Where do I begin ? As a passionate United Fan , it just hurts to see the club I loved supporting growing up in such a dire state . As many may already know , the recent 6-1 defeat at the hands of Spurs was not a one off but a pattern that was waiting to repeat itself considering how bad United's start to the season had been .

A loss against Crystal Palace where they were clearly second best and a win against Brighton with a 100th minute penalty where again many would agree United were second best . To understand why this was yet again bound to happen sometime or another during the season , lets see what happened during this transfer window . 


The Failing of ED WOODWARD to back his manager yet again . 



It is so annoying to see the same pattern repeat itself again and again under various managers and the fans falling for the same cycle of wanting the manager sacked instead of uniting and protesting against the board . Don't know what I am talking about ? Let me explain . 


2018/19: -€47.35m
2017/18: -€152.90m
2016/17: -€137.85m
2015/16: -€53.93m
2014/15: -€146.06m


These are the spending patterns of United for the past 5 seasons . See the lower and higher amounts ? The only thing they have in common is that United spend high when they finish out of top 4 but the season next when they do get Top 4 , instead of backing the manager , Woodward and the rotten owners spend less . It is clear that they see top four as the goal and make no effort to heavily back the manager and get signings that will make United a proper force to be reckoned with again . 

If you add the overall spending of United , many may ask - "Well United have a pretty high net spend compared to other clubs so why are the fans angry or why are the owners at fault for the managers incompetence ?"

Well let me answer that here clearly . Overpaying for mediocre players seems to be a classic United thing to do in any transfer window.


 Clubs have caught onto the fact pretty early and United end up overpaying for players who were not even close to the purchased value . Examples are Harry Maguire  (80 million pounds) when his real value wouldve been somewhere around 50-60 and same for Fred (60 million pounds) which is obscene considering there were many proven premier league midfielders for lesser price . I am not saying they both are flops now or something along those lines but they have not come close to justifying their price tags yet and these are just two examples in a plethora of transfers . I've not mentioned Alexis Sanchez  because like all united fans , it's best for me to forget those horrible atrocious deal we did and gave him such a big wage that it broke our wage structure even more than it was already broken.

The reasonable signings which clearly come to mind as value for money is the deal for Bruno Fernandes in the winter transfer window last season and he has already proven he is worth every single penny payed . Again the problem here is , this transfer could've been wrapped by the summer window and he could've been a part of the entire season and United could've actually pushed on harder , but no Woodward fucked up yet another transfer and failed to complete the deal . 


SUMMER TRANSFER WINDOW 2020

United finished a remarkable third in the end of the last season , which seemed impossible since they were 12 points behind Leicester before the pandemic halted the season . 

The arrival of Bruno Fernandes revived a dead looking race for top four as United steam rolled past most teams and headed into the third spot ahead of Chelsea on goal difference at the end . 




After all this , the fans were optimistic , the stage was set for united to actually push on and cement that top four spot for themselves with a strong window .

United headed into the window with 6 positions that needed strengthening  and the most important being the RW , CDM , CM , LB , CB in that order .

Fast forward to now , the international window has closed and United have ended it without their main target in the transfer window Jadon Sancho . 

He is a generational talent who would've excited United fans , solved the RW issue for the next five years to come atleast . The window started with rumors saying the deal would be agreed instantly and that Dortmund had named their price as 120 million upfront no installments and set a deadline of August 10 th even . 


The saga dragged on and on , with many reports about agents fees agreed , player deals agreed , unoffical bids sent and all that which just kept everyone on the edge , only to end it without him . It was amazing to see really , the player had agreed terms , the manager wanted him , the fans wanted him , the team needed a player in that position , Dortmund named their price and yet Woodward failed to get him . 

Yes , they may come out and say 120 million was a high price during this covid season but every single team , even the newly promoted ones , outspent united until the deadline day . 

As relied by Fabrizio Romano , the most reliable guy for the transfer market dealings , United could have got him even at the end , even on dead line day if they had payed the price .


 And to add further salt to injury , apparently United at first agreed to Dortmund's terms but changed the deal at the end believing Dortmund would agree to a lower price .


See this is my problem here where I do not see the logic of things . Normally changing/bargaining for a lower price works if and only if

1-The selling club is in a tough spot by being pressured by the player to leave . This wasn't the case as Sancho openly said he will leave only if Dortmund are happy with the price 

2- If the player contract is running out and they have no other option but to sell but none of these are true . 

United think they can get him for cheap next season , but as I and many others with a brain expected , other clubs will be in the race . Liverpool apparently are already favorites to sign him next season over United , Man city , Madrid , Bayern will also be in the race next season and United having struggled in a one horse race to finish the race first show no hope in getting the deal across the line next season as well .


 I honestly don't understand which genius says these things to woodward or if Woodward himself believes this nonsense he spews out . 

Two positives are the signings of Van de beek and Alex Telles . Having seen the woodward incompetency , it is clear Van de beek got across the line only due to Ajax's DoF Van De Sar , having a soft spot for United and Telles being the no 2 choice before Regullion who once again got snatched up at the last minute by Spurs . 


                                                                    

As for the Regullion deal , It was either pay extra to get rid of the buyback clause inserted by Real Madrid or agree to it and if United had agreed to it , it wouldve been so much worse so honestly I am fine with Spurs taking away the deal since United ended up with Telles anyway who is equal in talent . 

The Telles deal again stalled with united not wanting to pay the obscene asking price of 25 million euros for a player who was on the last year of his contract and can leave for free with a pre contract on January . See this time United stalling works , since the player won't sign a new deal and he doesn't have any years on his current contract . But to expect the same with Sancho was immature and inexperience at best .

Another thing I find baffling is Arsenal signing Thomas Partey from Athletico Madrid . United needed someone in the CDM spot to replace Matic who is growing older and Partey being a exceptional defensive minded mid with his workrate and interceptions along with his reading of the game would've been the perfect replacement . It was a clear signing as well with him having a release clause and Arsenal only managing to get the deal through on deadline day . United could and should've payed it and got the player so long ago and why they haven't even tried for it is absolutely baffling .


All things said and done , United end with the window with Edison Cavani , Van de Beek , Telles , Facundo Pellistri and Amad Traore with 4 of the deals being done on deadline day .



I'll try and get into the players and their suitability more on another post but keeping things short on them , the youngster Amad Traore's deal fell through with Parma and united acted at last to sign him for 40 million pounds to be payed in installments . 

The problem here is ,Amad Traore can't join until January due to work permit issues and Facundo Pellistri is another young talent , similar to Amad and they need time to develop and won't be consistent and aren't proven at this level of football . Reports have come out stating Pellistri will directly go into the first team and Ole has praised him and told he will be a great addition but with all things said and done , United have strengthened 2 positions they needed to out of the window out of a needed 5 and they haven't done the manager any favor by getting these players at the very end and not giving them time to settle into the squad as well . 

United have fixtures coming up after the international break thick and fast .




They have been drawn into the group of death in the champions league with PSG , RB Leipzig as the main worries and their upcoming PL games against Chelsea , Arsenal , Everton who are on fire as well and Man city coming up right after means they need to find form soon or the end is near for Ole . 

Reports are already circulating that Poch and Allegri are being approached and Poch being the favorite and if United do not improve and get some sort of winning run going into these tough run of fixtures ,it could be the end for Ole . 

If Ole is sacked , it just resets the cycle of a new manager coming in , getting to champions league spot somehow , not being backed again and failing and in two years time , another similar article to this with the manager not being backed .


Another problem with Ole now being sacked is that the new manager would not like the style of players that United have bought and knowing the incompetence of the board to get transfer targets , it will taken another decade to clear out players and get new ones and by that time , the next manager would be here . 

Glazers and woodward come out and say Corona has affected the club hard and that's the reason for the failure of getting the targets but before deadline day . But but here is the part which pisses me off .

Fucking Leeds , Aston Villa , Arsenal and Everton have spend more than United in the net spend . Fucking Leeds who were just promoted have outspent United . Just let that sink in . 

Woodward can come out and say about the pandemic all he wants , but at the end of the day , United have saved 100 million euros and Woodward and Glazers have guarenteed their bonus pay for this year even if the club goes into a loss , which is what is the most important for them anyway and the fans are left to dry and the manager will inevitably be the scape goat AGAIN , just like Van Gaal , Mourinho were .

People may say Ole is the wrong man to lead United forward and that is debatable yes , but fans need to see past that and realize Van Gaal and Mourinho were two of the biggest managers around in football history and both of them after leaving the job and have said openly they weren't backed and after seasons where they clearly mentioned the need for a strengthen in the squad , they were let down . If it was only down to the current manager , the previous ones would've clearly had more success but it isin't the case . It is time to put the blame onto the real culprits , the owners and their puppet Woodward . Will they finally be held accountable ? Or will the cycle repeat ? Time will tell .