Thread: Manchester Utd

Hojlund goal.

Bacon and eggs.

Sooty and Sweep.

Manchester United and trophies.

Hal and knowing.

Some words just go together so well, don't they?

Originally Posted by malmomike77

Merchandise look very much like Stoke atm

No, you do.

Look at all the bedwetters.



Because The Greatest Club in the World lost a game of football.

We know what happens in May, don't we?

Originally Posted by hallelujah

We know what happens in May, don't we?

We all take the piss out of you and you go into hiding for another few months.

Originally Posted by hallelujah

We know what happens in May, don't we?

you announce another new manager?

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

We all take the piss out of you and you go into hiding for another few months.

Mwhahahahahahahaha



Shall we talk trophies or long balls and set pieces today?

Which topic are you more comfortable with?

Originally Posted by malmomike77

you announce another new manager?

Mwhahahahahahahaha



Shall we talk trophies or long balls and set pieces today?

Which topic are you more comfortable with?

Originally Posted by malmomike77

you announce another new manager?

Oh they'll probably let him waste a few hundred million first.

So, the United Clown Car rumbles along...

Ashworth’s departure suggests farce at heart of Ratcliffe’s Manchester United | Manchester United | The Guardian

Ashworth’s departure suggests farce at heart of Ratcliffe’s Manchester United
The sporting director’s exit after only five months is further testing supporters’ faith in direction of travel at Old Trafford

Jamie Jackson

To avoid rot: the characterisation employed by a powerful Manchester United executive to explain Dan Ashworth’s departure. As in: better that he left after five months as sporting director rather than stay and allow festering damage to Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s reset of the club.

In play, partly, here was a face‑off between Omar Berrada and Ashworth that had the chief executive emerging as victor. Ratcliffe’s recent interview with the United We Stand fanzine featured profuse praise for Berrada and none for the man now history.

Zoom out from this turf war and the wider picture is hardly gleaming. The collateral damage of Ashworth’s culling is widespread. Commercially, the approximately £3m compensation paid to Newcastle to dislodge Ashworth may be chicken feed compared with the fortunes wasted on transfers – Antony, £86m, for example – and wages – Casemiro, about £360,000 a week. But in an economy drive that features raising the minimum members’ ticket price to £66 and making 250 employees redundant, identifying Ashworth as the candidate to drive Ratcliffe’s shiny new United forward then deciding he is no longer best-in-class is a bloody nose to internal morale and supporters’ faith.

The neutral finds the latest convulsion in the United soap opera questionable, too. “Farce” was the apt term for the saga of Erik ten Hag’s eventual sacking in October. It featured a Ratcliffe‑overseen late-spring beauty parade that had Jason Wilcox assessing Thomas Tuchel, Kieran McKenna, Mauricio Pochettino, Roberto De Zerbi, Thomas Frank, Graham Potter, Gary O’Neil, Paulo Fonseca and Gareth Southgate as potential replacements. Then, in June, the technical director was part of a brains trust, alongside Ratcliffe, Sir Dave Brailsford and Jean-Claude Blanc (United’s acting chief executive), that concluded Ten Hag should stay – only for the autumn U-turn.

Notice Ashworth’s and Berrada’s absences from the decision. With each on gardening leave (the latter from Manchester City), we see a faultline in Ineos’s supposed slick, bespoke executive structure.

How can two men who outrank the manager have no vote regarding his retention? This correspondent questioned what seemed an obvious issue then, and the cost of the quaint (being polite) operational decision totalled £21.4m for Ten Hag’s removal and the hiring of Ruben Amorim to succeed him.

A very United farce. Then you come to the case of Ashworth and a new term – “hyper-farce”? – is needed for his departure only 159 days after taking up his post.

In February, Ratcliffe billed Ashworth as “clearly one of the top sporting directors in the world”. By December, he greenlit his exit. The word, from some internally, is that the decision was painful for all, and there is no rush to replace him.

The latter may be translated as the transfer window next month being more urgently in need of any spare cash, particularly as the money spent on removing Ten Hag and Ashworth and recruiting Amorim is the price of more than half a Manuel Ugarte (an initial £42.3m).

Further finance, that could be invested in a listing squad who are 13th in the Premier League, has been torched. Ugarte joined on Ashworth’s watch, as did Leny Yoro (£52m), Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui (£60m combined) and Joshua Zirkzee (£35.8m): five summer signings who, with add‑ons, could cost more than £200m.

Given that they were purchased after Ten Hag was confirmed as staying, the quintet will have been waved through by the manager (he retained a transfer veto) but all are now under Amorim’s command.

The Portuguese may have wanted all or none. For argument’s sake, let’s say he would have approved half the outlay, meaning the rest – £100m – was written off, wasted. Factor in the previously noted £21.4m and the £3m to remove Ashworth and this is over £124m from United’s coffers splurged on what, precisely? For the club to stand still? Go backwards? Hardly shrewd and parsimonious from Ratcliffe.

One more faultline: the sporting director is supposed to be an executive whose position is stable, who is not hostage to the whims of player form, results and fan approval. Ashworth was employed to secure United’s long-term vision by remaining for a prolonged period, as was the case with Txiki Begiristain across town at City.

Instead, after Ratcliffe and his Ineos cohorts decided John Murtough was not up to the job, they have judged the same of Ashworth, taking the count to two sporting directors gone in eight months. Who could be the third incumbent under Ineos? Wilcox is the obvious internal candidate. He was City’s academy director (2017-23) when Berrada was chief operating officer there, and Southampton’s director of football for just over a year before Ratcliffe came calling.

After Ashworth’s treatment (and Murtough’s) the former Blackburn winger may think twice or more if offered the vacancy. But he will also listen to the siren call of career elevation, plus the lucrative salary and bonus increase this brings.

Ashworth’s gardening leave meant Wilcox conducted the late-spring interviews for the alternatives to Ten Hag, so was trusted with this crucial task by Ratcliffe: another feather in the cap. But after due diligence on Ashworth did not turn up the doubts that led to the decision on Saturday night, could they be missed regarding Wilcox or AN Other?

At the moment, Ratcliffe’s short track record at United makes this a definite possibility.

Originally Posted by cyrille

Sir Jim Ratcliffe

Hal's owner in more than one way

Sancho. :-)

2 goals in 2.

Well, 2 goals in 1 start and 1 eighteen minute cameo.

6 goals/assists. Only 2 United players have more, and he's only played 488 minutes!

A goal/assist every 81 minutes. Better than anything at United. :-)

He must want his loan to last forever.

DFR - Difficulty Ratings.



United away.

As difficult as going to Brighton or Fulham.... or Forest at home.


Easier than going to Spurs.

Sir Jim attempts to improve efficiency at the grotto...

David Squires on … Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s attempts to improve efficiency at Santa’s grotto | Football | The Guardian

Plzen beaten at home in Europe for the first time in 2 years.

The last team was Barcelona.

The next was Manchester United.

Two true European greats.

Excellent 2nd half performance with the game turned by Amorim's introduction of Hojlund, Mount and, er, Antony.

And, quelle surprise, Hojilund scores again.

And again with yet another goal of the week contender.

That was great. Free kick by Fernandes from outside the box. He takes it quickly and pushes it low to Hojlund’s left. He’s guarded by a Plzen player but flicks the ball up with his left foot and turns and shoots into the goal. Brilliant!

said the Guardian.

I know said hal.

23 goals so far for United in what has been a poor attacking team.

10 goals in 12 European games.

Our first ever player to score 10 goals in Europe before the age if 22.

#knowing



Kudos to Antony for managing to put even more aimless shots into the stands the stands in his 30 minutes tho.

Hal Fact:

Antony has more dribbles and The Donkey has more goals in Europe this season than Ronaldo, Messi, Pele and Maradona combined.

23 - 1

If I hadn't been so busy at the mo, I'd have gone there last night.

Apparently, the locals produced 1,200 cans of beer to mark the occasion and had also placed red and white balloons around the town to mark the arrival of their esteemed guests.

I think it's high time the Premiership started doing the same for THE GREATEST CLUB IN THE WORLD, don't you?

Obviously, this would be extended to the lower divisions when we visit.

Manchester United.

We do what we want when we want.

We take who we want when we want.

A history like no other.

Originally Posted by hallelujah

We take who we want when we want.

Do you want to take ManCity now on Sunday?

Originally Posted by Molle

Do you want to take ManCity now on Sunday?

The way we are playing at the moment, I dread to think what's gonna happen on Sunday!

I just know GMP are going to be very busy around the City Centre.

Originally Posted by hallelujah

Obviously, this would be extended to the lower divisions when we visit.

You expecting relegation too?

Big Jimbo working on staff morale again...

"After a year of savage cost-cutting, Man United’s long-suffering staff weren’t expecting gold-plated beef wellington and Louis Vuitton crackers at their Christmas party.

But they were hoping Jim Ratcliffe’s tight-fisted regime would at least mark the occasion with a few half thawed sausage rolls and a video call from Mikael Silvestre dressed as Father Christmas.

Instead, Ratters went full Scrooge and cancelled the bash altogether, before announcing he’d scrapped their traditional £100 Christmas bonus and replaced it with a £40 M&S voucher.

Whisper it, but one beleaguered staff member was overheard this week remarking: “It was better under the Glazers”…"

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Big Jimbo working on staff morale again...

Bonuses has to be deserved.

Originally Posted by Molle

Bonuses has to be deserved.

When do you plan on finishing school?