malg
Well-Known Member
Fucking hell, a nutrition drive? It's 2023, did they not fucking know about nutrition?? How fucking backwards are this shower.
United Thread - 2023/24
- Thread starter MAG
- Start date
big gaz
Well-Known Member
Only if a sleep mate :-)
Alan Harper's Tash
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- 12 Dec 2010
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- 51,144
They couldn’t afford to buy Amrabat. Not sure how they’ll buy anyone off Napoli.
Gio Sugar
Well-Known Member
Alan Harper's Tash
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- 12 Dec 2010
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- 51,144
Channelled his inner Jesus there. Fluffed the finish, but was offside anyway!
Watch him score a hattrick against us in the CWC.
jimharri
Moderator
I bet they won't run out of chips. Anyway, Shaw would trash the place if they did.
Bluewonder
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- Joined
- 24 Jun 2013
- Messages
- 3,214
I've spent some time thinking about (and enjoying) the plight of the rags recently and I believe two things are unarguable: their absolute decline has been huge and their relative decline has been huge AND terminal.
Their absolute decline is obvious: they haven't won the Champions League since 2008 or the Premier League since 2013. In reality, they haven't challenged for either since then, and their team and squad have gotten progressively worse. In theory, this could be turned around, albeit that seems unlikely at the moment.
Their relative decline, however, is even greater and, in my view, terminal. In the Ferguson era, they were English football's major force and occupied a position as a global club alongside Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Bayern Munich. They were displaced as England's major force by ourselves and slipped out of that global club category some time ago, arguably also replaced by ourselves. They are no longer considered an elite European club and are one of the Premier League's also rans, failing to qualify for Europe's premier competition 40% of the time; in many ways, they have much more in common with Spurs than Liverpool or Arsenal.
Their success under Ferguson was powered primarily by financial dominance: they could sign basically whoever they wanted and, excepting a brief period at the start of Abramovic's Chelsea ownership and Sheikh Mansour's City ownership, nobody else could. This has gone and will not return as there are numerous clubs with the financial ability to break transfer records.
The size of their stadium was a driver of said financial dominance, as Old Trafford was materially bigger than any other stadium in England. No longer. Spurs, West Ham and Arsenal all have 60k+ stadiums and will soon be joined by City and Liverpool, whilst their stadium is crumbling and in need of huge investment.
Their Ferguson era financial dominance became just a financial advantage, which has been wasted on joke players over the last decade, and is now becoming a financial parity. This financial dominance will not return.
Whilst many Utd fans would place this decline at the feet of the Glazers, and for sure they are poor owners (though I love them for it), much of the blame resides with Ferguson. As his style of management was despotic, all-encompassing and autocratic, he left Utd with no sporting infrastructure, which was compounded by the selection of a manager almost uniquely unsuited to the job of replacing him. Whilst their absolute decline was inevitable following his departure, their relative decline might not have been so extreme had he spent his final season or two planning his succession, rather than trying to get one over on us.
The way our fortunes and theirs have reversed over the last 15 years have given me more pleasure than I ever thought imaginable, and I now hope for just two things:
The continuing ownership of the Glazers and a long, LONG life for Ferguson to wallow in the miserable collapse of the empire he helped to destroy.
Their absolute decline is obvious: they haven't won the Champions League since 2008 or the Premier League since 2013. In reality, they haven't challenged for either since then, and their team and squad have gotten progressively worse. In theory, this could be turned around, albeit that seems unlikely at the moment.
Their relative decline, however, is even greater and, in my view, terminal. In the Ferguson era, they were English football's major force and occupied a position as a global club alongside Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Bayern Munich. They were displaced as England's major force by ourselves and slipped out of that global club category some time ago, arguably also replaced by ourselves. They are no longer considered an elite European club and are one of the Premier League's also rans, failing to qualify for Europe's premier competition 40% of the time; in many ways, they have much more in common with Spurs than Liverpool or Arsenal.
Their success under Ferguson was powered primarily by financial dominance: they could sign basically whoever they wanted and, excepting a brief period at the start of Abramovic's Chelsea ownership and Sheikh Mansour's City ownership, nobody else could. This has gone and will not return as there are numerous clubs with the financial ability to break transfer records.
The size of their stadium was a driver of said financial dominance, as Old Trafford was materially bigger than any other stadium in England. No longer. Spurs, West Ham and Arsenal all have 60k+ stadiums and will soon be joined by City and Liverpool, whilst their stadium is crumbling and in need of huge investment.
Their Ferguson era financial dominance became just a financial advantage, which has been wasted on joke players over the last decade, and is now becoming a financial parity. This financial dominance will not return.
Whilst many Utd fans would place this decline at the feet of the Glazers, and for sure they are poor owners (though I love them for it), much of the blame resides with Ferguson. As his style of management was despotic, all-encompassing and autocratic, he left Utd with no sporting infrastructure, which was compounded by the selection of a manager almost uniquely unsuited to the job of replacing him. Whilst their absolute decline was inevitable following his departure, their relative decline might not have been so extreme had he spent his final season or two planning his succession, rather than trying to get one over on us.
The way our fortunes and theirs have reversed over the last 15 years have given me more pleasure than I ever thought imaginable, and I now hope for just two things:
The continuing ownership of the Glazers and a long, LONG life for Ferguson to wallow in the miserable collapse of the empire he helped to destroy.
Last edited:
TinFoilHat
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- 26 Jan 2023
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- 20,059
- Team supported
- Manchester City
Plenty of rags are paying £100 + to watch grass grow at the swamp.
Onholiday(somemightsay)
Well-Known Member
Quality........
Onholiday(somemightsay)
Well-Known Member
Well played sir..........