Man U

[MaryDrummer]

They took Keane back from Liverpool so they might do!

But they are planning a massive new stadium so they'll be tightening the buckles too.

[gustavo]

the so called biggest club in the world should not relying on 2 legends like giggs & scholes ( but both begining to show age now), fletcher still not sure be he is improving every season, evra / rooney class players , vidic was a rock for utd but very strong rumours of wanting a move to spain and his form has been shakey this season with a load of strange injuries in recent games.. utd seem to have alot of problems on and off the field at the moment and more worried that at the moment they seem to be a feeder club to real madrid ..could be a few more twist n turns before this season is finished

On the basis of one signing?

[old git]

On the basis of one signing?

David Beckham
Ruud van nistleroy
Cristiano Ronaldo
Gabriel Heinze

some big names & star players at utd before moving to madrid

[gustavo]

David Beckham
Ruud van nistleroy
Cristiano Ronaldo
Gabriel Heinze

some big names & star players at utd before moving to madrid

Tbf in all cases except C.Ronaldo Man United were willing sellers

[Closed Account 2]

but equally well you could argue that all except Heinze went on to have very good spells at Real. Van Nistleroy's admittedly blighted by injuries, though his goal scoring record was pretty good at Real from what I recall. I would argue that none of those players were past it when they were sold (again Heinze maybe a bit iffy) and there weren't direct immediate better replacements for any (again Heinze being the exception). Most of those departures were like Jaap Stam's situation - falling out with the manager.

Big team rise and fall, they go through good years (or couple of years) and then bad years. Juventus are in the doldrums now, so are Boca, Real were not much cop in the mid 1990s (Atletico did better in the league), Barca were slippy in the early 2000s, Bayern Munich went off the boil pretty much after winning the Champions League. The big question is will United slip away into that "not quite contenders" bracket like Dortmund in Germany, Marseille in France, Lazio and Roma in Italy - all these teams were the strongest in the countries for a time (won the league in the last decade or so) but all have slipped into the ether. With Man Utd it's hard to say much will depend on the other English teams around them like City, Chelsea (both rich in terms of ownership) and perhaps Arsenal (very fiscally tight).

[culloty82]

Hard to imagine United drifting that far off the pace, even in the Seventies and Eighties they were qualifying for European semi-finals and reputation alone should ensure the top names will always consider joining. It's worrying about the drift to Real, but they've hardly reaped the rewards and only van Nistlerooy wasn't properly replaced (Valencia doing OK and Rooney making up the goals).

[endabob1]

Man Utd need Spurs to buy back Berbatov and Carrick.

I'd take Carrick back in a heartbeat, top class player. Berbatov burnt his bridges with Spurs with his actions before the move, you can keep the sulky bugger

[KK77]

Man Utd need Spurs to buy back Berbatov and Carrick.

And resign Tevez What a mistake that was letting him go.

[gaiscíoch]

And resign Tevez What a mistake that was letting him go.

Carlos Tevez did the right thing for Carlos Tevez and that was to go somewhere where he would be the main man which he is now at City.

Utd didn't have the money to buy him simple as that.

At least it was for genuine reasons as opposed Benitez who sold Bellamy and Crouch and Murphy and Keane.

The good thing about it is that with any bit of luck they will come back bite him on the bum.

[KK77]

[QUOTE=gaiscíoch;1306817]Carlos Tevez did the right thing for Carlos Tevez and that was to go somewhere where he would be the main man which he is now at City.

Utd didn't have the money to buy him simple as that.

But had £30 million to spend on Benzema

[gilberto_eire]

Milan are very poor. If United don't improve were looking at two of the most boring legs of football ever!



United made a £48 million profit in the last financial year!

They need to spend that to improve the squad.

They did indeed but thats because they sold Ronaldo. They could spend it, but then again they have massive debts that need to be paid and i assume thats where that money went, can't see any spending going tbh

[gaiscíoch]

But had £30 million to spend on Benzema

Real were prepared to pay £30million- United were not- hence he is now a Real Madrid player.

Couple that with the fact that Real were paying the money up front compared to United wanting to structure the deal based on team success and his own personal achievements..

Likewise can be said of Tevez his owners wanted the money in a block payment which was the reason Ferguson was stuttering in terms of payment.
He said he would pay £20million in a block payment. Tevez owners said no chance hence he is now at stinking rich Manchester City.

[old git]

Hard to imagine United drifting that far off the pace, even in the Seventies and Eighties they were qualifying for European semi-finals and reputation alone should ensure the top names will always consider joining. It's worrying about the drift to Real, but they've hardly reaped the rewards and only van Nistlerooy wasn't properly replaced (Valencia doing OK and Rooney making up the goals).

so you are saying ronaldo has been properly replaced he had a tendecy to go down easily and would not work to hard for team but c'mon utd are missing him & his goals this season .

[Macy]

David Beckham
Ruud van nistleroy
Cristiano Ronaldo
Gabriel Heinze

For whatever reasons, only Ronaldo wasn't the managers choice, and even then it was on Uniteds terms (i.e. he stayed an extra season than he wanted). In fact Madrid was more Fergie's choice than Heinzes, if you remember he was trying to move to Liverpool.

It's easy to retrospectively look at Tevez being United couldn't afford it, but I still don't think he was worth the money his owners wanted. There was probably a deal to be done, but it's to the Tevez camp people should point their ire. And from what I've seen, it isn't up front that the issue really is.

[KK77]

Real were prepared to pay £30million- United were not- hence he is now a Real Madrid player.

Couple that with the fact that Real were paying the money up front compared to United wanting to structure the deal based on team success and his own personal achievements..

Likewise can be said of Tevez his owners wanted the money in a block payment which was the reason Ferguson was stuttering in terms of payment.
He said he would pay £20million in a block payment. Tevez owners said no chance hence he is now at stinking rich Manchester City.

Did Ferguson not say thaey had all the Ronaldo cash to spend if they wanted?

[KK77]

The Glazers can legitimately take around £127m out of Manchester United next year if profits remain stable.
The Guardian have taken a week to read the small print in the 322-page bond prospectus and report that the Americans have the right to take millions out of the club.

The newspaper reports that the 'principal purpose' of the bond issue is to raise funds for the Glazers to pay off the 'payments in kind' loans that are secured against their shares in the club. This £200m debt exists in addition to the £500m owed by the club.

The prospectus details how the Glazers can take £70m from the club's cash reserves, pay themselves a £25m dividend and take half of the club's cash profits (a figure that stood at £23m last year). They can also take out a further £9m in administration fees and payments to directors.

That adds up to around £127m on top of the £45m already being directed towards paying off the £500m the club will have borrowed via the bond.

[DeLorean]

If you were rating the players by the quality needed to win the European Cup, only Van der Sar (for now), Vidic, Evra, O'Shea, Giggs, Scholes, Fletcher and Rooney are up to the mark, so like MaryDrummer says, we need an extra player in every area.

Liverpool won the European Cup with Traore, Kewell, Smicer, Cisse and Baros so who knows!!

[Closed Account 2]

Neville could be up on a charge:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2...oberto-mancini

Looks like Jaap was right.

[rambler14]

Looks like Jaap was right.

elaborate please?

[Closed Account 2]

Did you read his book, point number 8 here:

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/osm/s...315698,00.html