Champagneblade
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There are a couple of things bubbling at the moment and I don't mean Fallowfield when Billy's new contract gets announced!
I just wonder if we couldn't be a little bit more proactive and take the bull by the horns more.
1. The training ground. I get that long term we want a new site and there will be a reluctance to spend too much on the current one when your designs are elsewhere, so park that aspect. It seems the pitches are boggy at the moment. So, as others have also commented, why not just find something elsewhere that isn't suffering as badly from this weather and rent that? If you had a water leak in your bedroom, you'd move to another room until it was fixed or even move to alternative temporary accommodation. You wouldn't just wake up soaked every day and then do the same the following day without doing something to improve or negate the situation. They must be able to arrange with some school, one of the Universities, some private facilities, even if slightly outside Sheffield. How hard is it to find one pitch that is better then the current one if it is so bad? Are we too snobbish for common sense? I don't live in Sheffield but I bet a few on here with local knowledge could come up with alternative pitches that have a decent playing surface to practice on.
2. Injuries. The squad is depleted. What are we doing about it? If you had people on long term sick in your company you'd make do for a while but if this trend continued would you just let your ever decreasing workforce try to absorb more and more until breaking point or would you eventually reach out to that temp agency to get some short term help? What are the recruitment team doing now? Are they just putting together two lists for if we go up or stay down, focusing on the summer? It borders on negligence to just do nothing.
They should be proactive and looking to help. Firstly there are still free agents. Some became free agents not so long back and some are still playing so dismissing them all as needing too long to get up to speed is just lazy when your bench is untried kids.
On one hand you have Kiwi former West Ham player Winston Reid. Played in last year's play off final for Brentford. He's unattached, but still representing New Zealand in training camps and qualifiers so it's not as if he's at home just getting fat or not doing football training or playing games.
Isaac Mbenza, 26, played a couple of seasons at Huddersfield after arriving for 10m from Montpellier, can play across the forwards and was last in Qatar.
There are other 'regular' free agents of course. But then there is the emerging situations.
I posted a thread in the rumours; FIFA has confirmed that they have temporarily changed the transfer rules for foreign players under contract in Russia and Ukraine. Those players are now available on the transfer market. Clubs are only allowed to sign players until Apr. 7 and every club abroad is only allowed to sign two affected players. Why not look into it?
www.fifa.com
Contact Shakhtar Donetsk. Get in touch with Dynamo Kyiv. Offer a couple of their foreign players (a quite literal) lifeline. The former has a number of high profile Brazilian players for instance.
In addition, a number of Russian clubs have released foreign players. Why would we not investigate this? We are just out of the PL one season. We will have had global coverage the past 2 years and we are challenging to go back up and may potentially offer a PL lifeline to a player.
Take Yaroslav Rakitskiy. Ukranian, 32, left footed centre back, a regular in the Champions League for Shakhtar Donetsk. Spoke out about the war and was released. Move Egan to RCB and we aren't relying on kids anymore.
Another one of the players released by Krasnodar, Remy Cabella, formerly of Newcastle, goalscoring midfielder, 32.
Viktor Claesson, left midfielder, could play in the forward line, 30, another Krasnodar releasee.
I'm not suggesting that any are absolutely perfect. But isn't this where the recruitment team show their worth? Explore. Make a few phone calls. Be bold. Be audacious. It would be for a couple of months, max 2 players if loans. It is a unique situation. You could get a player ordinarily out of your reach for a crucial period; a ringer. Work with it. Not all teams have a need for players. We do. Not all players are looking for clubs and happy to move abroad. They are. How dynamic would we be if we pounced and it gave us an advantage?
Come on United. Shake yourselves. We have a great chance but the manager needs some help. Don't sit idly by. Try to be the difference.
I just wonder if we couldn't be a little bit more proactive and take the bull by the horns more.
1. The training ground. I get that long term we want a new site and there will be a reluctance to spend too much on the current one when your designs are elsewhere, so park that aspect. It seems the pitches are boggy at the moment. So, as others have also commented, why not just find something elsewhere that isn't suffering as badly from this weather and rent that? If you had a water leak in your bedroom, you'd move to another room until it was fixed or even move to alternative temporary accommodation. You wouldn't just wake up soaked every day and then do the same the following day without doing something to improve or negate the situation. They must be able to arrange with some school, one of the Universities, some private facilities, even if slightly outside Sheffield. How hard is it to find one pitch that is better then the current one if it is so bad? Are we too snobbish for common sense? I don't live in Sheffield but I bet a few on here with local knowledge could come up with alternative pitches that have a decent playing surface to practice on.
2. Injuries. The squad is depleted. What are we doing about it? If you had people on long term sick in your company you'd make do for a while but if this trend continued would you just let your ever decreasing workforce try to absorb more and more until breaking point or would you eventually reach out to that temp agency to get some short term help? What are the recruitment team doing now? Are they just putting together two lists for if we go up or stay down, focusing on the summer? It borders on negligence to just do nothing.
They should be proactive and looking to help. Firstly there are still free agents. Some became free agents not so long back and some are still playing so dismissing them all as needing too long to get up to speed is just lazy when your bench is untried kids.
On one hand you have Kiwi former West Ham player Winston Reid. Played in last year's play off final for Brentford. He's unattached, but still representing New Zealand in training camps and qualifiers so it's not as if he's at home just getting fat or not doing football training or playing games.
Isaac Mbenza, 26, played a couple of seasons at Huddersfield after arriving for 10m from Montpellier, can play across the forwards and was last in Qatar.
There are other 'regular' free agents of course. But then there is the emerging situations.
I posted a thread in the rumours; FIFA has confirmed that they have temporarily changed the transfer rules for foreign players under contract in Russia and Ukraine. Those players are now available on the transfer market. Clubs are only allowed to sign players until Apr. 7 and every club abroad is only allowed to sign two affected players. Why not look into it?
FIFA adopts temporary employment and registration rules to address several issues in relation to war in Ukraine
The Bureau of the FIFA Council has decided – in coordination with UEFA and after consultation with various stakeholders – to temporarily amend the Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (RSTP).
www.fifa.com
Contact Shakhtar Donetsk. Get in touch with Dynamo Kyiv. Offer a couple of their foreign players (a quite literal) lifeline. The former has a number of high profile Brazilian players for instance.
In addition, a number of Russian clubs have released foreign players. Why would we not investigate this? We are just out of the PL one season. We will have had global coverage the past 2 years and we are challenging to go back up and may potentially offer a PL lifeline to a player.
Take Yaroslav Rakitskiy. Ukranian, 32, left footed centre back, a regular in the Champions League for Shakhtar Donetsk. Spoke out about the war and was released. Move Egan to RCB and we aren't relying on kids anymore.
Another one of the players released by Krasnodar, Remy Cabella, formerly of Newcastle, goalscoring midfielder, 32.
Viktor Claesson, left midfielder, could play in the forward line, 30, another Krasnodar releasee.
I'm not suggesting that any are absolutely perfect. But isn't this where the recruitment team show their worth? Explore. Make a few phone calls. Be bold. Be audacious. It would be for a couple of months, max 2 players if loans. It is a unique situation. You could get a player ordinarily out of your reach for a crucial period; a ringer. Work with it. Not all teams have a need for players. We do. Not all players are looking for clubs and happy to move abroad. They are. How dynamic would we be if we pounced and it gave us an advantage?
Come on United. Shake yourselves. We have a great chance but the manager needs some help. Don't sit idly by. Try to be the difference.
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