I fully agree. Get Woy on one of those 'golden handcuffs' contracts

Quote ="Karlos13"Glazers to pay off the outstanding PIK loan: www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-1 ... -debt.html Sadly they are entitled to take £95m out of the club accounts towards paying it off. There goes the Ronaldo money. '" It's not certain as yet where the money has come from, there seems to be conflicting reports although basically no one yet knows for certain where the money has come from. They do have the entitlement to take money from Utd so most fans will jump to that conclusion immediately I guess.

Quote ="Karlos13"Glazers to pay off the outstanding PIK loan: www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-1 ... -debt.html Sadly they are entitled to take £95m out of the club accounts towards paying it off. There goes the Ronaldo money. '" It's not certain as yet where the money has come from, there seems to be conflicting reports although basically no one yet knows for certain where the money has come from. They do have the entitlement to take money from Utd so most fans will jump to that conclusion immediately I guess.

There's an unsubstantiated rumour (maybe even a guess or even complete BS), that United are raising funds by selling the ground and leasing it back

Red Football's accounts are due today (I think). Might be a bit soon for them to reveal anything I suppose. Oliver Kay on Twatter:- twitter.com/OliverKayTimes Quote #MUFC 19-word statement: "The board notes recent press speculation. The board can confirm that there has been no dividend of club cash”'" I've not read any rumours about a sale and leaseback of Old Trafford. That would be incendiary and may encourage IMUST to...gulp...order a batch of green and gold bobble hats. Shudder.

Red Football's accounts are due today (I think). Might be a bit soon for them to reveal anything I suppose. Oliver Kay on Twatter:- twitter.com/OliverKayTimes Quote #MUFC 19-word statement: "The board notes recent press speculation. The board can confirm that there has been no dividend of club cash”'" I've not read any rumours about a sale and leaseback of Old Trafford. That would be incendiary and may encourage IMUST to...gulp...order a batch of green and gold bobble hats. Shudder.

It appears they are paying it off from their own funds. Seems like a strange move. Unless they are attempting to make MUFC more attractive for potential investors.

I might be wrong but weren't the PIK loans used to buy the club? So in effect this is the Glazers debt, not uniteds. Paying them off would ease the financial burden, but as I understand it would pay off only the Glazers own debt.

taken from BBC sport website...i can't wait for the replica shirts

That's correct (I think) but the suspicion was always that the PIK was in effect the club's debt anyway on the basis that the entirety of the debt is. The 700 million figure always included the PIK debt, that's for sure.



As far as I can make out, the Glazer purchase of MUFC works in the same way as a mortgage. By paying off roughly 1/3 of the debt used to buy it, there is a lot more equity - assuming it's not being converted into some other debt vehicle. The club is now only shoulder deep in the sh*t rather than neck deep. When they started hoovering up shares, they did so quickly. If they do want out, based on their previous workings, I would expect that to move at a similar pace. I wouldn't hold my breath.

Spurs fans dislike him, but happily masturbate over the players he brought to the club. He was always disliked for the way he treated Jol, rightfully so IMO as Jol was a good coach, but the relationship between Martin and Damien didn't work, the club obviously believed in the DOF over the manager.



I've read views from other scouts who've met him, they say he's extremely intelligent and has a massive hunger/knowledge for the game, and that's a hunger for scouting, not managing. I dunno, the DOF divides opinion over here, like most things 'foreign', but I think (hope, more than anything) Comolli will be a success here, I just hope he doesn't focus on the French market, as the Bundesliga is a stronger league, whilst South America continues to produce immense prospects.

Hopefully it's the former, and they are looking to offload the Club.



Surely the only way they can afford the PIK payment is through a refinancing package? Their US Mall empire is not making any money, and I cant see them selling any stakes in their ownership of United.



I wonder of they'll take the £95m in one lump sum leaving us with no 'value in the market'?



Its also interesting to see that in the financial results just published our wage bill rose by 14% before Rooney signed his new contract. I can only remember Vidic signing a new contract plus the signings of Hernandez and Bebe. They must be on a fortune!

Who were these great players he signed?

The positive news is that it reduces the debt to 500 million and it seems the money has not been taken from Utd. Could they be preparing for a sale? I hope so.

Didn't he help sign players like Modric and Bale? I'm guesing tbh.

Bale, Modric, Gomes, Kaboul has since become a good player, same with Assou-Ekotto, Corluka has done well there, whilst I'm pretty sure Dawson was brought in under Comolli.



His worst signing was probably Bentley, but he'd be one of the players many would have deemed a 'no-brainer'.

Commolli would have everyone believe that he signed only those players that did well at Spurs. But Ramos and Jol bought the players who didn't do so well.



AFAIK Modric was signed by Ramos and Bale was signed by Jol. Commolli was atsked to sign unknown talents and the youth players (because Aranesen had left for Chelsea).



I am not sure of the timelines but Aranesen may have been at Spurs when they signed Bale. Sorry... I cannot be bothered Googling).



Commolli is an expert in self-publicity. I thought Robbie would have been a bit more balanced but it appears even he has been influenced by Commolli's PR.



I love how Robbie has credited Commolli with bringing in all of Spurs' best players. It just happened that Commolli was at the club at the time. The signings were made inspite of him being at White Hart Lane He was not in charge of transfers, he was simply a go-between. He didn't seek out these talents at all.

You do understand the basic conceptions of a DOF, right? Comolli brought in every player to Spurs at the time. He was sacked because his big money buys (Bentley, Modric, Kaboul (at the time)) were all under performing at the time, as well as the manager, who he also brought in.



Since then, most of those players have gone on to do well for Spurs. You won't see me defend the likes of Bentley, dos Santos and Gilberto, they were all poor signings, but he did sign some good players as well.



It isn't anything to do with Comolli's PR, either, the only thing of his I've read is the recent interview on the beeb where he's talking about Liverpool. I've read the thoughts of other people, like Tor-Kristian Karlsen and Raphael Honigstein, and they've all spoken well of him and the DOF approach.



Maybe it is you who is buying into the PR of the daily rags that write nonsensical drivel everyday.

You are clearly deluded. Please tell me, in detail, what Commolli’s role was in the transfer of Bale. Did he select the player? Was it he who decided to send out the scouts to watch him without being asked by the manager? Some DoFs are involved in actually choosing which players to scout, some simply negotiate contracts and players purchases. Some will actually scout themselves. You are naïve to think they all have the same role. The one duty they all appear to carry out is to act as a link between manager and board. Commolli simply negotiated the deals. It's like saying Garry signed Tevez. He didn't, it was Hughes.



Commolli was sacked because it became obvious that he was incompetent. He made a mess of the Ramos/Jol situation and the academy continued to be the worst of the of the PL clubs in London. Maybe you can explain why a Spurs director recently told a group of Spurs fans in Milan that Commolli is a “fraud”. I guess you know best though as you have based your information on a press release from lfc.tv.



Is my view reflected in what has been said in the media?



Sorry, fella. I like you and enjoy reading your posts, but you are well-off beam re Commolli.

My mate's a Spurs fan and I'm fairly sure Dawson preceded Commolli. He was a transfer window signing and Commolli arrived in the summer. As others have said too, there's much debate over who is responsible for which signings between him and Jol/Ramos. Football Focus did a piece with Jol at the weekend that mentioned how he was the one who found Bale (which was how I remembered it already), and Gomes was supposedly all Ramos (and very much laid at his door during Gomes' iffy early form). Think Modric was also mainly Ramos (the best thing he did for the club) and Corluka pretty much just followed his best mate as a result.



And Assou-Ekotto is crap. Just have a look at how many of Spurs' conceded goals involve him. He's the weakest link in their side, they need rid.

I know you like to fish, and sometimes you like to make ignorant claims in jest, but this is taking the biscuit.



For the final time, I haven't read anything but a single interview by Comolli, the recent interview was him basically explaining his role, if you can't comprehend that, why are you even debating with me? Let alone making such daft claims.



Comolli was/will be involved in negotiations for players, but he was also a sort of 'head scout' as well as the major decision maker with regards to transfers. If you want to know what role he played, then he was the one who done all of the convincing to convince Levy to spend X amount of millions on Modric, Bale and the like. Modric was courted by many clubs in Europe, especially England, but all felt he was 'too slight'. It was Comolli who took the risk to force Spurs to sign him. He was sacked because he'd identified players and convinced the club to sign them, but they didn't perform, same with the manager. He told the club to sack Jol, he told the club to bring in Ramos, Ramos was brought in with a DOF making decisions above him, and was eventually sacked along with Comolli because neither was performing.



I'm not saying he does what Cook does, but it was Brian Marwood (from all accounts I've read) that signed Adam Johnson.



Comolli's role is simple at our club, he will identify players that fit in with the 'young and massive potential' mold, he will convince the board to spend X amount of money on these players, whilst he will also discuss targets with (hopefully not for much longer) Hodgson, to get the final verdict on whether the player is appropriate/necessary.



I'm not trying to claim Comolli is this, that and the other, the media claims you make I know all about, they come from Arsenal fans who ridiculed Spurs for bringing him in because he apparently identified Clichy and co., when crediting anyone from Arsenal for finding players is probably pointless, as they have hundreds of scouts who all report to higher scouts, who all report to Rowley who reports to Wenger.



I've read enough about Comolli from other people, people whose views are worth reading, and I feel he's got enough about him to spend our money much more 'wisely' than our manager.

England - what a load of !!! Just give up with international football, fans dont care about it, manager isn't bothered, players certainly don't care about it!! Just give it up as a bad job!!!!

85,494 people just managed to get lost and find themselves in Wembley Stadium tonight?

Bet quite a few of them are thinking 'If only I [ihad[/i managed to get lost!'

Ben Foster. I've never, ever seen the guy play well. He is just useless. He cannot even kick the ball properly.

You've got to give Fabio some credit. After Mclaren the whole country was gutted and floored. Mr Capello has continured his work and has set us up nicely to take the future disappointments in our stride. Rather than getting worked up about England games I no longer give a toss. Cheers Fabio lad!

Ronaldo scored what would have been an absolutely superb goal for Portugal against Spain in the first half, but it got ruled out because Nani, miles offside, tried to nick it on the line, Portugal went 1 up not too long after anyway so it didn't matter too much, probably be on youtube before too long - well worth a look.