Wait…is Crafton saying something positive about us?
Frenkie de Jong | The last muppeting lap
- Thread starter davidmichael
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Fans are the problem; no shit 
To be fair, half of it was related to Di Maria and Pogba chat.
That member of the Belgian setup has no clue about football if he didn't know that before. A one eyed fisherman could recognise the special talent and ability the boy has.
But not Barca coaches…
Barca is not only about talent. In addition, they are one of the worst run top clubs around.
We are as well, and i doubt if ETH wasn't our manager, we would go for FDJ.
No other club has the level of engagement we do, in the modern day that’s what determines size. This is the social media generation. Not even Madrid match us there.
Perhaps players will look twice because they don’t like the climate or the lifestyle in Manchester or they don’t see an immediate chance of success, both somewhat sensible reasons although they should be thinking about a long term stay. Poor recruitment has still undoubtedly hurt our reputation.
But if anyone thinks we’re no longer one of if not the biggest club in the world, they have no grasp of sport as a business or an industry.
The op said biggest not one of the biggest.
Players do not count social media engagement over ability to win the biggest trophies.
Genuinely I'm more interested in who else we're going to sign as this one is just a matter of time, because the only other I was confident about, Timber, seems like its not happening now.
Madrid are the biggest club by any metric that matters. “Biggest social media metrics” is the “but we won the passing!” of bragging rights FFS
We have as much ability to win trophies as anyone else, we’ve just recruited horrifically. A short term setback.
Basically, we have gone into this with the same attitude we did with Sancho, in that We are happy to walk away if the fee gets too high.
The problem is back then the club had CL football and Sanchos contract was running down.
We are not in a position of strength, especially with the new financial packages Barca have activated. It screams of naeivity.
If the pro ported ”budget“ is 120m - something I think is nonsense, we don’t work to a set budget - we should walk away and get cheaper options as we need 3/4 players In this summer.
The problem is back then the club had CL football and Sanchos contract was running down.
We are not in a position of strength, especially with the new financial packages Barca have activated. It screams of naeivity.
If the pro ported ”budget“ is 120m - something I think is nonsense, we don’t work to a set budget - we should walk away and get cheaper options as we need 3/4 players In this summer.
I don’t agree. People around the world tend to know the name Manchester United when asked if they know anything about European football. So we are more famous so to speak.
Confidence counts for zip, you see.
More famous than what or whom? Your point doesn't create any hierarchy.
In Frenkie's defence, Koeman to his credit recognised this, and in Messi's last season, FDJ was perhaps their 2nd best performing player that season behind Messi after they switched to 3 at the back.
Neither does constant moaning and bitching, yet people still embrace it with a passion
I mean in life not really, in transfer business where we've all got no clue, yes!
Depends where. South America = Madrid or Barcelona.
Asia and Africa = Utd, Chelsea and Arsenal.
I have seldom seen a Liverpool or City shirt during my travels, but I'm sure its picking up now. PSG too of course, young kids like a succesful club with massive players.
Doesn't matter really, Bayern is and has been one of the biggest clubs in football history and I doubt they sell much shirts outside of Germany.
The issue here is that over the last 10+ years we have been a bit crap a lot of the time and success has been thin on the ground. A long term stay isn't any sort of guarantee of success or trophies.
United are a football team when players are considering where to go to do their job. Being one of the biggest/richest/high profile clubs in the world doesn't compensate for lack of footballing ambition. Well, not for most players. They come to United partly for the history but more often, they come for the over-inflated wages we pay. We haven't attracted a truly world class player in their prime for a very very long time.
United have a lot of things going against them right now and a lot of other clubs have always had more going for them.
RM are still the biggest draw in world football for many reason despite what any metric tells you.
Climate
CL every season
Good league
Competing for league and CL every season
Great lifestyle
Amazing history
That wins 95% of players over.
what's fwiw ?
For what it's worth
for what it's worth.
No blame on Frenkie to be honest. I’m just saying its clearly not obvious to everyone. Even then seeing it up close in person adds another element too
I can obviously not prove it since I got no evidence or generalisation, and I will never get it either. But I did see an documentary on famous people, brands, sports, etc. They tried to see what people know about or have heard about. Obviously it was not a big enough selection of people to get generalisation or evidence, but it did suggest we are more recognised than number two, Real Madrid.
Remember when we played Madrid in the States and Marca photoshopped a sea of white shirts in the overhead shot of the packed stadium in Michigan? Of course, 70% of the fans that day were United.
This RAWK-like delusion is embarrassing, as is the whole dick measuring exercise about who is the biggest club
Give me Real Madrid's 14 CL's over fecking social media engagement any day.
I dont think anyone is saying that were as successful as clubs like Madrid. Biggest doesn't equal most successful.
But Madrid has 14ucls. This is the problem with Uniteds whole attitude. Measuring fan base and commercial value over sporting achievement.
Also does not equal most fans on social media
I’m trying to provide a counter balance to the perception that we’re suddenly now Tottenham or arsenal. Go abroad outside of South America and we are the most famous football club in the world, with huge respect to the name.
Come to the caf and we’re the next Everton.
With regards to attracting top talent. I think you’ll find the size of the fanbase does not outwiegh ability to achieve sporting success. To that regard we have work to do to rebuild our reputation.
Also shirt sales are a bad indicator. The vast majority of the world has fake shirts that account for anything, clubs have stable and relatively low official shirt sales that are concentrated in their own country/area. Bayern are supposed to be at the top of official sales with around 3.2m shirts, Real Madrid are around 3m and United around 2m in 2021. It's from Euromericas.
United have seldomly been at the top of that ranking.
We are not Tottenham or Arsenal but we are also not Real Madrid and never have been.
True.
This keeps going down in 5m increments. Behind the scenes;
Barcelona - "€85 million"
United - "€65 million"
Barcelona - "€85 million"
United - "€70 million"
Barcelona - "€85 million"
United - "€75 million"
Barcelona - "€85 million..."
United - "fecking nailing this negotiating lark so I am."
This has all the signs of a summer like 2013 when a new regime in the boardroom made a complete mess of the market.
If the centrepiece signing is who you're going to build the team around.... surely you'd like to identify someone you can get in first.
To identify someone who also you'd need to play poker and cat and mouse to get is a big drag on your activities in the window.
As much as the club want to create a new image of being thrifty, beggars can't be choosers.
Just like the famous scene in Margin Call, we must pay the price to move forward. If its a rebuild that's needed just get it done and start being more picky when you're at a reasonable standing in the footballing world.
To identify someone who also you'd need to play poker and cat and mouse to get is a big drag on your activities in the window.
As much as the club want to create a new image of being thrifty, beggars can't be choosers.
Just like the famous scene in Margin Call, we must pay the price to move forward. If its a rebuild that's needed just get it done and start being more picky when you're at a reasonable standing in the footballing world.
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