I wish people would stop going on about the extra we paid for Fellaini. We make this much profit in a fortnight ffs. The fact he's missed the first 3 games is more important IMO. Anyway, I'm pleased with the signing. He offers 2 things we've lacked since the halcyon days of the Keane and Scholes partnership: a physical presence in the middle of the park; and goals from midfield. Well done David Moyes
Dave Prentice from the Liverpool Echo says that the United story is nothing more than an attempt at face saving & Everton received £27.5m, Fellaini gave up circa £750k in bonuses, which United added to his signing on fee anyway. As Tony Barrett put it - as soon as Everton announced that the fee they had received was £27.5m, they were effectively running Woodward's undies up a flag pole
Tobes, taking delight in the extra £4million is like rejoicing in the fact that your wife didn't ask for her clothes back when she left you for your next door neighbour.
Not at all. None of us begrudge Fellaini his move to a CL club, we knew he'd move on & it was highly likely to be this summer. What's amusing is that Moyes thought he was being a clever **** by letting the buyout clause expire, thinking he could get him cheaper & he said "I know how that club works" as part of his snide side swipe about our finances. He's ended up paying £4m above that fee & United are calling in favours amongst the journo community putting out a version of events that isn't true & is aimed purely at saving Woodwards & Moyes blushes, at the end of a piss poor transfer window for United.
I think it's naive to think Moyes was pulling the strings, it's Woodward who ****ed up, although I understand the need for a dose of schadenfreude. I also don't buy into the fact that it's been a piss poor transfer window. Granted my 7 year old could have done a better job than Woodward but United identified the area where we are weakest and signed a player who fits the bill. We probably needed one more midfielder but I doubt there's a club out there that feels it's squad is bang on perfect. So we strengthened a squad that pissed the league last season by adding a new dimenstion to the weak part of our team. Chelsea were woefully missing a top class striker last season so they signed a 32 year old striker who's been in semi-retirment for two years and a number of attacking midfielders to go with the various attacking midfielders they already had. Arsenal signed a fantastic player who doesn't play in defence or attack. But they had great transfer windows and our's was piss poor! If Fergie was still the manager we probably wouldn't have signed a midfielder as he refused to spend the money. Had we only signed Fellaini under Fergie the view would have been that the old master had recognised United's weak spot and addressed it with a proven PL performer, just like he did with RVP.
I think you're putting a brave face on it mate tbh. As it was a poor window for United. New manager, taking over from the best there's ever been, he should have brought in 2 or 3 quality new heads to ease the job at hand. He's made 1 & failed in numerous other attempts, many of which appear to be truly clumsy in their execution. I'm sure a large part of the blame rests with your new inexperienced CEO, but based on 11 years of having sat through transfer windows with Moyes at the helm, there was a definite sense of deja vu, when looking at how yours turned out.........& ours was a total contrast to previous years - massive co-incidence???? I think not.....
He should have signed one more midfielder but he couldn't bring them in, partly because they didn't want to come, partly because their clubs didn't want to sell and partly because Woodward is a novice. I don't buy into the fact that he should have settled for sub standard players just to boost the numbers. United aren't City or Chelsea who are happy to spunk money on ****e just to appease the fans and make "statements". I do think a lot of people are forgetting that we have a title winning squad which makes it that bit harder to recruit better players as the ones we already have aren't as **** as people like to make out. You're also putting a positive spin on Everton's dealings. Early in the window Martinez signed two players who helped get Wigan relegated and then 3 players on transfer deadline day, 2 of them on loan and the other (another player who helped get Wigan relegated) to cover for the loss of the club's best player who he knew was on his way out! He spent the middle portion of the window whining about United when he could have been spending the time looking for permanent signings from clubs other than Wigan.
That's one way of looking at it, but the new manager also needs to learn our current squad and how to carry on the success and culture we've built over the years. Far easier to do that if you don't have to bed new players in imo. I've said it before and I'll say it again - it's always harder to strengthen the champions, and most managers end up doing more harm than good when they try (Shevchenko, Veron, Vivas, Cygan, Kleberson etc). I still think it will be easier to maintain us in a top three position by holding the squad together and seeing how it works out this season, rather than paying a high fee for a player just for the sake of it, and risking them turning into an expensive flop thus putting even more pressure on the manager. Also, people's perceptions on the window are being influenced by all the media reports and focus on the players we were interested in. Had SAF and Gill still been in charge, and we signed no one but Fellaini in the entire window, no one would have batted an eyelid, and many people would have been happy at us finally signing a top class CM, even if we had to go to the last day of the window because that's how long it took Fellaini to actually request the transfer. The new guys are being judged by different standards imo. And now it appears that this "extra £4m" is actually Fellaini forfeiting his bonus, rather than us paying £4m extra after all. So no financial impact whatsoever.
I think the only reason it was a 'poor' window was the way it was conducted, not with who we signed. We didn't desperately need a left back so it's not the end of the world we didn't get one. Otherwise, exactly as NOF said. Any further deals can be done in January if need be, our squad is sound.
The general consensus in the sporting media is that Everton had a great window, one of the best in the league comparatively speaking - as we've strengthened in every dept., added squad depth & improved our 1st XI. I think it's a tad dis-ingenious to try & make out it was a poor effort by Martinez. I never said they should have 'settled' for anything, I merely said they should have brought in 2 or 3 quality heads & they should have done. You know it, I know it & they know it - ergo they failed.
See my reply to your other post. Specifically, your DoC has just stated that Fellaini didn't give up his loyalty bonus, so you paid him £4m anyway. Not only does that make no sense, given he requested the transfer, it also puts you no better off than had we paid £23.5m.
