Archive for the ‘Opinion’ Category

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Here, admittedly before many transfers have been completed, we take a look at who will be among the favourites for the Champion’s League next season.

From Real Madrid through to Manchester United, managers at the top European clubs will be under pressure to deliver silverware at the highest level. They will be expected to mount a domestic title challenge and the elite few will also be expected to mount a challenge for Europe’s top prize.

They could be viewed as a European top six and we fully expect the following clubs to at least reach the quarter finals of the competition: (more…)

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The short answer to the above question is: anybody can win it. You only have to look at the achievements of Claudio Ranieri and Leicester City the season before last for proof of that particular pudding.

The more reasonable and logical answer is that the winners will, more than likely, come from one of the current big six with dark horses for a top six finish being West Ham United, Everton or even Newcastle United, rather than a lower ranked team pulling off a major shock.

The main contenders are shaping up as follows:- (more…)

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In fact, they have missed out on more of their preferred targets than they have actually signed.

A lot of this has only been happening in the last few years as other clubs, around Europe in general and the Premier League in particular, have grown thanks to the amount of TV money now on offer.

Twenty or so years ago, the main competitors when United were interested in buying a player would be Liverpool, maybe Arsenal and that would be just about it from the Premier League. At that stage players were not moving around Europe as much so no interest would be expressed from the likes of Real Madrid or Barcelona. (more…)

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If Manchester United were to sell the seven players we have suggested they sell, the benefits would be immediate. (If you are wondering which seven we are going on about then read here, and here)

Space would be freed up in the squad to allow for three or four additions to fit seamlessly into the club.

Money would be freed up in the form of salaries saved to be able to pay more to better players.

Whilst we accept that money isn’t usually the deciding factor when a top player makes a move, it doesn’t do any harm to offer him more than any of the other suitors! (more…)

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The feeling at Old Trafford when David Moyes took over was, generally, one of apprehensive expectation. The problem was that nobody knew of what they were apprehensively expectant!

Moyes was untried at this level and, despite relative success at Everton, (which was keeping them in the Premier League’s top ten for years), he had won nothing of any note. (more…)

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A couple of days ago we looked at three strikers who may, or may not, be of interest to José Mourinho. Now we will look at four more players who would operate in defence or behind the strikers, either in the full back position or in a defensive or an attacking midfield role. In our modest opinion any of the four would be a sound purchase for United. If they could get more than one, then better still.

So to the first one, which has a reasonable chance of happening: (more…)

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In the dim and distant past Manchester United had relatively few problems in enticing players to sign for them.

Pre-Fergie it was the lure of the name. It also helped that, in 1968, they had become the first English club to win the European Cup, although Sir Matt Busby made relatively few signings after that famous night at Wembley, a fact which was a constant source of annoyance to George Best.

Best expected the team to grow and prosper from that night on. Instead, Busby stuck with the older players and United won nothing of note again until the FA Cup defeat of Liverpool in 1977. (more…)

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We mere mortals can only speculate on what it must be like to have several million pounds available to spend. There is, however, a limit on how much of these several millions can actually be spent due to something called Financial Fair Play.

This was all the rage just a few short years ago and was tested out on Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain. Both of these clubs benefitted through being purchased by Middle-Eastern billionaires who immediately went about spending some of their wealth on improving the teams. (more…)

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Following our recent article suggesting four players who would benefit from being sold and the interest it created, we are moved to follow up with another three who should join them on the transfer list.

As José Mourinho reads this, in between scanning the transfer rumours and trying to remember whether he paid his tax in Spain or not, he will no doubt be thinking how much sense it would make to rid his club of the following, if at all possible: (more…)

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This is not to say that José Mourinho would be sacked if he finished third although he might be on a bit of a tightrope if fourth was the best he could do, even though it would be an improvement on this year’s finish.

Obviously winning the Premier League would excuse any slip-ups in any other competition but, the lower the finish, then the better he has to do in the Champion’s League and the FA Cup. (more…)