Another doom prophecy for MU

Some of what he says are true (and often repeated); however, SAF is an old hand at this. He had built and rebuilt teams throughout his twenty plus years at the helm. His trophy laden cabinet is proof enough. So I'd say let SAF has his hubris, as long as MU tops the table come May ... every year.

Amplify’d from soccernet.espn.go.com

Sir Alex Ferguson focus

The hidden price of success

GettyImagesSir Alex Ferguson could oversee Manchester United's 19th title success this season

In this context, title 19 will cause problems for United. They would deserve credit for being the most consistent team, with the character to overcome deficits, but that doesn't vindicate Ferguson's tactics. Indeed, it seems that in the first half of games, United have had two opponents: the team they're playing and Ferguson's chalkboard whims. They cannot afford to go into 2011-12 with the same mindset.

The lack of competition superficially backs up Ferguson's recent spendthrift behaviour. The Glazers, like any chairmen, will be happy to hear their manager say that he doesn't see the worth in spending money. The 'no value' theory isn't total rot. Darren Bent cost £24 million, James Milner a little more, and Andy Carroll came in at £35 million. This is plainly madness, but 'no value' is not an unimpeachable refrain. It uses others' failures to justify underinvestment when there's dissenting evidence at hand. Patrice Evra, Ji-Sung Park, Nemanja Vidic and Rafael, and possibly Chris Smalling, Javier Hernandez and Fabio, show there are players available at sensible prices who can play at the highest level.

This does not account for the other United purchases - Anderson, Nani, Rio Ferdinand and Wayne Rooney all came for sizeable fees. Ferguson has been happy to pay over the odds in the past when necessary. Underinvestment in the team is therefore a huge risk. Having defended the board to the hilt, denying financial troubles and decrying high transfer fees, Ferguson will be in an awkward position. In the next two years, he has to groom effective replacements for Edwin van der Sar, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs. He has to come up with a player to replace Owen Hargreaves. On top of that, he has to identify solutions to the future exits of Michael Carrick, Evra and Ferdinand. On top of that, he'll need to do it on a budget. Read more at soccernet.espn.go.com

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/aoaqk

via Amplify.com

Posted via email from miki's posterous