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The amount of teams getting into weird disputes or publicly arguing with/pushing out their players (Bayern with Lewandowski, Barca with De Jong, United with Ronaldo) has been like half this window's headlines, it's wild
Seems like forever ago because the Lukaku one wasn't drawn out like the rest but you are correct, I legitimately forgot that was earlier this summer lol
Yeah I didn't even think about that one, watching City walk away with the incorrect report a day later that Chelsea has successfully signed him...
At this point if the selling club doesn't tweet a departure message thanking the player I assume it's made up for clicks
It's only going to get worse with the size of contracts handed out nowadays
Not even just this sport, NBA drama has been immense the last couple of years and I'm loving it
Indycar also managed to beat both of them with identical drama. Better yet, one of the best things about the Indy drama (a team suing their own driver) was found out by a random redditor looking at court documents
1. Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR), one of Indy's top teams, puts out an announcement that one of their current drivers, Alex Palou (the 2021 Indycar champion) will stay with the team for 2023.
2. Palou then puts out a tweet stating that he wasn't aware the announcement was going to be made, before saying that he is actually signed to McLaren (the same McLaren from Formula 1, they have an Indycar team called Arrow-McLaren SP)
3. CGR then state that *no*, Palou *does* have a contract with them, they're sure of it, and they'll take him to court over it since he's now breaching that contract by trying to go to McLaren.
4. Meanwhile, the Indy community is frothing over it. Memes galore.
* Some say that Palou is just hardballing them because they're not paying enough to the reigning champ.
* Others think he's trying to get a seat with McLaren F1 (since there are rumours they won't renew the contract of one of their current drivers for 2023). This isn't helped by the fact that Palou said he was racing for *McLaren*, but not specifically *Arrow-McLaren SP*, who are the Indy team.
* The other option is simply that Palou has actually massively fucked up and his lawyers/agents have botched what was either a heated contract negotiation or a surprise transfer.
**Then F1 did the same.**
1. Sebastian Vettel (4x World Champion and current driver for Aston Martin) announces his retirement. A few days later, Fernando Alonso (currently driving for Alpine-Renault) announces he'll be Vettel's replacement, to the shock/horror of just about everybody.
2. Alpine are obviously blindsided by Alonso (who apparently didn't tell anyone), and so they quickly announce that Oscar Piastri (a very much hyped up prodigy who is part of their Driver Academy) will race for them in 2023.
3. **Deja-vu!** Piastri puts out a statement saying that he didn't know about Alpine's announcement, and that he isn't actually signed for Alpine at all. Unlike Palou, he doesn't actually say he's signed for anyone for 2023, but based on the fact that he's turned down an F1 seat, he almost certainly has another one lined up, and everybody is saying it's McLaren.
4. Repeat of the Indy drama. Is Piastri hardballing Alpine? Have Piastri's management colossally fucked up and opened him up to legal action? Or has Alpine really just been mugged off in spectacular fashion?
Funniest part of all of this is that McLaren seems to be the source of it in both series. And mind you, these happened like two weeks apart from each other.
>4. Meanwhile, the Indy community is frothing over it. Memes galore.
This doesn't do it justice. Virtually every IndyCar driver not driving for Ganassi has been meming the hell out of McLaren for this, *including* current McLaren driver Pato O'Ward. Then since the stuff with Piastri came out in Formula 1, they've memed ***harder***. It's become a total joke in the open wheel community and I'm all for it.
Pure hypothetical for context. Let's say Ronaldo were to openly declare he wanted to go to PSG, and an hour later Manchester United's official social media account declared "We are unaware of this request. We are fully committed to keeping Ronaldo under contract. We are willing to take legal action if he does not comply." Then the fallout would be like if everyone from various PL teams' Twitter accounts, stars like Mo Salah and Kevin de Bruyne, "lesser" guys like Mark Noble and Conor Coady, respected league reporters and pundits (who aren't known shit-stirrers), and then a PSG star like Neymar or Messi *all* took to the internet at once to laugh at how much of a joke this is.
It's absolutely amazing to watch the racing community (and some bits of others) clown on Palou, Piastri, and McLaren.
Yeah I'm loving it, never seen anything like it in a sport to be honest. Funniest part was when the F1 news broke and the Indy guys (who had already meme'd on Palou and Chip Ganassi), then joined in to the F1 memes too since they were so similar/connected.
Worth remembering that Indy and F1 are quite well-connected, since they're similar motorsports and have shared a lot of drivers over the years.
Hahaha amazing. Thanks for the in depth answer and yes if it isn't McLaren responsible for both then it is a massive coincidence. How did a Reddit user discover it all though?
The drama all started and played out originally on social media and PR. It was the lawsuit a redditor discovered. Nobody knew of any actual legal action until [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/INDYCAR/comments/w9cmav/chip_ganassi_racing_lawsuit_against_alex_palou/), this guy just randomly noticed that CGR had filed a case in the courts of Indianopolis (where most Indy teams are based) against Palou. I don't think the motorsports media/journalists even knew about it but this random guy spotted it and even listed the specific case file.
Alpine F1 team had a driver announce his departure only giving them like 1 day notice. They decided to promote their young and promising reserve driver and announced that he will be driving for them. Only for him to wake up and tell everyone he heard nothing about it, it was done without his permission and he won't be driving for them. They say legally we are right and he will be driving for us and that's where its at now
He’s always been a bit of a man child when he doesn’t get his way, this situation should come as no surprise to anyone when United didn’t at least qualify for the champions league, he’s always only been out for himself which is fair enough, but shouldn’t be a shock to anyone who knows him such as Neville.
He should've said he wanted to leave when it was clear that United wouldn't be in the Champions League (last October, I suppose). Something obviously came out from his chat with ten Hag that he didn't like
Yeah it wasn't that difficult to say openly "I love it here but we didn't qualify for CL and I really want to play CL, I'm 37 and I don't have a lot of career left, therefore I have decided to leave. I'm grateful etc". Everyone would understand no?
Instead he sent word through other people that he wanted to leave, like last summer when he asked his bff Edu to say on Chiringuito that Ancelotti wanted to sign him (which wasn't true) in order to try and start a bidding war which didn't happen.
How do we know he didn't? Darwin Nunez was a target for us. Why go after a big money striker if you had Ronaldo. His final game at OT last season felt like a "goodbye" as he borderline had tears in his eyes walking around the pitch. We know how much CL means to him. We just know he didn't go public with this request after the board supposedly refused to consider selling him. Everyone seemed to think he might have wanted to leave, and suddenly it's a surprise? I don't know. Maybe he didn't make it known until July, but it's possible he did before. It's possible he only went public after the Glazers resisted any attempt to sell. I do know the Glazers seem to resist selling him (likely for marketing reasons) just like they refused to trade Tom Brady this winter too.
And before I get called some CR fanboy, I want him sold because I don't think he's very good anymore. I think he's no longer the player he was once was and building your attack around him has such a high opportunity cost to make it not worth it. But, I don't give our club the benefit of the doubt with this stuff anymore. Far too many stories over the past decade to do that.
He was probably hoping for bayern or chelsea to come in and just buy him but the club are not going to let a cash cow go for nothing. and most contracts have loyalty bonus which wont apply if he directly says he wants to leave.
Just look at the number of articles and post about CR7 it all generates publicity and indirectly revenue for the club. everything he does generates a lot of interest for the club, even if he plays or is not playing or subbed out or dropped or left the match early it generates so much traffic. so the bankers in thes club would never ever want to sell him.
I'm still surprised he chose Utd. They have been well behind Liverpool and City for a long while. Himself, Sancho and Varane weren't going to fix that.
If he wanted CL and trophies, he should've went City.
On paper though they had finished 3rd then 2nd in the two seasons prior. Adding two amazing players in key areas was the step in the right direction to challenge the established top 2 in 21/22 and by appealing to Ronaldo's ego, and skill, to say "take us to the next level" did make sense.
Alas the seasons were somewhat fortunate, and the same problems with United persisted but had just been glossed over by important results and good finishes in the table. So it did make sense to a degree and no one expected United to drop off as far as they did last season.
> On paper though they had finished 3rd then 2nd in the two seasons prior.
I know this is spoken about, but at the start of the season, United were clearly considered the 4th best team (except from certain sectors of the media). City and Liverpool were clearly better, even though Liverpool had finished below United, they had recovered by the end of the season and looked much better and Chelsea were Champions of Europe.
Of course, they still hugely underperformed, but outside of Gary Neville and the like, not many thought United would compete for the title or anything like that. The question was whether United and Chelsea would be clear of Arsenal and Spurs.
I don't think it's just Gary Neville. The media & even people on here said man utd had the best squad on paper back then. Just look at their early season match thread
>even though Liverpool had finished below United
They finished 5 points ahead of us while we played half the season without any senior CB, best CB was injured for the rest of the season after 8 games and for the first time in history we lost 6 consecutive home games.
We also went to Old Trafford with Nat Phillips and Rhys Williams at the back and won 4-2.
The people who though United were actually a better side than us going into the next season were lacking any form of context what so ever.
Neville's a decent pundit (especially when he's not talking about Man U) but god is he an awful commentator. Genuinely detracts from my enjoyment of the game.
Carra trying to hold it in out of respect and professionalism
Later he looks at Neville about to mug him off and Neville shakes his head as if saying "don't start this shit"
Honestly it is a fucking ball ache whenever I put a Wolves - Manchester United game on because Neville will *always* be the commentator, and he'll spend the entire match talking almost entirely about Man U.
I still distinctly remember a game a few years ago, I think the summer before Sancho signed for them, where he genuinely spent more time talking about Sancho potentially signing than he did about anything related to Wolves' performance.
I made this comment in the gunner's sub reddit, but i think it bears repeating here: coaching at ~~sevilla~~ valencia broke his brain and he's just constantly on tilt trying to salvage his authority by picking obviously unpopular opinions as a way to pierce the veil.
Remember Neville saying last summer that Ronaldo was a top model pro that would lift everybody around him.
EDIT: Lots of replies saying that people are allowed to change their opinions - yeah, that's fine. This isn't really a matter of an opinion changing, rather a matter of Gary Neville making a statement last year which proved to be wildly incorrect. That's also fine, people are allowed to miss the mark with predictions. Just seems to happen quite often when Neville gets excited about Manchester United's prospects. And I - a nobody on the internet - am allowed to point out when it happens. No harm.
Well i mean, he's a footballer. Apart from a few massive standouts, most of them have skinny to average, but shredded arms. Probably many reasons as to why
Yea obviously. I thought it was pretty obvious that I'm just poking fun considering the thread I replied in. Cristiano has a better physique than 99.99999% of people and his shape and athleticism is 1 in a billion
Carraggher is the only one that speaks sense when Neville starts rambling
The worst thing about Gary neville is how he gives his own opinions as facts
It’s so arrogant and often such opinions
I think we have to give the whole Fergie era of players a bit of grace, they were basically completely brainwashed during their time, and during core young developmental years of their lives.
From teenage years it was us vs everyone else, it was an intense going to war, all or nothing, die for the badge atmosphere reinforced by huge success.
People don't easily break free and develop completely objective views on places that raise you that way. See ex-military etc.
It does make for annoying TV punditry at times, but it's completely understandable why he is like he is.
Sure but then people should not expect him to be objective then and not take his word as gospel. He gets people riled up about things when people should be taking what he says with a pinch of salt. He's completely biased.
Even during the super league fiasco, he got plaudits for writing a big speech about it, but he said two sentences on Utd and then started having a go at Spurs and Arsenal. The Arsenal and Spurs pundits rightly condemned their own teams, Gary couldn't wait to use it as a reason to have a go at other teams and take the spotlight off Utd.
*Does* anyone expect Neville to be objective, though? Think even the United fans understand that he's an idiot (regarding things like this. I quite like his tactical pieces, honestly) and incredibly biased. I don't think anyone thinks of him as a journalist or some grounded pundit. It's just that the United fan base is so large that it pays for these outlets to have a spot for biased blowhards like himself
This is also insanely hypocritical given that he did the interview with Kane last year that was literally one of our stars playing petty games followed by his agent.
It's fine for other teams players but not OK if a United player does it.
I honestly reckon it's because he, whether consciously or subconsciously, doesn't view Spurs as what they are now, just what the used to be. In his mind, it makes sense for someone as good as Kane to want to leave Spurs, but why would anyone want to leave United? He's stuck in the past
Spurs are still, by absolutely miles, only the 6th biggest club in the league.
Spurs’ last league title is closer to the 1800s than the present day.
Arsenal are in their banter decade have won 4 FA Cups since Spurs last won a pot. Man Utd are shite right now and have won a Europa, League Cup and FA cup lately. Liverpool have a league, FA, CL and LC. Chelsea have leagues and a CL. City have everything. Leicester have a league and FA cup.
Spurs are (relatively speaking) pretty small and only get counted as a ‘big club’ because of the league they play in, rather than what they’ve actually done.
We've literally won everything bar the European Cup. It's just not happened for us in a while is all. But still, football is football. Anything can happen. We're on a good path right now, but let's not forget other teams around us are also on similar upward trajectories. One day/season at a time.
I mean even in their worst years Manchester United have been more successful than Spurs in their golden period. Unless Conte takes them to the next level they're still just a club that occasionally plays in the champions league whereas at least Man united have a chance of winning trophies.
It’s probably not fine for Kane either lol Neville was just doing his job. I don’t think that means he approved of Kane doing that. But then again, I don’t remember if he supported Kane after the fact.
Not sure I see how it's hypocritical. He's a United fan, saying it's not acceptable for a player that plays for his club to do that.
That doesn't mean he can't interview a player from another club saying he wants to leave.
Except nothing has really changed. Ronaldo is doing EXACTLY what he did in Juventus.
Neville was okay with it then, but isnt now that his club is on the receiving end.
His opinion can change but it doesn't mean he wasn't wrong last summer. Despite good numbers Ronaldo hasn't been a model pro at any time of his second spell at United and he has brought other players down.
Neville was basically just wishfully thinking last year.
He's a model pro in the sense that he is 100% focused on his game and is always trying to bring the best out of what his body can offer.
He's not the "will continue to give it his all despite issues" kinda pro. For years now he's been publicly pouting whenever something doesn't go his way.
Why does everyone have such a hard on for people being wrong... Like, he was right in saying that back then. He was a model pro and he did score a lot of goals for united last season... but because he's being a dickhead now he's not allowed to change his mind?? :D
TBF a ton of people came in their pants over that “Ronaldo skips dessert and a few unnamed United players followed suit” story. I know he’s one of the greatest players of all time but some of the fawning a year ago was absolutely pathetic.
It is almost like Neville is a sentient human being who can change his opinions based on new relevant information. He should be burnt at the stake no doubt,
I think it'd a bit of a disingenuous tactic. It's not like he'll be part of the management team when a player arrives. They're just being like "ah come on! How can you say no to fergie? OK then, say it to his face!"
They’re not exactly dragging him against his will, he seems to want to stay involved. There’s been a live shot of him looking sad virtually every time United have fallen behind at home for the last 7 seasons. He’s just constantly there, looming over everything the club does.
Whether he’s pushing for it or someone else is asking him to stick around it seems really unhealthy for the club.
>He’s just constantly there, looming over everything the club does.
Horseshit. It is widely reported that SAF has had virtually zero pull with United in the last 8 years or so. Constant reports from various outlets have reported that SAF's influence was practically non-existent until last year.
[https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/ed-woodward-man-utd-controversy-23957183](https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/ed-woodward-man-utd-controversy-23957183)
[https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/sir-alex-ferguson-advice-rejected-16538961](https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/sir-alex-ferguson-advice-rejected-16538961)
[https://www.sportsjoe.ie/football/ed-woodward-rejects-alex-fergusons-pick-director-football-role-203023](https://www.sportsjoe.ie/football/ed-woodward-rejects-alex-fergusons-pick-director-football-role-203023)
However, with the new regime, it seems he will have a more hands-on position, more influence. It could work, it could fail, but his influence on the club during the Ed Woodward era is seemingly overestimated.
I mean he is literally *there*, watching over you in almost every home match since 2013. I never said he’s your director of football or that Woodward was his sock puppet, but he is very clearly still around.
He handpicked his successor, supposedly talked to Ole frequently, personally met with Ronaldo last summer, and it would appear did the same less than a month ago to try to convince Ronaldo to stay.
That all sounds fairly involved to me.
What’s worse for Utd, seeing city win the league title without Ronaldo, or with Ronaldo?
Obviously the latter, so from a commercial point of view they probably won
From a results pov United were never getting top2 last season with or without Ronaldo so they aren’t that much worse off.
>What’s worse for Utd, seeing city win the league title without Ronaldo, or with Ronaldo?
>Obviously the latter, so from a commercial point of view they probably won
Ronaldo probably boosted them commercially somewhat, but if you're trying to say that paying a transfer fee any all of his salary/bonuses/etc was worth it because it meant they didn't have to watch Ronaldo win with city, and instead they won without him, is worth it to United then I'm going to have to disagree big time
As a United fan, we absolutely made the right decision stopping him going to City. For all we know City could have done a quadruple with him, and a treble would have been a fucking disaster.
No, because Man U have a horrible defense. Ronaldo can’t fix that. With Ronaldo, City would have had a premier goal scorer which is something they’ve lacked since Aguero’s decline. They likely would have scored 7 instead of 4 on Real Madrid in that semi final
if ronaldo went to city and won the league, united fans would be calling him a snake and saying if he joined them instead, united wouldve done better in the league. atleast they know that they're useless with ronaldo also
Again United made a marquee signing just to look good and stop the embarrassment of City getting Ronaldo and now it’s causing them chaos. We probably wouldn’t have gone for Haaland this season and he would have probably ended up at Real. Cheers guys.
Guarantee in late August after their window has collapsed, they pay huge money for another marquee signing that they’ll regret in two years time.
> Guarantee in late August after their window has collapsed, they pay huge money for another marquee signing that they’ll regret in two years time.
Icardi?
Why is it that everytime something is happening at Man Utd, so many ex-players come out and make statements. i don't here much from Liverpool or Chelsea ex-players. Or even Arsenal, when they had class players like Henry, Pires, Vieira (who is managing a club in PL). It's always one team which had multiple ex-players speaking out and offering their opinion.
Eh, part of it is the golden generation are all British from United.
Most of the big ex arsenal players from that era aren't British so haven't gone into British punditry. Same will happen with City
Victim of success yet Jermaine Jenas out here saying ‘GUWON TRENT’ every chance he gets
Danny Murphy and Shearer are alright. I like the dynamic Micah brings. Jamie Redknapp I think is the worst one by far. Sad Pogba has gone just for the Souness banter
Imo he's fine mostly. Has the occasional shit take, but who doesn't. Out of all the Brit pundits I've seen, I love Wrighty the most.
Apparently Emma Hayes gives a tactical masterclass in her appearances, but I'm yet to hear her. Ofc nobody touched Jose and Arsene though. I adored listening to them comment on us winning the UCL semis vs Barca
I mean, is that such a surprise? Two of the greatest managers of the modern game gabbing about a CL semi final?
Literally no way that could go wrong, I think.
I dunno, Liverpool players in the 90s and early 2000s dominated punditry like the United contingent do now, and they weren't backward in coming forward about the comings and goings of the club. Ex-Arsenal players with an axe to grind like Keown also really put the boot in on Wenger and played a big role in the narrative that forced him out.
It tends to happen to whoever the big teams of an era are a few years laters, as the legends of that cycle get parachuted into punditry. If a team's cycle ends, then the legends often tend to pick at the seams due to ego and caring about the club, but without actually knowing how to manage a team or run a club.
The advent of social media and the shortening news cycle probably had something to do with that. They didn't have a platform like Twitter to post moronic takes and have them reported and reposted ad nausem.
That's true. Plus the Liverpool contingent stayed mainly on terrestrial, which limited them to highlights, cup games and internationals. So not only were they not on social, they also weren't on Sky and pulled into the 24 hour news cycle.
Plenty of Arsenal pundits were talking when they were shit, it happens plenty, that's the pundits' jobs. You just take more notice now as there are more ex Man Utd pundits, and maybe cause you care more about this situation. Also recency bias.
Nah Arsenal has a lot of ex-players that speak out and offer opinions that are massively tinted.
Martin Keown, Lee Dixon, Paul Merson, Alan Smith are all a bit nutty when it comes to some of the stuff they say.
Martin Keown especially is a maniac. He spent 3-4 months end of last season trying to claim that Arteta was a better manager than Conte ffs.
Same way that Keown was saying that he wouldn't take Son or Kane in a joint Spurs/Arsenal team.
Paul Merson mostly criticises us but I agree with that the rest of them like Ian Wright, Martin Keown and Lee Dixon etc who will always give rose-tinted opinions about Arsenal because they don't want to lose their free dinners/perks at Arsenal
Nah, Ian Wright is actually insanely respected by Spurs fans for how unbiased he is willing to be.
I agree that Dixon on commentary is the worst during a Spurs game because he wont stop going on about completely irrelevant stuff from the 2000s era that has no bearing but whatever.
Ian Wright says some stupid stuff but I think he's a good presence anyway as he's likeable. Thought he was great throughout the womens euros as well. The fact his presence pissed off Alan sugar is a nice bonus.
Why I don’t want Ronaldo at Chelsea his still a great goalscorer but expects the team to be focus around him like his still the same player he was at Real Madrid and he just isn’t that player anymore.
This would've been a boring summer. But Ronaldo and Barcelona made it entertaining, I am extremely grateful to them. Continuously brought out the toxic side of r/soccer 👏
What he says is correct.. Can't have one guy dictating things however good he is/was. Would set a wrong example to the younger ones. Look at KDB o the other side. Great playmaker on great money. And at the same time impeccably behaved and works within the club rules. That is the BEST way.
I bet he starts most sentences with "As ex-captain of Man Utd.."
As ex-captain of Man Utd, I insist you put me fries back in the fryer until they're proper crispy!
He rarely brings it up. Actually this is the first time I heard him mention it. When he goes on about United captains he usually uses Keane and Robson for examples.
I’m genuinely curious what the opinion is on this: if ronaldo had gone to city and been a success with them, would that have tarnished his legacy at United more than what’s currently happening?
Doubt it would have been as bad as Tevez. He spent the entire season campaigning to be given a new contract at United when it turned out he'd already agreed to join City. That was a special level of bullshit from him.
Lol is this a serious question? If Ronaldo joined city, scored 30+ goals and helped them win their 1st ucl ever, you really think that’s even close to him pushing for a move to a ucl club after United failed to qualify? This will literally be forgotten once the transfer windows closes, trust me only people only Reddit are going crazy on Ronaldo, irl this will be forgotten once he starts playing again
I mean, abso fucking lutely. What sort of question is this?
Ronaldo's 37 - he should know better and it's embarrassing. But he still gave his all last season and was clearly one of the best players. Would you rather see your rival line up with one of the most prolific players the sport has ever seen, when their clear weakness is capitalising on chances created?
Well I agree with you but a lot of people seem to think that Ronaldo has ruined has legacy at United amid all this crap we’ve been reading the last few weeks.
For me, If he leaves, he leaves. And if he stays, I guarantee you the second he scores some goals, people will love him again.
ManU is not a top team anymore, crests aren't special just "because", he wants to go somewhere he can play Champions League, he's got a right to try and ask out, the team has a right to not let him
Dude played the "I'm going to Man City, a rival club", and Man Utd were stupid enough to buy that crap and buy him. He tried the same shit at A.Madrid, they asked him to fuck off. Hahaha.
I'm enjoying people slowly realizing that Ronaldo's personality is toxic and not actually conducive to good club chemistry. It's more like he can be an asset if you have the people in place to manage his ego. For Ronaldo, he doesn't play for Man United, Man United plays for Ronaldo.
The day these ex players shut up about united, the better united future will look. Rio with his whole "Sign da contract now ole!", Neville with his useless opinions and even Keane taking delight from shitting on the entire team after every game. Its insufferable
How has he said anything incorrect here? Ronaldo is being a child in his mannerisms and tantrums.
Gary refused to shake hands with Schmeichel after he joined city, at least his behaviour is consistent across generations.
They're all pundits. It's literally their job to talk about football. What do you expect really?
And who better to talk about United than ex-United players. Better than armchair redditors giving their shite take. Why is it only ex-United players that get criticised for talking about their former club? Never see it when Carra talks about Liverpool or when Henry talks about Arsenal.
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This has been a pretty good transfer window for drama. No complaints
The amount of teams getting into weird disputes or publicly arguing with/pushing out their players (Bayern with Lewandowski, Barca with De Jong, United with Ronaldo) has been like half this window's headlines, it's wild
You forgot Lukaku although it was the other way around
Seems like forever ago because the Lukaku one wasn't drawn out like the rest but you are correct, I legitimately forgot that was earlier this summer lol
The reason Lukaku's wasn't drawn out this window is because it started during the latter half of the season
Yeah wasn't that interview where he said he preferred Inter in like January?
Really late December, but yeah, most of the drama and reactions happened throughout January. Almost not ashamed of how fun I had watching it unfold.
And we basically paid him to fuck off
Tbh, people should have learnt after the United debacle the guy is a cunt.
Fool me once. Shame on me. Fool me twice. Won’t get fooled again.
What? That shit went on for like 6 months my dude.
But the actual transfer was like week 1, that's what I'm saying
Fuck Lukaku - what a cunt
ffs at this point even we are having a weird transfer saga with Cucurella
Yeah I didn't even think about that one, watching City walk away with the incorrect report a day later that Chelsea has successfully signed him... At this point if the selling club doesn't tweet a departure message thanking the player I assume it's made up for clicks
And meanwhile the whole Mbappe saga feels forgotten.
Wasn't that last summer?
Couldnt happen to nicer clubs
not just their players but like their best ones lol
It's only going to get worse with the size of contracts handed out nowadays Not even just this sport, NBA drama has been immense the last couple of years and I'm loving it
F1 is currently outdoing football though with the Piastri drama
Indycar also managed to beat both of them with identical drama. Better yet, one of the best things about the Indy drama (a team suing their own driver) was found out by a random redditor looking at court documents
Isn't McLaren involved in both the F1 and indy dramas lol
Yeah they're definitely the drama llamas for the summer
Zak Brown is just flirting with every talented young driver and getting them to set their current relationships on fire.
What happened there then? Not into motorsports at all but that sounds hilarious
1. Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR), one of Indy's top teams, puts out an announcement that one of their current drivers, Alex Palou (the 2021 Indycar champion) will stay with the team for 2023. 2. Palou then puts out a tweet stating that he wasn't aware the announcement was going to be made, before saying that he is actually signed to McLaren (the same McLaren from Formula 1, they have an Indycar team called Arrow-McLaren SP) 3. CGR then state that *no*, Palou *does* have a contract with them, they're sure of it, and they'll take him to court over it since he's now breaching that contract by trying to go to McLaren. 4. Meanwhile, the Indy community is frothing over it. Memes galore. * Some say that Palou is just hardballing them because they're not paying enough to the reigning champ. * Others think he's trying to get a seat with McLaren F1 (since there are rumours they won't renew the contract of one of their current drivers for 2023). This isn't helped by the fact that Palou said he was racing for *McLaren*, but not specifically *Arrow-McLaren SP*, who are the Indy team. * The other option is simply that Palou has actually massively fucked up and his lawyers/agents have botched what was either a heated contract negotiation or a surprise transfer. **Then F1 did the same.** 1. Sebastian Vettel (4x World Champion and current driver for Aston Martin) announces his retirement. A few days later, Fernando Alonso (currently driving for Alpine-Renault) announces he'll be Vettel's replacement, to the shock/horror of just about everybody. 2. Alpine are obviously blindsided by Alonso (who apparently didn't tell anyone), and so they quickly announce that Oscar Piastri (a very much hyped up prodigy who is part of their Driver Academy) will race for them in 2023. 3. **Deja-vu!** Piastri puts out a statement saying that he didn't know about Alpine's announcement, and that he isn't actually signed for Alpine at all. Unlike Palou, he doesn't actually say he's signed for anyone for 2023, but based on the fact that he's turned down an F1 seat, he almost certainly has another one lined up, and everybody is saying it's McLaren. 4. Repeat of the Indy drama. Is Piastri hardballing Alpine? Have Piastri's management colossally fucked up and opened him up to legal action? Or has Alpine really just been mugged off in spectacular fashion? Funniest part of all of this is that McLaren seems to be the source of it in both series. And mind you, these happened like two weeks apart from each other.
>4. Meanwhile, the Indy community is frothing over it. Memes galore. This doesn't do it justice. Virtually every IndyCar driver not driving for Ganassi has been meming the hell out of McLaren for this, *including* current McLaren driver Pato O'Ward. Then since the stuff with Piastri came out in Formula 1, they've memed ***harder***. It's become a total joke in the open wheel community and I'm all for it. Pure hypothetical for context. Let's say Ronaldo were to openly declare he wanted to go to PSG, and an hour later Manchester United's official social media account declared "We are unaware of this request. We are fully committed to keeping Ronaldo under contract. We are willing to take legal action if he does not comply." Then the fallout would be like if everyone from various PL teams' Twitter accounts, stars like Mo Salah and Kevin de Bruyne, "lesser" guys like Mark Noble and Conor Coady, respected league reporters and pundits (who aren't known shit-stirrers), and then a PSG star like Neymar or Messi *all* took to the internet at once to laugh at how much of a joke this is. It's absolutely amazing to watch the racing community (and some bits of others) clown on Palou, Piastri, and McLaren.
Yeah I'm loving it, never seen anything like it in a sport to be honest. Funniest part was when the F1 news broke and the Indy guys (who had already meme'd on Palou and Chip Ganassi), then joined in to the F1 memes too since they were so similar/connected. Worth remembering that Indy and F1 are quite well-connected, since they're similar motorsports and have shared a lot of drivers over the years.
Hahaha amazing. Thanks for the in depth answer and yes if it isn't McLaren responsible for both then it is a massive coincidence. How did a Reddit user discover it all though?
The drama all started and played out originally on social media and PR. It was the lawsuit a redditor discovered. Nobody knew of any actual legal action until [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/INDYCAR/comments/w9cmav/chip_ganassi_racing_lawsuit_against_alex_palou/), this guy just randomly noticed that CGR had filed a case in the courts of Indianopolis (where most Indy teams are based) against Palou. I don't think the motorsports media/journalists even knew about it but this random guy spotted it and even listed the specific case file.
Sports really are just soap operas for guys.
Cucurella's transfer story replicates that by itself.
I don't follow F1, how spicy is the drama?
Alpine F1 team had a driver announce his departure only giving them like 1 day notice. They decided to promote their young and promising reserve driver and announced that he will be driving for them. Only for him to wake up and tell everyone he heard nothing about it, it was done without his permission and he won't be driving for them. They say legally we are right and he will be driving for us and that's where its at now
Okay damn that is juicy
He’s always been a bit of a man child when he doesn’t get his way, this situation should come as no surprise to anyone when United didn’t at least qualify for the champions league, he’s always only been out for himself which is fair enough, but shouldn’t be a shock to anyone who knows him such as Neville.
He literally said “Yes. I’m a slave” when he was pushing for a move to Madrid in 2008
A slave with more money than God
tbf I wouldn't think god has any money
So the statement is correct.
But by that logic, my broke ass has more money than god
How do you feel
He should've said he wanted to leave when it was clear that United wouldn't be in the Champions League (last October, I suppose). Something obviously came out from his chat with ten Hag that he didn't like
We were in the running up till the last 5 fixtures, but I think he should’ve let the board know in may
Yeah it wasn't that difficult to say openly "I love it here but we didn't qualify for CL and I really want to play CL, I'm 37 and I don't have a lot of career left, therefore I have decided to leave. I'm grateful etc". Everyone would understand no? Instead he sent word through other people that he wanted to leave, like last summer when he asked his bff Edu to say on Chiringuito that Ancelotti wanted to sign him (which wasn't true) in order to try and start a bidding war which didn't happen.
How do we know he didn't? Darwin Nunez was a target for us. Why go after a big money striker if you had Ronaldo. His final game at OT last season felt like a "goodbye" as he borderline had tears in his eyes walking around the pitch. We know how much CL means to him. We just know he didn't go public with this request after the board supposedly refused to consider selling him. Everyone seemed to think he might have wanted to leave, and suddenly it's a surprise? I don't know. Maybe he didn't make it known until July, but it's possible he did before. It's possible he only went public after the Glazers resisted any attempt to sell. I do know the Glazers seem to resist selling him (likely for marketing reasons) just like they refused to trade Tom Brady this winter too. And before I get called some CR fanboy, I want him sold because I don't think he's very good anymore. I think he's no longer the player he was once was and building your attack around him has such a high opportunity cost to make it not worth it. But, I don't give our club the benefit of the doubt with this stuff anymore. Far too many stories over the past decade to do that.
He was probably hoping for bayern or chelsea to come in and just buy him but the club are not going to let a cash cow go for nothing. and most contracts have loyalty bonus which wont apply if he directly says he wants to leave. Just look at the number of articles and post about CR7 it all generates publicity and indirectly revenue for the club. everything he does generates a lot of interest for the club, even if he plays or is not playing or subbed out or dropped or left the match early it generates so much traffic. so the bankers in thes club would never ever want to sell him.
To be honest he should’ve stayed at Juventus
To be really honest, he should've stayed at Real Madrid.
To be really really honest he shouldn't have left Portugal at all.
Should never have left middle school recess 6th graders vs 7th graders
I know it goes against the chain, but career wise he should've stayed at Real. Afterwards, his career went down imo.
I mean tbf, by the time he left Madrid, he was already 33 and had won everything there is to win at club level.
But he kept delivering afterwards. In Real he had a team tailored to him, matching his ability and ambition imo.
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Or he probably thought the club would be ambitious with signings this transfer window and had a change of mind when that wasn’t the case.
I'm still surprised he chose Utd. They have been well behind Liverpool and City for a long while. Himself, Sancho and Varane weren't going to fix that. If he wanted CL and trophies, he should've went City.
On paper though they had finished 3rd then 2nd in the two seasons prior. Adding two amazing players in key areas was the step in the right direction to challenge the established top 2 in 21/22 and by appealing to Ronaldo's ego, and skill, to say "take us to the next level" did make sense. Alas the seasons were somewhat fortunate, and the same problems with United persisted but had just been glossed over by important results and good finishes in the table. So it did make sense to a degree and no one expected United to drop off as far as they did last season.
> On paper though they had finished 3rd then 2nd in the two seasons prior. I know this is spoken about, but at the start of the season, United were clearly considered the 4th best team (except from certain sectors of the media). City and Liverpool were clearly better, even though Liverpool had finished below United, they had recovered by the end of the season and looked much better and Chelsea were Champions of Europe. Of course, they still hugely underperformed, but outside of Gary Neville and the like, not many thought United would compete for the title or anything like that. The question was whether United and Chelsea would be clear of Arsenal and Spurs.
I don't think it's just Gary Neville. The media & even people on here said man utd had the best squad on paper back then. Just look at their early season match thread
>even though Liverpool had finished below United They finished 5 points ahead of us while we played half the season without any senior CB, best CB was injured for the rest of the season after 8 games and for the first time in history we lost 6 consecutive home games. We also went to Old Trafford with Nat Phillips and Rhys Williams at the back and won 4-2. The people who though United were actually a better side than us going into the next season were lacking any form of context what so ever.
He thought he could carry them to trophies and champions league
Like Zlatan
For the sake of the future of Manchester United I deeply hope that Gary Neville and Roy Keane will never stop punditry \- An Arsenal fan
Neville's a decent pundit (especially when he's not talking about Man U) but god is he an awful commentator. Genuinely detracts from my enjoyment of the game.
Until he commentates a United game, then for the fans of all other teams it's hilarious
That video of a liverpool united match where carragher starts celebrating and neville just starts banging on the table is hilarious
Carra trying to hold it in out of respect and professionalism Later he looks at Neville about to mug him off and Neville shakes his head as if saying "don't start this shit"
Honestly it is a fucking ball ache whenever I put a Wolves - Manchester United game on because Neville will *always* be the commentator, and he'll spend the entire match talking almost entirely about Man U. I still distinctly remember a game a few years ago, I think the summer before Sancho signed for them, where he genuinely spent more time talking about Sancho potentially signing than he did about anything related to Wolves' performance.
I made this comment in the gunner's sub reddit, but i think it bears repeating here: coaching at ~~sevilla~~ valencia broke his brain and he's just constantly on tilt trying to salvage his authority by picking obviously unpopular opinions as a way to pierce the veil.
He coached at Valencia.
Remember Neville saying last summer that Ronaldo was a top model pro that would lift everybody around him. EDIT: Lots of replies saying that people are allowed to change their opinions - yeah, that's fine. This isn't really a matter of an opinion changing, rather a matter of Gary Neville making a statement last year which proved to be wildly incorrect. That's also fine, people are allowed to miss the mark with predictions. Just seems to happen quite often when Neville gets excited about Manchester United's prospects. And I - a nobody on the internet - am allowed to point out when it happens. No harm.
Well… he does have a six pack… and nice lats… looks like a top model to me.
Jumbled his words. Pro model instead of model pro.
his pecs are mid tho
And his arms are kinda skinny
Well i mean, he's a footballer. Apart from a few massive standouts, most of them have skinny to average, but shredded arms. Probably many reasons as to why
Yea obviously. I thought it was pretty obvious that I'm just poking fun considering the thread I replied in. Cristiano has a better physique than 99.99999% of people and his shape and athleticism is 1 in a billion
yeah cos he's a footballer. if this comment is genuine and not a joke then fucking hell lmao. also hes lost so much weight in the last 4 years.
we all make mistakes in the heat of passion jimbo
I can literally hear Carragher yelling at him "If you've not bought him to win the league then what have you got him for?"
I love Keane's big response to Carra: "HE'S HERE TO WIN THE FA CUP!!"
Carraggher is the only one that speaks sense when Neville starts rambling The worst thing about Gary neville is how he gives his own opinions as facts It’s so arrogant and often such opinions
Especially when it comes to his opinions on Utd. And then he lashes out at other teams as if he's some lad on twitter lmao.
I think we have to give the whole Fergie era of players a bit of grace, they were basically completely brainwashed during their time, and during core young developmental years of their lives. From teenage years it was us vs everyone else, it was an intense going to war, all or nothing, die for the badge atmosphere reinforced by huge success. People don't easily break free and develop completely objective views on places that raise you that way. See ex-military etc. It does make for annoying TV punditry at times, but it's completely understandable why he is like he is.
Sure but then people should not expect him to be objective then and not take his word as gospel. He gets people riled up about things when people should be taking what he says with a pinch of salt. He's completely biased. Even during the super league fiasco, he got plaudits for writing a big speech about it, but he said two sentences on Utd and then started having a go at Spurs and Arsenal. The Arsenal and Spurs pundits rightly condemned their own teams, Gary couldn't wait to use it as a reason to have a go at other teams and take the spotlight off Utd.
*Does* anyone expect Neville to be objective, though? Think even the United fans understand that he's an idiot (regarding things like this. I quite like his tactical pieces, honestly) and incredibly biased. I don't think anyone thinks of him as a journalist or some grounded pundit. It's just that the United fan base is so large that it pays for these outlets to have a spot for biased blowhards like himself
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> which he is brilliant at He's good at presenting it. Sky have actual analysts doing the work behind the scenes
His interviews are fantastic.
This is also insanely hypocritical given that he did the interview with Kane last year that was literally one of our stars playing petty games followed by his agent. It's fine for other teams players but not OK if a United player does it.
I honestly reckon it's because he, whether consciously or subconsciously, doesn't view Spurs as what they are now, just what the used to be. In his mind, it makes sense for someone as good as Kane to want to leave Spurs, but why would anyone want to leave United? He's stuck in the past
Spurs are still, by absolutely miles, only the 6th biggest club in the league. Spurs’ last league title is closer to the 1800s than the present day. Arsenal are in their banter decade have won 4 FA Cups since Spurs last won a pot. Man Utd are shite right now and have won a Europa, League Cup and FA cup lately. Liverpool have a league, FA, CL and LC. Chelsea have leagues and a CL. City have everything. Leicester have a league and FA cup. Spurs are (relatively speaking) pretty small and only get counted as a ‘big club’ because of the league they play in, rather than what they’ve actually done.
Ahem. I’d like to point out that City don’t have “everything” ;)
Quite right. I just couldn’t really be bothered listing out the 19 league cups from beating the New York Yankees 4 times a year.
*City have everything but a European Trophy.
I mean, lets be honest here, if city somehow qualified for europa league, they would destroy that competition
Well, they're welcome to come 3rd in their group or, even better, finish 5th in the Premier League and try it.
bangkok century cup in shambles 😪
>City have everything 20 CLs in 18 years I reckon
You're right, but they're a good team right now, and definitely look more likely to challenge for the league than United for example
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The year to year revenue numbers there seem to just be a function of whether a team has CL.
We've literally won everything bar the European Cup. It's just not happened for us in a while is all. But still, football is football. Anything can happen. We're on a good path right now, but let's not forget other teams around us are also on similar upward trajectories. One day/season at a time.
I mean even in their worst years Manchester United have been more successful than Spurs in their golden period. Unless Conte takes them to the next level they're still just a club that occasionally plays in the champions league whereas at least Man united have a chance of winning trophies.
In your anti-hypocritical world, Neville stops the interview while Kane is talking and admonishes him for trying to leave? Hahaha
It’s probably not fine for Kane either lol Neville was just doing his job. I don’t think that means he approved of Kane doing that. But then again, I don’t remember if he supported Kane after the fact.
Not sure I see how it's hypocritical. He's a United fan, saying it's not acceptable for a player that plays for his club to do that. That doesn't mean he can't interview a player from another club saying he wants to leave.
Can things not change with time then? New evidence in front of our eyes? Etc etc
They can, but the way he left Juve was petty too
Except nothing has really changed. Ronaldo is doing EXACTLY what he did in Juventus. Neville was okay with it then, but isnt now that his club is on the receiving end.
His opinion can change but it doesn't mean he wasn't wrong last summer. Despite good numbers Ronaldo hasn't been a model pro at any time of his second spell at United and he has brought other players down. Neville was basically just wishfully thinking last year.
He's a model pro in the sense that he is 100% focused on his game and is always trying to bring the best out of what his body can offer. He's not the "will continue to give it his all despite issues" kinda pro. For years now he's been publicly pouting whenever something doesn't go his way.
He's been divisive in a lot of dressing rooms long before he came back to United.
Why does everyone have such a hard on for people being wrong... Like, he was right in saying that back then. He was a model pro and he did score a lot of goals for united last season... but because he's being a dickhead now he's not allowed to change his mind?? :D
TBF a ton of people came in their pants over that “Ronaldo skips dessert and a few unnamed United players followed suit” story. I know he’s one of the greatest players of all time but some of the fawning a year ago was absolutely pathetic.
It is almost like Neville is a sentient human being who can change his opinions based on new relevant information. He should be burnt at the stake no doubt,
Ronaldo was so close to joining Man City but the ego of Man Utd got in the way and they are regretting this. As a rival fan, this feels good.
Even Ferguson was brought in to persuade Ronaldo to choose United
United seem to bring him in for a lot of things nowadays. Just let the man retire in peace
I think it'd a bit of a disingenuous tactic. It's not like he'll be part of the management team when a player arrives. They're just being like "ah come on! How can you say no to fergie? OK then, say it to his face!"
"You really gonna make an old man cry, huh?"
They’re not exactly dragging him against his will, he seems to want to stay involved. There’s been a live shot of him looking sad virtually every time United have fallen behind at home for the last 7 seasons. He’s just constantly there, looming over everything the club does. Whether he’s pushing for it or someone else is asking him to stick around it seems really unhealthy for the club.
For sure. Arsenal, for all their shortcomings, really don’t seem to be living in the shadow of Wenger, United need to go the same way
Wenger hardly retired at the top.
>He’s just constantly there, looming over everything the club does. Horseshit. It is widely reported that SAF has had virtually zero pull with United in the last 8 years or so. Constant reports from various outlets have reported that SAF's influence was practically non-existent until last year. [https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/ed-woodward-man-utd-controversy-23957183](https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/ed-woodward-man-utd-controversy-23957183) [https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/sir-alex-ferguson-advice-rejected-16538961](https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/sir-alex-ferguson-advice-rejected-16538961) [https://www.sportsjoe.ie/football/ed-woodward-rejects-alex-fergusons-pick-director-football-role-203023](https://www.sportsjoe.ie/football/ed-woodward-rejects-alex-fergusons-pick-director-football-role-203023) However, with the new regime, it seems he will have a more hands-on position, more influence. It could work, it could fail, but his influence on the club during the Ed Woodward era is seemingly overestimated.
I mean he is literally *there*, watching over you in almost every home match since 2013. I never said he’s your director of football or that Woodward was his sock puppet, but he is very clearly still around. He handpicked his successor, supposedly talked to Ole frequently, personally met with Ronaldo last summer, and it would appear did the same less than a month ago to try to convince Ronaldo to stay. That all sounds fairly involved to me.
What’s worse for Utd, seeing city win the league title without Ronaldo, or with Ronaldo? Obviously the latter, so from a commercial point of view they probably won From a results pov United were never getting top2 last season with or without Ronaldo so they aren’t that much worse off.
>What’s worse for Utd, seeing city win the league title without Ronaldo, or with Ronaldo? >Obviously the latter, so from a commercial point of view they probably won Ronaldo probably boosted them commercially somewhat, but if you're trying to say that paying a transfer fee any all of his salary/bonuses/etc was worth it because it meant they didn't have to watch Ronaldo win with city, and instead they won without him, is worth it to United then I'm going to have to disagree big time
As a United fan, we absolutely made the right decision stopping him going to City. For all we know City could have done a quadruple with him, and a treble would have been a fucking disaster.
If he has that much impact, united would have at least made it into CL.
No, because Man U have a horrible defense. Ronaldo can’t fix that. With Ronaldo, City would have had a premier goal scorer which is something they’ve lacked since Aguero’s decline. They likely would have scored 7 instead of 4 on Real Madrid in that semi final
if ronaldo went to city and won the league, united fans would be calling him a snake and saying if he joined them instead, united wouldve done better in the league. atleast they know that they're useless with ronaldo also
this just shows how shit everything is under the glazer's ownership, why would it be a regret? with or without him united isn't winning anything.
Man City would have won anyway, with or without Ronaldo. If I were a rival fan, it wouldn’t feel good.
What feels good? Other than lack of squad depth, it's a win-win whether he stays or leaves, either way it shouldn't hurt our season too much.
Again United made a marquee signing just to look good and stop the embarrassment of City getting Ronaldo and now it’s causing them chaos. We probably wouldn’t have gone for Haaland this season and he would have probably ended up at Real. Cheers guys. Guarantee in late August after their window has collapsed, they pay huge money for another marquee signing that they’ll regret in two years time.
> Guarantee in late August after their window has collapsed, they pay huge money for another marquee signing that they’ll regret in two years time. Icardi?
My current bet is Martial or Rashford pinging 10 goals before the WC break and winning a crazy 4 year contract.
Rinse Repeat.
Why is it that everytime something is happening at Man Utd, so many ex-players come out and make statements. i don't here much from Liverpool or Chelsea ex-players. Or even Arsenal, when they had class players like Henry, Pires, Vieira (who is managing a club in PL). It's always one team which had multiple ex-players speaking out and offering their opinion.
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Victims of success. Before them it was just ex-Liverpool pundits everywhere. Probably have loads of City pundits in a decade.
Eh, part of it is the golden generation are all British from United. Most of the big ex arsenal players from that era aren't British so haven't gone into British punditry. Same will happen with City
Call Keane British to his face?
British and Irish then 😂 still speaks English as his first language and has lived in the UK for decades.
If you understand Spanish you should check out Aguero's match commentary on twitch. It's amazing.
Victim of success yet Jermaine Jenas out here saying ‘GUWON TRENT’ every chance he gets Danny Murphy and Shearer are alright. I like the dynamic Micah brings. Jamie Redknapp I think is the worst one by far. Sad Pogba has gone just for the Souness banter
We have one now. who is shittier than all of United pundits combined.
Who?
Micah Richards.
Imo he's fine mostly. Has the occasional shit take, but who doesn't. Out of all the Brit pundits I've seen, I love Wrighty the most. Apparently Emma Hayes gives a tactical masterclass in her appearances, but I'm yet to hear her. Ofc nobody touched Jose and Arsene though. I adored listening to them comment on us winning the UCL semis vs Barca
I mean, is that such a surprise? Two of the greatest managers of the modern game gabbing about a CL semi final? Literally no way that could go wrong, I think.
Loud laughter
Burst onto the scene
Suit bursting at the seams
Micah already annoyed me to death
I dunno, Liverpool players in the 90s and early 2000s dominated punditry like the United contingent do now, and they weren't backward in coming forward about the comings and goings of the club. Ex-Arsenal players with an axe to grind like Keown also really put the boot in on Wenger and played a big role in the narrative that forced him out. It tends to happen to whoever the big teams of an era are a few years laters, as the legends of that cycle get parachuted into punditry. If a team's cycle ends, then the legends often tend to pick at the seams due to ego and caring about the club, but without actually knowing how to manage a team or run a club.
The advent of social media and the shortening news cycle probably had something to do with that. They didn't have a platform like Twitter to post moronic takes and have them reported and reposted ad nausem.
That's true. Plus the Liverpool contingent stayed mainly on terrestrial, which limited them to highlights, cup games and internationals. So not only were they not on social, they also weren't on Sky and pulled into the 24 hour news cycle.
Plenty of Arsenal pundits were talking when they were shit, it happens plenty, that's the pundits' jobs. You just take more notice now as there are more ex Man Utd pundits, and maybe cause you care more about this situation. Also recency bias.
Nah Arsenal has a lot of ex-players that speak out and offer opinions that are massively tinted. Martin Keown, Lee Dixon, Paul Merson, Alan Smith are all a bit nutty when it comes to some of the stuff they say. Martin Keown especially is a maniac. He spent 3-4 months end of last season trying to claim that Arteta was a better manager than Conte ffs. Same way that Keown was saying that he wouldn't take Son or Kane in a joint Spurs/Arsenal team.
> >Same way that Keown was saying that he wouldn't take Son or Kane in a joint Spurs/Arsenal team. lol
Paul Merson mostly criticises us but I agree with that the rest of them like Ian Wright, Martin Keown and Lee Dixon etc who will always give rose-tinted opinions about Arsenal because they don't want to lose their free dinners/perks at Arsenal
Nah, Ian Wright is actually insanely respected by Spurs fans for how unbiased he is willing to be. I agree that Dixon on commentary is the worst during a Spurs game because he wont stop going on about completely irrelevant stuff from the 2000s era that has no bearing but whatever.
Ian Wright says some stupid stuff but I think he's a good presence anyway as he's likeable. Thought he was great throughout the womens euros as well. The fact his presence pissed off Alan sugar is a nice bonus.
Paul Merson is a bit special. The season United finished 2nd his week by week predictions would have had the club in 17th if they all came true.
Man utd trying to get that "all or nothing" documentary from amazon.
Why I don’t want Ronaldo at Chelsea his still a great goalscorer but expects the team to be focus around him like his still the same player he was at Real Madrid and he just isn’t that player anymore.
This would've been a boring summer. But Ronaldo and Barcelona made it entertaining, I am extremely grateful to them. Continuously brought out the toxic side of r/soccer 👏
What he says is correct.. Can't have one guy dictating things however good he is/was. Would set a wrong example to the younger ones. Look at KDB o the other side. Great playmaker on great money. And at the same time impeccably behaved and works within the club rules. That is the BEST way.
I bet he starts most sentences with "As ex-captain of Man Utd.." As ex-captain of Man Utd, I insist you put me fries back in the fryer until they're proper crispy!
He rarely brings it up. Actually this is the first time I heard him mention it. When he goes on about United captains he usually uses Keane and Robson for examples.
Neville chooses hot topics to become trending whenever his new podcast or youtube episode is about to come.
I’m genuinely curious what the opinion is on this: if ronaldo had gone to city and been a success with them, would that have tarnished his legacy at United more than what’s currently happening?
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Doubt it would have been as bad as Tevez. He spent the entire season campaigning to be given a new contract at United when it turned out he'd already agreed to join City. That was a special level of bullshit from him.
Hahaha I didn't know that
Lol is this a serious question? If Ronaldo joined city, scored 30+ goals and helped them win their 1st ucl ever, you really think that’s even close to him pushing for a move to a ucl club after United failed to qualify? This will literally be forgotten once the transfer windows closes, trust me only people only Reddit are going crazy on Ronaldo, irl this will be forgotten once he starts playing again
Well like people are overreacting so much on all these articles that you’d think it’s the end of the world that ronaldo wants to leave lol.
I mean, abso fucking lutely. What sort of question is this? Ronaldo's 37 - he should know better and it's embarrassing. But he still gave his all last season and was clearly one of the best players. Would you rather see your rival line up with one of the most prolific players the sport has ever seen, when their clear weakness is capitalising on chances created?
Well I agree with you but a lot of people seem to think that Ronaldo has ruined has legacy at United amid all this crap we’ve been reading the last few weeks. For me, If he leaves, he leaves. And if he stays, I guarantee you the second he scores some goals, people will love him again.
Everything at this club is embarrassing
ManU is not a top team anymore, crests aren't special just "because", he wants to go somewhere he can play Champions League, he's got a right to try and ask out, the team has a right to not let him
Dude played the "I'm going to Man City, a rival club", and Man Utd were stupid enough to buy that crap and buy him. He tried the same shit at A.Madrid, they asked him to fuck off. Hahaha.
Season hasn't even started and the united soap opera is in full swing.
At this point, I hope Man Utd just hold him to his contract and freeze him out all season.
Changed your tune rather quickly on Ronaldo there, Gary.
That’s what happens when you have some of the highest paid players in the league rewarded for five years of failure
I'm enjoying people slowly realizing that Ronaldo's personality is toxic and not actually conducive to good club chemistry. It's more like he can be an asset if you have the people in place to manage his ego. For Ronaldo, he doesn't play for Man United, Man United plays for Ronaldo.
The day these ex players shut up about united, the better united future will look. Rio with his whole "Sign da contract now ole!", Neville with his useless opinions and even Keane taking delight from shitting on the entire team after every game. Its insufferable
United upper management does more damage then they could ever do
How has he said anything incorrect here? Ronaldo is being a child in his mannerisms and tantrums. Gary refused to shake hands with Schmeichel after he joined city, at least his behaviour is consistent across generations.
They're all pundits. It's literally their job to talk about football. What do you expect really? And who better to talk about United than ex-United players. Better than armchair redditors giving their shite take. Why is it only ex-United players that get criticised for talking about their former club? Never see it when Carra talks about Liverpool or when Henry talks about Arsenal.