it logically, this year our net spend will likely be around 30-40 million more then last year, we have no champions league football and have given a number of players substantial pay rises. The logical answer is we simply don't have the funds to fork out the amount of money people are wanting/expecting us too. Which seems to be around 200 million ever summer.

People need to realize football clubs are bottomless pits of cash, and we have the second or 3rd higest wage bill in world football and have the second highest net spend in the premier league over the past 5 years.

Woodward is spending at the maximum of the clubs resources, which logically considering where we rank in spending is fine to compete at the very highest levels. The problem is is we have squandered all that money and ended up with a huge squad that is unbalanced and over paid.

 

[Stubble]

They don't care about the club, for them it's just an investment like any other publicly traded business. They have zero ambition and as long as their investment creating revenue they don't see any reason to spend.

This.. they'll be here doing the minimum necessary whilst the £££'s keep rolling in its just an investment to them. Expect them to jump ship when the revenue streams start to seriously falter but we'll be totally fecked by then and with FFP now becoming more of an issue an Oil Sheikh may no longer be the quick solution many are expecting. City 'couldn't afford Maguire' according to Pep such comments show the oil clubs are now feeling the scrutiny and reigning in the excessive spending.

 

[Mercurial]

For some reason club earnings are a bit into the red this last year. Why I have no idea.
Could be orders to hold onto some of the money for a while?

Also the stock price being quite high, has had a long spell of a downward trend last year or so.

https://simplywall.st/stocks/us/med...ars-ago-you-could-pocket-a-17-gain-today/amp/

 

[Big Andy]

We don't have the money.

Last year our turn over was massive, but we had a opperating profit of only 44.1 million:
https://www.skysports.com/football/...ester-united-announce-record-revenues-of-590m

look at it logically, this year our net spend will likely be around 30-40 million more then last year, we have no champions league football and have given a number of players substantial pay rises. The logical answer is we simply don't have the funds to fork out the amount of money people are wanting/expecting us too. Which seems to be around 200 million ever summer.

People need to realize football clubs are bottomless pits of cash, and we have the second or 3rd higest wage bill in world football and have the second highest net spend in the premier league over the past 5 years.

Woodward is spending at the maximum of the clubs resources, which logically considering where we rank in spending is fine to compete at the very highest levels. The problem is is we have squandered all that money and ended up with a huge squad that is unbalanced and over paid.

Incorrect. They’ve all had a 25% pay cut for not making it into champions league

 

[George The Best]

Glazers looking to sell I reckon.

They're doing their best to not damage their own brand and reputation as businessmen, but they're not interested in running the club anymore, and are looking to sell.

Got to be one of the most difficult businesses to sell imo. Not many out there willing to pay £4Bn. They could possibly float but doubt they’d get anywhere near what they might want on the open market.

 

[fallengt]

He's actually consistent. On average United finish ~4.83 since Woodward' become chairman of the club.
This is Glazers' expectation. United is a business, not a football club anymore.

 

[Leftback99]

We don't have the money.

Last year our turn over was massive, but we had a opperating profit of only 44.1 million:
https://www.skysports.com/football/...ester-united-announce-record-revenues-of-590m

look at it logically, this year our net spend will likely be around 30-40 million more then last year, we have no champions league football and have given a number of players substantial pay rises. The logical answer is we simply don't have the funds to fork out the amount of money people are wanting/expecting us too. Which seems to be around 200 million ever summer.

People need to realize football clubs are bottomless pits of cash, and we have the second or 3rd higest wage bill in world football and have the second highest net spend in the premier league over the past 5 years.

Woodward is spending at the maximum of the clubs resources, which logically considering where we rank in spending is fine to compete at the very highest levels. The problem is is we have squandered all that money and ended up with a huge squad that is unbalanced and over paid.

It seems this is the case to me. Explained it in the '£100m transfer budget' thread. The £44m was £26m profit after interest payments in 17/18. Let assume we have similar results for 18/19, we also have:
- rising wages for renewals etc
- a full season of Sanchez ridiculous wages (£20m+ a year)
- £20m payoff for Mourinho and his team
- Poor on pitch performance and failure to qualify for CL

= Big hole in finances.

It will be interesting to see what the profit is for 18/19. Sales will paper over the cracks.

 

[Not a plastic hoe.]

Trauma I guess ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[FreakyJim]

This window was so predictable. Bissaka and Maguire for silly money and Lukaku gone. Everyone knew this since April.

I personally thought we'd sell Pogba too but I guess Madrid ran out of money.

 

[Stubble]

We don't have the money.

Last year our turn over was massive, but we had a opperating profit of only 44.1 million:
https://www.skysports.com/football/...ester-united-announce-record-revenues-of-590m

look at it logically, this year our net spend will likely be around 30-40 million more then last year, we have no champions league football and have given a number of players substantial pay rises. The logical answer is we simply don't have the funds to fork out the amount of money people are wanting/expecting us too. Which seems to be around 200 million ever summer.

People need to realize football clubs are bottomless pits of cash, and we have the second or 3rd higest wage bill in world football and have the second highest net spend in the premier league over the past 5 years.

Woodward is spending at the maximum of the clubs resources, which logically considering where we rank in spending is fine to compete at the very highest levels. The problem is is we have squandered all that money and ended up with a huge squad that is unbalanced and over paid.

Yes exactly why we seriously need to start cutting costs wherever possible. The clubs operating costs are ridiculous and are seriously hampering any rebuild.
Firstly get rid of all the copious deadwood in the squad to free up wages. Don't renew contracts if fringe players are not immediately saleable - better to let them go on a free rather than the stupid policy of renewing expensive contracts (Jones/Young/Rojo etc).
Cut the excessive amount of scouts at the club who unearthed such leftfield and unexpected signings as Harry Maguire and AWB this year !! It seems Giggs unearthed Dan James so what do they all actually do ! Concentrate remaining scouts on unearthing top prospects at youth level as this seems to be where the solution to our current crisis may be and is a model to be pursued in the future. These players can be brought in for chickenfeed and wages only increased substantially if promotion to the first team happens. Its a no-brainer really.

 

[Cassidy]

You are driven to improve the team, they are not. They are content competing for 4th. The cost of catching up with City will be of no interest to them

We needed that to compete for 3rd/4th

 

[Amadaeus]

2 successive summer transfer windows with much lower than expected transfer spends from Woodward/Glazer's.

Its even more curious this time around, given we've taken 4 high salary players off the wage bill (Fellaini, Valencia, Herrera, Lukaku) and received transfer fee £75m for Lukaku.

What is the real reason for this? Why isn't Woodward/Glazer's spending more? Is the club in financial trouble?

Because 'no value' or 'difficult market' don't cut it for me, given our income, squad weaknesses and competitive context.

Are we going to start ignoring facts now?

United has been spending a lot the past few windows. Way more than most of our competitors baring City. If United spent any more we will go bankrupt as we have not been that successful with regards to football recently.

 

[I Am Zlatan]

Lost trust in Mourinho, so didn't give him the funds. Is a little unsure about giving Ole a massive war chest for this coming season and would rather wait and see how he does with what he's got first. If he does well (top 4), he'll get a nice wedge of cash to spend next summer and maybe a Jan transfer.

That's my version of events that I'm sticking to anyway.

That’s the excuse I gave the board last season, but now, first, why would they hire someone they’re unsure about and wait to see how he does, mind you, he was here for half of the season. 2. Our squad needed reinforcements to make top 4 and it was our chance this window since Chelsea have the ban. They made it extremely difficult for ole and put a lot of pressure on the youngsters. It’s like a rinse and repeat process if that’s the case. Hire someone, but test him with an average squad, if he fails, sack him, and hire someone else and test him, while pocketing the money from sales.. at least that’s how I see it if that’s the case, so in reality, they just want to pocket the money.

The other explanation is (which I really hope for) that they’re looking to sell and want to pocket as much as possible before leaving. I hope to god that’s the case. I’m tired of all the excuses, and the shitty football, and before someone says to go support another team, no, I love United, I just don’t support our owners/Ed.

 

[Cassidy]

For some reason club earnings are a bit into the red this last year. Why I have no idea.
Could be orders to hold onto some of the money for a while?

Also the stock price being quite high, has had a long spell of a downward trend last year or so.

https://simplywall.st/stocks/us/med...ars-ago-you-could-pocket-a-17-gain-today/amp/

Club being run into the ground simple as.
Why are our costs so high? Its ridiculous

Also why have we renewed a bunch of players who are basically deadwood over the past few years.
We are a poorly run club and this is grounds for sacking of our CEO

 

[0le]

It seems this is the case to me. Explained it in the '£100m transfer budget' thread. The £44m was £26m profit after interest payments in 17/18. Let assume we have similar results for 18/19, we also have:
- rising wages for renewals etc
- a full season of Sanchez ridiculous wages (£20m+ a year)
- £20m payoff for Mourinho and his team
- Poor on pitch performance and failure to qualify for CL

= Big hole in finances.

It will be interesting to see what the profit is for 18/19. Sales will paper over the cracks.

It was said somewhere else on the caf that we went into the red because of a change in US tax law or something and that we are already in profit this quater. Something along those lines anyway, someone with more financial knowledge will hopefully clarify, expand or correct me.

 

[George The Best]

2 successive summer transfer windows with much lower than expected transfer spends from Woodward/Glazer's.

Its even more curious this time around, given we've taken 4 high salary players off the wage bill (Fellaini, Valencia, Herrera, Lukaku) and received transfer fee £75m for Lukaku.

What is the real reason for this? Why isn't Woodward/Glazer's spending more? Is the club in financial trouble?

Because 'no value' or 'difficult market' don't cut it for me, given our income, squad weaknesses and competitive context.

Absolutely no way, we are about as sound financially as you could wish to hope. We are a gold mine.

Problem is we are not run, or managed (Ed) by people who have any interest in football. It’s just a business to them. Sponsors, merchandise, full stadium, world wide fan base joining the supporters club, MUTV, despite never having seen the team play in real life. As Ed says, we don’t need to be successful on the pitch to grow our revenue.

Meanwhile he spouts all of this by thinking he’s also the best DoF in world football.

Forget all the money we make just for a moment. Who has appointed the last 4 managers? Who vetoed Jose’s request to buy Maguire last season when he was, apparently, no better than what we already had? Looks a bit of a fool now doesn’t he.

Ain’t going to change anytime soon though. Ed got the job for delivering a leveraged buy-out for the Glazers. They will stick with him come hell or high water, and a DoF who actually knows what he/she is doing will be a long time coming.

 

[Leftback99]

It was said somewhere else on the caf that we went into the red because of a change in US tax law or something and that we are already in profit this quater. Something along those lines anyway, someone with more financial knowledge will hopefully clarify, expand or correct me.

Profit after tax was a loss, yes.
Not something I can explain though:

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

 

[AneRu]

Lost trust in Mourinho, so didn't give him the funds. Is a little unsure about giving Ole a massive war chest for this coming season and would rather wait and see how he does with what he's got first. If he does well (top 4), he'll get a nice wedge of cash to spend next summer and maybe a Jan transfer.

That's my version of events that I'm sticking to anyway.

Sensible, if i owned United I'd be very hesitant to back Ole all the way looking at our end of season collapse and how he failed to arrest it. Double edged sword but considering that when they went from Van Gaal to Mourinho with the latter selling off a number of LVG signings they want Ole to show if he can cut before spending a lot on players that the next man could want sold.

 

[Cassidy]

Profit after tax was a loss, yes.
Not something I can explain though:

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

So basically either our accountants messed up adjusting to changes in taxation quickly enough, or the US tax changes were unforeseen and we didn't have a chance to adjust. I suspect its the former

A 32m increase in wage bill is poor though especially for what we got for it

 

[George The Best]

Balance sheet is still very strong though.-

 

[RedDevil@84]

Probably because the owners have told him to spend less and earn his bonus for that.

 

[Litch]

Once I put the emotion to one side, if it means we will see more of the young talent then I'd prefer that than restricting their pathway with 28 years olds that are only here cause the clubs don't want them or purely for the money.
I guess also we can't have it both ways, why sign players if they aren't the targets that they want? Why side a right sided player now if you feel you can get the Dortmund player next season?

Crap analogy but I fancy a new car, can't afford a new one this year so rather than buy one that I might be stuck with when I'm ready for my new, I'd sooner keep what I have until then....

 

[Nr.7]

This window was so predictable. Bissaka and Maguire for silly money and Lukaku gone. Everyone knew this since April.

I personally thought we'd sell Pogba too but I guess Madrid ran out of money.

That’s still a possibility, their transfer window is still open.

 

[manutddjw]

Glazers looking to sell I reckon.

They're doing their best to not damage their own brand and reputation as businessmen, but they're not interested in running the club anymore, and are looking to sell.

I think there’s a lot of truth in that. This was such an attractive purchase because it required minimal investment with huge returns. Now that they’re required to make huge investments it’s not as attractive as it once was and the idea they could sell for at least a couple billion more than what they paid has to be making them think about selling at least.