Hard to tell who's reliable though. You'll have some people saying the likes of Hunter are liars while others say they were reporting what they knew at the time.
Getting emotionally invested in transfers
- Thread starter Brwned
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) and Imran (@Annihilate Now!) are here to discuss Amad saving our blushes in a win against Southampton as well as our now annual loss at home to Brighton. They discuss Amorim's post-match comments, revisit how mid-table we may or may not be, and discuss some transfer news.
Hard to tell who's reliable though. You'll have some people saying the likes of Hunter are liars while others say they were reporting what they knew at the time.
Then maybe the conclusion should be that there is no reliable information on Twitter.
People want continued success and when theres a spot that can be improved, transfers are the best way that can go about fixing the problem. Yes people have gotten really invested with midfield transfer targets, but you have to remember we signed Zaha and Varela and nobody really made a fuss about it because they weren't players that we perceived to desperately need when we signed them.
With all the top leagues available on tv in nearly every country plus games like FIFA and Football Manager, fans knowledge about players is greater than ever before. This will sound ridiculous now in 2013, but growing up in Canada, our Premier League coverage wasn't very good years ago, so I didn't know who the hell Dwight Yorke was when we signed him, nor did I know we signed him until I saw him playing for us. That would never happen nowadays because the times have changed.
With all the top leagues available on tv in nearly every country plus games like FIFA and Football Manager, fans knowledge about players is greater than ever before. This will sound ridiculous now in 2013, but growing up in Canada, our Premier League coverage wasn't very good years ago, so I didn't know who the hell Dwight Yorke was when we signed him, nor did I know we signed him until I saw him playing for us. That would never happen nowadays because the times have changed.
Lads I totally get that. I get that signing Fabregas would help us win trophies, but at times it comes across as if Fabregas is more important than the actual reason for signing him.
Like Thiago for example. At not one point did I think he'd be a United player. As a result I was quite indifferent when he signed for Bayern. My mate at Samaritans in Manchester said he's never been as busy in one night.
I think he's right. I don't know many people over here who are all that bothered by transfers. It seems to be a redcafe/twitter thing.
This all strikes me as a bit of a snobbish attitude. I'm always fairly pragmatic with transfers, I don't get too excited until something concrete comes up, but I don't see the harm in people who do. We all have an emotional investment in Manchester United, and fantasising about your club signing top players is a reasonable facet of that.
And of course the reason people want us to sign these players is because they will make us better, play better football and win more trophies. I don't see how the two aren't related.
And of course the reason people want us to sign these players is because they will make us better, play better football and win more trophies. I don't see how the two aren't related.
I don't understand this question, being emotionally involved in a football club with with you have, at best, a tenuous connection is one of the most nonsensical things to do, but here you guys are complaining about people with an emotional connection with a certain club caring deeply about what kind of assets that club acquires.
People in glass houses...
People in glass houses...
I blame twitter/facebook, essentially muppet media.
The good bit thing about this thread is that it takes some of the emotional feckwits out of the player threads.
They can express their fears and conspiracy theories in here. :-)
Good call Brwned.
They can express their fears and conspiracy theories in here. :-)
Good call Brwned.
If you find the summer boring because there is no football on then maybe you should get some other hobbies ? To be honest, I used to hate it when there was no football on, but these days I dont mind the break so I do other stuff at the weekends.
Trust me - I keep myself busy. But nothing can replace the weekends at 3pm. It just doesn't feel right not watching the game/checking the score updates on my phone when I'm at a certain event.
I wasn't usually this in to transfers 10 years back - but I don't know, as the years went by, my interest in United outside of the actual football grew. Doesn't help with all the media coverage on every action we make, unless we keep it closed doors ala the Hernandez signing of course.
It's like complaining about social media while posting hundreds of status and photos on Facebook at the same time.
I remember when I got reprimanded by a mod questioning why people were posting in a Sneijder thread rather than watching us play City in the Charity Shield.
Some people prefer transfers to watching a game.
Some people prefer transfers to watching a game.
Not always true I'd guess. I wouldn't class myself a "matchgoer". I go to games when I can, but not anywhere near every week and would certainly be considered by many as an OOT. The transfer stuff still grinds my balls, though. It's a mental time that brings this place almost to its knees with spackerdom.
Some aren't doing it deliberately though, Cunto. There are certainly many who play up to it, and have a laugh with it, but there are also plenty who are serious with their muppeting, and who look to use the lack of a superstar signing as a stick to beat the club with.
It's always a taboo on here to imply that match-going fans are different to non-match-going fans.
One theory could be that match-going fans have that occasion, once a week or so, where the feel they can influence the result and so at these times their emotional investment in the club peaks. Everything in between may seem a bit arbitrary because there's nothing they can do about it, or it'd look strange if they shouted and waved their arms about it. Non-match-going fans don't have that outlet and are accustomed to having zero influence, which could lead to them either losing interested entirely or becoming permanently emotionally charged.
This.
I mean it's not difficult to understand really. United and football clubs tend to have a fantastical fanbase. That's how it will always be. Football is all about emotional attachment. And when a fanatical fanbase who is emotionally attached is involved of course there is going to be obsession about things like transfers especially when you factor in new media and its scope and reach.
It's like apple fans. Why are they so obsessed with apple ? I mean it's only a friggin company that makes electronics. Yet you find crazily passionate people. Whereas football is something that genuinely involves passion rather than using a damn electronic device. So naturally it's going to have people who are obsessive over it. And that simply spills into the transfer season. And by nature people get excited about something new. I don't see anything amazing or hard to fathom about it personally.
Well, they're not really fans then, are they?
They're still here though, aren't they? And they're part of what the thread is about, right?
Meh, I guess it doesn't bother me all that much. Every club has it's idiot fans, I've found myself biting my tongue many a time at United and Ireland games in an attempt to stop myself lashing out at some idiot...
I make a conscious effort to ignore all sports media during the summer. Its the same every year, journalists have to make a living so the make up all kinds of nonsense to fill space in whatever media they work for. As United are a widely supported club, we attract a lot of the bullshit stories so some of our susceptible fans will pay attention to it. Its very much a symbiotic relationship between muppet fan and the media.
That's beside the point. The thread is about these people, at least in part, who get so emotionally invested in a potential signing that they lose all focus on reality. You'll see them in the threads, they're there whether you notice them or choose to ignore them or not. I was just pointing out that your assertion that they didn't exist and it was all a big Caf in joke was erroneous, that's all.
Transfers that are only a mere possibility have feck all to do with football though?
As mentioned before, some people truly prefer the transfers to the football.
I can't get my head around that... I suppose I prefer a good finish, or attacking play to defensive play, being a forward and attack orientated... but you can't separate the two completely, they're part of the actual 90mins (what football is all about)
All this twitter, boardroom, transfer jabber is exciting sure... but it's part of the business side of football and the way people get so embarrassingly involved with it makes zero sense to me.
Each to their own though, I wear girls knickers on the weekends.
I can't get my head around that... I suppose I prefer a good finish, or attacking play to defensive play, being a forward and attack orientated... but you can't separate the two completely, they're part of the actual 90mins (what football is all about)
All this twitter, boardroom, transfer jabber is exciting sure... but it's part of the business side of football and the way people get so embarrassingly involved with it makes zero sense to me.
Each to their own though, I wear girls knickers on the weekends.
If it were actually true you'd have a point. Most of what people are getting animated about is fabricated to sell advertisements in media outlets. It's proactive voluntary stupidity to give even the slightest feck.
Show me one. A single one.
The amount of BS spouted on here, especially from the houlier than you brigade, is amazing.
What do you mean? Who is taking it too seriously? I get that it's all a bit of fun and you only need to be here for a couple of months to know every single running "joke" that's used in the transfer forum, I just find them tiresome, infantile and a bit weird. Thinking it's a bizarre way of having fun doesn't equate to taking things too seriously.
Is there a point in there somewhere? If the point is that I'm at the top tend of football-obsession and even I think spending your entire summer obsessing over every detail about who your club is going to sign is taking things a bit too far then yes, I agree. I watch old games because I like football. I don't see that as such a bad thing. People who obsess about transfers do it because they obsess about the bullshit that was invented around football which just keeps moving further and further away from the sport itself.
I was referencing this, it's also my perception that some fans are more interested with who's on the pitch rather than what's actually happening on the pitch, it's fine, each to their own as I said, I just find it very strange.
feel free to carry on over reacting though, also was houlier intentional?
It's either a very clever pun.... or.... not.
Holier than thou? What? Not getting emotionally involved in tabloid lies is holier than thou now?
It's not as if the Caf resembles the fb comments posted below Daily Mail articles where someone says "Man Utd must sign Messi nd Bale
also Roney is best in world
Man Utd kings of world"
By and large it seems we are interested in assembling the best team possible, curious to see what targets Moyes has and bored with the no football
Also, one might want to factor in that we've got two extremely good rivals who'll be more than likely better this season, and in Europe we are chasing the likes of Bayern and Barca - plenty of reasons to be invested in potential improvements to the first 11 and the squad in general
also Roney is best in world
Man Utd kings of world"
By and large it seems we are interested in assembling the best team possible, curious to see what targets Moyes has and bored with the no football
Also, one might want to factor in that we've got two extremely good rivals who'll be more than likely better this season, and in Europe we are chasing the likes of Bayern and Barca - plenty of reasons to be invested in potential improvements to the first 11 and the squad in general
Plus it's not like we're all complaining about the lack of a superstar signing, it's the lack of any signings that have heightened concerns. I don't think that's a weird thing to have an interest in if you care about the club. Combine it with the lack of football and it's easy to see why people get sucked in to the transfer nonsense, it's a convenient distraction.
Not having a go at anyone in particular, but it's the internet, you know? It's a strange place.
There's a difference between hoping the club signs for strengthening and actively berating the club at every moment during this transfer window. I think the people mentioned by Brwned in the OP fall in the latter category.
Don't you think there's a difference between consuming every detail of a transfer story and saying "Oh, we might seen Fábregas and improve our team? Yes please, we could do with some class in midfield alright." when one of your mates mentions it to you? Everyone wants their team to improve, not everyone spends hour upon hour of their summer obsessing about it. And of course as moses says they barely even hide the fact these stories are fabricated for very obvious reasons, that's the strangest part of all. It's widely accepted by the people who consume it that there's very little effort put into this "journalism" and it's not a big leap to speculate what their motives are if it's not providing genuine information, and yet for some reason happily ignored.
Sure. Fair enough. I just haven't noticed it too much. I've followed the speculation and found it entertaining so far. Guilty of that no doubt.
I'm not sure what this thread is aimed at achieving. Is it to mock these transfer obsessed people? Is it to seek reasons for their obsessions with transfers? I mean, there are lots of different obsessions people have. This is possibly the least destructive of them all. Heck, the other day I was discussing here about people interested in rape porn ffs. People are strange. This is just a harmless indulgence some like to really get into.
If you're asking why it happens, then simply because football fans ARE obsessive and the prospect of signing quality players is by nature exciting. Combine the two and voila! Btw has the success of football manager completely bewildered you ? Very few people would give a feck about it if you didn't get to handle transfers.
It's not the getting over involved with the transfers that bothers me ( I check the Caf for news way to many times a day to be considered healthy ) it's the willingness to think badly of the club and its representatives because of baseless nonsense spouted by terrible "sources" that bugs me. The "it's getting embarrasing" type thing just grates. I hear rubbish being spouted by Utd fans and football fans generally all year round though, it's not confined to the transfer forum.
Your last line pretty much explains it. How many daft opinions do we hear throughout the season? How many emotionally charged knee jerked responses do we get? So I don't understand why we're expecting everyone to suddenly become all rational and level headed in the summer.