Raheem Sterling

[peekay]

Yup!

Not sure what is wrong with what I said. Everyone knows what went wrong with us the last 20 years - lackadaisical approach off the pitch in terms of commercial operations, and buying **** players at critical moments.

It is not like we are not aware of what is needed to continuously compete at the top. Figuring out how to do it in the era of Chelsea and City is a whole new story.

We are playing catchup but I don't think anyone can discredit FSG for the way in which they are improving the commercial side of things. On the footballing side, they have made several wrong decisions, but they are trying things.

Everything goes in cycles. The successful period of every football club coincides with the appointment of the right group of people. And when they leave there is often a dip. I am sure at some point we will get it right.

[Leyton388]

I totally agree with that bit, although I do think it is worth pointing out that the situation isn't unique to us, Utd have outpaced almost everyone with the success they had at such a critical time with so much money flowing into football, certainly those who haven't had billions to launder. It isn't just post-Istanbul that we failed to move on (as I said above, we're in many ways lucky to still be where we are after the H&G fiasco), but since 1992.

[Leyton388]

Don't get Leyton started Mr M.

I'm over it now.

[peekay]

Which in a way points out that expecting us just to challenge those teams because of who we are (or were) is unrealistic does it not? We've been in that second group now effectively for a very long time, turning that around is a lot more difficult than writing an article like that imo.

I would say we are in a group in between the two. How many clubs can point to Istanbul, UEFA cup wins, FA cup wins, League cup wins in their years of wilderness. We are very unique in that sense.

[Roboklopp]

I'm over it now.

It's not like I disagree with you tbh.

[Exiled_red]

Yeah the general message of his article I agree with...but there's a lot of rubbish in there. The Gerrard point for a start, and he reckoned Ronaldo was the only one United lost against their wishes. He conveniently neglects to mention Pique, Pobga and De Gea.

I think ultimately our problem boils down to the club's bad decisions - notably the decision to sell to Hicks & Gillett, and the many times we've decided to buy **** players for crazy money.

The only difference I guess is that Pique and Pobga weren't first team players when they left, if they were playing regularly they may have stayed, Ronaldo was the only first team player who left to win more trophies.

Whether we like it or not they are ahead of us in a number of areas as we have been let down by bad ownership and poor decisions at the top. If FSG had come in when Hicks & Gillett did things might have been different, rebuilding would probably have been easier with Benitez, regular CL football and one of the most feared sides in Europe, at the moment we don't have that

[Leyton388]

As a club off the field we are going in the right direction under FSG, however on the field is where we have the problem. We need the regeneration of Anfeild to be complete before we can invest more on the pitch. I think we need to see where the club is when that is complete (both the main stand and Anny road) The only way short term we would be able to compete is if FSG sold us to a oil rich Arab which is unrealistic so the only thing to do is build it. They're will be bumps along the way but we are heading in the right direction and I believe FSG will restructure the club in the summer.

[BobTheCharmer]

F*** that ****. He played a relatively insignificant part in a man utd's greatest times and now he is an authority on football and stadium development and how clubs should be run. There is nothing in that article which everyone does not know. I wonder why he did not come up with similar article when we were tearing the league apart last year and Man Utd were destroying records for number of crosses in a game.

I hate patronizing, pseudo sympathetic, stating the bleeding f******** obvious but written as if it were some great intellectual insight articles like this.

Man Utd did well because they had a brilliant football operation supported by a good commercial infrastructure. We all know that. In fact before Neville learned to construct a sentence, we showed England how it can be done. We lost our way and have not recovered.

Utd have lost only one player blah blah blah. Yeah, we get it. When you win a lot of trophies and have lot of money you tend not to loose players. In fact it was the same for us. We also lost only very few great players during our heyday - Keegan and Souness. When you stop winning trophies frequently players leave. Again we know that. In fact, if Neville waits a couple of more weeks, he can experience that feeling when his most important player from last season packs his bag for Madrid. Maybe he needs to call him and try to convince him to stay based on how easy it is to walk in Manchester and the size of the stadium and commercial operations. And spend a couple of seasons yoyoying in and out of CL places 2 players leaving will very quickly becomes 3,4,5 and 6.

We know what we have been missing for 20 + years. One day we will figure it out and be back and hopefully I will be around to shove this article up his...

Well said mate. Neville is a cunt.

[Leyton388]

Never trust anyone who's dad's first name is the same as their surname. I reckon he got confussed filling a job application in and just went with it. Neville Neville.

[Venton]

I totally agree with that bit, although I do think it is worth pointing out that the situation isn't unique to us, Utd have outpaced almost everyone with the success they had at such a critical time with so much money flowing into football, certainly those who haven't had billions to launder. It isn't just post-Istanbul that we failed to move on (as I said above, we're in many ways lucky to still be where we are after the H&G fiasco), but since 1992.

The thing is that at the crucial time they managed to win the league and get the monkey off their back - and off they went. I still blame Howard Wilkinson. What was he thinking when he sold them Cantona?

[Leyton388]

The question should be what was Souness think because Iirc he turned down the chance to sign Cantona

[DannyMan2006]

The thing is that at the crucial time they managed to win the league and get the monkey off their back - and off they went. I still blame Howard Wilkinson. What was he thinking when he sold them Cantona?

The crucial thing is having a forward thinking Chief Exec at the same time as a great manager. Peter Kenyon did wonders for them, followed by another really good appointment in David Gill.

Success is mainly based around money. They built the house and then kept adding to it. We built a house and just let it become old and out dated. When Dalglish left we had a decision to make.

Souness followed by Evans was just outdated. The boot room days were long gone by then. We didn't move with the times and we've been playing catch up ever since.

As soon as the Kop became an all seater we should've sorted out the stadium situation for starters. In football you're only ever one good appointment from success so we are not exactly done for. But it's a tough climb.

[BootRoom]

Neville's point about staying at Anfield due to emotional ties is ****ing bollocks - it's been purely about not having the wonga to build a new ground.

The mancs have had a far easier time of it because their ground isn't as boxed in as ours, and they haven't had to put up with the political obstacles we've had to deal with - even expanding the Kemlyn with the upper cent was a massive headache. And we only got the go-ahead to move to Stanley Park when the Lib Dems took control of the council.

[MrMichael]

The question should be what was Souness think because Iirc he turned down the chance to sign Cantona

And bought Paul Stewart

[topscorer]

So looking at the financial side of forcing Sterling to remain for the full term of his current contract.

Considering what we have offered him, what the papers say other clubs have offered him and what we would have to pay for a replacement I think we can say we will save at least £7m in wages.

Considering how much we paid for Lovren, Markovic, Lallana etc then I think we can say that a suitable replacement would cost at least £30m, amortized over a 4 year contract would mean £15m for the 2 years.

Then since he has come through our youth academy we would probably get £4m even if he leaves on a free, minus 20% to QPR, let's round it down to £3m.

That means we would need to get at least £31.25m just to 'breakeven' from a sale, because of the 20% to QPR.

Then consider the value of making a statement and showing strength and setting a precedent for other players.

You'd have to say we'd be losing money if we accepted any less than £45m this summer compared with letting him go on a 'free' in 2 years time. And if he is going to a rival team in the Premier League you have to get a premium on the £45m because strengthening a direct competitor means we need to spend more just to stay on a par with them.

No way is he worth that in the open market. Someone like Man City might pay a premium because they need English players but they've already been done for breaking FFP so how are they going to afford to pay a premium and not break FFP again?

No way is he worth £45m, he isn't anywhere near good enough yet. Better than average? Yes. Class A level start player? Not a chance.

So financially speaking it seems to me that FSG are absolutely correct to refuse to sell him and make him complete his contract. What they say might not be a strategy to maximize sales price but a factually thought out financial decision.

It's not a forgone conclusion that Sterling will leave this summer so I'd say us fans should take it out in the Agent but leave Sterling alone and give him the benefit of the doubt.

I'd keep him unless a European club offers £45m or more.