There's no telling how this will impact Spector's future at United but it will certainly have some impact. My thought is that Spector will be loaned in January or Silvestre will be sold.
Do you expect him to be loaned to a Premiership or Championship Club? I would think he's quality enough to make it in the Premiership for a lower side, but then again he would be guaranteed more playing time in the Championship.
if he is to be loaned out, I can think of a team up the road from Manchester that could make some use of him...Anything to keep us from leaking 2 goals a game or so.
Too bad Glazer isn't in charge. He'd have signed the cheap American over that overpaid Brown guy in a minute just to keep BigSoccer humming.
From what little I know of United, I would expect a loan overseas (Antwerp and Academica come to mind) or to a lower division team in England...that is, if they decide to loan him out.
Antwerp slipped into the 2nd Division in Belgium, so it's not a likely destination. Besides, Belgium is mainly used as a place for the non-Euro players who wait to accumulate enough caps to qualify for the EPL. My hunch is that Spector will stay at ManU as a "last resort" backline player and their reserves regular at least through the 04-05 season.
I don't understand AT ALL if Ferguson keeps Spector in reserves past Xmas, and doesn't loan him (a la Frankie- at a minimum- to a Coca-Cola club). I'd actually like to see him loaned to a Premiership caliber club. But please- not another 1/2 season of reserves.....that wouldn't be a total waste, but not what the kid needs now.
I agree. As much as the posters here would like to see Spector playing matches that count SAF has no reason to care. In fact, the more highly he thinks of Spector the more likely he keeps him around to cover the inevitable injury/suspension/fatigue. Is Spector still playing center back for the reserves? That might provide some insight into SAF's plans.
Doesn't SAF have the same interest we do -- to see Spector reach his potential. Wouldn't playing in matches that count help? My answer is yes.
Im not sure if this is going to have a major impact on Spector. Wes usually plays on the right side in the the center of defence or at right back. While Spector plays mostly LB and most recently left side center back in recent reserves matches. O'Shea, Heinze and Silvestre are the ones that are in the way of Spector seeing first team action.
My answer is no. SAF has the interest of MUFC at heart. If he believes that thwarting Spector from playing competitive first team matches is necessary to ensure that he has backline cover in case, for example, Heinze and Gary Neville go down in February for the season, then he surely will. We, or at least I, only care about the results of MUFC to the direct extent it benefits Yanks at the club. If Howard and Spector (and Cooper and even Rossi) don't figure in MUFC's match squad, I hope they get bombed 14-0 and cry on the field like little children.
Isn't it in the interests of MUFC to see that Spector improves into the most valuable asset possible? Isn't it NOT in their interest to avoid retarding his development through a lack of serious match play? Isn't that why ManU oftern loans talented youngsters who are not getting enough playing time to lower level or foreign clubs? MUFC clearly also has an interest in winning games now, but like Bruce Arena, SAF will balance long-term and short-term interests.
The bottom line for SAF is winning as many games as possible. Spector is only useful to the extent that he helps win those games - ManU doesn't groom young players to sell them. I expect SAF doesn't even care too much about the long term as fans and owners always demand results now. Finishing third and winning the FA cup was considered a bad year! Additionally, he may retire soon. If Spector can help out in, say, 6-10 games during the season (starter or sub, any competition), then he'll play in the reserves part time and warm the first team's bench the rest. It's worth more than the risk of retarding his development, which may not happen anyway. He does get to train with the first team. I don't think youth players for ManU are prized jewels the way a promising rookie QB in the NFL would be. ManU can always just buy somebody to fill a hole. It's nice to develop your own guys because they're cheaper, not because it lets you get a higher quality player than normal.
Well I think that ManU does think more long-term than you believe, which is one reason they are perenially successful (they do have a better record of developing their own talent than many top clubs). I don't disagree that if Spector is deemed important to success this year, he will not be loaned. I also think that his young age, the damage to his development will be minimal if any from practicing with the first team, playing reserve matches and mabye Carling Cup games and a few odd games. Next year I would expect him to play more regularly or be loaned. And it wouldn't surprise me if Spector was loaned given that he is not apparently in ManU's immediate plans as demonstrated by his long absence from the bench in most matches and the fact he didn't start the Carling Cup game.