Have we become a feeder club ?

[manic-road]

If the money is right, all clubs will sell. It's business at the end of the day.

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

If you can do it with skill, selling (even your best players) can be a positive thing for your club.  I think the last manager we had who could do this was Ron Saunders.

When Gray and Gidman left in 1979 there was that feeling of `here we go again`. We didn't have that feeling 2 years later though.
Also when Ron Atkinson arrived, Platt was in the process of being sold or had just gone. 

[Billy Walker]

If you can do it with skill, selling (even your best players) can be a positive thing for your club.  I think the last manager we had who could do this was Ron Saunders.

When Gray and Gidman left in 1979 there was that feeling of `here we go again`. We didn't have that feeling 2 years later though.
Also when Ron Atkinson arrived, Platt was in the process of being sold or had just gone. 

Exactly.  If the manager knows what he is doing and there is a bigger picture and plan, selling a top player can be very positive for a club.  It's when clubs sell top players to plug financial holes elsewhere that it can be a soul-destroying business. 

Now, it's before my time, and maybe others will correct me here, but I get the impression that we sold the likes of Hitchens and Hateley because, financially, we were in a terrible way.  That type of selling is what destroys a club or, at least, signals a downward spiral.  When I hear the term "selling club" that's the kind of club I picture, one walking a tightrope, with no option other than to sell its best players constantly in order to survive.  That kind of situation gives you no control and no time to plan and build for success.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

If you can do it with skill, selling (even your best players) can be a positive thing for your club.  I think the last manager we had who could do this was Ron Saunders.

When Gray and Gidman left in 1979 there was that feeling of `here we go again`. We didn't have that feeling 2 years later though.
Also when Ron Atkinson arrived, Platt was in the process of being sold or had just gone. 

I'd argue the Gray and Gidman sales were nothing to do with moving on to a bigger club.
Neither player could stand Ron Saunders and Gray moved to wanky Wolves, hardly a step up, whilst John Gidman went to Everton, a sideways move at best.

[silhillvilla]

ManUre rarely sell their best players
Ronaldo & McGrath.
Can't recall any others.

[Percy McCarthy]

Beckham.

[ChrissyPrice]

Jaap Stam.

[dave.woodhall]

Paul Ince.

[MadJohnnyC]

Ruud van nistelrooy

[villan from luton]

Therefore most clubs are feeder clubs, would you call Man Ure a feeder club for selling Ronaldo to Real Madrid? Nearly every player has a price when the champions league mob come knocking

No i would not. He was already a world class player before he went to UTD.

No he wasnt IMO

[Chipsticks]

Didn't the club say were following the 'Ajax model'?

[PeterWithesShin]

There's maybe half a dozen clubs in Europe who aren't. We're hardly unique in being a feeder club.

And there's hundreds of clubs out there who are our feeder clubs.

[Chipsticks]

And there's hundreds of clubs out there who are our feeder clubs.

This is something that annoys me. People get angry when clubs come in for our best players, yet we've done the same to Crewe, Brighton, Watford, Middlesbrough, and Sheffield United to name but a few.

[DrGonzo]

When did we make any agreement with another club to sell out brightest youth stars??  So no.  What we re is a club who doesn't have the revenue stream of a Barca/real/utd/city etc.

[ktvillan]

I'd agree with The Man with a stick too, almost everyone has their best players nicked.  That's why clubs should be constantly keeping tabs on potential replacements so that the next generation has already been identified should a top player get poached.

Isn't that why we have our acadamy, and reserves, under 18 and so on ?

Partly.  But that didn't work too well in replacing the likes of Barry, Milner, Young and Downing.  But then neither did the signings we made, so improvement required all round.