Title: Ferguson: Hey Big Spender!
Man Utd boss Sir Alex Ferguson has reignited the flames in his feud with Rafa Benitez of Liverpool. Ferguson hinted at his expectation for Benitez to embark on a spending spree in the summer, after the conclusion of a series of protracted contract negotiations led to Benitez signing on the dotted line, committing himself to the Reds until 2014. The Man Utd boss continued by disputing Benitez's earlier claims that the Red Devils have outspent Liverpool by £100m. He clearly took an exception to Benitez's claims as he immediately ordered Man Utd staff to check up on the figures. Ferguson then revealed that it was in fact his Liverpool counterpart who has been spending more, and by United's calculations Benitez has spent £24m more.
He said United's own figures showed Liverpool had spent £24m more in overall terms.
"He's well ahead of us in spending in the last five years," Ferguson claimed.
-BBC Sport
The PLC's hatchet man turan provides a damning indictment on why Man Utd manager Sir Alex Ferguson may well be suffering from a severe case of delusion. When I first came across Ferguson's remarks, my immediate reaction was something along the lines of "Jeez! Is this guy for real?" I could not believe that Ferguson can even have the cheek let alone the nerve to suggest that Liverpool and indeed Benitez have outspent him. I refer to my case as follows. The signing of Fernando Torres has been Liverpool's one and only £20m+ purchase. It is also quite telling that Liverpool have not managed to break the British record transfer fee in recent years. On the other hand, as for Man Utd, I can name a whole host of players bought for £20m+ - Berbatov £30.75m, Rooney £27m, Ferdinand £30m [British record transfer fee at the time], Veron £28.1m [British record transfer fee at the time]... and even then a host of others have come pretty close to the £20m mark - Van Nistelrooy £19m [British record transfer fee at the time], Carrick £18.6m, Hargreaves £17m, Anderson + Nani £30m, Tosic + Ljajic £16.3m [This transfer came just days after Mr "I do not think there will be any January transfers, I am happy with what I have got" made his remarks...] This is not to mention a host of other [albeit less expens
ive] flops - Saha £12.8m, Kleberson £6m, Djemba-Djemba £3.5m, David Bellion £3m, Quinton Fortune £1.5m... The only signing that represents even a hint of Ferguson's financial prudence was that of Cristiano Ronaldo £12.25m, whose value has since rocketed. The apparent lack of financial constraints is also evident during Ferguson's reign at Man Utd, something which is not mirrored by his Liverpool counterpart. Benitez enjoyed a brief spell of increased transfer spending shortly after the arrival of American duo Tom Hicks and George Gillett as new owners of the club, and it was during this honeymoon period that £20m+ Torres was purchased by Benitez. Since then, the new owners have tightened the purse strings and as a consequence Benitez has consistently had to generate transfer funds from player sales, something that is apparently unfamiliar to Ferguson. Some Man Utd fans have slagged off Benitez for buying into quantity rather than quality. This is a flawed criticism. If Benitez had the financial resources to blow £30m on a single player, I am sure he would have done so by now. The "quantity over quality" argument put forward by United fans can be observed by a more refreshing approach. Imagine that both managers have been given £100,000 each to spend on a brand new car of their
choice, using the United fans' argument Ferguson would use the money to buy a top of the range Porsche whilst Benitez would use it to buy twenty Nissan Micras. From this metaphorical representation, you can immediately see how absurd the "quantity over quality" argument sounds. In reality, however, Ferdinand's transfer fee alone would dwarf the cost of the entire Liverpool's defence, and the contrast is even more stark between Liverpool and Man Utd's attack. As for Ferguson's expectation for Rafa to spend big this summer, I say don't kid yourself Fergie, I would hardly call Benitez's reported £30m summer transfer kitty big judging by your standards.
What Ferguson has said is nothing short of ridiculous, it's almost as similar as Spurs saying to Arsenal,"You've spent more than us and that's why you have won all the cups." Some Man Utd fans honestly believe that Benitez cannot recognise the difference between a £20m Keane and a £30m Berbatov, nor can he distinguish the gulf between a Lennon and a Messi/Ronaldo.... Do you seriously believe Benitez can be so inept that he would intentionally go for a mediocre player if he had the funds for a world class player? If you do, then more fool you.
NB - January transfer
Liverpool
Amount spent: £0
Estimated amount received: Keane £12m (rising with add-ons)
Manchester United
Estimated amount spent: Zoran Tosic and Adem Ljajic £17.3m
Amount received: £0
When Benitez hinted he was unlikely to do any major transfer deals in January, he was being truly sincere and actually meant what he said. Ferguson should take note... I personally wouldn't be surprised if Sir Alex does manage to find the £32m from somewhere to secure Tevez on a permanent deal, since finding vast sums of money to spend is obviously a hobby of his. This thought must have eluded Ferguson when he made those remarks disputing Benitez's claims. Perhaps the Liverpool boss should continue to goad him until he eventually wakes from his case of severe delusion and smell the coffee.
Written By: turan
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