At what point would you consider us to have no money for transfers?

[cr7torossi]

^^ & ^^^

As I said before, it was possible for Fergie to do a Larsson and get someone(for example Gudjohnsen) on a loan signing. That is not Fergie's style to not do anything about strikers and go into the business end of the season with just 2 fit strikers.

[biro]

^^ & ^^^

As I said before, it was possible for Fergie to do a Larsson and get someone(for example Gudjohnsen) on a loan signing. That is not Fergie's style to not do anything about strikers and go into the business end of the season with just 2 fit strikers.

And yet, as he never brought anyone in then we can only presume Sir Alex was happy with the players we have and that he's prepared to wait until the summer to buy the player(s) he wants.

[lynne]

So now the club is broke and our manager is useless?? :mad:

That may be the single most despicable post I have seen on this board.

You must not read very many threads on this board, then.

The idiot Arsenal trolls do not annoy me so much. They're new to football and can be forgiven. But why is a DC United fan posting thrash on the wrong United board?

Because I want to.

[Dark Savante]

Selling fringe players isn't going to bring in much money. Being forced to sell several players just to afford one when you have 5 months to go and 3 titles to compete for probably isn't the best idea. It's probably better to be short at striker, than be short in several positions in this situation.
What you quoted was rhetoric, we have enough players in the squad who could comfortably generate us reasonable funds (not brilliant unless talking about a cull) for a striker. Our squad is so huge right now that players who need PT haven't seen the bench in what seems like months.

Being short a striker when we going into the season knowing Ole was done, effectively meant we were down to one man (Tevez) one player we know is stricken with lengthy spells out (Rooney) and Louis Saha, who needs no words. I even wrote in the (P)Review thread what would happen, and I'm sure my voice wasn't the only one of protest.

It's not just short of a striker - it's putting an extra load and ridiculous strain on Ronaldo, Tevez and Rooney to keep the ship afloat. We've practically done the exact same thing we did last season in fatiguing a department in the team, just not the same one.

If funds were a problem, I'm sure most on here would've preferred the money spent over the summer to have been divvied up differently and a Nani or Hargreaves omitted in favour of a striker. But, as usual, hindsight is a bitch... but foresight tells you this was going to happen, and it has.
Exactly. And, no-one really here thinks we could have spent 20m in the winter. Given our debt levels(and a policy of spending only equal to what we can recoup from sales), it just wasnt possible.

I think most of us were just hoping that Fergie would pull a rabbit out of the hat(like Larsson last season).

That's the thing that bugs me. If we didn't have the money or we couldn't attract the striking target we want in the winter window, at least get a body in on loan!!

We'll probably find out that we tried for some players on loan who turned it down or some such, in the summer.

Its dispicable that all three of Gill, Fergie and the owners can come out in publc and say there is money available if Fergie wants to make a move. All three of them just come out and lie? But meh, guess there is NO sort of honesty in business and football anymore.

Why would they feel the need to say that if it wasnt true though? Conspiracy theorist... get at it.

It's called PR, benni. The fans remonstrate and highlight their fears, the people in charge quell and appease them with whatever smooth talk is adequate. In a way, what Fergie said was more of a half truth, because if Saha had've stayed fit we probably would have been fine all season long on rotation. But he, as wiley as he is, was probabaly slightly disingenuous with his words about Saha but had his hands tied on a purchase.

I am not sure about that DS. Who could we sell to get enough cash together to buy a viable striker, regardless of who, you are looking at ~20 mil.

Looking at our squad, I think we would only be able to sell Saha and maybe Fletcher. Would that be enough cash to get us a viable striker?
Fletcher, Pique, O'Shea, Eagles etc. It's a decent chunk of change and the only one from that lot who'd be a 'mistake' would be Pique given his potential.

I don't think we needed the de facto striker anyway, so £20m or anything approaching that wouldn't be necessary if it would hurt the pocket too much. We just needed a player who could stay 100% fit, with pace and #9 attributes who was a willing worker and allieviator of stress and fatigue for the others, if push came to shove. The funny thing is, yet again, we could and would be using a player we sent on loan this season, just like last. During last term and the injury crisis at the back we needed Evans, Pique and Simpson here.. this time we could really do with Campbell's pace and energy even if he isn't ready, he's an able body that our big guns could've taken advantage of in behind him - that's all we need for a while if we can't get the targets that hurt the pockets.

Wellbeck may even get used in this way, but he's not ready. :(

In the striking department we are the thinnest club in the top 6 or maybe even more.

I think it's blindingly obvious that the striker that Fergie wants he will only get in the summer, so rather than spend any money on a stop gap he'll wait. Whether that's Berbatov (I think it is) or Benzema or huntelaar we'll just have to wait and see.

But we need a stop gap of sorts. Whilst the main target may well be someone you listed, or someone in a similar price range, we're in need of the body to go up front. When we're looking at Vidic as a #9 in the latter stages of games, there's a problem.

Our forwards (Ronaldo and Tevez in particular) are in serious risk of burn-out and fatigue (Again in Ronaldo's case) and we saw how the fatigue killed us last season, to go through that again would be a terrible way to sign off this campaign. We've got all our eggs in a Saha basket :eek:

^^ & ^^^

As I said before, it was possible for Fergie to do a Larsson and get someone(for example Gudjohnsen) on a loan signing. That is not Fergie's style to not do anything about strikers and go into the business end of the season with just 2 fit strikers.

Concur.

[JC7rox]

The day we signed an unknown striker who came here on trial (who unfortunately was unable to gain a work permit). Just doesn't make sense. How often has this happened in the PL era?

[lynne]

The day we signed an unknown striker who came here on trial (who unfortunately was unable to gain a work permit). Just doesn't make sense. How often has this happened in the PL era?

Actually, I would say that that's a sign that we've got money. (when we can use it on someone who can't be used this year, may not be used next year, and may never be used).

[JC7rox]

Actually, I would say that that's a sign that we've got money. (when we can use it on someone who can't be used this year, may not be used next year, and may never be used).

Really?

I think it is quite the opposite. Sign a guy on quite the cheap, comparing him to world class talent like Eto'o and Drogba, hoping the supporters catch. Whether he plays or not is irrelevant. There is very little to lose. Only when it looked in doubt that he'd get a work permit did we start hearing about him not playing this season or being one for the future. He's not even that young. These trial players usually come through quite young, afaik.

[lynne]

Really?

I think it is quite the opposite. Sign a guy on quite the cheap, comparing him to world class talent like Eto'o and Drogba, hoping the supporters catch. Whether he plays or not is irrelevant. There is very little to lose. Only when it looked in doubt that he'd get a work permit did we start hearing about him not playing this season or being one for the future. He's not even that young. These trial players usually come through quite young, afaik.

Way back when, before the Glazer takeover, I remember watching the buying and selling going on one summer. It seemed like players were coming and going everywhere -- except Utd. I presume that that's SAF's style, so I actually don't think that us not having a new striker is a sign that we don't have money.

So I'm going with it's a sign of bad management instead....

[sdotsom]

We've had summers and periods before where we haven't been active. I'm gonna say bad management over no money. I think Fergie and Quieroz are convinced that Rooney and Tevez (+ crocked Saha) are enough. They bought a player who looked good in trials - so good that they were willing to sign him at his age. Yet they were fine with waiting on him - there wasn't much urgency (at least in the press) about us getting Manucho a permit, even after he started scoring goals in the ACN. I think they are just satisifed with our thin, oft-overworked, injured strikers.

[Republic of Mancunia]

Worth a bump? :o

[jeff070]

Hell yeah worth a bump. We have no money because we cannot afford Ljajic or he is not worth the 10 million. But seriously, we all saw him play at the tournaments and he is ready to play for us, he needs a bigger challenge than FK Partizan and that is why he is not performing the way he wants. Fergie needs to come out and say something about this ASAP. What is the future of Tosic? does it matter anyway?

[benni...]

Worth a bump? :o

Personally I dont think so, this just gives the doom lords more ammunition to try and blame it on the glazers without them even knowing the deal.

[jeff070]

Personally I dont think so, this just gives the doom lords more ammunition to try and blame it on the glazers without them even knowing the deal.

Are you talking about me?

[Motterman]

No, probably me.

[Teso Dos Bichos]

YouTube- Game over, man.

[pgr17]

#
Any news regarding Manchester United's financial situation? Are the debt repayments starting to bite? Is SAF likely to see the £80m Ronaldo cash?
by Hobble
#
Hi Hobble, It's undeniable that the debt is an issue and as times goes by, it will become even more of one. It’s fine servicing enormous interest payments, but if you think that the club’s operating profit for the financial year ended June 2008 was wiped out by an interest bill of £68.8 million, on that basis how are the club going to afford to pay the interest and a huge capital bill when those repayments really start to kick in a few years’ time. The club is paying off the capital in small-ish increments at the moment – and I say the club because the loans that are secured against the Glazer family themselves are not, they’re just racking up huge interest - but come 2013 and beyond, those capital repayments really start to become huge and that is when you’d expect United to really feel the pinch, unless something drastic happens before then and the debt can be dramatically reduced. All that said, as things stand at the moment, Fergie does have money to spend, possibly as much as £50 or £60m

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/article6929872.ece

[Bronaldo]

A handful of the attacking players in the reserves/youth teams look like they have a chance of making it here. Hopefully that will help with the financial issues.

[sdotsom]

The years when the repayments increase are going to be very very trying. We all know we've barely touched the capital of the loans in the last few years - most of the money we pay covers the interest and maybe a few million more. Those years when the capital starts coming into effect are going to be scary.

[Motterman]

I'm confident the Glazers have a business plan to deal with those issues.

[cr7torossi]

Their business plan involves selling out before then.

The question asked in this thread will be answered one way or the other next summer.