Jesus it’s like taking a horse to water then finding it refuses to drink despite being severely dehydrated. Nobody expects Rafa to buy PL players or even better players to play in the championship. However he could have less money buying equivalent players and also not bought deadwood he didn’t need nor use. He wasted a ****load of cash getting out of the championship. We’ve been saddled with players he can’t use now as a result, had to sell, etc. We have two examples of other clubs operating in the same timeframe, facing similar rebuild challenges, managing it on much more meagre budgets. Huddersfield is extreme. It’s probably admittedly a bit of a stellar job by Wagner. It’s difficult to see how’s he’s achieved on such a meagre budget, I accept that. Risky. Hughton has an extra season so not quite an exact match. I accept that. However if people can’t see we overspent getting out of the championship and this hurt our budget for this season, then I am at a loss to understand how. It is very clear. The RHC (Rafa Happy Clappers) just don’t want to concede he maybe could have managed the money better. So it’s “****ing Ashley, he’s lied” “****ing Ashley the tight ****”. Absolute balls. The guy has had enough money to get the job done, if he doesn’t you can’t blame someone else. If he does, then as I say he can say i got it right. I just think he could have made it easier and not had to spend his time trying to con the fans through the media.
Holy hell man you have got to understand this time: Hudds and Brighton did NOT have a “similar rebuild challenge”. The budget for this season should be based on all known income, not excluding pending payments. He spent what he spent and won the division, in the absence of a time machine you cannot say anyone would have done better. He spent less than the club made. The amount, given the outcome, is of no consequence. I will repeat, he has spent less in the PL than any other team. He bought in the Championship to win that league. He is not getting money the club is guaranteed to get. His budget is restricted. His success is unarguable. He won the Championship and isn’t in the relegation zone in spite of having the lowest budget of the three promoted clubs. This is all fact. And I’m not commenting again, it’s a waste of time.
I agree with Spack here I think Rafa has over spent in the championship on players that didnt contribute or players who under performed or just didnt play at all. If you factor wasted wages, signing on fees and the actual transfer fee you could argue that: Gamez - was a complete waste of money - free but £30k a week on wages = £2 million wasted (approx) Lazaar - was a complete waste of money - £3 million + £30k a week on wages = £5 million wasted (approx) Hanley - was a complete waste of money - £5.5 million + £30k a week on wages = £7.5 million wasted (approx) Sels - was a complete waste of money - £5 million + £30k a week on wages = £7 million wasted Colback, Mitro, Saivet all on the books still which was silly but maybe we couldnt get shot of the. And then this season, £6 million on Atsu + wages - I think he is crap £5 million on Joselu + wages - Obviously crap £4 million on Manky + wages - WORST SIGNING EVER! I have but named only a few of the expensive mistakes that Rafa has sanctioned and all of which are no better than any players they replaced. GG
So Huddersfield have to loan/buy 15 first team squad members that same summer having looked a poor championship side previously but they didn’t have a similar rebuild challenge. Quite simply they did. You can’t look at this season in isolation. It’s not spend all the money one year. He knew the club wouldn’t generate as much money the following summer. If he hadn’t worked that out he’s a moron. He hasn’t had the lowest budget over a two season period. He has had by far the largest.
We aren't going to do this the easy way. 6 points, maybe 7/8 from those games. So 31-33 points. We then will need another 5+ points from our other 8 games. Honestly looking at the home game to Chelsea last game of the season, if we need to win and they need nothing then I think we'll win. Not fun leaving it until then and we'd have to do it without Kenedy but there you go.
Gamez was good cover that thankfully, in hindsight, wasn't needed. Hanley we sold for a fee so didn't waste as much money as you suggest. Sels was inexcusable, I'd say he was our 4th choice keeper in terms of talent. Lazaar I think just didn't settle, there's a player there who should have been able to do a job in the Championship. Rafa has always been wildly hit and miss with transfers, Gayle and Ritchie were our two best players last year (though Lascelles, Clarke and Shelvey were all good too). I also quite like Yedlin, though struggle to fully justify that. This season: Atsu has looked a £6m player and unless you'd prefer to have seen Gouffran was a good buy. Joselu has looked a £5m striker and having watched our alternatives so far this season I wonder where we would be if we'd relied on them instead - actually possibly worse. Manquillo is ****e. Murphy has looked good and Merino should be a steal at the price we paid if he can regain form. Oh and Kenedy+Slimani will save us.
I think this whole debate boils down to this. Rafa has had to work for 2 seasons recycling a relegation quality squad. He has bought some bad players. He has bought some good players. Hus choice of both the good and bad players has been restricted by budget. Space thinks that some other managers have bought better and therefore criticises Rafa for not having done as well as he thinks they have done. The RHC, to use his term think 1. It is a bad idea to rely on recycling a relegation squad 2. Rafa has done his job by winning the Championship and having us currently out of the relegation zone 3. Comparisons are not that usefu, and 4. It is a really bad ****ing idea to rely on recycling a relegation squad
The spack boy is just testing out his big rod. He’s trying to deflect from his colon cleansing silver Fox love in
I think we are all missing the fact that Fredor is messing with our heads here. It is quite clear that he has decided to tweak his two accounts when he couldn't get the ban lifted on his other account so that the Fredor one only posts on the Sunderland board and the Captain Spack one is used to wind-up this board with the usual twisted facts and outright lies. He is obviously quite good at this though as not once as he referred to 1896, crowd sizes or weightlifting prowess in a German army camp. I can start a poll for a moderator investigation as a first step to a banning if users feel thats appropriate.
