Hypocrite Ferguson talking nonsense

As Manchester United plunge ever further into enormous debt, manager Sir Alex Ferguson has taken an opportune moment to slam the recent big spending of rivals Manchester City.

City, under new owners for two years, have broken Premier League records for money spent on bringing big names to the club, as they look to break into the league's top four and compete with their successful neighbours.

Ferguson, who is no stranger to spending sprees himself, now insists the money being thrown around is getting out of hand, saying: "Some people may think it could be dangerous. The kind of spending we are seeing at the moment will be here for two or three years, until such time as they understand you can't necessarily achieve all the time by spending."

Perhaps Ferguson is jealous that he can no longer afford to spend £30million on luxury (and eventually flop) signings such as Veron and Berbatov, as well as somewhat more successful, but equally pricey, big names in van Nistelrooy and Ferdinand. The Scotsman has now talked up the culture at his club of bringing through young players.

Sounding almost like our very own Arsène Wenger at times, Fergie said: "Young players develop if you are looking after them properly. They have a loyalty because they appreciate the education you give them as coaches. How we treat players is important.

"It is difficult to know what other clubs think. We are just the type of club who can do it. Maybe the difference is that other clubs don't have the consistency in manager and staff that we have.

"The foundations of this club were built on young people, going back to the 1950s. It has not really left.

Sounds almost feasible at first sight, doesn't it? Sure, United had great success in bringing through the likes of the Neville sisters, Giggs, Scholes and Beckham in the 90s, but this youth system has not shown the same quality since, as Ferguson could afford to spend a combined total of nearly £40million on Carrick and Hargreaves rather than giving Darron Gibson or Tom Cleverly from his famed academy more playing time.

If Ferguson means young players like Ronaldo, Rooney, Nani and Anderson (all signed as teenagers), then he's talking about players who cost a combined total of £78million, something Arsenal could certainly never compete with, at least not at the moment.

At Arsenal we certainly can't claim to have brought through as many British players directly from our academy, but the young players we sign are properly youngsters when we sign them, not big names for big prices like Wayne Rooney.

Key players who have made up the majority of our starting lineup over the years – let's say - Kolo Touré, Cesc Fabregas, Gaël Clichy, Alex Song, Abou Diaby, Denilson, Emmanuel Eboue and Nicklas Bendtner all probably cost a total of AT MOST £5million. We are doing what Fergie wrongly thinks he is doing.

It's hard to say what will happen to United, and for now it will probably be more of the same – winning trophies, but if what Fergie says means the big signings will be stopping, then it's worrying times for a club that doesn't really know success any other way, despite what they say.

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