[devo22]

Originally Posted by NBC

Why Manchester United? Big Cristiano Ronaldo fan? Or is there a more esoteric element to your choice or reasoning? Why not West Bromwich Albion? Sheffield United? Bristol Rovers? Those are random choices as well. Or is there an overwhelming desire to attach oneself to a winner - the winner?

I can only assume that the reasons will differ. I have no doubt that many people got hooked in 99 or because of Beckham or because of Ronaldo or because of whatever. To be honest, I don't really care what the reasons are. As for me, it was 1996 when I discovered United. I was 10 back then, and this was when I started being interested in international football - before that, I really only cared about Salzburg, but the WC 94 and Salzburg's UEFA Cup run in 94 and first Champions League appearance in 95 basically got me interested in international football. English football always interested me most, don't really remember why. So in 1996, I cheered for England and basically cried my eyes out when the stupid Germans won after Southgate missed the penalty. Anyway, my father took me to a Champions League game between Rapid Wien and Manchester United the same year and I got hooked. Simple as that. I always hated Rapid, but I had heard a lot about this Cantona bloke and you simply don't turn down an invitation to go to a Champions League game, right? Anyway, United won and I got hooked. And that's the boring story of how devo22 became a Manchester United "supporter"

Originally Posted by SoCalFlamesFan

To put those figures into context, it should be reiterated that Ferdinand cost more than Samir Nasri, Mario Balotelli and Edin Dzeko.

and where is the problem with that? Ferdinand has played 10 years for United, was the captain for some time and a couple years ago, he was part of what probably was the best centre back pair in the world (before the injury woes began ...). I'd take Ferdinand over those players all the time, although I will admit that Nasri is a good player and Dzeko could be a gamebreaker if used properly.

Originally Posted by SoCalFlamesFan

United only have two home grown players playing regularly (and both are over 35) - though City don't have many more.

Danny Welbeck, Jonny Evans and Tom Cleverley have also played their ways into the team nicely I'd say. Plus there's Darren Fletcher, who was excellent for many years before his illness. Three home grown players in John O'Shea, Darron Gibson and Wes Brown have just left the club. There are others that could come through the ranks as well, but City have good home grown players too.

Originally Posted by SoCalFlamesFan

And City paid inflated prices due to the huge inflation in transfer prices in the last few years.

yeah, but City have inflated the prices themselves. United surely have overpaid for a few players (Berbatov and Anderson, for example), but City have set the stage with inflated transfer prices over the last few years. 32.5 million for Robinho. 18 million for Jô (a City record at the time!). 17.5 million for Santa Cruz. Kolo Toure, Bellamy, Dzeko, Aguero, Yaya Toure, Balotelli, Adebayor, Milner, Kolarov, Boateng, Tevez, Barry, Johnson, Lescott, De Jong, Wright-Phillips, Bridge ... it's been a revolving door of players coming in, and they all cost a lot of money. At times, their spending looked a bit headless. Are there any players on the team that have played there five years ago? I don't think there'll be many.

As for the other points - look, I won't stand here and say that United hasn't spent a lot. Obviously they have, there's no denying in it. But it's another philosophy ... most of the time, United have bought players that fitted a need and could improve the team in a special area (that's basically why there is huge interest in guys like Gaitan and Kagawa right now - United need help in offensive midfield). Since City got that huge money splash from that sheik, it has sometimes seemed like they virtually buy every player that can somehow kick a ball. It has improved over the time obviously, but the way they basically bought a whole new team that replaced the old one is something that United has never done in the time I have been a fan of theirs. The only teams that have done that are Chelsea and City.