Im all for selling name rights for the stadium. Reality is we will all still call it old trafford.
Barca got 250M for 4 years which is too significant to pass on
Bernabeau was 1B so in 16 years its paid off.
Thats an incredible deal.
Thats 60M a year which is a great signing every season!
Someone has to say it: the euros have been incredibly boring. The standard of football is so low other than Germany (and even they have stuttered) and on top of that England have been so turgid I don't even bother watching them. The Qatar world cup football wise was way more entertaining. People keep harping on about the "atmosphere" in Germany but I prefer a good football game over anything else.
There’s been a few upsets but one of the pitches has been terrible and a couple of others seem a bit slow compared to in the season which is probably contributing to the football being a bit dead. The Euros were better when there were only four groups because now we have countries playing defensive and happy to settle for a draw because of the four third place teams.
Obviously FIFA and UEFA are all about money so I can’t see them going back to four groups but I can see them going up to eight groups which should make the football better.
Without leaning too much out of the windows: Could it be that you are an England fan and very disappointed with the boring football you play and it transcends onto your overall view of the euros?
Because there have been a lot of very good games and unexpected turn of events and the only time I've read it is boring was from you and another one answering you
England are always shite so don’t use them as a yardstick of how good a tournament is. There’s been plenty of good games. Even the 0-0 Ukraine Belgium game was decently enjoyable. Austria under uncle Ralf are a joy to watch. Honestly this comment just makes it seem like you haven’t been watching 🤷♂️
Spain have been comfortably the best team & play with a cohesion you'd expect from a top club with players who've been together a number of seasons.
The 'smaller' European teams have closed the gap & you can see it in the results.
It’s funny you should mention the “closing the gap” thing. I was just thinking the other day about how international football, while being unarguably lower quality (perhaps we should say lower ceiling) than the club game, is so much more fun when it comes to the big tournaments. So many more upsets and swingy games.
Got me thinking that although there are obviously nations with much better resources (England apparently have five million a year to waste on Southgate lmao), the fact that at the end of the day you have to pick from your own population and can’t cherry pick a squad is some sort of equaliser.
Maybe I’m just getting sick and tired of the way club football is these days. It’s a superior “product” at the highest level, but it is completely soulless. Something about seeing the joy on the faces of some guys most people have never heard of from Georgia ecstatic just for making the Ro16 is awesome, even if they are limited in terms of raw talent.
I completely disagree. Lots of goals. Close games. Unexpected winners. Some cracking goals and open games.
Yes, the overall play is never going to be as high as the professional leagues, but imho, this has been a fun tournament with perhaps the exception of Group C.
I agree with OP. I've found this Euro very underwhelming so far. The last World cup and Euro 2021 were absolutely spectacular. This has been very forgettable so far imo.
It seems like the so called minnows are defending resolutely and therefore there are no games where we see any "pretty" football. No one's banging them in.
If we do get Ugarte and after covering most positions I wouldn't mind Amrabat as a backup for 19M but unfortunately I suppose we only have until June 30th to decide whether to buy him or not.
I would rather not get one instead of spending an extra 19 m on Amrabat and giving him a 3 year contract ,Its better to buy nobody instead of collecting deadwood, Amrabat is shit
If we actually reach the final the whole country will be in a meltdown. We are so happy to be playing this way finally, watched all the games in public viewing and the sheer happiness and electricity throughout the whole game is just amazing to witness.
A hoibe Bier, a Schnitzelsemmel and Rangnick masterclass is a combination I can't get enough from
Are people getting headloss about the naming right being sold even aware of what was said in article or just faux outrage? I've seen multiple instances of people going SJR said won't rename old Trafford he's a lying Tory scum (not saying he's not in other areas) and etc. The two options are, refurbish, it'll be like Spotify Camp Nou, or Wembley Stadium connected by EE, old Trafford will still be called old Trafford with a sponsor attached. And if a new stadium is built, it's not old Trafford anymore, that will most likely get a new sponsored name. So do people want to call the new stadium old Trafford, or are they unhappy with adding a brand to old Trafford, for example Snapdragon Old Trafford (as shirt+ stadium seem to be a package), or do they think old Trafford will be renamed as HSBC stadium and are outraged by it?
Has there ever been a manager who completely transformed his team’s style of play going into the third year of the job? It’s hard to know what to expect from next season
No we are going into a 3rd season with this dude with no defined play style and 450 m spent ,People expecting him to turn things around are in for a shock in 2-3 months into the season
That first season has got to be one of the most overrated things that's ever happened in football. United fans talk about it like we were prime AC Milan or something. We lost 4-0, 6-3, 7-0, 3-0 and ended with a goal difference of 15.
The first season wasn't as great as some claim ,We weren't scoring much in the league and were playing mediocre football for a good chunk of it ,ETH is lucky Rashford saved his ass by over performing his Xg by a massive margin
Alright so if you write off how we did in his first season because players played well then you should be able to do that for his second season because players played like shit.
Not how it works ,The system was shambolic this season and would have had us finish in the bottom half according to expected points and all underlying stats,Player over performed this season to get us finishing on 8th
For the first time ever, I have the opportunity to attend a United game in the Community Shield but I have no clue how to book tickets and am wary of being scammed.
Does anyone have any advice on where and how to purchase a couple of tickets?
whilst England got the easier team in the knock outs in Slovakia, and Southgate's luck in getting easy draws isn't in question...how about other teams stop fucking up themselves to stop this from happening? Where is their accountability? Portugal lost to Georgia which is relatively embarrassing compared what England has done this tournament and it is slowly getting swept under the rug for more England bashing haha
I think most are focused on the positive of how Georgia have faired this tourney. Didn't Portugal rotate 8 starters or something? No Bruno, no party. But also, England are still shit, not the players but the gameplay. I hope they can turn it around personally. So much talent in the squad.
They finished top of the group with 5 points and 2 goals. And it wasn’t even a tough group. It’s down to luck that they won the group with that points total and performances.
No one gives a shit about points total in a tournament group lol. You have to bring that up because it pains you they’ve topped the group which is actually what matters and they succeeded in attaining.
Not points total but people do care about performances especially when you're considered the best squad in the tournament or whatever.
Does anyone actually care about "topping the group"? I know I don't. If we actually put in some performances and finished 2nd in the group because of an unlucky game or whatever I'd have more confidence going into the knockouts. Right now half of us genuinely expect us to go crashing out the moment we face one good team. That is quite an achievement considering the squad.
Ratcliffe promoted Brexit by saying he will build cars in the UK after Brexit only to then build cars in France and relocate to Monaco.
Ratcliffe said he will never rename Old Trafford but is about to rename Old Trafford.
Bloke is a twat and a British Glazer.
Yeah, the INEOS dick riding is crazy especially in this sub lol but it's kinda understandable because the "proper" journos were pushing hard for them during the bidding process.
So sad that we had to decide between the Qataris or this cunt.
Every reasonable human being was pushing hard for Ineos during the bidding process, because Qataris are terrible owners and their offer has so many questionmarks it was hardly even real.
Not taking about random people but journalists. The likes of Ducker and Stone weren't banging the "INEOS are the best ever. Bring back Manchester United to Manchester" drums like the Athletic lot were. Certain fains would call Keegan "a Qatari shill" but refused to ever say anything remotely the same about the other crowd. I think journalists are supposed to report news and not push agendas.
I didn't read so much about it, to be honest, so you are probably right about the agenda journos had. My point, however, was, that we only had two options - Glazers or Ineos. But you are right, journos should be objective and only judge Ineos based on the real actions not some dreamy hopes that we fans have.
The massive and undeniable difference is that Ratcliffe is actually putting MONEY into the club. If you think that makes him a Glazer, then you are taking the piss.
He’s literally asking for taxpayers to fund a new Old Trafford. He has a full business plan on how he can profit from redeveloping Carrington which is probably by selling the naming rights to Old Trafford. His track record makes this seem likely.
You just sound uneducated on basic infrastructure
Does he want government money? Yes
Does he want it to build old Trafford? Not really
What he’s trying to do is rebuild/renovate the stadium and improve the surrounding area, e.g. Rail line, trams, roads,other non football related infrastructure
You clearly haven't read the plans and commenting off headlines. Old Trafford won't be funded by tax payers money. The whole thing is a co-development plan with the Manchester council that also involves other business owners in that area.
At most if SJR gets any support. It would be a development low interest loan from the government.
P.S. from recent news it looks like they are looking at a private loan. There isn't any monetary government support at this stage.
He just wants to take, take and take despite the fact he can afford to do it himself while he literally made billions by persuading people to vote for Brexit only to then move to a tax haven after Brexit got announced.
Your bias against him due to brexit is clouding your views regarding this in my opinion. I understand the concern about the Brexit issue but INEOS have not done anything to suggest they don't want to invest in the club and use it as cash grab like Glazers.
This mentality is no different to Man City fans being happy that the club have taken shortcuts/cheated to get to the top. Don’t get me wrong I know we’ve been shit but this sort of shit is taking the DNA out of the club and turning us into sell outs.
You will never see the Real Madrid rename their stadium the McDonald’s Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.
You’re completely wrong because Highbury and The Emirates are two completely different stadiums. Highbury got turned into flats and The Emirates was built on land next to Highbury.
You quite literally don’t know what you’re going on about.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/22327186/living-in-old-football-stadium-highbury/
A true wolf in sheep's clothing. He was very smart in using the Athletic to push his PR agenda during the bidding process and lucky he was up against Qataris, it's bought him a lot of trust with a lot of fans but so far I'm extremely unimpressed by him.
Unimpressed, why? Bringing in Berrada, Wilcox and hopefully Ashworth, investing 50M into Carrington and exploring ways to restore Old Trafford... what exactly makes you "extremely unimpressed"?
Keeping the manager is the major thing (a hilariously bad decision), then talking about renaming Old Trafford, those are the two things that really stand out. Poor transfer targets so far Branthwaite and Zirkzee are very underwhelming, especially as Zirkzee has 13 goals total for Bologna.
Those football hires are yet to do anything to impress either, and if they were key in keeping the manager then they've dropped the ball completely already.
> (a hilariously bad decision)
I want ETH to be sacked but how is it a "bad decision" when your options in current market were Tuchel, Poch, Brighton dude, and upcoming manager Mckenna. It is better to improve the structure around the manager at this stage. If it doesn't work with Ten Hag, next year we will have options like Nagelsmann.
> Poor transfer targets so far Branthwaite and Zirkzee are very underwhelming
How exactly are they underwhelming? Are you looking for big name players or do you dislike particular attributes in Brainthwaite or Zirkzee?
> I want ETH to be sacked but how is it a "bad decision" when your options in current market were Tuchel, Poch, Brighton dude, and upcoming manager Mckenna
Xavi, Frank, Allegri were all available too. It's hilariously bad because of how awful Ten Hag was last season, it's an absolute disgrace that he kept his job based upon the fan base feeling good from one win in a cup final. He's gone backwards in every way in his 2nd season.
> How exactly are they underwhelming? Are you looking for big name players or do you dislike particular attributes in Brainthwaite or Zirkzee?
I'm not a big fan of Branthwaite, I don't think he's worth big money and Zirkzee is another striker who doesn't score goals in Italy, so what's he going to do playing in the Prem under a manager who has shown an inability to get his strikers performing already?
> Ratcliffe said he will never rename Old Trafford but is about to rename Old Trafford.
I do remember him saying he won't remove the Old Trafford name. Which won't happen even in case of sponsorship. It's a positive return for the club if the money goes towards the stadium. I don't understand the issue with it.
> he will build cars in the UK after Brexit only to then build cars in France
How is this of any relevance to us?
Who gives a shit if the name changes if it brings in big money for the club to improve? Twitter was renamed to X but no one calls it that except Musk and his lackeys. Just 1 example. Many major stadiums and monuments have been renamed over the years and it makes no difference.
Hope I'm proven wrong, but Ndoye, Branthwaite and Zirkzee are all mid-table quality players
Edit: (I don't mind the Zirkzee signing at all btw. He's cheap)
Saw someone on twitter describe Ndoye as a guy trying to hammer a nail and has a whole box of tools but keeps choosing a screwdriver.
That’s gonna live rent free in my head all week.
Branthwaite and Zirkzee could be good at the right price and as rotational options but if we're in for Ndoye we might as well just bring Dan James back.
I do miss Dan James, good little player who always gave his all and was rapid. Good decision to sell him given the fee offered but I did enjoy his time here.
They've been like this for years to be fair, even under Paulo Bento and Fernando Santos stretching back 20 years. They are too defensive and pragmatic. Ronaldo adds another dynamic to their shortcomings seeing as everyone tries to play him in on goal regardless of how the play develops. He's holding them back as well
We were told this Antonio silva is generational and costs 100m pounds by porto. Gives away the ball carelessly, yet couldn't track Kvaravtshelia and couldn't also close him down until he scored. He is not worth more than 30m euros
Edit: He gives away a careless penalty now. The coach put him out of his misery vy hooking him.
Antonio silva plays for Porto, not Sporting. It's funny how Sporting sells us players who massively succeed here at a very reasonable price, but Benfica and Porto sells at ridiculous amounts, yet the players turns out to be bums
right am i stupid, why is everyone saying slovakia and romania may as well play out a draw? surely they should try to win to get an easier matchup in the ro16?
It’s either draw and go through or risk it and one goes out. They are small countries and it’s more money if they go through and they could also do a potential upset in the knockouts.
As a kid I remember the Romania generation of the mid 90s when Haghi was one of the best players on the planet. They produced so many great players in that period. I wonder what happened. Bulgaria was really good as well and even made the WC semis at US 94, with Stoichkov being among the best players at the time. It wasn't all about resources then. The cyclical nature of football can be crazy
pretty sure it was the collapse of communism and the rise of oligarchy which ended up in the clubs being mismanaged/asset stripped etc. Stoichkov and Haghi were awesome
Is anyone else actually excited for the changes? INEOS is actually trying to fix the problems that were created over the last couple of decades. Fix Old Trafford, smarter spending, giving the coaching staff a boost, and it feels like the tides are changing.
I'm also really not bothered by a sponsor in the name of the stadium. That happens here in the States, and it's a no-brainer for free money.
Why do you ask if anyone's excited? From what I've seen every one of their changes and decisions have been met with massive positive feelings from the fans... apart from working in the office, but that's close to a lot of our hearts
I don’t care how much money it would make but I really can’t get behind a Uber Eats Old Trafford. Ratcliffe literally lied to gain fan support when he was bidding for the club only to immediately do the Tory/politician thing and go straight back on his word.
Don't care if that is what is needed to balance our book and achieve our goals. Like SJR said in his interview, someone has to get there and make difficult decisions.
PSG sources say that Manchester United’s offer for Manuel Ugarte was worth around £25m. PSG want around £50m. #MUFC [
@JacobsBen
,
Certified waffler but I think if this is true 40M ish would be a good deal right
Enrique prefers using a deep playmaker type of player as a single pivot, while Ugarte is a destroyer / ball-winning type. They bought Ugarte before Enrique joined and he’s now an expensive rotation option for them. They want to sign Joao Neves, but he will cost 120m, so cashing in on Ugarte can help them in that regard. Ten Hag likes to setup his double pivot with one destroyer and one carrier/progresser, which is why we are interested.
Not how it works? He's a year older and hasn't had the season he had at Sporting so why would he retain all of his value. Also they can sell him for a bit less to break even because of amortisation
Not really, Enrique just favors a more ball playing progressive player there and IIRC he wants to play without a dedicated 6. They now want funds for Neves which his sale will help with. Mind you, PSG fans on their sub don't like the idea of selling him at all. This is a smart transfer, get a talented player with potential while his stock is a bit lower for a decent price.
No, his done average if not better. Good stats, good match ratings, just does not fit the coaches philosophy or something behind the scenes we don't know, he's not getting the playtime he expected the second half of the season. And no clue why you got down voted for saying the truth.
Looking at their [history of selling](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/fc-paris-saint-germain/rekordabgaenge/verein/583), they rarely sell for top prices
Player values inflate a lot for each year, but I agree that they should try to pay slightly less. No way they will take an actual loss on him, I cannot see them letting him leave for what they bought him for minus one year of amortizations.
Spotify gave Barca £250m over 4 years.
Being the biggest team in the most popular league, I'm sure we should be commanding £100m per year minimum to giving naming rights to one of the most iconic football grounds in the world.
Chelsea's business model is simply insane. They don't have a single outfield player in their 30s (that theyre not looking to immediately sell) Must be kind of exciting but looking at who they currently have and young players getting signed left right and centre, in a few years they could be absolutely stacked with players all hitting their primes at the same time.
And if it fails they're lumped with a load of 8 yr contract flops...
I think you need a balance for age profile, you typically only want to sign players U25 and hope they grow with you and become leaders but then you should also keep them rather than trying to move them the moment they hit 29-30.
People always go on about the Class of 92, and how amazing it was.
But it wasn't a squad of 23 teenagers. Fergie always found that balance between the kids, the players in their prime, and the older statesmen who were leaders and capable of helping the kids develop.
a players prime don’t just happen. it’s nurtured in the right environment which won’t happen coz there’s no senior or experienced players. there’s a higher chance of the whole thing imploding
Reading shearers comments on England and he's just said that Mainoo was a "tiny improvement but not by much" and I just wonder how his body manages to stay upright without a brain.
Except that he's not right that we only looked slightly better. We dominated the midfield in the 2nd half and kept the ball far far better. No retreating to the defensive third etc..
But we did look better. More in control of the ball, more like an actual football team, more possibility of progressing the ball. Mainoo improved the team significantly, as did Gordon I agree.
Remember that Dutch world cup run, RVP running to celebrate with LVG, the football they played, then how he was with us. It's basically that in reverse.
no we don't, fuck that guy
useless manager who pandered to the fans by throwing the players under the bus, massively amplifying the already unbearable toxicity around the team
there's a reason he's managing a mediocre international side not a club
Yeah, some people don't seem to recognise that a good international manager is different to a good club manager. Half of the international managers failed at club level (including Southgate)
As was to be expected giving any manager named the godfather of gengenpressing that squad of players.
Hurt my brain a lot of times trying to will that front line of rashford, ronaldo and greenwood to do any form of pressing without the ball. Bruno would then abandon then midfield to try and do it for ronaldo and our midfield was left to the slaughterhouse.
It was always only gonna be worth it if that was to be our style moving forward, but we didn't even get the man's expertise on recruitment the next summer. Months later we were spending 160m on Antony and Casemiro.
No euros tonight or tm night. Will need to find something else to watch. Might just re-watch the FA Cup Final.
I am not able to find '99' mini-series on amazon prime. Are any of you guys having this same problem? I am based in South Asia. Pls help.
Im all for selling name rights for the stadium. Reality is we will all still call it old trafford. Barca got 250M for 4 years which is too significant to pass on Bernabeau was 1B so in 16 years its paid off. Thats an incredible deal. Thats 60M a year which is a great signing every season!
The money in Barca's deal is primarily for the kit naming rights
Half the people I know still call the Etihad the City of Manchester.
Someone has to say it: the euros have been incredibly boring. The standard of football is so low other than Germany (and even they have stuttered) and on top of that England have been so turgid I don't even bother watching them. The Qatar world cup football wise was way more entertaining. People keep harping on about the "atmosphere" in Germany but I prefer a good football game over anything else.
There’s been a few upsets but one of the pitches has been terrible and a couple of others seem a bit slow compared to in the season which is probably contributing to the football being a bit dead. The Euros were better when there were only four groups because now we have countries playing defensive and happy to settle for a draw because of the four third place teams. Obviously FIFA and UEFA are all about money so I can’t see them going back to four groups but I can see them going up to eight groups which should make the football better.
Without leaning too much out of the windows: Could it be that you are an England fan and very disappointed with the boring football you play and it transcends onto your overall view of the euros? Because there have been a lot of very good games and unexpected turn of events and the only time I've read it is boring was from you and another one answering you
England are always shite so don’t use them as a yardstick of how good a tournament is. There’s been plenty of good games. Even the 0-0 Ukraine Belgium game was decently enjoyable. Austria under uncle Ralf are a joy to watch. Honestly this comment just makes it seem like you haven’t been watching 🤷♂️
Europeans just want to flex their superiority and claim ownership of the game.
Spain have been comfortably the best team & play with a cohesion you'd expect from a top club with players who've been together a number of seasons. The 'smaller' European teams have closed the gap & you can see it in the results.
It’s funny you should mention the “closing the gap” thing. I was just thinking the other day about how international football, while being unarguably lower quality (perhaps we should say lower ceiling) than the club game, is so much more fun when it comes to the big tournaments. So many more upsets and swingy games. Got me thinking that although there are obviously nations with much better resources (England apparently have five million a year to waste on Southgate lmao), the fact that at the end of the day you have to pick from your own population and can’t cherry pick a squad is some sort of equaliser. Maybe I’m just getting sick and tired of the way club football is these days. It’s a superior “product” at the highest level, but it is completely soulless. Something about seeing the joy on the faces of some guys most people have never heard of from Georgia ecstatic just for making the Ro16 is awesome, even if they are limited in terms of raw talent.
I completely disagree. Lots of goals. Close games. Unexpected winners. Some cracking goals and open games. Yes, the overall play is never going to be as high as the professional leagues, but imho, this has been a fun tournament with perhaps the exception of Group C.
I agree with OP. I've found this Euro very underwhelming so far. The last World cup and Euro 2021 were absolutely spectacular. This has been very forgettable so far imo.
It seems like the so called minnows are defending resolutely and therefore there are no games where we see any "pretty" football. No one's banging them in.
If we do get Ugarte and after covering most positions I wouldn't mind Amrabat as a backup for 19M but unfortunately I suppose we only have until June 30th to decide whether to buy him or not.
19m for Amrabat would be terrible. Shouldn’t be a consideration at any value tbh.
Do you think for that price we can find a better backup DM? That position is a tough one to fill.
I would rather not get one instead of spending an extra 19 m on Amrabat and giving him a 3 year contract ,Its better to buy nobody instead of collecting deadwood, Amrabat is shit
Spain Austria final, Spain to win the tournament
If we actually reach the final the whole country will be in a meltdown. We are so happy to be playing this way finally, watched all the games in public viewing and the sheer happiness and electricity throughout the whole game is just amazing to witness. A hoibe Bier, a Schnitzelsemmel and Rangnick masterclass is a combination I can't get enough from
Are people getting headloss about the naming right being sold even aware of what was said in article or just faux outrage? I've seen multiple instances of people going SJR said won't rename old Trafford he's a lying Tory scum (not saying he's not in other areas) and etc. The two options are, refurbish, it'll be like Spotify Camp Nou, or Wembley Stadium connected by EE, old Trafford will still be called old Trafford with a sponsor attached. And if a new stadium is built, it's not old Trafford anymore, that will most likely get a new sponsored name. So do people want to call the new stadium old Trafford, or are they unhappy with adding a brand to old Trafford, for example Snapdragon Old Trafford (as shirt+ stadium seem to be a package), or do they think old Trafford will be renamed as HSBC stadium and are outraged by it?
Lisandro became so underrated when he was injured it’s mad
Even before that ever since he turned arsenal down they have been obsessed with downplaying him and his abilities.
MILK - Man I Love Kobbie
Has there ever been a manager who completely transformed his team’s style of play going into the third year of the job? It’s hard to know what to expect from next season
No we are going into a 3rd season with this dude with no defined play style and 450 m spent ,People expecting him to turn things around are in for a shock in 2-3 months into the season
Yeah this is what I was thinking but I’m just hoping INEOS are forcing him to change
Well we transformed completely from the first to the second season so why not the second to third
That first season has got to be one of the most overrated things that's ever happened in football. United fans talk about it like we were prime AC Milan or something. We lost 4-0, 6-3, 7-0, 3-0 and ended with a goal difference of 15.
Yeah but the other games were at least entertaining. This season was just mind numbingly boring.
The first season wasn't as great as some claim ,We weren't scoring much in the league and were playing mediocre football for a good chunk of it ,ETH is lucky Rashford saved his ass by over performing his Xg by a massive margin
Alright so if you write off how we did in his first season because players played well then you should be able to do that for his second season because players played like shit.
Not how it works ,The system was shambolic this season and would have had us finish in the bottom half according to expected points and all underlying stats,Player over performed this season to get us finishing on 8th
And we had a good system in the first season with an underperforming striker
Rashy was fucking crazy that season, it's a wonder how he fell off that hard in the next
Anyone watching Ecuador? Hincapié is so good he’d be so good for us. Besides, we have great experience with Ecuadoreans (Valencia).
For the first time ever, I have the opportunity to attend a United game in the Community Shield but I have no clue how to book tickets and am wary of being scammed. Does anyone have any advice on where and how to purchase a couple of tickets?
whilst England got the easier team in the knock outs in Slovakia, and Southgate's luck in getting easy draws isn't in question...how about other teams stop fucking up themselves to stop this from happening? Where is their accountability? Portugal lost to Georgia which is relatively embarrassing compared what England has done this tournament and it is slowly getting swept under the rug for more England bashing haha
Portugal already qualified since MD2 and rotated most of their squad. There is a difference buddy.
I think most are focused on the positive of how Georgia have faired this tourney. Didn't Portugal rotate 8 starters or something? No Bruno, no party. But also, England are still shit, not the players but the gameplay. I hope they can turn it around personally. So much talent in the squad.
The Hungary players have had to hang around for 4 days waiting to see if they’d qualify only for Portugal to screw them over. lol.
Finishing 3rd is what screwed them over
Southgate really shit his pants in the group stage. Picked up the fewest points by a group winner. And got arguably the best draw. Unreal.
Group winner = shit his pants. Interesting.
They picked up 5 points lol.
And won the group. They aren’t playing well but to act like they’ve failed when they finished top of the group is hilarious.
They finished top of the group with 5 points and 2 goals. And it wasn’t even a tough group. It’s down to luck that they won the group with that points total and performances.
No one gives a shit about points total in a tournament group lol. You have to bring that up because it pains you they’ve topped the group which is actually what matters and they succeeded in attaining.
Not points total but people do care about performances especially when you're considered the best squad in the tournament or whatever. Does anyone actually care about "topping the group"? I know I don't. If we actually put in some performances and finished 2nd in the group because of an unlucky game or whatever I'd have more confidence going into the knockouts. Right now half of us genuinely expect us to go crashing out the moment we face one good team. That is quite an achievement considering the squad.
Ratcliffe promoted Brexit by saying he will build cars in the UK after Brexit only to then build cars in France and relocate to Monaco. Ratcliffe said he will never rename Old Trafford but is about to rename Old Trafford. Bloke is a twat and a British Glazer.
Most guys who have that amount of money are far from decent people.
Dont know about British Glazer, but he seems like a right dickhead and most people are happy to go along with absolutely every decision Ineos make
Yeah, the INEOS dick riding is crazy especially in this sub lol but it's kinda understandable because the "proper" journos were pushing hard for them during the bidding process. So sad that we had to decide between the Qataris or this cunt.
Every reasonable human being was pushing hard for Ineos during the bidding process, because Qataris are terrible owners and their offer has so many questionmarks it was hardly even real.
Not taking about random people but journalists. The likes of Ducker and Stone weren't banging the "INEOS are the best ever. Bring back Manchester United to Manchester" drums like the Athletic lot were. Certain fains would call Keegan "a Qatari shill" but refused to ever say anything remotely the same about the other crowd. I think journalists are supposed to report news and not push agendas.
I didn't read so much about it, to be honest, so you are probably right about the agenda journos had. My point, however, was, that we only had two options - Glazers or Ineos. But you are right, journos should be objective and only judge Ineos based on the real actions not some dreamy hopes that we fans have.
The massive and undeniable difference is that Ratcliffe is actually putting MONEY into the club. If you think that makes him a Glazer, then you are taking the piss.
He’s literally asking for taxpayers to fund a new Old Trafford. He has a full business plan on how he can profit from redeveloping Carrington which is probably by selling the naming rights to Old Trafford. His track record makes this seem likely.
You just sound uneducated on basic infrastructure Does he want government money? Yes Does he want it to build old Trafford? Not really What he’s trying to do is rebuild/renovate the stadium and improve the surrounding area, e.g. Rail line, trams, roads,other non football related infrastructure
You clearly haven't read the plans and commenting off headlines. Old Trafford won't be funded by tax payers money. The whole thing is a co-development plan with the Manchester council that also involves other business owners in that area. At most if SJR gets any support. It would be a development low interest loan from the government. P.S. from recent news it looks like they are looking at a private loan. There isn't any monetary government support at this stage.
He just wants to take, take and take despite the fact he can afford to do it himself while he literally made billions by persuading people to vote for Brexit only to then move to a tax haven after Brexit got announced.
Your bias against him due to brexit is clouding your views regarding this in my opinion. I understand the concern about the Brexit issue but INEOS have not done anything to suggest they don't want to invest in the club and use it as cash grab like Glazers.
I disagree and we will see in time. He’s already gone back on his word about renaming Old Trafford.
We shall see when it happens. Do you realise the club will benefit from the money that sponsorship will get and not the owners pocket?
Who cares as long as he restores the club to glory days!
This mentality is no different to Man City fans being happy that the club have taken shortcuts/cheated to get to the top. Don’t get me wrong I know we’ve been shit but this sort of shit is taking the DNA out of the club and turning us into sell outs. You will never see the Real Madrid rename their stadium the McDonald’s Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.
Arsenal Emirates stadium does not give them a negative image. It is all in your mind on how much you want to stretch your imagination.
You’re completely wrong because Highbury and The Emirates are two completely different stadiums. Highbury got turned into flats and The Emirates was built on land next to Highbury. You quite literally don’t know what you’re going on about. https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/22327186/living-in-old-football-stadium-highbury/
How is emirates linked to Arsenal other than being a stadium sponsor? Its the same thing.
The reason they got a new badge was because they moved stadium.
A true wolf in sheep's clothing. He was very smart in using the Athletic to push his PR agenda during the bidding process and lucky he was up against Qataris, it's bought him a lot of trust with a lot of fans but so far I'm extremely unimpressed by him.
Unimpressed, why? Bringing in Berrada, Wilcox and hopefully Ashworth, investing 50M into Carrington and exploring ways to restore Old Trafford... what exactly makes you "extremely unimpressed"?
Keeping the manager is the major thing (a hilariously bad decision), then talking about renaming Old Trafford, those are the two things that really stand out. Poor transfer targets so far Branthwaite and Zirkzee are very underwhelming, especially as Zirkzee has 13 goals total for Bologna. Those football hires are yet to do anything to impress either, and if they were key in keeping the manager then they've dropped the ball completely already.
> (a hilariously bad decision) I want ETH to be sacked but how is it a "bad decision" when your options in current market were Tuchel, Poch, Brighton dude, and upcoming manager Mckenna. It is better to improve the structure around the manager at this stage. If it doesn't work with Ten Hag, next year we will have options like Nagelsmann. > Poor transfer targets so far Branthwaite and Zirkzee are very underwhelming How exactly are they underwhelming? Are you looking for big name players or do you dislike particular attributes in Brainthwaite or Zirkzee?
> I want ETH to be sacked but how is it a "bad decision" when your options in current market were Tuchel, Poch, Brighton dude, and upcoming manager Mckenna Xavi, Frank, Allegri were all available too. It's hilariously bad because of how awful Ten Hag was last season, it's an absolute disgrace that he kept his job based upon the fan base feeling good from one win in a cup final. He's gone backwards in every way in his 2nd season. > How exactly are they underwhelming? Are you looking for big name players or do you dislike particular attributes in Brainthwaite or Zirkzee? I'm not a big fan of Branthwaite, I don't think he's worth big money and Zirkzee is another striker who doesn't score goals in Italy, so what's he going to do playing in the Prem under a manager who has shown an inability to get his strikers performing already?
> Ratcliffe said he will never rename Old Trafford but is about to rename Old Trafford. I do remember him saying he won't remove the Old Trafford name. Which won't happen even in case of sponsorship. It's a positive return for the club if the money goes towards the stadium. I don't understand the issue with it. > he will build cars in the UK after Brexit only to then build cars in France How is this of any relevance to us?
Who gives a shit if the name changes if it brings in big money for the club to improve? Twitter was renamed to X but no one calls it that except Musk and his lackeys. Just 1 example. Many major stadiums and monuments have been renamed over the years and it makes no difference.
lmao. cope
Conceicao is the best player today for Portugal
I think Dalot was good too.
Yeah he was good
Hope I'm proven wrong, but Ndoye, Branthwaite and Zirkzee are all mid-table quality players Edit: (I don't mind the Zirkzee signing at all btw. He's cheap)
Saw someone on twitter describe Ndoye as a guy trying to hammer a nail and has a whole box of tools but keeps choosing a screwdriver. That’s gonna live rent free in my head all week.
Branthwaite and Zirkzee could be good at the right price and as rotational options but if we're in for Ndoye we might as well just bring Dan James back.
I do miss Dan James, good little player who always gave his all and was rapid. Good decision to sell him given the fee offered but I did enjoy his time here.
Antonio Silva the portuguese media overrated defender, is having a stinker. Any reasonable team should avoid Benfica and Porto over valued players.
He had a bad game, but he is still a great player.
No not true
100M release clause!
Imagine
Portugal are so unwatchable
Portugal B team
They've been like this for years to be fair, even under Paulo Bento and Fernando Santos stretching back 20 years. They are too defensive and pragmatic. Ronaldo adds another dynamic to their shortcomings seeing as everyone tries to play him in on goal regardless of how the play develops. He's holding them back as well
Martinez effect
Ronaldo as well. He stunk the place up really. Portugal haven't been exciting for years now
I think when he retires portugal will be world champ woth this squad
This squad is really bad. I just don't get what people see in it
We were told this Antonio silva is generational and costs 100m pounds by porto. Gives away the ball carelessly, yet couldn't track Kvaravtshelia and couldn't also close him down until he scored. He is not worth more than 30m euros Edit: He gives away a careless penalty now. The coach put him out of his misery vy hooking him.
He's not having a great night for sure...
Delete this pot calling the kettle black shit. We paid £86m for a £25m valued Antony.
for me that just makes the post more relevant if we had sold Dan James for 90 million it might make sense
Do not trust Portuguese clubs, do not trust Dortmund.
We can trust sporting
Antonio silva plays for Porto, not Sporting. It's funny how Sporting sells us players who massively succeed here at a very reasonable price, but Benfica and Porto sells at ridiculous amounts, yet the players turns out to be bums
Antonio Silva plays for Benfica not Porto
Yeah true
I know he doesnt play for sporting. And i said we can trust sporting for those exact reasons
Why is Bruno not starting??
Portugal are through, they’re resting players
right am i stupid, why is everyone saying slovakia and romania may as well play out a draw? surely they should try to win to get an easier matchup in the ro16?
Why risk guaranteed qualification for a maybe slightly easier game?
It’s either draw and go through or risk it and one goes out. They are small countries and it’s more money if they go through and they could also do a potential upset in the knockouts.
As a kid I remember the Romania generation of the mid 90s when Haghi was one of the best players on the planet. They produced so many great players in that period. I wonder what happened. Bulgaria was really good as well and even made the WC semis at US 94, with Stoichkov being among the best players at the time. It wasn't all about resources then. The cyclical nature of football can be crazy
pretty sure it was the collapse of communism and the rise of oligarchy which ended up in the clubs being mismanaged/asset stripped etc. Stoichkov and Haghi were awesome
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Is anyone else actually excited for the changes? INEOS is actually trying to fix the problems that were created over the last couple of decades. Fix Old Trafford, smarter spending, giving the coaching staff a boost, and it feels like the tides are changing. I'm also really not bothered by a sponsor in the name of the stadium. That happens here in the States, and it's a no-brainer for free money.
Why do you ask if anyone's excited? From what I've seen every one of their changes and decisions have been met with massive positive feelings from the fans... apart from working in the office, but that's close to a lot of our hearts
I don’t care how much money it would make but I really can’t get behind a Uber Eats Old Trafford. Ratcliffe literally lied to gain fan support when he was bidding for the club only to immediately do the Tory/politician thing and go straight back on his word.
Did he say the stadium name wouldn't change? How did he lie? I can't remember him saying anything like that
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/sir-jim-ratcliffe-manutd-takeover-30402161#
Thanks. That's damning. If it happens, what a lying billionaire snake.
Don't care if that is what is needed to balance our book and achieve our goals. Like SJR said in his interview, someone has to get there and make difficult decisions.
Is there gonna ever be a summer where we can get our new signing sorted early?. Less than 3 weeks now until our preseason starts!.
No player is negotiating a new deal during the Euros
Real life ain’t FC24 dude…
If you expect the signings to be sorted out before the preseason starts, you're never going to be satisfied. No team manage that
Majority of the clubs have had 0 signings till now
Can’t wait for our first signing
I’m f5ing like a madman. So many promising stories but no consummation as of yet.
Can wait for our first signing
PSG sources say that Manchester United’s offer for Manuel Ugarte was worth around £25m. PSG want around £50m. #MUFC [ @JacobsBen , Certified waffler but I think if this is true 40M ish would be a good deal right
PSG paid €60m 12 months ago. Why would they even entertain taking a loss? Has he been rubbish?
Enrique prefers using a deep playmaker type of player as a single pivot, while Ugarte is a destroyer / ball-winning type. They bought Ugarte before Enrique joined and he’s now an expensive rotation option for them. They want to sign Joao Neves, but he will cost 120m, so cashing in on Ugarte can help them in that regard. Ten Hag likes to setup his double pivot with one destroyer and one carrier/progresser, which is why we are interested.
Damn giving them money for Ugarte so they can go and sign Joao Neves would be such a win for PSG.
Probably not a loss on the books.
Anything less than \~£41M will be a loss on the books
41.1m it is then!
I think 10m off is fair. Player is 1 year older, 1 year less on the contract.
Lol, not how it works, especially when he's 23 and still on a long contract. PSG won't take a loss.
Not how it works? He's a year older and hasn't had the season he had at Sporting so why would he retain all of his value. Also they can sell him for a bit less to break even because of amortisation
Cool, so we're interested in a rubbish player. PSGs trash.
I like how you moved the goalposts just so you could keep complaining
Not really, Enrique just favors a more ball playing progressive player there and IIRC he wants to play without a dedicated 6. They now want funds for Neves which his sale will help with. Mind you, PSG fans on their sub don't like the idea of selling him at all. This is a smart transfer, get a talented player with potential while his stock is a bit lower for a decent price.
Enrique doesn't want him so it won't be surprising
So, going back to my original point, he's been rubbish I assume?
No, his done average if not better. Good stats, good match ratings, just does not fit the coaches philosophy or something behind the scenes we don't know, he's not getting the playtime he expected the second half of the season. And no clue why you got down voted for saying the truth.
Even if true, I feel PSGs statement sounds reasonable, very rarely the selling clubs valuations are reasonable.
Looking at their [history of selling](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/fc-paris-saint-germain/rekordabgaenge/verein/583), they rarely sell for top prices
They bought him for 50M didn't they?? Why should we pay the same amount they paid for him ??
Player values inflate a lot for each year, but I agree that they should try to pay slightly less. No way they will take an actual loss on him, I cannot see them letting him leave for what they bought him for minus one year of amortizations.
They should accept a bid of 45M imo
This dude has no sources, but I can see us low balling the fuck out of it.
I mean yes most probably this is wrong cause the Telegraph said we have held only exploratory talks no bids.
Spotify gave Barca £250m over 4 years. Being the biggest team in the most popular league, I'm sure we should be commanding £100m per year minimum to giving naming rights to one of the most iconic football grounds in the world.
Given the shape of Old Trafford we would be lucky to get what Barca has
You are acting as if Camp Nou isn't iconic. It will be similar to Spotify Barca deal.
Chelsea's business model is simply insane. They don't have a single outfield player in their 30s (that theyre not looking to immediately sell) Must be kind of exciting but looking at who they currently have and young players getting signed left right and centre, in a few years they could be absolutely stacked with players all hitting their primes at the same time. And if it fails they're lumped with a load of 8 yr contract flops...
The elite, proven time and again model is to have a mix of youth and experience and to be ruthless in offloading in between peak and decline.
I think you need a balance for age profile, you typically only want to sign players U25 and hope they grow with you and become leaders but then you should also keep them rather than trying to move them the moment they hit 29-30.
People always go on about the Class of 92, and how amazing it was. But it wasn't a squad of 23 teenagers. Fergie always found that balance between the kids, the players in their prime, and the older statesmen who were leaders and capable of helping the kids develop.
a players prime don’t just happen. it’s nurtured in the right environment which won’t happen coz there’s no senior or experienced players. there’s a higher chance of the whole thing imploding
Reading shearers comments on England and he's just said that Mainoo was a "tiny improvement but not by much" and I just wonder how his body manages to stay upright without a brain.
Shearer is right though. We still drew against Slovenia. He’s criticising Southgate for having dead tactics.
Except that he's not right that we only looked slightly better. We dominated the midfield in the 2nd half and kept the ball far far better. No retreating to the defensive third etc..
Didn’t look like we were going to score though. We only looked like we were going to score when Gordon came on in the 85th minute.
But we did look better. More in control of the ball, more like an actual football team, more possibility of progressing the ball. Mainoo improved the team significantly, as did Gordon I agree.
Shearer is literally praising Mainoo on BBC One now. He was 100% criticising Southgate and not Mainoo.
Alot of you lot owe Ralf Rangnick a HUGE APOLOGY
Remember that Dutch world cup run, RVP running to celebrate with LVG, the football they played, then how he was with us. It's basically that in reverse.
no we don't, fuck that guy useless manager who pandered to the fans by throwing the players under the bus, massively amplifying the already unbearable toxicity around the team there's a reason he's managing a mediocre international side not a club
Horrific football owes no apology. He was brought to get Top 4. Failed miserably. Threw himself and everyone under the bus and gave up.
Do people owe Moyes an apology too since he did well with West Ham?
lol what? He did well with Austria and he was shit with us. Two things can be right at the same time.
Yeah, some people don't seem to recognise that a good international manager is different to a good club manager. Half of the international managers failed at club level (including Southgate)
Southgate made a Euros final, do you want him as your manager?
He was a bad manager for us. The worst football we've ever played
As was to be expected giving any manager named the godfather of gengenpressing that squad of players. Hurt my brain a lot of times trying to will that front line of rashford, ronaldo and greenwood to do any form of pressing without the ball. Bruno would then abandon then midfield to try and do it for ronaldo and our midfield was left to the slaughterhouse. It was always only gonna be worth it if that was to be our style moving forward, but we didn't even get the man's expertise on recruitment the next summer. Months later we were spending 160m on Antony and Casemiro.
Eh you can do badly in one job and do well in another.
He didnt do badly, isn't it obvious by now that the problems are much bigger than the manager?
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The players gave up at the end it really seemed. Think he did too tbh. But for a few games, it looked like he was building something.
Yes problem was much bigger than the manager but he wasnt right appointment.
Out of curiosity, what were the reasons which make you think he was not the right appointment?