It is a positive news and this man seems ultimately loyal to Laudrup above anything else, he is also too rich to care about engineering moves for his clients which can only be a good thing. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22680217
This actually worries me a little as what he's quoted as saying seems to back up what Dai is getting at
It matters little because we were given no context, Dai could be very right however the picture painted by the media suggests he wants ridiculous amounts of money. But the reality could be that Laudrup has his head screwed on and thus for him £20m is mega buck for a club on our budget and he see's that amount as the backing he was promised. The way the media were writing things it sounded like he wanted over £50m to spend, I seriously doubt Laudrup expects anywhere near to that sort of cash.
If you read Dai's argument on the Laudrup and co thread, he sees the comments coming from Laudrup as meaning 'back me up or I'll walk' while everyone else is arguing that it's the press spin on what he actually says. Some of the quotes in that article from his agent seem a lot closer to actually saying that, mentioning other offers Laudrup has had and saying that the board need to keep their promises. Why is this being repeated again, now from another source
But isn't this the first his agent has actually spoken about it? You would imagine that any manager would walk if they weren't given any funds, look at Mourinho... he walked from Chelsea because they didn't give him the £100m he wanted to spend I am not worried about the situation, I know of so many instances where managers leave because they didn't get funds and I think Laudrup will get his.
I actually believe that Sir Michael has put his reputation and future prospects on the line for us . This is his manager just shaking the cage, gently though. to make sure everyone is clear and in no doubt about what Sir Michael has said previously , and that is we have to invest in the team if we want to establish our position as a Premier League team. We all know that there will be teams after him but he wants to do a good job while he is here but needs the money to do so simples !
To be fair to Dai, he is right where each media outlet will assign someone to the Swans and that person will follow them everywhere. Another thing to note is how did this subject arise? Most likely he was asked a question and simply answered it truthfully, everything we know about this man is that he is too class to bring up the subject himself. We all know, Dai included, how the media loves to create controversy where none exists and they go looking for answers on those most contentious of questions.
BUT, look at the timing,this has come just before the transfer window opens ............, Sir Michael just want's the readies ready!
What does worry me is the mention of players only wanting to sign for Laudrup. It's great for now, but what happens when Laudrup does move on? How many of those players will want out at the same time?
While I agree that there is an element of this again it can be looked at that it's his manager underlining that , but also if you were playing in a league where your not always paid, wouldn't you be tempted to join an EPL side where your are paid regularly and your prospects for being seen are increased at least 10 fold?
We should be prepared against players leaving when Laudrup does go, and he will go at some point. Even if it is just one more season we can hope we use this next season to establish the Swansea brand and make it appealing to other players who may want to join us in the future.
yeah i agree, its best now that we use any resource we can get to cement ourselves in the Prem and make ourselves a attractive place to be with or without Laudrup
There is a bit too much negative feeling for me on this subject. Each to There own but why Wonder or worry about what happens to players when laudrup goes? Why not enjoy the good times ? We all know laudrup Will be off sooner rather than later,if he goes and his players want to go to then we Get top dollar for them dont we? What if laudrup went and we got another top player/ up and coming coach? Maybe like frank/ron de boar ,bergkamp,zola etc,etc ? The good times Will come to an end one day,when they do we RE group and go again. WBA Are a great example to follow,they play good football and do it with little fuss. I understand people feeling a bit touchy but its all beyond our control anyway. The board should understand that they have got lucky These last few years by doing it on the cheap,Even they know the day Will come when we have to spend big. As i said before,The board probably have a good reason to maintain negative spin,it lowers expectation and lets other teams know we wont throw away money or Get ripper off,its called hard ball and its vital we operate that way . The money Will be There for laudrup im sure, but we Will never advertisethe fact we Are giving him X amount because clubs Will push up the price,this happened in january with canas. I beleive There Are enough wise heads at board level(Martin morgan) to realise this is a case of speculate to accumilate. But the club Arnt going to make it known they Will spunk money away easily..thats all this is about IMO. We buy a good striker for 10m we can sell him for 20m+ . A decent striker like DG scored in our team so i dont Think its a big gamble when it comes to a good young prospect. What the club have been known to argue about is paying out for older players,There was some worry about zero RE sale of pablo which caused the delay of his move, if There is a problem i suspect its more to do with potential RE sale values and age rather than just the fee. Remember the club were prepared to pay £8m for siggy and they wernt as wealthy then as they Are now. Dont panic,enjoy the best period in our history and enjoy it as much as possible!it may not last forever !
There is a bit too much negative feeling for me on this subject. Each to There own but why Wonder or worry about what happens to players when laudrup goes? Why not enjoy the good times ? We all know laudrup Will be off sooner rather than later,if he goes and his players want to go to then we Get top dollar for them dont we? What if laudrup went and we got another top player/ up and coming coach? Maybe like frank/ron de boar ,bergkamp,zola etc,etc ? The good times Will come to an end one day,when they do we RE group and go again. WBA Are a great example to follow,they play good football and do it with little fuss. I understand people feeling a bit touchy but its all beyond our control anyway. The board should understand that they have got lucky These last few years by doing it on the cheap,Even they know the day Will come when we have to spend big. As i said before,The board probably have a good reason to maintain negative spin,it lowers expectation and lets other teams know we wont throw away money or Get ripper off,its called hard ball and its vital we operate that way . The money Will be There for laudrup im sure, but we Will never advertisethe fact we Are giving him X amount because clubs Will push up the price,this happened in january with canas. I beleive There Are enough wise heads at board level(Martin morgan) to realise this is a case of speculate to accumilate. But the club Arnt going to make it known they Will spunk money away easily..thats all this is about IMO. We buy a good striker for 10m we can sell him for 20m+ . A decent striker like DG scored in our team so i dont Think its a big gamble when it comes to a good young prospect. What the club have been known to argue about is paying out for older players,There was some worry about zero RE sale of pablo which caused the delay of his move, if There is a problem i suspect its more to do with potential RE sale values and age rather than just the fee. Remember the club were prepared to pay £8m for siggy and they wernt as wealthy then as they Are now. Dont panic,enjoy the best period in our history and enjoy it as much as possible!it may not last forever !
laudrup is building a brand. he's doing it very deliberately. we are the vehicle for that, which is ok since it appears the guy has the ability not only to identify and sign real talent below fair market value, but the players value him so highly they reportedly discount their demands for the experience. we must leverage this as much as possible on the short term. leverage ml's loyalty to players and vice versa. this is a longer term cash win-win for us too. sure players will leave when ml leaves but they will leave for top clubs that will pay fair market value plus a premium. and, the better we do, we shorten the short list of clubs that ml would leave to join. could this end badly for us, perhaps in some bizarre set of circumstances, but i think that this can only work out well. ml might even have his replacement lined up for us when he leaves. ml appears to be a totally different animal in this jungle.
I agree with a lot of the comments here. But let's look at what Laudrup's agent said. It's nothing new and not exactly what the EP reported either. He signed the extension ages ago after getting assurances about improving the squad. We knew this. The EP recently reported as a new development that Laudrup was now demanding funds "or I'll walk". Dai seems to believe that he said this but I don't. It's classic journo spin trying to make a story when there isn't one. Having said that, whereas I don't believe any new demands (remember that was the word used) were made by Laudrup it is open to the Board to withold funds and that may make ML think about his future - and rightly so. He's dead right about squad strengthening for two reasons. 1: Teams around us will strengthen and 2: We need greater depth now we're in Europe. If the Board don't see that then they are very, very foolish. So Dai's take is, and always has been right in one sense. If the Board renege on promises Laudrup may well have a rethink about his position, and so he should. Where he's wrong is that he's gone along with the EP spin on what is essentially old news. As for players coming for Laudrup. Again, this is nothing new and that's why the extension was so important. Let's worry about that later and enjoy the fact that right now we're attracting some good players. £8M to £10M for Aubameyang is a big fee for us but in terms of the Premiership ain't that high for a good striker. We're with the big boys now and we can't always go bargain basement. Onwards and upwards!
i think that laudrup and swansea are behind the scenes singing from the hymn sheet , i would say that huw and laudrup are very much aligned in their thinking and laudrup strikes me as a very realistic bloke and is well aware of our limitations financially, he knows the budget we have and our philosophy and thinking behind that financial budget, i suspect he will look to sell 1 of our bigger players to bolster his transfer budget and get a cheaper but possibly equally skilled replacement in from spain
