I seem to remember him playing very centrally against them though... he scored a great goal as well and made their defence look pretty shoddy. IF he can fill a striker's boots consistently I'd love that signing.
Besides, Long spent much of his time on the flanks for us anyways... except Salah has a better finish and better pace...
Our income is quite different to that from our last Premier League stint, which has a big impact on wages. -In 2009/10 when we were relegated we got a total of £32m for TV money, including £10m from overseas TV. (14.6m equal share, 10m overseas, 6.3m for live games, 1.6m for 19th position). -Last season for finishing 16th we got a total of £67m TV money (52m equal share, 8.6m live games, 6.2m for 16th position). I don't know if that 52m equal share includes the current version of the overseas tv money we got before or if that's even more on top. Add to that the fact that gate receipts are higher, FA Cup income, now Europa League income, higher paying sponsorship deals etc. and we have a lot more money in the club. We paid Bullard £45k a week back then, but that would almost be the equivalent of £90k a week now. This will not be accurate (and isn't intended to be) but hypothetically say the TV money pays player wages for a 25-man first team squad and all other income covers other expenses, for a simple calculation. -2010, £32m / 25 = £1.28m per player per annum, £24.6k per week average. -2014, £67m / 25 = £2.68m per player per annum, £51.5k per week average. As I say, that's not how wage budgets will be planned but it sort of gives a rough guide to the vast difference in salary sustainability compared to before. In reality the average will be lower due to transfer fees, bonuses etc. and there are a myriad of different expenses/incomes for the overall picture. Last time we had Bullard as mentioned way, way beyond our means. A whole bunch of others (including McShane) were on high wage even if we had stayed up, the equivalent of what Long has been on now. Our wage budget now is much more within our means, Long on £45k a week has been far less than it would've been for our last stint here. Add to that the fact that last time we went down hardly any players had value to sell, many had to run their contracts out before we got them off the wage bill - or we paid half their wages while they played for other teams. A big mess. This time a good number of players would retain value, and be sellable if needed to reduce wages should we go down. Heck, a bunch of them would probably push to be sold back to the premiership if we went down (and are too good for that not to happen). If we were to bring in a few players on over £100k per week then yeah, we'd be living dangerously again, but the income at the moment is so much better than before that a group on £45k - £55k does not seem unreasonable at all, considering there will also be many lower than that. The Allams will be keeping our salary expenditure below a dangerous level. Edit: Forgot my main point. We won't need to bring someone in on the cheap specifically to reduce wages. If we can get a good player at low cost then it;s a win-win but I doubt it will be a goal, signing someone inferior just to reduce numbers. If we do sign a new striker it will need to be someone who offers a better option than Ince, Aluko or Sagbo and to me than means we'd need to pay someone at least what Long was earning, if not more. It wouldn't shock me to see Bruce sign someone on £60k - £70k a week as a marquee signing to push on to the next level, and that sort of wage would not worry me as a one-off. However, it also wouldn't shock me to see Bruce stick with what we have for now, see how the players perform early in the season and decide whether or not we actually need to spend money on a replacement.
It would be nice if the Club did come out with some sort of statement. Might just confirm once it happens.
It is ****ty tbh, don't understand why the club are leaving the fans guessing and hanging 3 days before the first game of the season, even more so with it being one of our better players!! Not impressed tbh.
I reckon we need to bring 2 strikers in having lost Fryatt and now almost certainly Long (not to mention Proschwitz!!) The amount of games we are facing if we get through to the Europa group stages suggests to me we ought to go for one of the freebies or cheaper options as mentioned earlier on this thread Plus someone like Wickham, Borini or Walters.
I've just looked on the club twitter, the ****s are taking the piss and rubbing our noses in it! Just three days to go until @HullCity kick off the new #BPL season - how excited are you right now? #BPLkickoff #UTT pic.twitter.com/RBz0B889SA 8:17am - 13 Aug 14 Bastards.
Events maybe out of the clubs hands, agree the timing poor but that's not city's fault,Burnsey hinted at Lunchtime that if the deal does go through, there maybe more than one new face coming in.
