End of an Era at Old Trafford

northernneil

each time they have got rid of / had players leave the squad has been full of star players, much much stronger than this.

This time Rooney is THE ONLY star player of value. Ferguson for the first time ever looked resigned and deflated instead of agressive, assertive in a difficult press conference.

I think their time has been ... and gone

Mr Dog

Fergie looks fed up with all these over paid tarts.. can't say I blame him. Don't like his management style but you have to take your hat off to the man. When he goes and the burden of debt bites they will implode rapidly and will make the demise of Leeds tame by comparison. 8)

Ben6899

I don't want Rooney to go, but if that's what he wants then that's what he wants.

We will manage. There'll be a few Leeds and City supporters wanking themselves to bloody stumps this evening.

Mr Dog

Ben, How will you cope with the two best players to wear red in recent years soon to be wearing blue. Its down to the owners. Fergie is caught in the middle. English football is in worse than we think.

redddraggon

Mr Dog wrote:

Ben, How will you cope with the two best players to wear red in recent years soon to be wearing blue.

Stevie G is going to Chelsea then?

Mr Dog

Yep.. bet he does ..or even at City
Utd will join Liverpool as the next English club to be sold.

Mr Dog

Oh Dragon.. forgot to mention Shankly is a relative. Its ok, few believe me.. but true. :shock:

Ben6899

Mr Dog wrote:

Ben, How will you cope with the two best players to wear red in recent years soon to be wearing blue. Its down to the owners. Fergie is caught in the middle. English football is in worse than we think.

We'll cope as well as the clubs who never had Rooney or Ronaldo. We'll have to build up again... some bright young players at OT, just a shame one of them doesn't have his head screwed on.

I don't let it worry me like it used to; much more important things in my life to be honest.

daviesee

Mr Dog wrote:

Fergie looks fed up with all these over paid tarts.. can't say I blame him. Don't like his management style but you have to take your hat off to the man. When he goes and the burden of debt bites they will implode rapidly and will make the demise of Leeds tame by comparison. 8)

+1 and then some.

mikebx

once a blue, always a manc!! oh wait a minute.........

Gazzaputt

Mr Dog wrote:

Fergie looks fed up with all these over paid tarts.. can't say I blame him. Don't like his management style but you have to take your hat off to the man. When he goes and the burden of debt bites they will implode rapidly and will make the demise of Leeds tame by comparison. 8)

I prey to god this will happen!

Pross

Gazzaputt wrote:

Mr Dog wrote:

Fergie looks fed up with all these over paid tarts.. can't say I blame him. Don't like his management style but you have to take your hat off to the man. When he goes and the burden of debt bites they will implode rapidly and will make the demise of Leeds tame by comparison. 8)

I prey to god this will happen!

Why? I'm a Liverpool supporter and so have no love for United but I would hate to see any club go through what Leeds did (and Liverpool have been so close to and possibly still could). However, I would like to see a sense of perspective come back into the game which has been destroyed by money over the last 25 years. Maybe then we will end up back with a competitive league and players who want to play the game rather than count the noughts on their payslip.

Gazzaputt

Pross wrote:

Gazzaputt wrote:

Mr Dog wrote:

Fergie looks fed up with all these over paid tarts.. can't say I blame him. Don't like his management style but you have to take your hat off to the man. When he goes and the burden of debt bites they will implode rapidly and will make the demise of Leeds tame by comparison. 8)

I prey to god this will happen!

Why? I'm a Liverpool supporter and so have no love for United but I would hate to see any club go through what Leeds did (and Liverpool have been so close to and possibly still could). However, I would like to see a sense of perspective come back into the game which has been destroyed by money over the last 25 years. Maybe then we will end up back with a competitive league and players who want to play the game rather than count the noughts on their payslip.

As a Liverpool supporter how could you have any sympathy if this were to happen???

shockedsoshocked

northernneil wrote:

This time Rooney is THE ONLY star player of value.

I wouldn't quite say that like. Think people are still living on what he was touted to be.

Don't think Fergie will have any trouble filling his boots.

Pross

Gazzaputt wrote:

Pross wrote:

Gazzaputt wrote:

Mr Dog wrote:

Fergie looks fed up with all these over paid tarts.. can't say I blame him. Don't like his management style but you have to take your hat off to the man. When he goes and the burden of debt bites they will implode rapidly and will make the demise of Leeds tame by comparison. 8)

I prey to god this will happen!

Why? I'm a Liverpool supporter and so have no love for United but I would hate to see any club go through what Leeds did (and Liverpool have been so close to and possibly still could). However, I would like to see a sense of perspective come back into the game which has been destroyed by money over the last 25 years. Maybe then we will end up back with a competitive league and players who want to play the game rather than count the noughts on their payslip.

As a Liverpool supporter how could you have any sympathy if this were to happen???

Football without the bi annual grudge match would be less enjoyable but then I've lost interest in football at the top level over the years so maybe it is a less inward looking view :?

Dazza2280

According to Rooney, he says its cos the owners have shown no ambition. Gotta say, he's right, i've been a Man Utd fan since i was old enough to know what football was and watching the team they're putting out just now just blows!! I know Scholes ang Giggs seem to be in great form, but they're gonna retire, probably next year. Then who they gonna turn to?? I think Fergie was desperate to sign Mezut Ozil in the summer before Madrid snapped him up, but wasn't allowed to spend money. I HATE the Glazers, they'll set Man Utd back 10 years with their negative ways, This could be the end for Man Utd and Fergie, they'll end up like Liverpool, bragging about when they used to win things back in the day Sad sad day!!!!!!!

tebbit

Any club can only have so long in the spot light before something goes awry, a good analogy other than Leeds is Manchester City, in the old Fourth in 1998, still with a massive fan base, it also wouldn't be the first time United have gone down, (probably the wrong expression given Mr Rooney's recent escapades) in recent history.

finchy

When Utd got rid of Christine for £80m, I thought that was phenomenally good business on their part - getting so much money for a player whose performances against the big boys were often lacking should have allowed the red faced one to effectively rebuild the team.

Of course when the money went into servicing the debt, rather than buying new players, it became obvious to everyone that United couldn't afford to mix it in the transfer market any more. Ferguson must be looking at how well VDV's doing at Spurs are seething even more angrily than ever before.

northernneil

I like the fact this has all come about due to Fergies greed over the testicles of a horse

Smokin Joe

I can't see how Man U are going to avoid a life threatening crisis in the next few years. 750 million in debt and growing because they can't even meet the interest payments, let alone reduce the outstanding capital.

Football clubs are just beginning to realise they can't defy gravity.

BigJimmyB

D'you think Colleen might have triggered it, so they can move abroad and forget the past few months?

Just putting it out there.....

Stewie Griffin

The future is Lillywhite 8) nouveau riche sky blue half of Manchester Beverly Hillbillies aside

Ben6899

I'm afraid the future is a tainted Royal Blue...

northernneil

BigJimmyB wrote:

D'you think Colleen might have triggered it, so they can move abroad and forget the past few months?

Just putting it out there.....

he struggled to move 30 miles down the M62, not a chance he'll move abroad, no champions league club will buy him mid-season leaving only 1 non champs league qualified club who could afford him .....

finchy

ShockedSoShocked wrote:

northernneil wrote:

This time Rooney is THE ONLY star player of value.

I wouldn't quite say that like. Think people are still living on what he was touted to be.

Don't think Fergie will have any trouble filling his boots.

Until he got injured last season he was absolutely fantastic - 26 goals in 32 league matches, despite carrying a niggling injury for the last few months.

He won the 2009-10 PFA player of the year, FWA player of the year, Sir Matt Busby player of the year, PFA fans' player of the year, Barclays player of the season and was included in the FA PL team of the year.

In previous years he was extremely unselfish and played out of position to accommodate Ronaldo, doing very well on the left wing.

Give him time and he'll be back to his best.

Ben6899

johnfinch wrote:

ShockedSoShocked wrote:

northernneil wrote:

This time Rooney is THE ONLY star player of value.

I wouldn't quite say that like. Think people are still living on what he was touted to be.

Don't think Fergie will have any trouble filling his boots.

Until he got injured last season he was absolutely fantastic - 26 goals in 32 league matches, despite carrying a niggling injury for the last few months.

He won the 2009-10 PFA player of the year, FWA player of the year, Sir Matt Busby player of the year, PFA fans' player of the year, Barclays player of the season and was included in the FA PL team of the year.

In previous years he was extremely unselfish and played out of position to accommodate Ronaldo, doing very well on the left wing.

Give him time and he'll be back to his best.

What John said. People have very short memories.

shouldbeinbed

tebbit wrote:

Any club can only have so long in the spot light before something goes awry, a good analogy other than Leeds is Manchester City, in the old Fourth in 1998, still with a massive fan base, it also wouldn't be the first time United have gone down, (probably the wrong expression given Mr Rooney's recent escapades) in recent history.

agree this could be a huge fall from grace for Man U.

the old 3rd is as low as they went Look at the fluctuations of the league though, others that hve been old 3rd or 4th and premiership in recent memory Blackpool, Burnley, Wolves, Stoke, WBA, Watford, Sunderland, Sheff Wed, Charlton,Southampton, Leeds, Notts Forest, Leicester, Norwich, Hull, Bradford, Barnsley, Oldham, Wimbledon/MK, Bolton, Blackburn, Derby. Its nowhere near the closed shop people make it out to be.

I doubt it'll lead to a levelling of the league, though Man C and Spurs are knocking on the door of the top 4 and pulling away from the rest. Rangers and Celtic are as skint as everyone else in Ccotland Rangers hadn't bought a player in 2 years and are still streets ahead of the rest, every league in Europe has a small regular elite and occasional interlopers.

Theres far more numerous and drastic problems further down the leagues - My Blyth Spartans are suddenly cutting budgets and haemorraging players, Frank's Hinckley are teetering on the brink, Ilkeston have gone bust already this year, Farsley & Chester did last year. others are yo-yoing leagues for the sake of Rooneys Sunday to Wednesday wage this week.

Stewie Griffin

According to the beeb Everton get 25% of any profit Utd make in selling him.

finchy

shouldbeinbed wrote:

Theres far more numerous and drastic problems further down the leagues - My Blyth Spartans are suddenly cutting budgets and haemorraging players, Frank's Hinckley are teetering on the brink, Ilkeston have gone bust already this year, Farsley & Chester did last year. others are yo-yoing leagues for the sake of Rooneys Sunday to Wednesday wage this week.

Meanwhile down in Kent, Maidstone United are still unable to move back to Maidstone, as they have a site for their new ground but no money to actually build a stadium and Ashford Town are £1m in debt and their finances are in such bad state that they have been banned from all FA competition for a year. This includes their youth teams which is an absolutely ridiculous decision, effectively banning the best of one town's youth to get vital experience for 1 year. :x

mr_poll

The rumour around Manchester - and without sounding like one of those guys around the pub, my boss is well connected with Man U - is as follows:

Colleen basically found out that a few ppl at Man Utd knew about Wayne's hotel antics and basically covered it up - this included a cpl of the players and WAG's and also someone on the management side.

She blew up about this and basically said its the club or her - so Wayne put in a transfer request, Fergie told him to bugger off - his agent is now doing everything he can to sort this for the scouse cpl and his bank balance.

The issue of course is the Glazer's will now suck any transfer fee into debt interest repayments just like they did with the Ronaldo money - Fergie will retire knowing he is hamstrung by the debt and inability to rebuild a squad and as much as i hate to say it then Utd could find themselves in a Liverpool situation, no champs league, fan's rebelling, club lost direction, languishing near the bottom of league and haemorrhaging cash .

finchy

I reckon this could be even bigger than Liverpool. Manchester United need to keep winning, or at least competing, at the highest level to maintain their fan base. Right now their first XI is nowhere near as strong as Chelsea, and Man C, Arsenal and Tottenham are all looking like very serious competition.

Any new owner would not only have to clear gigantic debts, they'd have to rebuild Man U's creaky defence and midfield. They'd be competing against the clubs I've already mentioned - who are in far better financial shape - for any world class player who'd prefer to play in England than Spain (22% tax rate for footballers).

I wonder how many more of United's star players are going to leave if they don't win something this season, or at least substantially strengthen their squad?