We may have sucked royally this year but we are the still the first team to have a thread for next year. Eat it!

Last year, I started the thread with glorious pictures of triumph from the previous season. I'm continuing that tradition by not posting the glorious pictures of triumph from last season that don't exist.

No (permanent) manager, no trophies, no European football...no problem!

David Moyes. Forever the chosen one.

Not official. No stars.

Or is it? SB seems divided on this issue

quote:

---

Or is it? SB seems divided on this issue

---

For a thread to be official here on the Soccer Board, there must be FIVE stars preceding and following the thread title text (which should obviously include the word 'official' ). This is universally agreed upon.

Where there is leeway is in emoticon choice. For a game thread to be official and deliver a positive result, I'm convinced the blue star is the best choice - especially if the game in question involves the USMNT. For official season threads, the angry red face is pretty appropriate for teams such as ManU or Liverpool. For a team like Chelsea or Man City, the blue diamond of prissiness or the blue question mark of ambiguity would be a solid choice. Any team thread devoted to a La Liga team could feature the orange arrow of devotion while a Series A team thread might showcase the yellow triangle of warning to symbolize the dangers of diving contained within.

quote:

---

Not official. No stars.

---

This.

Come on. We've been over this.

quote:

---

Not official. No stars.

---

Club threads have NEVER had asterisks. Never, ever. Y'all are making yourselves look like SBA noobs.

Chelsea has always used

Every other club has used

Groups, finals and match threads must be

God wills it.

Chelsea fans sure are snobbish.

There have been club threads with asterisks before. It's acceptable either way. I would prove it, but Dre_mod I'm sure has deleted them all.

Game threads MUST have stars to ensure the possibility of a positive result - there is no debating that fact.

quote:

---

Chelsea fans sure are snobbish.

There have been club threads with asterisks before. It's acceptable either way. I would prove it, but Dre_mod I'm sure has deleted them all.

Game threads MUST have stars to ensure the possibility of a positive result - there is no debating that fact.

---

For the longest time there was only Arsenal & Chelsea threads. I chose to use as to set us apart from the that Arsenal was using.

About 2-3 seasons ago, Dre created a United thread and he too used the .

I have NEVER seen asterisks used on on any team(s) thread. Never.

Dre will you please chime in and tell these kids whats up?

quote:

---

we are the still the first team to have a thread for next year.

---

We still have a match to play this year

Who you calling kid?

Seriously though, I just did a forum search using the word "season" in thread titles. There are several that come up that feature asterisks on the first page of results. The primary "offenders" were MLS season and team threads. The majority of EPL team threads didn't contain asterisks and the primary emoticons used were as you described. There were a couple of Liverpool threads (all without asterisks) that featured boring piece of paper emoticons. Interestingly, the season results those years for the club were also boring and mediocre. We'll have to see if adding asterisks and a better emoticon are correlated to better results in 2014-2015.

All those MLS thread creators are noobs and went against the standard.

I'm not saying you're wrong for putting asterisks in the Liverpool thread, but it is against traditional, comparatively speaking.

We're attempting to start a new, more win-filled tradition with our thread.

quote:

---

We're attempting to start a new, more win-filled tradition with our thread.

---

God speed.

united is going to pay 40 million for a right back? Really? Chelsea is about to sign a good striker for 32.

They're finally ready to stop talking about ancient history

What, I'm supposed to listen to Liverpool fans talking about stars on a season thread when your club hasn't added a star due to season accomplishments in 20+ years? ***** please...

Season threads don't have stars.

More importantly Manchester United threads have never used stars.

Most importantly I have decided not to use stars.

Deal.

Now, on to actual club matters. Rio Ferdinand leaves the club. From the sound of things, it seems like he was told his services were no longer needed and he was pushed out. The cull continues...and it might get ugly.

Ferdinand needed to go, as did Vidic. You can't rebuild and hold on to the aging talent too. Hopefully Nani and Young are part of the cleansing too.

Smith is right.

Thank you 2011!

Vidic coming out and airing some dirty laundry. He comes out and says that the players were fighting with each other, which isn't terribly surprising considering how the season went, who was manager, and the success they were used to. One of the funnier things is that when asked if he would have moved to Inter if he had known that Moyes was going to be fired, he hemmed and hawed and said "it's difficult to say" or something to that effect. In my opinion, that means he probably wouldn't have left if he had known Moyes was on his way out. I think he'll be missed actually. He isn't the same center back as 4-5 years ago but he still has something to offer at 32. You need experience in a team and one thing I fear is losing that if/when the team undergoes a complete rebuild. You still need older players to provide leadership.

You do need leadership, but the team has Rooney, RVP and others to provide veteran leadership.

The backline was bad this year, and primarily because they were injured and old. They need new backline support. And this comes from someone who loved Vidic and whose favorite player was Evra.

I'm not sure I would ever trust Rooney to provide leadership and I don't think RvP has been at United long enough to provide leadership. I agree the back line was atrocious and that Vidic wouldn't be an automatic starter (ideally) but I would've liked him to be a spot starter...perhaps something like Scholes or Giggs when they hit mid 30s.

This is going to be some lean years for United moving forward. They need to rebuild the back line. Not qualifying for Europe hurts because top players want to play in that tournament.

I don't necessarily believe that but I do believe that this summer is critical. If Van Gaal comes in and they throw enough money at some a 2-3 players, there is no reason why they can't finish in the top 4.

I'll start an FC Frisco thread however I damn well want

*me posting on this thread is in no way me flipping to United

Hey Dre, you know what I'm doing on Saturday and you're not?

I feel like there's an insult/smack down coming but for the life of me I don't see it coming.

Dre, I think that is a very safe assumption.

Back to United, your thoughts on Vidic are good, I think it is harder to do that though as a central defender than as a mid or forward. Spot starts for aging CD are pretty rare.

United have invested heavily in RVP, Rooney and Mata, they better get some leadership out of those three.

They probably will in some sense but I don't think any of them are true United leaders...which is really sad in the case of Rooney considering how long he's been with the club.

In other news, it seems that United have made their first transfer buy of the season. 17 year old GK from Serbia who won't join the club till year after next. Strike up the band, the EPL is ours!

http://www.football365.com/news/21554/9314846/United-To-Sign-Teenage-Keeper-Vanja-Milinkovic...

I like the Gaal - Giggs tandem.