Manchester United Thread 25/26 - Teamtalk/Transfers/Gossip Mod Note in OP 26.09.24

Ya exactly if the other strikers were at united they might have slightly better heat maps but would most likely be well off the ones their current clubs

INEOS making the Glazers look like charity. Revolting what they are doing. The most exciting part of this season will be the protests which hopefully trigger something big this time.

Correct me if Im wrong but did INEOS ever say they wanted to buy the club in full. Tbey said they would look at increasing their % stake.

No one is buying United at the valuation the Glazers have on it and the state it is in.

Naming rights to Old Trafford was a surefire way to raise funds. Glazers could also put their hand in thier pocket

They could make the cuts where it's most impactful for a start. Dead wages. Saving on staples and cutting out any sense of community, is going to ruin the culture and save meaningless amounts.

The club won't be winning a premier league in a lot of our lifetimes, said it a few years ago. Becoming more of a reality each year.

I'd say they will wait for the dire reality to permeate the Glazer delusion before any full takeover.

It was a massive premium they paid to begin with, the hope is that the Glazers will wake up and accept close to market value to f*#k off.

I heard somewhere recently that some of the Glazers believed that online immersive experience wasn't factored into the potential value of the club.

Like having a full 3D matchday experience at home in your own living room. There is huge potential value there alright I reckon some day, but to think those parasites are going to hang around to profit from it is totally sickening.

No.

But they did try to buy out the glazers, for about 4billion, in may 2023.

I have no doubt they want to buy them out at some point. Hopefully soon.

Tbf on the wages thing they’re pretty much doing that now with the loan outgoings in January and being careful on what came in, in return. If an offer for Casemiro had come in, I’d expect he would have been gone. Cutting the dead wages isn’t something fully in your control because you need a buyer or in the cases of Eriksen, Evans, Lindelof & Heaton, you don’t renew in the summer. This takes time.

Pis*ing £14.5m away on ten Hag is something they did have control over and they rightfully get stick for that.

The job losses is genuinely unfortunate for those involved. The average Joe losing their livelihood because of the mismanagement from the top over the years. However, this goes on all over the world in so many businesses every day but because it’s Man United, it gets hyper focussed on.

It’s quite clear at this stage that SJR and those closest to him aren’t really arsed about optics or PR - it’s strictly business and shaving as much unnecessary expenditure as possible. They won’t care who gets hurt along the way. I understand why they’re doing it but you can have sympathy for those affected at the same time. Not only regarding the job losses but the ticket price increases, which will only continue when the new stadium arrives.

Sell players more aggressively. Also don't make costly mistakes regarding the manager. Buy out the Glazers, stop interest payments.

Nothing they do has given me any confidence. What's the plan to catch up on rivals? Haven't heard anything from Berrada about it.

But a large part of the issue is those losses have been majorly contributed by debt payments, consultancy fees to the glazers and dividends.

And those debt payments, at least, aren't being addressed. The figure that is being placed against all these cuts is still less than the debt payments. At least the staff contributed.

I'm not saying it's easy, just pay it off. But it's the easy counter point to everything they say they have to do - the ownership itself is responsible for greater losses than all the budget cuts they have made.

How can the club sell players "more aggressively" - what does that even mean?

Sell them for any old bid? Do you not realise that these are people under contract and are entitled to the wage they negotiated, whether you like it or not? They are entitled to see out their contract, or if they are leaving they are entitled to ensure they are earning that same wage elsewhere for the duration left on the contract. Why would, say, Casemiro leave? How would you "aggressively" sell him?

It's a nonsense, emotive term that doesn't really mean anything at all.

Means selling him for a reduced fee in order to get his wages off the books. Not that difficult to understand.

For me the issue is simply: we don't know.

We do know the finances are poor/terrible and have been since Covid - prior to that it looked like we were about to hit a financial windfall iirc.

Now, we don't know to what extent the Staff cuts are needed, or what the impact will be. There will be a financial easing to some degree, but how significant will that be? No idea. I can accept there was a level of bloat in the staff numbers because I assume Glazers were as poor at managing that as everything else. But it is 450 staff members? We will still ahve more than Arsenal for eg, but way below Liverpool or Madrid for eg. I've no idea what the 'correct' number for United is, none of us do. Is reducing by 450 because the INEOS guys have found there are 450 roles we don't need? I would doubt it - I would accept they have found bloat, again, but I would also think the staff reduction is to hit a certain percentage of costs saved and within that we will lose good people that were doing a good job.

And then beyond the revenue savings, we don't know what the impact on the club will be.
IF we accept the recent reports as true, and they may not be, what is the impact on recruitment?

Will we miss out on players because of a reduction in scouting?
Will we miss out on players, especially youth players, due to simple things like (apparently) United cheaping out on the food on offer to the youth players?
Will we miss out on quality staffing hires because the package on offer elsewhere is more attractive? Earn the same money elsewhere but also have a christmas party, also not have to bring a packed lunch with you, have a corporate credit card vs having to pay things out of your own pocket and expense it back.

Reducing costs can be needed, but that doesn't mean those reductions don't come with negitive, performance based, consequences.

I do feel we will bottom out on the cuts, and in the medium term we will see reinvestment back into staffing when the finances are in a better and more stable position - but until that happens, if it happens, there can be unforseen or unknowable consequences to those decisions.