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RM bemoans transfer failings

Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has revealed his frustrations at the club's failure to sign the players he wanted last summer.

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Comments 1 - 10 of (24)

big dave (Manchester United) says...

@peter griffin - that's fine mate. I'm not the only one who sometimes refers to outgoings, and sometimes to net spend, as evidenced by your previous claim that United had spent 4x what City did this season (which uses City's net spend, ignores Ballotelli's fee being payed in instalments, and uses United's gross spend). And You're right about Souness/Evans of course - I had it right below but then had a moment and got them the wrong way around in a later post. But it's a bit shady to now downgrade your claim from 'spending double what their rivals did' to 'spending the same as Liverpool', who started with a better squad. And following our first EPL we didn't outspend the others either, as detailed elsewhere. I don't think we're massively in disagreement - only that we object to each other's headline comments from time to time (not surprising given who we support). Thanks for the bit on Director of Football btw. I hope Fergie takes that role at United at some point in the future, assuming he is able to allow the manager to manage, when he does move upstairs.

Posted 8:24am 1st March 2013

petergriffin (Manchester City) says...

Bigdave - Also it was Souness s spending as Souness managed Liverpool before Evans. Evans took over in 1994.

Posted 4:37pm 28th February 2013

petergriffin (Manchester City) says...

big dave - They weren t simply recouping they were turning a profit, when judging spending you have to account for the players going out as well as those coming in to assess the relative investment in each teams playing staff. That surely common sense. Barring Liverpool your net spend shows that you clearly massivly outspent the rest of the league. United spent big money to get thier 1st title comparative to other teams barring 1 at the time not to the extent City did but still a huge amount at the time.

Posted 4:29pm 28th February 2013

big dave (Manchester United) says...

@peter griffin - same source. You're looking at net spend (which I did mention a few posts ago) when you point out that Spurs had a net income over the period, and Liverpool and United were almost bang on equal. I didn't mention any of the other teams in relation to that period. But, to be clear, we weren't spending twice as much as our rivals (Liverpool were matching us on net spend, Spurs were spending big but also recouping), we didn't have a squad twice as good as the rest (Liverpool started off with a better squad and spent as much as us over the period), and it wasn't Souness - it was Dalglish, and then Evans. The second period I mentioned, i.e. from our first title onwards, is a different question and one I covered separately, during which the likes of Newcastle massively outspent us.

Posted 2:27pm 28th February 2013

petergriffin (Manchester City) says...

bigdave - where are you getting your figures from? I use soccerbase which shows Spurs made money between 1986-92 whilst Uniteds spend is around 17m with Liverpool just below. The spends of Leeds Spurs Arsenal and Newcastle are nowhere near during this period so where have you got your info from?

Posted 12:13pm 27th February 2013

big dave (Manchester United) says...

@peter griffin - 1986-1992 United were outspent by Dalglish's Liverpool, and were equalled by Spurs. 1992-1999 United were outspent by Souness' and then Roy Evans' Liverpool four seasons out of seven, by Spurs 4/7, Arsenal 3/7 and by Newcastle every one of those seven seasons (and over the period by Arsenal, Liverpool and Newcastle overall). You need to drop it mate, or be specific about where and when United were 'spending twice as much as their nearest rivals', as you insisted. There's no point making minor objections to the wording of my argument to cover up the facts. At no point were United spending 'double what their rivals spent', in fact they were always being overspent by someone, and often by several teams, during Fergie's first 13 seasons. By the end of that period we had already won the EPL five times, FA Cup 4 times, Champions League and Cup Winner's Cup. Nobody's doubting that Fergie spent some money, but they were never the biggest spenders in the country even when they were playing catch up in the late 80s. There is no comparison between City's spending and that of United during Fergie'e early years. So stop looking for one.

Posted 12:33pm 26th February 2013

petergriffin (Manchester City) says...

big dave - I ll be very careful to quote that fact as "United spent twice as much as thier rivals barring the disasterous spending of Souness at Liverpool" in future. Thanks for the correction.

Posted 11:15am 26th February 2013

big dave (Manchester United) says...

@peter griffin - you're right (well, close - our net spend is £36m, not £48m) thanks to the Ballotelli fee. It doesn't change the overall pattern of the last four seasons, or the fact that Mancini spends 'world class' transfer fees on players he seems to think aren't world class (judging by his comments about a bad summer, and the need to rebuild). Certainly United outspent City this season, but that was because they saw two potentially game-changing acquisitions at fair prices. I'm glad we finally put the 'United spent twice as much as their rivals' myth to bed though.

Posted 8:52am 26th February 2013

petergriffin (Manchester City) says...

As has been stated elsewhere too big dave Citys spending this season has come to a net spend of 9 million, a fifth of what united have spent.

Posted 4:32pm 25th February 2013

big dave (Manchester United) says...

@peter griffin - if we had a 'massively stronger squad than the rest of the league' it wasn't through spending more than the rest. As I've posted elsewhere, Liverpool were still outspending United 1986-93 (£30m v £23m). Moving on, RVP (£22m) was a fantastic signing, whilst Kagawa (£12m initially) will take some time to fit in by the looks of things. It's all very well echoing Mancini by pointing to United's signings, but the fact is all it really proves is that United have got value in some of their key signings in the past few years, whilst City are sat on a pile of footballers that cost £10-25m each but Mancini obviously thinks aren't quite good enough. That proves nothing except bad work in the transfer market, not getting the best out of players, or both. City's 'bad summer' cost £54m, while United's good one cost £48m. I hope City do give Mancini a fair go, but if he can't spend wisely or get the best out of his £500m squad, it won't be because United are lucky/rich/spending more than City (choose excuse as applicable).

Posted 1:59pm 25th February 2013

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