Exactly, we can't rebuild everything in one window. I still think we're desperately short of 1 or 2 players that got to come in this august - but a spree of 3 or 4 is not going to happen.
Woodward (old thread)
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Exactly, we can't rebuild everything in one window. I still think we're desperately short of 1 or 2 players that got to come in this august - but a spree of 3 or 4 is not going to happen.
All we read is "#mufc interested in [player] but no offer made yet"
Vidal, interested, no offer. Di Maria, interested, no offer. Cuadrado, interested, no offer. Preparing bid, enquiring, talking to agents, no offer.
Woody does realise players won't just magically sign for us doesn't he? We either want the player or we don't. Make the bloody bid. When Chelsea sign a player, it's in the rumour section of a tabloid on Sunday, reported by BBC by Tuesday, bid launched by Wednesday, papers signed by Thursday, photo op in the kit by Friday.
The Utd way:
June, July, August - "preparing a bid"
August 31st - overpay on a panic buy
Vidal, interested, no offer. Di Maria, interested, no offer. Cuadrado, interested, no offer. Preparing bid, enquiring, talking to agents, no offer.
Woody does realise players won't just magically sign for us doesn't he? We either want the player or we don't. Make the bloody bid. When Chelsea sign a player, it's in the rumour section of a tabloid on Sunday, reported by BBC by Tuesday, bid launched by Wednesday, papers signed by Thursday, photo op in the kit by Friday.
The Utd way:
June, July, August - "preparing a bid"
August 31st - overpay on a panic buy
To be fair, most of the time the papers make up these things just to fill column inches.
It's true to say I'm interested in Kate Upton, but it doesn't mean to say I'm going to make a bid for her
Is it possible that our recent lack of activity in the transfer market is due to LVG rather than Woody?
It seems we have the money to spend big but the impression i get is that LVG still needs time to fully evaluate the current players, i'm sure he has been given inside knowledge of the players from Giggs but i suspect the delay in signing can only be due to wanting to see the players over an extended period of time rather than a few weeks.
It seems we have the money to spend big but the impression i get is that LVG still needs time to fully evaluate the current players, i'm sure he has been given inside knowledge of the players from Giggs but i suspect the delay in signing can only be due to wanting to see the players over an extended period of time rather than a few weeks.
Woodward played his part in the shambles of last summer imo but it was down to inexperience more than incompetence. His inexperience combined with Moyes being like a rabbit caught in headlights totally undermined our chances.
The question is how fast Woodward learns and the jury is still out on that. Wanting him out last summer was a overreaction, as was praising him to the rafters for managing to get a couple of players in earlier in the summer. Hopefully we'll make another signing or two which will prove the truth is somewhere in between: he's getting to grips with this side of his job but there is still room for improvement.
The question is how fast Woodward learns and the jury is still out on that. Wanting him out last summer was a overreaction, as was praising him to the rafters for managing to get a couple of players in earlier in the summer. Hopefully we'll make another signing or two which will prove the truth is somewhere in between: he's getting to grips with this side of his job but there is still room for improvement.
Very possible, in fact I think this is exactly what is happening.
Very possible, in fact I think this is exactly what is happening.
Even if it's LVG who is stalling to bring in players Woody still deserves the blame. His idiotic "watch this space" comments and also saying lots is happening behind closed doors when it's pretty clear feck all is happening right now.
LVG has already publicly criticised the club's over-emphasis on commercial activities during the pre-season tour, without apparently consulting Woody before speaking. If Van Gaal is forced to go into next season with a squad that he considers unfit for purpose, due to Woodward's procrastination, then I expect the manager to state or at least strongly imply that that is the case.
In almost everything LVG has asked for, the club have acceded to his demands immediately. Carrington too windy? The diggers arrive the next day. In such a climate it seems odd that the one thing Woodward would hold out on is player recruitment. I suspect the delay is down to LVG not giving Ed the green light to sign the targets, rather than Ed dragging his heels.
In almost everything LVG has asked for, the club have acceded to his demands immediately. Carrington too windy? The diggers arrive the next day. In such a climate it seems odd that the one thing Woodward would hold out on is player recruitment. I suspect the delay is down to LVG not giving Ed the green light to sign the targets, rather than Ed dragging his heels.
Very possible, in fact I think this is exactly what is happening.
20 days left of the window, 20 days. He's trained with them, toured with them. He should know by now what he wants and doesn't. Thing is you leave it too late players like Cuadrado, Di Maria, Beniata et al will get snapped up by clubs that actually want them.
Woodward needs sacking come September 2nd, players have been identified and then it's up to Woodward to get them. We haven't a hope in hell of making top four if we don't sign a single player more. We are a couple of injuries away from another crisis, Carrick will be playing in defence, Smalling at RB and Rooney in CM. Arghhh!!
For a big club, you really wonder why it is so hard for us to do transfers. But one thing is for sure to me, we're not a top club anymore when it comes to pulling power but rather tier 2.
Woodward should focus on getting a new chips or dishwasher sponsorship but leave all transfer activities to someone competent
Exactly, is there going to be a presser today before the Valencia game?
When Harry Redknapp was appointed manager of Pompey he walked into the CEO's office after the first training session and announced that he needed 8 new players if the club was going to progress.
LVG has had more than ample time for an experienced manager to assess his squad.
LVG has had more than ample time for an experienced manager to assess his squad.
Agree we need to beef the squad up more. But I think players will do better playing in unfamiliar positions under Van Gaal, I think he'll be more explicit in his instructions and players will better understand what is expected of them.
Absolute crap. Mata is a prime example of a 'top tier' club signing, regardless of his status at Chelsea at the time. I'd much rather United buy players like Herrera than blow 30M on Hazard when you consider on top of that you have huge wages and 5m+ on agents fees (whatver the fees were). Just because we performed poorly in the league last year hasn't seemed to have stopped us attracting good players. United get used massively in the press for players to get better wages/contracts, and I wouldn't be surprised if we were actually interested in 10% of the players reported in the press. This doom mongering about us being 2nd tier is horse shit. Yes, it's frustrating that we haven't bought more players but we have already spent a lot of cash this transfer window. When the likes of Vidal/Sanchez/Kroos and co actually come out and say they turned united down in favour of x,y and z, then I will concur with your statement.
You have your United glasses on mate. There are stronger and better teams out there nowadays on an international level. Within England, we're still strong, no doubt. And it has nothing to do with one season under Moyes
When we actually EVER sign a world class player I'll concur with yours.
The club is still as big as any in the world, i think we all know by now that transfer are mainly dictated by money, it's our willingness to spend that determines whether we get the top players or not, players opt for smaller and less successful clubs all the time if the money is right.
FFS, Do you believe everything you read in the papers/twitter, if you do it means we have signed Vidal over 100 times, we have had bids rejected and accepted for Di Maria, we have agreed terms with 100s of players, Cuadrado has signed, been sold again only to be bought again. We have also signed every Dutch player that's ever played the game, and some that haven't, including those that have passed away.
Calm down a wee bit, its not good for your health.
Van persie and mata are world class players.
He'll bring up Van Persie and Mata but those we're different cases, Mata was hell bent on leaving Chelsea and we were his only choice, RVP had only us and City to decide between and luckily Fergie was the difference.
Worked out well for them didn't it.
So you agree with him then.
Sounds very plausible. Just hope we have enough time to get a couple in.
I'm hoping the delay is because we're trying to ship players out before we bring any more in. If teams see that we've already brought players in they'll know we're desperate to get rid of the likes of Nani, Hernandez, Fellaini etc. so they'll know they can offer us crap until the last minute when we'll be forced to accept. LVG wanted to assess the players, which is fair enough, but buying teams know it's not long until the window closes so this is when the brinkmanship starts.
We've got to give them the benefit of the doubt until the window has closed.
We've got to give them the benefit of the doubt until the window has closed.
Yep. Except with last summer, there were no excuses. Moyes was there from 1st July.Ah yes, still 3 weeks left.
Just like there was 3months/2months/1month/4weeks
you'll still be saying "there's still 37mins left" on the last day
LvG was at the World Cup until late in the summer. He gave his approval to two signings, but came out and said that he wants to give the squad a chance to show him what they can do, before he makes any more decisions. Are you lot choosing to ignore these facts?
You might disagree with LvG that the squad needs to be looked at before signings are made (I personally think its abundantly clear that signings should be made, regardless of how certain players did on the tour), but that's not up to me. Woodward can't just go out and buy players without LvG's say so, he's not a director of football and besides, that's a shambolic way to run a football club.
Nothing whatsoever to do with the playing side. Owners turned out to be crooks and international gangsters.
What's the issue if we announce completion of deals in the last few days?Ah yes, still 3 weeks left.
Just like there was 3months/2months/1month/4weeks
you'll still be saying "there's still 37mins left" on the last day
He has a window to prove himself. Let's give him the full window. It's hardly as if anyone seems to know what we're upto anyway given the way deals are suddenly appearing out of nowhere these days.
Who are you saying we've signed who's world class then??
Recorded last night's Paddy show. The interplay with him and Stuart suggested to me that, Vidal is unlikely. They seemed to down play any midfielder really, but they may just be as battle weary as us. I got the impression that a CB was a done dealio.
All reading between the lines.
All reading between the lines.
Nothing to do with the playing side? The squad was far too big and the players were on good wages, yes they won the FA Cup but it almost sent the Club into extension. There is no way Redknapp could have known after one training session that he needed to rebuild the entire squad. He is one of the worst managers out there.
I’m not saying its Redknapps fault, far from it, but it shows that it was a badly run Club who panicked and bought all the players the manager wanted so they could get a quick fix, in doing so got themselves in shit loads of debt and are lucky to still be going.
Redcafe Down. Woodward Out.
In the last few years? RVP & Mata. We’ve also bought players who are too young to be considered ‘World Class’ but are up there with the best of them.
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Juventus were also strongly in for VP as well, and we don't actually know who else.
Acting as if Mata was just desperate to leave and would go to anyone does us a ridiculous disservice too. We're a bigger club than them for starters!
why are even quoting Harry Redknapp as an example. that only makes your case much weaker, if not totally ridiculous.
Yes Juve were interested but it was reported they couldn't offer more than £10M.
Van Persie said himself it was United, City and Juventus.
Everyone slags Moyes off for his transfer targets last year, however van gaals haven't been much more realistic so far. We were never getting hummels and it was always going to be hard to get arsenal to sell vermaelen. Can't blame Woodward if those were the two defensive targets he was given
The thing about Redknapp was just an aside.
I do firmly believe, however, that as a vastly experienced manager Van Gaal has had ample time to assess his squad. If not, how long does he actually need??
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