Left us with the likes Anderson, Cleverley, Fletcher, Nani, Smalling and Young who clearly even when Fergie was here, were not good enough. He also let the contracts of Vidic, Ferdinand and Evra whittle down to just 1 year when they should have been sorted long before (particularly with Vidic) For me he's massively responsible for the current s**t-hole we are in. It was also his decision to appoint Moyes. Did he decide to get out before the going got really tough and the squads deficiencies became clear?
Shhhhh The window is still open. We need the GGs to keep spending - which they only will if they are **** scared..
I think he probably knew a lot of work was needed, and didn't have the energy to do it. He was 71 at the time, so I don't think we can begrudge him that. Some 71 year-olds struggle to get a weekly shop done ffs. As for Moyes, Fergie genuinely believed he was the man for the job. He ballsed-up, but after all he did for us, I think we can let it slide.
I am not saying Moyes was brilliant but anyone would have had trouble following fergie. The players lost their mojo when the master left. The team will need to be revamped. At least everyone LVG, GGs, Woodward recognise that money needs to be spent.
In terms of buying top players, Fergie and United were hopeless in the last 9-10 years. Apart from vanPersie, who we signed because he himself was interested in the move, we always lost out to Chelsea or City for signing the top recruits. Arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs did better than us. That department needs a massive overhaul.
Whereas Brenda is the dared to dream one. Must be correct, they brought a book out with the same title
Moyes couldn't attract players when United were in a good position, title holders, CL football etc. In my mind, that's where it went wrong and the boat's now been missed. However Di Maria is a good buy but United desperately need a centre half of the same calibre before the end of deadline day.
That is saying the obvious. Obvious to most people except the likes of Woodward and Moyes at the time. The squad, eespecially the midfield, needed urgent attention. I said at the time their fannying around, trying to save a couple of millions here and there will cost us. It did...very heavily..
I think the only real blame that falls on SAF is that he not only chose Moyes, but also told him he couldn't completely break up the squad and had to stick with most of the current players. It's hard to blame SAF for winning the league by a mile with a squad getting towards the end of its tenure. But expecting Moyes to continue to win without allowing him to change the squad to any great degree was always going to be a bad idea.
Swarbs, how do you know SAF wanted Moyes to carry on with this squad? If that was the case, then it was out of order. It was clear to me when the going got tough in january that these players were Fergie players. And that they were not responding at all to Moyes. DM should have had the authority and the means to make wholesale changes to that squad. Even then it was clear that it needed a whole revamp. It was truly an "impossible" job.
I don't know for definite, but it was reported that SAF gave him a sheet of paper with a list of players he should keep and a list he could sell, and that the board would not give him permission to sell any of the players SAF had marked as being important to the club. I think us winning the title so well in SAF's final season hindered Moyes in that regard, as it was hard for him to come in and say "these players must be sold" after they'd walked all over the PL the previous year. I think as a consequence of that Moyes ended up getting large amounts of his hiring decisions wrong - he should have replaced most of the players and kept the backroom staff, but ended up replacing the backroom and keeping the players.
