04 Sep 2014 09:46:04
The players that wear the shirt are constantly changing, so they are not the clubs identity. We are a global football club, most supporters don't care where the players come from so long as they bring the following attributes to the team, which lead to the Man Utd identity being secured:

1. Desire to succeed
2. Top Class Performance
3. Entertaining Attacking football
4. Commitment, Club-Player-Supporter, and the other way
5. Respect for the clubs history and prestige

If the players bring these to the club and the owners/management keep these Man Utd traits then we will not lose our identity. Gone are the days where local lads in Leeds play against local lads in Manchester for the league title.

Just like most profitable businesses won't use the local supplier if they can get the same service for cheaper the other side of the world. The world has gotten smaller and as a result in order to compete with the best you have to evolve.

These youth team products are pinched from other youth teams half the time anyway and are from all over the country/world. Even the ones born locally won't necessarily support the club, it's all pie in the sky.

Entertaining football is the major thing - I hope LVG starts to make use of the talent at his disposal now and attacks teams.

1.) 04 Sep 2014
04 Sep 2014 10:04:25
all this BS about losing our identity is a smokescreen and BS for the tabloids to print while there is an international break
Man United have broken the British transfer record in the 70s several times in the 80s and 90's we did it a few times since the 2000's started so nothing new in us spending big.
We have been selling players that came through our acadamy to other clubs in England for years and many of those players that moved on had won every medal there is to win, butt, o shea, beckham, phil neville, wes brown, and then other less established like drinkwater, james both at Leicester king richardson, bardesly the list goes on there has been no identity shift, its just we had a lack of quality and last season brought that to a head. Ignore the muppets that have nothing else to report they just make stuff up. sensationalism and poor Journalism. nut it keeps the scousers happy and gives them something to read inbetween car thefts :)

2.) 04 Sep 2014
I don't know if the circumstances are giving rise to your concepts, or if its an original idea in itself, it does explain the real world that we are in now. Its fantasy to think '92 will keep happening again and again. LVG wouldn't have success at Barcelona or Bayern if it wasn't for the class players that happened to turn out in the academy, Muller, Kroos, Xavi, Iniesta among many others. Its great that he had the eye to spot them but who can really argue that they wouldn't have gone on to be great players. Morning always shows the day. At the end, its about the quality of players. You can have them, or not have them. You can only improve them to a certain extent. You have to buy them to compete if they aren't available around. Its all business at the end of the day. And you really can't compare with the past. The scale of business and commercial deal are massive now, with global investments. If that was the case in those times, things might have been pretty similar to know. You need to earn to survive, you need to win to earn.

3.) 04 Sep 2014
I think a lot of this Loss of Identity talk comes off of the back of Phelan's recent comments. But, from his perspective, I would say that it is more than understandable.

In the last 18 months, we have seen three new managers, the complete restructuring of a squad and the loss of a player who has been with us since the age of 8. Additionally, all of the talk of tactics and philosohpy at OT this season speaks of a complete change in the way we approach other teams.

When you were a part of the club like Phelan was, you can understand how he would look in now and find it hard to recognise the structure he is now seeing.

As a traditionalist, I find these vast number of changes equally hard to rationalise. however, they are a neccessity. As you say, the world of football has changed. We cannot rely on producing a class of 92 with every squad generation. When that isn't possible, we need to have the best players, no matter how we get them.

Our history is our identity, as long at this is not forgotten by the fans, players, managers and owners, we will always be United.

4.) 04 Sep 2014
04 Sep 2014 11:22:45
Phealen was about when becks butt, oshea brown etc etc were sold and was about when we smashed records for rio rooney and veron
So he is talking BS. Its called selective recollection on his behalf, he probably does not remeber our CL final defeats or losing the league to city because when he was at united everything was just perfect. Brain dead!

5.) 04 Sep 2014
04 Sep 2014 15:57:13
but we have replace Welbeck and Cleverley with Wilson and Blackett.

6.) 04 Sep 2014
Whelan is talking rubbish. He should explain why the academy has not produced a real top player in 10 years instead of blabbing about stuff he knows nothing.