What
The
Fuck
Man Utd: Jose Mourinho has 'no problem' with chief executive Ed Woodward
FWIW here are my thoughts on the current situation.
I couldn’t read the Times article as it was behind a paywall but undoubtedly Woodward (apparently a Liverpool fan) is looked upon more favourably than Jose, LVG and Moyes by the Glazers for the obvious financial reasons.
He’s the man behind many of the current sponsorship deals. Apart from the embarrassment I don’t actually care if we have an “official tractor partner” as it helps subsidise my season ticket price which, by the way has remained frozen for several years (working out at £37 a game). So the idea that the Glazers have just been fleecing ordinary fans is actually wide or the mark.
Did I want the Glazers? No, and as a shareholder I voted against the takeover. But people have short memories. The idea that Martin Edwards (and before him his dad Louis, purveyor of dodgy meat pies to the schoolchildren of Manchester) was some sort of Mother Theresa figure running United as a charity is frankly ludicrous.
He took a shedload of money out of the club when it was floated and, let’s not forget, was happy to see it flogged off to Michael Knighton.
By the way, he was also the man who changed the club crest from “Manchester United Football Club” to the widely disliked “Manchester United” - if my memory serves me rightly as he wanted to expand the United “brand” to other sports including an ill-fated basketball team.
As for United transfer policies, according to some figures (which can vary according to what criteria are used) City have outspent United by a net £83 million. Anyone who thinks Fred and Dalot are going to close the 19 point gap we had with City last season is frankly deluded.
Jose has been backed (or should I say indulged) in the transfer market to the hilt with Pogba, one of the world’s most expensive players, together with Matic, Sanchez, Lukaku, Ibrahimovic, Fred, Dalot and Mkhitaryan (remember him?) shipped in, not to mention Lindelof and Bailly, the two players widely blamed for Sunday’s shambolic performance against Brighton.
Personally, I wouldn’t have given another penny to a manager who’s not guaranteed to be at the club at Christmas, let alone the end of the season, especially as he’s adopted a scattergun approach to transfers and has managed to piss off several players. His treatment of Martial is particularly disgusting.
I’m not sure who’s on his infamous list of 5 transfer targets. It’s all well and good blaming the board if he doesn’t get them but how old are they, how much are they and, crucially, do they actually want to come to United? We need to wake up to the fact that we are no longer the automatic first choice for players looking to move clubs.
So if he fucks off in a huff then great.
Anyway, it’s not how much money a club spends on players but how they spend it. You can be given gazillions but if you spunk it up the wall on average overpriced players you’re no further forward. As a matter of interest Salah cost Liverpool £42 Million, Pogba and Lukaku both more than twice that. I know who I’d rather have bought.
Talking of commercial revenues beware of what’s happening at Liverpool. Salah is becoming widely popular in the Middle East, bringing with it a plethora of marketing opportunities and with it the prospect of a big-money takeover of Man City sized proportions.
If our situation isn’t addressed pronto things are going to get a lot worse for United.
