Critics are beggining to say that this is our final year up at the top and our failure to move into the transfer market will be the reason for our downfall.

Lets proove them worng and thrash Leeds at Old Trafford tommorrow!

Come on KEANO!

Well cry me a river for Manchester United.

You greedy bastards 'ave already won. Your time will come....

Come on 'Manchester'? Yes, I hope Joe Royle manages to keep City up this year.

[This message has been edited by Neutral LFC (edited 10-20-2000).]

City did have the player with the best career, who played in the premiership this season......GEORGE WEAH!!!! What a long glorious career he had at City(!)

amt. Newcastle spent on new players this year........ 12.75 million pounds

amt. ManU spent......... 7.8 million pounds


Money is not everything, as you can see, ManU does not have to spend huge amounts of money to be successful (they can but they don't)...... ManU haven't won anything yet this season so I won't make any predictions, but they aren't greedy, just good. http://www.soccergaming.com/ubb/smile.gif

I think that the chairman of Manu just doesn't want a Chelsea-like, or Arsenal-like, or Liverpool-like team with 7-9 foreigners who do not give the results people waited from them... I am pretty sure that Owen, Fowler, Heskey, Gerrard and Redkapp are indespendable for Liverpool -- without them the team would not do that good. Without Keown, Adams, Seaman, Parlour Arsenal would be questionable to get that high as they did last year.... Chelsea sucks without Englishmen..

I remember watching the Sky Sports, and they said there that manu chairman told Fergie: "you have to sell before you buy"... And he is right -- why spend money when you can play as you play now??? Manu did not buy Beckham, Scholes, Giggs, Butt, Nevilles... They were already there.... This means that youngsters like Fortune, Brown, and others will perform like Becks and company in the future... If it would not work -- you can always "buy" a player, because Manu is one of the richest clubs in the world (probably the richest)...

Just remember that Fergie spent close to 40 million the season they won the treble. And some of the players in their team didn't come cheap, Jaap Stam cost them around 11 million (most expensive defender in the world), Yorke was 13 million pounds (3rd highest british transfer fee), Blomquist (remember him?) was 5.5 million, and don't forget all the money he threw away getting a goal keeper - huge signing bonus for Bosnich, 5.5 million for Taibi (then a British record for GK), and then 8 million for Barthez (most expensive GK in the world). So just because United didn't spend money like crazy THIS year, doesn't mean they're never have or never will.

Don't forget Fergie is the man who bought guys like William Prunier and Silvestre. He also could have bought Zidane before he went to Juve for 4 million pounds from Bordeaux but thought 4 million was too much, and he also decided to buy Yorke instead of Marcelo Salas. The only purchase I give him respect for is Roy Keane from Nottingham Forest and Solskjaer - both were great.

As for the foreigner thing;
When United beat Leicester 3-0, they had 2 frenchmen, 2 Irishmen, 2 Norweignes and 1 Trinidadian, leaving 4 Englishmen.

By contrast when foreigner filled Liverpool beat Derby 4-0, they had...wait a sec - 4 Englishmen as well! And 1 Norweigen (Vedgy Heggem) was substituted for another Englishman (Murphy) so they finished the game with 5 of them.

As for the richest club in the world, according to Total Football magazine, while United have the world's largest turnover, Bayern Munich have the most profit. Go figure.

Who's going to win tommorow? Leeds or United?

What I'm saying is that it won't last forever.

Who won the Premiership 5 years ago? Blackburn. And where are they now? Who knows. Rotting in the first division.

Manchester United are a good football club. And I know what will happen to them.

They will play well over the next few seasons. Maybe a title or a Cup. But after a few years things will begin to change. Sir Alex will leave. Andy Cole & Dwight Yorke will find themselves in their thirties. Teddy Sheringham will be signing a new contract.....with the Dallas Burn of MLS.

Denis Irwin will be too old also. The Neville brothers weren't that good to begin with. Silvestre won't do. The Man U defence will start to thin.

The Manchester will have to spend some of that money. Big name Italians & Brazilians will be brought in to fix the emerging problems of the post-Ferguson era.

But something isn't right. Manchester have lost their youthful edge. The all-English dream team is starting to fade. No more Paul Scholes and David Beckhams are emerging from the youth ranks. Just decent un-exceptional youngsters. 1st place becomes 3rd place....Champions League becomes UEFA Cup. In a few years after that Manchester United find themselves at mid-table.

So they decide to buy some more players. But where has the money gone? David Beckham has gone to Barc/Real/Juve. That gives them some more money. Lets sell of Man Utd TV. Even more....

United climb back into Europe. But after a year they fall back to mid-table again. Then it hits them.....they are no longer Championship material. Frustration kicks in. The fans in Norway and the US lose interest in this 8th place side. They become AC Milan/Barc/Juve fans.

The next few years are riding on former glory.

By the year 2010, the refrains of 'Glory Glory Man Utd' are heard no-more at Old Trafford. The titles and cups of the past are no more. Quinton Fortune walks off the pitch. He reflects on the decline of the past ten years. The dynasty of Manchester United has ended.

He looks to the scoreboard. Manchester 0 Tottenham 0. They could not escape relegation.

Manchester United are in the 1st Division.

What goes up......

Neutral -

but over a span of time, compare what the other big teams (i.e. Barca, Lazio, Inter, even some Prem teams) have spent - Man U have not spent a lot of money on players.... partly, because they are reluctant to spend money and mostly because they haven't had to - their youth has been that good. The jury is still out on Silvestre - he is what? 22 or 23 years old? Plus, Fergie did not spend a lot on him anyways.

As for buying Yorke over Salas, do you really think he made a bad decision? I sure as hell don't!!!

And no one ever said Liverpool was foreigner-filled!!! Certainly not me! But look at Arsenal and Chelsea, those teams are foreigner-filled.

As for giving respect for his purchases........ obviously, you did not take the time to think about this, no offence intended!
Cantona, Schmeichel, Kanchelskis, Ince, Irwin etc. etc. etc......... do I have to go on?? Not really!

and as for you a_shearer............


he he he! http://www.soccergaming.com/ubb/smile.gif
you are living in a dream world..... your hate of Man U and everything ManU-related has driven you into this crazy state of mind. Day by day, you have been thinking this crazy scheme up.... in 10 years ManU will be in the Second Division, Sunderland will be in the Conference, Liverpool and Arsenal will no longer exist and Newcastle will win their 5th consecutive title in a row, with Leyton Orient and Woking second and third, respectively.

NO BLOODY CHANCE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe I am blinded by my hate of all things Man Ure.

But do you TRULY AND HONESTLY believe that Man United can stay on top forever?

Oh I understand that United don't spend nearly as much money as the bigger teams in Europe. I was just reacting to the way you were making them sound like West Ham - ie "We only buy bargins...and Marco Boogers"

As for Fergie's purchases, sorry I forgot Cantona.

As for United fans who think that United will always keep on being the top team in England....as a Liverpool fan I know how you feel...or I did 10 years ago.

All things come to an end...besides you need to win the league 6 more times to equal Liverpool, and the European Cup 2 more times....ah...living in past glories....never thought that would happen to me. http://www.soccergaming.com/ubb/wink.gif

My prediction;
Man U 4 Leeds 1 - too many Leeds players injured, and it's United at home.

Now who wants to be really brave and predict Liverpool vs Leicester? Not me, they're another one of our bogey teams.

Neutral - I didn't mean it that way... but ManU are considered one of the best and richest teams in the world.... compare their spendings with these other teams, and I guarantee they have spent the least amount of money. That's all I meant....... and plus, look at what Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal have spent the last few years - it pretty much in the same ballpark as what ManU has spent....


And as for whether I think ManU will never lose the Premiership title again.... NO.
I guess you could call me one of those wannabe, bandwagon people who have no "right" to support ManU... I was not born there, I've never been to their stadium (although I saw them play in Poland!) blah blah blah... my Dad supported them when he lived in England and because of Cantona, I fell in love with ManU. However, Legia Warsaw is still my #1 team of all time, no matter what!!

Anyways, I started rambling there... my point is, as a so-called "not true" ManU fan, maybe I can give you a real perspective on this issue. No, I don't think they will be this successful forever... watch all the real ManU fans come out and diss me now!! I think that because it is impossible... like Neutral said, ten years ago, Liverpool fans never thought they wouldn't win the Premiership title again... it is just plain impossible.

However, I don't think that they will be relegated or anything drastic like that... I think you might see this "expected drop" or whatever you want to call it... when Fergie leaves - I think we may all underestimate (really) the effect he has on this team with regards to everything going on in the club. If ManU bring in a putz, then the 'decline' will be quicker than expected. Anyways, I don't know... I may be wrong (hopefully) but the important thing is........ I don't necessarily think that ManU will get that much worse, I just think that the other teams (particularly Arsenal, Liverpool, Leeds and Newcastle) will get that much better.

Maybe true shearer, maybe not. But the reason Blackburn won the title one year was because of two words I have heard from you many times.....

ALAN SHEARER!!!!

Maybe his...35(guess) goals helped them a tad.