statement

[robofan]

what are your reactions to our club statement?

purely on explanation wise.

do you feel it is an acceptable explanation

do you feel it should have gone deeper.

just my own personal interest.

 

[charlatan.uk]

seriously, what else were they going to say?

 

[Duffman]

They got what they deserved, they mentioned a deal for a striker falling through, that's what you do if you leave stuff until the last day

 

[orkneyspur]

Personally, I applaud Daniel Levy and the members of the board who have provided the funds,as and when needed to put the squad together. I'm sorry if I'm not blinded by the achievements of others, but I understand the frustration that Levy must have felt when faced with the Keane and Berbatov transfer requests.

He is a good leader of a great club and we will benefit as a result.

There. Stood up. Counted. :grin:

 

[Mullers]

"I have also previously said that we had no need to sell players on long contracts - this no longer remains practical. The decisions we took to allow the transfers of Berbatov and Keane were made after close discussions with the coaching staff. Juande was clear, and I believe correct, in not wishing to embrace any player within the dressing room that had no desire to play for the badge of this club and for his teammates. Under these circumstances we had no option but to sell these players.

Don't forget about the one million extra for charity we got from Liverpool, yep we really burnt a hole in their pocket, it will be a long time until they decide to mess with us again. :up:

I just want to ask you both if every time a player starts whining and bitching about wanting to leave, you will sell them and then buy players of inferior quality and/or players who are cup tied even though you've known for the best part of a year they want out?

 

[tRiKS]

Don't forget about the one million extra for charity we got from Liverpool, yep we really burnt a hole in their pocket, it will be a long time until they decide to mess with us again. :up:

I just want to ask you both if every time a player starts whining and bitching about wanting to leave, you will sell them and then buy players of inferior quality and/or players who are cup tied even though you've known for the best part of a year they want out?

you make a desision; manager or player? the manager has to be the one that's catered for. Ramos asked levy to abandon his previous stance on this issue for his sake, for the sake of him doing his job in the way he feels is best. It's the only way to have done this.

 

[Rob]

It's 100% spin.

We all know we've fucked up on the last day (especially if it's true that there's no option on Fraizer Campbell and the striker we tried to get was Michael Owen) and that's badly harmed the good work we've done earlier in the summer.

I don't think there was the need to sugar coat it and some things are outright lies. We have more depth now than we had with Chimbonda, Malbranque, etc? No, we have better quality players but we don't have as much depth as we had at the start of the window.

We knew Berbatov was going all summer. We played a dangerous game leaving it until the last minute and we got burnt by not having time to sort a replacement out properly (not necessarily a direct replacement if that's Pav but we're a striker short now). This is as much Berbatov's and Man Utds fault as ours.

We've also glossed over the whole did we give them permission or not thing (didn't The Sun run the story that SAF virtually kidnapped Berbs?) and we've backed down over both complaints this summer when we should have stood on principle at least with one of them. Now everyone's worried what happens when SAF wants Bale or Modric?

Having said all of that, I'm not particularly unhappy how the transfer window went. I think we're a striker short and possibly a DM but with Zokora and Corluka (and maybe a 3 man midfield) possibly not.

That statement was just all spin when what the club really needed was to put out an honest message to the fans.

 

[Mullers]

Its simple when SAF comes in for Bale and Modric if they want to go then they can go. Thats what the club statement says to me.

 

[Mullers]

you make a desision; manager or player? the manager has to be the one that's catered for. Ramos asked levy to abandon his previous stance on this issue for his sake, for the sake of him doing his job in the way he feels is best. It's the only way to have done this.

In the case of Berba why couldn't have the decision be made earlier, like two months ago?

 

[DC_Boy]

Hi RF

I thought the statement was basically fine.

A question though - 'For the record, our spend this summer was in the region of £77m and we brought in £72m in player sales' - I thought we made a profit? isn't the 'money in' figure lower than most have surmised?

Re strikers, it is true we should have got Pav in earlier and hence probably have more point(s) on the board and him not cup-tied, however I don't blame the club for not getting an extra striker on the last day - things can go wrong -

I see that it would have been unwise to buy two extra strikers prior to selling Berbatov as that would have weakened our negotiating position, so understand why only Pav was done prior to the sale - just as I say should have been done earlier IMHO (assuming an earlier date was possible)

In general I think it's been a good window - but I hope we continue to strengthen in January.

 

[Mullers]

We shouldn't be in the position of scrabbling around for a striker on the last day of the window. Surely thats the point of having Comolli & his list?

 

[Mr Gamgee]

they forgot to mention that the deal that fell through was Hesky

 

[Rob]

they forgot to mention that the deal that fell through was Hesky

I heard Owen...

 

[Kendall]

Yep loads of spin as rob said. comolli talks about the deal for a striker not going through, how long did we have to do that deal? it is rediculous, we tried to play the game with zenit that united did us, only difference is United paid up in time and we didn't.

It's all excuses and palm-offs.

 

[Montasura]

Hi RF

I thought the statement was basically fine.

A question though - 'For the record, our spend this summer was in the region of £77m and we brought in £72m in player sales' - I thought we made a profit? isn't the 'money in' figure lower than most have surmised?

Re strikers, it is true we should have got Pav in earlier and hence probably have more point(s) on the board and him not cup-tied, however I don't blame the club for not getting an extra striker on the last day - things can go wrong -

I see that it would have been unwise to buy two extra strikers prior to selling Berbatov as that would have weakened our negotiating position, so understand why only Pav was done prior to the sale - just as I say should have been done earlier IMHO (assuming an earlier date was possible)

In general I think it's been a good window - but I hope we continue to strengthen in January.

Have to agree with you again DC. Yeah I'm dissappointed we didn't get another striker but sometimes things don't always work out the way you want them to.

We did pretty well in the window and, as some people forget, we have £30m in the bank for January (which isn't too far away). Come January, I would expect many clubs won't have too much money so we may be in a good position then. As for the squad, I think we have enough to tide us by until January.

As for the statement I thought it was alright. Some spin, some slightly more honest thoughts. Pretty much what I expected, TBH.

 

[yanno]

It's 100% spin.

We all know we've fucked up on the last day (especially if it's true that there's no option on Fraizer Campbell and the striker we tried to get was Michael Owen) and that's badly harmed the good work we've done earlier in the summer.

I don't think there was the need to sugar coat it and some things are outright lies. We have more depth now than we had with Chimbonda, Malbranque, etc? No, we have better quality players but we don't have as much depth as we had at the start of the window.

We knew Berbatov was going all summer. We played a dangerous game leaving it until the last minute and we got burnt by not having time to sort a replacement out properly (not necessarily a direct replacement if that's Pav but we're a striker short now). This is as much Berbatov's and Man Utds fault as ours.

We've also glossed over the whole did we give them permission or not thing (didn't The Sun run the story that SAF virtually kidnapped Berbs?) and we've backed down over both complaints this summer when we should have stood on principle at least with one of them. Now everyone's worried what happens when SAF wants Bale or Modric?

Having said all of that, I'm not particularly unhappy how the transfer window went. I think we're a striker short and possibly a DM but with Zokora and Corluka (and maybe a 3 man midfield) possibly not.

That statement was just all spin when what the club really needed was to put out an honest message to the fans.

Yup. One Gold Star for astute analysis. :up:

Levy got one half of it right: getting top dollar for our outgoing players (and above market value for Keane).

However, he seems to have been unwilling to pay slightly over the odds early enough in the window for a key target such as Arshavin. So although all the players we've signed are top players, our striking options are clearly weaker, and we failed to sign a genuine DM.

As I posted in another thread, it's now up to Juande to mould a very good group of players into a confident, winning team.

 

[Kendall]

The spends on players seems awfully high.

 

[thebenjamin]

Scarcely believable that they're blaming their inability to replace either Berbatov - who they've known was leaving for over a year - or Keane - who left weeks previously - on the last second antics of an agent.

They sound like a little child explaining why he didn't brush his teeth.

 

[Max_Junglie]

The window didn't go that well, but I'm still pretty pleased with how it turned out. If Ramos gets the most out of the players we have then I think we'll be a better team.

I don't think you could expect the statement to be anything other than spin - of course they'll paint as a favourable a picture as possible - it's actually a fairly honest assessment IMO.

If some of the apparently more reliable ITK is to be believed, for much of the window Berbs was content to stay if our asking price wasn't met. If with two weeks to go he's suddenly spat the dummy and gone back on his word, there's not much the club can do.

I think the point about dropping the complaint is addressed quite adequately, albeit obliqely, in Levy's statement - the bottom line is that even if we'd made a complaint, Utd would have got Berbs and no further penalty because the FA doesn't have the balls to take them on. However, we'd still be without a striker, probably not got FC at all, and much less cash. Levy's concern is THFC, not the moral rectitude of the league.

Besides which, we're not above a bit of less-than-saintly dealing in the transfer market ourselves, are we? People in glass houses and all that...

Anyway, this'll all be forgotten in April when we're romping home to third in the league...
:grin:

 

[DC_Boy]

Montasaura - yep things could be worse - things could be better - but the key thing as fans is now to get behind the team we have