I thought I'd dig out the line up from a random game I attended in the past and one that stuck in the mind was United 4 Stoke 0 from the 79/80 season. Not one local lad in our line up but the difference that was that clubs shopped closer to home. Remarkably there were 5 scots in that team plus 3 English, 2 Irish and 1 Welshman. More than half the team were bought in, at a young age some of them perhaps, but bought nonetheless. Bailey trekked from South Africa to get a trial. Not one Manc.
When the club started, like all clubs, I'd guess it was filled with locals. Things moved on to the time above and now things have moved on further, and clubs shop globally as its now a global game. I see no difference between buying a top striker from Spain these days than buying Joe Jordan off Leeds back in the day. As for the "soul" of United I think thats for individual interpretation but its not something, for me, that gets bought or sold or is diminished over time. What does irk me is players who disrespect the club, the likes of Valdes, ADM and now yes you DDG. If there is something that chips away at our integrity it is putting up with cnutish behaviour from the likes of them and I wish we would really focus on players who are admirers/fans/respectful of the club. It doesn't matter where they come from - look at Herrera or Basti for example of foreign players who have clearly bought into the club. That's one way of keeping our identity as a club. I think LVG is good on this - he wants players who genuinely want to play for United and not just after a payday and there was a whiff of that about Pedro for example
I also don't necessarily buy into this idea that there is a fixed United way of playing - I watched some terrible dross over the years prior to SAF. Staying stuck in some timewarp where different styles of football are branded unworthy of us isn't going to get us anywhere and to remain successful we've got to be flexible and adaptable. In fact I would go as far as to say attempting to play a certain brand of football has possibly cost us a couple of European Cups.
When the club started, like all clubs, I'd guess it was filled with locals. Things moved on to the time above and now things have moved on further, and clubs shop globally as its now a global game. I see no difference between buying a top striker from Spain these days than buying Joe Jordan off Leeds back in the day. As for the "soul" of United I think thats for individual interpretation but its not something, for me, that gets bought or sold or is diminished over time. What does irk me is players who disrespect the club, the likes of Valdes, ADM and now yes you DDG. If there is something that chips away at our integrity it is putting up with cnutish behaviour from the likes of them and I wish we would really focus on players who are admirers/fans/respectful of the club. It doesn't matter where they come from - look at Herrera or Basti for example of foreign players who have clearly bought into the club. That's one way of keeping our identity as a club. I think LVG is good on this - he wants players who genuinely want to play for United and not just after a payday and there was a whiff of that about Pedro for example
I also don't necessarily buy into this idea that there is a fixed United way of playing - I watched some terrible dross over the years prior to SAF. Staying stuck in some timewarp where different styles of football are branded unworthy of us isn't going to get us anywhere and to remain successful we've got to be flexible and adaptable. In fact I would go as far as to say attempting to play a certain brand of football has possibly cost us a couple of European Cups.