No Sense Doing It If You Don’t Look Good

I can't help feeling this morning that, while not signing some "big name" players is a little disappointing, the papers are projecting their own disappointment onto the fans. Considering how many column inches they've managed to fill speculating on who we're after it's not surprising that they would be disappointed. However it would seem that most of them have missed the escape clause, this quote, which I only saw in The Guardian:

Later Ferguson acknowledged that, if there was a change in the market ... United would be willing to go back into the transfer market. "We have two months before the deadline so it could change. Anything is possible. You never know."

Which seems to give a little bit of hope to both fans and newspapers, who can continue printing stories about us "monitoring the situation" of top players.
The main thrust of the press conference yesterday was the state of the transfer market and our need to be "sensible":

"I said a year ago, when they [the Abu Dhabi United Group] took over at City, that this was possible," Ferguson said. "Some of the values across the world now are amazing; the numbers that get tossed about. The values of players have shot sky high. I don't think any of the [big] transfers this summer are realistic but for some reason it has caught fire this summer. It's an unusual summer and it's very difficult to get value because of that."
"I can only placate the fans in one way and that's by not being stupid," he responded. "We have that wonderful sum of money from Real Madrid but there's no way we are going to throw it away by putting an extra zero on the end of transfer fees when I didn't think it was value."
"We have always had to pay a bit extra at this club but this summer we were not prepared to do that. We have a very good squad and some good young players. So there was no need to have a knee-jerk reaction after losing him [Ronaldo]. We did very well to keep him for six years. It was his moment to leave and we allowed him to do that. But we should not panic because of one player leaving.

Given that last season we paid over the odds for Berbatov I think that this is a sign of the great confidence Sir Alex has in the squad: If there was a player that he thought would really add to the squad he would be willing to pay an "inflated" fee, the fact that he won't suggests that he's more than happy with the players he has and that there's no players out there worth paying over the odds for.
Of course most of the papers try and imply that we're priced out of the market. This Sun article is exemplary - they don't come straight out and say it, they put the criticisms in the mouths of the fans:

But fans are scratching their heads. Neighbours Manchester City are spending big, while European rivals Real Madrid have already broken the £200m mark this summer.

Many might wonder if the £650m debt the club carries because of the takeover by the Glazer family has something to do with it.

Just because this may be an accurate picture of what some fans are thinking doesn't mean that the papers aren't using it to veil their own criticisms of us. The comparisons with City and Madrid are obviously misleading, given that our squad (minus Ronaldo and Tevez) came within a whisker of winning everything going, and City and Madrid, well, didn't come within a whisker of winning anything...
Onto Michael Owen, and The Guardian does a good job of explaining giving him the no. 7 shirt:

the United manager, has given Owen the number once worn by David Beckham, Eric Cantona and George Best partly to protect Luis Antonio Valencia, the £17m recruit from Wigan Athletic, from comparisons with Ronaldo but also to help invigorate a player who was widely considered to be on the wane before his free transfer to Old Trafford.

In the press conference Owen did a good job of defending himself, talking of his hunger:

“I am ­hungry to do well.

“If this challenge doesn’t create a hunger and put a spring in your step and a smile on your face, then nothing will.

“I am as hungry as ever and I don’t think I need to prove it to the people who have asked that.

“Obviously when a club and manager like this comes in for you that says it all for me.

“I am as hungry as I have ever been to ­succeed and I honestly ­believe I can still do well in a top team like Manchester United.

on his injuries:

"If there is one thing that has angered me a bit it is this thing that I am 'injury-prone,'" Owen said. "You constantly read 'he's been plagued with injuries' and things like that but the facts just don't support it.

"It does irritate me that so many people have doubts," he said. "I played 32 games last season and 33 games in the season before that, for a club that was not in Europe and didn't have any long cup runs. The Premier League season is only 38 games so I think 32 and 33 appearances isn't too bad."

Owen continued: "Yes, in the previous two years I was injured but they were nothing to do with being 'injury-prone'. If someone jumps on your foot and your metatarsal breaks there's not much you can do. Foolishly I tried to rush back to get back fit for the World Cup in 2006. My knee went and those injuries count for two years. But I don't believe I'm injury-prone. I'm 29 now and I've played over 500 games for club and country, so that says it all."

The best bit is what he says on his last year at Newcastle, taking responsibility, which is a refreshing contrast to the departing Tevez's words after The Champions League Final:

"In certain parts people do have a justification to have a go at me. I didn't set the world alight in the last year at Newcastle. That is no one's fault but mine. We were not playing well as a team and I wasn't doing my bit either."

Win as a team, lose as a team. I wasn't going to include this in the round-up, but here's Tevez, speaking on his move to City, we lost the Champions League Final because he didn't start, but we got there because he was in the squad:

'My record of success speaks for itself. From helping West Ham to avoid relegation to helping Manchester United to two Champions League finals in two seasons. That's not a bad record!'

If you're going to put a team's success on your own shoulders you should be willing to share the responsibility for the loses as well. I find this quote particularly galling given he spent the last year whining about not being in the first team enough, but now it turns out he played an integral role...
Sir Alex also had some words to say about Tevez, at the same time he was milking the adulation of the fans, playing them against Sir Alex, he was planning on leaving:

"I think they did the deal around January because I spoke to him and gave him an offer on the Inter Milan night and he never came back to me.

"I phoned him on holiday - he never came back to me. I texted him twice - he never got back. Obviously he had made his mind up."

City are of course welcome to him.
In contrast Sir Alex has nothing but praise for Ronaldo:

"I had a good relationship with the boy. He explained to me what he felt and it was exactly as [former assistant manager] Carlos [Queiroz] and I had thought two or three years ago. We never thought we were going to keep him for a long time. To have him for six years, we're very proud of that, very pleased. He's taken this opportunity to have another challenge and I respect him because he was a fantastic player for us. He was a good lad, he caused no problems and we wish him well."

The Mail do the trick of making the endless unsubstantiated rumours facts to berate us with:

Ferguson has also lost striker Carlos Tevez, who is expected to sign for rivals Manchester City, while Bayern Munich Franck Ribery appears to have fallen off the radar.

He has also been linked with big-money moves for Sergio Aguero, Samuel Eto'o and Zlatan Ibrahimovic but he now looks set to keep with his current squad.

The sense being that we've lost out on all these players and have to settle for second best, whereas Sir Alex said that we tried for Benzema and that was that.
One other story, The Mirror report that Richard Eckersley has turned down a new contract and is looking at a move to Burnley.