Manchester United Seasonal Blog 2026/27 - The Carrick Data-Driven Austerity Year

[thebillfella]

City and Chelsea consistently turning profits on flops

I have a theory on that! Forest (and Spurs) have only paid a fraction of those fees from their own coffers and City has a nice shiny new £120m central midfield (soon to be £340m) without contravening SCR / SSR!

Allegedly of course (I think the City lawyers "cease and desist" letter has already arrived!)! Nothing to see here despite still not filling their ground!

[Darbyand]

City and Chelsea consistently turning profits on flops

I have a theory on that! Forest (and Spurs) have only paid a fraction of those fees from their own coffers and City has a nice shiny new £120m central midfield (soon to be £340m) without contravening SCR / SSR!

Allegedly of course (I think the City lawyers "cease and desist" letter has already arrived!)! Nothing to see here despite still not filling their ground!

Apparently Villa are now signing N Jackson for £65m. Are the payments terms a grand a year for the next 20 years then the balance written off??

[hayesag]

City and Chelsea consistently turning profits on flops

I have a theory on that! Forest (and Spurs) have only paid a fraction of those fees from their own coffers and City has a nice shiny new £120m central midfield (soon to be £340m) without contravening SCR / SSR!

Allegedly of course (I think the City lawyers "cease and desist" letter has already arrived!)! Nothing to see here despite still not filling their ground!

Apparently Villa are now signing N Jackson for £65m. Are the payments terms a grand a year for the next 20 years then the balance written off??

They've sold Watkins so there is that...

[thebillfella]

I think it's more that someone thinks Jackson is worth £65m that is the stinky thing here hayesag!

How is it that City and Chelsea always seem to make a profit on loads of failures yet we always sell ours for a loss - a combo of us being shit at selling and some dodgy money laundering going on I guess?! Chelsea has even made a healthy profit on Garnacho after he stunk out the place last season FFS!

Are we just completely totally naive with our business acumen or do we have the negotiating skills of Trump and 30p Lee?!!

[Darbyand]

Some online chatter that Zirkzee might be off to Fiorentina..€5m loan fee with an option to buy. So, see you next summer JZ

That said, they'd surely have to bring in a back-up striker. Welbeck would have been perfect if they'd pulled their finger out earlier in the summer. Or are they going to say Rashford/Cunha/Mbeumo can cover??

[thebillfella]

The manager is getting let down by the board yet again in this regard isn't he. And it will be Carrick that ultimately carries the can if he can't make it work with the threadbare squad we have for domestic and European football again now.

We've known for seasons now that we need a forward, a left back (and a right back and centre backs that aren't injury prone and reliable!) and of course a centre mid rebuild after last season's attacking midfield rebuild. We've done the centre mid rebuild from B-list Moneyball options (rather than the A-list that are competitors are procuring) which I'm not convinced are quality enough to kick on from where we finished the last. And no doubt next season we'll be looking to replace some of those as not up to scratch and loaning them out with option to sell for a loss!

With the squad we have assembled right now, are are better than we were at the start of last season but no closer to being able to challenge for the title as everyone around us is strengthening better than we are; we are only good enough to challenge for the top 6 at best. And this is subject to individuals like Bruno having amazing seasons and carrying us there.

Christ, Ipswich and Coventry have still spent more than us this summer yet we are still right up there in the Deloitte Money League for revenue despite having no European football or decent cup runs last season. Other than tightening the purse strings for the new stadium I just don't get it.

[Dr. Giggles]

Zirkzee might be off to Fiorentina..€5m loan fee with an option to buy. So, see you next summer JZ

Can't we do some kind of BOGOF deal to get rid of him?

Maybe sell them a shirt or somethng and chuck him in for free with it?

[murf]

I think it's more that someone thinks Jackson is worth £65m that is the stinky thing here hayesag!

How is it that City and Chelsea always seem to make a profit on loads of failures yet we always sell ours for a loss - a combo of us being shit at selling and some dodgy money laundering going on I guess?! Chelsea has even made a healthy profit on Garnacho after he stunk out the place last season FFS!

Are we just completely totally naive with our business acumen or do we have the negotiating skills of Trump and 30p Lee?!!

I don't get how Chelsea make so much money. Sign an Ipswich journeyman striker for an excessive £30m, let him prove he isn't up to it, drop him to the reserves then sell him for £50m! If Delap is worth £50m then Jackson is worth £165m.

[forestfan]

There’s been a lot of inflation in terms of attacking players but genuine number 9s in particular as they’re so thin on the ground these days. Haaland with a decent number of years left on his contract would probably fetch £250-300m now.

Just saw an article about how teams are making a profit on players without actually improving them these days. It’s a bit like the era of landlords buying houses, leaving them empty and selling them on at a profit.

[thebillfella]

Apart from us!

[Darbyand]

Villa and Chelsea essentially swapping teams now with curious valuations.

[Dr. Giggles]

I don't get how Chelsea make so much money.

https://x.com/Xabi_era1/status/2092947579835179081?s=20

[thebillfella]

I wish we could post some highlights of Zirkzee and Ugarte and get their value to increase like that!

[murf]

I don't get how Chelsea make so much money.

https://x.com/Xabi_era1/status/2092947579835179081?s=20

The world is truly bonkers

[murf]

I wish we could post some highlights of Zirkzee and Ugarte and get their value to increase like that!

Try not playing them at all after initially playing them and proving their rubbishness. That early phase will soon be forgotten.

[Darbyand]

Champions League fixtures

[thebillfella]

I wish we could post some highlights of Zirkzee and Ugarte and get their value to increase like that!

Try not playing them at all after initially playing them and proving their rubbishness. That early phase will soon be forgotten.

Or we could just start money laundering / cooking the books like City and Chelsea are clearly doing! Ah, but that would mean our owners actually putting their own money (fraudulently) into the club rather than just taking it out!

Ah well, expect a few more cost cutting (rather than revenue making) loans out of failed signings and a few minor signings in who are just additions to the squad rather than significant improvements to the first team then!

[thebillfella]

Well that (2nd half at least) is a bit more like it.

It did show our clear weakness at both full back positions still and that is going to cost us against the better teams in the Prem and Champions League if we don't find upgrades in the next 2 days.

But Martinez and Mainoo being back in the team and the World Cup returnees looking more match fit on the whole made a huge difference. Mbeumo was a bit frustrating at times but still got his goal; and Cunha still looks like he is getting his match fitness and not firing on all cylinders yet.

But credit where it is due, Rashford played well today. Granted he was 'only' up against O'Shea (no offence to blah and other Ipswich fans) but he played well and more importantly looked to be working hard tracking back to support Shaw, which is all we ever really demanded of him when he got a bit too big for his boots. Hopefully he can maintain that effort against better opposition.

But for the love of god get at least one full back in before the window closes.

[Dr. Giggles]

Am going to the home opener next week, though. It'd better be not be another horror show.

Turned out alright... in the end.

Had Bruno as FPL Captain as well, so doubly pleased as the goals kept going in.

[forestfan]

You definitely need defensive reinforcements and upgrades. At this stage I’d see the hierarchy as Arsenal > City > Chelsea > United and Liverpool >> the rest (though there’ll be a surprise team pushing for top five from somewhere, too early to identify it yet).

Arsenal’s defensive strength stands out a mile, you wouldn’t take their first choice front players over City or Chelsea’s and debatable vs. United and Liverpool’s too, but nobody else has really nailed things at the back and you could argue Arsenal, when everyone’s fit, could name two potential back fours at least as good as anyone else’s first choice quartet!

[thebillfella]

Yeah, can't really disagree with much of that. I think Chelsea has similar defensive frailties to us so the gap between Chelsea and United is small tbh (but they don't have the European distraction this season). Liverpool's defence is equally dodgy so like Chelsea and United rely more on their attack to get the defence out of trouble. In fact, when you think about it every team other than Arsenal falls into that category right now!

[thebillfella]

Not looking good thus far for transfer deadline day signings is it. Sounds like we need to sell Zirkzee in order to buy the left back we need so I suspect Zirkzee will still be a United player at the end of the day!

In the meantime Chelsea are now in for Manu Kone or Lamine Camara and City are able to go for Enzo Fernandez and Illiman Ndiaye. The joy of having the Glazers as owners rather than fraudulent money launderers and a sovereign wealth fund!

Carrick is being left exposed by the owners and he'll be the one left the carry the can if he can't make the threadbare squad work.

Tick follows tock follows tick follows tock...

[thebillfella]

And there we have it. 10th by expenditure and 8th in net spend this window (primarily because we seem to be incapable of selling anyone for anything decent). City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs all spent significantly more (never mind the promoted teams), yet Ineos expects us to compete with them for European places at least.

None of the alleged first choice midfield targets, no backup left back, no backup centre forward, a reliance on a returning and rejuvenated Rashford to fill the left forward role we needed, and a reliance on the same defence that we had at the start of the 2022 season still. And to maintain any sort of attempt to compete on multiple fronts will mean an increased reliance on the likes of Shea Lacey, Harry Amass and Jack Fletcher to step up in certain competitions to fill the massive squad depth void we now have.

If Carrick does get a Champions League place with that threadbare squad he will have done an outstanding job. Top 5 will still be an achievement still given that we are now essentially competing with the likes of Brentford and Brighton rather than any ambition to challenge for the title.

While Inoes did ok last summer they have failed the manager this window. If it goes wrong it will be their fault, not Carrick's.

And the roof is still leaking!

[Darbyand]

The selling thing is killing us. City get 85m for Savio whilst we can't give Zirkzee away, despite the latter somehow outscoring the former in their 2 years in the Prem.

[forestfan]

The selling thing is killing us. City get 85m for Savio whilst we can't give Zirkzee away, despite the latter somehow outscoring the former in their 2 years in the Prem.

Get him to shorten his name to Zirke and they’ll be queuing up

[thebillfella]

We'd also need the buyers to allow us to launder some of our owners money back into the club as part of the deal

[thebillfella]

So, according to The Telegraph (if we choose to believe that), Manchester United plan to focus on rebuilding their defence next summer as the final phase of their squad overhaul.

The project is expected to cost more than £500M overall after major investment in attack and midfield.

United could target two centre-backs and two full-backs, depending on decisions over several current defenders.

I think they call that kicking the can down the road, Jim. I'm sure Carrick is delighted for the coming season.

Will probably coincide with the realisation at Chelsea and Liverpool especially that they also need to rebuild their defences. Which will mean we'll miss out on our first choices again as we are no longer prepared to pay the prices they will and still can't sell our rejects sufficiently to raise the funds needed.

[murf]

Talking of selling players... 39 (Thirty Nine) players exited Chelsea this summer. 17 sold. 22 loaned (some with sales agreed/options). Ridiculous.

[thebillfella]

I think Chelsea has broken the transfer market even more than City has over the last 20 or so years. Other than ridiculous 8 year or so contracts they formulate to dodge the PSR (SCR/SSR?) rules I'm at a loss why a young player would want to sign for that tinpot stockpiling team.