Schwarzer - Stekelenberg Manolev - Zverotic ? Senderos - Amorebieta Baird - Boateng Diarra - ? Enoh - Parker Frimpong - ? Davis - ? Emanuelson - Taarabt Petric - Bent Riether - Riether Karagounis - Karagounis Kasami - Kasami So are the ones coming in an upgrade on those who have left ?
Now the window appears to be closed I can say- what a joke. Where has the Dembele/Dempsey money gone and what about the supposed TV rights windfall. I'm not calling for heads but less than £10m on transfer fees in the context of PL football this summer is very worrying. I'm sure we will be fine but I'm not happy with the way money seems to be being funnelled out of the club. The problem areas have been obvious for some time now and yet we will be starting with Sidwell and Riise next week, waiting for Richardson to come back. I wonder, is the realism of Fulham fans being exploited?
A valid question that needs to be answered by Shahid Khan, to show us what his intentions are. We needed at least 1 creative midfielder, if not 2, something that the CEO and manager have known for over a season since Dembele left. So we need answers from them why we haven't bought them. It looks like only free transfers will solve this problem, and that is not a good enough solution for me. From the list above I'd say they've improved the quality of the players bought in slightly, but problem is you just can't see who is going to create a partnership up front, they are so individual players, and all skillful but seem to lack a team ethic. There's also a problem with the Left back area.
When you take it in the round - as shown in this post by the Club - it doesn't look so bad http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2013/september/02/transfer-round-up Jol has probably spent £13m (and a wee bit) when you take into account the fee for Zverotic and the loan fees for Bent and Taarabt. He's also increased the wage bill significantly. And certainly not lowered the average age. The most worriying thing though is the point that SuperBri makes - we now seem to have a collection of individuals but no team.
It seems that our owner, CEO and manager are happy with our display so far and the team's prospects. Might be was the case that nobody was available at a reasonable price for that CM role or left back. Or simply too slow to off-load Riise. We are in a for a long season but hope is not dead. If Jol manages to create a team then we will see some good football. Last season has shown us some glimpses of the potential. Come on Fulham
I don't think left back is such a big problem, if Amore can play there too (as a lot of sources, including the club website, say). I think when he comes back he'll play there. Also, has Senderos actually left?
I didn't post anything yesterday, mainly because I was working all day but also because if I had, there would have been a backlash. At the start of the day, I wanted SEVEN things to happen, they are as follows. Riise gone Senderos gone Rodallega gone (with replacement) Creative central midfielder to partner Parker Two left backs to challenge for first team spot (Riise, Richardson, Briggs all not good enough) Right back to challenge for first team spot (I suppose we got this, although keeping Baird would have been a better option) What an absolute disaster of a day. When Khan came in we were rumoured to become the biggest spenders this transfer window (bar Spurs) after having been linked to quality such as Osvaldo, Chantome, Gargano etc and ended up spending the LEAST, with our only deadline day signing being an obscure right back from the Swiss league to fill Manolev's place on the bench. If Khan is waiting until January to release funds then on the basis of our first three league games, and performances, January may well be too late. In reply to the topic, it's no good saying the players we've brought in are better than the ones going out when our squad was threadbare last season and even moreso now. We all know what needed to be done yesterday (new LB, back up RB and creative CM) how the hell Jol didn't know is beyond me. Plenty of decent players switched teams yesterday, to clubs no better than us. Lukaku and Sessegnon to WBA and Everton? Are you saying players would automatically choose them over us?
This graphic from the guardian does well to highlight our lack of spending relative to other clubs- http://www.theguardian.com/football...16/premier-league-transfer-window-interactive
It's alright pissing and moaning, saying we need this and that, but if there's no money to spend, what are we supposed to do? Sessegnon was out of our price range, more than likely, as were most other players who moved. I'm quite sure that Jol can see our squad can improve, but again, if there's no money to spend, what can he do? Given the circumstances, I think we've done as well as can be expected. The most worrying thing is the disappearing TV/transfer money, as others have said. The new stand had better be the best thing since sliced bread!
The answer is most probably in the timeline. Shad Khan bought the Club and inherited a clean balance sheet, MAF having written off loans from himself in lieu of equity. Precisely how much was involved in getting to that financial status quo we’ll never know but by definition there was no carried forward money from previous transfer deals. However Khan did inherit one debt. Between MAF stabilising the accounts and Khan’s purchase, a loan of £17m was taken in anticipation of the extra TV money. Within a month of taking over, Khan repaid this. Add to that the £13m spent in this transfer window and Khan has spent £30m. Pretty much the exact amount of additional TV money we expect to receive this season. If there is a question, it is “what happened to the £17m loan money?” The one thing that’s certain is it didn’t go to Shad Khan.
Interesting, thanks C58. I'd forgotten all about the mass-payoff. Could the £17m have been something to do with outstanding payments on transfer deals, or even to cover the wage bill?
al fayed is a business man, he would of pocketed a few quid, we have to give khan, next season transfer window really, we don't want to through around cash, but we are looking like rangers of last season, team not gellying at all
A clean balance sheet means no third party debt, it does not mean an empty balance sheet with MAF stripping the club of its cash reserves and future TV revenue streams. It's possible that MAF used the transfer money and the TV money to pay off some of his own loans, in fact that is likely after his actions over the past two years. But a clean balance sheet certainly does not mean there was no cash carried forward. We won't know until next year's accounts are published, but this is definitely seems to be a case of not spending our money rather than not having it. But then, Shad Khan did say he spoke to Stan Kroenke prior to buying Fulham and Kroenke has only just made a big splash in the transfer market after several years of fan backlash...
