The old Man Utd Thread

[sir stiff_one]

If it goes through for that price, Man U are almost certainly in a better position without him.

[angel]

Who to replace though? But he has been pouting a lot so its a good time to sell.

[DC Lemon]

What? You do realise he's scored most of our goals for the last two seasons, and probably set up a good deal of the rest.

Yeah, but every fan also realises he moans about wanting to leave for Real every summer. It wouldn't have been tolerated from him last year were it not for Calderon's behaviour. In the week that I'm going to the cinema to see Looking For Eric, Ronaldo and his goals can fuck off to Spain.

[Liamness]

Ah. For that kind of money, I guess I'm not too fussed, now we go out this season on a £20m or so profit. Got to keep Tevez now, surely? Let's face it, he's not really worth that, and if he wanted to leave then he would've left when his contract was out, might as well sell him now while there's a few years and they have to pay shitloads. If we put Rooney through the middle, and Berbatov has a good season, we'll get the goals back for sure.

PS how the fuck can Real afford this?

[KYUSS]

As a Liverpool fan i should be glad to see the back of him, but i feel the Premiership will be a poorer place without his talent on show.

Real are a bit of a mess though huh?

[tyler]

As a Liverpool fan i should be glad to see the back of him, but i feel the Premiership will be a poorer place without his talent on show.

I'd have agreed last summer but the way he's acted this season didn't reflect well on United. They'll be better off without him (unfortunately) as long as they make the right signings.

[oli]

Jesus, I thought it was still at the rumour stage. That's an insane amount of money, but the problem is now that any player we go in for as an alternative will magically have £10 million added to the price tag

[Liamness]

Probably. Actually, no, everyone knows we're in debt so we're not exactly flush right now despite the £80m. I think the decision to sell probably came from above Ferguson, anyway, so any decisions to buy will come from above him too.

I dunno if this is bad or good, really, for either side. When you think how low the pound must be, it's still the international world record for a transfer fee. However, it's a figure that they might just make back if he spends his life with the club, winning them countless trophies and also in marketing terms being a goldmine. However, as a business move that's a lot of variables, so I think this is pretty much pointless dick swinging from Perez.

[carlito]

Wow. Just saw this on Sky Sports.

I dread to think of the boost in Real Madrid shirt sales now that both Kaka and Ronaldo are at the Bernabeu.

Good luck getting a bargain price on C.Ron's replacement now that every man and his dog knows you've got £80mio burning a hole in your pocket!

I can't wait to see what Platini does or doesn't say about this.

[Mallet]

I have to agree about Ronaldo. As fantastic a player as he has been and for all the goals he's scored I simply can't like the whiney wee shit. I can't imagine he's a positive person to have in the dressing room either. Hopefully Fergie will get that 80 million to reinvest in the squad. Who would make more difference over a season, Ronaldo or 3 25-30 million world class players?

Gotta laugh at Madrid as well, that 80 million could be spent much better than on Ronaldo imo. No doubt it will be like the Beckham/Zidanae era again, flashes of individual genius but no real team cohesion. Lots of merchandising and shirt sale success but how will they do in sporting terms? I expect Barca will still be in another league to them next year.

[phresh]

I’d bite their hand off for £80million. As many goals as he has scored a lot of them have come at the expense of sticking Rooney on the wing and he hasn’t been as good this season as last and who is to say he wouldn’t have a worse season again?

I’d obviously prefer him to stay but hopefully this means we can get Ribery (can Real afford to pay out another £40million?) and maybe even Silva along with Valencia and I assume they will also try and keep Tevez now. The merry go round begins!

Will be interesting to see whether this is solely about the cash or if Ferguson thinks that the players he could buy in would be the ones to rejuvenate the team after a lacklustre season performance wise. Lets be honest if there is one man who has made his legacy by replacing great players it is him.

[Mallet]

I’d bite their hand off for £80million. As many goals as he has scored a lot of them have come at the expense of sticking Rooney on the wing and he hasn’t been as good this season as last and who is to say he wouldn’t have a worse season again?

I agree, United aren't really a balanced side at the moment. I'd like to see Rooney in the hole and Berbatov up top like he was at Spurs.

[Liamness]

Yes, get Rooney deep and Berba out of the 'Cantona role', pfft. He shined when Keane did all the work behind him, so he'll shine when Rooney does the same (hopefully).

I expect Barca will still be in another league to them next year.

Absolutely, their squad and their style of play is just better. Though I think they will make a couple of (low-key in comparison) signings this summer that may still prove to be important. Hopefully not Adebayor.

[carlito]

However, it's a figure that they might just make back if he spends his life with the club, winning them countless trophies and also in marketing terms being a goldmine. However, as a business move that's a lot of variables, so I think this is pretty much pointless dick swinging from Perez.

Didn't Real's marketing director say that the Beckham transfer was worth 500mio EUR to them? I imagine this will be similarly lucrative.

[Mallet]

Didn't Real's marketing director say that the Beckham transfer was worth 500mio EUR to them? I imagine this will be similarly lucrative.

Surely Ronaldo isn't even in the same league to Beckham from a comercial point of view?

[roskelld]

Man this makes me want the season to start sooner, I can't wait for '09/'10 to start.

How Real are paying for this I don't know. But I ain't grumbling about Ronadlo's leaving, if it's time to go, then it's time to go, I'd rather see players that want to be playing on the pitch. Hopefully Tevez will be one of them, I love his passion, full stop, his question of worth means less to me when you see him putting it in for the team time after time.

[Trigg]

He'll be a massive loss, of that they is no doubt. But when a club comes knocking with £80m in tow its difficult to ignore. Especially for a player who's spoken out in public that he wants to have a go in Spain. He goes with my full blessing.

The important bit is who we buy with the money, I'll take two players to replace a player of Ronaldo quality in my eyes and the most obvious first choice is Ribery. The only player that comes close to Ronaldo in terms of wingers.

I'm sure Sir Alex as got a plan of action, in usually does.

[toythatkills]

I know you're all putting on a brave face and are all "I'm glad he's gone," "£80m! Amazing!" and all that, but even with that much money, finding another player that's going to score you 30-40 goals a season is not going to be easy.

[Liamness]

Yeah, totally. In fact, I'd say finding another player who can score that many goals is impossible. We'll have to get a winger who scores a few a season, then the rest of the goals will come from hopefully solidifying the roles of our strikers as... strikers. Rooney and Berba or Tevez through the middle.

Didn't Real's marketing director say that the Beckham transfer was worth 500mio EUR to them? I imagine this will be similarly lucrative.

I believe he will probably piss off Real's fans as much as he has ours, and he simply doesn't have the ability to woo like Beckham has. They will have a love/hate relationship with him, I don't think he'll sell nearly the most shirts tbh.

Kaka, Ronaldo and Messi are all playing in Spain. The worlds three best players, pretty much. Doesn't this make you pretty much want to cry?

[Trigg]

I know you're all putting on a brave face and are all "I'm glad he's gone," "£80m! Amazing!" and all that, but even with that much money, finding another player that's going to score you 30-40 goals a season is not going to be easy.

Funny, people said the same thing about Van Nistelrooy when he left.

[carlito]

Surely Ronaldo isn't even in the same league to Beckham from a comercial point of view?

To be honest I don't know. The Beckham brand soared while he was at Madrid and Ronaldo has gone over there much younger so there is plenty of time for him to build it up. He's the maybe the best footballer in the world and he's a good looking boy so he's got plenty going for him.

We were the target audience of much of the Beckham brand because he's english so I guess we were more saturated market than anywhere else. I've no idea how big the Ronaldo brand is in the rest of the world. Fernando Alonso, for example, used to be on every advert going in Spain, but over here you rarely see him in anything.

[Paradigm]

Man Utd will buy a talent or bring someone through who's just as good, Ronaldo will go to Real and fuck up due to the fact Kaka's there too and that Barcelona will be the better team rather than a collection of money floating around, natural order will be restored. And so it has always been. I won't miss him, he's a twat.

[Ran]

Couldn't agree more Paradigm. The boy doesnt want to play his football at United so we wouldnt be getting the best of him anyway.. may as well get a shit load of cash for him and sink it into the squad.

[Liamness]

Who should we go in for, not as a 'replacement' as such (Ronaldo is a one off) but just so we have someone on the right wing? I think James Milner is a bit special; intelligent and pacy, with a good shot on him and an appetite for playing in different positions and putting in work for the team. We've looked at Valencia but I don't think he has many goals in him really. Ribery is an option but I think we'd pay a lot for him, plus I don't think he's at a good age to buy a player of his calibre. I'm not sure he would fit our league very well either.

[barkbat]

No, Ronaldo leaving has got to be a huge risk, even if he is a brat of the highest order.

It's a relief to end all this speculation and just have him finally go, but there is a reason why he is going for so much money. He scores goals, and many of his own accord. If we hadn't had his free kicks, if we hadn't the time to reform after an attack because he's off dribbling with the ball, if we hadn't had his amazing ability to reach corners... there's no way we'd have won the league this year. No way. A deserved third place.

So I'm scared. I don't think its likely we'll score as many goals. Berba hasn't settled. Rooney isn't sharp like he was. Tevez is all effort and not enough play time. The one hope is that the formation was contorted to suit Ronaldo - the rest played around his talent - and now they will be freed to go to positions they should have been in anyway.

You can talk about rejuvinating with a few new signings, but it'll be a minor miracle if they settle and start scoring anywhere near as many.

[redbloodcell]

There are some players at Real who are probably looking at the door too, I'm sure you'd get a nice pick for selling them their second new 'Galactico'. Its not like they're bad players either, they've got some quality midfielders who aren't going to want to sit on the bench next season.

[Guest]

I'd say we need to move quick in the transfer market now and get buying.

Too many seasons we've left it too late.

[Trigg]

I can't see past Ribery personally, they were strong rumors weeks ago that we were interested in him. He's a quality player and he's the type of player we should be looking at, one of the few wide players out there who come close to Ronaldo.

James Milner? Really?

[phresh]

We've already been in touch with Bayern regarding Ribery so I wouldn't be at all surprised if that goes through (assuming Real don’t go for him too…).

I do rate Milner but he’s not as good as Valencia who has got all the right qualities to make it at United, hard working, quick and skilful. Would definitely reduce the need to play Rooney on the wing in big games.

Possibly slightly different but I really wouldn’t mind going for either Toure (rumours are he might want to leave) or Senna. Toure especially as he can cover in defence too.

[Eats hoops and leaves]

Wow, a great shame. For all his bad points, Ronaldo simply has the talent to overcome all of them. He's a total predator and the team will be much worse off without him. I'm looking forward to Berbatov getting stuck into more games though.