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| MANU THE TRANSFER LOSERS AS BIG NAMES STAY AWAY |
| Posted on 15/05/06 at 08:41 by ABU |
As Chelsea complete the signing of Michael Ballack this morning and close in on Andriy Shevchenko, envious eyes will be cast down from The Franchise's Carrington training ground. Its well known that Ballack was approached by The Franchise but refused to even speak to Sir Alex in a snub normally reserved for the also-rans of European football. 4 years ago they tried with Shevchenko but were knocked back after he decided success was more important than the 6 million a year contract Manure offered him. But leaving aside Chelsea, the problems are escalating as the list of players willing to come to OT shrinks by the day. Already Liverpool are planning their summer signings with at least one superstar on the cards. And Arsenal have a reportedly huge cache of money ready to be spent on the top stars this summer. All will have the first choice of players willing to come to England ahead of ManU and so its been the same story for 20 years. Time after time the best players refuse to go to the rags and they're left with the Kleberson's and Ronaldo's of this world.
But why can't The Franchise attract the top players? Its no secret they are the big payers in the premiership as far as wages are concerned so whats the problem?. Well its well known Sir Alex can't handle big names. As soon as they get any sort of international reputation he sells them. Add to this his medieval training regime and antiquated tactics and any top foreign player would think twice before moving there. But there's more to it than that. Manchester is an awful place. No right-minded individual would choose to live there by choice. Even the stock-broker belt of Alderley Edge where many of the rag's footballers live is a dire town devoid of character, but again thats not the whole story. Arsenal and Chelsea have the attraction of the capital, a certain amount of glamour, history and teams capable of winning major trophies. Liverpool has a European pedigree that is known throughout Europe. Man U on the other hand has none of these attractions. For years they were the other team in Manchester, a sort of Fulham to City's Chelsea and then the plane crash in Munich changed all that. Suddenly they were news and overnight became everyones 2nd favourite team. People with no interest in football like the Irish suddenly fell in love with the club in an early example of "Princess Di" Syndrome. Overnight the few local supporters were swamped by an influx of out of towners turning a club not much bigger than Barnsley into a major force. But now 40 odd years on the myth is fading. A young player in say Serie A or La Liga has never heard of The Busby Babes or even George Best. All they see is the drab reality, a city that makes Liverpool look glamorous, a team going nowhere and a Manager whose tactics belong in the 90's. At least Man City's players have the comfort of knowing when they go out locally people will recognise and treat them well. The Franchise players would have to head 100miles down the motorway or cross the Irish Sea to be welcomed in the same way.
Even when they were, by lucky chance, the best team in Europe, The Franchise could never attract the star players. Now they are struggling even to attract the good players while the big teams in the Premiership march on
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