Speculation The hysterical and annoying, but traditional, totally unfounded summer 2018 rumours thread.

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Skitzo said:
People keep saying we need another winger we look like signing one so now it’s curtains for Gray?
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We won't need to pull his curtains. He'll have a sulk and pull his own.
 
give_us_a_wave said:
Pretty low standard of journalism on many levels.

For a start it's a bit baffling why a Manchester based paper would carry Manure news when everyone knows that none of their fans have actually come from there since 1958.

Maguire doesn't seem like a title challenging defender? Can't see how that matters much if he's going to Utd.

Alderweireld DOES seem like a title challenging defender? How the **** can you say that about a player who's been at Spurs for years?

Riddled with errors. Poor.
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Yes it is poor journalism.
The idea that Manchester United fan base is not based in Manchester is true but more complex than many people realise. In the mid1950s Manchester United were a lot of peoples second team. If you supported a lower league or non-league team it was quite reasonable to also have a fsvourite First Division side. The Busby Babes were refreshing and played attractive football. There was a surge of sympathy for them after the Munich disaster.
Sir Matt Busby was popular throughout football as was Tommy Docherty who took over in the early 1970s. Like all the Docs sides Man U played attractive attacking football and were generally liked. It was difficult to dislike a side that included Bobby Charlton.
It was only with the arrival of Sir Alex Ferguson that Man U became unpopular. Neither Busby or Docherty would have stooped to the mind games of Alex Ferguson. It had been generally true for decades that most Man U fans would have no idea how to get to the ground. It was only in the 1980s that this was widely used against the club.
 
homer said:
Two years from the single greatest achievement in our history our most likely line up will contain just Schmeichel and Vardy from that complete and utter glory

Immortals they ain't......
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My daughter asked me yesterday how many of our champions are still with us, was quite sad listing the last paltry few that remain.
 
Graz said:
I'd be a bit sad to see Simpson go. I think he's done well for us, has generally been very solid up until last season.

Doesn't fit Puel's style but is a more than capable back up.
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It’s funny how quickly players seem to move in perception from being a capable back up to dead wood for some though (see also Andy King).
 
Jeff said:
We still have 7/11 of the title winning team.

Only Huth, Kante, Drinkwater and Mahrez from our regular starting eleven have left.
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Yes that’s true, but it feels like a big change once you get past the defence. And frankly I was already writing off Wes, Simpson and Fuchs when I was talking to her.

And we all forget Shinji is still with us.
 
homer said:
Two years from the single greatest achievement in our history our most likely line up will contain just Schmeichel and Vardy from that complete and utter glory

Immortals they ain't......
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Danny Simpson isn’t the best attacking right back by all means but there’s certainly nothing wrong with options. If we hadn’t had him and Fuchs as options for defensive full backs, there’s no way we’re winning the league when we did.
Managers seem to be under such pressure to “implement their style” that a back up plan often is forgotten.
I suspect that a more defensive back up plan will be very useful under Puel whether he recognises it or not.
 
David Gwilliam said:
Yes it is poor journalism.
The idea that Manchester United fan base is not based in Manchester is true but more complex than many people realise. In the mid1950s Manchester United were a lot of peoples second team. If you supported a lower league or non-league team it was quite reasonable to also have a fsvourite First Division side. The Busby Babes were refreshing and played attractive football. There was a surge of sympathy for them after the Munich disaster.
Sir Matt Busby was popular throughout football as was Tommy Docherty who took over in the early 1970s. Like all the Docs sides Man U played attractive attacking football and were generally liked. It was difficult to dislike a side that included Bobby Charlton.
It was only with the arrival of Sir Alex Ferguson that Man U became unpopular. Neither Busby or Docherty would have stooped to the mind games of Alex Ferguson. It had been generally true for decades that most Man U fans would have no idea how to get to the ground. It was only in the 1980s that this was widely used against the club.
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I mostly agree with that but I remember the 70s slightly differently.

Docherty's side were indeed good to watch as he brought through youngsters to replace the Busby team that simply hung around far too long. Neither McGuinness nor O'Farrell were given long enough to make any meaningful change & Georgie Boy was in the process of exploring the bottom of a vodka vat. His meltdown mirrored that of the club.

By the time the Doc came in it was a terminal decline. Only eventual relegation served to focus minds. Docherty had actually been at the club 2 & a half years by the time they were relegated. They must have been sorely tempted to get rid. Today there's no way he'd survive that. Turned out to be the right choice as they bounced straight back & won an FA Cup (back when that was a big deal) their first trophy post Busby & the first since the big one in 68.

BUT the hatred was already there. Long before Ferguson. It was the era of the Red Army. People forget (or are too young to know) that Utd were more synonymous with rampant hooliganism back then than with quality football. I remember them rampaging through the market, robbing stallholders & terrorising family shoppers. I was browsing a record stall when one of them came over & helped himself to a box of LPs! Telling the bloke on the stall what'd happen if he tried anything as half a dozen of his mates stood in the background chanting. All of this delivered in a London accent. Yep...the Cockney Reds. Most of the hardcore of the Red Army were London based. Slimy horrible scum they were too. The hatred of Utd grew from this, mostly unrelated to anything on the pitch.

There was also an inherent snobbery about Utd. My first trip to Old Trafford was marked by my enquiry about the best part of the away stand to get a good view from being met with a cheery offer from a steward for him & his mates to take me around the back of the stand & watch me try to pick up my teeth off the ground. I was informed that this was because I should be grateful to even be allowed into the hallowed temple of the greatest club on Earth as a fan of a no mark shitty team from a nowhere shitty town. This was under Sexton, long after Utd had been eclipsed by Liverpool as THE team in England.

They were pretty much detested under Big Ron too. Again it was the perception of arrogance (based on nothing again as they won **** all under him either until another FA Cup near the end of his tenure) Arrogance gets on people's tits when it comes from a club that wins everything. It's far worse when it comes from a club that wins **** all. That's why one of my best memories of that era is of us thumping them 3-0 at Filbert St when they arrived unbeaten after the first 10 games of the season & we had 2 points. Apparently they were going to walk the league that year. They finished a distant 4th. Everton fans unfurled a banner at their final home game that read " Congratulations to Man Utd. 4th in a one horse race"

Hatred of Man Utd is definitely a pre-Fergie phenomenon. It just had different roots.
 
IMO he's prone to a few mistakes every now and then. I can understand the thinking, Simpson is solid enough but limited. Main problem is it really just leaves Amartey as potential RB cover for Pereira although IMO Amartey is a bit under rated and I don't really mind that.
 
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