01 Feb 2022 09:05:01
I believe that the board are taking a big risk in not bolstering the midfield during the transfer window. There are no guarantees that we will make the top four. It will be very difficult since other teams have invested. I appreciate that allowing several players to go out on loan provides opportunities for some of our younger players to stake a claim. And I do have faith in the manager. It's just that it is a massive gamble.

1.) 01 Feb 2022
01 Feb 2022 10:27:41
pointless getting anyone in with no permanent manager

say ralf spent 40 million on a new cm for the new manager to come in and not like him.

money wasted on a player with a long contract and high wages.

i think the club have actually done the right think for a change, not rushed, loaned players that were not getting game time. and not changed from long term targets

its a win win for us. if the loans perform they will either attract interest or slot in the team.

2.) 01 Feb 2022
01 Feb 2022 11:08:35
No guarantees that any signing we made would have had a bigger impact than Donny.

We could have spent millions for another player to sit on the bench and not contribute.

There are no guarantees that they would adapt to the league, the country, the team.

No guarantees that they would work well with the players we have, or dramatically improve the team.

We aren't guaranteed top 4, but we wouldn't have been even if we made a signing.

3.) 01 Feb 2022
01 Feb 2022 11:09:50
We should no longer sign players for a manager.
We need to get players who suits the club and its identity.

Ole's signings for example were mostly flops - Maguire, AWB, Telles, Ighalo, Daniel James etc, .
The others Pellistri, Amad, VDB struggled and are out on loans.

4.) 01 Feb 2022
01 Feb 2022 11:14:00
It is absolutely essential that we qualify for the Champions League. If we don't, it will severely hamper recruitment in terms of the quality of the players who would accept the situation. I accept that the new manager may not like a player that Rangnick has chosen, but I trust his judgement that he would know a good player and that the player would be a sound investment for the club.

5.) 01 Feb 2022
01 Feb 2022 11:21:30
Shappy. By your reasoning then, we should never buy any player. Of course there are no guarantees that a player will adapt. I agree with TrueRedDevil that we need players who suit the club and its identity. But who would be entrusted to identify those players? Should the manager not have a say?

6.) 01 Feb 2022
01 Feb 2022 11:30:21
Bolger - Are you Ed Woodward in disguise? You also said in another post further down the page that Rangnick persuaded Jesse to stay! Where have you got that information? Every report I’ve read suggests Lingard was desperate to leave and Rangnick gave his blessing only for someone at the Club to block the move. Do you really believe Lingard would still be at the Club this morning had Newcastle stumped up the £12-15m Utd had demanded. It has absolutely nothing to do with Greenwood.

The Club have basically undermined the manager soon to be consultant. Retained players against their wishes and not bought a DM we so desperately needed; don’t forget we’re still in the FA Cup and the Champions League. We only have an interim manager because the Club didn’t appoint a permanent one.

Who is in charge at our Club?! Would a new manager even get control of transfers anyway? The notion that a prospective new manager might not want a player we signed in January is absolutely ridiculous. This season is still ongoing or are we just writing it off?

Look at Newcastle they’ve signed players to try and stay up. If that was Utd we wouldn’t sign anyone in case we went down.

The mentality at the football Club is none existent from the people in charge and it permeates throughout the entire Club and even into the fan base.

If you really trust this Club to appoint the right manager and make the correct signings in the summer then you have more faith than me but ignore at least 10 years of evidence at your peril.

Shappy - Do summer signings guarantee that then? This team desperately needs a DM. It was ignored in the summer and ignoring it again is ridiculous. There is a big difference between the right players not being available and not signing anyone because we have an interim manager, who incidentally will still be at the Club in the summer presumably advising them on recruitment?! Surely you can make that distinction.

TRD - At last some sense but unfortunately the Club doesn’t have an identity. Forgive me but I was under the impression that’s why Rangnick was appointed. To give the Club some direction and advice. Looks like he’s being ignored already. The soap opera continues.

7.) 01 Feb 2022
01 Feb 2022 11:57:51
No signings guarantee anything summer or winter.

However, players signed in the summer get to have a pre-season to assimilate with the team. A chance to find a home for themselves and settle in while not playing matches twice a week. While in our case players signed this summer will have the go ahead from the manager who will be managing them.

Other than Bruno can anyone name another January signing we have made that actually made an impact in the rest of the season they were signed in.

Did any of Evra, Vidic, Saha or Mata make any difference to where the team finished between the January they were signed and the end of the season.

The facts are very few January signings make a significant impact until the start of their first full season.

8.) 01 Feb 2022
01 Feb 2022 13:15:47
This summer will be really important too, without the world cup being in the summer if we can get business tied up asap this will give the new manager and new players plenty of time for the start of the season. But getting business done early is obviously a tough ask for this lot!

9.) 01 Feb 2022
01 Feb 2022 13:51:16
im not i'm afraid DLIB, but i was told he had 2 conversations with ralf one he wanted to leave which ralf agreed and then when both Newcastle and westham spoke to his agent and again the club to see where they all stand, ralf spoke again and persuaded him to stay till the summer on the promise he will play more.

i don't think for one minute the club would pitch an idea to bring RR in under the assumption he was having a say on tranfer deals and how the club is run to then go no we ain't letting lingard go that has 6 months on his contract left.


under previous i would agree with you in regards to does the manager get a say on transfers, but i think looking at why rr has been brought in is to work along side arnold and fletcher and which ever manager comes in to have a structure that will work and to sigh players to fit the managers specific style.

newcastle can go out and spend what they want to a certain limit, they are not as restricted with FFP and need to spend to stay up.

they only spent 90 million we spent around that in the summer, the issue isn't the money its how we have spent the money, hopefully RR will have a positive change on this

its not going to be fixed over 1 window, give it time, woodward has litrally just left his role.

10.) 01 Feb 2022
01 Feb 2022 14:29:21
The problem with the argument that it's pointless to sign anyone in case a new manager doesn't want him is that the appointment of RR was supposed to be a change in direction. When RR moves to the consultancy role, he is supposed to advise on new signings to match this direction, as well as having a say on who the new manager should be. Any new manager and signing should align with this new direction. Wasn't that supposed to be the point?

11.) 01 Feb 2022
01 Feb 2022 15:14:04
Liamde, I think the issue is that many people have a wildly different idea about what Rangnick's role will be when he steps back from managing.

As a consultant he'll more or less be a sounding board for people at the club to bounce ideas off of and get his professional opinion.

He isn't going to be a director of football and run the football side of the club (Although with Murtagh being a big reason for why he was hired in the first place I'd expect to see his fingerprints on many aspects of the football side) .

He isn't going to be a sporting director with a coach under him doing the day to day running of the team.

He'll be the guy at the end of the phone when someone (likely Murtagh) calls to say "Ralf we're thinking of doing blah blah blah, what's your thoughts? "

He won't be picking out transfer targets, that's for the manager and the scouts to do.

The closest he might get to influencing transfers is advising the club on a policy to sign players of a certain profile. Say between the ages of 21-24, with at least so many first team games, players who have show leadership skills, players with the right attitude and mentality.

Then that criteria is added to what the manager might want, say CDM capable of playing in either a double or single pivot, quick with expansive passing range.

Then the scouts find players that fit both what the club wants AND the manager.

If Rangnick wanted to make his 4222 shape and tactics work he'll have very different individual player criteria than someone who might want to play a 433 shape based on possession.

Horses for course, no more square pegs for round holes.

12.) 01 Feb 2022
01 Feb 2022 15:21:55
think the next big decision is sorting the new manager.

expecting it to be around the time PSG get eliminated unless they win it.

13.) 01 Feb 2022
01 Feb 2022 15:29:22
Bolger - Fair enough pal I’ve not read that anywhere. Let’s hope we can get some unity back in the squad for the rest of the season and Lingard performs well if needed.

In my mind we have Ronaldo/ Cavani competing upfront, Rashford/ Elanga competing on the left with Sancho/ Lingard on the right. I hope we don’t see Rashford moved to the right and Sancho gets a run of games to show us what he can do.

I’d like to see a front three of Ronaldo, Rashford and Sancho with Cavani, Elanga and Lingard offering decent backup. Having said that Elanga probably deserves to continue to start ahead of Rashford for the time being.

We’re obviously short of a DM but with Pogba returning and Rangnick seemingly preferring a 4-3-3 could we finally see Pogba and Bruno play as two No8’s with a DM probably Mctominay supported by Matic behind them. I’d like to see it given a chance.

14.) 01 Feb 2022
01 Feb 2022 16:38:20
Lots of people want the shiny new toy that a signing is. Realistically if we want top 4 we need to keep varane (most important player atm I think) fit. Get Sancho and rashford firing. This week has been pretty dark for the club, but those on the pitch need the fans support. I hope we keep playing elanga and bring mejbri back into the fold. Younger players with their hunger can revitalise things.

15.) 01 Feb 2022
01 Feb 2022 19:55:50
Best window we had in along time, seems they are starting to think sensibly, maybe dare I say it, they have a plan.

16.) 01 Feb 2022
01 Feb 2022 21:21:03
Still more than happy to stick with Ralph for a full season, see what he can do without the cloud of sorting someone else's desk out for 6 months. He has seemed open to staying on for longer.

I know it's exciting getting a new manager and all but we've seen it four times since Fergie left with the same level of anticipation followed by despair each time. Ralph has cleared out 8 players albeit on loan and as far, has paved the way for youth (Elanga), looks to prefer Dalot and Telles, and as far as we can see has treated everyone else firmly but fairly and is clear and authoritive in interviews.

17.) 01 Feb 2022
01 Feb 2022 22:49:08
Grim I agree it's been our best window for a long time.
Shappy you have no idea what a consultancy role entails if what you said above are your best efforts to describe it.
I nor you know the specifics of his potential new role but it certainly won't be waiting on a call to say we're thinking of doing this, what do you think?
It's not banter it's nonsense and shows an ignorance or naivety beyond belief. Did nobody ever tell you that when you don't know anything about what your talking about it's best to say nothing.
Nonsense like this imo destroys any sort of credibility and takes so much away from valid posts and points you make.
Stop with the mad assumptions exaggerations, hypothesis and faux expertise. When you don't know, say nothing instead of making stuff up.
When was the last time you were a consultant or worked with a consultant or hired a consultant?
I've been saying it for years you should be working for the red top press or one of the clickbait sites you frequent so often you fit right into their mantra of 'make it loud make it up' if you don't know guess.

18.) 02 Feb 2022
02 Feb 2022 10:57:35
Ken, I did a summer internship with an environmental consultancy firm, so I have some idea about the inner working of at least one type of consultancy. Although I appreciate that there are many different types and interpretations of the role.

I think it's clear that Richard Arnold will be the Chief executive, Matt Judge will still arrange the finances, John Murtagh will be the Director of Football and Darren Fletcher will be our Technical director.

That's a lot of chefs in the kitchen. As such I don't see Ralf's role as having any direct powers to change things at will. He will be in discussions with the others on club matters. Whether they listen to him or not remains to be seen.