All the good ones were from Manchester, which does suggest that it was down to luck. How many times would you see players of the quality of Giggs, Scholes and G.Neville (all world class in their positions) coming through at once and all of them being from the same area. Plus players like Butt & P.Neville who were decent PL players on their day.
I don't agree there's real panic at all. There's justified outrage at the amateur way we attempted to sign some players last minute but in the end we got a player who will bring much needed bolster to our central midfield. There's a bit of concern from me in that I think we needed two in this position but Fellaini coming in means Cleverly no longer plays and, hopefully, provides the protection to give Moyes the confidence to play the likes of Kagawa in there, providing the guile. Like I say, hopefully. He could go hoofball but I really doubt it. If he does he'll get stick and deserve it. Everything else is there, four good strikers, two of which are genuine class, an abundance of width and cover and experience in all defensive positions. Good goal keeper too. Centre mid we still lack decent cover, the likes of Cleverly and Anderson are simply not up to scratch or standard, but we might get one of the 57 centre mids we tried to sign last night in the January window. No panic.
Just as there are many myths about Shankly, there are as many about Ferguson and his youth policy. No he didn't scour the country to make up this youth team. Some he did bring in - like Beckham, some were local and some were already at the club. Was he lucky? Well yes he sure was. Not only in the number that came through but also in the fact that they did so when his irst team was actually in a poor state. Unlike the Everton Youth policy that was always going to pay off next year, Ferguson's actually did. But don't you dare say any of that to the mancs. Despite it being true, they love their myths - just as we love ours about Shankly.
United were a complete shambles when Ferguson took over, top to bottom. This included the youth set up and training facilities. It wasn't luck, had Ferguson not given the youth development a kick up the arse and sorted it out those players would not have come to the club, local or not. It took good few years for it to come to fruition, you'd think it happened overnight the way some have talked on here. And sorry Dave, the first team wasn't in disarray. It had actually just won the league. He sold some senior players, like Ince and Kanchelskis, and gave youth its head. Far from lucky to do that.
Think we need to be careful about sayig things about Moyes and this transfer window. Anyone remember 12 months ago when Rodgers brought in 2 players, 1 of which was in his team last year and one which he's worked with previously. Moyes might not know the full strength of his team having only had them for 3 competitive games. We'll wait and see what he did in January, as that's where BR realised what was missing and addressed the issue well. If Moyes does the same then United will stay where they are, challenging for titles on a regular basis. If however Moyes doesn't then they could find themselves doing an Arsenal and just surviving in top 4 for a few years first.
They'd won the league in 1992–93 and 1993–94, he introduced "the kids" for the 1995-96 season PS...thanks for the assistance google
I personally believe Fellaini is a good signing (although perhaps too much was spent on him). They were in need of a centre midfielder, not an attacking midfielder and the former is Fellaini's best position (despite Moyes playing him in AM some games last season for efc.) There were lost of complaints by their fans for not signing Ozil, but he is similar to Kagawa and kagawa never gets a game and would therefore require a change of formation. I still think they are title challengers and Moyes being a bad manager is complete **** On a side note does anyone know grammatically whether to put a full stop in brackets or after?
Ruff, When I said the first team was in disarray I was meaning that the side that he had built of senior players was almost past its sell-by date. It needed urgent attention and money that he did not have. We'll never know because it has become part of the myth but if Ferguson has truly had any other option but to "give youth it's head" then I'm sure he would have taken it. Why am I so sure of that? Because Ferguson was many things but he's never been a massive risk taker and The Kids was just that. But it paid-off thereby adding to the myth. You've lost 2 great figures in your club. You've got a new manager who is almost a sitting target whatever he does or says (I honestly feel sorry for Moyes. Like Obama he's got no chance of meeting even half of the expectations heaped upon him). You've got a side that does need new blood and some weeding. It appears that somehow you made a mess of this transfer window. From our perspective it looks a bit of a mess - probably in the same way that we have since H&G. Well played for your defence of Fellaini but we both know that he was not what you wanted to fill the hole.
Cheers everyone for the grammatical advice. I was thinking I might not get a reply which would be mildly embarrassing, but lucky we love pedantism here
Prob utd seem to have is exactly what I hoped would happen - they have lost that air of superiority they had with Fergy. They are now just like any other club and frankly their players are not as good as previous squads. Fergy knew this and scarpered because he was too old to rebuild. Moyes needs to get them winning most and losing a few - draws are not something utd historically have done. They sung Attack Attack Attack which drew the witty response of 'not under Moysey lads' !
Has much as I hated the purple nose twat, he was/had something special (menacing) about him too! I reckon the old goat was worth 20+ pts to the team in the fear factor alone over his own players, opposition and whilst no official would admit, the referees too! DJ Moyes doesn't and to be fair will most likely never have that sort of impact, so he's gotta make up that 20+ pts deficit in his managing ability, and I can't see that happening! United may have a decent squad but its an ageing one, and if the young players were decent, they'd be ahead of the likes of Giggs! Also.. heard it on Sky, can't remember which rag they were quoting but there's claims that RvP isn't a fan of DJ Moyes training methods.... my heart bleeds!
