The real reason United said No to Maradona

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Is this bit a joke?

“ Historically over the years the managers have, generally speaking, been given the money to buy the players they wanted. United have always been famed for paying the right money and Ian Porterfield was one of the highest paid managers in the country at the time he was boss, so United have never really been afraid to spend money.”

Tell that to Dave Bassett!
 
Sothall_Blade said:
Is this bit a joke?

“ Historically over the years the managers have, generally speaking, been given the money to buy the players they wanted. United have always been famed for paying the right money and Ian Porterfield was one of the highest paid managers in the country at the time he was boss, so United have never really been afraid to spend money.”

Tell that to Dave Bassett!
Click to expand...
He's refering to those times and the recent past, not what came after. He's also referring to buying, not selling. I've no idea how accurate it is, but it could be when viewed in context.
 
Sothall_Blade said:
Is this bit a joke?

“ Historically over the years the managers have, generally speaking, been given the money to buy the players they wanted. United have always been famed for paying the right money and Ian Porterfield was one of the highest paid managers in the country at the time he was boss, so United have never really been afraid to spend money.”

Tell that to Dave Bassett!
Click to expand...

Bit early for April 1st

Not sure why Porterfield gets a mention. He wasn't appointed until 3 years after this all happened
 
Sothall_Blade said:
Is this bit a joke?

“ Historically over the years the managers have, generally speaking, been given the money to buy the players they wanted. United have always been famed for paying the right money and Ian Porterfield was one of the highest paid managers in the country at the time he was boss, so United have never really been afraid to spend money.”

Tell that to Dave Bassett!
Click to expand...

Porterfield was given a 10 year contract as I recall. So collectively, his contract was possibly one of the highest if you total up all 10 years of it. But that was an exception.

I must have missed something, because I've been watching since the early 1970's and United have always been a tight-arsed club that would sell their best players at the drop of a hat. Even in recent years, during the McCabe era let's call it, there was only one season where we spent more on players than what we made on selling them, and that was 2005/6 when we got promoted to the Prem. Since the relegation in 2007 the business model has been to make more on player sales than what we spend on them. That's how we've survived/declined.

For the first time, in all the time I've been watching, we've seen United looking to invest properly in the squad this season. It's just brilliant.

Mr Garrett seems to have a very different slant on this to what most of us fans have observed - it would be fascinating if he could qualify that further for us?
 
Cerberus Blade said:
Porterfield was given a 10 year contract as I recall. So collectively, his contract was possibly one of the highest if you total up all 10 years of it. But that was an exception.

I must have missed something, because I've been watching since the early 1970's and United have always been a tight-arsed club that would sell their best players at the drop of a hat. Even in recent years, during the McCabe era let's call it, there was only one season where we spent more on players than what we made on selling them, and that was 2005/6 when we got promoted to the Prem. Since the relegation in 2007 the business model has been to make more on player sales than what we spend on them. That's how we've survived/declined.

For the first time, in all the time I've been watching, we've seen United looking to invest properly in the squad this season. It's just brilliant.

Mr Garrett seems to have a very different slant on this to what most of us fans have observed - it would be fascinating if he could qualify that further for us?
Click to expand...
I'm not saying he's right, because I don't know, but your post is all about selling and he's talking about buying. He'll only be talking about his own time with United, I don't know when that extended to.
 
None of this stands up to scrutiny but is supposedly told by John Garrett who I believe is competent to get the facts right, this whole story is a mess:
"Deals for Alex Sabella, a squad player in the Argentina squad for that year’s World Cup, and Pedro Verde were already cut and dried before they went out but the Blades still wanted to see who else could catch their eye.

It is believed United already had deals in place for Ardiles and Villa, but during conversations on the plane between United and Tottenham’s representatives, United decided against going through with the deals and handed the initiative to Burkinshaw and co, who signed them and brought them back to White Hart Lane."

So we were going to buy Sabella, Verde, Ardiles and Villa in one swoop?
Does 'fuuuuuck off' sound like a reasonable response?
 
bornablade said:
Bit early for April 1st

Not sure why Porterfield gets a mention. He wasn't appointed until 3 years after this all happened
Click to expand...
By a new chairman, Reg Brearly, who took over when the club was close to collapse. He did spend good money for Div 4 but that’s like saying Man City were billionaires when they were in the third division.
 
Silent Blade said:
We tried to sign Maradona from Argentinos Juniors, not Boca Juniors. Sabella wasnt in the Argentina squad for the 1978 World Cup.
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Was he not in the initial provisional squad of about 40, but did not make it to the final squad?
 



The item is shoddy as presented. If it was the case that the military wanted a bribe to allow Maradona to leave, why did they not demand money for Sabella? Or did we and Spurs pay bribes? Where has the evidence for this version come from? This version is quite different from Matthew Bell's, which is based on Tony Pritchett's account, the journalist who went to Buenos Aires with Harry Haslam. Did Haslam leave a different account elsewhere?
 
HodgysBrokenThumb said:
The item is shoddy as presented. If it was the case that the military wanted a bribe to allow Maradona to leave, why did they not demand money for Sabella? Or did we and Spurs pay bribes? Where has the evidence for this version come from? This version is quite different from Matthew Bell's, which is based on Tony Pritchett's account, the journalist who went to Buenos Aires with Harry Haslam. Did Haslam leave a different account elsewhere?
Click to expand...
I remember reading at the time that everything was agreed and Maradona was going to join us, Albert Bramall (our director at the time ) was going to guarantee the transfer fee, but the Argentinos Juniors president asked for a further payment and then it was all off.
 
Silent Blade said:
I remember reading at the time that everything was agreed and Maradona was going to join us, Albert Bramall (our director at the time ) was going to guarantee the transfer fee, but the Argentinos Juniors president asked for a further payment and then it was all off.
Click to expand...
Don't suppose you remember where you read this? (I don't remember where I read the bit about the squad, either, but I did read it!) Does anyone know John Garrett well enough to ask about this? Much of the item seems plain wrong.
 
My contribution from an old thread.
This is from a question and answer session Maradona gave in FourFourTwo magazine in the January 2011 edition, pages 58-9. (issue number 198). As far as I know this is the only time Maradona commented on the long held rumour, myth or old wives' tale.

Question: I couldn't believe it when I heard my team Sheffield United put in a bid for you while you were young, only for your club Argentinos Juniors to reject it. Did you know anything about this bid at the time? Jamie Hamilton (Blades fan)

Maradona's answer: Yes! Not only was it a real offer, it seemed that the transfer was about to happen - Carlos Fren and me. We were both going to travel: I think we even had our flights bought. I think you're not going to sleep well today, but I swear, we were really looking forward to it .But then, the transfer collapsed and we couldn't go.Sheffield and Arsenal, they both tried to sign me. It would have been a pleasure to play in England.
 
HodgysBrokenThumb said:
Don't suppose you remember where you read this? (I don't remember where I read the bit about the squad, either, but I did read it!) Does anyone know John Garrett well enough to ask about this? Much of the item seems plain wrong.
Click to expand...
Tony Pritchett in the Star. He travelled by plane with Harry Haslam and Keith Burkinshaw (Spurs) and he was using Terry Neill's plane ticket. Neill changed his mind about going to Argentina so Haslam rang the Star asking if Pritchett would be interested to use the Arsenal manager's plane ticket. Antonio Rattin (agent) took Haslam and Pritchett to watch Maradona play for Argentinos Juniors and after seeing Maradona, he was very interested in signing him and contacted chairman John Hassall about the agreed fee to sign him. Hassall then spoke to Albert Bramall who agreed to guarantee the transfer fee. Pritchett, annd Haslam also went to watch the River v Boca match that Sabella was playing in, Passarella got sent off after a brawl.

1583527505708.png
 
Last edited:
nopigfansintown said:
My contribution from an old thread.
This is from a question and answer session Maradona gave in FourFourTwo magazine in the January 2011 edition, pages 58-9. (issue number 198). As far as I know this is the only time Maradona commented on the long held rumour, myth or old wives' tale.

Question: I couldn't believe it when I heard my team Sheffield United put in a bid for you while you were young, only for your club Argentinos Juniors to reject it. Did you know anything about this bid at the time? Jamie Hamilton (Blades fan)

Maradona's answer: Yes! Not only was it a real offer, it seemed that the transfer was about to happen - Carlos Fren and me. We were both going to travel: I think we even had our flights bought. I think you're not going to sleep well today, but I swear, we were really looking forward to it .But then, the transfer collapsed and we couldn't go.Sheffield and Arsenal, they both tried to sign me. It would have been a pleasure to play in England.
Click to expand...
It certainly rings true that he calls us 'Sheffield'. Not sure we would have outbid Arsenal.
 
Silent Blade said:
Tony Pritchett in the Star. He travelled by plane with Harry Haslam and Keith Burkinshaw (Spurs) and he was using Terry Neill's plane ticket. Neill changed his mind about going to Argentina so Haslam rang the Star asking if Pritchett would be interested to use the Arsenal manager's plane ticket. Antonio Rattin (agent) took Haslam and Pritchett to watch Maradona play for Argentinos Juniors and after seeing Maradona, he was very interested in signing him and contacted chairman John Hassall about the agreed fee to sign him. Hassall then spoke to Albert Bramall who agreed to guarantee the transfer fee. Pritchett, annd Haslam also went to watch the River v Boca match that Sabella was playing in, Passarella got sent off after a brawl.

View attachment 73169
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www.bbc.co.uk

Antonio Rattin: Argentina great remembered for 1966 sending-off dies aged 89

Argentina great Antonio Rattin, whose sending-off at the 1966 World Cup led to the introduction of red and yellow cards, dies aged 89.
www.bbc.co.uk www.bbc.co.uk
 
Silent Blade said:
www.bbc.co.uk

Antonio Rattin: Argentina great remembered for 1966 sending-off dies aged 89

Argentina great Antonio Rattin, whose sending-off at the 1966 World Cup led to the introduction of red and yellow cards, dies aged 89.
www.bbc.co.uk www.bbc.co.uk
Click to expand...
Sad news. I spent quite a bit of time with the River Plate team and entourage when they came to Sheffield, and one of surprises was finding that Rattin, contrary to the image of him from the 1966 World Cup, came across as an entertaining and thoughtful human-being. RIP
 
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