Well the negativity does drag down discussion. Whatever happens, the Board is blamed. We all knew that players had to leave before we could move on, and now that we are moving on it's still negative. Reasonable decisions are being made along the lines to restructure that most people accepted in the summer, but still some want to go back to buying big name players at big prices. Get real.
Thing is Rich, he used to work at the club and had an awful lot of inside knowledge. He actually knew what he was talking about and that didn't suit a lot of people on here who thought they knew it all. I, for one, was upset at his leaving, he always talked a lot of sense
Nope, none of us wanted that, which is why we were amazed we have set ourselves so much business to do towards the end of the most expensive, inflated window of the season. And why we are having to look to the German 3rd division again.
I have difficulty understanding exactly what you want, FML. What do you mean by "none of us wanted that"? You and DD and others say that we should 'send the boat out' and sign Jack Marriott from our 3rd division - a player who has never played above that level. As the great German writer Goethe once said, 'those who do not learn from the past are doomed to relive it'. We need a new direction and we have one. The results won't be instant, but I'm convinced they will come once the restructuring is over. I'm pleased with the three players now looking likely to sign and feel that we're now in a position to complete the restructuring by this summer. That may be too long for some, but having supported City for 45 years, I'm still prepared to be patient.
I didn't mention pushing any boats out Rick I endorsed a recruitment policy of looking to buy players like the 23 year old 24 goal scoring Lg1 top scorer. Just after collecting over ten million for Pritchard I believe investing about 3 or £4m of that on a striker to replace £1.5 to 2m Jerome would be sensible investment. If Marriott goes for £7m or more something you mentioned earlier then thats probably a bit too pricey. If wanting big name Peterborough players is an unrealistic goal then you have set the bar very low.
DD said he wanted him, I said he's a very good player. I agreed with the player he picked out was good enough to think about. I agreed he's a quality player, which has been proven now Crystal Palace are in for him. I dunno why that's bad to say. At least he speaks English, Is settled in England, has played in English leagues. A lot of these lower division Germans we brought in still haven't settled. They still look awful after half a season. It's a risk to sign any player. It is less of a risk to sign an English player in the English leagues, that knows the language, the culture, the style of play, the demands of these leagues. Than a player that has never played in this country, lived in this country, played in the country, or this countries leagues, and not even got to this level in his own country! I think it's a fair worry.
I quite agree that anything over £5M is too pricey for Marriott and what happened to the other Poosh forward that we were going to sign several years ago until Dion '[ut hos foot in it' - I don't remember him doing very well. As has been said elsewhere, we have to look at this season as one of restructuring and we have gone out (just) to PL teams in both cups and the average age of the first team has plummeted, as has the wage bill (IF you leave Naismith out of the equation.
I can see your point DD, but with the end of parachute payments, even £3-4m is a big whack to us now. The Pritchard and Jerome money, as said before, will be paid in installments, which means we have around £3-4m to finance spending on both fees and wages of players coming in. If £1.7m goes on Hernandez and another £500k on wages, more than half of that is gone. Add to that say £900k for Srbeny's fee and another £500k for his wages, there may be just enough to bring Leitner in on loan, given his Bundesliga wages. The good news is that we could get three players for the price of one and still have the rest of the Pritchard and Jerome money, plus that saved on their wages, to finance more restructuring in the summer. That's how I see it anyway.
I think the instalments argument isn't quite right. Just as we get paid in instalments, so we can pay for those incoming in instalments too. The issue is that if we spend now it will likely have an adverse effect on ability to spend in the summer. with that said if the play was the right one in January then at least we are 6 months ahead with a proportion of our plans. I think the reality is that if Marriot is considered a £7m player and goes for that, we will not get near the wages required. if Palarse for example are interested then his agent will already have priced his services out of our reach. very sad how badly run we have been that someone like Marriot looks unattainable. I worry about where we're going but still think that Webber is the best hope we have now our bed is made. Bah!
I remember the usual suspects demanding we pay a king's ransome for McCormack and Afobe, we certainly missed out there didn't we? Naismith, for all his ills is worth more than either of them. So much for UK players who know the English leagues!
I don't recall a single poster on here thinking McCormack would be a good signing . Another 30 something Scotsman on stupid wages and a ridiculous price . I remember the usual suspects saying that Gayle would be a good signing .
Callum Wilson Jamie Vardy Dele Alli Andre Gray Charlie Austin Grant Holt Dean Ashton John Stones James Maddison We can all throw names out that back up our points.
If we can't realistically look towards the cream of Lg1 for young up and coming players then it just proves how badly we have been governed.
You randomly listed 2 home league players who didn't work out when we luckily missed out on them. So, so much for English league players. You mentioned McCormack and Afobe for some reason.
