Not sure where the gripes are coming from on the transfer price.
As well as not being likely to be in one payment, it is also what we ended up getting for Bale for five years ago, and around the same as we sold Walcott for six years ago. Both were Champioship players going to PL sides, and both were able to eventually step up and do well in top 4/5 sides.
£7m to me is a snip, seeing that he has lots of potential suitors. I certainly would prefer young English talent that can integrate into a young, emerging, academy-based side of the future than someone like Yakubu, who I saw us linked with! And as for the QPR fan saying they didn't sign anyone costing that much - and yes, look where they finished. They were extremely lucky not to go down (despite their good home run at the end of the season). One Bolton result away from the drop. They are certainly not a well-run club, from what I have followed of them in the press over the last few years, nor is their transfer policy (troublemakers in; decent defender out that ended up helping get Reading promoted) I would ever want to emulate (and that includes an absolutely appalling choice in managers for years up until Warnock). We can't be compared to them.
£7m is the price of investing in the future. The club have a plan, and Jay Rod fits nicely into it. Nor is it knee-jerk, as we have tried to buy him before. There is a big difference between a wise investment and a profligate approach to spending - Cortese has shown he is adapt at the former.
And remember - people frowned at us spending £1m on Lambert not so long ago...