£150 million

[red g]

the 150m was spent on a utd team already winning the title and competing every season for the top honours.

As opposed to the money spent on the team that benitez inherited which included the much heralded djimi traore, salif diao, el hadji diouf and milan baros.

I dont think rafa blameless but he's probably had to take more gambles than he would have liked on players like dossena, riera and kuyt and had pittances to spend on players like degen, kyriagos and voronin.

He has also had some spectacular successes including torres, mascherano, reina, benayoun, agger.

There have also been some poor buys including keane, lucas and fernando morientes.

But if you look across the road at old trafford, they virtually have to start looking at rebuilding the team because the players they bought in at large expense such as nani, anderson, hargreaves, berbatov havent worked out.

They need to find replacements for ferdinand, vidic, gary neville, scholes, giggs, ronaldo, berbatov all at top market prices.

If you look at things then they may be on the cusp on a downward spiral especially if ferguson leaves as he eventually will.

I am not his biggest fan by a long shot but Lucas was not a poor buy......how much did we pay ? about 5million?

[barnes10]

My point is that considering where we started from when Rafa joined (****e team, longball merchants, struggling to finish in the top 4 the majority of the time) compared to Man U (regularly winning trophies and an already established squad) even if Rafa has spent slightly more money we aren't going to catch up by spending an equal amount over the same period because their starting point is so much stronger.

Also they have clawed back their net spend with a big sale in the last window, Rafa has had to wheel and deal from day 1 to generate the funds as he goes to be able to bring in Torres etc...

now i love rafa and fully support him. I also believe that last season not this is a better reflection of the club he's rebuilding. However, surely the highlighted bit above shows that right now at least, we're back where we/he started...

[el matador]

I am not his biggest fan by a long shot but Lucas was not a poor buy......how much did we pay ? about 5million?

when we signed him he was supposedto be a world class talent. even his biggest fans will probably admit that he doesn't look world class. like keane he was a decent player but we haven't seen the attacking talent that we thought he had.

maybe benitez isn't playing him in his proper position but he certainly hasn't lived up to expectations.

[barnes10]

the 150m was spent on a utd team already winning the title and competing every season for the top honours.

As opposed to the money spent on the team that benitez inherited which included the much heralded djimi traore, salif diao, el hadji diouf and milan baros.

I dont think rafa blameless but he's probably had to take more gambles than he would have liked on players like dossena, riera and kuyt and had pittances to spend on players like degen, kyriagos and voronin.

He has also had some spectacular successes including torres, mascherano, reina, benayoun, agger.

There have also been some poor buys including keane, lucas and fernando morientes.

But if you look across the road at old trafford, they virtually have to start looking at rebuilding the team because the players they bought in at large expense such as nani, anderson, hargreaves, berbatov havent worked out.

They need to find replacements for ferdinand, vidic, gary neville, scholes, giggs, ronaldo, berbatov all at top market prices.

If you look at things then they may be on the cusp on a downward spiral especially if ferguson leaves as he eventually will.

He also had issues with not getting his real targets - we know who they were - simao, alvez, vidic, villa, silva etc - and instead having to take the likes of pennant, skrtel and riera.

[Chrono]

Of course it is always money, it's not like we have the best striker, keeper and attacking midfielder in the league with a host of other world class players.

[Darkon]

My point is that considering where we started from when Rafa joined (****e team, longball merchants, struggling to finish in the top 4 the majority of the time) compared to Man U (regularly winning trophies and an already established squad) even if Rafa has spent slightly more money we aren't going to catch up by spending an equal amount over the same period because their starting point is so much stronger.

Also they have clawed back their net spend with a big sale in the last window, Rafa has had to wheel and deal from day 1 to generate the funds as he goes to be able to bring in Torres etc...

I agree in the whole context it's hard to play catch up with money investment alone, and that's even considering rafa has spent about 50-80m more on new players (not net spend).

but to quote the scums investment alone tells us very little, which I read your initial point as.

But I also think that is why rafa has focused much of his energy in to the youth squad, because he also knows it's just about impossible unless an oildude comes along!

The same sorta applies to valencia, where he couldn't outspend neither barca or (especially) real.

[red g]

when we signed him he was supposedto be a world class talent. even his biggest fans will probably admit that he doesn't look world class. like keane he was a decent player but we haven't seen the attacking talent that we thought he had.

maybe benitez isn't playing him in his proper position but he certainly hasn't lived up to expectations.

you dont buy world class talent for 5million not nowadays......its fair to say he looks half decent and worth about the 5million we paid.

[The Birdman]

No it wasn't.

Your point was that Man U spend way more than we do. You've changed your argument.

Where do I say that in the original post??

What I say is considering the starting points and where we were when Rafa joined it's unrealistic to expect him to close the gap without spending far more

[The Birdman]

I agree in the whole context it's hard to play catch up with money investment alone, and that's even considering rafa has spent about 50-80m more on new players (not net spend).

but to quote the scums investment alone tells us very little, which I read your initial point as.

But I also think that is why rafa has focused much of his energy in to the youth squad, because he also knows it's just about impossible unless an oildude comes along!

The same sorta applies to valencia, where he couldn't outspend neither barca or (especially) real.

Yep fair enough, I only used Man U as they announced the bond issue to raise £500m and the fact that article mentioned they spent 150m over the last 5 years, it wasn't another lets compare who's spent what thread.
To be honest I hadn't realised they had spent that much money

[The Birdman]

now i love rafa and fully support him. I also believe that last season not this is a better reflection of the club he's rebuilding. However, surely the highlighted bit above shows that right now at least, we're back where we/he started...

Good point well made!

[Redspin]

the 150m was spent on a utd team already winning the title and competing every season for the top honours.

As opposed to the money spent on the team that benitez inherited which included the much heralded djimi traore, salif diao, el hadji diouf and milan baros.

I dont think rafa blameless but he's probably had to take more gambles than he would have liked on players like dossena, riera and kuyt and had pittances to spend on players like degen, kyriagos and voronin.

He has also had some spectacular successes including torres, mascherano, reina, benayoun, agger.

There have also been some poor buys including keane, lucas and fernando morientes.

But if you look across the road at old trafford, they virtually have to start looking at rebuilding the team because the players they bought in at large expense such as nani, anderson, hargreaves, berbatov havent worked out.

They need to find replacements for ferdinand, vidic, gary neville, scholes, giggs, ronaldo, berbatov all at top market prices.

If you look at things then they may be on the cusp on a downward spiral especially if ferguson leaves as he eventually will.

Jesus Christ man, saying Lucas was a poor buy is ridiculous. He's been streets ahead of anyone else in our midfield all season. If other, more celebrated, players around him had shown as much application and consistency we'd be about 10 points better off

[DeeTheDog]

now i love rafa and fully support him. I also believe that last season not this is a better reflection of the club he's rebuilding. However, surely the highlighted bit above shows that right now at least, we're back where we/he started...

I disagree, although at times we have went long and Carragher is the main culprit, I feel our bulid up is too slow with too many passes in midfield allowing teams to regain their shape. Last season, the longer ball from deep was one of our most effective tools. We don't have a target man, a la Heskey in the Houllier days, so we don't really have the option to play the long ball.

Houllier's last season was dire in a much less competitive league, we never came back from going behind, our squad lacked any quality and our reserves were packed with over paid mercenaries and our youth team never looked like producing anyone who would get near the first team. We are in much stronger position now than we were then.

[el matador]

you dont buy world class talent for 5million not nowadays......its fair to say he looks half decent and worth about the 5million we paid.

we paid £6m for a 19 year old i think so when we signed him he was rated as a world class YOUNG talent.

Im not saying he's a bad player but i dont think he has been the player I and others thought he would so he hasnt lived up to the reputation that he had as a kid.

[Vermilion]

This thread is looking strangely familiar.

[red g]

we paid £6m for a 19 year old i think so when we signed him he was rated as a world class YOUNG talent.

Im not saying he's a bad player but i dont think he has been the player I and others thought he would so he hasnt lived up to the reputation that he had as a kid.

he was bought as a great prospect not a world class messi-esque player who would walk into the team at 19.