Fergie's 4 year theory

Originally Posted by History

Technically we did, Valencia and Obertan came in, fair enough we bought potential, but that's fergie's policy, he's looking at the future.

If we had bought these very good players, what does that say to the likes of Nani and Anderson? They go for a starters we don't see them. Lets not forget we wouldnt of bought hernandez etc..

valencia was bought as ronaldo's replacement for £17m or whatever it was. an inferior player, but then every player in the world would have been inferior bar messi. valencia was a superb signing, a real united player in attitude and attributes imo.

i get the feeling it's all about names on here at times. if we'd bought aguero or ozil and he'd had valencia's season people would have been #@&%!-a-hoop and saying we'd finally bought quality etc. because it's valencia and we got him from wigan it's a different story.

Originally Posted by borsuk

valencia was bought as ronaldo's replacement for £17m or whatever it was. an inferior player, but then every player in the world would have been inferior bar messi. valencia was a superb signing, a real united player in attitude and attributes imo.

i get the feeling it's all about names on here at times. if we'd bought aguero or ozil and he'd had valencia's season people would have been #@&%!-a-hoop and saying we'd finally bought quality etc. because it's valencia and we got him from wigan it's a different story.

Even Madrid were after valencia last season, but big dave had a word and told him to come here, top red

Originally Posted by borsuk

valencia was bought as ronaldo's replacement for £17m or whatever it was. an inferior player, but then every player in the world would have been inferior bar messi. valencia was a superb signing, a real united player in attitude and attributes imo.

i get the feeling it's all about names on here at times. if we'd bought aguero or ozil and he'd had valencia's season people would have been #@&%!-a-hoop and saying we'd finally bought quality etc. because it's valencia and we got him from wigan it's a different story.

completely agree. people on here lose their hard-ons as soon as we sign a player from the premier league.

Valencia was always arriving, regardless of what happened with Ronaldo.

Can you honestly say that United, pre Glazer, would have sold Ronaldo for £80m and not bought a suitable top class player to replace him? Really?

People make out Fergie has always signed people like Obertan, he's signed a few which have rarely worked out. We have broke various transfer records since Fergie has been here, yes he's signed some good squad players too, but obviously the prices in the past are not relevant now.

I remember someone on here trying to justify United's lack of spending by mentioning a price for a player we signed in the 90's ffs. Of course it was gonna be a lower price then.

It's not just about signing loads of top players, yes, we should have signed one to replace Ronaldo but there are plenty of good young players like Henderson who would improve us, imo. Sadly it seems United don't even bother trying to compete for players like him anymore. Can people please stop making out people who feel United are not strengthening the squad in accordance with our revenue are just moaning because they want loads of youtubeinhos.

Not blaming Fergie, I'm blaming the Glazers.

Oh and Valencia was a good signing.

I thought it was pretty apparent that Valencia was coming when it became crystal clear that Ronaldo was leaving (duering his final season). If the latter had stayed I don't think he'd have been signed at all.

Agree with what Offer's says above re English - or even British - players, overrated/shit always gets trotted out and tied in to inflated fees. Them the breaks, and the rules now mean clubs will be battling for a few more.

MUFC, out of interest which top class wide player would you have signed to replace Ronaldo? I still look around today and I don't see much, just like there was backj then. A lot of potential, but a lot of frustrating players.

I don't see team's ever replacing players of that calibre like for like. The side has to evolve and we've done pretty well out of the Valencia signing.

It's the Obertan and Bebe business I take issue with.

Originally Posted by MUFC One Love

Valencia was always arriving, regardless of what happened with Ronaldo.

Can you honestly say that United, pre Glazer, would have sold Ronaldo for £80m and not bought a suitable top class player to replace him? Really?

People make out Fergie has always signed people like Obertan, he's signed a few which have rarely worked out. We have broke various transfer records since Fergie has been here, yes he's signed some good squad players too, but obviously the prices in the past are not relevant now.

I remember someone on here trying to justify United's lack of spending by mentioning a price for a player we signed in the 90's ffs. Of course it was gonna be a lower price then.

It's not just about signing loads of top players, yes, we should have signed one to replace Ronaldo but there are plenty of good young players like Henderson who would improve us, imo. Sadly it seems United don't even bother trying to compete for players like him anymore. Can people please stop making out people who feel United are not strengthening the squad in accordance with our revenue are just moaning because they want loads of youtubeinhos.

Not blaming Fergie, I'm blaming the Glazers.

Oh and Valencia was a good signing.

wtf does 'was always arriving' mean? presumably ronaldo 'was always leaving' as well? in any case, imo berbatov was bought in part to replace ronaldo, to give us more creativity up front for the time when ronaldo left. the squad is in constant development, it's not the case that we buy a player when one leaves ffs, fergie is always aware of who is moving on and when, and where the squad needs strengthening. that kind of constant reinvention is the thing that most sets him apart from every one of his peers, the reason why he has had constant unbroken success for two decades in all sorts of environments. the test isn't the player's name ('a top player') but how they play when they come and what they bring to the squad.


henderson might improve us, he's a good prospect and i've talked about him for a while. so is mccarthy at wigan and others. so is hernandez, so is smalling, so are our youngsters out on loan. not sure why you think 'we just don't compete' for players like him any more when we've just brought in two of the best young prospects in the league in those two and when two of our own young players in nani and anderson are just starting to produce what they are capable of after a fairly lengthy process of finding their feet?


honestly, you'd think the squad was falling apart reading that. take a look at the league table mate and at the youngsters coming through. take a look at the quality of our squad compared to any of our rivals'. chelsea are falling apart and half their squad is over the hill or not good enough. arsenal is the same old flimsy arsenal with the usual catastrophic back five. spurs have a squad that, despite the £#%&!athon on here, is more or less good enough for them to scrape into fourth. city have spent upwards of half a billion quid and are still pedestrian and struggle to break teams down, half their squad wants out and they'll be £#%&!ed when the financial fair play rules come in. liverpool are in freefall.


every club in the league is feeling the effects of the 25-man squad rule and every club in european competition is preparing for the financial fair play regulations to come in. in terms of squad strength and balance, united are probably the best-placed club in england and looking at the players we have and listening to fergie we look well-set to have a squad made up of genuine home-grown talent but capable of challenging at the top level in a couple of years. the only question mark i can see is replacing giggs and scholes because a squad needs a balance of experience and youth, big names and kids. investment will be needed there to bring in players with the right kind of status and experience to guide the kids' development, and it will cost to do that.

Originally Posted by Whalefish

MUFC, out of interest which top class wide player would you have signed to replace Ronaldo? I still look around today and I don't see much, just like there was backj then. A lot of potential, but a lot of frustrating players.

I'll hold my hands up and say that I wanted us to splash some of that cash on Ribery.

Glad we didn't go down that route. He's overrated IMO.