Too Little, Too Late, Moyes Left Red Faced

Moyes' reign at United not off to the best start

If Manchester United could learn anything from this dreadful summer of transfer business, it’s to take a page out of Spurs’ book. The two clubs have had quite different setups when it comes to dealing in the transfer market, but there seems to be a significant reason why Spurs may have arguably done the best business in Europe. Thanks to their maestro in the market Franco Baldini, Spurs have had one of their most successful transfer markets in their history. 

When Baldini was appointed, club chairman Daniel Levy announced that he would be working close to Tim Sherwood who is the head of football development in the youth teams and be the right hand man to AVB. The three would work together to bring in players to all levels of the club. This strategy differs to the setup at Manchester United who still seem forever keen on a classic approach of a chief executive working closely with the manager. 

With a new chief executive, and a new manager, Manchester United fans could possibly understand the lack of arrivals but what may have been the most disappointing event this summer was how embarrassing their attempt to sign players was. With multiple bids for Fabregas being rejected, United made themselves look silly trying to buy a player who would never leave. With other deals for players such as Herrera and Coentrao falling through, and Fellaini their only summer signing, United have been left red faced. 

This comes after Man City, Chelsea, and Spurs doing fantastic business early in the summer. With Moyes starting on July 1st, new chief executive, Ian Woodward, could have outlined possible targets for Moyes to pursue then work with him to sign them as soon as possible. Considering Woodward left the Asian tour to address ‘urgent transfer business,’ United fans everywhere will have question marks to why they left their only signing of the summer to the last day of the summer. With Moyes taking the critisism, fingers should truly be pointed at Woodward as he failed to deliver for Moyes and if anything Moyes has been thrown under the bus.  

Tottenham’s approach to the summer varied for different reasons, mainly due to the record-breaking sale of Gareth Bale. Daniel Levy and Franco Baldini did possibly the best strategic transfer business for decades. Knowing how desperate Real Madrid would be to buy Bale, they let the sale stall while they bought players to replace Bale plus more additions in which they could recoup the money from the sale of Bale. This avoided the club having to pay inflated prices for the same players as clubs would know they have just recouped a large amount of money from a sale. This has led to big name signings like Lamela, Eriksen, Soldado, and Capoue. 

Do United need a technical director or a director of football? We’ve seen the positives of a specific position for transfers, but they’re also negatives with a position like this. This is clearly evident in the case of Newcastle United and Joe Kinnear. This dilemma leaves Manchester United playing catchup to everyone else, and if they don’t reinforce in the January transfer window, major questions will be asked over their

newly appointed manager and chief executive.