27 Dec 2024 10:29:02
Banter if possible
This mess has been 20 years in the making. All through, the Glazers have been disgraceful owners. Today, we have the situation where the part owners are scratching around making redundancies and cuts try to meet financial targets, yet this is partly because it wasn't a full takeover and the millstone of the debt the Glazers foisted on the club remains. Their greed put Woodward in charge, the guy who thought it was Disney. Before that the level of incompetence was clear when they failed to prepare for one of the biggest events in United's history, the retirement of SAF.
We know all this, yet the incompetence was compounded by years of buying inferior players, vanity decisions, then by giving mammoth contracts based on emotions and a lack of knowledge.
Where we are is because the decision makers appointed by a stand off bunch of greedy owners have been useless. The greedy owners then sold off only part of the club, so now they can look blameless sat in America. The debt they foisted on the club still sits there, hundreds of millions. I also read that we still owe circa £300m to other clubs for the players we have now, likely payable over the coming years.
The new part owners have come in and been putting people in positions, making redundancies, a load of changes, yet the decisions they are making haven't all been good. The atmosphere around the club given the redundancies is allegedly poor, I read about Bruno wanting to pay the staff himself who had their bonus removed, to be told no. The players see this.
Then let's talk about last summer. Which incompetent numbskull, both kept ETH in position after weeks of indecision, then conducted transfer activity like he was our last hope and would be here for years. Incredible incompetence. We sell a young left back who is now thriving, to leave us with Malacia who was injured and at best third choice and Shaw who is an embarrassment because of injuries. Which idiot thought that was a good idea. Last season we couldn't score goals after spending £70m on a young unproven Dane, another piece of laughable incompetence, so what did we do last summer, buy Zirkzee, who just doesn't look like a footballer. Some clueless idiot gave Rashford a contract that was for too much without checking or understanding what he was doing, what his attitude was. Mind blowing.
So we go into this season with a manager the new part owners barely supported, having spent all the money for him, to find he was still not up to the job. We still had no pattern, we couldn't score any goals, we had spent £700m with no creation and scoring threat.
A few weeks after going all in we sack ETH and Ashworth leaves the club, who knows if he was a scapegoat.
Now here we are, we have an excellent new coach, thrown to the wolves with a team built for ETH, with players from the previous useless manager to ETH as well. They can't score, they can't defend. The keeper in Onana isn't good enough, a vanity £50m purchase, so now we have two poor keepers whilst the ones we let go are better. We have players bought because ETH had worked with them, then we have players like Hojland and Zirkzee who can't score. Said many times I watched Hojland warming up pre game at OT last season, he missed the target, fell over, it was really shocking. In summer it was crystal clear we needed goal scoring ability. We needed a leader on the pitch, discussed many times on here.
Now we still need a leader on the pitch and Bruno is still captain. Petulant, tactically ill disciplined, gives the ball away all the time but hailed for occasional Hail Mary passes, plus the odd goal. Rashford swans around like he is a pop star.
There is a real issue with the players, brought on by the fawning Ole, the rambling bumbling ETH, the executives who couldn't see any of it and handed out multi million contracts. We have a captain, supposedly leader, who should be the image of the manager on the pitch, causing us all sorts of issues. Until we deal with this it will carry on. The manager is playing Dalot on the left and keeping Bruno as is. However, RA only has what he has, why else would Onana be in goal, our left side be Dalot and Bruno, with a Centre forward who doesn't look dangerous, his replacement who doesn't look a footballer, more a five a side player.
I can only see improvement when we sell Rashford, Bruno, Antony, Onana, Zirkzee and get what RA needs including a leader as Captain. Ultimately we also need full ownership, get away from debt that is down to greedy owners piling the cost of them buying the club onto the club, 20 years ago.
RA has his work cut out. We totally need to give him time. We appointed him knowing his style and it is exactly what is needed. Ratcliffe needs to put his money on the table, buy the Glazers out, pay off the debt, build the stadium or step aside.
27 Dec 2024 12:18:11
???.
27 Dec 2024 12:46:02
By and far the best post since this site was started.
27 Dec 2024 12:55:42
Spot on Redman.
Long is the club overdue a cull. The upcoming January transfer window is the ideal time to start doing this. Let the Saudis pay a premium price for Bruno. Sell a few more players and bring replacements that fit 343.
However, this is unlikely to happen as we saw the club extend Brunos contract.
For the remainder of the season we need to use it to set the club up for next season.
27 Dec 2024 13:04:26
Amorim is under pressure and some Utd supporters are losing patience already.
Sensible fans will under the nuance of our situation. Did we change the manager to get the best out of underperforming players or to implement a new style, system and transform the culture at the Club?
When Amorim was appointed did the decision makers really understand what they were doing? Did they have a plan? Did they really understand the situation? It is obvious that we didn’t have wingbacks and it wouldn’t take a genius to understand that players like Rashford and Garnacho may not be suited to perform in the No10 positions. Aging legs such as Eriksen and Casemiro are not suited to a more energetic and dynamic style of play so early teething problems were completely predictable and perhaps even expected!
Recent reports of financial difficulties and problems with PSR may present the biggest barrier to success. Amorim is steadfast and committed to his 3-4-3 system so talk of open heart surgery is prevalent once again. Perhaps the only Pertinent question we need to understand is will the Club facilitate another re build? Do they have the appetite to sell the players that need to go and replace them, because if they don’t Amorim is a sitting duck and the next scapegoat in waiting.
The problems at Utd extend far beyond underperforming, overpaid players and a new manager trying to implement a new system. If the Club don’t really believe in his vision, if they don’t have the money to buy him new players then we’ll be looking for another manager this time next year, it’s that simple.
In my opinion the real focus is not about underperforming, over paid players or a new manager but decision makers at the Club and their ability to formulate and deliver a plan that can take us back to the top!
Have they made the right decision with Amorim? Did they anticipate the predictable problems with the system? Did they foresee things might get worse before they get better? Are they prepared to invest in new players and move on underperforming or injury prone players on lucrative long term contracts? Will they remove toxic elements from the dressing room?
We already know most of our players are average and inconsistent, we know some are injury prone, others are toxic, we know many are not suited to the new system, so the question is what are the Club going to do about it?
If the last decade has taught us anything merely replacing the manager will not deliver success.
I don’t feel sorry for Ineos, redundancy, efficiency savings, increasing ticket prices for children and cancelling Christmas parties will not deliver success! In fact if we had anything about us we wouldn’t stand for such nonsense. They retained the Glazers, they kept the debt and complaining of financial difficulties is laughable when they have just sacked the manager after extending his contract and the DOF they waited over 6 months to appoint. Inconceivable incompetence is about time our frustration was aimed in the right direction.
27 Dec 2024 13:23:02
Good post redman. Good observations and understanding. Lots of empty vessels making lots of noise at the moment. But we can expect that at the moment.
Ole and eth destroyed this team and squad to absolute idiots. Standards are on the floor. Fjords 2 coaches stole this club from the fans imo. Brought us back decade's.
27 Dec 2024 14:14:09
I know there is a lot of doom and gloom around at the moment, but I only see good things ahead.
The season was gone before Amorim turned up, he has a free hit to assess who he can work with and who he will move on. He probably is a bit surprised that the numbers of players he can work with is very small, but we all knew that anyway.
PSR means we cannot just throw money at the problem, moving players on will be the priority, and I think he has already made up his mind on the majority of players, maybe even Bruno after yesterday's effort.
Like Redman, I hope he looks to the Academy and sees who he can bring through over the next 18 months as a core of the squad going forward, then a sprinkling of experienced players to give us some street smart.
On SJR, he didn't become a billionaire by chance, it's because he is ruthless. United prides itself on being a family club, but sentimentality has no place when it comes to business. At his age I suspect he is thinking what will be my legacy, this might be his last big project.
The one stick in the craw is that the Glazers have just received a billion dollars from the sale of shares, and yet they have made no investment in the club in 20 years. I would accept relegation if it meant they sold up the next day.
27 Dec 2024 15:31:16
I get frustrated when I see people saying Amorim is under pressure, n9t so much with the statement but why.
Far too many United fans believe these players are better than they are and that better can be achieved with them. They can't. The as a group lack any of the mental qualities it takes to succeed.
They lack drive, determination, leadership, character, a desire to win. The moment any adversity strikes they shrink. No one is stepping up in tough moments.
There may be players who have technical or physical ability but the mentally are weak.
The problem is that you bring people into the group and many will sink to their level.
This group of players quite simply needs splitting up. There are few I would want to keep around.
For me Amorim is not under any pressure, , when Amorim came here people said top 4 was possible. Amorim was saying things were going to get worse and we would suffer. At the start of last season there were people who though we were signing Kane away from a title.
I don't Amorim was nor is under any illusion, the team needs breaking up, all of the big names can go. Amd piece bynpuece the squad needs a rebuild.
We are not any of them things, we are a side that needs a total rebuild done properly and it is as much about finding people with the right mental ability as it is about football ability.
I have no problem with a few years of mediocrity at all if we see the vision developing and the team built piece by piece even if it's a youngster developing his game and settling into the team.
I don't think there is enough players In That first team squad good enough to make it to a squad challenging for the title to count on one hand. Their are not 5 players there I would say definately keep because they have the qualities or potential to be part of a title winning team.
27 Dec 2024 17:21:16
More than ever, small squads are going to end up with egg on their face (ask Pep), so I don't see us clearing out the entire squad across the next two windows. Someone will point out how few points we are off a European spot but let's not kid ourselves that unless there is a considerable improvement we won't be in Europe next season. We're actually favourites with the bookies for the Europa last time I looked. Seriously?
Whatever happens in the next windows there are up to a dozen players who probably wouldn't be missed individually, assuming each was replaced by a player who fits into the system.
Older players who are not even considered first-teamers - Eriksen, Evans, Casemiro (our best-paid player) .
Injury-prone players like Shaw and Mount. Don't honestly know what can be done here as their contracts have centuries remaining and they are well within their rights to stick around and try to regain fitness. I suspect they will stay as our hands are tied.
Squad players who are not good enough to build a team around but have some value. Quite a few of these, namely Lindelof, Maguire, Dalot, Malacia, Zirkzee.
Problem players like Rashford. Some would include Bruno here. He's a bit of a special case - the captain and far and away our most creative player. I don't think he's thrived with the extra responsibility as he can't keep a lid on his emotions. Sadly however these creative players are few and far between. Olmo and Wirtz stick out but I'm not sure either would be remotely interested in the project, probably younger players would be easier to tempt. And who for captain? I can only suggest Martinez out of the rest.
27 Dec 2024 17:42:33
Great post DLIB.
Ken, Ole and ETH did not destroy this team and squad. Cop yourself on.
Redman has it right about the hierarchy, they haven't had a clue for years. Jose was here and the club didn't have the ?? to back him the right way. They brought in a coach in Ole that was so out of his depth and then plomped for another coach in ETH and didn't have the right tools in place for him either.
This club, to the core is rotten. And no blame should be placed on any of the managers that have been at club as much I didn't like ole.
29 Dec 2024 13:33:19
Red Man and DLIB, kudos, lads ?.