United in this Summer transfer window

That's been written by someone from here, hasn't it? Or someone who has been reading here. All that's missing is a mention that we'll probably sign Osman.
 
Sandikan said:
So, a week until the charity shield and nothing doing.

What are the chances of any deals being struck?

Ronaldo 0.5/10
Fabregas 2/10
Baines 3/10
Fellaini 4/10

A month or so ago Moyes talked with confidence of signings, not just a signing, not a chance of a signing, but definite signings.
Now it's looking a bit dodgy
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I like your mathematical analysis, with figures plucked straight out of your arse.
 
Ramshock said:
I beg to differ, how else should one respond to the idea of Leon Osman wearing a United shirt?
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I didn't suggest he'd be wearing one, I suggested that the only thing to complete that article as being written with posts from here would be the suggestion it was a possibility.

This shouldn't really need this much explanation.
 
Ramshock said:
Yeah we seemed to work quicker in those days. I remember a bit of haggling for Yorke and John Gregory wanting to "shoot" him but we usually had our pick of the players in the PL.
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Was is quicker? Maybe. Far less money involved, less greedy agents, less clauses. It was certainly quieter. We had the odd saga - Yorke, Shearer - but mostly things were just done.
 
Yeah somewhat quicker. I dont remember Jim Whyte standing outside Harry Redknapps bog much on transfer window night. We did miss out on targets then but when we were in for someone at that we didn't have to compete with anyone big in the PL for them. That all changed when Abramovich showed up
 
The Neviller said:
That's been written by someone from here, hasn't it? Or someone who has been reading here. All that's missing is a mention that we'll probably sign Osman.
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The guy who wrote it appears to have the twitter handle @BeardedGenius. There is/was a member called that here, isn't/wasn't there?
 
Moyes had a reputation for leaving deals until the last minute with Everton didn't he?

Maybe he's simply trying to entertain us all until Sep 2nd!
 
Sandikan said:
Moyes had a reputation for leaving deals until the last minute with Everton didn't he?

Maybe he's simply trying to entertain us all until Sep 2nd!
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Not the way I would like it, but yes I do imagine that day will be rather exciting...
 
The season hasn't even started & yet all-too many "fans" are passing ammunition to our rivals. And to think we criticised Liverpool fans for not giving Hodgson a chance.
 
SteveJ said:
The season hasn't even started & yet all-too many "fans" are passing ammunition to our rivals. And to think we criticised Liverpool fans for not giving Hodgson a chance.
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It's odd isn't it.

If Moyes had steamed in, and bought Fellaini and Baines, there'd still be a few nay sayers, but most would be applauding the quick nature of the swoops.

Because we've gone after much more impressive targets, but failed and brought no one in, it paints an altogether more negative picture, which combined with the Rooney saga isn't a great start to the season!
 
It's incendiary shit. But then, it wouldn't have got ok'ed for publication in the Mirror if it wasn't.
 
I don't understand why someone who's supposed to be a Manchester United supporter would take his (BeardedGenius') views and express them so publicly rather than make a case for Moyes and backing him up. It's a very unfortunate article from someone who's more often than not an enjoyable writer. He questions why the club and Moyes must go on doing businesses so openly - but for what reason? If they had stayed quiet we'd read the same piece stating his concerns about the quiet business practices of Moyes and Woodward and whether or not Moyes is up for the task of battling for the top elite players.

For someone who's generally rather spot on with his attempts at humour, that piece fires a lot of cheap shots wide off of the target.
 
Answer: the Mirror's terrible compared to what it once was, and so Talksport-like articles are de rigueur nowadays. A recent article about Michel Platini was disgustingly racist but that's ok, apparently, because he's French...and all us Brits hate the French, innit? They'll probably dig out the ol' "They don't like it up 'em" crap when England next play Germany...
 
Skywarden said:
I don't understand why someone who's supposed to be a Manchester United supporter would take his (BeardedGenius') views and express them so publicly rather than make a case for Moyes and backing him up. It's a very unfortunate article from someone who's more often than not an enjoyable writer. He questions why the club and Moyes must go on doing businesses so openly - but for what reason? If they had stayed quiet we'd read the same piece stating his concerns about the quiet business and whether or not Moyes is up for the task of battling for the top elite players.

For someone who's generally rather spot on with his attempts at humour, that piece fires a lot of cheap shots wide off of the target.
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It's the narrative. We'll be said to be falling apart, post-Ferguson, until we prove otherwise. Some solid results on the pitch are needed before those in the media will be interested in doing anything but accentuating or inventing negatives.
 
Nate Dogg said:
Is the below article a fair representation of our summer?

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/manchester-uniteds-transfer-business-summer-2126333
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Exaggerated for effect, but much that has been said is true! We have some talented youngsters, and are far from desperate, but we have shown ourselves to be and we should already have seen what happened with Pogba when we were "desperate" enough to bring back Scholes. It was arguably a smart and decisive move, but how smart when we lost a hugely talented youngster who could have been worth a fortune for us and instead went for free.

The problem about the desperation and the statement of intent is that as fans our expectations have been set at a level that doesn't even make sense. No signing will be disappointing and yet we have plenty of reason to be optimistic with our youngsters, a mid-tier signing will feel disappointing with both the double negative of slowing our youngsters and not quite being the top draw signing that would truly accelerate us to another tier.

So it's boom or bust... but not really! We are the champions, as well as having plenty of young talent on the brim of making it at United, so actually it is a lot of hype for nothing and is only disrupting.
 
Skywarden said:
I don't understand why someone who's supposed to be a Manchester United supporter would take his (BeardedGenius') views and express them so publicly rather than make a case for Moyes and backing him up. It's a very unfortunate article from someone who's more often than not an enjoyable writer. He questions why the club and Moyes must go on doing businesses so openly - but for what reason? If they had stayed quiet we'd read the same piece stating his concerns about the quiet business practices of Moyes and Woodward and whether or not Moyes is up for the task of battling for the top elite players.

For someone who's generally rather spot on with his attempts at humour, that piece fires a lot of cheap shots wide off of the target.
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It's like the old cliche that Mark Twain didn't say: It is better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt.

When we were after players but failed before, there was always the chance of coming back and saying "oh, we weren't in for him!" Even though everyone knows that's a lie, at least the club didn't come out and fail publicly in pursuit of a player.
 
The prose is laughable, but there are some valid points especially about the leaking of information relating to transfers. Embarrassing is the fun word right now.....disconcerting would be more appropriate if things stay as they are to 2nd September.

Also the point about raising expectations is very relevant, particularly in light of the impending meltdown amongst some on this forum.
 
Skywarden said:
I don't understand why someone who's supposed to be a Manchester United supporter would take his (BeardedGenius') views and express them so publicly rather than make a case for Moyes and backing him up. It's a very unfortunate article from someone who's more often than not an enjoyable writer. He questions why the club and Moyes must go on doing businesses so openly - but for what reason? If they had stayed quiet we'd read the same piece stating his concerns about the quiet business and whether or not Moyes is up for the task of battling for the top elite players.

For someone who's generally rather spot on with his attempts at humour, that piece fires a lot of cheap shots wide off of the target.
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I´m honestly not too sure about that. What actually started the desire of the media and fans for an absolute top drawer player? For me it was the bravado of the officials about no budgets and the possibilities of spending 100Mil. pounds at the start of the transfer period. Nearly everybody knows that there is a demand of a CM at United, but was there really a need of an absolute elite player like Fabregas, who for the most part seemed to be unattainable? I don´t think so. This could have been communicated differently by the officials without raising huge expectations.

Another problem with that whole Fabregas saga seems to be the absolute fixation on this one particual transfer. There are basically no news about alternatives, who would probably be a drawer lower than him, but more secure. In the meantime every little detail seems to be leaked to the press. If you handle negotations so openly you logically offer area to be attacked and critizised by the media. This article is without a doubt harsh and exagerrated, but there is little bit of truth in it. From my mostly neutral perspective, there is a hint of desperation in this whole ordeal.

Who knows, what really happens behind closed doors. Maybe a different signing is already in the making, but the press and the fans can only rate what they know now. The first real judgement will of course be made at the end of transfer period. Until then there is around a month time so a lot of things can still happen. Bringing in a new player now or in the next weeks, especially someone like a CM, is already far from ideal, though, because he will have had missed the whole pre season.

One thing for me is certain. Especially in comparision to most of the other top clubs, who have already finished their main activities on the transfer market and are in the middle of integrating their new players, United does not look as perfectly managed. Moyes still has work to do.
 
Sir Matt said:
It's like the old cliche that Mark Twain didn't say: It is better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt.

When we were after players but failed before, there was always the chance of coming back and saying "oh, we weren't in for him!" Even though everyone knows that's a lie, at least the club didn't come out and fail publicly in pursuit of a player.
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Which brings us back to what I said in another post: Moyes is damned whatever he does. But why would we jump on his back from the get go? In what way is that suppose to strengthen us/Moyes position (a general question not specifically aimed at you)?

Sphaero said:
I´m honestly not too sure about that. What actually started the desire of the media and fans for an absolute top drawer player? For me it was the bravado of the officials about no budgets and the possibilities of spending 100Mil. pounds at the start of the transfer period. Nearly everybody knows that there is a demand of a CM at United, but was there really a need of an absolute elite player like Fabregas, who for the most part seemed to be unattainable? I don´t think so. This could have been communicated differently by the officials without raising huge expectations.

Another problem with that whole Fabregas saga seems to be the absolute fixation on this one particual transfer. There are basically no news about alternatives, who would probably be a drawer lower than him, but more secure. In the meantime every little detail seems to be leaked to the press. If you handle negotations so openly you logically offer area to be attacked and critizised by the media. This article is without a doubt harsh and exagerrated, but there is little bit of truth in it. From my mostly neutral perspective, there is a hint of desperation in this whole ordeal.

Who knows, what really happens behind closed doors. Maybe a different signing is already in the making, but the press and the fans can only rate what they know now. The first real judgement will of course be made at the end of transfer period. Until then there is around a month time so a lot of things can still happen. Bringing in a new player now or in the next weeks, especially someone like a CM, is already far from ideal, though, because he will have had missed the whole pre season.

One thing for me is certain. Especially in comparision to most of the other top clubs, who have already finished their main activities on the transfer market and are in the middle of integrating their new players, United does not look as perfectly managed. Moyes still has work to do.
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All fair points - yet we are still stuck at speculations; we simply do not know what prompted the club to go for Fabregas. I've touched on this topic before; it's not beyond the realm of possibility that we went in blindly for him for the sake of testing waters. But likewise, and many believe this to be the case, we could have been encouraged by something, or someone. Without knowing the true details we've seen people throw themselves to the fore pointing fingers and calling names. What good is that suppose to achieve?

Would fans rather see the club take a "low" risk bet on someone who is attainable but perhaps doesn't have the character to lead this team offensively and defensively? Would fans be satisfied if we spend 10-20m on another player who won't reach his true heights despite going five years strong and again, forcing us into the inevitable situation of looking at a player of Fabregas calibre for a second time? Wouldn't that, if anything, be embarrassing?

Moyes had work to do right off the bat in any case and whoever thought he was brought into the perfect setting with little work to do wasn't paying much attention.
 
to be fair we did signed alot of quality sponsors this year.
 
I am reasonably pleased with our 'transfer activity' so far. At least in one respect anyway. I said on here weeks ago that much of the club's comments were a bit cringeworthy, none more so than the 'everybody, our exec is getting on a plane and we are about to do URGENT TRANSFER BUSINESS', which was followed by the 'no, it isn't about Rooney, but good guess' kind of retort.

That said, I am pleased by the following things:

- Our manager has immediately come in and identified a need to improve our midfield. In my own opinion, this was an immediate plus-point for him in the post-Fergie era, seeing as Sir Alex seemingly had no interest in this area.

- We have (seemingly) gone after Thiago and Fabregas. The team does not need more second-tier '£17m men' right now, at least not in that area. We have gone after the players who are able to take us on as a team. I would quite possibly be afraid of signing average players than signing nobody, as no signing means that the chapter is not closed. Signing a b-level player for say £18m or so means that there is every chance we will then count them as a reason for being 'covered in that area', and go through a few years of playing them weekly, knowing we could do better, but not being the sort of club who just buys someone because they are better than ours, and wanting to be fair to the player and not lose out on our investment, so not looking at better players. If we went through this season with Cleverley and Anderson as partners for Carrick having not been able to get Cesc, we'd likely make a move for Gundogan/Wilshere (just examples) if they became available next summer, but if we signed an Ashley Young equivalent in midfield this summer, we'd want to 'give them every chance' and say 'we are well stocked'.

I am happy for us to continue to pursue players who can really improve our midfield, as 'bodies' is not our real issue. Of course, it would be nice if one of them actually joined the team though.
 
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