Harry Boulton
20 Nov 2007, 08:47 AM
I think you might wanna do some calculations on that score. The ins to outs expenditure of Fergie throughout the 90's was superb. Our spending, as johno said, changed after that
My point revolves around certain transfers such as Keane, Pallister, Berg, Stam, Cole all being record transfers in some ways. Keane was a record transfer, so were Pallister, Berg and Andy Cole. The season we won the treble we spet £10m on Stam, £12m on Yorke and a couple million on Blomqvist, which was by far the highest spending in the league. Fergie's in/out ratio generally equals out but Man Utd have rarely been short of money, not in my experience as a supporter and follower anyway. With Chelsea being the exception Man Utd generally spend more than most.
Erm, I'm not sure what you're getting at or how you've reached this conclusion. Again, can you elaborate?
No problem. Maybe I took the point the wrong way, but it seemed to me that you were perhaps dismissing the younger supporters grand expectations as naive with this paragraph:
Now, for any fan that started following the club after that season’s events I can understand the difficulty they would have in truly comprehending the emotions and atmosphere of such a feat, especially given that in the last three or four years the bar has been raised beyond recognition to the point where a treble is feasible and the emergence of a team that was simply bought and put together in a season or two and reasonably could achieve the treble or even a quadruple given their backing and the kind of squad it has enabled them to assemble on a whim, has the true worth of a treble diminished greatly.
Suggesting perhaps that they couldn't possibly understand what it was like watching or enjoying that feat is not something I agree with. The value of the "treble" is not under-valued in my opinion in any way, and I don't think many people take it for-granted either. Suggestions of a possible treble or even a quadruple are brought about when players come out and say they want to win everything (see Drogba at the start of last season) and the press mis-quote them. That then feeds fan fever, but it's definitely started by the media. What's more, with squads like Man Utd's and Chelsea's who are hands down better than everyone elses such suggestions are, on paper, not so ludicrous when thought about logically.
Like I say, I may have the wrong end of the stick. But it seems little dismissive as if to suggest "you might not understand".
I'm sorry but that's not accurate. Go on any Utd forum or listen in at pubs or the banter at games and it won't take long before you hear mutterings about trebles if we're in a good or great vain of form. I definitely don't see it in the press as much as I've heard or seen it from our own fans.
What I see alot of is players saying "we're the best in the league" and then Sun or the Express runs the headline "We Want the Treble". When in actual fact talk of the treble was never mentioned by either player, manager or fan. They were simply commenting on the strength of the squad. The media defintely revel in mis-quoting players and managers and creating a fever of expectation.
I don't think you've read the parts you should read in that piece...
The very last sentence after the comma: when surely the time to even think that way would be at the back end of April or even mid-May?
which is basically what you've just said...
Conceded, I mid-read that maybe. But towards the end of last season, treble talk was not so much foolish, but hopeful in the light of such a position we found ourselves in. But a great many fans on here stated that, come the end of the season, they did not think we would win the treble. They said it might be done because it could), but chances are we'd settle for the league and maybe FA Cup. My expectations at the start of last season were to simply close the gap that Chelsea had created. We did more than that and, as a result, expectations this year are up. That is because we exceeded expectations, not because fans de-value success or because they are naive about it.
My point revolves around certain transfers such as Keane, Pallister, Berg, Stam, Cole all being record transfers in some ways. Keane was a record transfer, so were Pallister, Berg and Andy Cole. The season we won the treble we spet £10m on Stam, £12m on Yorke and a couple million on Blomqvist, which was by far the highest spending in the league. Fergie's in/out ratio generally equals out but Man Utd have rarely been short of money, not in my experience as a supporter and follower anyway. With Chelsea being the exception Man Utd generally spend more than most.
Erm, I'm not sure what you're getting at or how you've reached this conclusion. Again, can you elaborate?
No problem. Maybe I took the point the wrong way, but it seemed to me that you were perhaps dismissing the younger supporters grand expectations as naive with this paragraph:
Now, for any fan that started following the club after that season’s events I can understand the difficulty they would have in truly comprehending the emotions and atmosphere of such a feat, especially given that in the last three or four years the bar has been raised beyond recognition to the point where a treble is feasible and the emergence of a team that was simply bought and put together in a season or two and reasonably could achieve the treble or even a quadruple given their backing and the kind of squad it has enabled them to assemble on a whim, has the true worth of a treble diminished greatly.
Suggesting perhaps that they couldn't possibly understand what it was like watching or enjoying that feat is not something I agree with. The value of the "treble" is not under-valued in my opinion in any way, and I don't think many people take it for-granted either. Suggestions of a possible treble or even a quadruple are brought about when players come out and say they want to win everything (see Drogba at the start of last season) and the press mis-quote them. That then feeds fan fever, but it's definitely started by the media. What's more, with squads like Man Utd's and Chelsea's who are hands down better than everyone elses such suggestions are, on paper, not so ludicrous when thought about logically.
Like I say, I may have the wrong end of the stick. But it seems little dismissive as if to suggest "you might not understand".
I'm sorry but that's not accurate. Go on any Utd forum or listen in at pubs or the banter at games and it won't take long before you hear mutterings about trebles if we're in a good or great vain of form. I definitely don't see it in the press as much as I've heard or seen it from our own fans.
What I see alot of is players saying "we're the best in the league" and then Sun or the Express runs the headline "We Want the Treble". When in actual fact talk of the treble was never mentioned by either player, manager or fan. They were simply commenting on the strength of the squad. The media defintely revel in mis-quoting players and managers and creating a fever of expectation.
I don't think you've read the parts you should read in that piece...
The very last sentence after the comma: when surely the time to even think that way would be at the back end of April or even mid-May?
which is basically what you've just said...
Conceded, I mid-read that maybe. But towards the end of last season, treble talk was not so much foolish, but hopeful in the light of such a position we found ourselves in. But a great many fans on here stated that, come the end of the season, they did not think we would win the treble. They said it might be done because it could), but chances are we'd settle for the league and maybe FA Cup. My expectations at the start of last season were to simply close the gap that Chelsea had created. We did more than that and, as a result, expectations this year are up. That is because we exceeded expectations, not because fans de-value success or because they are naive about it.