Viewing Thread:
"What's Fergie Playing At??!"

Here we are at the start of a new year, 2003, and this shambles of a `Transfer Window` is currently forcing money-strapped clubs into spending sprees of madness as we enter the final 2 weeks of time left before this whole thing blows shut again untill sometime in the Summer. Steve Bruce and his Birmingham City have undoubtabley done better-than-all-the-rest when it comes to bargain-buys at this time of the season with 4 new faces already at St.Andrews while 2 more - including Arsenal's Mattew Upson - could also be on their way within the next few weeks. The former-Man United skipper who was never even once capped for England knows that time is running-out for his side to save-their-season, and I think he's done a very good job of it in the market so-far. And even West Ham have got a well-known new face in, with one-or-two-more also in contention for a place at Upton Park too.

This may be very-good and all for the clubs down the bottom who are struggling at the wrong-end of the table, but what surprises, and concerns me is that the likes of Man United, Arsenal and Chelsea don't seem to be taking much notice of this oppurtunity when they are the ones with a clear financial advantage over the rest of them who often struggle to get a famous-face in. With clubs in-need of money thanks to last-season's TV revenue collapses and many younger players looking to move-on to `bigger things`, you'd think that this would be the perfect time for the boards and United, Chelsea and Liverpool to give their managers what they need in order to sharpen-up their squad in preparation to do-battle with Arsenal for the title.
However, Sir Alex Ferguson hasn't even spent a penny yet! The same can also be said for Claudio Ranieri who clearly needs something new in his side (aswell as more English lessons!), then there's Gerard Houllier who could soon lose his job unless he can do something special, and even Sir Bobby Robson's just sitting back in his chair and letting this once-in-a-season-time chance pass-him buy!

With Arsenal leading the pack by a distinct margin, and on good-form too, Fergie will have to pull-out something very-special if he still believes United have even the slightest of chances of winning-back the league title with the current squad he has!

Is just strikes me to see that one of the greatest managers of our time hasn't even spent a penny yet, when it's clear we need something new at both ends of the pitch.
OK, so both United and Newcastle have been in-talks with Marseille regarding the Belgian internation van Buyten. But since Marseille said "Not untill the end of the season!", it's clear that Sir Alex needs to move-on and go for No.2 on his list.
That could be Jullien Escudé of Rennes... A player who was on-show in the recent French First Division match between both van Buyten's Marseille AND Escudé's Rennes, and the un-retiring Scotsman was there to see it all.
It's clear that Sir Alex has a keen-interest in this talked-about young French left-back after transfer talks between the 2 clubs suddenly fell-apart right-before the August deadline at the start of this season, so I expect to see "Escudé" in the 'papers a lot more. But back then after having captured Rio Ferdinand and Ricardo, he just simply ran-out-of-time to complete the deal, and therefore lost-out.
I remember transfer negotiations going on for a good 2 weeks - and that is almost-exactly how much time we have left untill all-sales-end, and I fear that once again Sir Alex may've left it too-late to get Escudé; the man he has been chasing for so-long.

But is Julien Escudé the right man in the first place??
Can you honestly say you HAD heard of this player before mid-August last-year (no, that's the tennis player he's related to!)? At a young age with such little experience for what we really need, I fail to see how he could be the man to help solve all out defensive problems for a good long while at least. Sure, he can play at left-back, and that would allow Silvestre to drop-in alongside Rio Ferdinand, but I honestly haven't seen a single player in the Premiership play better down that left-side than Mickael Silvestre this season! Nope, not even Ashley Cole. So why would Fergie have to go and mess that one up, just like he seems to have done buy selling both Yorke and Cole, AND by delaying his retirement??!
The type of defender we should be looking for is a proven centre-back with a fair bit of experience at a number of different levels for a good deal of money. But obviously, we don't want another £30m under-achiever here, so things would have to be thought-out wisely -- but time is running-out....!

Perhaps the Belgian international van Buyten was the man to come-in and to fill-in Jaap Stam's boots that are a size too-big for the ageing Laurent Blanc? Perhpas not...
All I do know is that Sir Alex Ferguson does not appear to have planned his time management here as well as he should've, aswell as all us United fans were all hoping. I find it hard to believe we are in-talks with a big-name centre-back without the media having printed ANYTHING about it yet!

And then there's this whole issue of a new striker to play alongside Ruud van Nistelrooy. With only Ole Solskjaer and Diego Forlan ready to come-in, you can see why we are fans concerned that we could blow-it-all-away - just like last-season after Andy Cole signed for Blackburn. Good news here though as we've been linked with Barcelon ace Patrick Kluivert. But of course, as our luck goes, he's more-than-happy to give the Premiership another-miss right now. But he's just the kind of player we'd need really... He'd be ideal! Not only will he and van Nistelrooy know each-other well from international football with Holland, but Kluivert is the one player out-there who can play that tedious "supporting-role" of Paul Scholes, AND score goals if the time does come again when Ruud's out injured and we need another goal-scorer - a Kluivert, not a Forlan! Barcelona haven't been doing too-well this season at all, so Kluvert can't be too-happy over in the Nou Camp. Why can't Ferguson just go-over and tempt the Dutchman to the Theatre of Dreams with talk of 4 shiny, silver trophies coming our-way in May?? That sound a LOT better than being stuck 9th in the Primera Liga! I know where I'd go!

I've read a great deal about Sunderland's David Bellion during the last 2 weeks, and how he's apparently "set-to-sign" within the next few days, but that's only from one... maybe two sources, and you can't believe everything you read in the paper!
From the very-little I've seen of him, I can safely say that he is not a goal-scorer - unlike Patrick Kluivert. But he does have pace - like Duff - and he's even been tipped to become "the next Thierry Henry"! So signing a future World Cup-winner and leading-goalscorer who isn't a "striker" can't be a bad thing!
But aside from what I've read in the odd Sunday newspaper, I've heard nothing else. So how can I even be sure that Sir Alex Ferguson even knows who he is??!
Still, £3m sounds like a bargain for this guy!
Will it ever happen???

We have also been linked with Damien Duff, but as a goal-scorer, I still feel that Kluivert's the man. Duff, however, does have his good-points too...
Unless you're an old grandad with very-slow reaction and interpretation speeds, you will have noticed that Ryan Giggs hasn't been his usual speedy self this season, and his pace is something we have been missing dearly all-season. Even if Blackburn won't let him go, the young Irishman proved in the World Cup-alone that he is one who'll always be up for a good serging-run-or-two. He may not be a goal-scorer like Kluivert, but he'd certainly lighten-up our attack with his speed, and create chances while also acting as a decent backup player for ol' hamstrung Giggsy in that Paul Scholes role. But a number of proven goal-scorers have already passed-us-by, inlcuding Robbie Fowler who is more-or-less a City player now. Who cares is he's an ex-Leeds and Liverpool man - he can score goals!

All United have been hearing so far is "No!", and unless Sir Alex really gets moving United could find themselves with the same-old-squad for the rest of the season; Laurent Blanc looking just-about-ready to keel-over in the middle of the pitch, with chance-after-chance falling to Diego Forlan, who has a very-dissapointing goals-per-games ratio. I don't know what Mr.Ferguson is playing at, but we don't have that long left. We'll be very-lucky to have at least one new and recognisable face in before our Second-Leg League Cup Semi-Final against Cole and Yorke's Blackburn with only 15 days remaining.

For a manager who is supposedly one of the world's best when it comes to... `managing`, he doesn't seem to be doing his job that well, now, does he?!
We may have done incredibley-well so far with the limited resources we'd had while the window's been shut, but this squad ain't gonna get us everywhere! Especially while other clubs we will soon be facing are stocking-up as we speak...!
Now's a better time than any-other if he really wants all-four cups!

I agree that O'Shea and Brown may be able to do the job in the league and domestic cups, but what about Europe?

Against a team like Real Madrid (which we'll surely reach if we reach the Semi's or even the Final) we're going to need international players with experience who know what it's really like to play against the likes of Raul, Ronaldo, and Zidane.
Brown and O'Shea don't really know what it's like, and would not be able to deal with the pressure. But at least we have Laurent Blanc... But even with his experience he's not exactly the most-reliable man you'd want at the back.

Signing someone cheap is one thing, keeping the squad wage bill to an acceptable level is another. I think that any player that Man Utd got, for example, would demand a hefty salary (in line with his new collegues) however cheaply he was bought for. For once it looks like the big clubs have overreached themselves or there are no affordable world class players available.

Upson should go to West Ham if he had any sense.

Fowler is still up for grabs seeing as his City move has fallen through.

Perhaps another striker is needed, but its still a squad of around 20 internationals.

I'm thinking most of the money will saved for *big* money signings in the summer.

I've been thinking about that too, and with only 2 weeks to go, I too fear that will win end-up with no-one new in our squad, and that could cause us to literally throw-away some - if not all - of the 4 trophies we're challenging for, even if we've done well so far, in the "easier" stages.

You know how long negotiations can go on for, and we may just not have that times now that he appears have no-one else on his list who could be captured in time!

If only he'd started things sooner...
You can't *BUY* or *SIGN* players outside of the window's opening, but you can *NEGOTIATE* with clubs and players to agree deals that will go through when the window re-opens. That's what he should've done; got the deals done then so we'd have only had to pay for them now!

You beat me to the punch with this post, im so bloody frustrated it's hard to belive why Fergie is going for defenders in the first place? OK so we need cover at the back - but it's not an emergency, we can do that in the summer as we have the likes of Brown, O'Shea as emerginging talents.

What we need is GOALS and we should really be looking for a striking partner for Ruud or someone to give him some cover upfront, rather than stick midfielders up there and hope they will come through and do the same job - it just doesn't work that way.

I still think that Robbie Fowler at £7.5 Million would have been perfect for us to partner Ruud and also Ole, who at the moment would eb available good enough to do that other than Fowler?

Instead we are looking at the cheap options and trying to sign £8 mill defenders when there is no bloody (clean as I could be) possible. The worse thing is I don't think we'll end up buying anyone in January.

Here we are at the start of a new year, 2003, and this shambles of a `Transfer Window` is currently forcing money-strapped clubs into spending sprees of madness as we enter the final 2 weeks of time left before this whole thing blows shut again untill sometime in the Summer. Steve Bruce and his Birmingham City have undoubtabley done better-than-all-the-rest when it comes to bargain-buys at this time of the season with 4 new faces already at St.Andrews while 2 more - including Arsenal's Mattew Upson - could also be on their way within the next few weeks. The former-Man United skipper who was never even once capped for England knows that time is running-out for his side to save-their-season, and I think he's done a very good job of it in the market so-far. And even West Ham have got a well-known new face in, with one-or-two-more also in contention for a place at Upton Park too.

This may be very-good and all for the clubs down the bottom who are struggling at the wrong-end of the table, but what surprises, and concerns me is that the likes of Man United, Arsenal and Chelsea don't seem to be taking much notice of this oppurtunity when they are the ones with a clear financial advantage over the rest of them who often struggle to get a famous-face in. With clubs in-need of money thanks to last-season's TV revenue collapses and many younger players looking to move-on to `bigger things`, you'd think that this would be the perfect time for the boards and United, Chelsea and Liverpool to give their managers what they need in order to sharpen-up their squad in preparation to do-battle with Arsenal for the title.
However, Sir Alex Ferguson hasn't even spent a penny yet! The same can also be said for Claudio Ranieri who clearly needs something new in his side (aswell as more English lessons!), then there's Gerard Houllier who could soon lose his job unless he can do something special, and even Sir Bobby Robson's just sitting back in his chair and letting this once-in-a-season-time chance pass-him buy!

With Arsenal leading the pack by a distinct margin, and on good-form too, Fergie will have to pull-out something very-special if he still believes United have even the slightest of chances of winning-back the league title with the current squad he has!

Is just strikes me to see that one of the greatest managers of our time hasn't even spent a penny yet, when it's clear we need something new at both ends of the pitch.
OK, so both United and Newcastle have been in-talks with Marseille regarding the Belgian internation van Buyten. But since Marseille said "Not untill the end of the season!", it's clear that Sir Alex needs to move-on and go for No.2 on his list.
That could be Jullien Escudé of Rennes... A player who was on-show in the recent French First Division match between both van Buyten's Marseille AND Escudé's Rennes, and the un-retiring Scotsman was there to see it all.
It's clear that Sir Alex has a keen-interest in this talked-about young French left-back after transfer talks between the 2 clubs suddenly fell-apart right-before the August deadline at the start of this season, so I expect to see "Escudé" in the 'papers a lot more. But back then after having captured Rio Ferdinand and Ricardo, he just simply ran-out-of-time to complete the deal, and therefore lost-out.
I remember transfer negotiations going on for a good 2 weeks - and that is almost-exactly how much time we have left untill all-sales-end, and I fear that once again Sir Alex may've left it too-late to get Escudé; the man he has been chasing for so-long.

But is Julien Escudé the right man in the first place??
Can you honestly say you HAD heard of this player before mid-August last-year (no, that's the tennis player he's related to!)? At a young age with such little experience for what we really need, I fail to see how he could be the man to help solve all out defensive problems for a good long while at least. Sure, he can play at left-back, and that would allow Silvestre to drop-in alongside Rio Ferdinand, but I honestly haven't seen a single player in the Premiership play better down that left-side than Mickael Silvestre this season! Nope, not even Ashley Cole. So why would Fergie have to go and mess that one up, just like he seems to have done buy selling both Yorke and Cole, AND by delaying his retirement??!
The type of defender we should be looking for is a proven centre-back with a fair bit of experience at a number of different levels for a good deal of money. But obviously, we don't want another £30m under-achiever here, so things would have to be thought-out wisely -- but time is running-out....!

Perhaps the Belgian international van Buyten was the man to come-in and to fill-in Jaap Stam's boots that are a size too-big for the ageing Laurent Blanc? Perhpas not...
All I do know is that Sir Alex Ferguson does not appear to have planned his time management here as well as he should've, aswell as all us United fans were all hoping. I find it hard to believe we are in-talks with a big-name centre-back without the media having printed ANYTHING about it yet!

And then there's this whole issue of a new striker to play alongside Ruud van Nistelrooy. With only Ole Solskjaer and Diego Forlan ready to come-in, you can see why we are fans concerned that we could blow-it-all-away - just like last-season after Andy Cole signed for Blackburn. Good news here though as we've been linked with Barcelon ace Patrick Kluivert. But of course, as our luck goes, he's more-than-happy to give the Premiership another-miss right now. But he's just the kind of player we'd need really... He'd be ideal! Not only will he and van Nistelrooy know each-other well from international football with Holland, but Kluivert is the one player out-there who can play that tedious "supporting-role" of Paul Scholes, AND score goals if the time does come again when Ruud's out injured and we need another goal-scorer - a Kluivert, not a Forlan! Barcelona haven't been doing too-well this season at all, so Kluvert can't be too-happy over in the Nou Camp. Why can't Ferguson just go-over and tempt the Dutchman to the Theatre of Dreams with talk of 4 shiny, silver trophies coming our-way in May?? That sound a LOT better than being stuck 9th in the Primera Liga! I know where I'd go!

I've read a great deal about Sunderland's David Bellion during the last 2 weeks, and how he's apparently "set-to-sign" within the next few days, but that's only from one... maybe two sources, and you can't believe everything you read in the paper!
From the very-little I've seen of him, I can safely say that he is not a goal-scorer - unlike Patrick Kluivert. But he does have pace - like Duff - and he's even been tipped to become "the next Thierry Henry"! So signing a future World Cup-winner and leading-goalscorer who isn't a "striker" can't be a bad thing!
But aside from what I've read in the odd Sunday newspaper, I've heard nothing else. So how can I even be sure that Sir Alex Ferguson even knows who he is??!
Still, £3m sounds like a bargain for this guy!
Will it ever happen???

We have also been linked with Damien Duff, but as a goal-scorer, I still feel that Kluivert's the man. Duff, however, does have his good-points too...
Unless you're an old grandad with very-slow reaction and interpretation speeds, you will have noticed that Ryan Giggs hasn't been his usual speedy self this season, and his pace is something we have been missing dearly all-season. Even if Blackburn won't let him go, the young Irishman proved in the World Cup-alone that he is one who'll always be up for a good serging-run-or-two. He may not be a goal-scorer like Kluivert, but he'd certainly lighten-up our attack with his speed, and create chances while also acting as a decent backup player for ol' hamstrung Giggsy in that Paul Scholes role. But a number of proven goal-scorers have already passed-us-by, inlcuding Robbie Fowler who is more-or-less a City player now. Who cares is he's an ex-Leeds and Liverpool man - he can score goals!

All United have been hearing so far is "No!", and unless Sir Alex really gets moving United could find themselves with the same-old-squad for the rest of the season; Laurent Blanc looking just-about-ready to keel-over in the middle of the pitch, with chance-after-chance falling to Diego Forlan, who has a very-dissapointing goals-per-games ratio. I don't know what Mr.Ferguson is playing at, but we don't have that long left. We'll be very-lucky to have at least one new and recognisable face in before our Second-Leg League Cup Semi-Final against Cole and Yorke's Blackburn with only 15 days remaining.

For a manager who is supposedly one of the world's best when it comes to... `managing`, he doesn't seem to be doing his job that well, now, does he?!
We may have done incredibley-well so far with the limited resources we'd had while the window's been shut, but this squad ain't gonna get us everywhere! Especially while other clubs we will soon be facing are stocking-up as we speak...!
Now's a better time than any-other if he really wants all-four cups!