Spending £200m on attackers no one else wants then playing five at the back on the counter at home. That's the United way these days, even £300k a week can't land the targets they need
Just nice to see that just throwing ridiculous amounts of money at things does not in fact guarantee success; a contrast to what we have had levelled at us over the years.
Not really that much of a contrast tbh. Since 06/07 you've spent over £500 million on players and won one league title. That just proves the adage. Since SAF left we've spent just over £200 million. It will be interesting to see if we can manage more than one league title in the next six seasons, and how much we need to spend to do it, given how much transfer fees have inflated by over the past ten years.
This is how the pendulum swings. Those who expected it to continue like under SAF were just over optimistic. SAF competed against the likes of Chelsea and City with half their budgets. He saved the GGs loads of money while keeping the trophies coming. When he left, United had to spend as much if not more to catch up. The penny has dropped with the owners. Unless they spend (overspend) ridiculous amounts of money the club will just slide. I said we would need £300m to get a compettive team. Not one person on here (friend or foe) agreed with me as they all said it was far far too much. Money does not guarantee success but I cannot see the spending being stopped or reduced until United is at the top again. FFP is helping and United would be stupid not to take advantage. The money spent on Falcao or Di Maria may seem absurd but in the context of big business and branding it makes sense to keep the high profile transfers going. The team is nowhere near the finished article and is performing at barely 50%. Another 150m will need to be spent to get better players in.
The day City won the title was the day money guaranteed success. Enough of it anyway. A billion in 5 years will win you something. Chelsea showed it was almost certain if enough was spent.
Lets just ignore the European and domestic trophies plus all those European qualifications as well then! We never fell as low as United last year
You'd have thought the performances of Liverpool, Spurs and United this year proves spending alone does not guarantee success. Southampton made money in the summer and still above all these clubs.
100million doesn't scratch the surface of the near billion your sorry club has had to spend to gain a false position in football.
At least United have a half-decent manager now who adds something to the Premiership. Putting that clown Moyes in charge was one of the worst managerial decisions in the history sport followed closely by United's 'team building' since. Amazing how a well run company can collapse so quickly. A good manager and decent director of football could have kept you competitive on £100m
"All those European qualifications". Are you Arsenal in disguise?! You have won a lot of FA Cups, but ultimately success is always measured in terms of league performance, and you definitely haven't managed to buy much success there over the past eight or nine years. Heck, the same could arguably be said to apply to City. Six years of throwing millions at any footballer with a name ending in "o" and they have managed to win one title on goal difference, and one in what was arguably the worst PL season in recent memory! Tho' if Manuel does manage to retain the title this year then their record will start to look a lot better.
How long can you keep going back through time though? Post the Torres nightmare, relatively speaking we've been sensible and shrewd in the market, especially in the last couple of windows and have improved our side with a pretty modest net spend, as have Southampton. It's how you spend it that counts and we've spent a lot better than you since Fergie retired, most notably on our managerial appointment. If you spend 30 million on a fat teenage full back, 250k a week on a crock etc and continue to lose games then questions will get asked.
Isn't it ironic that those criticising United for getting rid of Moyes after 10 months, are writing LVG off after 6 :sigh: What speaks volumes is the difference in attitude between the United fans. Not the ABU's or those who are being opportunistic. After all why is this magic 21 games suddenly so significant? Why not judge him after 10 games or after 30? Or maybe even see where we finish at the end of the season? Could it be this just happens to be the first time we've lost in 11 games and it just so happens we're equal on points with Moyes, so why not have a pop? The United fans last season could see the team was going backwards, the players were not performing and we were struggling for results. It was universal acceptance of how **** we were despite the CL and Capital One Cup run. Yeh LVG deserves criticism at times (I certainly don't hold back) but there is no doubt, anyone watching the games can see there's a big gulf in terms of our performances this season and last. Proof is from the fans who watch the club week in week out and if we haven't improved why are United fans so positive about the direction the club are going in, the results, confidence of the players, the quality in our attacking play, the prospects of us finishing in the top 4. Load of fickle nonsense tbh.
