If we don’t sign anyone this window it shows the club lacks ambition

It’s only day two you morbid buggers :lol:

Isn’t this Gedson Fernandes a done deal for January bar the confirmation?
 
I dont get the longstaff links. I've not seen loads of him I will be honest but what I have seen he is not the answer. Just another andreas/lingard. Average. I'd rather wait til the summer than sign him for 50 mil (allegedly).
 
I'm all for signing young players but you can't sign them for a ridiculous transfer fee. A hefty price tag breeds a very unhealthy environment of scrutiny for the player and does not give him the best chance to succeed. Young players should not have that burden.
 
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Sean fecking Longstaff. I think I just vomited a little in my mouth.
 
I don't believe Sean Longstaff would improve any Central Midfield in the Premier League. None of the teams above us or around us would be stupid enough to spend £50m on him.
 
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How is anyone taking this Longstaff thing seriously? It's just the media taking the piss
 
I Guess we won’t sign anyone. We are destined to finish out of TOP 4 so Ed wouldn’t see any reason to invest. We got a cute and nice manager so Ed doesn’t have make him happy. Ole will be staying for another 1-2 season happily knowing that it is his dream job. If Ed wants to sign someone, I would think it would be already signed. Liverpool is really way better, they announced the signing before the January market is open. They are really professional in running their club and deserve to be champion. Ole cannot change anything with Ed being running this club. Doom for continue failure.
 
WR10 said:
How is anyone taking this Longstaff thing seriously? It's just the media taking the piss
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I can believe we’re interested in him in general, but not this window - we’re doing feck-all this window, the fear is most of our budget goes on him next summer.

But in general, the media are definitely taking the piss.
 
hungrywing said:
If Malcolm Glazer were still alive, I believe Woodward would have been replaced by now.

You hear a lot of 'the Glazers could sack him' or 'they'll never sack him, they're beholden to him' - of which the latter is definitely a factor - but it looks a lot like the actual dynamic is that the Glazer children are varying degrees of clueless/largely apathetic. Sort of the godfather/king is dead and the consigliere/royal vizier running the show.

AKA any Glazers Out campaign might need to consider that rather than anti-Glazer it needs to focus on coaxing them into taking agency/giving them a possible 'out'.



Well, there sort of is/was. But we have non-gardeners tending it. Woodward is veeeery close to being in straight up thief territory. Robbing from millions of less well-off people.



The entire reason. Well, technically Woodward being in charge of that strategy.

Assuming Woodward is untouchable, there are two ways to correct this problem: first is the 'get the right manager' (haha). Second is decide to to run the club like a Dortmund for around five or six years. Might end up shorter, might even end up longer, but that decision itself stanches the bleeding. Trouble there is....



....Woodward and his insecurity-based need to 'be the big guy'.

Every major problem at the club currently comes from overpaying. End of story. There's room for debate as to why he's overpaying but the rest is all details. Can't move bad players, overpaying them. Got an overrated player who thinks they're bigger than the club, you paid him like he was. Running into a financial wall (contrary to what seems to be popular belief we can't spend 200m every summer), cause you're overpaying. Now clubs know you're desperate, and have even more leverage over you, cause you're overpaying. You're now regarded with contempt by many within the footballing world, which leads you into more overpaying, etc. Players underperforming/performing erratically, you're overpaying them. This is basic organizational leadership stuff. Even the most well-intentioned personality will be affected.

He and Judge have been overpaying, and it's created a culture of entitlement and desperation. Again, there's room for academic debate as to the psychological reasons those two might engage in this behavior. Could be that they know they're out of their depth and are resigned to having to overpay against the tide of contempt. Really though it's likely that they think it's a sign of projecting strength when it's actually a sign of weakness. This weakness permeates down through an organization like contaminant leaching into groundwater which leads to instability which leads to 'strength' projecting in undesireable ways.

The club right now is built in his image. Which in many ways is the opposite of SAF.

None of this is new information.
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I don't think that I could agree more to a post.
 
Josep Dowling said:
Most people knew our midfield would be a disaster since we didn’t sign a midfielder in the summer. How can you let Herrera and Fellaini go and not bring in a midfielder?

Matic and Mata had shown the previous season they had lost their legs and weren’t up to it. Pereira and Lingard will never be good enough.

If our front 3 is not scoring our only option on the bench is an 18 year old. There simply isn’t any squad depth and there is a serious lack of quality in midfield. Surely we have to sign someone this month?

If the club had any real ambition to make the top 4 they must see these gaps in the squad. Our net spend has been pretty low the last two years. Ole has said post match once again ‘if our targets are available’. I would suggest have more than just a couple of impossible signings who are unlikely to join us without Champions League football. It seems insane to me to keep waiting for players to become available. If they want to join they will push for a move to join us.
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You can't buy what's not available, the club have 2 options they go and sign a stop gap just to elevate the lack of options and hope they hit the ground running and worry about them then being deadwood in 6 months time or they try and push through a long term target now and if the club are sticking to the transfer policy they created in the summer it's likely that long term target won't hit the ground running and is then branded a flop before they've even had time to settle

Big money/high profile signings happening in January are an anomaly and that's why it's so easy to remember those that have happened, I'm happy to call the board out when it's called for but you can't class not buying in January as showing a lack of ambition
 
manunited1919 said:
We absolutely need to sign at least 1 capable midfielder this January, and not because we need to show ambition; it’s more as an insurance to prevent the sxxt really hitting the fan:
  • Pogba seems to need a surgery
  • McT is out injured for some time
  • Pereira is terrible as a number 8
  • Matic’s legs are gone
So that leaves us with Fred playing each and every game. If Fred gets injured, which is possible due to playing each game, things can turn ugly very very quickly.
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What are you worried about? We still have Phil Jones who has midfield experience.
 
Seeing all these other clubs linked to and signing players is like being at school and watching all your mates play out at lunch time while you've got detention.
 
hungrywing said:
If Malcolm Glazer were still alive, I believe Woodward would have been replaced by now.
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Malcolm Glazer was never involved with the club though. He suffered a stroke right before the takeover which incapacitated him. His sons were the ones in charge from the start.
 
If we intend to sign someone in Jan, why not have the negotiation done before the window open? Why is it always a mad rush at the end and then paying out of pocket?
 
moodyred said:
If we intend to sign someone in Jan, why not have the negotiation done before the window open? Why is it always a mad rush at the end and then paying out of pocket?
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Because we're ran by morons and are no longer an attractive enough option to get players in at a drop of a pin.
 
Florida Man said:
What are you worried about? We still have Phil Jones who has midfield experience.
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Actually, Phil Jones would be better as a midfielder than as a central defender where he is error prone. He would also run more than Matic, Ole should already be trying him out.
 
Daily Football Briefing: There is still a lack of urgency at Manchester United - January could well pass without any new signings

United sources say there is a still a distinct possibility the winter window deadline could pass without a new arrival. If that transpires, it would mean that by the close of the season the club will have made only three major signings in as many windows, after their own version of dry January in 2019 too.

Fantastic news.

Last summer alone Real Madrid made six major signings, Bayern Munich five and Barcelona four. Juventus brought in five major signings plus three significant free transfers, and Paris Saint-Germain completed four, adding two first-team loans and a notable free transfer.

We’re fckd with Edward Woodward at the helm, will be lucky to finish eighth this season.
 
Suedesi said:
Last summer alone Real Madrid made six major signings, Bayern Munich five and Barcelona four. Juventus brought in five major signings plus three significant free transfers, and Paris Saint-Germain completed four, adding two first-team loans and a notable free transfer.
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Definitely this.

Ed fecking Woodward wants to make it seem reasonable that we work on one signing at a time which is just ridiculous for a club our size.

feck off Woodward.
 
Surely, surely, surely our scouting department have been working on new recruits since September???? If your telling me that they’ve only come up with Longstaff and Can then that whole department could be replaced with anyone from this forum........

It does all seem very quiet which is not normal if we were close to getting something sorted - everything is leaked as soon as we come talking as it just helps to drive up the price.....

if all we do now is knee jerk something because of injuries to Scotty M and Pogba then heads should roll for gross negligence as it’s been as clear as night follows day that we are bereft of midfield creativity and quality and it needed addressing......

I mean - we were going to let Matic go in this window - now he is going to be the mainstay of the midfield......

If we have any faint hopes of 4th place then we must bring in some reinforcements, even if short term to get us over the next few months - if they honestly believe at the club that we have enough to compete then we are going nowhere - and any signings need to be at the beginning of the month rather than 29/30/31 of Jan when we’ve had another handful of games while I bet Arsenal & Chelsea both bring in players......

come on Ed - please please surprise us......
 
These links to Can and Longstaff make me think that briefing in the summer about the scouting software was bullshit, or these links are bullshit. There's no way we are using software that is suggesting only Longstaff and Can. There must be loads of midfielders that fit the bill if Longstaff does.

I should know the score now anyway. We won't sign anybody this month, it's just stories created to give the impression we are working on this 'rebuild'.
 
GoldanoGraham said:
Surely, surely, surely our scouting department have been working on new recruits since September???? If your telling me that they’ve only come up with Longstaff and Can then that whole department could be replaced with anyone from this forum........

It does all seem very quiet which is not normal if we were close to getting something sorted - everything is leaked as soon as we come talking as it just helps to drive up the price.....

if all we do now is knee jerk something because of injuries to Scotty M and Pogba then heads should roll for gross negligence as it’s been as clear as night follows day that we are bereft of midfield creativity and quality and it needed addressing......

I mean - we were going to let Matic go in this window - now he is going to be the mainstay of the midfield......

If we have any faint hopes of 4th place then we must bring in some reinforcements, even if short term to get us over the next few months - if they honestly believe at the club that we have enough to compete then we are going nowhere - and any signings need to be at the beginning of the month rather than 29/30/31 of Jan when we’ve had another handful of games while I bet Arsenal & Chelsea both bring in players......

come on Ed - please please surprise us......
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I would have thought that our scouting department had been working on signings for a while now and should just be a matter of bidding the required amount and sorting out terms. Not looking very promising at the the moment although it is still early days in this window.

I want to get players in as soon as possible. I also don't want Woodward low balling clubs, if we are indeed after anyone, as it could go on until the end of the window and clubs tell us to feck off as we are not prepare to pay what they are asking. Also the further that it gets in the window teams will know how desperate we are by seeing how thin our squad is and may ask for a few million extra which could be an excuse for Woodward to use that there is no value in the market, when he should have handed over what teams wanted in the beginning.

Dreading us getting another midfield injury because if we don't sign anyone in that department we will be screwed. Even if the primary targets are not available until the summer I hope we bring in a few loans athough not ideal to see us through until the next window as we still have a chance of achieving top 4.

If the rumours are true that Chelsea are willing to invest in the players they have been linked with it is going to be hard task to catch them and unachievable in my opinion unless we get a few midfielders at a minimum.

Don't have much faith in Woodward hopefully he realises we need a new players in to salvage the season not very confident of this but really hope he surprises me and does something special.
 
Suedesi said:
Daily Football Briefing: There is still a lack of urgency at Manchester United - January could well pass without any new signings

United sources say there is a still a distinct possibility the winter window deadline could pass without a new arrival. If that transpires, it would mean that by the close of the season the club will have made only three major signings in as many windows, after their own version of dry January in 2019 too.

Fantastic news.

Last summer alone Real Madrid made six major signings, Bayern Munich five and Barcelona four. Juventus brought in five major signings plus three significant free transfers, and Paris Saint-Germain completed four, adding two first-team loans and a notable free transfer.

We’re fckd with Edward Woodward at the helm, will be lucky to finish eighth this season.
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Thsy is what annoys me with Woodward that other big clubs can make multiple signings but he is only capable of making 3. Either he is incompetent or can't be fecked to spend in my opinion.
 
Can you imagine the state of Manchester United's midfield when Fred inevitably gets injured in the next couple of weeks. The board have failed so miserably and the saddest thing is there's nothing to stop them continuing to destroy the club.
 
r0663664 said:
I Guess we won’t sign anyone. We are destined to finish out of TOP 4 so Ed wouldn’t see any reason to invest. We got a cute and nice manager so Ed doesn’t have make him happy. Ole will be staying for another 1-2 season happily knowing that it is his dream job. If Ed wants to sign someone, I would think it would be already signed. Liverpool is really way better, they announced the signing before the January market is open. They are really professional in running their club and deserve to be champion. Ole cannot change anything with Ed being running this club. Doom for continue failure.
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We knew we needed players, so we should have been prepared the same way. Players ready to come in on the 1st January. We were also interested in Minamino so why didn't Woody bid for him. The same old story every transfer window.
 
moodyred said:
If we intend to sign someone in Jan, why not have the negotiation done before the window open? Why is it always a mad rush at the end and then paying out of pocket?
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Great question. I would imagine that the answer this time is we had all our eggs in the Haaland basket, since Ole went to speak to him in person. And we already know how that one turned out.

I would say out of the top 6 positioned clubs we're clearly the most in need of a fresh face or two. Spurs may be behind us but they got players in during the summer that can do a lot more than they have so far (Ndombele and Lo Celso). Maybe they could do with a better CB since they're mid table for goals conceded.

Meanwhile we seem to need a CB, DM cover, Pogba cover (creative midfield player) and Martial cover (striker)

Perhaps we can give Garner the chance as DM cover, but we would still need 2 or 3 other players just to maintain our level when our players are out let alone improve it
 
fergiesarmy1 said:
Only needs Ole to sign off apparently, think he has preferred targets but will sign off on this one if we can’t get some of the other midfielder names being banded about. Hopefully not Longstaff.
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So what is that according to?

The manager giving the go ahead and confirmation is the most important part. Until that happens there could be nothing to it

Seems like every season we have a player from the Portuguese league who we're about to sign and then it never happens
 
fergiesarmy1 said:
Only needs Ole to sign off apparently, think he has preferred targets but will sign off on this one if we can’t get some of the other midfielder names being banded about. Hopefully not Longstaff.
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Don't know how they think that Longstaff is the answer to our midfield woes. I really think that Garner and Levitt will be better players than this guy. I do like Fernandes though. Thanks@fergiesarmy1
 
Ekeke said:
So what is that according to?

The manager giving the go ahead and confirmation is the most important part. Until that happens there could be nothing to it

Seems like every season we have a player from the Portuguese league who we're about to sign and then it never happens
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Agents are back in the uk today according to sky - although still talking with other clubs
 
Eddy_JukeZ said:
I'll stop you right there.

The minute we hired Ole as permanent manager showed the club's lack of ambition full stop.

We were promised a change after Mourinho and we all got duped.
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This.

Been supporting this club since I was 13 years old. I'm 37 now and my interest in this club has dropped so much, I stopped watching games or following any news online with regards to United.
I occassionally stop by to check results but that's it.
I'm not a glory hunter. Far from it and I understand that you need to support your club no matter what but when the current management is allowed to run the club into the ground year after year, even die hard fans will start to lose interest and it will start to affect $$$ everyone loves to rave about regarding the club. The match going fans will soon also start asking questions and lose interest.

Even on that day I doubt the management will change.
United will end up dropping further and further from the leading football superpowers.
I hate saying it but it's true. Nothing will change.
 
Waynne said:
This.

Been supporting this club since I was 13 years old. I'm 37 now and my interest in this club has dropped so much, I stopped watching games or following any news online with regards to United.
I occassionally stop by to check results but that's it.
I'm not a glory hunter. Far from it and I understand that you need to support your club no matter what but when the current management is allowed to run the club into the ground year after year, even die hard fans will start to lose interest and it will start to affect $$$ everyone loves to rave about regarding the club. The match going fans will soon also start asking questions and lose interest.

Even on that day I doubt the management will change.
United will end up dropping further and further from the leading football superpowers.
I hate saying it but it's true. Nothing will change.
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There is many others the same as you I regret to say. I have 2 grandsons who have given up following Manchester United this past 2 years and they give the same reason as you. Many others will follow, unless we get new owners and a whole new board in soon.
 
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