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[h=1]How a huge summer gamble brought Man Utd back from the brink[/h] By Eurosport 4 September 2014 11:41 Pitchside Europe
Yet however random the hugely expensive splurge engaged in by United may have appeared over the last few weeks, there has unquestionably been method in the apparent madness. Louis Van Gaal had not taken long to recognise that he had been bequeathed a squad which was not up to par. The very fact he went on tour with a party that lacked a No. 7 and a No. 9 would have given him a clue.
Van Gaal quickly recognised he was going to win nothing with the mix of wannabes and never-weres furring up the club arteries. While principal deficiencies have been long obvious at the back and in central midfield, the Dutchman was aware that the lack of depth spread further. After watching his expensively assembled front three of Wayne Rooney, Robin van Persie and Juan Mata redefine the term lacklustre against Burnley last weekend, Van Gaal would have appreciated he needed reinforcements up front as urgently as he did at the back.
[TOM ADAMS: MAN UTD'S IDENTITY DEPARTED LONG BEFORE DANNY WELBECK]
Not trusting the alternatives available to him in Javier Hernandez and Danny Welbeck, he clearly issued instructions to Woodward to land him someone as the window shut with a goalscoring record and a bit of pace to give him a choice beyond the trundling trio in possession of the shirts. So, never mind the eye-watering scale of the price tag, Falcao was brought in as much to concentrate minds as to score goals.
Indeed, even while they ignored the entreaties from United supporters who have long been clamouring for a sturdy centre-back and a mobile defensive midfielder to be added to the roster, there is no question that the summer dealings of Woodward and Van Gaal have improved the squad exponentially. And that surely is the purpose of transfer dealing.
Falcao is better than Welbeck or Hernandez, Angel Di Maria is miles better than Nani, Daley Blind is better than Tom Cleverley, Ander Herrera is better than Marouane Fellaini: with Luke Shaw and Marcos Rojo also joining the roster, everywhere there is improvement. Improvement that was wholly necessary.
You only have to look at those Woodward shifted in the other direction, to see how second-rate United's squad was when Van Gaal took over. Welbeck to Arsenal, Hernandez to Madrid, Shinji Kagawa to Dortmund, Nani to Sporting Lisbon, Alexander Buttner to Dynamo Moscow, Bebe to Benfica, Federico Macheda to Cardiff. While Tom Lawrence was loaned to Leicester, Cleverley to Villa, Nick Powell to Leicester, Wilfried Zaha to Palace and Michael Keane to Burnley.
There is no question that a vast amount was chucked into the transfer churn: in order to be tempted out of tax exile in Monaco, Falcao alone will be costing Old Trafford's accountants more than a quarter of a million quid a week. And it was an investment that was way over due. As the former United winger Keith Gillespie tweeted: "Drastic action was needed. Pursuing the path United was on was death by a 1000 cuts. Quality of competing clubs was way better. We're back…"
Gillespie is right. It is not fanciful to suggest that if United had not acted in such a precipitous manner in this transfer window they would have fallen irrevocably not just behind the European clubs they seek to emulate such as Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich, but also Chelsea, Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool too. It was that critical. United were in real danger of slipping so far off their perch they would have struggled to recover their position in 20 years, never mind over night.
[HOW FERGIE'S MOST COSTLY ERROR COULD COME BACK TO BITE UNITED]
The problem was an institutional one: United's football management side had come close to ossifying. Since the Glazers bought the club in 2005, the managerial emphasis has been on making money. In order to generate cash to fill the gaping maw of borrowings foisted on an entirely debt-free organisation by the American takeover, the brand had to be sweated. In his capacity as sponsorship director, Woodward was adept at it. Put simply, United's renown was exploited financially around the world.
Significant investment was made in modernising the commercial infrastructure. Offices were opened in Mayfair, where dozens of smart young graduates in pricey suits sold the club to business entities around the globe. The deals were eye-watering. Hundreds of partnerships were secured with companies keen to have association with a brand as renowned as United. Everything from Malaysian potato chip manufacturers to the Hong Kong Jockey Club paid through the nose for a relationship.
Reinvesting in the team was not something in which they had any interest or requirement. They weren't at United for the glory of watching the side lift the Champions League trophy. They were there for the cash flow. Of course, that cash flow was in part dependent on the success of the team. No Singaporean tyre specialist is going to pay through the nose for a partnership with a team sitting halfway down the Premier League table, never mind its history.
But the good news for the Glazers was that, in their first eight years of possession, they didn't really need to worry about success. It came anyway, entirely without their input or assistance. And it came through the indomitable character in charge of the playing side.
[VAN PERSIE READY TO FIGHT FALCAO AS UNITED COMPETITION HEATS UP]
If the Glazers did one thing brilliantly on taking control of the club, it was to get Alex Ferguson on side. Without him, they would have been in immediate trouble: naifs entirely inexperienced in ways of football club ownership (and by football, I mean God's own game) they were clueless how to proceed. Wisely delegating all football responsibilities to Ferguson, they simply let him get on with it. And how he rewarded them.
One Champions League, five Premier League titles, three League Cups: what a return they could then sell on. But there was one thing Ferguson didn't do: he didn't modernise the football operation. Why would he? He was winning everything available by doing things his way. But while other clubs in the elite – clubs run by those, unlike the Glazers, more interested in silverware than the bottom line – used the windfall cash of the football boom to invest in their football management, United didn't.
The much maligned Moyes spotted it though. He could not believe that a club of United's heft and stature did not have a fully functioning research department: he had more backroom staff working on future deals at Everton than he found at Old Trafford. Which is why United have had to be so aggressively proactive in the market this summer. It was the consequence of nearly a decade of not being properly engaged in the game (latterly confounded by Moyes's innate sense of caution).
However belatedly, the upper echelons of the club have woken up to the fact that if drastic action was not quickly taken, the inadequacies of the squad could have had significant ramifications on the thing that matters most to the owners: the profitability of the organisation. Every sponsor, every corporate partner would have had in their terms of agreement a clause reducing the amount they were required to pay in the event of no qualification to the Champions League. Another season out of that and the knock-on would not have been pretty.
[DI MARIA DESTROYS GERMANY, HAILED AS 'ONE OF TOP FIVE PLAYERS IN THE WORLD']
Of course, United still might fall behind. Buying in talent wholesale does not always work. From Claudio Ranieri to Mark Hughes, the history of the game is littered with managers who could not use the cheque book to forge a team. Football is an inexact science.
Falcao and Angel Di Maria (a player for whom independent consultants have suggested United paid £20m too much) might be the biggest flops in football history. Shaw might never kick another ball again. Rojo might never get a work permit. Blind, son of Danny, might turn out to be a footballing offspring more Jordi Cruyff than Frank Lampard. Ander Herrera might be Kleberson reborn.
Whether the simple application of cash is enough only time will tell. But the fact is something has been done - something dramatic, something exciting. What Van Gaal has forced Woodward to unleash is something, moreover, that fits into the club's tradition of gambling on attack. Between them, they have just chucked every last chip on red.
Jim White - @jimw1
https://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blog...rink-with-their-transfer-spree-104132957.html
View gallery
.
It was like the final, frantic stages of the old game show Supermarket Sweep. But this was a version in which Manchester United's executive vice-chairman was tearing around the transfer emporium grabbing at anything that moved. Ed Woodward with a trolley tearing up the aisle marked "Over-priced Foreign Goods": surely there is a television format in that?.
Yet however random the hugely expensive splurge engaged in by United may have appeared over the last few weeks, there has unquestionably been method in the apparent madness. Louis Van Gaal had not taken long to recognise that he had been bequeathed a squad which was not up to par. The very fact he went on tour with a party that lacked a No. 7 and a No. 9 would have given him a clue.
Van Gaal quickly recognised he was going to win nothing with the mix of wannabes and never-weres furring up the club arteries. While principal deficiencies have been long obvious at the back and in central midfield, the Dutchman was aware that the lack of depth spread further. After watching his expensively assembled front three of Wayne Rooney, Robin van Persie and Juan Mata redefine the term lacklustre against Burnley last weekend, Van Gaal would have appreciated he needed reinforcements up front as urgently as he did at the back.
[TOM ADAMS: MAN UTD'S IDENTITY DEPARTED LONG BEFORE DANNY WELBECK]
Not trusting the alternatives available to him in Javier Hernandez and Danny Welbeck, he clearly issued instructions to Woodward to land him someone as the window shut with a goalscoring record and a bit of pace to give him a choice beyond the trundling trio in possession of the shirts. So, never mind the eye-watering scale of the price tag, Falcao was brought in as much to concentrate minds as to score goals.
Indeed, even while they ignored the entreaties from United supporters who have long been clamouring for a sturdy centre-back and a mobile defensive midfielder to be added to the roster, there is no question that the summer dealings of Woodward and Van Gaal have improved the squad exponentially. And that surely is the purpose of transfer dealing.
Falcao is better than Welbeck or Hernandez, Angel Di Maria is miles better than Nani, Daley Blind is better than Tom Cleverley, Ander Herrera is better than Marouane Fellaini: with Luke Shaw and Marcos Rojo also joining the roster, everywhere there is improvement. Improvement that was wholly necessary.
You only have to look at those Woodward shifted in the other direction, to see how second-rate United's squad was when Van Gaal took over. Welbeck to Arsenal, Hernandez to Madrid, Shinji Kagawa to Dortmund, Nani to Sporting Lisbon, Alexander Buttner to Dynamo Moscow, Bebe to Benfica, Federico Macheda to Cardiff. While Tom Lawrence was loaned to Leicester, Cleverley to Villa, Nick Powell to Leicester, Wilfried Zaha to Palace and Michael Keane to Burnley.
View gallery
.
With the former stalwarts Rio Ferdinand heading to QPR, Nemanja Vidic to Inter and Patrice Evra to Juve too over the summer, that is not so much the changing of the guard as a palace coup. In order to find better replacements quickly, money has been thrown at the problem. Big money..
There is no question that a vast amount was chucked into the transfer churn: in order to be tempted out of tax exile in Monaco, Falcao alone will be costing Old Trafford's accountants more than a quarter of a million quid a week. And it was an investment that was way over due. As the former United winger Keith Gillespie tweeted: "Drastic action was needed. Pursuing the path United was on was death by a 1000 cuts. Quality of competing clubs was way better. We're back…"
Gillespie is right. It is not fanciful to suggest that if United had not acted in such a precipitous manner in this transfer window they would have fallen irrevocably not just behind the European clubs they seek to emulate such as Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich, but also Chelsea, Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool too. It was that critical. United were in real danger of slipping so far off their perch they would have struggled to recover their position in 20 years, never mind over night.
[HOW FERGIE'S MOST COSTLY ERROR COULD COME BACK TO BITE UNITED]
The problem was an institutional one: United's football management side had come close to ossifying. Since the Glazers bought the club in 2005, the managerial emphasis has been on making money. In order to generate cash to fill the gaping maw of borrowings foisted on an entirely debt-free organisation by the American takeover, the brand had to be sweated. In his capacity as sponsorship director, Woodward was adept at it. Put simply, United's renown was exploited financially around the world.
Significant investment was made in modernising the commercial infrastructure. Offices were opened in Mayfair, where dozens of smart young graduates in pricey suits sold the club to business entities around the globe. The deals were eye-watering. Hundreds of partnerships were secured with companies keen to have association with a brand as renowned as United. Everything from Malaysian potato chip manufacturers to the Hong Kong Jockey Club paid through the nose for a relationship.
View gallery
.
Money did not stop pouring in. The deal with adidas alone to supply shirts for the next five years is enough to enable United to play for an entire season and not charge a penny for tickets. Not that that was ever going to happen. The owners needed every revenue source to be relentlessly upgraded. They needed it not in order to reinvest in the team, but to pay for the right to own the club in the first place..
Reinvesting in the team was not something in which they had any interest or requirement. They weren't at United for the glory of watching the side lift the Champions League trophy. They were there for the cash flow. Of course, that cash flow was in part dependent on the success of the team. No Singaporean tyre specialist is going to pay through the nose for a partnership with a team sitting halfway down the Premier League table, never mind its history.
But the good news for the Glazers was that, in their first eight years of possession, they didn't really need to worry about success. It came anyway, entirely without their input or assistance. And it came through the indomitable character in charge of the playing side.
[VAN PERSIE READY TO FIGHT FALCAO AS UNITED COMPETITION HEATS UP]
If the Glazers did one thing brilliantly on taking control of the club, it was to get Alex Ferguson on side. Without him, they would have been in immediate trouble: naifs entirely inexperienced in ways of football club ownership (and by football, I mean God's own game) they were clueless how to proceed. Wisely delegating all football responsibilities to Ferguson, they simply let him get on with it. And how he rewarded them.
One Champions League, five Premier League titles, three League Cups: what a return they could then sell on. But there was one thing Ferguson didn't do: he didn't modernise the football operation. Why would he? He was winning everything available by doing things his way. But while other clubs in the elite – clubs run by those, unlike the Glazers, more interested in silverware than the bottom line – used the windfall cash of the football boom to invest in their football management, United didn't.
View gallery
.
While Barcelona, for instance, had a research department of 18 people assessing potential transfer targets, United had Ferguson's brother Martin. Which is probably why they ended up with Bebe. I don't buy the line that Ferguson was negligent. He thought he was acting for the best. When he handed over to David Moyes he thought he was handing over a squad in excellent condition, a handy mix of young and experienced. He wasn't to know how quickly it would become apparent how many of those in the squad would fail to live up to the job..
The much maligned Moyes spotted it though. He could not believe that a club of United's heft and stature did not have a fully functioning research department: he had more backroom staff working on future deals at Everton than he found at Old Trafford. Which is why United have had to be so aggressively proactive in the market this summer. It was the consequence of nearly a decade of not being properly engaged in the game (latterly confounded by Moyes's innate sense of caution).
However belatedly, the upper echelons of the club have woken up to the fact that if drastic action was not quickly taken, the inadequacies of the squad could have had significant ramifications on the thing that matters most to the owners: the profitability of the organisation. Every sponsor, every corporate partner would have had in their terms of agreement a clause reducing the amount they were required to pay in the event of no qualification to the Champions League. Another season out of that and the knock-on would not have been pretty.
[DI MARIA DESTROYS GERMANY, HAILED AS 'ONE OF TOP FIVE PLAYERS IN THE WORLD']
Of course, United still might fall behind. Buying in talent wholesale does not always work. From Claudio Ranieri to Mark Hughes, the history of the game is littered with managers who could not use the cheque book to forge a team. Football is an inexact science.
Falcao and Angel Di Maria (a player for whom independent consultants have suggested United paid £20m too much) might be the biggest flops in football history. Shaw might never kick another ball again. Rojo might never get a work permit. Blind, son of Danny, might turn out to be a footballing offspring more Jordi Cruyff than Frank Lampard. Ander Herrera might be Kleberson reborn.
Whether the simple application of cash is enough only time will tell. But the fact is something has been done - something dramatic, something exciting. What Van Gaal has forced Woodward to unleash is something, moreover, that fits into the club's tradition of gambling on attack. Between them, they have just chucked every last chip on red.
Jim White - @jimw1
https://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blog...rink-with-their-transfer-spree-104132957.html