James Ducker sifted through questions from hundreds of readers in a live webchat on Manchester football today.
In a wide and revealing discussion, our man in the North West covered topics that ranged from debt repayments at Manchester United to Sir Alex Ferguson’s transfer budget and from Mark Hughes’s transfer requirements to his possible replacements as Manchester City manager. He also suggested who would win a fight between Wayne Rooney and Craig Bellamy.
Asked about potential successors to Hughes, James revealed that City are firmly interested in Guus Hiddink but said that Jose Mourinho could not be ruled out. However, he felt that Hughes should be given at least until the end of the season as the manager is working with a wholly new team and has in the past had more success with sides in the second half of a campaign.
On United’s finances, James explained that the club’s debt repayments are relatively low but will increase enough from 2013 for the club to “really feel the pinch, unless something drastic happents before then and the debt is dramatically reduced”. He added that a recent £68.8m interest bill wiped out the club’s operating profit for the year ended June 2008.
Sir Alex Ferguson still has a transfer budget of up to £60m but James does not expect him to spend any of it on a new forward in January because that could undermine the confidence of Didier Berbatov. If the Bulgarian should still be struggling for consistency by the summer, however, our man expects Ferguson will move for a new striker then.
In reply to the many readers who wished to know whether Hughes would recruit in January, James said he would because the Welshman knows he has only a limited amount of time to be successful. James suggested he sign a right back and centre half, which would allow Joleon Lescott to move to left back in the place of the disappointing Wayne Bridge. James agreed that signings such as Lescott, Carlos Tevez and Kolo Toure have not proved the best investments.
Advertisement
As for the showdown between Rooney and Bellamy, you’ll have to read the chat to find out the answer.