It's clear Joe Cole isn't going to leave by his own choice, so just how do we get rid of player thats on £90,000 p/week to do f**k all and play like utter horses**te when he does get the chance? Surely he realises that he isn't going to fixture in Liverpool's plans at all!? Surely his want for 1st XI football is more than his greed for money! I mean i'd do what Cole does for £90 a week! And probably do a better f**king job! P.S Thought Brad Jones has a cracking game last night, really impressed with that lad since stepping up to the bench. Should be ahead of Doni when Doni returns.
If Doni returns. Maybe West Ham will make a move for Cole. He could do a great job at a team like West Ham, Reading, QPR, Southampton. Or give Stoke a midfielder who wont just sit back and defend, but who will retain their 'foul with every tackle' approach.
Na mate: the warning signs were there to see at Chelsea. For all his talk, he was happy to be a bit part player there too. Only the big wages & Chelsea eventually would have let him go had him come to us. I hope the inland revenue find some fault & take it all off him. Bastard.
£90K per week to be a professional sportsman & he sups like a fish & smokes tabs. He's an embarrassment to himself, let alone his employer & his profession
Let's just recap: He was the main man every muppet and her sister was calling for in the World Cup to play alongside Gerrard. Based on that, which may have been hype - much like Rodgers has been running on hype - Purslow offered him stupid money to come to us so we had a marquee name while we went down the H&G plughole. Kenny ships him out as part of the demand to lower the wage bill. Cole goes to France and shines. Brendan brings him back and now he's pish. Well, it's an utter mystery to me.
He didn't shine that brightly in France, hence the reason there was still no takers for him. Anyone can see he's pish at PL level these days, he's finished as a top drawer player.
Just hasn't worked out, and let's be brutally honest - we are no longer rich/'big' enough to do these vanity signings on former great players (and Joe bloody was - seven years ago) who are just looking for a last payday to top up their pension pot. Brendan is trying to rebuild the squad bottom-up, and that's 20 promising kids' wages that, if only 2 made the ultimate grade like a Sterling or, hopefully, Wisdom, is far more important to our future than a fading star on the wane. But what to do? Cole and Hodgson are the aftermath of the last days of the imploding H&G regime, just like the stadium debt. Get what we can and bite the bullet. And ffs, people batten down the hatches, give Brendan time, endure the mid-table for the immediate future, and stop wishing for quick fixes in tranfer windows of players who look good on FIFA 2012. Rather than go out and buy a 100k a week 30 year old, we should get 3 20 year -olds on 10k a week whom we can increase their wages later if they cut it. Long term now in everything. No quick fixes.
Another one of Hodgson's gems. The only way to get rid is to sell, which I can't see happening as his wages are too high for smaller clubs to pay and let's face it, teams fighting for the league won't want him.
Talking of getting 'cheap' strikers on moderate wages in transfer windows, how the **** did we miss out on Jelavic? We would have made top-six, if not edged a CL place (okay, we would have lost it anyway to Chelsea, as it happens) had we had a half-decent goalscorer like him. And before any B/S accuse us of arrogance it was in several papers last January that his agent was touting him to us, but Kenny and Commoli baulked at the price, and FSG said we had no money in January. I know I said in the previous post to beware quick fixes in january, but my b/s uncle reckons he's on £30k a week? Dunno if that's true, but here is an object lesson in how we've got to think more like Moyes nowadays than pretending we're Chelsea or City, let alone United or Spurs.
Okay, so lets have a bit of a sweep. I've got an old carpet, who is going to provide the car and weights, plus who is going to do 'the deed'...?
I heard he's on £35K per week (not for long like, as I'm sure he'll get a pay hike shortly) & we paid £2.5M up front & the rest was a mixture of drip / performance based increments, the maximum figure could reach £5.5M. A bargain as it turns out, but at the time it was a gamble, as no-one else was fighting us for his signature. But you're right, that's the sort of market that you'd be best off look at.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Look at Newcastle, there are half a dozen players (Ben Arfa, Cabaye, Ba, Cisse, Obertan, Marveux (sp), etc) that they gambled on with quite a few of them paying off. You could say we gambled with Carroll, Henderson, Downing, Enrique, Coates, Doni, etc too but not many of them worked out, only problem for us was that they weren't gambles at the same level, these were MASSIVE gambles in comparison Some you win, some you lose, it is about limiting the risk
He didn't take many gambles, he was wheeling and dealing because he had to sell to buy. Although we didn't know much about a lot of the players he bought in, most of them came from Spain so Rafa knew them fairly well Anyhow, depending on your judgement and opinions, Rafa had around a 50% success rate which is pretty good for any manager
Newcastle's hit rate is immense tbf, Carr is making that beaut Pardew look better than he is imo. Your purchases were just iffy buys at inflated fees, it was like you asked how much & the selling club just thought of a number, doubled it, added £5M & you said - Ok then. The prices you paid were made, no wonder the Yanks have drawn in the purse strings, after seeing money being pissed away like that.
Most of the gambles he had taken, the players were sold in excess of their purchase price. The only ones I remember not being are Keane, Aquilani and Riera, there probably are a few more but those are the only ones that spring to mind atm.
No arguments with that but my point still stands, gambles need to be taken but it is the element of risk that fluctuates and should be kept to a minimum. For example, £35m on Andy Carroll was beyond a high risk which was never going to become 'safe'. Whereas spending £15m on Joe Allen is a medium risk IMO. He is young and proven in the Premier League, the manager knows him well, not massive wages and, in all likeliness, his value will increase. Spending £22m on Suarez is a large amount but he was also a worldwide established player, I'd say his signing was on a par with the Joe Allen deal in terms of risk. Edit: basically, every signing is a gamble to a degree, risk management is the key.
^ Sure, every transfer carries risk, even when you're trading at the very top of the market (Chelsea & Torres being a great example), & you're right it's about minimising the risk. The clubs who are the best at it, will look to do that by being extremely thorough, checking every aspect of the player e.g. his history, injury record, temperament, off field lifestyle etc etc.
It should be a simple calculation of the lower the risk the higher the fee/wages the club are prepared to pay but there is also an element luck too...£20m on Downing was probably an equivalent risk as spending £7m on Ben Arfa considering the latters problems prior to joining, one worked out but the other hasn't, the only difference being is the figure.
