Just a thought regarding wages.
Seeing as we move in to the new stadium in only a years time and revenues will increase, is there really no way we can break the wage structure due to the problems it could be causing us in signing "next level" players to take us forward?
We've discussed how our options seem to be limited due to fees, wages demands in this crazy market etc etc, but we're only talking about 12 months. We've recouped millions in sales, and whilst we've always kept the books in good order, would this potentially not be beneficial to us if it means taking the club to another level when we move in, and be ready to hit the ground running?
Obviously the knock on effect is that other players in the squad will want more money, so why not give it to them as well? We've made a habit of rewarding players who've played well with new contracts and pay rises to show our appreciation when we've not actually needed to, so is it really out of the realms of possibility for this short period?
Could these players be less likely to want moves away in a years time if they feel they are being rewarded more in line with other players at other clubs? Would the cost of doing this for a year potentially outweigh the repercussions of a year from now? Could it actually be a good investment in terms of preparation for our first season at the new WHL, and would it make us a more attractive club to either remain at, or join, even if we don't win anything again this season?
This may be one of my worst posts ever, but we've just sold walker for over £50m, and I'm keen to know your thoughts on whether this wage-structure-break could actually be an investment, rather than a liability.
What do you think?
The obvious counterpoint is to highlight Arsenal's transfer business in the last couple of seasons before moving to the Emiroids, as the business looked something like this:
Manuel Almunia (£4.25m)
Mathieu Flamini (£480k tribunal)
Emmanuel Eboue (£1.5m)
Niklas Bendtner (£75k)
Vito Mannone (£350k)
Armand Traore (undisclosed)
Alexander Hleb (£7m)
Abou Diaby (£2m)
Emmanuel Adebayor (£8.5m)
Theo Walcott (£5m w/£7m in add-ons)
Mart Poom (£850k)
Similar can be said for the two seasons after moving in:
Alex Song (£3.4m)
Thomas Rosicky (£8.5m)
Julio Baptista (loan)
William Gallas (swap deal)
Denilson (£3.4m)
Lukas Fabianski (£2m)
Eduardo (£7.5m)
Havard Nortvied (£1.5m)
Bacary Sagna (£6m)
Lassana Diarra (£4m)
The majority of those deals all fall under the same guidelines: buy low, sell high, as by and large they weren't splashing the cash until the summer of 2008 where they spent over £10m on both Arshavin and Nasri, while spending large fees consistently didn't start until the summer of 2011.
Obviously the landscape has changed somewhat since, what with the TV money inflating like an airbag in a microwave on one side while the outside forces of Chelsea and City give reason to loosen the purse strings on the other, but that's not an automatic reason for clubs who didn't pick the car keys of a billionnaire out of the bowl at their private shindig to start hurling cash left and right for the sake of it, as we're still in the position of needing to spend smart rather than spending big.
There's the obvious problem with being in that position, though: there's enough big spenders who are only too happy to gazump us not because they want the player, but because they want us to not have the player. It's hardly new, as Man Utd and Chelsea were guilty of it well over a decade ago, but with City joining that particularly odious club while there's also examples such as Liverpool encouraging the mercenary behaviour of players by being only too happy to pay them six figures a week because of reasons it means we not only have to buy smart, but we also have to be pretty goddamn smart with buying smart so we can sign players that can improve the team which, for whatever reason, are not on the radar of other clubs.