Makes you laugh that a lot of fans still complained during our 4 Top 8 finishes and European campaigns. Not that the club is free from being criticised, just what a lot of them complained about wasn't nearly as bad as they thought it was/what it could have been.
I don't mind words either but I do prefer it if, when placed together, the words actually have some meaning. What wasn't said was far more revealing than what actually was. Ralph was clearly constrained and how on earth can that be happening now? No communication from the big man and by default, no plan for an attempted resolution. Extremely worrying if you ask me.
If the Nico Gaitan rumours are true then we may well see this put to the test in the next month with us, Everton, West Ham and Palace reportedly interested!!! Of course we will all be able to beat Fenerbache because of how rich we all are so it will be between us PL teams. https://as.com/futbol/2017/12/28/primera/1514497822_106908.html
Again, you seem to be confusing "can" with "will". There's a very good chance we don't win a race for Gaitan, assuming such a race actually exists, for the simple reason that we're unwilling to pony up as much money (in either transfer fee or wages) as Everton, West Ham and Palace. That doesn't mean that we don't have the means, but rather that we like our money better when it is in our own bank account. Which is the problem. We're operating under self-imposed restrictions that do not reflect our financial reality. We're crying poor when we're really quite rich.
I agree on us being stingy. I just disagree that we are in reality in any better position than most of the other Prem clubs in terms of "richness" a few million difference here and there with the only differences being club strategy itself. Even West Brom or Burnley "could" outcompete top European sides..............but they won;t because they have an even tighter spending policy than us.
West Brom certainly hasn't had a tighter spending policy. They consistently spend more than they take in from sales (this year, their net transfer spend sits at over 44m, and while they're likely to sell Jonny Evans out of necessity, they are apparently going to buy, too)...granted, they haven't spent it well, but that's not a tactical decision. Similarly, Burnley spent a fair wedge in 2016/17 without corresponding sales. The only two teams that consistently sell their better players to fund their transfer business are Swansea and ourselves.
Burnley and West Brom don't spend as much as we do and I don;t think they would even if they did sell (a) player(s) for silly money. I don;t mean to be argumentative btw. I just think that our position in the "rich list" doesn't mean much in reality. Players still want Champions League or a big club and we are just one of many in the middle of the Prem that are seen as "equal" to any player that wants to play in the Prem but can't attract the big clubs interest.
Hmm. Doesn't really say a lot there at all does he? Certainly nothing new anyway. Sounds like long term they want to buy up the land around St Marys but we knew that was always potentially on the cards. Might sound silly but I don't sense anything from the club about the reality of the situation we're in... which is concerning in itself. I'd suggest they need to sort out the on the pitch stuff as all this other **** is a bit of a pipe dream if we go down.
Bet my small toes that "stadium refurb" means "sprucing up the suites". Almost invariably does (particularly as football stadia do not allow for it to mean "install 150 ft long TV screen above the field").
It is a little odd. We have kept the board and structure in order to maintain continuity in our plans, but everything has ground to a halt while we hold periodic meetings. When time allows to sort out the verbiage, we hope to have some vague statements of intent from the new owners after they have spent...6-8 months reviewing the club, not including the 6-8 months of reviewing the club they'd have done as due diligence prior to the purchase. Actual action will take longer, mind.
Echo seem a bit silly releasing that in two parts, when the BBC had put out the whole interview on audio
The Echo either thought it would take us time to sift through Ralph Speak to work out what he was actually saying or there were so many words in the interview their computer systems couldn't cope with the volume of words
I understood part two a lot more than part one. It might sound positive at the off pitch investment and development in China, but that will all be pointless if we don't stay up.
My current thinking is that negativity on Social Media is doing more damage than anything the Club is doing, I presume these people think their contributions will improve the situation. I appreciate the anger and frustration being caused by the failures of the Board and its employees to address the problems, but I don't think that they are unaware of the situation and will eventually do something positive, but I hope it isn't already too late. RK's statement certainly doesn't offer much hope in my opinion, but I may not have understood what he was saying?
I am stunned at how far we have fallen. Three or four years ago we were the best run club in the country - bar none. To achieve what we achieved in our climb through the leagues was utterly fantastic. Now the club just don’t seem to have a clue. I am raging that we didn’t invest into the attack in the summer, and raging still that we are dragging our heels now. We have had months to identify and pursue targets. PULL YOUR FINGER OUT LES.
Seems to me a case of resting on our laurels and believing the hype that we are/were the best run club in the country. Crowning ourselves best of the rest like it is some sort of trophy when in reality we were never that much better than a lot of the league, vast majority of whom spend more than us so was inevitable for them to catch up/overtake if we didn't change our ways. Hoping this season is a wake up call to Les or the new owner has plans to try a different method as the current one is very risky if we want to remain a top flight club for the long term. That is assuming of course that we do stay up.
