You must be joking ! The value of the club and its history – recent and legendary, the stadium, and the “brand recognition” make UTD an incredibly valuable “commodity”. Naysayers, who want to continue blaming the Glazers for making Martin Edwards and the Irish horsemen rich, rich, rich, don’t seem to realize that it’s a “commodity” with maybe two peers in world sport – the New York Yankees and Real Madrid. When/IF the Glazers sell their ownership, there will be a very long queue of bidders who will pay them huge profits for this “commodity” – with or without SAF. But, obviously, the “commodity” would be worth more with continuity – and winning management – which is why Jose Mourinho remains in the frame (no matter what you, I, or my dead dog think about him !) Also, new forms of revenue will be generated in the future from broadband or some other form of computer-vision which might make the income derived from satellite-television seem puny. And, what would UTD’s income look like IF the long-mooted EuroSuperLeague became a reality ? The Glazers’ profit will dwarf that pocketed by the previous ownership-group.

Comparing HIddink with Mourinho is a real mistake – Jose might be a prick but he’s a winning prick. His team won the scudetto last year and will do so again this year. And if Abramovitch hadn’t meddled so much in affairs at Stamford Bridge then Mourinho might have won more than two EPL titles.

For what it’s worth, I would much prefer Mourinho to Hiddink to take over from SAF. And, rest assured, SAF would, too. The man who succeeds SAF is going to get a team that is young and talented and deep – the successor will have a splendid opportunity to continue Fergy’s incredible run of success.

Seeing how Jose re-jigged InterMilan this summer, it’s hard not to believe that this is a man who has a very, very keen eye for the main chance. Selling Zlatan and getting Eto’o, Thiago Motta, and Milito plus ca$h was a fantastic piece of business – addition by subtraction, plus additional addition !

SAF will leave huge shoes to fill. I’m not completely sold on Jose Mourinho as the answer but I’m damned sure that he’d be a better choice than Guus Hiddink.

Jellybean – you might not have been impressed with Nani’s contribution to the Portuguese victory but without him they wouldn’t have scored a goal and might still be playing ! I’m not saying Nani played perfect games but he was their danger-man and he delivered in the crunch when he was played on the right – you might want more but you’d only get more than that on a video game. I’m not saying he’s the finished article, either – Nani is inconsistent: frustrating but also extremely talented. Every player’s arc of development is unique: fortunately, this is something SAF understands. It’s a pity that so many of the UTD supporters don’t. The criticism of Nani’s play is just plain one-eyed: just like it was with Fletcherinho and John O’Shea – not every player develops to be a Cristiano Ronaldo; some of them just become “ordinary super-stars”.

@denton davey : There’s still admiration for hiddink mate. What he did at chelsea last season was enviable. He commands respect and I agree with one of ROM’s posts in which he says hiddink has the potential to be great at club football and replace SAF. Of course it might be a little early, but he’s certainly leagues better than mour’one’ho and co.
I’d just don’t want him to go to stinking real madrid now..