01/09/2015

Guest blog: A fiasco, yes. But United's transfer window was far worse than that

The first of a new guest blog feature United Season Ticket Holder Chris Rumfitt gives his take on the transfer window activity at MUFC. Note the views expressed are those of the author and not neccessarily M.U.S.T.

Fiasco. That's one word for Manchester United's summer transfer window. Shambles. That's another one.

But what if the real story is worse than that? Whilst at times they've embarrassed themselves in the execution of it, the reality is that the Glazers have executed a planned and dramatic reduction in the club's wage bill.

Van Persie, Falcao, di Maria, Nani, Hernandez, Rafael, Cleverley, Evans. Conservatively, getting rid of these eight alone has probably saved the club £60m a year. And of the new players, only Schweinsteiger will have commanded a salary in any way comparable to some of the star departures. One of the attractions of the likes of Schneiderlin, Depay and Martial over, say, Vidal or Pedro, is that as well as having resale value because of their age, they will also be on a fraction of the wages.

With every analysis of successful football performance showing that total wage bill (not total transfer spend) is the best predictor of success on the field, this transfer window has been a disaster for those of us who hoped and believed that last year's improvement would be a springboard for a title challenge this time round. It's almost as if the Glazers saw 4th place as enough, and last summer's spending as an anomaly. Now they want to go back to taking money out the club, not putting it in.

So, yes, the execution of the last few days has been a shambles. And it's easy to ask questions of both Van Gaal and Woodward. But the real scandal is another summer of under-investment in the team. And if you want to point the finger of blame for that, you want to point it towards Florida.

And none of this even mentions David de Gea. A case study in mismanagement that deserves a blog all of its own...

Agree or disagree with Chris? Add your views in the comments box below.