The January window passed off without major incident but again cast the spotlight on the precarious state of the club’s finances. The fact we brought in Patrick Dorgu was a minor surprise given the focus (rightly) was on trimming the wage bill to avoid future PSR breaches. Clearly, we’re in dodgy position right now. I’m sure Marcus Rashford didn’t expect to end up in Birmingham when Milan and Barcelona had been touted as potential destinations, but I guess we all have to make certain sacrifices during times of austerity, right?
I’ve been very critical of Rashford, but I hope this gives him a wake-up call and the motivation to kick on and resurrect his career. Ditto Antony, who now finds himself in Seville where I expect he’ll encounter a more forgiving environment in which to practice his pirouettes and ponder using his right foot one day. Sacrificing this pair and not even making a loan signing did appear to be a gamble though, one that backfired almost immediately now Amad has been ruled out for the rest of the season. I’m not sure what the plan is if Garnacho is unavailable for any length of time.
It’s long been suspected that the training levels aren’t what they should be at Carrington. You only have to look at the pre-match warm up routines to confirm that most players are simply going through the motions and there’s a noticeable lack of intensity. I suspect Amorim has clocked this and set about fixing things but he might need to re-adjust his methods. 9 days in-between games to spend on the training ground pre- Spurs resulted in 4 fresh injuries – and that’s coming off the back of the news that Martinez has undergone surgery and is likely out until Christmas. I strongly suspect the club could genuinely be cursed.
With Rashford and Antony joining Sancho out on loan, that now makes around £200M worth of wingers plying their trade elsewhere whilst remaining on the books. The silver lining in Sancho’s case is that at least he was shipped out with a clause obligating Chelsea to stump up a transfer fee in the summer. This move being a rare example of United doing something right with regard to player dealings – you’d be hard pressed to recall many other instances of the club doing something sensible in the transfer market in recent years.
The fact that both Rashford and Antony will be back in June is probably helping fuel speculation that both Garnacho and Mainoo might be sold in the summer. It’s a grim prospect that would have been inconceivable in previous years, but indicative of the gravity of the situation in which the club finds itself. Nobody wants to see our brightest prospects sold, but I suppose this is the natural consequence of years of ridiculous spending and kamikaze financial management. If it needs to happen to get the club back on a secure footing then so be it.
A lack of signings meant the e-reds had a difficult month, especially now the penny has dropped that Sancho is delivering the same turgid performance level at Chelsea as he did during his time at United. Amusingly, they’ve now pivoted from demanding his immediate recall to another familiar face, our old friend Paul Pogba! Yes, such unparalleled lunacy is alive and well on the internet. I mean, can you imagine being that thick you’d actually think that re-signing that clown would be a smart move at this point? Unsurprisingly, Rio Ferdinand was touting the same idea too.
Sad news came last month via the announcement of Denis Law’s passing – the original King of The Stretford End and my Dad’s favourite player of all time. I was fortunate enough to meet the man a couple of times and what a lovely, down-to-earth bloke he was. It was a pity then, that the ceremony held prior to the Fulham game days later was ragged mess in comparison to how the club have managed similar events in the past. The TRA drowning out the lone piper followed by Alan Keegan’s foghorn-voiced reading of a tribute poem brought little subtlety or solemnity to proceedings. It’s a shame because United used to get these things spot on.
In such circumstances, less can mean more. The contrast to the scenes inside the ground in January 1994 prior to the Everton game following Sir Matt’s death was stark. Back then there was a simple minute’s silence after a piper had led both teams out. There was no need for anyone on the mic giving a running commentary and to this day, the scene stands out as one of the most moving things I’ve ever witnessed in life. The club needs to reassess how these occasions are handled in future to ensure they don’t become some ill-conceived form of pre-match entertainment.
We went from Scotland’s finest to the absolute dregs in the space of a few days, as Rangers rocked up at OT for one of those “invasions” that occur every time a side from Glasgow ventures south of Newcastle. I managed to avoid them pre-match and wondered if the rumours about the numbers travelling were accurate, but then it was hard to miss them once they’d equalised. It all made for a highly entertaining last 10 minutes with skirmishes occurring all over the ground. I’ve no problem with any away fan getting in the home end as I’ve done it often enough. The rule as always is if you loudly make yourself known, be prepared for some potential consequences.
It didn’t take long for United to activate damage limitation mode, predictably blaming ST holders for selling on tickets rather than admitting that scores of hospitality seats had (also predictably) been snapped up by the Scots. The club used similarly disingenuous tactics after Galatasaray at home last season, another high-demand game that saw large numbers of away fans infiltrating home sections. Rather than learn any lessons from what happened that night and limiting the sale of hospitality seats for a potentially volatile fixture, they’ve just doubled down on attempts to pin the blame on regular ST holders.
After allegedly reviewing CCTV footage from the night, the club have contacted dozens of fans threatening to revoke their tickets unless they can prove their attendance at the game. The fact the club sees the value in targeting individuals and demanding photo ID to prove they were sat in their seats rather than acknowledging Rangers fans were freely allowed to congregate next to the away section is extraordinarily deceitful even by their own standards. Just own it and admit that despite the obvious risks, you allowed the sale of hundreds of home end tickets to away supporters. It’s that simple no matter how much they try to shift the blame onto United fans.
Copyright Red News – February 2025
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