I don't have a problem if the board & manager came together & decided together that they'd been outpriced of moving any further for the player based on age & what both the manager & board agreed they are worth, that isn't a problem. What I do have a problem with is if things were working the way you said, with the board doing their own merry little thing & the board alone deciding that a player isn't of sufficient ability or their style isn't what we want, for clear & obvious reasons.
At the end of the day someone has to make the final call, Mourinho isn't Fergie or Wenger that has some kind of moral compass when it comes to what is paid, Mourinho just wants what he wants regardless.
As for that UEFA initiative, first I've heard of it but it sounds like a waste of time. If teams can't spend their money on transfers, it will instead just go into wages, agent fees & signing on fees. The money will still be there, but rather than going from club to club, it will go to agents & players.
Not really, it might force managers and clubs to actually use their Academies and try and progress players already at the club instead of buying 5 new ones every window because they didn't win a pot the season before.
The role itself perhaps is crucial, but the player isn't. McTominay literally ticks the same boxes & we know Mourinho likes him after stumbling onto him. He's 6'4 so he adds aerial presence at both ends of pitch & he's competent enough to be relied upon to add another layer of protection for our CB's should we be protecting a lead.
I can't stand Fellaini but you are hugely underestimating what he can do in saying a mediocre kid like McTominay can do his job, he's much stronger than McTominay for starters and miles better in the air, and you can hit him with that target ball to the chest better than practically anyone in the game.
We weren't going to get anybody had Fellaini went that's the problem, we'd have just been another midfielder down. In hindsight that's probably why his contract wasn't renewed until the very last minute, a desperation renewal because Woodward & the rest of the brain trust couldn't land us anyone. It's not like it's a difficult task finding a midfielder that's an upgrade to him at pretty much any price.
We would have gotten someone had Fellaini went but I think you are way off in thinking Mourinho wanted another CM rather than Fellaini re-signing, Mourinho loves the guy, practically wets himself when he talks about him.
Those Manduzkic links weren't to replace Fellaini because Fellaini isn't a striker, it was more than likely to replace Zlatan as should Lukaku go for any extended period we're going to really be lacking a striker that can lead the line.
Manduzkic serves the same purpose as Fellaini in his aerial strength both at set pieces defensively or as a target option to beat the press, that is why he was a Fellaini replacement option. As for the striker situation, maybe if we didn't play such an archaic style then Sanchez, Martial or Rashford could play as the striker, but of course we need to lump the ball up so that's why we were gonna spend more money on long ball targets.
Sandro & Alderweireld seemed the most consistent connections, our name was thrown around for Willian near the end but only after Barcelona & Real Madrid had reportedly made offers for him, I think we were only mentioned because we were connected with him last summer. Same with Perisic, he was never an option this year, we wouldn't pay the £55m Inter wanted for him last summer when he was 28, we apparently wouldn't go over £50m, he then signed a new contract after window shut & then went on to have an excellent World Cup so his price will have went up not down. Rebic also wasn't an option because if I recall I heard them mention during the World Cup that he'd only recently completed a permanent move to Frankfurt.
Willian was mentioned a lot from the final game of the season, I remember it starting after his antics over Conte after the FA Cup final, he would have been far and away Mourinho's #1 choice.
No idea why we weren't interested in Malcom considering before Barcelona questionably landed him, Roma almost gobbled him up for £30m & Mourinho was very interested in him in the winter window.. perhaps he wanted him instead of Martial but with him staying there was no need?
We weren't interested in Malcom because he's a young flair winger who is erratic and inconsistent, absolutely no use for Mourinho, I think the link to us in January was to try and draw Spurs out but they opted for Lucas Moura, another player we were erroneously linked to in that window to draw out other bidders.
All in all though it was piss poor from the board whatever way you want to argue it, they literally had all year to sort this out & iron out a transfer strategy that would appease themselves & the manager. In fact if I recall I think Jose actually commented around March that he'd like 4 or 5 players brought in, so it would be safe to assume he'd maybe recommended some names as early as then probably 1st & 2nd choices. All this ****e should have been sorted out before the window even opened. I'm pleased to see that the club at least realises they've made a balls up of this window & we are supposedly actively looking to get a director of football to help make things run far smoother. It will or should at least give us a consistent transfer strategy rather than this erratic ******** we have going at the minute.
You want to lump it all on the board but I think what this summer was, was the point where we reached an impasse with a manager we never should have appointed, so far he's destroyed the confidence of two of our young talents, Rashford has gone backwards under him and he's working on driving Pogba out of United, while still ****ing himself over the likes of Fellaini, Young and Matic and refusing to hold Sanchez to the same standards as the young players he throws under the bus, he's the complete wrong fit for Manchester United and this window simply brought things to a head, you were never going to find a list him and the board agree on as they are diametrically opposed, Mourinho wants experienced, senior grafters, the board want exciting, young, marketable players, they are too far apart and now we will just tread water until Mourinho goes.
t: Oh damn
Im not sure how comfortable I am with someone arriving that prolongs Mourinhos presence, but at the moment having someone that lays out a clear long term strategy is crucial so Im not going to be too picky about who it is. 
