General Premier League Thread 2023-24 Mod Note in op 27/6/23 And 21/05/24

What myths does it blow exactly?

Everyone knows United have blown through stupid money on poor players over the last decade, that's not news.

They're starting to pay the consequences of that now though with the loan players they've had to sign: having to retain unwanted players on high wages; being weak in certain positions etc.

No-one is arguing they haven't spent vast sums of money on players. Very little money has been sent though on the stadium, training facilities, infrastructural works etc., the non-headline grabbing items. The owners have blown through any financial advantage United might have had.

I'm also not sure if I'd take the figures of the likes of Chelsea and City at face value either.

I think out of all the grounds I’ve been to given its history and success Old Trafford was the one I was most disappointed in, outside looked ok but inside was cramped and all the steelwork just seemed rusty. The Emirates, Newcastle, Spurs, West Ham, Anfield even the Etihad are much better.

Or there's some angry employee who leaked the images now?

I'm sure United will conduct their own investigation and conclude that Anthony is completely innocent and didn't do the things he is accused of.

I think Ten Hag is clearly the most influential figure at the club when it comes to dictating transfer policy. Antony, Onana, Malacia and Martinez were all signed at his own request having worked with them previously. None of them have hit the ground running which is what you expect of multi-million pound signings playing in the Premier League. You can't wait around hoping they will develop into world beaters. Antony looks a very ordinary player to me. It's a huge leap in standard from the Dutch Eredivisie to the PL.

No, Mount didn't previously play for ETH, but ETH did try and sign him for Ajax a few years ago.

Also, you left Amrabat off of the list. He previously played for ETH at Utrecht for a couple of seasons. There was strong links to signing Hojbjerg from Spurs as an alternative in case that Amrabat deal did not work out. And yes, he worked with ETH previously too at Bayern Munich reserves.

You can't deny that there is a strong correlation between signings made in the last 2 years and those players players either having previously played for ETH / played in Holland / were attempted to be signed by ETH. Antony, Martinez, Malacia, Weghorst, Eriksen, Amrabat, Mount, Onana all fall into that category. Don't forget that ETH overruled the Man Utd scouts who wanted to sign Pau Torres last year and bought Martinez instead.

It's a byproduct of not having a DOF structure, giving the manager the free reign of control over the transfers. Each of the last 4 or 5 managers at Man Utd have had the same freedom and look how they ended up. Every one of them were sacked, sometimes because they bought the wrong players and did not deliver the results for the large amounts of money spent. Pressure is on ETH to deliver now, given the amount of money he has spent, and because he has wanted all of those players too. You can't claim that they are 'club signings'. They are his.

Having watched Pau Torres the odd time at Villareal and now seeing him at Villa then ETH was 100% correct in his decision. We'd have been adding another CB who doesn't play well in a high line when ETH wanted to work towards playing a high line.

A lack of DOF is definitely our issue. But for that to be put in place then it would need to be added by you know who...

ETH has not had free reign, his input is highly valued but he doesn't have much say beyond that - transfers at Utd from what we know go through John Murtough and Richard Arnold (Matt Hargreaves does the actual negotiations). If they approve it then is put to Joel Glazer who signs off or doesn't. That is in large part why there is often such a hold up with deals at Utd.

ETH will have been able to make suggestions like any manager - but if those above him don't agree it doesn't get done.

And picking Martinez over Torres might well have been the correct decision and that's fine. But it's just more evidence that ETH wants his players. He wasn't willing to listen to the scouts and while he may have got one decision correct, it doesn't mean that he will get it right every time. Maybe he is against having a DOF and there is some resistance to change there on the manager's behalf? But of course, that is actually on the condition that the Glazers have intentions of putting one in place.

The number of transfers in the last 2 seasons point to ETH having full control, given the number of players he has vouched for and pursued. 14 players signed and a high number of them have a previous working relationship with him or were previous transfer targets of his while at Ajax. The list is big, and that suggests to me that he does have free reign, coupled with overruling the scouts decisions last summer. It doesn't send out the best message to me. This isn't the era of the 90s and 00s anymore when people like Fergsuson and Wenger could do that, and they had enough credit in the bank build up back then too.

To be fair, the Onana & Martinez transfers were stylistic changes so you can see why those were done, in different summers. Maybe he felt the need to bring Martinez in ASAP as he knew the player could adapt and would help the style change, and maybe he thought it was a difficult market at the time so using his previous relationship would be an advantage. Fair enough, but Onana is not the same. Antony wasn't the same - that was an awful egotistical signing considering who was in the squad at the time, and ETH pushed for that too. There are big questions around Amrabat and Malacia/Mount still have to prove they are at the level required. How often do you see a new manager take over a club and bring in so many ex-players to a club so quickly? It's not the done thing. Did the Man Utd scouts really recommend Amrabat - a player who is 27 and floated around mid-table clubs or lower tier European leagues for his career to date? he was being hawked around Europe since his purple patch of form in the World Cup and nobody bit. Man Utd did, and I would suggest that because is ETH pushed for it, like he did with a number of transfers in the last year or so.

Martinez hasn’t been a bad signing, but equally, he hasn’t been a brilliant one either. He’s average. And every squad has them. Utd’s best defender is Varane when he is fit.