Ole doing background checks on transfer targets

Yeah it's so weird how these fees take so long to agree on. I wonder how the whole process goes, I imagine it's a lot different than bargaining at a shop in marrakech for example.

With Woodward, it's like bargaining at a shop in Marrakesh but paying the asking price.
 
Another hallmark of Fergie. It's a small detail but it makes a big difference.

In 12 months, we'll know whether or not this approach works.

From the start of the Summer, I have said that Ole will be fired in 2019 and I still stand by this.
Nothing I've seen makes me think that we will get close to top 4.
I've seen how we played towards the end of the last season and it was diabolical. That same languid way of playing has continued into pre-season and I think it will continue once the proper season starts.
 
I think it's that The Athletic article, but I can't read it in full so no idea how to read this...
A kind individual PM'd me the article. Can't discuss it without derailing the thread but similar to the background checks thing it's celebrating nuances of his regime. Like how he made it so that the players food be made as they arrive so it doesn't lose nutritional value sitting in a tray for 2 hours. That part was a bit funny to read but hey, it's a nuance he deems worth implementing. I'm not the manager
 
If we haven’t been doing our due diligence before it is a positive step, however small.

It's nonsense trying to put a positive spin on things and/or preface a negative to come as something else. Like instead of "no value in the market" being the excuse for no further arrivals it could be "couldn't find the right characters and would never sacrifice the group".

It's a load of tosh. Even the part about Sanchez, it was very public knowledge he was not liked at Arsenal.
 
It's nonsense trying to put a positive spin on things and/or preface a negative to come as something else. Like instead of "no value in the market" being the excuse for no further arrivals it could be "couldn't find the right characters and would never sacrifice the group".

It's a load of tosh. Even the part about Sanchez, it was very public knowledge he was not liked at Arsenal.

But we have spent money and bought players so nobody can use that excuse. It’s just emphasising that we are working a bit harder on trying to avoid another Sanchez or Di Maria. It’s a minor point, a small step in the right direction and ties in with everything else we’ve heard about the club since Ferguson left.
 
But we have spent money and bought players so nobody can use that excuse. It’s just emphasising that we are working a bit harder on trying to avoid another Sanchez or Di Maria. It’s a minor point, a small step in the right direction and ties in with everything else we’ve heard about the club since Ferguson left.

The most likely scenario right now is that Lukaku leaves with no further incomings which would put the summer spend at around £70m net. That is nothing when you consider where United are and where they as a club claim to want to be.
 
Ed was just buying players hoping they fit, Ole is building a team.
 
Umm, shouldn't this be a given? Investing millions without proper due diligence seems beyond stupid.

I think its a little more than that now. Fergie would always check the character of a player before making a signing. He would know about their families, their background past history and how they conduct their lives off the pitch. It certainly sometimes feels we haven't gone to that level of detail with some of our recent signings.
 
I think its a little more than that now. Fergie would always check the character of a player before making a signing. He would know about their families, their background past history and how they conduct their lives off the pitch. It certainly sometimes feels we haven't gone to that level of detail with some of our recent signings.

And what players have we signed that wouldn't have 'passed' that test...?

Di Maria was a married father when we signed him.

Martial also.

Sanchez conducts himself professionally in his private life.

Pogba has a long term g/f and is a model pro whether you like him or not.

This line is just spin, it's just rubbish to be wheeled out as an excuse why the investment has been less than needed.