Mails: In your face, Real Madrid…

There is a whole load of triumphalism in the mailbox from pretty ecstatic Man United fans, who are now praising Ed Woodward. In, out, shake it all about…

If you have anything to add on any subject, mail us at theeditor@football365.com. Please.

In Your Face, Madrid…
Did David De Gea just use Real Madrid to land a fat new contract at United?!

How you like them apples Florentino?!
Dave (fully aware he is still leaving next summer, are we still doing brackets) BAC

 

This Could Be United’s Best Window Ever…
It’s obviously a bit early right now but it would be interesting to do a summer transfer window retrospective at some later point in the season. United are the obvious example with the todays news that they signed the ‘world’s best goalkeeper’, effectively on a free and yesterday’s revelation that they only paid 6.5m for ‘an ageing World Cup star’. If Memphis, Darmain and Martial go on to realize their world-class potential it may in retrospect be United’s best window ever.

On the other hand if Martial is a flop and Welbeck makes a miraculous recovery and goes on a goal-a-game scoring spree for Arsenal, each club’s retrospective will draw very different conclusions. We already have the Cech/Courtois transfer flip-flopping between good move/bad move/good move depending on performances and injuries and which club’s perspective your looking at.

Of course it will prove nothing other than the huge element of luck and timing inherent in defining success in football. But it is fun and United supporters are no doubt enjoying it all immensely right now!
Dave Mack

 

…Whether it’s by accident or design it seems to have worked out spectacularly well for Man Utd with the De Gea situation. Don’t get me wrong, I think we can all be sure that big Dave still has his future sights set on Real Madrid and I think we all know that there will be a release clause in the contract, however this is a massive turnaround from when it looked like he may be gone this year for a relatively small fee (considering his quality) or leave for free after an angry year in and out of the team.

It will be interesting to see at what value the release clause is set, the rumblings coming out of Old Trafford have maintained that Utd would like Real to have to beat the world record fee for a goalkeeper, although the De Gea camp may have negotiated something a little more accommodating to Real. Ultimately Man Utd have now secured De Gea for at least another year, will have secured at least a decent fee via release clause, have more time to acquire a suitable replacement if required and also it has given Romero some useful game time and allowed the club to assess his capabilities and limitations as a back-up keeper. Of course the added bonus to this is that Real have not got their man (yet) and have learned the lesson that it isn’t always possible to bully a team into selling a player after spending all year unsettling him, he could have been yours if you’d stumped up the cash three months ago.
Matt (new lay-out looks a bit too Man City for my tastes), Manchester

 

Well Done Ed Woodward And United
Two seasons ago Liverpool resisted a public transfer request from Luis Suarez and a subsequent offer from Arsenal for the same player. The said club was roundly applauded for having the balls to play hard, well…ball, with the player and not allowing him to leave.

Last season everybody was in agreement in proclaiming that keeping hold of De Gea would be a huge lift in United’s hunt for success this season. Today we get news that De Gea has signed a four-year contract with the chance of a one-year extension on top of that after Madrid disrespectfully made a deadline-day bid for one of the best keepers in the world. Where are all the plaudits to Woodward, who I think has really received some unfair criticism?

Most of the criticism he’s received are either as a result of agents cooking up ‘links’ to United in order to get their clients better deals at their current clubs or LVG presumably deciding at the 11th hour that he does not want a certain player. I cannot believe that we soccer fans are so gullible as to believe all the links that come up during the transfer merry-go-round and then crucify the person in charge of transfers once that phantom deal doesn’t go through. Grow up!
Buchule, East London, RSA (De Gea to leave next winter)

 

…Super duper thrilled to hear that David has signed a four-year contract. I am just so excited that one of the best goalkeepers is going to continue and that too for my team. I remember the excitement when Ronaldo stayed another year. I remember the sadness too when we lost Ronaldo.

It also makes one thing clear. Madrid was wrong. David and Mendes could tell that Madrid were manipulating them with the last-minute deal gone wrong. The smug ***tards in Spain believing that they could steal this guy by paying him a 19mn sign-on fee versus bring him back to be with his family.

Also, Ed gets credit for pulling this off. Played his hand perfectly. Getting him to sign for four years after his last-day setback is phenomenal work.

He might go next year but let’s enjoy the moment today!
Sudarsan Ravi (I was widely ridiculed for being a fan boy when I wrote a passionate note asking De Gea to stay because Madrid wasn’t the right place for him. He seems to agree :P)

 

…I’m delighted that de Gea has signed a new contract at United. Obviously, this doesn’t mean that David will stay with United for life, or even for the next four years. In fact, I’m willing to bet my left nut that he’s doing a Ronaldo. He’s signed a new contract this year, and next summer, he’ll move to Real Madrid for a world record fee for a goalkeeper. Anyone who thinks otherwise (with the possible exception of the ‘world record fee’ part) is kidding themselves.

The deal still makes a lot of sense for United, though. This is a clear two-fingered salute to Real Madrid. It’s no surprise that Real Madrid are much higher up the pecking order in world football than Manchester United. Real will get their man, and Manchester United will sell. But at least now they will sell on their terms. In the mean-time, David will earn a lot more money and buckle down and perform like he did last year. Everyone’s a winner! Good job, Ed!
PhX (Apparently, Schweini was signed for just 6.5 Million Pounds. Time to begin the Ed Woodward revisionism?)

 

…You have to say Utd have played a blinder there!
Owen (..Woodward is growing on me), London

 

United The New Liverpool?
Interesting theory from Dave Lfc in this morning’s mailbox about United being the new Liverpool. I think it may have merit.

By my rough calculation, we’ll know if he was right in about 23 years’ time.

 

Andy (MUFC)
Dave (LFC) has built a great strawman argument to make himself feel better about being a Liverpool fan. He tells us that he is observing a pattern which resembles the downward spiral Liverpool experienced after the glory years of the 1980’s (hell that’s a long time ago).

I am sure Dave has fond memories of Liverpool dominating English football, the names that rolled off the commentator’s tongues were awe inspiring: Rush, Clough, Collymore, Barnes, McManaman and the list goes on. Dave is going through the normal cycle of grieving (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance). Anyone who has been through loss in their lives knows that these stages do not necessarily go in chronological order and they often overlap.

I am diagnosing Dave of being in special mixture of both bargaining and acceptance based on the points he made, when one looks at his points they all seem to check out on face value. There are some parallels with Liverpool’s great fall. The thing is, however, Dave chooses to ignore the patent facts which differ since then.

Dave ignores:

1. Football is now run by money and Manchester United have shedloads of it (much more than what Liverpool had at the time). ‘Blowing massive wads’ of cash is simply not a big deal for United now compared to the Scousers then.

2. Graeme Souness’ knowledge and pedigree in football is incomparable to that of Louis van Gaal.

3. Staunton, Houghton, Welbeck, Rafael, Cleverly, Fletcher and the like were all pants when sold by their respective clubs and given the same situations today would probably be shipped off again. Fans are funny that way, we are fickle.

I will concede to Dave on the fact that our fans now think next year is our year and that there are a great many of us who are quite frankly intolerable. The difference however, is that player retention will be much easier for United (see point 1.)

I understand that it is difficult to transition from glory to lack thereof and it must take a big emotional toll on you Dave; but please, for the life of me do not compare Manchester United to Liverpool (go right on ahead with the Villa to Liverpool comparison though).
Mandisi (The ink on De Gea’s new contract is hardly dry and he is waiting for Benteke at Old Trafford), MUFC

 

Man United v Liverpool Means Nothing To Us…
We all know THAT guy. Decked out in either a Liverpool or Manchester United kit (full kit for extra w*nker effect), constantly scoffing the other side’s Summer spending (all the while listing their previous ‘flops’) and getting angry if someone has the temerity not to include more of his team’s players into a combined XI. Well these bastions of modern football support will be out in force this weekend, in the highest-profile match of the season thus far. But no matter how much the media spin not only the rivalry between the clubs, but the two cities as a whole, in reality it’s the red side of Liverpool who gets a bigger kick out of a win.

If there was ever proof that the highlight of many Liverpool supporters seasons is a victory over Manchester United, then it comes in the guise of Sky’s admittedly clever advert promoting the return of the Premier League that first aired a couple of months ago. Amongst THAT Aguero goal, and THAT Keane-Vieira tunnel spat, is Stevie G kissing the camera after scoring against United in 2009. But was that really as historic as the other moments included in the montage, particularly given United went on to win their third title on the trot that Spring? That 4-1 defeat hardly knocked them off the perch now did it?

Indeed, for all Danny Murphy’s winners in Old Trafford in the last decade, to Torres making mince-meat of Vidic three games in a row, to the racist allegations levelled towards Suarez by Evra, the plain truth of the matter is, while some of those matches were undoubtedly memorable, in the grand scheme of things they mattered little towards United, as they invariably had bigger fish to fry in their title showdowns with Arsenal, Chelsea and City.

In fact, the building up of the modern-day rivalry is borne more out of a Liverpool-biased mainstream media giving their fans something to cling onto as they pine for the pre-Fergie days when they were the Kings of England. And only the most myopic of Liverpool followers can argue against the fact. But if they win on Saturday, it will be a huge fillip to those who partake in the “My Daddy is bigger than your Daddy” form of fandom.
Brian (looking for a pen-knife to open my can or worms), Wexford

 

Little Games With Little Men
I’ve just picked up some mint boxed, sealed, Corinthian Premier League Man U players (Scholes, Cantons, Mcclair and Parker) from 1995.

The question is do I sell on for huge profit, or do I human centipede the shit out of them?

Answers on the back of self addressed envelope….
Martin ‘twisted animator’ Ansell

 

Yay For Degsy
As a Chelsea fan I’m so happy that Degsy predicted a win for Manchester city. We are back in the title race!!
Dozie Chukwugbo, Bariga

 

Hate It, Hate It, Hate It
Congrats on making the F365 website look like the love child of ESPN FC and The Guardian’s sport section.
Lance, Atlanta, GA
PS. I still miss the bikini bulletins.