Bad money dies, I love the scene

By Danny Wyn Griffith

Manchester United hope to conclude a deal that will see Paul Pogba return to the club he left in acrimonious circumstances back in 2012.

The astronomical figures being demanded by Juventus are thought to surpass the £100million mark. This is now causing many to cry foul over the moral issues surrounding spending such a sum on a player that was allowed to leave the club on a free only three years earlier – no matter how begrudgingly a circumstance it may have been.

Recent to cry-foul is Pogba’s fellow Frenchman Emmanuel Petit, Harry Redknapp who reckons the money should somehow be spent on Dele Alli instead and Robbie Fowler, well.. unsurprisingly.

What needs remembering is the figure really shouldn’t be an issue. The quoted figure could be £200million, and it still shouldn’t really matter.

This isn’t money being handed on a plate by a Russian oligarch. This isn’t money being sifted into the club through a Middle Eastern Sheikh. And this certainly isn’t American money, trust me.

This is money that is there to spend, that has been there to spend, and it’s about time that it was spent.

Manchester United are due to be the first British club to earn more than £500m revenue in a year, and they’ve competed for next to nothing over the past three years.

Second-quarter revenues rose by 26.6% to a record £133.8m, with commercial revenues up 42.5% to £66.1m. Third-quarter revenues rose by 29.9% to £123.4m.

Imagine the potential figures should José make a success of his time in Manchester.

For too long have the Glazers restricted club transfer activity due to the debt they loaded against the club upon purchase. For too long has the club been outmanoeuvred in the transfer market by their fellow European peers.

This is where their path now takes a turn. This is when the sometimes bullied, turns into the bully.

This is money that Manchester United as a club generated, therefore it’s only right that the footballing side gets to bear the fruits of their labor.

Bear in mind that this, first and foremost, is actually a football club.

First published in Red News, issue 235, 08/08/16.