Utd will have signed Carson because Seigrist is sure to be gone. Although, we signed Gillespie because we thought Carson would be gone, and you see how that worked out, so you never know.
We clearly competed with Utd financially in this case, or they weren't really in for Kelly, as we're sitting with the guy that we wanted, and they have our second choice keeper.
I doubt any other team would have asked for a fee for Carson in this situation, we've just signed his replacement and deemed him surplus to requirements, so we needed his wage off the books. Kind of similar to Kelly with QPR.
I thought Carson was an excellent keeper for us, and would have been happy with him as number 1 this year, but knee injuries are scary. I hope his run of bad luck has come to an end, as he still has a good few years ahead of him if he stays fit.