Nobody can begrudge a player in his late 20s taking 1 last big contract pay cheque to safeguard his family’s future.

His 10 + yrs, loyalty and dignity ought to be enough for ppl to give their blessings to him when he moves on.

Give him a break.

In the bigger scheme of things, Fergie seems to think that he has many long-term options like the Brazilian twins, Simpson. For Utd’s sake, better hope he is right.

Look at it this way, ACMilan are willing to pay oldies (and goodies) like Cafu to provide veteran cover because they know that in the season’s crunch-time it´s crucial to have veteran defenders who can provide cover for injuries (remember last year ?)

Also, “replacing” someone like Wesley is an expensive proposition UNLESS these Brazilian kids can come good as fast as Anderson. Any “replacement” – like Lahm or Dani Alves – will not only command a huge transfer fee but also much, much bigger wages than Wesley.

Plus, there’s the penny-wise/pound-foolish argument – for a gigantic merchandising operation like UTD, winning isn’t the main thing, it’s the only thing. So, what’s another ten or fifteen thousand quid a week for insurance ? Remember, the club’s budget is based on an income of 250 million quid a year but IT IS FRAGILE so for a gigantic operation like ManUtd, winning has to be the paramount objective.

It’s hard to be a consistent winner if you strip away key, proven assets and think that they can be “replaced” by the likes of Danny Simpson. It just ain’t so. The landscape has changed a lot since “winning with the kids” happened. THAT was a fluke – it hasn’t happened again.

Brown has been growing in performances and although he doesn’t get forward as well as Neville, he is getting a lot better. I don’t mind waiting til the close season to see where this goes.

I don’t want Brown to leave though.

I for one am not against Wes Brown in his contract negotiations as I fully understand the need to get the best deal being this his last contract negotiation before reaching the age of 30. This was the same issue with Gariel Heinze, who unfortunately tried to sell a melon in wanting a Liverpool move for so called football reasons rather than just saying it was for money and the club not exceeding to his demands. The same occurred with Thierry Henry who chose to move after only one year into his new extended contract and after saying he wouldn’t. Age 30 and last big contract is a major factor in this. In Brown leverage is the Bosman ruling that allows him to go for free and us having to fork out transfer fees plus maybe signing on fees and wages for a new target. This is presumed as we can just as easily promoted Danny Simpson or Kieron Lee to back up Gary Neville, with Brown portion of wages now allocated to the younger players, keeping payroll check.

What can’t be disputed is that Brown has in his hands the opportunity of getting signing on fees and a higher wage package from an external club that does not have to pay transfer fees for him. Michael Ballack is a good case of squeezing the maximum out of this avenue. Brown’s agent is no doubt using this leverage.

The club has a targeted goal of achieving wage to turnover ratio of under 50% and have as at last season done so, getting the commendable level of under 43% (Chelsea recently announced theirs at 71%!). It is right for the club to keep this long term thrift practice in mind as the basic wage earnings more than transfer fees and performance related bonuses that has the detrimental effect of spiralling and snowballing throught the playing staff. Policy is thought through and discipline in practice should be enforced.

Brown at present isn’t being marginalised. He gets 10,000 pounds per week for every match he makes an appearance (in the papers, a reliable source as details from this article which also come from them). Whatever figure he is asking in addition has to bear in mind that his age IS INDEED about 29 and the contract on offer is for 4 YEARS in a player that in general is not a first team starter (more importantly not expected to be one in 2-3 years time) and has chronic injury record. This is in fact a long period for a person with injury record and the wages are spread over the period to give the player security, when is could have been lop to say two years at a higher wage that favours the club’s security in case of debilitating injury to Brown later on. (Only Chelsea are crazy to give Paulo Fereira a 5 year contract at this age).

He would in fact have low resale value past 30, which is less than a years time, something that can’t be said of John O’Shea (recent rumour is that Keane wants O’Shea and is willing to pay 4 million pounds for him, as example) or Partice Evra. John O’Shea also has an element to his pay that some other players have in that he brings foreign appeal and in his case the Irish fan contingent. This contributes to turnover and hence rewarding him in return does not mesh up the wage/turnover ratio. Park Ji Sung is said to be elevated to 67, 000 pounds last season, after only one season with us is a prime example. His wage and image rights takes into consideration not just the footballing reasons but also his off pitch contribution as well as his age. I can’t comment on Evra as I was under the impression his contract negotiations are still underway and have not reached any conclusion.

Brown being local and English has this already taken into consideration and if he is behind, it is because of his own nature being more introvert and not capitalising on his local fame to generate more for the club, that he might get more from them in return. Other like Rooney and Ferdinand etc have and are paid accordingly.

I personally think that Brown will eventually sign and the club would compromise slightly if the repeated three offers (increases) are to be believed. If he chooses to go, I will understand both parties stand and look to the positives, meaning the opportunity to elevate the young players or get someone new, starting at a level appropriate to age, ability and injury record. It is after all part of our overall rejuvenation programme for the squad.