I think "nowhere near" is stretching it. We might be superior, but it's not by a lot.
and what else cos if we were that big Adidas would not have put a clause in the contract that removes 30% whenever we fail to make the UCL. Nike would dare not put a clause like that for Barca cos they are guaranteed success season in and season out
They're 9 months into their 10 year Addidas deal, long time to wait ffs.
In all likely hood that kind of clause probably does exist. Its quite standard for those types of deals tbh for major sponsorships
Indeed. It seems fairly simple to me - if you want a shot at a big job, go and show you can do it.
Why some seem to think he's destined for it without doing so I don't know. If I was in charge of a multi-million pound company I wouldn't be putting the future of it on the line by appointing someone to run arguably the most important part of said business on the basis that he's been around for years.
Some on here really need to get their rose tinted specs off. Seems to me that they're desperate to believe that Giggs is going to get the job, return us to the top and stay on for 25 years like Sir Alex did. yet there is absolutely nothing to suggest that he's remotely capable of doing that.
Even from his point of view, he deserves a chance to go and learn how hard the job is before the job is thrust on him. It could chew him up and spit him out in no time.
I think someone had a screw loose when they did that deal with us. Not complaining, but it is too much money. Real sell a lot of shirts, especially in the latin countries. Adidas have set a precedent here.
All mega deals have clauses such as these Tbf, this clause was only highlighted because we failed to qualify for the CL the season before they came on board
Someone else mentioned Real, they definitely have a lot of worldwide fans.
You do realise thats because we are an English clubs that is why we have this advantage. Most mid table PL teams bring in more money than other big UCL clubs with history, does it make them the bigger club?
You do realise thats because we are an English clubs that is why we have this advantage. Most mid table PL teams bring in more money than other big UCL clubs with history, does it make them the bigger club?
Could be true but why was it well documented in the case of United. Why have Adidas come out to make a statement on how we play football. Financially we are a big pull but as far as football is concerned we nowhere near as big as people suggest. Time to face the reality. Football evolves, we have failed to do the same. All we have now is history and cash, so did Milan.
Absolutely. Like, there is no way Apple would make someone CEO after Steve Jobs that just happened to work for them already and had never been CEO before... oh wait a minute. They did, didn't they?
Well... that's just Apple I guess. I doubt it's very common. You can't imagine a company like Google doing similar. Oh no! It seems they did it as well.
Weird. Probably just exceptions to the rule I'm sure.
Because its Man-U-fecking-nited we're the most talked about club, we sell papers and internet clicks dude.
When Nike signed the Barca deal, did we even hear about it?
Madrid and United have two very different models. Uniteds price is so high because of our vast fanbase and exposure of playing in the most watched league in the world. United are huge in the markets that Addidas crave the most.
Other clubs have barely caught up to the deal we had with Nike 15 years ago, why should people still be surprised we are again light years ahead with our new deal?
Madrid make a lot of their money through lop-sided tv deals and taking a percentage of their player image rights, it is nowhere near our sustainable model.
As if 2015 Apple and Google, have appointed newbie engineers as CEO. United isn't a start up and Giggs didn't created it.
I disagree, they need to rebuild in every area of their squad due to age/fitness/form.
Defence - Dimichellis' deal is up in the summer, Kompany's fitness is becoming unreliable. Mangala... well he's been a flop. Jury's still out on Otamendi as he's only been in the league for 5 months
Fullbacks - are all 30 or over, and need replacing soon
Midfield - Toure is on the decline, Fernando has hardly done much, and Delph has played about 3 minutes worth of football for them.
Attack - Has Nasri even played? Silva is about to turn 30, Aguero's fitness is a real doubt. Bony is a good back up striker but not good enough for a club that they're aspiring to be.
So based on this United is clearly a financial giant but the question is whether we are football giants?
Who said anything about newbie engineers? I am merely pointing out the ridiculousness of the 'if I had a multi-million £/$ business' analogies because quite clearly, they often promote a CEO from a more junior role within the company. It happens ALL the time. If there is one analogy you might use to argue a point against Giggs taking over, it's hardly that one is it?
I think the comment was bigger football institution.
In footballing terms also we're not far behind those clubs at all. Recent success wise yes, but overall no. A lot will depend on where we go from here in the next 2-3 years.
The difference is that, that more junior role would have already involved a lot of high level management, its likely they actually would have been a member of the executive board already.
And they do it with people who showed skills, it has nothing to do with the candidate being around for years or the fact that he knows the company.
If you take out the inferiority complex then yes. It's not as if we haven't had decades of success to back this up.
what a ridiculous comparison. Tech companies and football clubs? Tim Cook was at Apple for about 10 years before taking over as a sort of interim-CEO, in the absence of Steve Jobs for 2 years before he died, and was in constant communication with Jobs and thus gaining experience and feel for the role before Jobs died.
So no, it's not similar.
So have Barca and Bayern. They also have a magnificent history but they are not still riding on that. Do we want to be the new Liverpool?
Tim Cook was at Apple for about 10 years before taking over as a sort of interim-CEO, in the absence of Steve Jobs for 2 years before he died, and was in constant communication with Jobs and thus gaining experience and feel for the role before Jobs died.
So no, it's not similar.
Is it ridiculous comparing managing a football club to being head of a massive corporate company. I am quite glad you agree! I'll ignore the next bit because Giggs has obviously been at United for over 20 years and has worked under SAF, LVG... but like I say, I'll ignore that similarity anyway because quite honestly, comparing the two is ridiculous. I couldn't agree more.
Ryan Giggs is the Assistant Manager e.g. next in-line after the current manager... he's not kit man or tea lady. Anyway, this is getting away from the point.
By name yes.
Financial base, marketing potential, world wide support base, corporate deals on and off pitch.
Just because Liverpool fecked it up doesn't mean others have to.
They fell apart 25 years ago, since then when has a consistently wealthy club fallen behind? Anywhere in Europe?
It doesn't happen. The economics doesn't allow it to happen
I don't disagree. Manchester United is only about the money these days. If that's the plan then well done to us.
United have a far bigger rebuild job than City, never matter how you spin it. I don't think we have a single top midfielder in our ranks (an argument could be made for Herrera at a stretch). De Gea, Shaw, Smalling, Martial are indisputable. I'm not saying I'd get rid of everyone, players like Schneiderlin for example can obviously do a good job for us, but we are one bad transfer window away from top four being a real, genuine struggle if we don't get things right next time round. Contrast to City who I think have slightly more time on their hands. They can't afford to be complacent (who can? see Chelsea lol) but I feel its less immediate than us.
The only player from their midfield i'd take is Fernandinho, wouldn't take Toure because of his age, wages and inconsistency even though I don't doubt his quality when he's on form. But saying that I think Fernandinho is comparable with Schneiderlin, there's not much difference if any in quality.
I think we need 1 midfielder in the ilk of a Gundogan, to play with Schneiderlin & Hererra.
Schweinsteiger has the experience and if managed correctly can play in the role for a couple years yet, Carrick is probably playing his last year as playing anything more than a bit-part role
From then on you could buy a young promising midfielder - like a Tielemans or a Ruben Neves to assimilate in the squad for the long term. (Delle Alli would have been perfect)
I personally wouldn't take any of their defenders over Smalling, again age, wages & inconsistency come in to play. But we do need a defender, problem is most of the good ones aren't likely to move, and if they are they'll cost a lot of money - like Stones or Marquinhos.
Even then Jones still could come good if he gets over his injuries, and Blind has been a better defender than most people predicted.
Our attack is a mess, I don't dispute this and we need key players in attack, one striker and one wide player definitely, but the players we do have (barring Rooney & Mata) are all young and only likely to get better (Memphis, Wilson, Januzaj, Lingard, Pereira) how good they get we don't know but they provide us with a good foundation to build on.
The problem is lots of fans of all clubs assume you can just sign whoever you want in the summer just because the window is open and we have cash to burn.
Do we need more world class players? Yes for sure. 1 world class midfielder & striker/wide player are the priority.
Will we get them? Not as many to satisfy everyone because players of that calibre don't just move clubs because another club wants them and can afford them.
The same way we would laugh off suggestions that we'd sell Martial to say, Chelsea just because they want a striker and can afford him.
Nah, on paper we're in a much better position than them in terms of the squad. Don't let our shitty results undermine the quality on our books. Obviously we have old players too - Rooney, Schweinsteiger and Carrick, basically. But the majority of our best players are actually young or entering their prime - Martial, De Gea, Herrera, Smalling, Shaw, Schneiderlin etc. And whilst Iheanacho is really their only youngster with any prospects, we've got a number who've put in some very promising showings recently, notably Lingard, Varela and Pereira. Wilson and Januzaj are still great options to bring back in at some point too. Almost all City's best players are also their oldest.
There are gaps in our squad - mainly a proper CF to replace Rooney and partner Martial, and someone with pace to replace Mata on the RW - but they're specific, and with our squad size and wage bill so effectively trimmed since LVG took charge, there's plenty of room and money to sort them out. City, on the other hand, are looking at replacing the spine of their side over the next couple of seasons. De Bruyne and Sterling were decent moves to start that process - the former looks like in time he might be a good enough Silva replacement - but sorting out their midfield and defence when Kompany and Touré start to hit the wall will be a massive challenge.
No one expects us to go out and sign 4/5 world class players from elite clubs. In fact I'd be amazed if we even signed one. We never really have and I don't expect us to. We need to make sure we have a strong enough squad that we don't go into next season with any glaring weaknesses wishing we could turn back time. No one is that naive to think thats how transfers work where we can just cherry pick any player on the planet. But a lot of people saw this coming after our dealings in the summer and it can't happen again.
Woody consider Giggs better (and with more ideas) than Guardiola.
Another train gone
I look forward to hearing about that in ten years.
"The sky is falling down"
With a fully fit team I think the only glaring weakness we have is upfront. Whether that's a pure CF or a wide player or both, that's our area of weakness.
If Shaw & Valencia weren't injured long term, and Jones wasn't a perennial crock our defence would be much more stable, and before the injuries piled up we had the best defence in the league in the calender year of 2015, up until late October.
Midfield wise I honestly don't think we're struggling, again 1 very good player is what we need. But on paper, Schweinsteiger, Herrera & Schneiderlin is a great midfield too.
Our results haven't been great recently, but I still believe the City rebuild is bigger than ours.
Typical cafe. We actually sign arguably the best manager in the world and people will be moaning that he has kept Giggs as assistant.
Is that when their contract runs out?