Update: Ferguson says he never spoke to the press about Berbatov.
Tottenham Hotspur have every right to be mad.
Here’s a club dead-set on playing in the Champions League – they’ve brought in one of the best managers in contemporary football, they have brought in some of the brightest young talent in Europe (Bale, Gunter, Modric, Dos Santos and Bostock – just to name a few), they have an excellent central defensive pairing in King and Woodgate and one of the best strike partnerships in England in Keane and Berbatov.
This was supposed to be the season Tottenham finally broke the shackles and made it to the Champions League. This was supposed to be the year Spurs would finally get results to match their ambitions and more importantly, the players would fulfill their massive untapped potential. This was going to be Spurs’ season.
Except that the scum from Manchester and the scum from Liverpool have managed to tap up the best Tottenham strikeforce in the last decade and stolen the keys to Champions League qualification right of Tottenham’s hands.
As Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy eloquently puts it:
“The behaviour of both clubs has been disgraceful. We told both clubs very early on that we had no interest in selling Robbie or Dimitar, respectively, and that they should refrain from pursuing the player.
Both clubs arrogantly chose to ignore this request and we now have evidence that both clubs have systematically been working to prise the players away from us, outside of PL rules of conduct.”
The Ronaldo-Madrid and Gerrard-Chelsea sagas are documented proof of the disgust the two clubs have shown at their own players being tapped up. And Spurs are legally correct – Manchester United and Liverpool have violated Premier League rule K8 by publicly commenting on their pursuit of Berbatov and Keane.
But in their haste to save face, Tottenham chose to disregard their own hypocrisy in such matters.
Here’s a club who tapped up Juande Ramos just last year. A club who had talked to John Bostock before making their offer for him (if it’s a matter of principle then it’s a valid claim – especially since Tottenham have also complained about their players being tapped up). A club who made the bungle of the season in the way they handled Martin Jol last year (again, if we talk about integrity, Tottenham’s treatment of Martin Jol was hardly above the board).
A club whose holier-than-thou attitude neatly sidesteps the fact that the faxed offers between clubs are mere formalities and that unofficial contact between players, their agents and interested clubs almost always takes place.
While Fergie and Benitez are wrong – by Premier League rules – to comment on players registered with other clubs, Tottenham’s hypocrisy in this situation is the classic example of a club being unable to play with fire. If Spurs want success, they should hang on to Keane and Berbatov and get Ramos to set them straight. If they can’t do that, they should sell and get on with it.
The bottom line is – Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov no longer believe that they will taste Champions League football with Tottenham. It’s the promise that brought Berbatov to White Hart Lane, and it’s the promise that’s kept Keane at Spurs. For all the money being spent, the new manager and bullish statements being made, the strikers don’t believe in the club’s chances.
Daniel Levy (and for that matter, Ferguson) can complain all he wants. Players will leave if they believe their own interests are better served elsewhere. It’s the club’s job and the manager’s job to show them otherwise, and in that respect Tottenham have failed with Berbatov and Keane just as United have failed with Ronaldo.
You sound like a bitter Spurs fan. Let it go, I’m going to do fine at Anfield under the legend that is Rafa Benitez.
Hey remember all the tapping up Spurs have done with Jol, Ramos, etc.?
Funny how recent history is so conveniently forgotten.
As a Liverpool fan it is hard to defend SAF but in this case i dont blame him.
Spurs fans are calling him a hypocrite because of the Ronaldo issue but he reported Madrid for tappin Ronaldo up and they weren’t punished so he thinks if they are going to do it that way then I guess i will.
Keane has been a top striker for years and i think spurs fans should be grateful not bitter, he is a top player and spurs are a top team but Liverpool is a more attractive offer in his eyes.
Hi Robbie – Spurs did not tap up Jol or Ramos.
LFC – i’m not in the business of making stuff up – i know contract law. Do some basic research.
Fegie hits back at Levy:
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11667_3839332,00.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1036531/Sir-Alex-threat-sue-Spurs-chief-Levy.html
Ha ha ha. Looks like levy, spuds management and the spuds fans have shot themselves in the foot again. this’s gonna be fun.
And its funny to see comments from the spurs fans to the effect of:
we have made enough profits, so we will not sell this year = we are not a selling club = we have faith in our board.
the fact of the matter is, spurs board is one of the most profit hungry boards out there, and onlt damn they give about supporters is that they show up at the lane and but the tickets.
its very clear from the statements of everyone from ramos, who said that they look to buy young players, and sell the older ones for a profit to levy, whose comments about reporting united to the FA are nothing but attempts to pacify the supporters.
fact of the matter is, spurs are selling club, and the current board is probably even looking to sell the club for a nice profit. until that happens, good luck trying to beat the top 4 monopoly.
Shreyas – what is funny is that clowns like you continue to delude yourself as to reality.
You make up unsubstantiated lies about the Spurs board being one of the most profit hungry in the league.
You completely misinterpreted what Ramos said. He did not say we are a selling club. He said we balance books. Nothing about having to sell Berbatov or Keane to do so.
If Man Utd are a selling club (and everyone knows, Ronaldo will leave this summer or next), then everyone is a selling club and your infantile slur is redundant.
@ Michael
He did not say we are a selling club. He said we balance books. Nothing about having to sell Berbatov or Keane to do so.
Heard of anything called reading between the lines? Its fairly obvious that no one in an official position in any organization will make blatant statements like: we arre selling club. hell, even aulas of lyon or the sporting lisbon guys (two of the biggest talent factories) make it sound as though they are being forced to sell their star players.
look through the history of united and there has been hardly any instance of the club selling a player to make a profit when they are at their peak. that makes us a non-selling club, in contrast to spuds.
anyway, ther’s no point trying to make a reasoned argument with a fellow who starts calling names and makes personal slurs, just cuz he cant’t agree with a comment. congrat, u have less class than mr.ronaldo. truth hurts, as they say.
Carlos Vela, the mexican forward from arsenal, recently said this of his compatriot dos santos’ move to spurs:
I hope things go well for him at Tottenham. He is a very good player and let’s hope he can then move on to a better team.
gives u a fair idea of what the players themselves think of spurs. selling team? i think so.
“Heard of anything called reading between the lines?”
Yes. I have also heard of reading what you want to read between the lines. You chose to believe something that doesn’t make sense. You cannot name one player Spurs sold just to make a profit.
We stole 18mil from you for Carrick but we weren’t advertising him for sale like we are doing with Chimbonda and Kaboul for example. We’ll steal 30mil from you for Berbatov but we weren’t advertising him for sale. So again, you have no basis for concluding that we are selling to make a profit. You will steal 60mil from Real Madrid for Ronaldo. what’s the difference? – the amount of money, that’s all.
So Man Utd are a selling club after all, just like everyone else except Real Madrid. Yes, indeed, the truth does hurt – Real Madrid are bigger than Man Utd. Can you feel the sting?
Quite frankly, how can you say that Man Utd did not sell Beckham, Kanchelskis, Ince just to make a profit? You can’t.
If you make clownish comments, i’ll call you a clown. It’s not an insult – its obvious that you are a proud clown.
If there’s no point trying to make a reasoned argument, then why did you just make a concerted effort to do just that? I disagree that your argument is reasoned.
Carlos Vela? LMFAO! Your backing up your clownish argument by quoting an Arsenal youth team player’s jealous comments about his superior countryman, Dos Santos, having the biggest platform to showcase his skills while the Gooner youth team player tries to break into the Arsenal Reserve team. What a clown you are.
Can you feel the sting? The sting of the truth hurting you deep inside.
I’m tired of reading all this nonsense. Lets be realistic here Spurs have no chance on advance to CL next year or year after that or year after that one. The best they can do is finish 6th or 7th if lucky. I’m sure people will say I dont know what I’m talking about, but its not all about the starting 11 its about who’s on your bench…. and Spurs have nobody backups are the most important, one injury and its over. SIMPLE!!!!!!!!!! Sorry Spurs its time to SELL SELL SELL SELL
Spurs are not a selling club, you people read too much into this. One simple quote Levy can tell you why they are selling both players. BECAUSE THEY WANT TO LEAVE!! Spurs arent selling these players because they are looking for money, they are selling them because they both want to leave.
Michael
Why would United sell Beckham for 25m just to make a profit when he was making more than that in shirt sales?
Vela will probably turn out to be better than Dos Santos. If he was that good a bigger team would have picked him up
Madrid are not a bigger club than United. They are just CR’s favoured club. It doesn’t really sting so much considering United are PL and CL champions.
If you want to get into this I could start an argument about how Arsenal are better than Spurs and how you haven’t won anything substatial in about 40 years but I won’t
Face it Spurs just aren’t good enough to break into the top 4 and when you’re in a hole you should just stop digging people have been disproving your comments throughout this thread and you keep making up ‘facts’ to defend your point of view
oh and btw I don’t know where Levy’s proof comes from as Fergie himself just said that he never said anything. If bidding for a player is now seen as tapping up then football is in a sorry state
Fergie denies ever mentioning “Berbatov” to the press. He says that the quotes in the papers did not come from him and that Levy faces “embarrassment” as he’s got his facts royally screwed up in his complaint to the EPL to the Premier League. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/7513117.stm
It had struck me as strange that Fergie should take such pains to avoid mentioning the name of the United target when interviewed at the airport prior to United flying out to South Africa, only to make express statements naming “Berbatov” as the target only a few hours later. Now we know: he did not name “Berbatov” as the player or Spurs as the club.
either way tottenham has to find new forwards right now or risk relegation.
thats how important these 2 dickhead forwards were for us.
ok, normally i dont reply to these sort of things. i quite enjoy just reading people replies, as i think alot of them are funny, truthful, or not. But i just want to reply to someone that said Spurs are selling Berbs and Keane to ballance the books. Spurs are, 14th in the world richest team. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4269991.stm Only Newcastle earns more money then us outside the Champions league.
However, i believe Spurs are only 1 of 3 clubs, might be wrong might be more or less. Whatever; that have no debets. That is right, NO DEBETS!!!
So a club that is 14th richest with no debets doesnt need to sell to ballance the books. They can afford to spend shitloads on players and not sell. Thats why they have proberly the biggest squad in the prem. More than 30.
Ramos is just trying to get rid of alot of players he doesnt want to trim it down to 21-23. Maybe Keane and Berba falls into that group. However, he aint selling them cos he need funds to buy new players, he is selling them cos he feels he can get alot of money for them and buy players that will replace them and fit into his system better for alot cheaper.
Although i dont want to see them go to a rival club above us, that surely will improve them, i have total trust in Ramos with his transfer dealings and who he will let go and bring in. The Modric transfer is example enough. He knew he would be a star at the Euros got him in for cheap. Every single 1 of his transfers since he has joined has be great. Woodgate, great if he stays injury free. Hutton, great signing! Dos Santos, you know he is going to be something special. Dont listen to that twat Arsenal reserve player. He will be a great player.
If he thinks selling Keane and Berb is for the greater of the team for who he wants to bring in then great i trust him. But understand, he is only selling them cos he needs to make room for HIS signings. Doesnt need the money, just couldnt play his players he wants to bring in, with 1 or both of them at the club.
If Fergie didn’t mention it in the press, why is it on Man utd’s official website?:
http://www.manutd.com/default.sps?pagegid=%7BB4CEE8FA%2D9A47%2D47BC%2DB069%2D3F7A2F35DB70%7D&newsid=6614071
i think big phill summed it nicely.
i have 150% faith in ramos/
The article in the Man Utd website is a quote from The Sun.
Big Phill Ramos is not selling them to make room, he is selling them becuase they want to leave, I have already mentioned you people are reading into this too much when it is clear and simple.
We didn’t ‘tap up’ Bostock…he is 16 and was free to speak to any club he liked for his first professional contract.
You will notice for all Jordan’s vitriol over the saga he NEVER criticises Spurs’ conduct.
The author of this article is a clueless fool and clearly not fit to write any kind of serious journalistic articles.
The ablility to use a spellchecker doesn’t make a journalist, nor does the description of two clubs as ’scum’.
The lack of facts is truly outstanding and has been pointed out several times here that no tapping up was done for Bostock and a bid was made and accepted for Juande Ramos with Seville otherwise Spurs would’ve been in trouble.
For all of Seville’s compaints and refusal to trade with Spurs, I haven’t yet seen an official complaint which says something, no?
Terrible article, no substance and really quite embarrassing, I can only guess that this isn’t a serious website and is merely Ahmed Bilal’s blog who I’ll guess is an Arsenal fan.
Naw he’s a Manc… this place is full of them!!
so if they do sell the duo.
will they once again pursue luis garcia?
i really think they should just say good riddance and move on quickly before other stars get signed up for the upcoming season.
come on tottenham, at the moment your gonna come out 2nd best.
I’m sorry that you lack the intelligence to understand that putting up newspaper articles on your website which quote your manager is a transparent attempt to cover your back and to claim, as some of you have, that it was the press that made it up and that it has nothing to do with Utd.
The fact of the matter is – Man Utd leaked that quote to the press and then they put it up on their website. They have been doing this since last summer and this is what Levy is talking about in his complaint – not just one comment but 12 months of illegally tapping up berbatov.
Michael
saying a player’s name isn’t tapping up. I don’t know if you are familiar with the rules, I’ll assume that you don’t. Tapping up is talking to a player without the selling clubs permission. United have never talked to Berbatov and how is Ferguson tapping him up by saying ‘we’ve bid on a player’ at the airport the day before these ‘quotes’ surfaced in the Sun who got their ‘exclusive’ from a Norweigan website. Ferguson confirmed that he never spoke to the Sun yesterday and since he didn’t mention Berbatov on SS in the airport I just don’t see what he has done wrong.
Michael,
Read the article, read the part where it says ‘from the Sun’. ManUtd.com is not exactly a ‘mouthpiece’ for the club – their news section covers a lot of rumours and stories mentioned in the press without confirming or denying the stories.
I understand that you don’t follow ManUtd.com so you wouldn’t know this, but it’s true.
Jonathan (#72):
Actually, I don’t use a spellcheck. I have an editor for that (and another one coming in just for proofreading). And the part where I called Utd and Liverpool ’scum’? In context please, read the whole article and see how it turns from supporting Tottenham’s case to pointing out Tottenham’s hypocrisy. Too clever for you?
And as for Ramos – again, Levy was arguing on a point of principle and painting Spurs as doing things the right way. I’m just pointing out that the Tottenham way isn’t always ‘right’.
Read my response to your article Ahmed.
Putting up newspaper articles on your website which quote your manager is a transparent attempt to cover your back and to claim, as some of you have, that it was the press that made it up and that it has nothing to do with Utd.
Manutd.com is the official website of Man Utd. It is owned and run by Man Utd. The official mouthpiece of the club is EXACTLY what it is. Can you not see how transparent it is to print a newspaper’s quotation of your manager tapping up another club’s player on your official website?
As for Spurs hypocrisy, the facts simply don’t support your false accusation. Bostock was not tapped up because he was not under contract. That really is all there is to say abot that. Ramos, a manager, for whom the same rules do NOT apply, again was not tapped up. We approached Sevilla and signed him but we were at all times negotiating with them alone even though we had every right to talk directly to Ramos.
In any case, for you to point out Spurs’ alleged hypocrisy rather than pointing out the blatent hypocrisy of the Old Wino who manages Man Utd.
is ridiculous
Frankly, Tottenham fans shouldn’t be concerned about morals or anything of that sort when it comes to Berbatov and Keane, because when it all boils down, a) Ferguson or Benitez don’t need to coerce either of them into leaving when they’re perfectly capable of making those decisions themselves, b) I think anybody who accuses anyone of something in the game today doesn’t have any room to say anything on their end, even if we’d like to think that the club that we support is on a higher moral ground than another.
Spurs submit one-year’s worth of ‘evidence’ to the Premier League…
newspaper clippings?
You pray that the evidence is newspaper clippings. A decent joke, but really, it seems like you are a little bit nervous and you are using the joke as therapy to lessen the anxiety you feel.
This shows that Fergie illegally taps up players as part of his normal transfer strategy.
http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8750_3847716,00.html
Michael,
A small word of advice. Step back from the computer for a minute, take a deep breath, and just let it go.
If he does, he does. He isn’t the only one, and trying to go after him for it would likely drag a lot of other people down as well. If he doesn’t, well, all the same. Worry more about what your club is doing, not what someone else’s is.
30m for a guy who’s all too excited about leaving is money well received…the investments that Ramos can make on Spurs’ future with that money and the money from Keane’s sale (and the sales of Malbranque, Chimbonda, Kaboul, and Tainio) will go a long way towards a future that’s already pretty bright.
Eddie Griffin – You can keep your condescending advice. In your arrogant stupor, you missed my point completely. I’m not the slightest bit upset at Man Utd & Liverpool for tapping up our players. It happens all the time at all levels.
I just find it nauseating to hear most of these Man Utd supporters and some Liverpool supporters berate Spurs as a small club who should just shut up and know their place. This is bitch-like behaviour and you know it. When it was C. Ronaldo and Gerrard getting tapped up by Real Madrid and Chelsea respectively, there was a tidal wave of self-righteous outrage. Very few Liverpool fans and ZERO Man Utd fans have paused for a second to realise the rank hypocrisy.
Ahmed is one of the worst offenders in this regard. The facts clearly show that Bostock was NOT tapped up by any stretch of the imagination. The facts also show, once you get past the rumours, that Ramos was not tapped up either. The guy is just typing bullshit lies. Meanwhile, Ferguson, as shown in my previous post, has done this as a matter of basic operating procedure throughout his career but Ahmed didn’t call him a hypocrite.
What a joke.
I’m not trying to be condescending, I’m just trying to say don’t get so wound up when you shouldn’t be. Don’t take it the wrong way.
Ahmed never said that Bostock was ‘tapped up.’ His point, at least from what I read, is that Tottenham didn’t go about things the right way by talking to Bostock before talking to Crystal Palace – not necessarily tapping up, but more or less not going about it sportingly.
And as for Ramos – the man himself says that Spurs made him an offer to replace Jol well before he actually took it. Ramos was under contract at Sevilla, and Jol was still employed by Tottenham. In the end, the fact that Jol was getting the sack and that Ramos was taking over for him was one of the worst-kept secrets around. Whether or not it was tapping up, it was a mess that I’m sure all parties involved would like to replay much differently, even though I think Ramos is the right man for the job.
As for your arguments for hypocrisy – I can understand why you’re upset/annoyed/nauseated, but hey, Tottenham may well get the last laugh.
Michael – thanks, I thought it was funny too.
comment moderated
Finally all is clear! Up to now there was no real evidence and much disagreement based on little real fact. But at last we know…………..Michael has the REAL FACTS. He KNOWS that Utd tapped up Berbatov for over a year and has CLEAR evidence that Utd met with Berbatov and his agent, as did Liverpool with Keane and his agent.
And I thought it may have just all been rumour!
Thanks for clearing that up Michael……….
Comment deleted by moderator. Read the comments policy.
Funny that! I was reading this thread along with a mate of mine here at the office and I said to him that this guy(Michael) was simmering away here and I bet I could make him fully ignite……and Hey Presto!, off he went like a rocket.
Unfortunately I didn’t get to see the explosion before it was deleted!!
Very funny mate
Comment deleted by moderator. Read the comments policy, and play nice!
Of course I was upset with Chelsea’s constant badgering of Gerrard but if we had have reported them I would have been ashamed of the way my club was conducting itself and I think Liverpool managed the situation brilliantly were as Spurs see it differently.
No. Spurs are not a small club, there are no small clubs in the EPL (except maybe Stoke and Hull, no offense) but Man U and Liverpool compete for Europes top prize year in and year out and both are almost expected to reach the last 4 each year so they are a level above.
Ah, my bad michael. It sounds less offensive but that’s probably because it didn’t register the first time what it meant. Fixed.
Ummm… if Liverpool have done nothing wrong, as loads of you claim, how comes the public apology from them and the sizeable donation to the Spurs charity as appeasement? If they’d done nothing wrong, why would they need to do that?
Fergie was misquoted and never said Berba’s name. He just had a mystery bid but never mentioned the player so hence he did not breach the Premier League’s rules and that is why Fergie said that “it will be very embarrassing” for Levy because Fergie initially did not say anything!
Spurs submitted a “DOSSIER” of evidence which is why they dismissed Fergie’s infantile statement.
I’d like to thank Ahmed Bilal; I didn’t especially enjoy his article (although it didn’t offend my Spurs fan sensibilities as much as it did Michael’s) but it created a lot of very entertaining hot air.
I would hope Ahmed appreciates that the Bostock transfer was both legal and not particularly unsporting, even if the end result of a fantastic young talent leaving the team who developed him while he’s still so young isn’t really how we’d like to see things go in football. I’ve no doubt if Bostock had stayed at Palace for another season or two, he would have continued to play regularly, come on in leaps and bounds, and then promptly been snapped up by one of the top 4.
However, Spurs offering him a contract rather than dealing with Jordan wasn’t ‘unsporting’, but rather more pragmatic. If we’d spoken with Palace instead, they would have offered Bostock a new contract which he would’ve had to accept, negotiate or reject, with no idea of what we were offering. That would’ve put a lot of pressure on the lad, which everyone involved wanted to avoid. As it was, we offered him a contract, which he liked the look of and accepted. Then we offered Jordan a sizeable wedge (but still not enough, in mine and Jordan’s opinion) which he rejected in favour of settling with the tribunal, which bizarrely valued Bostock even less. All the big4 do business in a similar way, signing up promising youngsters to play in the reserves. Often they make offers for youngsters who are out of contract, and often tribunals settle the fee. Arsenal do it all the time. Its perfectly legitimate, and even if its how we’d like to see football going (myself included), that’s the way it is, and that’s how the top4 generally manage to assemble world-class squads without paying world-bank transfer fees like the so-called Galacticos.
So Spurs weren’t really unsporting at all, and its a bit silly that Bostock’s being dragged into all this hypocritical name-calling and finger-pointing. I understand where you were coming from, Ahmed, but its just the nature of the Premier League beast.
I won’t go into the Jol/Ramos saga, suffice to say that I think the other Spurs fans on here have successfully proven we did nothing wrong, and everyone else (and some Spurs fans) have rightly pointed out it was a shambolic train-wreck, the blushes from which still haven’t quite faded.
Keane and Berba, the crux of the matter… Well, Robbie submitted a transfer request to the effect that he wanted to talk with Liverpool. After signing, Rafa apologised and gave us a donation on top of our already massively inflated transfer fee, so there must have been some wrong doing. Fact of the matter is, had Rafa not declared interest, Robbie would’ve been happy with us. That’s not tapping up though, so maybe Robbie was given a hypothetical contract offer in secret, or maybe Rafa was just being sympathetic (not likely).
Either way, at the end of the day, we got a large fee for a decent player who’s performed above expectations for us for the last three or four seasons. He isn’t, however, a world class striker. There’s no doubt he’s a talented lad, and when he’s on his game he can be astonishingly good, but at every club he’s played at his form has been patchy (although it got better in the last two years, he still had some months when he couldn’t hit a barn door).
I’d like to say I hope at Liverpool he can find the consistency he’s struggled to find elsewhere, but I don’t really, because it’s dog eat dog in the PL and last thing I want to see is Keano getting a golden boot this season and winning Liverpool the league. All the same, I think calling him a Judas is a bit much. This was no Sol Campbell episode – we got a lot of money for Robbie, and he was very gracious about the club he had worked tirelessly for for a long time.
I created a little thought experiment to deal with the transfer. It might help other Spurs fans who, like myself, feel a bit bitter about Robbie asking to leave:
1) You’re a decent footballer, playing for a decent PL team.
Let’s say it’s Villa.
You’ve been there 6 seasons but only got European football for two of them, never in the CL.
You’re 28. You’re peaking.
It’s all downhill from here.
Maybe Villa might get to the CL sometime in the next 2 or 3 seasons, its all a bit sketchy.
2) Spurs, the team you’ve supported all your life, declare an interest in signing you.
They’ve been playing in the CL regularly, hell they’ve even won it recently.
They sound like they’re really keen on you; they’ve put in a bid way more than you’d value yourself, and way more than Villa could really ask for you.
This is probably your one and only chance to play for your boyhood team – if you don’t go now, they’ll probably sign someone younger and give up on you.
Remember, you’re 28.
Also, it looks like you’d fit into their squad nicely – they’re shipping out some players who you would otherwise have to compete with for selection.
Oh, and they’re offering you a lot more money than Villa’s wage structure would allow.
If any Spurs fans think they would turn down Spurs and stay with Villa in that situation, they’re either not really Spurs fans, or deceiving themselves. I’d jump in a second – and be sorry to leave Villa, but delighted to join the team I’ve always supported.
This isn’t a terrible betrayal, its the realisation of a boyhood dream, and I feel glad for Robbie that he’s getting this chance, even if I feel gutted for Spurs, and annoyed at the board for not having sorted this out sooner. When Ramos took over, I said I hoped he’d sort the squad out before this season starts. He may yet do that, but we’re cutting things a bit fine, and ultimately we’ll have the same old excuse “new players need time to gel” to rationalise bad performances, if there are any (oh god I hope not, but let’s be realistic here).
As for Berbatov, I grow tired of the issue. I don’t care whether he stays or goes (I’d like him to stay, but if he doesn’t want to work harder to win stuff with us, then I don’t want him) but I do object to United fans arguing we should just hand him over for whatever they want to pay.
There’s a lot of factors involved here – firstly, he’s under contract and he’s a key player for us, but just as importantly is the fact he’d make a huge difference for United: he’s not a van Nistelroy-type player, he’s not going to bag 40-odd goals a season, but with his touch, his ability to drop the ball on a penny, combined with United’s mouthwatering attacking midfield, he’ll create as many if not more. Hansen said (and I loathe to quote the Scotch muppet, but he’s right) last January: “Bottom line, if he goes to United, they win the Champion’s League.” Well, they won it anyway, fair enough. But with an addition like Berba, United would struggle not to win the league and CL for the next three or four seasons. Plus the impact of a player like that on your youngsters is immeasurable. United already have a wealth of talented players inspiring their youngsters, so that’s perhaps not such a factor for them, but I dare say Berba would only have a positive influence on established younger players like Rooney, Tevez (if he stays), Nani, Anderson etc.
So I think if you Reds want him, fair enough, but don’t whine about the fee we set, otherwise you’re no better than that Madrid lot.
And anyone who takes Levy’s complaints at face value, and not as the wily (but unscrupulous) business they really are, is a bit dim. We don’t seriously want to keep an unhappy Berbatov at Spurs and have Fergie’s wrists slapped – we just want as much money as we can get for our prized asset.
As a last word on the subject, if I were Ramos, and I had as much sway over transfers as he supposedly does (after all this Spurs fan talk of how its going to be better with Ramos because the board trust him with money more than they did Jol), I would tell Levy not to sell to United, whatever they offer (listen to bids but not accept – don’t reject, just stall) and take a lesser fee to sell him to Barca. We don’t really need the money, and we certainly don’t need to see our star player helping United to a clean sweep this season. Better to see him playing in Spain. Then we can be pleased when he works his magic, and helps knock the top4 out of the CL on the way to lifting the trophy, rather than seeing him playing at one of our direct competitors…
Well, I can dream. The reality is Levy will be after as much as he can get, and assuming Fergie can persuade the Glazers to put in enough money (money which isn’t theirs anyway, its the club’s), we’ll bite their hands off to sell.
I’d also like to point out the absurdity of United fans commenting on our financial situation. You mortgaged your club for over a decade to a bunch of Yank idiots with no money. They will take billions of your profits to pay off their own debts. You make plenty enough for it not to be a serious issue (except having ever-so-slightly tighter purse-strings in the transfer market), but still, take the log out of your own eye before you start telling us about the speck in ours.
And finally (honest) the question of who is and isn’t good enough to break into the top 4 is absurd. At the moment, the gulf in winnings between EC and CL qualification is so enormous, that the top 4 are a monopoly. We (and a few other teams) could conceivably break into 4th place at some point, but it would be foolish and naive to believe it would be sustainable – Liverpool, or Arsenal (or one of the other two, if they were ever to muck up so badly) would simply spend a bit of money buying some more strength for their squad and walk back into the top 4 the next season.
There really ought to be a fairer way of distributing winnings among the whole league. Like results-based winnings – if you won away at the team who finished top, you get maybe 2% of the prize money, whereas if you beat the team who finished bottom at home, you only get 0.1%. I obviously haven’t worked the numbers out, so don’t quibble with that. The point is with that sort of system, the smaller clubs could still get a decent lump of cash to help them develop, if they managed to pull of a giant killing. This would make the league a lot more competitive, from start to finish.
Right, sorry for the length of that, but having digested everything everyone has said on here, there was a lot to address. Hopefully no one can possibly disagree with anything I’ve said, but that seems unlikely on recent form. I’ll try to keep checking back here over the next few days in case anyone does reply, but since its already quite an old article, I might meet with silence. Either way, thanks to Ahmed, and all the fans here, for a genuinely entertaining (if not always entirely rational) debate.