The Official Manchester United Thread (Vol 12)

The cynic in me fears you are right, but I wonder why the other 19 would stand for it (or at least 18 of them if we discount sandcastle)? The PL is supposed to represent the interests of all it's member clubs and all of the other are massively disadvantaged (some more than others) by what has been alleged to have been going on. Surely they should, depending on the outcome, be standing up and walking out / breaking away if the PL do fumble this (assuming guilt)?

The bigger issue though is that the (alleged) cheating was to achieve a position more quickly than they should have, so ultimately the disadvantage would have happened anyway - which was allowed once state ownership wasn't blocked originally as it should have been. Unless this is rolled back any punishment is only delaying the inevitable in any case.

Which is exactly why our defence sits so deep leaving a huge hole in the middle of the pitch. Until we sort our defence out, no manager will succeed at United.

He’s also got rid of at least 2 keepers (3 if you include Butland), signed 2 ( has he played one of them?), signed a left back (permanently injured) a centre back (nearly always injured), resigned a former player (very injury prone), brought in and got rid of a loan LB, but still seems to prefer a combination of former manager’s players.

I think the point is that ETH has spent £400m and the team hasn’t improved. Obviously some of that is necessary to plug the gaps with out of contract players leaving and others moving on. However, there’s no visible improvement. In fact there isn’t any improvement no matter how small. We get battered by the top 6 occasionally which didn’t happen previously. We can’t get a win away from home against them whereas we used to at least get something occasionally. We are losing / dropping points consistently at home too. The matches we win are a struggle and usually by no more than a single goal or require a last ditch goal to save us. We are unable to to hold onto a lead for more than 5 minutes in any game. We often have to come from behind. Are facing more shots than ever in our history and so on.

The above matters because it wouldn’t take much for us to be at the bottom end rather than somehow in the Top6.

Ducker in The Telegraph reckons most our squad are up for sale, excluding Garnacho/Mainoo/Hojlund. He's genuinely not a BS merchant, is probably up there with The Athletic for credibility.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2024/04/29/ma...

Key snippets;

- Manchester United are prepared to listen to offers for the majority of their first team squad this summer apart from a clutch of rising stars, Telegraph Sport understands.

- Old Trafford’s new hierarchy are thought to be ready to adopt an ultra-flexible approach to this summer’s transfer window given their tight financial constraints and likely loss of Champions League revenues.

- United are believed to be prioritising the recruitment of a striker, central midfielder and right-sided centre-half this summer but need to raise money through sales to boost what is otherwise expected to be a very modest transfer budget.

- United would effectively be operating a “sell-to-buy” policy if the club missed out on Europe entirely, so restricted are their finances after a £555 million spend over the previous three summers and the limits imposed by the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules.

- The likes of Kobbie Mainoo, Alejandro Garnacho and Rasmus Hojlund – around whom United hope to build a highly successful team in the years to come – will be strictly off limits to would-be suitors

- United could be willing to have conversations with interested parties, for example, over Rashford should any offers arrive that warrant serious discussion.

- Anthony Martial and defenders Raphael Varane and Brandon Williams are expected to leave as free agents at the end of the season and the huge wage savings there could free up room for a substantial investment in a new player.

- United are also waiting to discover whether the Saudi Pro League are ready to commit to another big summer of spending, which could open up a valuable market for older, high earning players such as Casemiro they may otherwise struggle to shift.

Goes on to say we'd sell Sancho (good), Greenwood (fair enough if it raises funds), Wan Bissaka (thank goodness), Lindelof (meh, don't mind him ), Eriksen (good) and Donny (thank fk)

Interestingly he also says Jamal Musiala could be on the market, unfortunately due to finances we wouldn't be in for him but what a player every time I've seen him play. Wonder where he ends up, and why Bayern would sell him...

Regarding transfers, what you've pulled out from that article is basically the same approach I would take if I was in charge, and I bet most on here would say similar.

Which does make me wonder how much truth there is in it and how much is just a sensible blueprint that most fans will click(bait) on and agree with.

Well we'll need to get it sorted before this new spending cap comes in (depending how it ends up). Certainly getting a better wage control is very important, so I've no real objection to letting the highest earners go unless they are really producing the goods.

There's only a certain amount of time we have between the past Glazers 'Spending Crap' era and the upcoming 'Spending Cap' era, so we'd best make the most of it.

"..... if the club missed out on Europe entirely...."

Which we will.

If we spend a second season out of the Champions League, ie, if we don't get back in at the end of next season, something like our £90m a year kit deal drops by a third, so that would be another £30m hit to the coffers.

No idea if there is a clause about missing out on Europe entirely.