The Guardian today has a very interesting article regarding Manchester United’s owners changing the clubs transfer policy to concentrate on signing players under 26. It seems that the Glazer family want the club to only sign players that they can recoup transfer fees on later in their careers. Now maybe it’s me, but I’ve yet to come across a club that have continued to be as successful as Manchester United with such a transfer policy.

Yet, the majority of United’s recent signings over the last few years are all under 26, such as Vidic, Carrick, Evra, Tosic and Nani, So it’s not that big a change in transfer policy. The exception is the much maligned and misunderstood Dimitar Berbatov, who at 27 now seems to be the last player that will be signed above the limit. It would also seem to rule them out of making a bid for Franck Ribery, despite what Bayern Munich may have claimed today.

I have to say, I’m a little surprised about the story if I’m honest. It seems quite unusual for two reasons: Firstly, Ferguson is renowned for being extremely protective over having control over transfer policy at Manchester United. He does not suffer anyone meddling with his working methods, so it’s a big step to hear that the Glazers and David Gill have imposed an age sanction on him. Secondly, what would they do if the world’s greatest player, aged 27/28 suddenly declares his love for Manchester United and wants to join them? Would they only accommodate such a player if he was available on a bosman transfer?

For a club that has an excellent track record of producing top quality players through the youth ranks, probably better than most, it just strikes me as odd that signings will now be judged on their re-sale value. I think it’s a dangerous game to play to narrow your transfer targets to such a specific market. It certainly should concern whoever succeeds Sir Alex at the helm of Manchester United whenever he decides to step down after such an illustrious career.

Tottenham had a similar transfer policy trying to utilise their ill feted European coaching set up between 2004 and 2008 and whilst there is no doubt that the last 5 seasons have seen Tottenham have their most successful period in the Premiership, the lack of older, wiser heads did cost them Champions League football in 2005 and 2006. A couple of experienced signings could have really made the difference to the youngsters in the Spurs camp. Notably, Martin Petrov’s transfer was blocked based entirely on his age. A silly price to pay simply because someone was deemed not to gain in value.

Of course, I’m certainly not comparing Tottenham to Manchester United, not even the most fevered Spurs fan could seriously consider that a fair comparison. There is no doubt that Manchester United are one of the main draws in World Football for talent and could quite possibly sign anyone within reason if they wanted to. Ferguson is already laying the foundations of the United squad for the next 5-10 years with the Da Silva brothers, Tosic, Marcheda and Gibson getting plenty of opportunities to stake claims for the squad.

United’s squad is hardly ancient, but as I’ve said earlier, having a ceiling on the age of your signings could be a dangerous precedent. It’s not like they’re about to become a selling team, but they can’t rule out the need to sometimes look at what benefits the club on the pitch rather than in the bank balance. Whoever follows Ferguson may just find that a balancing act too far.

Related posts:

1. Manchester United: Summer Transfer Targets
2. Why Has Manchester United Resigned Itself To Being Outspent?
3. Manchester United Signs Dimitar Berbatov For £30.75 Million

How would you like to have been a Manchester City or Blackburn Rovers fan heading from the north of England to the south, only to do a turnabout and head home after finding out your upcoming fixture was canceled? I know if it was me, a few words of the four letter variety would have came forth from my mouth. (If you were traveling to one of those two games, or any other game this weekend that was called off, what was your reaction to finding out that it was indeed canceled?)

While yes the cold snap in England last weekend took out a huge chunk of the English footballing schedule, there is no excuse in my mind for a club to have to call a match off because of a frozen pitch. If you are a top flight club, making sure your pitch can withstand a freeze should be something that is easily taken care of. Using heaters on the pitch (as was reported on the BBC Text Commentary on Saturday morning) should never happen.  As for Fulham, if Sam Allardyce is to be believed, they don’t even have underground heating.

With only the threat of fines being thrown about over this, to me this isn’t enough. The only two things a Premier League match should be called for is fog and the fact it’s raining harder than the field can drain (which with today’s technology would have to be one hell of a downpour). If it was up to me, both Portsmouth and Fulham would be losing the three points via forfeit. A strong message has to be sent out that unnecessary postponements will not be tolerated, and the only way for that to happen is if teams start losing the points they could possibly gain.

I would have thought that after Rafa Benitez went off on Fergie, saw his Liverpool side draw with Stoke, and then saw Manchester United defeat Chelsea this past Sunday, he would have kept his mouth shut. I guess I was wrong. Instead, Rafa has now turned his attention towards David Gill and his position within the FA. Look Rafa, after being humiliated in the manner in which you were last weekend, now isn’t the time to be turning the screws on a rival club. In fact, dare I say you’ve actually allowed this to turn into a major distraction to the club you manage?

Rafa is not the person to decide what is normal or not within the FA. Bringing David Gill up after your humiliating weekend only cries of sour grapes and desperation. Being top of the league and desperate is something you never want to show.

Other Stories
This story is just funny after the fact. What was Jose Bosingwa thinking when he said ‘we know what to do to stop him’ (him being Cristiano Ronaldo).

Is Manchester City fixing to buy up Andrei Arshavin away from Arsenal? Just remember the source of this story.

Phil Brown states the obvious when he says there are 14 teams in a relegation fight. That’s only for now, it’ll slowly start to clear up…eventually.

Stoke City welcome back James Beattie to the Premier League. How much help Beattie gives Stoke up front remains to be seen.

This is an interesting set of stories from Chelsea. While Nicolas Anelka is saying the Blues chances of winning the title are alive, one of the red top specials tonight speaks of a bust up between Luiz Felipe Scolari and Nicolas Anelka. While I wonder how much of that second story is actual fact.

Related posts:

1. How Often Your Favorite Premier League Club Will Be Shown On US TV
2. Top 20 Biggest Pitches in the Premier League
3. Not a Happy Guus While Rafa’s Going No Where,