I was discussing this with Screacher yesterday. Let's face it, we'll have to go some to get rid of the 13. Also, the defenders have all been crocked so much that we may have trouble shifting any of them. Wozza, Lee, Speed, Shearer et al aren't going anywhere but will have almost no resale value owing to age. Basically, Dyer, Domi and Solano are the only saleable assets we've got. Oh, and the goalies. Thoughts.

-- Anonymous, May 23, 2000

Answers

No thoughts at all.....your telling us something that we all know...

Is there a point that I'm missing maybe?

-- Anonymous, May 23, 2000

Well, that Man United could sell their squad for about #150 mill, Arsenal for about #80 mill, West Ham about #40 mill, Liverpool for about #60 mill, Spurs for about #35 mill. I could continue. We are looking about about 15 million on the players we could sell. We are gonna really have to hope that our youth system produces some goods before we need to replace the likes of Shearer and Speed or we are well and truly f...d.

-- Anonymous, May 23, 2000

Either that or we're gonna have to have some cash coming into the club eh......like we do at the moment! which will increase with this new Premiership TV Deal currently being bid on....

Of course it's not ideal but I don't see it as such a huge problem....the way I see it is that we wouldn't want to sell our best players anyway so who cares if they're gonna have no re-sale value?

As for not being able to sell the planks we've got in the squad....that's ancient history and something that we're all p*ssed off with DogLeash about...

-- Anonymous, May 23, 2000

Spurs = #35 million, okay but with Rebrov and Campbell making up about #25 mill of that I reckon they are worse of then we are!!

I don't think value of squad has too much to do with it all, it's what they do and I will judge the squad at two points a) The first game of the season when Bobby has finished his dealing, and b) the end of the season when Bobby has integrated his signings into the team and established who froms the centre back pairing, the midfield pairing and the front two/three.

If you look at it in a fanciful type of manner, Harper continues in goal, steady season=#5mill Barton, another good season, getting on=#2mill Say Goma, rediscovers his Frech cap winning form=#6 mill Howey, rediscvers his English cap winning form=#5 mill. Pistone, good season, Italian recognition again=#5 mill. Solano, continues to adapt to the Prem, good season=#7mill Bassedas(?) impressive start to the season, more Argie caps=#5mill Calado (?) re-establishes his Portugese place =#5m Dyer, fully realises potential, scares defences, full England int=#10 mill Shearer, bags another 30, getting on, worth more to us than anyone else=#8mill Feguson, Injury free season for first time in career (see fanciful above)15-20 goals=#10 mill.

First team value alone = #68 million. Is it so fanciful?

-- Anonymous, May 23, 2000

I agree, don't get me wrong - it just shows the uneven footing we're on. Man United are 150 mills ahead of us in player value and are adding 16000 seats to their ground as well as getting cash from the red machine all over the world. I say 150 mills for man U on basis of press reports: Beckham - 25 mills, Giggs 20 mills, Keane, 20 mills, Scholes , 15 mills, Solksjaer 10 mills, Col 10 mills, Yorke 10 mills, G Neville, 10 mills, Stam 10 mills, Johnsen 5 mills, Blomquist 5 mills, Butt 5 mills and that's without your Fortunes, Browns et al who would see for something too.

-- Anonymous, May 23, 2000

The ManU valuations are just a reflection of a good few years of high level success. Simple as that really. If we create a team that shows it can regularly compete at the same level, the player valuations would be similar. It does NOT mean we have to spend that much money to be on the same footing though. If Bobby takes care of the footie side, then then financial stats will start to look better.

-- Anonymous, May 23, 2000

Much as I hate to say it ManU are a #1billion turnover company due to their global appeal. It is unlikely that that will be surpassed for a long time.

They have dominated the English domestic scene for the amount of full amount of time that the explosion of wages etc has taken. Apart from brief knocks like Arsenal winning the Prem, us thrashing them 5-0 and 3-0 (!!), they have dominated and they have had European success.

The point I'm getting at is that they are not a fair comparison. The reality check we need is to compare oursleves with clubs like Chelsea, Liverpool, Leeds, Aston Villa, Spurs. Agreed we are not top of that tree, but give Bobby two more years and we'll see where we are.

The damage done by Dalglish and Gullit should not be underestimated, another discussion in itself!

-- Anonymous, May 23, 2000

You make a valid point dougal - put simply, we cannot expect to continue paying out huge transfer fees to cover the fact that our youth system has been bankrupt for years.
Unless this issue is seriously and adequately addressed, we will as you suggest be in extremely deep yoghurt - we are perilously close anyway.
The reason manure's squad is so valuable is not principally due to high priced imports but to the array of talent that cost them essentially nothing.
High transfer fees can only be afforded to top up and fill gaps in what has been internally developed - anything else ultimately represents commercial suicide.

-- Anonymous, May 23, 2000

I think that we ourselves are partly to blame for the state we're in. If the expectations weren't so high among the supporters, the club would be able to take their time with a well thought out long term plan.

The pressure of needing to be in Europe to get among the big money makes it very difficult to work to a long term plan. I might be stating the obvious, but it looks to me like basically they have to balance season to season survival high in the premiership with making sure there's a good crop of young English players coming through.

And that's just the footballing side. The emphasis seems to be shifting from playing football with the business side sort of incidental, to running a business where the football is incidental - just another product - and I'm not sure that you can apply normal business principles in a situation where the 'product' itself is composed of human beings.

I think we probably have one of the best looking after the football side but I'm nowhere near sure that the business side is in good hands. I find it hard to accept that these days, the business side looks like it has to come first - Ijust have a gut feeling that the success of the team should be dragging the business along with it, instead of the other way round.

In a way, trying to buy big name players, I think we'd be better off not competing at all, than making half hearted attempts and being forced to pull out because we don't have the money.

At the same time, I've no doubt Bobby has it sussed, so roll on August.

09:29

-- Anonymous, May 24, 2000

Pit Bill,

"I'm not sure that you can apply normal business principles in a situation where the 'product' itself is composed of human beings."

You're very close to getting me up on my soap box here!
I have to say 'au contraire', good business principles are good business principles, and apply as much to running a football club as they do to running a sweet shop, or indeed Microsoft.
The best example I can quote of our Club's deficiencies in this regard are that we are still talking about our Football Academy while just about everyone else in the PL has done it, or is doing it.
Before anyone tries to pull me up short and tell me the Academy IS in existence, let me simply say that we have renamed our "Youth Development System" our "Youth Academy". They are operating in adequate facilities, that critically are simply not competitive or attractive in comparison to what other PL Clubs are offering to potential stars who are considering which Club to join.
This critical element of the business was ignored by Kevin Keegan (who perhaps had a million other priorities in salvaging a Club that was essentially moribund), has been under-prioritised ever since, and seems to be a hot potato that we are still f@rting around with. Club Executive Management should not have allowed such a situation to develop, and indeed to continue.
10:15 GMT

-- Anonymous, May 24, 2000

Dougal

Have you ever thought of a career as a motivational speaker? (-;

All of Heath's millions were unable to prevent :- United 3 Manchester 0 just a few short weeks ago...

-- Anonymous, May 24, 2000

Hahahaha....

-- Anonymous, May 24, 2000

Jonno, No, but as they never tire of telling us: 5-0/3-0 and you won f..k all.

-- Anonymous, May 24, 2000