There is no denying the fact that we have been poor in the transfer windows following Ronaldo and Tevez's departure. Fergie thought some of the 'value' signings he made such as Obertan, Bebe, Tosic, Diouf, Powell, Zaha, Angelo Henriquez etc would go on to establish themselves in the first team squad. He was probably trying to model his signings after the examples of Vidic and Evra rather than the likes of Rooney, Berbatov or Veron. The only exception to his transfer strategy was RVP who was well worth his value of 24 mil for a brilliant 30 goal a season striker.
In hindsight it didn't work out but I am sure many of us weren't too uncomfortable when Fergie was operating under this model. I know we didn't sign the big names like Sneijder, Hazard and Lucas during this period but we had complete faith in Fergie. I was rather excited at seeing his value signings like Obertan, Bebe, Henriquez, Smalling, Jones and Powell develop than be disappointed at missing out on the 'big names'. Fergie also placed his faith in some of the guys from the academy with the likes of Cleverley, Ravel Morrison, Pogba, Tunnicliffe and Welbeck being trusted to play a big part in our future. It didn't work out the way I thought it would but I had no qualms about the way Fergie operated at that time. In fact it would have been a perfectly sustainable model had we shown a bit more nous in the promising youngsters we targeted and were more competitive occasionally when the player we chased really mattered (Hazard, Lucas etc). Whether it was Fergie's judgement which was poor when it came to the younger transfer targets or whether the scouting department were poor or both we won't really know. I also have no idea if Fergie was really obstinate when it came to transfer/agent fees or whether there were restrictions placed on him. We see the club splashing the cash now because they don't have a choice and the squad is in dire need of reinforcement.
Rooney at that point of time didn't have the advantage of the hindsight that we now possess. His and his agent objective was fairly simple, to get more money. His concern that the club wasn't spending more money was just a facade/false justification to achieve his ulterior motive. At that point of time we had just lost out the title to a brilliant record-setting Chelsea by a single point and went out of the CL to LVG's Bayern unfairly due to Rafael's dismissal. Rooney was brilliant during that course of the season and his absence and Berbatov's inability to step up were the prime reasons why we 'failed' at the business end of the season. It wasn't as though we weren't competitive or were dire. There was no reason to panic and no one was doubting Fergie or the squad at that time. We wished for star signings as we always do but there was no clamour for it. The very fact that the next season we went on to win the league and reach the final of the Champions League shows it. I am not buying the theory that Rooney predicted a demise 4-5 years ahead which was the result of many factors with poor investment/transfer dealings just being one of them. He was United's best player at that point of time and England's best player as well. He just used his status and importance to the team to strongarm United into handing him a better contract. If he was really concerned about the state of the team he should have just left United as he was disillusioned at the signings we were making. He didn't. Neither did he say anything about it when we bought De Gea, Jones and Young the next season.... Hardly top players at that time were they? His sole purpose was to get an improved contract. Simple.
In hindsight it didn't work out but I am sure many of us weren't too uncomfortable when Fergie was operating under this model. I know we didn't sign the big names like Sneijder, Hazard and Lucas during this period but we had complete faith in Fergie. I was rather excited at seeing his value signings like Obertan, Bebe, Henriquez, Smalling, Jones and Powell develop than be disappointed at missing out on the 'big names'. Fergie also placed his faith in some of the guys from the academy with the likes of Cleverley, Ravel Morrison, Pogba, Tunnicliffe and Welbeck being trusted to play a big part in our future. It didn't work out the way I thought it would but I had no qualms about the way Fergie operated at that time. In fact it would have been a perfectly sustainable model had we shown a bit more nous in the promising youngsters we targeted and were more competitive occasionally when the player we chased really mattered (Hazard, Lucas etc). Whether it was Fergie's judgement which was poor when it came to the younger transfer targets or whether the scouting department were poor or both we won't really know. I also have no idea if Fergie was really obstinate when it came to transfer/agent fees or whether there were restrictions placed on him. We see the club splashing the cash now because they don't have a choice and the squad is in dire need of reinforcement.
Rooney at that point of time didn't have the advantage of the hindsight that we now possess. His and his agent objective was fairly simple, to get more money. His concern that the club wasn't spending more money was just a facade/false justification to achieve his ulterior motive. At that point of time we had just lost out the title to a brilliant record-setting Chelsea by a single point and went out of the CL to LVG's Bayern unfairly due to Rafael's dismissal. Rooney was brilliant during that course of the season and his absence and Berbatov's inability to step up were the prime reasons why we 'failed' at the business end of the season. It wasn't as though we weren't competitive or were dire. There was no reason to panic and no one was doubting Fergie or the squad at that time. We wished for star signings as we always do but there was no clamour for it. The very fact that the next season we went on to win the league and reach the final of the Champions League shows it. I am not buying the theory that Rooney predicted a demise 4-5 years ahead which was the result of many factors with poor investment/transfer dealings just being one of them. He was United's best player at that point of time and England's best player as well. He just used his status and importance to the team to strongarm United into handing him a better contract. If he was really concerned about the state of the team he should have just left United as he was disillusioned at the signings we were making. He didn't. Neither did he say anything about it when we bought De Gea, Jones and Young the next season.... Hardly top players at that time were they? His sole purpose was to get an improved contract. Simple.
