Which club in the PL is better run than Manchester United?

Sir Erik ten Hag

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I have seen a lot of voices on the CAF stated that our issue is we are badly run and not about money. We only need the Glazers gone, top football people on top making decisions and we'd dominate again...etc.

So this thread is just an overview to see which club in the PL is better run than us (Apart from City obviously) and what can we learn from observing how they are run?
 
Worse run than United.

Everton
And Chelsea (Boehly's Chelsea)
 
You have to keep the size and income of the clubs aside for this discussion. Pound for pound we're the worst run along with Chelsea (post Abramovich).
 
I think the only club that has been run as badly as United in recent years are Everton. I'd rank us as the worst run club simply because of the obscene amounts of money squandered. We could've had a world class squad on par with City had we been run well
 
This thread will be like crack to all the bed wetters and doom mongers sucking the life out of this forum at the moment.
 
You buy a club that is a financial powerhouse and is debt free. That club has a world class stadium and training facilities.

You load that club with debt and don’t spend a penny of your own money in nearly 20 years to maintain that world class stadium and training facility.
The recklessness of your ownership puts the club on the brink of a financial Armageddon.

I can’t think of a single worst owner. The Glazers are fecking parasites.
 
elmo said:
Because we’ve spent a lot and barely won anything.
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That's not a pound for pound argument. During the past decade United actually won things, often outperformed clubs that have also spent a lot such as Chelsea or Liverpool. Now it's fair to say that we expected more and that we wanted to see the club higher in the rankings but United are pound for pound far from the worst. In fact in England the undisputed winners are Everton, they spent a lot, won nothing and have steadily regressed to relegation contention.
 
i’ll get a lot of stick from your lot but i truly believe city are the best run club, not only in england, but in britain, and the world. we’re on the verge of a never been done before treble (winning each competition comfortably, not via jammy last minute goals,) and we’re only getting better and leaving you in the dust.
 
rimaldo said:
i’ll get a lot of stick from your lot but i truly believe city are the best run club, not only in england, but in britain, and the world. we’re on the verge of a never been done before treble (winning each competition using financial doping and having 115 charges against us,) and we’re only getting better and leaving you in the dust.
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Fixed.
 
rimaldo said:
they’re just charges, they mean nothing at this stage, just like my caution for indecent exposure.
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Ok Lance Armstrong, keep telling yourself that.

Everybody bar City fans know that you've cheated. The evidence is overwhelming.
 
rimaldo said:
i’ll get a lot of stick from your lot but i truly believe city are the best run club, not only in england, but in britain, and the world. we’re on the verge of a never been done before treble (winning each competition comfortably, not via jammy last minute goals,) and we’re only getting better and leaving you in the dust.
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:lol:
 
rimaldo said:
i’ll get a lot of stick from your lot but i truly believe city are the best run club, not only in england, but in britain, and the world. we’re on the verge of a never been done before treble (winning each competition comfortably, not via jammy last minute goals,) and we’re only getting better and leaving you in the dust.
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Mods!
 
Being “well run” is basically just a question of who is doing well in the pitch. Liverpool were the greatest run club ever a couple years ago, that view has changed somewhat now.

The oil clubs operate on another plane to the rest, though.
 
I think you have to look at the advantages Manchester United have over the rest of the league and cannot utilise properly.

Budget: Bigger budget than every club bar Manchester City yet we overpay on 90% of deals. The club has some form of arrogance to be clever in the transfer market like signing stop gap players on free transfers.

Selling Players: I would say we are one of the worst clubs in the world for selling players at the correct time. We don't like selling anyone. Look at our goalkeeper situation. Henderson; he had a brilliant loan with Sheffield United English and young. We could have got a fee in excess of £30m after that loan. Instead we gave him £100k a week, long contract to sit on the bench. He's frustrated, slates the club and goes out on a second loan. De Gea is the best paid goalkeeper in the world and doesn't even start for his country. He doesn't suit the manager's style of player yet we are offering him a contract extension.

Player Contracts: Offering players more than their market rate in wages and on long term contracts. This causes nothing but issues trying to sell them on if it doesn't work out. I'd suggest the club offers 3/4 year contracts with options to add a further 2 years. Most of the time the club others 5+1. Think how often players are successful at a big club for more than 6 years? It rarely happens.

Transfer Strategy: Signing players who don't want to join (Di Maria), signing players after a release clause could be triggered to obtain them at a cheaper price (Fellaini), showing an interest in a player when the selling club would accept a lower fee only to wait until the end of the window to get the deal done, and end up paying far more (Martinez and Antony). Consistently buying CF who are past their prime years (Cavani, Zlatan, Ronaldo, Igahlo) because we spent too much money elsewhere. The strategy rarely makes sense to me.

With all these advantages United should be finishing top 4 every season, and really should be 1st or 2nd in the league. Based on their budgets I would say these clubs are better run than we are:

Liverpool (obtaining Klopp, transfer strategy, stadium rebuild, trophies)
Tottenham (some may laugh at this but look how Levy has got them a new stadium and regular Champions League qualification when you consider their position 10 years ago, also a Champions League final)
Brighton (see where they were 10 years ago)
Brentford (see where they were 10 years ago)
Luton Town (see where they were 10 years ago)

The others are debatable. Everything about City's achievements is tainted with underhand tactics (fake sponsorship deals, paying players from shell companies etc). Newcastle will be the same as City. Arsenal have spent a fortune on the quiet under Arteta and achieved a few FA cups since they moved to the Emirates. Chelsea are a mess under Boehly. The other clubs yo-yo between overachieving and underachieving in the league.
 
Manchester United was very well run under the Glazers. It just wasn't focused on being a successful football team, it was focused on making money. Whereas City was.
 
Best run is obviously something that can change quickly. City are under an investigation that could lead to expulsion from the league. Abramovich was bank rolling Chelsea but the political climate changed and suddenly he was ousted. What’s to stop something similar happening with the oil clubs?

I think pound for pound Brighton would be my shout. Great scouting network continuously bringing in gems, huge profit on player sales, qualifying for Europe for the first time this season.
 
When you look at the money we've spent on transfer fee and wages, we are the worst run club by far.

Boehly's Chelsea is quickly catching up but it'll take few more years of mismanagement to catch up. People don't realize how much we have spent in last decade, nor our wage bill.
 
Brighton and Brentford jump to mind of the teams below us.
 
glazed said:
Manchester United was very well run under the Glazers. It just wasn't focused on being a successful football team, it was focused on making money. Whereas City was.
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If we are that good at making money as a company, why are we rolling in huge debt with a deteriorating stadium, facility...etc?
 
United are absolutely brilliantly run commercial income wise.
But over the last 10 years have been fairly woeful in the main on recruitment and numerous other aspects.
 
It’s very difficult to compare with the likes of Brighton, completely different requirements, budgets, vision/goals, etc.

But among the top/bigger clubs not just in England but in Europe, we have been the absolute worst since 2013. Look what we have spent and the return is ZERO big trophies. As many as Dortmund, Arsenal and Spurs. Even Leicester managed 1. Liverpool 2. Chelsea 3.
 
MegadrivePerson said:
Ok Lance Armstrong, keep telling yourself that.

Everybody bar City fans know that you've cheated. The evidence is overwhelming.
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how do you know about my testicle? i’ve never posted about it on here.

yeah but 90% of you can’t wait to do the same with qatar. you’re 15 years behind us and out of luck and out of time. your turn at being the manchester tramp for the next 50 years.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
Which club has a worse higher ratio of spending to performances and results?
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It's probably Everton, there was a point in the past decade where they had spent more than Liverpool during a 5 or 6 years span. They finished 16th and 17 during the last two seasons. That's Schalke 04 type of nonsense.
 
JPRouve said:
That's not a pound for pound argument. During the past decade United actually won things, often outperformed clubs that have also spent a lot such as Chelsea or Liverpool. Now it's fair to say that we expected more and that we wanted to see the club higher in the rankings but United are pound for pound far from the worst. In fact in England the undisputed winners are Everton, they spent a lot, won nothing and have steadily regressed to relegation contention.
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Honours over past decade:
United - FA Cup 15/16, Europa League 16/17, EFL Cup 22/23
Chelsea - Premier League 14/15 and 16/17, FA Cup 17/18, EFL Cup 14/15, Champions League 20/21, Europa League 18/19
Liverpool - Premier League 19/20*, FA Cup 21/22, EFL Cup 21/22, Champions League 18/19

Let's not sugarcoat it - over the last decade we are miles behind Chelsea and Liverpool that both won the league and the Champions League. In that period, our best trophy still is the Europa League under Jose or LVG's FA Cup. I don't know if we often outperformed them, but there is no discussion that we have won much less than either of these teams.

So yeah, pound for pound we've been absolutely underwhelming and among the biggest underperformers in the league. I agree on Everton though, it's quite impressive to invest so much and remain so terrible. Honourable mention to Spurs, too, that won nothing and will win nothing, yet they tried to market themselves as a top club, did a big stadium investment and also had some terrible business over the last decade.
 
We have been the worse run club for quite some time. Essentially, from 2013 onward, it was a slide downward, with the occasional upward surge. It has been an absolute nightmare...it's not even been close.

I know Chelsea are a shit show currently, but they have players that will do well once they sort their shit out.
 
JPRouve said:
It's probably Everton, there was a point in the past decade where they had spent more than Liverpool during a 5 or 6 years span. They finished 16th and 17 during the last two seasons. That's Schalke 04 type of nonsense.
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So that’s one. My point is that we are one of the worse culprits and hence this thread makes little sense.
 
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