End of an Era at Old Trafford

shockedsoshocked

Ben6899 wrote:

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.

Steady on there lads. Not saying he's rubbish (he was touted as the next Pele or something along those lines) but the ONLY star player at Man U?

finchy

ShockedSoShocked wrote:

Ben6899 wrote:

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.

Steady on there lads. Not saying he's rubbish (he was touted as the next Pele or something along those lines) but the ONLY star player at Man U?

I was responding to the line about "Don't think Fergie will have any trouble filling his boots." I can't think of any players who will be available for United to buy (with their budget*) who will come close to an on-form Rooney.

*EDIT: Especially with what Stewie Griffin said about Everton taking 25% of the profit and a large chunk of the rest of it almost certain to be channelled towards debt repayment.

shockedsoshocked

If Fergie is allowed to spend money, he won't have a problem. There's a few naughty players he could look at, but he'll have to spend some money for someone with a name as big as Rooneys. It's a shame Berbatovs head has fallen off (again)

finchy

ShockedSoShocked wrote:

If Fergie is allowed to spend money, he won't have a problem. There's a few naughty players he could look at, but he'll have to spend some money for someone with a name as big as Rooneys. It's a shame Berbatovs head has fallen off (again)

That's a very big "if".

So question is, if Ferguson had the money, say £35m, who could he buy who would be of the same quality as Rooney in form?

Not just who's the same quality, but who would be prepared to come to Manchester United?

shockedsoshocked

Emile Heskey.

nottscobb

Pross wrote:

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 if Leeds had anything bad to endure, they still had a football team to support. Consider the fate of fans of Wimbledon, or Chester who had their team taken away completely. Relegation and promotion are part of football, it's just that a few lose sight of that and then get a surprise when it's their turn.

a_n_t

johnfinch wrote:

Manchester United need to keep winning, or at least competing, at the highest level to maintain their fan base.

There's a lot of United fans hoping that the majority of the picture taking, jester hat wearing "fanbase" would kindly fuckoff. A few seasons of mediocrity will be a small price to pay.

awallace

Ben6899 wrote:

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

I would love to say the future is claret and blue of the west midlands variety but even with two of the "big four" shakier than ever the Villa will still not push on. At least i have had 28 years to get used to it!

Gazzaputt

Heard this morning Collen wants to move to London not abroad. She wants away from Man Utd after they kept it quiet about the tarts etc.

finchy

a_n_t wrote:

johnfinch wrote:

Manchester United need to keep winning, or at least competing, at the highest level to maintain their fan base.

There's a lot of United fans hoping that the majority of the picture taking, jester hat wearing "fanbase" would kindly fuckoff. A few seasons of mediocrity will be a small price to pay.

Fair enough.

Pross

nottscobb wrote:

Pross wrote:

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 if Leeds had anything bad to endure, they still had a football team to support. Consider the fate of fans of Wimbledon, or Chester who had their team taken away completely. Relegation and promotion are part of football, it's just that a few lose sight of that and then get a surprise when it's their turn.

I wasn't talking about the relegation more the near collapse of the club, the administration etc.. Of course it has happened worse to other clubs (my local club is Newport County who went out of existence and had to restart playing 50 miles from home in order to play in the English league rather than being sucked into the dead end of the Welsh league - they are now in with a shout of a return to the Football League) but Leeds are the ones who probably suffered the most spectacular fall from grace possibly followed by Portsmouth.

BigJimmyB

mr_poll wrote:

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.

See my earlier post - I had a gut feeling......

Mr Dog

UEFA needs to take a look at itself. Its now ran simply for the top 16 clubs. A wage cap would be a good place to start. Our British clubs are wound into our culture and are not just business entities. Up here in Scotland it is a two horse race. As a Gers supporter, whilst I enjoy winning most weeks the league has suffered and now this has been mirrored across europe. I yearn for someone like Motherwell to win it up here and West Ham in England. Why we put up with these monoplies is an utter disgrace.

Lazarus

Would Colleen move very far from her sister ? Abroad looks like a difficult choice.

verylonglegs

Mr Dog wrote:

UEFA needs to take a look at itself. Its now ran simply for the top 16 clubs. A wage cap would be a good place to start. Our British clubs are wound into our culture and are not just business entities. Up here in Scotland it is a two horse race. As a Gers supporter, whilst I enjoy winning most weeks the league has suffered and now this has been mirrored across europe. I yearn for someone like Motherwell to win it up here and West Ham in England. Why we put up with these monoplies is an utter disgrace.

I don't think UEFA are really in control, that is why it is run for the bigger clubs. If they try to impose their will too much on the clubs it is likely to be breakaway time as they'll decide to go off and do their own thing. The monopolies exist because 'fans' keep on paying, simple as.

Ben6899

To be fair, I don't know what angle Colleen is trying to come from on this one. I don't condone for one minute what Wayne has - apparently - been up to with other women. I used to play and if one of my team mates was messing around I never thought: "Oh I must tell Tracy that I've heard that Dave's been f***ing around with other women."

Just sayin...

finchy

http://www.football365.co.uk/story/0,17 ... 65,00.html

According to Shrek, he held meetings with David Gill and asked for money to be invested in the squad and made his decision to leave based on Gill not giving him assurances that money would be made available to purchase new players.

tailwindhome

If Rooney were to sign a 3-4 year contract now he would end up the best player in a post Ferguson team devoid of any real (or Real) quality.

Smokin Joe

Rooney has taken a lot of unfair stick over this.

Let's be realistic here, he hasn't asked for a transfer or refused to play. All he has done is said he won't be renewing his contract when the current one expires. Anyone in any walk of life is perfectly free to do that, there is nothing dishonest or immoral about it.

Tom Butcher

Agreed - players will always leave clubs to go to clubs with more money because they get paid more and win more trophies. It's the reason Man Utd got Rooney in the first place.

daviesee

Smokin Joe wrote:

Rooney has taken a lot of unfair stick over this.

Let's be realistic here, he hasn't asked for a transfer or refused to play. All he has done is said he won't be renewing his contract when the current one expires. Anyone in any walk of life is perfectly free to do that, there is nothing dishonest or immoral about it.

True.
When Sir Alex resigns at the end of this season it is a downward spiral for Man U and the club is saddled with a debt it is struggling to service, what then?
Why would he want to stay?
Can you imagine the financies of a £800 million pound debt and no Champions League?
A definate possibility.

RichN95.

ShockedSoShocked wrote:

If Fergie is allowed to spend money, he won't have a problem.

But that's the problem. They have to pay nearly £50 million a year in interest so the Glazers can get the club for little investment of their own.

Berbatov was their last big buy. Since then they've been trying to squeeze every last drop out of Scholes and Giggs and been gambling on cheap young players.

They can't compete with Chelsea or the rest of Europe's elite and Man City will soon surpass them. Even Arsenal may finally be superior again.

They're a club in a major depression. The writing's on the wall. Fergie knows it and Rooney knows it (or at least his agent does). Fergie, in his press conference, was trying to sell the club on history, the stadium and 'romance', not the future. Not a good sign.

northernneil

RichN95 wrote:

ShockedSoShocked wrote:

If Fergie is allowed to spend money, he won't have a problem.

They're a club in a major depression. The writing's on the wall. Fergie knows it and Rooney knows it (or at least his agent does). Fergie, in his press conference, was trying to sell the club on history, the stadium and 'romance', not the future. Not a good sign.

yep the stench of ferguson bullsh!t from that press conference was overwhellming.

Mr Dog

My sources say its.. CITY 8)

shockedsoshocked

RichN95 wrote:

ShockedSoShocked wrote:

If Fergie is allowed to spend money, he won't have a problem.

But that's the problem. They have to pay nearly £50 million a year in interest so the Glazers can get the club for little investment of their own.

Berbatov was their last big buy. Since then they've been trying to squeeze every last drop out of Scholes and Giggs and been gambling on cheap young players.

They can't compete with Chelsea or the rest of Europe's elite and Man City will soon surpass them. Even Arsenal may finally be superior again.

They're a club in a major depression. The writing's on the wall. Fergie knows it and Rooney knows it (or at least his agent does). Fergie, in his press conference, was trying to sell the club on history, the stadium and 'romance', not the future. Not a good sign.

They'll have to let him replace Rooney, unless they really are that desperate for monies.

Pokerface

Rooney has now signed a new 5-year deal with United. That's that then.

rick_chasey

Excellent

Ben6899

All you City/Leeds/Shite can stop wanking now.

Stewie Griffin

Great news, they wont have any money to spend on new players now

finchy

L'equipe are reporting that he's going to be the world's highest paid player now.