28 Jul 2024 19:06:33
Shifting average players who have underperformed for years and who earn massive wages, won't be an easy task. INEOS have a big job on getting the deadwood out, not only do they have to find willing buyers but the players themselves have to accept less wages elsewhere. A bad position to be in but that's all ed and murtoughs fault. Could take a few windows to rectify things.
28 Jul 2024 23:51:47
Yes Tim it will take some time to correct the wrongs.
Still hope to see a few more outs and ins this summer.
29 Jul 2024 12:03:29
It's pretty much impossible to correct years of bad decisions in a few months.
It'll take a long time, some players won't want to leave, while getting offers for them might also prove tricky.
The new owners need both a clear plan for where they want to go and how to get there, while also remaining flexible enough to adapt to changing circumstances.
Take Bruno for example, the rumours are that the club wants to keep him for the next year or two. They don't see him as part of the long term rebuild, but they do see him as an important bridge to keep up the quality while they rebuild. Yet if Bruno wants to leave, or a ridiculous offer comes in then they are to reassess what is best.
Can they live without him, can they use the funds to accelerate other plans, etc.
They might have to alter or deviate from the original plan.
Then you have the reality that even the best laid plans can go sideways.
Does a new signing settle in quickly, or do they flop entirely. How does that impact other plans. Do players not develop as you hope, or maybe a key player decides they want to move on.
In my opinion we need to move on around 20 or so players from last season's first team squad and replace them with 12-15 players. Some of those could be academy players who step up, or new signings.
Yet not all of those new players will work out as hoped. Maybe they academy players don't develop as we hope, or a new signing flops or doesn't work out. Maybe other players already at the club decline or look to move on.
Every time that happens it's another player to move on and replace. We probably need to bring in 20 new players to have 15 workout and meet the requirements we have.
That's why I think it'll be three summer transfer windows at least before we are truly ready to challenge at the highest level, as simply I don't think we'll have the squad capable of doing so before then.
We'd literally need all the stars to align. We'd need to be able to bring in a huge number of players over a very short period of time, they would all need to be able to workout and hit the ground running, while we'd also probably need a couple of rival clubs to decline and fall away to help close that gap.
I'd expect to see us make 5 maybe 6 signings at most this summer. With us improving on performances and results next season, finishing 5th/ 4th and being much closer to the title challengers.
Then next summer I'd expect to see another 4-5 signings, with the club consolidating it's position inside the top four. With at least a 4th place finish with a comfortable points gap to 5th or a strong 3rd place finish.
That brings us to the summer of 2026, where I'd expect to see us make 3-4 signings (maybe one or two more if the gap to 1st place is significant) . During the 2026/ 27 season I'd hope to see a strong title challenge, we might fall just short, but we should be in with a chance still come May.
Summer 2027 should see us add 1 or 2 special players to our squad to really push us to that elite level. With the 2027/ 28 title returning to Old Trafford (or a newly built stadium) .
The sad reality is that if we build a new stadium in the next three years that Old Trafford might never see another title win. Maybe it might be fitting that a renewed Manchester United start off with winning titles again in a new stadium, to build new memories and fully move on from the ghosts of the past.
{Ed001's Note - it will take a long time but not as long as it takes me to read your posts Shappy! ?
29 Jul 2024 17:33:59
Ed001, you must be getting on a bit now, have you gone for reading glasses or just holding the newspaper at arms length to read it? ?.
{Ed007's Note - Ed001 actually turned 59 today, Shappy.}
29 Jul 2024 19:22:28
Happy birthday ed001. Feel sorry for the Ed's, we can just ignore shappy's posts after the 3rd or 4th paragraph, but the Ed's got to read it all just incase he writes something he shouldn't ?.
{Ed001's Note - thank you Dodgy. I think of my 21 and a bit years, 25 of them have been spent reading through Shappy's posts checking for something dodgy....}
29 Jul 2024 23:01:44
Love it, Dodgy ?.
29 Jul 2024 21:06:32
Many Happy returns Ed001, I'll keep this one short and sweet so you can get on with the celebrations ?.
{Ed001's Note - hahaha thank you Shaps, take care mate.}