http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/liverpool/article6506040.ece

here is an independent article stating Rafas net spend as £83.099m.

Rafa and now Torres are correct in stating that it has been hard to compete with your spending power. Not so much that we havent had money to spend but in the way we have had to spend it.
United still have 9 players in their current squad that where there before rafa joined, so that is 9 players that you havent had to fork out for during this time. Rafa has 2 players left from his inherited squad.
So he has totally rebuilt the squad whilst you boys only had to cherrypick individuals that would make your existing, good squad, better. So where you could spend a lot on one or two players we have had a similar amount to spend but have had to buy quantity to try and have a squad big enough to cope with the rigours of the PL. ( please dont say he inherited a good squad because we all know that isnt true. None of the players would get in either of our squads today ((apart from gerrard and carra))
It is only in the last couple of years that rafa has started to have this luxury. This has resulted in a few larger payouts for the likes of Torres, Keene, Masch etc. Before that he was having to trade up and make do with either second choice targets or gamble on free transfers.
Where you could out bid most clubs for the players you wanted we were continually let down by being a few mill short here and there. There are several players we missed out on including Alves, simao even ronaldo if you believe certain media reports.
has fergie ever missed out on a target in the last 5 years due to lack of funds?
Has he ever had to make do with a second or third choice target for the sake of a few million more?
So in that scense we havent been able to compete.
Another factor to be considered is that fergie has been able to cash in on several big name transfers which has lowered your net spend significantly.
Most of the players rafa has sold where inhertited from houlier and werent worth 2 pence between them. United has sold the likes of beckham and now ronaldo for large sums whilst rafa hasnt really sold any of his gems yet. If we were to sell the likes of alonso, torres, masch , even gerrard ( which nearly happened a few years ago) then our net spend would tumble.
I am not trying to make excuses in the “who has spent more” debate but just trying to say that there are several factors to consider and it isnt just as easy as it 1st appears.

I’m still surprised at the number of ABUs here.

It’s the offseason, on a blog site of the club that isn’t yours. Why come here if your interests clearly don’t match everyone else’s at the site?

Strange people, those scousers.

Have they heard the story that news to be released this week puts ‘Pool’s financial position in a far worse state than was thought.
The sale of the Montreal Canadiennes WILL NOT mean more money for ‘Pool.
The owners don’t give a fukc about the club. They want out as quickly as they can.And they don’t care who buys the club.
Forget about some rich Middle East potentate buying the club. Word’s out that ‘Pool are a financial disaster waiting to be buried. The Arabs who were looking at ‘Pool are now looking at UTD.
‘Pool’s MF is disappearing faster than a mirage. Alonso to RM and Mascherano to Barca will be followed by others who feel its not worth being at Anfield. Torres and Reina perhaps.
And don’t think that Benitez will have a mountain of money to strengthen the team. It’ll all go to paying the owners debts.
So what is the worse scenario? ‘Pool could be put into receivership BEFORE the season starts, suffer a 10 point penalty. and spend most of the season fighting against relegation.

Something to think about, eh?

If one the comments above is to be believed, they already skewered Torres’s price from £20m+ to £18m.

No nerve mate.I just want a good conversation with rival fans based on facts.And i believe that the money issue has been beat to death in the last 6 months.To be honest,i don’t know if there is out there an accurate estimation of the spending over the last 5 years.What i have said though,is that in the last 20 years,UNited have spent tons of money due to the profit that our brand name generates.The Glazers have spent money as well,but no more than what’s required to make a profit each year(i am not talking about the debts because they have nothing to do with bad financial management).I believe that if other clubs could make the profit we do,they would spend us much as us.

Next season,you could push us eve further,but it’s early days yet.Lets see what signings we all make.At the moment,United are not the favorites for the title.