If we still had Vidic & Evra I wouldn't be as concerned about the back four but we have very little cover. I'm just hoping that Young & Valencia are going to be good enough with their defensive duties when the season starts and that we don't suffer any injuries for most of the season with our CB's. I haven't even discussed the CM role where we have players that are not good enough or are past it. Fletcher & Herrera have looked good pre season but I worry that Fletcher is going to get found out in the pace of the PL. I know there is time left to do deals but lets not pretend that ideally the club would have brought in more players before the start of the season. I don't even know who we are after at the moment. The only players that I've been sure we are/were after recently have been Vermaelen and Strootman.
Woodward (old thread)
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In a way you could argue that the whole squad are like new signings, I suspect LvG will get another 25% out of the same players that barely lifted a finger for Moyesy.
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After such an exciting start to this window with both Shaw and Herrera coming in so early I thought we would end up with 5 top players by the end of the window, how quickly this could turn out to be yet another very disappointing transfer window. 
What happened to watch this space? Was it all a bluff?
What happened to watch this space? Was it all a bluff?Is that you Joel Glazer?
Woodward will be judged on results, regardless of any possible mitigating factors. The squad has regressed relative to where it was 12 months ago, which is scarcely believable for a club of this stature, coming off the back of a 7th place finish. That being said, there are 3 weeks still to go, so it's not yet the time for people to start losing their shit in mass hysteria and collective meltdown. The mix of vacuous speculative drivel, humorous self-parody, and intense anguish and desperation, is currently about normal for a transfer window on the Caf, but of course that balance will begin to shift as the deadline draws closer.
Woodward has been more hit than miss in recent months, ostensibly getting to grips with the job (Moyes sacked, Van Gaal appointed, insane record-breaking adidas deal), so it would be surprising if he was to fall down on player recruitment yet again. More players will arrive, I am almost certain.
You'll never find this out, unless he does a book one day!
What is inexplicable, is why we're waiting so late. The first game is 6 days away. Everyone is always raving about the benefit of a pre season, and it's most ideal if you do it with the club you're playing for.
Yes VP, Yorke and suchlike came well into August, but it just strikes you as being unprofessional, when you've had 2-3 months to sort things.
We may get away with it in August when you see our fixture list.
Remember everyone at the club bitching about our start to the PL season, that it was brutal. Well the only other theory out of desperation I have for our slow transfer business, united can pick up win after win in august, which gives VG the time to look at the squad pre season, move the players on during the PL season and he can buy who he wants, so when September 1st comes along, he moves the players on he does not see fit at the club, and he's got his players with a full house of august wins under his belt. So VG goes into september 1st with the squad he sees fit that can not only make a top 4, but try and challenge for the PL
August fixtures
Swansea OT
sunderland away
burnley away
MUFC could easily pick up 9 points in those 3 games, well prepared for September 14th with his squad, well trained, and we could really turn up the heat with his players on september 14th
Woody still has it all to prove. Let's face it, Herrera and Shaw were both pretty easy transfers, not much competition, just a case of throwing enough money at it.
Players like Vidal, Di Maria and Hummels are a whole different kettle of fish and that's where the ability of Woody will lie.
Players like Vidal, Di Maria and Hummels are a whole different kettle of fish and that's where the ability of Woody will lie.
Or the fact that we're not in the CL maybe
Partly because Woody only managed to sign Fellaini last summer though, to be fair.
Not being in the Champions league isn't a problem, certainly City didn't find it as a problem for signing top players. You can bridge the gap with money.
yeah so we can pay these players double the wages that barca will pay them, but how many players can we pay double what they're worth? and when does that start being a problem? If we have to play cuadrado 170,000 a week that's fine, but should we being doing that with 4-5 players? Why not just wait a year until we're back in the CL and a more attractive option? Assuming we're good enough to get back in top 4, and I think since suarez left we will be pretty comfortably
We don't need to pay double, just a bit more would do it, definitely 20-40k more. It won't be so easy to make top 4 with our team. 1 injury in our midfield or our back 3 is enough to ruin our season as things stand and I haven't even mentioned quality yet. Jones, Evans and Smalling are good players but we're Manchester United, we shouldn't be happy with good players, we should be aiming higher. Much higher.
Woodward promised us 5 top signings if we have a bad season and we did, now it's time to deliver. He has to deliver, it's a must if we want to stay as a competitive club. 1 season out of Europe can be written off as a mistake but can we really afford to have a repeat? Can we afford to go into this season with what we have and take a huge gamble on our U21s which are really the only backups to some positions in our first team?
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Fair enough, I just think it's not surprising that it's taking more than a week to lure hummels vidal and di maria away from champions league clubs when we came 7th last year. I don't know how people think it's as easy as just clicking your fingers and signing a player like that, find it bizarre
We won't need to pay double obviously, but we'll have to pay much more though because there isn't any CL bonuses for players.
I'm beginning to wonder what the hold up could possibly be, we stated early on that we'd strt this season having made signing early on and spent 200m, we were boasting, puffing out our chests.
Then there was the fateful interview with Woody on the first week of tour "watch this space" we all thought "here we go". Nothing.
Now we hear every day that we've submitted bids for player X and Y without anything solid.
The Vidal deal is a joke, if we were serious we would have wrapped that up weeks ago and he'd be rehabilitated by us and implemented into the system. Caudrado should be a United player by now and we certainly should not have been waiting around for PSG to back out of the Di Maria deal.
As for Hummels it was clear from the start we'd need a 30+m bid to even start negotiations and go up another 10 to land him. We should just go in and wrap up Benatia. Table the money Madrid want for Di Maria, actually put the cash down for Vidal and then make a very good offer for Caudrado. Caudrado should be our last deal and the others should be done ASAP as a matter of importance or you can forget top 4.
Then there was the fateful interview with Woody on the first week of tour "watch this space" we all thought "here we go". Nothing.
Now we hear every day that we've submitted bids for player X and Y without anything solid.
The Vidal deal is a joke, if we were serious we would have wrapped that up weeks ago and he'd be rehabilitated by us and implemented into the system. Caudrado should be a United player by now and we certainly should not have been waiting around for PSG to back out of the Di Maria deal.
As for Hummels it was clear from the start we'd need a 30+m bid to even start negotiations and go up another 10 to land him. We should just go in and wrap up Benatia. Table the money Madrid want for Di Maria, actually put the cash down for Vidal and then make a very good offer for Caudrado. Caudrado should be our last deal and the others should be done ASAP as a matter of importance or you can forget top 4.
Except we hadn't, not really. This is where replacing a manager under a system that doesn't have a director of football bites you in the arse. We got a couple of players who were scouted under the previous regime, but we couldn't make all signings like that.
You said Cl isn't a problem but also admitting we have to pay extra to fill that gap. Yes it seems to be a problem to me, which explains the slow transfer activity. CL football isn't a decisive factor for most people but it does matter.
More like incompetence. I don't buy into this CL nonsense. It is not as if we are a team without a CL pedigree.
It's another box to tick though and the clubs we're competing against for players tick it.
It might not be the deciding factor for everyone, and some people may be able to compromise, but to ignore it and pretend that it's a complete non-issue is crazy.
It might not be the deciding factor for everyone, and some people may be able to compromise, but to ignore it and pretend that it's a complete non-issue is crazy.
He's a fecking failure no two ways about it
He should have kept his fecking mouth shut rather than give it the Billy big bollocks stance in the interview a few weeks back.
He's going to look like an utter cnut if he doesn't deliver now.
IMHO we know to little to make conclusions on who's to blame and for what.
Firstly, what is the target for the next year? Is it winning the title/ serious challenge to win it? Or maybe CL qualification?
Lets assume to the Club hierarchy do want win the title.
The lack of transfer means that:
-either Woodie is unable to deliver the players requested by LVG
- LVG and club hierarchy are making a serious error of judgment thinking that this crop of players, albeit ed by Van Gal, can deliver the tittle.
In this scenario either reason reflects badly on our decision makers. I don't think they are stupid that is why i think that the target for next season is only CL spot.
This makes business sense- lack of CL football makes us weaker when negotiating deals . We need to add extra 10-20% on fees alone and wages need to be higher as well. Providing that Woodie splashes money left right and center. " No Champions league" tax on fees alone would cost us extra 20-40 mil this year (meaning we could conclude the trasnfer much cheaper), inflated wages (in a 5 year scale) another 20-40 mil.
So in my opinion Woodie has set the target- get the CL spot.
In this case lack of transfers means:
- LVG and Woodie don't see value in market (don't want to overpay, willing to do shopping next summer)
- they are making an error of judgment taking for granted a top 4th finish
- they want to add to the squad however they struggle to do so
So we have 5 possible explanation on lack of transfers only one which makes sense.
One wya or another Woodie's pompous comments make him look like an idiot, and we know he is a smart guy.
Firstly, what is the target for the next year? Is it winning the title/ serious challenge to win it? Or maybe CL qualification?
Lets assume to the Club hierarchy do want win the title.
The lack of transfer means that:
-either Woodie is unable to deliver the players requested by LVG
- LVG and club hierarchy are making a serious error of judgment thinking that this crop of players, albeit ed by Van Gal, can deliver the tittle.
In this scenario either reason reflects badly on our decision makers. I don't think they are stupid that is why i think that the target for next season is only CL spot.
This makes business sense- lack of CL football makes us weaker when negotiating deals . We need to add extra 10-20% on fees alone and wages need to be higher as well. Providing that Woodie splashes money left right and center. " No Champions league" tax on fees alone would cost us extra 20-40 mil this year (meaning we could conclude the trasnfer much cheaper), inflated wages (in a 5 year scale) another 20-40 mil.
So in my opinion Woodie has set the target- get the CL spot.
In this case lack of transfers means:
- LVG and Woodie don't see value in market (don't want to overpay, willing to do shopping next summer)
- they are making an error of judgment taking for granted a top 4th finish
- they want to add to the squad however they struggle to do so
So we have 5 possible explanation on lack of transfers only one which makes sense.
One wya or another Woodie's pompous comments make him look like an idiot, and we know he is a smart guy.
He said he checks social media and all that to see what they are saying.....well his going to want to avoid twitter and this place come the end of the transfer window.
His put himself out to roast.
His put himself out to roast.
He already looks like a cnut, thing is if LVG struggles it will be him that takes the brunt not Woodward and his bullshit
I fully expect a few big signings to happen before the window closes. Not panicking at all.
The one thing I like about LVG is that he looks like he doesn't take any shit. I can't see him staying quiet if our season goes to pot and it was because Woody failed.
This. If indeed we don't sign anyone and we have an injury crisis he won't shy away from blaming the board for failing to get his targets that's if he does have targets.
3 weeks is still a decent amount of time to have a fair old crack at it, but months of willy waving and boastful claims about market clout will obviously come back to haunt him if the big deals fail to materialise.
How is he exactly? Im not saying he hasn't made mistakes but in what way has he been a failure?
Again, how does he look like a cnut?
Of course LVG is going to take the brunt of the blame if we struggle, he's the manager, it's his job to get results, not Woodwards. If however, LVG comes out and says that there was no money to spend then maybe there will be a backlash from fans, until then he will be blame free.
Moments of truth for the chairman are coming. First part of the window was quite awesome with appointing the master tactician and signing best young English talent with very bright and full of energy Spaniard that was so keen and patient on joining United... but the final round of the whole thing is a different league no question about that.
This one will require a serious financial firepower without a smallest sign of mistake and neglect and I think with that kind of manager and his vision it's very possible. The question about mr Woodward remains, though even after his interview full of confidence and optimism.
This one will require a serious financial firepower without a smallest sign of mistake and neglect and I think with that kind of manager and his vision it's very possible. The question about mr Woodward remains, though even after his interview full of confidence and optimism.
Yep, we have the quality manager in place, and he'll obviously get us a much better season than last year's joke.
But I doubt there's many fans who wouldn't be happier seeing him given a better squad.
The bollocks he was spouting saying 'watch this space' and 'we can go for any player in the world' blah blah blah. Why say it if he had no intention of doing what he said. To me he just look well out of his depth.
We still got time though mate. Let's wait and see what he can pull off before judging him
If I was Woody just for August I would probably call Van Gaal every single day with neverending questions about further instructions who to sign. It's his job now to make sure everything is going full speed ahead towards signing absolute best and supporting the living feck out of manager in rebuilding this team.
I really hope he knows what are the stakes here because I feel LVG may start someday giving us and the press some honest opinions on chairman's work. Absolute legends like Beckenbauer and Cruyff both already know that messing with Van Gaal is not the best way of doing things.
No pressure, Ed.
I really hope he knows what are the stakes here because I feel LVG may start someday giving us and the press some honest opinions on chairman's work. Absolute legends like Beckenbauer and Cruyff both already know that messing with Van Gaal is not the best way of doing things.
No pressure, Ed.
Yep, I agree, it was a silly thing to say, however, even if we do have bagfuls of money he still has to get the go ahead from the manager before he can spend it. What's the point in panic buying again, LVG has said several times that he is going to have a good look at the entire squad before he makes any purchases. If he believes that the squad is good enough, or that any players he can buy won't improve the team then surely it's best to keep the money in our own pockets.
We don't need a big squad this season, what we do need is a manager capable of getting the best out of the players, I believe LVG will do that. Saying that, I still expect us to sign another couple of players, if not more.
Failing to deliver after a public "look at me" piece like he gave will be awful for Big Ed. He will get it at every single match, all over social media, and even direct mail I'm sure. What other head of a big club would talk shit, not deliver, and still remain in place? But being a Glazer lackey means he's safe no matter what, imo
Yep I agree with both of you. It's just frustrating, this window has the exact same feel to it as last summer. The whole world can see what's wrong with our squad. We need a fortune spent to catch up with everyone else, I'm not/wasn't expecting that to happen this summer but over the next 3 windows or so. I really thought we'd had a new look and strengthened team by the start of the EPL. LVG has his work cut out and is going to have to work miracles to get us back in the top 4
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