Jun 07
All Smoke, Little Fire on the Transfer Front
The cynical among us have come to accept this. The optimistic claim this is a smokescreen.
Either which way you look at it, at the moment there is no transfer activity to report. There’s little one can update the blog with, other than “Nothing new to report on the transfer front.”
Of course, if one considers the non-football aspect of the club, then there’s plenty to talk about.
Today, Panorama will air (on BBC for UK viewers) a documentary on the Glazer family, their ownership, the financial situation at the club. Some feelers are already all over the media with BBC prominently giving us bullet points on what to expect today. The Guardian, led by David Conn, also has a couple of lead stories on the amount of debt the Glazer family have saddled themselves with — not just the club, but also their own family in their other business ventures in America; most notably, their failing strip mall business.
From one depressing thought back to another, albeit far less, depressing thought: our transfer business this season has included Javier Hernandez and Chris Smalling, but it’s debatable what role they will play this season.
Of immediate concern is the midfield which badly needs work. We have been linked with Joe Cole, Rafael van der Vaart, and today, with Lassanna Diarra. I would rule Joe Cole out simply because I doubt we’d ever pay £120,000/week for an injury-afflicted 28-year old. While he would just be an excellent addition to the starting XI, the wages just don’t justify the signing, given our current financial situation (and despite this being a free transfer).
Rafael van der Vaart, on the other hand, is a player I like. Career blighted by injuries, he could be a quality addition to our midfield, and given a longer run than afforded at Real Madrid he would be a wonderful signing.
Lassanna Diarra is also a much better defensive midfielder than what we have at the moment; assuming Hargreaves’ continues to have a stop-start season. His attitude problems have dogged him in the past. The rumours doing the rounds involves his past clashes with Mourinho and lack of playing time that saw him transferred out of Chelsea.
This would appear cliched to say that we must wait and watch, but really we can’t do much. My suggestion: watch the World Cup, enjoy it to the fullest, and treat any positive activity on the club’s transfer front a bonus. It’s a good thing the World Cup is around to take our mind off all things Manchester United. In the coming days, I’ll probably share a few links to sites you must follow during the World Cup.
Related items from Red Rants:
- It’s Still All About Ronaldo, Love
- No Smoke Without Fire at Old Trafford?
- Poyet Rubbishes Move – Giggsy’s College Degree – No Berbatov Yet – South Africa
- Smith To Toon? | Jones’ Tribute to United
- Liverpool’s ‘Match-Fixing’, and the FA Cup Cockup
Tags: Manchester United News
Opti (541)
RedDevilEddy (459)
Stephen (454)
Craig Mc (344)
Moscow is my heaven (272)
Is being reported now that the BBC Panorama programme on the Glazers is cancelled, because of the maniac shootings in Cumbria. They will let us know the new scheduale date ASAP. Anybody else see this as being confirmed yet?
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk/10237268.stm
United in 1.1 Billion debt!!!! The Glazers loan against the club for their own shopping mall business.
ANYONE talking about success under Glazer Regime is f••••• up now! END GLAZERS REGIME NOW!!!!
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@CraigMc: According to Sky TV listings it’s on this Friday at 12:25am.
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@[OPTI]Madschester United: I know mate, pathetic isnt it, and the worst bit is when the banks chase them up for the £1.1bn the money they will use will be coming from us, of that i have no doubt.
And i agree mate, under the glazers i see us having to endure some lean years. I posted a few weeks ago i have a fear we could do a liverpool and have a decade of barren years. And it could have been so so different too had we not been bought by the glazers.
Just think what the money wasted by them could have gone on. Stadium redevelopment, youth development and going after the best players around.
I decided to boycott united last season, even though i live in london now i am originally from manchester and had planned to visit alot more frequently, however not anymore. I already never buy united merchandise and i really do encourage all you lads in manchester to boycott.
I know its hard and its rich coming from me when im down south but it needs to be done. Need to say well done to stephen here as i know he did not renew his ST, seriously well done mate you did the right thing even though i can only imagine how hard it must have been.
It really does need to be done on a large scale though, i would take 2 years of mediocrity so that we are geared up for the next 50 years with no doubts.
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@Annie: It isn’t saying that now though, if you have cable TV on the flash panel it is stating that it is the Cumbria shootings being shown. So I guess we will find out, but I think it has been changed!
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@Annie: Oops I’m sorry Annie I misread your post – right that time you give must be the new time schedule then. It should have been tonights panorama shouldn’t it? Also 12.25 AM – I mean are they trying to hide the show now, showing it at that time
.
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The Glazers have NET ASSETS of £1.2 billion. Could we all now relax a little bit and focus on football?
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Zd_khk6zXo
I dont get it…
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I miss Jay Jay Okocha… He and Roy Keane were my favorite players during their time, always wanted us to buy him. Aaaah, how I miss him.
The world needs more Jay Jays.
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@NicoQB: What the fuck was that?
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@Pete: Oh yeah, sorry everything is fine. Here’s the football. Man City are buying James Milner and David Silva because we aren’t interested in them, not because we can’t afford them. Chelsea are going to spend £60mil on Torres. Barcelona have already bought David Villa. Real Madrid are going to buy Ribery/Gerrard whoever they want, money being no worry.
We are failing miserably to convince a guy not in the French squad who has been a bench warmer all year and failed to hit double figures to come to us.
There’s your football. And we take in more money a year than any of them.
We made the biggest sale in the HISTORY of world football, sold the best player in the world, and signed a Michael Owen 5 years past his best on a free. If there’s one thing that pisses me off almost as much as the BLATANT raping and pillaging of MY club, is people telling me it isn’t happening and everything is fine.
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@Traverse: Well said mate.
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@Traverse: I remember you being there once upon a time, mate.
Anyway It’s good to see you’ve seen the light, and taking aim at the right targets!!
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@Traverse: I could kiss you for that mate. Well said.
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@Redrich: I remember a year ago I was crying bloody murder and speaking the ills of club and what the Glazer’s were doing and going to do to us and I was 98.5% right. Well, this isn’t an attempt to pat myself on the shoulder, although I will do it anyway. It’s actually a cry of hallelujah that so many have finally seen the light and come over to my way of thinking. I no longer sound like the shit disturber and anti United protestor that I was being billed as so long ago. And yet it so saddens me that I am right because it only confirms my worst fears. People may find this hard to believe but in times like this, I really wished I was full of shite. Many probably still think I am but I know differently. At times it sucks to be right. GLAZERS SUCK!
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@[OPTI]Madschester United: What gets me is this clown that goes and kills innocent people for no reason in Cumbria when my real fantasy is for somebody to do that very thing to the Glazers. And I’m dead serious. These fuckers should get clipped. I don’t care if that’s not pc.
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Okay – IF there is anybody reading this board who can tell me what has happened to the millions of the BOND money, which we were told was to PAY OFF the PIK loans with the massive interest repayments – then please TELL US all where is this money???? Where the fuck is it?
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CRASH HELMET GUYS!!! CRASH HELMETS!!! Am not even going to bother arguing about this GLAZERS SHIT. The way I see it there is no way out. The damage has already been done. The way forward is to frustrate them the fuck out of the GLAZERS. Believe me we are worse than Liverpool only we still have fighting chances. And if we go trophyless this season we’ll probably do a Pompey
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I cant care what anyone says about the Glazers.Bad as they seem,the club was put up for sale and no one came up with an alternative.The glazers bought and are doing their business.Bad or good,the club should hae done better but they did not that’s why i don’t believe this Red Knights business.I think theirs is a PR thing and it has nothing to do with the love for this club otherwise where were they when the club was getting into wrong hands? It defeats all business sense to think the glazers should do what the fans want with their money.
Talking about the investment in players,i think they have been tremendous and its only our policy of buying too mant unproven players who have zero to one chances of ever making it at this club that has been the problem.
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Guys……..
I read somewhere (Goal) that Mourinho has an escape clause in his contract with Real Madrid. An escape clause to Old Trafford. Something like the one he has in Inter? Which is why he could leave with no hassle?
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@donibrasco: You need to get wise mate – the Glazers have just come out and said themselves that THEIR policy even with their USA team the Buccaneers is not to buy star players but young undeveloped players and make them stars. Same policy with United, which was NEVER a Man United policy in the past
. As for the Glazer’s not worrying about what the fans think ofwhat they do with their money, you don’t need to worry on that score, because they couldn’t give a rats arse about Man United faithful fans. They have put absolutely ZERO funds into our club, and taken millions out until they Bankrupt us. As for the Red KNights – don’t talk so much uninformed rubbish mate. The Red Rights don’t need PR from Man United, they are all loyal Man UNited fans and their desire to buy the club is genuine. They will however shelve their bid until the Glazer’s are forced to sell, because being wise businessmen why should they pay way over the odds. You are right about only one thing mate – the club management definately utterly messed up when they did business with the Glazer’s. Gill in particular should be ashamed. As for the Red Knights not coming in before the Glazer’s took over, how the feck did anybody but the odd few know what was going on in the United boardroom eh? When have Man United board ever been anything but secretive GITS? If you Donibrasco have Man United football clubs interests at heart, it certainly doesn’t show!
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@Redrich: I don’t ever think I was head in the sand, I think I was in the ‘lets wait for tangible evidence and the comment of financial experts’, as up until our financial reports were published, it wasn’t really more than hearsay and circumstantial evidence. I don’t like basing arguments outside of facts.
Now it’s there in black and white, the worlds most renowned experts in the field are saying it is undeniable, our business model is not viable and that we are going to be run into the ground for a big fat and dirty dollar.
The Glazers are vampires, the is no other word for them. They’ve got their filthy fangs in our neck, and are bleeding us dry.
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@CraigMc: Bad news my friend, Nani is out of the World Cup.
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/story/_/id/793730/ce/uk/?cc=5739&ver=global
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To all of you who might be interested – most of you I should think, the Panorama programme about Man Utd and Glazer finances report is on BBC1 at 10.35 tonight!
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And good injury news, Rio’s injury is being called a freak occurrence, and is not connected to the back injury that has plagued him this season. Should have both of them for pre-season then.
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NANI OUT OF WORLD CUP!!
Feel sorry for the lad, fucks sake what is happening? What’s next?!
Ronaldo and Messi out?
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@Traverse: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
What bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad NEWS – fucking shame on you for it Trav!
I mean come on you guys – like Rio said – we are CURSED!
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@EduardoDaVinci4: Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Lil Man Nani – so sorry mate, you didn’t deserve the shit that happens in life mate!
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Feck – the Missus has just IM’d me taking the piss that our man Nani is out of the world cup
. She said “don’t worry babe, I have phoned all your mates to come round when Portugal are playing, and insisted on them wearing all black tracksuits, black hats and black armbands to grienve the loss of the Lil Man.” In return she has promised them all the free booze they can drink, because she is celebrating watching me suffer 
. Seeing as she feels she has to suffer watching footie for the next several weeks. I mean how nasty are the female sex guys – vindictive little hussies!
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@Traverse: What’s worse is that Glazers are going to milk ignorant Americans and Canadians of $135 per ticket for their North American Tour… MUFC Canada and MUFC USA should boycott those games – it’s money into Glazer’s shopping mall pockets!
Chicharito and Smallings are nice side bargains, but I want a main entree, I want meat: Give me Milner, Silva, Toure, ¡SOMEONE! that is worth his sh•t!!!!!
@Pete: United is in 1.1 billion debt and you tell me that since the Glazers have 2 billion in assets, I should be fine/happy and relax??? Where do you think these mofos got their assets from? They bled United and Tampa Bay dry, loaned against 63 of 64 of their shopping malls and now will soon be paying 16.5% interest on 500 million on PIK debt…
They are in deep sh*t and the only way out is by
1) Sell United for AT LEAST 1.2 billion – no one has that kind of money (no even Red “wannabe” Knights)
2) Sell naming rights of OT and/or sell Carrington and/or players
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@[OPTI]Madschester United: Mate you are wrong – the Red knights do have that kind of money, but like the Glazers they know that after the fucking mess the Glazers have made of our club, we are not worth 1.2 billion. Let the Glazers FRY that’s what i SAY, AND David fucking Gill with them! As for Pete – who the feck is he? Never posted on this blog before – unless RR knows something different – do you RR?
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Latest media news, is that tonights BBC1 Panorama is the greatest anticipated programme in the history of Panorama – I wonder why
. The whole fucking world will be tuning into this – so check it out guys – 10.35pm tonight!
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So apparently the glazers turned down a bid for 1.5b from the middle east, yet they are up to their eyeballs in debt… Yeah fucking right. I knew that story sounded fishy. The red knights should have made a bid they thought was fair and then left the glazers to sweat it out. If their economic position is truly this dire then they will have no choice but to sell.
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@CraigMc: Whoops, my bad. It is on today at 10:35pm.
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@CraigMc: Cute
Not cruelty, just regular cute love if you ask me. Love that kind of banter, what makes the sex so energetic.
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1284882/Manchester-United-boss-Sir-Alex-Ferguson-vows-snatch-title-Chelsea.html
everyone we can relax now, fergie has spoken about next season. Somehow our squad, which wasn’t good enough this year will be better than a strengthened Chelsea side…
Come on fergie, give the supporters a little credit. I know his hands are tied right now, but that doesn’t mean he has to lie. He should just remain silent until the glazers are out or give him a real transfer kitty.
The funny thing is that fergie going silent would prolly be more effective than the well intentioned green and gold campaign.
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@Annie: Yeah I know Annie – I posted that in earlier comment
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@Johnsom33: Mate how do you know the Red Knights didn’t make an offer eh? Someone is giving the Red KNights inside information, and they will bid when they know the Glazers are ripe to be undone – come on mate, you know that!
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@EduardoDaVinci4: Mate how did I know you would be defending the Missus – seeing you are girls mad???
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@CraigMc: Ill definitely tune in, thanks for the heads up mate.
Oh and also my conodolences to you in this hard time, what with nani being out injured lol, no seriously though im pissed off at that, it seems player after player is getting injured, i blame it on the long seasons. Will be a big miss for portugal as from what i saw nani was their best player in the qualifiers, i was looking forward to seeing him play this tournament as i really do believe next season he will shine.
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@CraigMc: Your right I don’t know if they made an offer, I just got the impression they the have walked away from doing any sort of deal.
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@Johnsom33: Yeah i know mate i was reading that and i just thought WTF. I think for alot of the fans, and seemingly fergie, we were very unlucky last season. However i would say the opposite, we had alot of luck, in truth finishing 1 point behind chelsea was alot more than we deserved.
The more educated football fans could see this and did not continut to wear their red tinted glasses, we realised we were lucky to finish so close to chelsea and needed to add improvements this season.
So what do we hear, everything is fine, we will definitely win the title next season. What are you basing that on fergie, because you say so?
If anything we will alot worse next season. People can say all they like we lost the title because of the defensive injuries and that may be true, but the reason we lost the title in my opinion was more down to the over reliance on rooney, losses to burnley, chelsea both games, liverpool away, and the likes of fulham who we should be beating. Add to that losing at home to villa and managing a last minute draw to sunderland i think we can say we were lucky to finish where we did.
Seems though everything we are hearing now from united is just said to try and convince fans things are better than they actually are.
In my whole life as a fan of this club i never seen morale amongst the fans so low everything that comes out of the club these days seems to make morale fall further.
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@EduardoDaVinci4: I personally think managers are driving players too hard, players themselves do not know how to tune it down when in training or exhibition games and fatigue after a long season leaves these guys knackered and susceptible to injuries. They aren’t machines and yet they are being used like machines. Finally, the way managers have been overusing and risking their top stars in the friendlies is a total crime. I think that after 50+ games played they are all in condition to go at the most 7 more games. No need to be risking Rooney on a Wembley pitch. Now Nani’s gone and that’s one moire United player who will be behibnd everybody else when the season starts in form and fitness. Oh Joy!
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@d’game: We are way worse off than Liverpool but the reason many cannot see it is our position in the standings and that is because we are lucky to have Fergie and Rooney running the show on the pitch. Liverpool had Rafa and Gerrard and that’s why they appear to be more up Shit Creek without a paddle.
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@CraigMc: Mate, my girl does the same to me! And I do it to her, maybe not exactly the same thing that your missus did to you but in that category. I find it cute, not taking sides but you can’t help but see the positives there. I don’t know how long you have been together, but my experience tells me flirting gets colder and rarer as time goes on. As long as she does those things to you, it means she still cares for you. Teasing is flirting, and probably the most effective.
But maybe that’s just me!
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I hope some of youg uys will be providing streams for the Panorama tonight, really looking forward to it!
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@Johnsom33: The Glazer’s are not concerned with any of their 1.2 billion in debt because they are personally on the line for only a small percentage of it. It’s the same thing when you incorporate a company. You do so to protect yourself from the banks and others who come calling for their money after the business has crashed and burned.
The glazer’s know that as far as paying back the enormous debt they have five years to do so and until then they can syphon off millions in personal payouts and dividends and then sell united for 1.2 billion at the last second and further pad their pockets. Very little of their personal money ever shows up in any American bank as it can be gobbled up by debters and the authorities. Instead, they secure their personal wealth in offshore accounts to protect themselves. They secure the kind of promotional investment that ensures they continue the money stream growing for both United and Tampa Bay and sit back and wait for Judgement Day. Worse case scenario for them is they lose all their business assets but come out of the whole things with many hundreds of millions in their offshore accounts to take care of the personal lifestyle and pockets. Basically, I’d call the purchase of United as something close to taking hostages in a restaurant and forcing them to empty their pockets and then leaving from the back door just before you set the building on fire with all inside except the Glazer’s
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@Johnsom33: Honestly, the more I think about it, I think he doesn’t say the truth and he instead offers up all this bullshit not for the benefit of the fans (who he doesn’t give a rats ass for) but for his players who are in a fragile state having been dethroned. He needs to say these things to keep them believing and to motivate them or risk the chance of losing them and their passion. Most footballers are pretty thick but even United players except for Anderson are smarter than the average bear and will not buy into Fergie’s BS this time around knowing more and more about what the Glazer’s are all about and also witnessing their manager doing nothing to improve the club in the off season.
As for Fergie and his constant lying to all of us, all I can say is fooled me once shame on you, fooled me twice, shame on me. Enough BS already old man.
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@tonymontanna4united: Based on the past decade, Chelsea was the worst team to win the championship during that p-eriod and perhaps through the Prems short life. And if that isn’t bad enough, there is no doubt in my mind that last season’s united team is the worst team to ever finish second since 1992.
We were incredibly lucky and we were fortunate to have career years form Rooney and Fletcher as well as a second half resurgence from Nani that kept us from being in Liverpool’s current shoes. And as much as I think he is a lying SOB, Fergie must get a lot of credit for keeping the ship afloat through rough seas and a lesser crew. He will not get that fortunate a second year in a row. Unless some substantial signings are made I predict this will be the year that we risk getting out of the top four or at least out of the top three. I just do not see it with our team especially since Chelsea and Arsenal plan on retooling and buying some players. And even if Arsenal lose Fabregas, I think they will go out and buy a Gourcuff or somebody good enough to replace him unlike what we did when we sold Ronaldo.
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The ONLY thing keeping me from going down to Florida and smacking some Glazer-ass is that Premiership spending is spiraling out of control. The cumulative wage bill of EPL teams went up 11% this year… I assume our wage bill decreased when we sold Ronaldo and Tevez.
Don’t be surprised to see more club in administration in coming years…
PS: Is saying EPL instead of Premier League or Premiership frowned upon by brits?
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