Bring back the fax machine.
It’s the transfer that’s dragged on all summer but when it finally came to the crunch it turned out that football (or at least football administration) is not the universal language.
Manchester United and Real Madrid – two of the the biggest club’s on the planet – couldn’t complete the transfer of David De Gea by the 11pm close of the Spanish transfer window because… wait for it… officials in Spain couldn’t open the files that were sent from Old Trafford.
In fact they missed the deadline by a whole 60 seconds.
The word is that they will make a special appeal to the Spanish league administrators on Tuesday, presumably on the basis that they’re all idiots and nobody knew how Google (other search engines are available) to figure out how to open the files.
No doubt the appeal will be successful – Real Madrid and Manchester United tend to hold a lot of sway when it comes to dealings with footballing admins – but at the moment the deal has not gone through and De Gea remains a Manchester United player.
And if he doesn’t want to play for United, he could always go and work in Real’s IT department. Sounds like they could use the help.
Unsurprisingly, the internet went into total meltdown when it emerged just why the transfer was off.
The documents did not arrive on time!!!!!! Presentation was ready. All agreed. But as it stands de Gea stays at MUFC!!
— Guillem Balague (@GuillemBalague) August 31, 2015
Now we are hearing that United did send the documents on time but in a format that couldn't be opened at the LFP. Windows 95?
— AS USA (@English_AS) August 31, 2015
The two biggest clubs in the world, ladies and gentlemen.
— Andrew Gaffney (@GaffneyVLC) August 31, 2015
Looking forward to The Ed Woodward Movie starring Jim Carrey. pic.twitter.com/eWB8rvLKqJ
— Subscribe to GrantWahl.com (@GrantWahl) August 31, 2015
Hearing Man United sent the wrong file type for the De Gea documents, leading to a .tiff with Real Madrid.
— Matthew Stanger (@MatthewStanger) August 31, 2015
This is comforting proof that, if the two biggest clubs in the world can't fill in a form, absolutely nobody knows what they're doing.
— Nick Miller (@NickMiller79) August 31, 2015
Six years late but Fergie finally sold Madrid that virus.
— Alex Shaw (@AlexShawTel) August 31, 2015
https://twitter.com/_Zeets/status/638487504916754432
Seems fairly obvious who was in charge of ensuring the De Gea deal went through on time pic.twitter.com/gZK1WtePoV
— Conor Heneghan (@conorheneghan1) August 31, 2015
That's what happens when you mess about with new fangled methods like Windows 95. pic.twitter.com/mEXhoyXk2J
— Jim Boardman (@JimBoardman) August 31, 2015
Or that even the most incompetent nobhead could earn millions working in football admin. https://t.co/XdC4RRewtB
— Mark Chapman (@markchapman) August 31, 2015
