[Salford Lad]

What do you reckon lads?

Honest opinion ?

He's not exactly a bargain hunter anymore and offloads young talent without a run in the team and brings in big money buys and plays them regardless of lesser players (in terms of purchase value) form.

 

[Stephen]

"in history"

 

[Rooneys_Temper]

Theres no denying he isnt the best when it comes to the business side,you only have to look at Wegner to see how that should be done.That said SAF brings in & out players that win things (see trophy cabinets for details).We have a decent academy,but i think with the current boom in investors its hard to 'wait' as the other teams are just bringing in class left,right and centre.We will see great players like Evans stick around,but on the whole i think Fergie likes spend first think later.Im not too sure if he's the WORST though......Schevchenko deal alone is worse than Fergies contributions!?Juande Ramos completely?

 

[antdevil78]

with money involved in premier league tv rights and champions league, it aint a case of buying players for nothing and winning everything with them. look at the list below and see if you can produce a similar list with benitez/wenger/mourinho etc.

schmeichel 550,000
cantona £1.1 million
beckham free
butt free
scholes free
giggs free
nevilles free
kanchelskis 650,000
teddy sheringham 3.5 million = treble
steve bruce 800,000
OG Solksjaer 1.5 million
irwin 625,000

nowadays if united go for a player, they know we have money and play the bidding war. ramsey is a classic example for arsenal.

 

[Red_Devil28]

ummm all i have to say is wtf?

 

[thekeanefella]

after all the success he`s had over the years he was winning title after title without spending bucket loads.
the man deserves to be given an open cheque book and long may it continue.

no he is not a cheque book manager.

 

[RedForceRising]

hmmm .....

I'm not sure I agree with your title about him being the biggest cheque book manager in history.

But since winning his first CL title, he has spent a lot on RVN, Veron, Ferdinand, Rooney and Berbatov.

Before '99 - No
Since then - Yes


The term cheque book manager has a negative connotation though and it implies that Fergie can only buy success, but that's not true.

He won the CL without buying big names and then earned the right to buy the players that interest him like Rooney and Rio.

Hand on heart, would you trade either of those two for any other player in the prem?

Has he paid too much in the past? Absolutely!

But that's the price when Man Utd want to puchase players. All in all I think Taibi and Veron were the most expensive flops and besides that the players that were expensive have shown to be worth it.

Well.... the jury is still out on Hargo, Anderson, Nani and Berba, but Berba and Anderson can't be considered flops - just expensive.

 

[thedude]

Before '99 - No
Since then - Yes
.

Very good point.

One could say that the inflation of players prices has also gone up since '99 as well.

I think it started in '99 with the Christian Vieri Lazio-Inter Milan £31m transfer.

The following year, Luis Figo Barcelona- Real Madrid £37.4m, Hernan Crespo Parma-Lazio £35.7m.
And finally Zizous £45.62m move in 2002.

Fergie has spent a lot of money, but so have other managers across Europe. It just proves you need to spend to stay consistent and have a chance at titles.

 

[Stephen]

Since 99 we haven't really produced the quality players from the youth system.
THis forces United to spend, and whenever United comes calling the valuation of the player triples.

 

[RichardsReds]

The free players shouldn't count in this really.

He isn't a good manager when it comes to getting players on the cheap. But he's earnt the success and funds come with that so why not spend it

 

[stretty]

Personally speaking i judge him by the success he has achieved and not the money he has spent, at the end of the day we could afford it being one of the best run clubs in the world.
Most years he used to buy one or two top players just to keep the momentum going , yes we have paid over the odds for a lot of players but market forces dictate , when you want to prise away someones biggest asset and you are united you will end up having to pay a crazy price.
Yes his judgement has been a bit hit and miss , but he has still been a bigger success than wenger who supposedly is a better judge in the transfer market.
If i were one of arsenals accountants i would love wenger ,but i bet their supporters have envied our success.
Manchester united were breaking transfer records before fergie ever arrived.

 

[TheManc]

times have changed. We can't do what we used to when we would give 3 or 4 young players a chance in the first team. Since Abramovich came he really made the market boom and raised the standards. These days 3 point are vital so all it takes is 1 mistake (pique vs Bolton anyone?) and you could be behind.

You may say "look at Arsenal" - but what have they won in the last 4 years? 1 FA cup (which was a joke in all honestly). There is too much pressure on Manutd to do that kind of thing as we need constand success, which unfortunately meen constant investment.

Its only gonna get worse with the new City owners aswell.