He is such a well liked man by all accounts and what I have heard from him and read on his blog he does seem like a top lad.
I reckon in a few years though we will all here about what first class c*nt he really is
- Status
He is such a well liked man by all accounts and what I have heard from him and read on his blog he does seem like a top lad.
I reckon in a few years though we will all here about what first class c*nt he really is
Absolutely.
If I wanted to undermine the examples I would say:
Barca is Barca. It hardly needs any further elaboration though I did outline some of it above in post 3691. Climate and culture and a long established Brazilian connection that most other clubs simply do not have.
Munich is a better example I think because Munich is probably about as attractive a place to live as Manchester is. On the one hand you have the German league which is less of a draw than the PL, so that should be an advantage for us. But on the other hand, for people who are up for playing in Germany, Munich's dominance of that league is greater even than ours over the PL, and where we now have City and Chelsea pushing us very hard, there are no other clubs in Germany that look a long term threat to them. They poach the best players in their league from their rivals every summer, we cant do that.
Anyway, I dont think we'll get any high end players either but Im not necessarily too downbeat about that. Im trusting Van Gaal and his famous system. And his ability to spot talent where others cant. I dont think we need to sign £50m players to get back into the CL. And once we get back in (touch wood) everything changes again.
Erm ... have you been to Munich?
Yes, I went there on a stag do last year. You think it's much nicer than Manc? I didn't see much of it to be fair.
Berlin is nicer I thought.
Well yeah, it's nicer. It's also richer, and constantly voted one of the best and safest cities to live in in the world.
EDIT: You're right that Berlin's 'nicer' as a tourist spot but Munich's a great city.
Footballers live in a bubble though, we're not comparing Munich with Manchester as a whole city, we're comparing wherever footballers live in Munich to Alderley Edge. So how relevant is the richness and safeness? Footballers dont have to walk through Cheetham Hill late at night so I cant imagine it is a huge concern to them.
Compared to Barca's sun, amazing food and beaches, which neither Munich or Manchester can compete with.
At a base level, ask a foreigner if they'd prefer to go to Munich or Manchester and I'd suspect the majority would pick the former. It's definitely a more alluring city.
I believe you. I was there for 3 days and most of the time I was in bars drinking, but even so I liked it. Mind you I have a lot of time for Manchester as well.
I concede this point to you, Munich is a nicer town than Manchester, but for me the difference between Manchester and Munich (especially from a footballer's perspective) is much smaller than the difference between Barcelona and Munich.
Yeah man definitely agree. There's a guy on twitter who is pretty reliable on United but he keeps saying how we need to buy quality players now and that the glazers know they have to spend big because of our poor season. I'm assuming he means high end players. But I just have this niggling feeling that we truly dont need that. We do need quality but not to the extent where we have to extremely overpay.
With someone like LVG, he's all about the collective and making the team greater through the sum of its parts. Therefore, the reliance isn't necessarily on quality but more so on how well the system works with players and how well the players execute it.
Even though Atletico and Dortmund werent able to win their respective finals, their progression to even get to the final was the continual belief in the system, a sense of togetherness, high concentration and good execution. While having quality players helps, it's also just as important they are the right fit for the manager's plans. That's more important to me than signing the likes of Fabregas.
Is there any quotes from Jose to say he is interested in Cesc? If so, what's the source?
Yes there are.
Marca are claiming that the deal is done. 33m Euros plus variables. 4yr contract.
To Chelsea?
Fàbregas for Barcelona in Feb-Mar-April-May in 3 seasons: scored 5 goals in 62 matches and in 74% of them didn't assist or score [Twitter - @estopper]
Crazy if its true. The Arsenal effect is still with him.
Crazy if its true. The Arsenal effect is still with him.
Aaaand looks like I'm going back down
Yeah his performances have dropped off after Christmas every season since he joined. I don't like judging midfielders on their output but even before seeing the stats it's been evident how he's only played well in half a season over the past few years.
I thought he was poor in key matches regardless of the stats but the most telling, for me, is that two coaches who knew him as well as a Catalan midfielder can know him and as long as they have for what is needed at the club, in Tito & Pep, sat him in the key stretches. Plus, if you believe the rumour that the bad apple Tata told Zubi about on his exit was indeed Cesc then his exit was virtually assured
Great rant on Cesc's time at Barcelona
Last edited:
I've been gone for a few days. Is this on or off?
It's on for Chelsea
Yo do know that United's current wage bill is second behind City and ahead of Chelsea already? I'm fairly confident Rooney is making more than anyone at CFC.
Ah feck. Chelsea properly sorting their midfield then.
We can match Chelsea when it comes to Fabregas. I don't think financial capability is an issue for us on this one.
True Rooney may be a game-changer, though Id assume on the whole our high wage bill has more to do with us having too big a squad, rather than how much we pay our players on average.
I still think if the three clubs were after the same player Chelsea and City would find reserves of cash to make it happen that United would balk at matching. But it remains to be seen how FFP and the Glazer's commitment to getting back to the top may change things.
What's the situation, is it a deal done for Chelsea?
Slowly but surely getting annoyed on how this summer is developing transfer wise.
Apparently, United more than doubled Mata's wages when signing him from Chelsea. Perhaps in the past you offered less, but that clearly changed over the recent years.
This really is a strange one and we're dropping a bollock yet again.
Itd be interesting to know the wages for the top 3 or top 5 players for Chelsea compared to us. Its be interesting to know what you offered Hazard compared to what we offered him. But anyway, these conversations are always difficult because there is so much we dont know. But point taken, especially on the Rooney deal, we are paying higher wages now than we did before. Presumably as we try to reassert ourselves - in response to Chelsea and City raising the bar.
We have no other choice really, we can't keep expecting players to choose us over other clubs due to the club's reputation. At the end of the day, football is their source of income, if you had an offer from 2 companies, naturally you would accept the highest wages offered to you. I can only imagine the majority of footballers think the same way when choosing a club.
Decent read, I agree with pretty much all of it (don't think Cesc played false 9 or out on the left as much as he said but that's my only gripe).
About the 'bad apple' rumour - I heard that too, but surely if Tata thought that of Cesc he wouldn't have gave him more appearances than anyone else in the squad bar Busquets?
My guess is United pay more to their highest earners and Chelsea pay more to their lowest earners. United have more younger/academy players in the squad whose wages surely offset what we pay to players like RVP, Rooney, and Ashley Young.
Commonly reported figures are that Chelsea's two highest paid players are Hazard (between £170-185k per week) and Torres (£175k per week). Both RvP and Rooney are on at least £250k per week, Rooney probably much more.
Still this "more than double" is less than what Hazard is earning. So it really depends.
Rooney is actually on £240k apparently not sure about RVP
So am I getting this right?
We tried last year when he wasn´t available.. But didn´t get him. Now when he´s available for less money we don´t want him?
Either I don´t understand this anymore or mr Woody doesn´t.. How the hell wouldn´t we want Cesc in or midfield with Clev,Fletch and Carrick there?
We tried last year when he wasn´t available.. But didn´t get him. Now when he´s available for less money we don´t want him?
Either I don´t understand this anymore or mr Woody doesn´t.. How the hell wouldn´t we want Cesc in or midfield with Clev,Fletch and Carrick there?
Rooney gets a lot more through his endorsement deals he doesn't earn as much directly from United as many would think...
Its the managers choice, not Woody's. Last year we had Moyes now we have LVG. Moyes wanted Cesc, seems like LVG does not, you cannot blame Woody.
- Status