Well worth it, of course, but thats not my angle on this. Some press reports today that the bidding for him is up at that level with the Middle East owners of Paris SG prepared to outbid everyone..... leaving aside the usual risks its partly lazy journalism, it got me thinking - why would you pay a lot of money to buy PSG, a team without access to the riches of the Prem, when you could get Leeds, a team that could "easily" (don't laugh, go with me on this one, for the purposes of the argument) get to the Prem with the right focus and drive? Is it just they haven't a clue, and Paris is a capital city, or is it about ownership of the underlying assets like the ground, or is it that the riches they want are those of being in the Champions League, and they see a team in France as a good way to get there, or what ? I ask because genuinely, as a business man I would see Leeds at a low price as being a good buy, though I admit I don't know the financial implications of things like the ground and other infrastructure being leased. What do people think? We tend to just moan that no super rich investor has chosen to buy us - but why do we think that really is (leaving aside the emotions, objectively why would someone pay a fortune for a club like PSG then spend a fortune on players there, and not consider Leeds? (Leaving aside the long list that have chosen instead to queue up to buy Millwall, of course)
Perhaps they speak better French than English? Perhaps they prefer visiting and having a place on the Riviera than Beeston or Wakefiled? Perhaps, taxes in France are not as onerous as in England although Gerard Depardieu may disagree. Perhaps currently playing in Champions League provides more instant gratification and faster success.
Bale is nowhere near worth 85m and any club that pays that have idiots in charge. And am I seriously the only person that doesn't want their club to be bought by a billionaire spending stupid amounts of money every transfer window. I prefer the route of success that Arsene Wenger has taken with Arsenal than that of Man City and Chelsea.
Agree with you. But I would like to think we might have owners prepared to "lash out" 1% or 2% of that amount on a player or two, as well as bringing in freebies. It was the thought that it was ridiculous to be spending this much on one player - plus the contrast to our own transfer activity where we have spent nothing at all on transfer fees - that made me make the post.
Yea, people seem to forget though that we spent around 3m last summer in transfer fees and it was all spent before we sold snoddy too. The difference is that Warnock was terrible with his signings and wasted money all too easily, I would like to think if we spent similar then we would have a squad capable of promotion.
Lets not rehabilitate Bates' repuitation though, the stats show throughout his tenure we were big net sellers overall (The stats are not perfect as clubs don't always say, but there are web sites tracking this and the pattern they show is clear - Leeds have sold, consistently. and a lot more than we have paid on incoming players)
You may well be. Like it or not, football in the pl is all about money. We might admire what Wenger has done but I know lots of unhappy Gunners fans unhappy with a decade without a trophy and ludicrous high ticket prices. Personally I dont care how we get there any more. Totally fed up with a decade floundering in lower divisions and still no nearer to a return
Im not but Bates ended up putting a lot of faith into Warnock and it didn't pay off. I want the same amount of faith put into McD and I would expect much better results
Well said Josh, no player is worth that and I'm including messi as well. Football has been ruined by Sky and all these wealthy foreigners. Wenger may be a tit, but Arsenal seem to be run well and in the black(no racism intended)
No worries shako as it's not a new thing It just seems a current thing now as we obviously weren't around years ago apart from Mighty Mick
Don't mention the monkey hanged for spying in Jeff Stelling land if you're ever there as it pisses them right off! I wouldn't dare myself.
