Yes, but I wonder if Roman might look around and think its time for other heads to roll.
He seems to have put an awful lot of faith in Emenalo & Co but there's a pattern emerging there as well.
To be fair, he has made some good signings in the past, and part of the blame for last summer's transfer window must lie with Jose. The waste of time bringing in Falcao and the summer-long pursuit of Stones appeared to be down to Mourinho.
But if things go wrong with a succession of previously successful managers, perhaps a lot of the blame lies somewhere else ?

As a matter of interest, why do you think the Stones transfer was down to Jose ?
I wasn't aware he was involved in the negotiation of transfers.

I think its more hope then anything else that he will realize that it needs to be other heads.

For me its the entire upper management that needs to change and I not sure Roman will go down such a hard route when his natural instinct seems to be to change manager. More so when it has been a success some of the time (but only is a very small dose).

Its like anything else, It doesn't matter how good a product/team etc you have if you don't have the right people higher up then you are going to have a tough time maintaining success

We have tried to and attracted some great players over the years but when it comes to the upper management we have recruited people who would be more of a fit to a team nearer the lower end of the table. If one of our upper management staff left today how many would be recruited to another top club? I doubt even those at the fringes of the top level of the game would take them. Even after a really really really poor season most of the personnel to blame on the playing side would walk into a top club, Even after our best season I not sure any of the upper management team would be able to say the same

I don't blame most of our managers for our issues, Some have been given the job when they should not have and some have not been given the time needed and that is due to those running the club. That is where our issues lie. With the number of years Roman has been with us and with the investment and opportunities we have had from him being there, I honestly don't think we are anywhere near the level we should be, If other teams had been given our opportunities I have a scary feeling they would be further ahead then we are.

Just guessing to be honest. Jose does seem to get obsessed with landing a player sometimes. For example, I'm pretty sure that it was down to Mourinho that we chased Rooney for an entire summer a little while back. Instead of just business, he seems to make it personal.
But I could be completely wrong.

Yes, I agree with all of that.

Are you ranting about mourhino AGAIN?!

I'm saying nothing.

Well apart from this, and I have to say I feel a bit bad for Mata at the weekend. He was a stalwart for the club and there were no matches I can remember (and I have watched virtually all of them) when his head dropped and he faded.

Mourhino analysis. He wants control over every aspect of the club, and he's not the owner. Last season he threw his toys out of the pram when he wasn't getting what he wanted, and was then hell bent on taking the club down.

I'm aware there are still mourhino fans around, but let's put things straight for the sake of history (we're all glad of the trophies) and the tantrums which preceded the departures. Remember his first season back when we could have won the league but it was slipping out of our control. What did mourhino do? Fight til the end? The way Mancini did at City and the way Pellegrini did? Winning the title with practically the last kick of the season?

No, he gave up because the situation was out of his control. And that my friend is his fatal flaw, and it will be no different in a season or two at Utd.

Maybe there are problems with the board still. Maybe Conte is being blocked from signing a much needed CB. Taking a step back, can any genuine fan honestly say they want to see Terry and Cahill against big, strong fast forwards from West Ham? We won't stand a chance.

For me, there's too much conservatism in the board, too much reliance on players who have served the club very well, but who are now past their best. You can't live in the past.

I am pretty confident that if we had got Rooney even in the late window we would be had back to back titles. We had everything that season but could not have scored if we was a premiership player who was celebrating a new contract worth 500k per week and went to a nightclub and put a million quid behind the bar so I don't blame him, I not sure who else we could have realistically got who we could say the same about

If we look at the attempts to buy players like Stones regardless if we think they are the right player or the right price we seemed more intent on annoying Everton and acting like Billy Big Bollo*ks then actuallly acting like a club who could negotiate such transfer. Much like when they tried to buy the ground back. We acted like a bunch of rank amateurs.

Do people think we could pull off a transfer as difficult as the Pogba one? I really not sure we could, we still be taking part in a pissi*g contest

I dont like slagging the club but I see where you are coming from, we signed our biggest names when we were the biggest show in town and had an unrivalled chequebook. Certainly at the beginning we would happily make three signings to get one right, now we dont seem to have that luxury (no bad thing of course) and I think that restricts us.

Yes, but I think most of us agreed at the time that he was flogging a dead horse trying to get hold of Rooney ? But it did result in a fabulous new contrarct for Wayne.
I can't remember if there were any other options around at the time, but we finally ended up taking a gamble on Eto'o. Looking back, I wonder if we couldn't have arranged a deal with Atletico for Costa with Torres going the other way ? That's how it finished up eventually anyway.

The worrying thing for me is I don't think money is an issue. I think even if we had the money (to some extent we do) we would struggle to pull off such a transfer. We seem to lack the ability to negotiate with people.

I think it was worth gambling to try and unsettle him and any friction between him and SAF.

For me it was like Jose's first season, We might have won the title under Cladio that season but with Jose you could put your house on it and I think at the time Jose was the only manager you could say that about at the time. If we had got any other striker in and we would have had a decent chance as we was always going to improve in the league once Rafa left but with Rooney if I was a bookie I would have paid out on the league before his first game. If we could not have got Rooney then I could see the point in waiting and doing a better deal for someone else, I had no doubt we would finish top 4 that season and that's all we needed to do.

We do behave like Arthur Daly buying a dodgy used car sometimes these days. Make a ridiculously low offer that just upsets the selling club, then gradually increase our offers which appears to just make them dig their heels in even more.
Back in the good/bad old days, we'd just be straight in with the kind of offer a club couldn't refuse. If they did refuse we'd walk away. But Roman had bottomless pockets in those days.

I think it was more money talked in those days.Nobody had seen the sort of thing we was doing before so we caught clubs off guard so they did not know how to react Then it changed with clubs like City having money so we needed to be smarter and that's where we fell short. We could sort out transfers when it was easy but the second we needed to do some work it went wrong. Clubs started to become more professional and now we are seeing more well run clubs then ever before and its costing us

There were certainly other options around. That was the summer Napoli signed Higuain. Then there were the likes of Costa as you say, and Martinez who had we signed them would most likely have given us enough goals to win the title that season. I never thought for a second that United would sell Rooney either.

When you discuss Jose the young troll comes out to play so let's stop that here and now.

If it's believed we are after Lukaku then the same thing seems to be happening. Not convinced it's down to the managers. It's more our process and it's failing at present.

Did not Costa not turn down a move away that season? I seem to remember him signing a new contract around then after someone went into for him.

Well, Lukaku (or any striker) doesnt appear to be a priority right now, but we're still faffing around so you could be right. A suspension and another injury among our defenders and we'd have a job even fielding a recognisable back four !
Of course, there's still time, and we look to have a fairly comfortable start to the season. A tricky one against West Ham, then three winnable games against Watford, Burnley and Swansea. But it would have been nice to have our transfers sorted before the end of August. As Don says, this is a crucial season.

Yeah that was to Liverpool though. Don't blame him for thinking another season at Atletico was the better option.

Disappointed we haven't got a decent CB in yet. Being reliant on Cahill and JT is a worry.
Not looking too go at present.

Mahrez seen checking in to Chelsea's hotel today. Wouldn't say no, but it's probably nothing.

Looks like its Lukaku for £75m or Icardi from Inter at £30m

Which would you have?

I would say no if it was between him and a quality defender.

But if we can have both, who am I to say no.

Looks like Napoli have rejected another bid for Koulibaly. I'd say it's time to move on to plan B, but I doubt we even have one.

Well, last summer's plan B was presumably Papy Djilobodji, that worked a treat didn't it ?
To be honest, can you blame Napoli ? When they see Stones change hands for £47m, they must be thinking Koulibaly is worth £70m+ !