Lack of action on contracts a major concern
TO SAY United are drifting with no long- term direction would be akin to suggesting that Placido Domingo can hold a note.
They have an owner, Mike Ashley, who has strapped a parachute on his back ready to bale out. No chairman, no permanent manager, no transfer policy, and TWO skippers, both of whom will become out-of- contract free agents at the end of the season.
Michael Owen and Nicky Butt are the captains with an uncertain future, along with fellow players Steve Harper, Shola Ameobi, Mark Viduka, Claudio Cacapa and David Edgar.
No fewer than seven of the first-team squad with no security and able to walk should they wish.
Who says there is no dereliction of duty within St James's Park? Those seven can be boosted to nigh on a full team if you include rookie kids whose contracts are rapidly running down.
That's a unique situation and one which borders on the suicidal.
Of course, the question all fans will be asking themselves is: who do we want to stay and who do we care not a jot about?
Owen is the stand-out in terms of throwing loads of cash down the drain should he depart for not a bean, while his supposed strike partner Viduka, for all his God-given talent, is so permanently injured the Toon Army won't flinch at him disappearing permanently on to Bondi Beach.
Viduka's career has been a terrible waste when it comes to personal return on his exceptional ability.
However, gifts are bestowed, and sadly don't automatically come with unflinching guts and a brute determination to squeeze every last ounce out of a short career.
The point is not really who is worth what, but that all personnel issues ought to be addressed.
By all means give those senior pros who are no longer required a free, like Stephen Carr last season, but make darned sure those who must stay or at least command a healthy fee are not allowed to walk out the front door in broad daylight.
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Owen? Let him go, make way for the young and eager.
He's grossly over-rated. The last 2 games (Chelsea, Boro) saw him jogging mindlessly in midfield, didn't win any aerial-challenge, couldn't hold or control the ball, slow at take off, he was non-existence!
We won the Villa game and almost beat Wigan without Owen didn't we?