Who made the comment that prompted that response from OLM in your signature Wade. I feel I we should be touting them as our scout for strikers.
I think it's the FFP rules that are the problem. We can't take on extra wages without offloading first. I'm only guessing TBH.
Looking back on his time at Shrewsbury, Gray said "I was at the stage in my life where I thought everything was set for me. I didn’t really care about playing in Shrewsbury’s reserves, which I shouldn’t have been". He's now one of the best strikers in the Championship, Shrewsbury's loss was Luton and Brentford's gain.
Losing out on Gray wouldn't be so bad were we in control of the destinies of the rest of the forwards we already have. We could lose Hernandez and Jelavic in the last 48 hours of the transfer window without having any say and end up having to scramble around paying way over the odds to get replacements in. I can understand why Bruce is sounding frustrated.
We are no longer in the Premier League. The emergency loan window opens a week after the main transfer window closes.
Just play the one's we have we never know some may step up to the mark and take the chance they have just like Gray and Gayle did,no point in getting players for the future paying them and never using them. Sometimes the best way to learn to swim is throw them in the deep end,we may get lucky and one of ours turns out to be fearless and takes his chance.
i think he is gonna be the difference between promotion or not - thats how much he is worth , even if i find it hard to justify £9mill ,
If, buts and maybe's but if Jake Livermore hadn't been busted he may be at Villa now, and the proceeds of the sale may have gone on Andre Gray. All conjecture obviously but the conjecture stops at the fact that we have an £8M black hole to fill. I just hope, taking into consideration the circumstances, that The FA are lenient on him and we can move on.
Gray and Gayle were thrown in at Luton and Peterborough, not at a team that is desperate to get back into the Premier League at the first time of asking. Even if we got Gray, with Jelavic and Hernandez at least 50% likely to leave, Luer would still be getting game time. Whatever happens we cannot end up relying on a 19 year old with less than 30 games and 1 league goal under his belt.
Crystal Palce had wages averaging £20k per week a couple of years ago. Now they are paying £50k to £100k (Cabaye) per week.
Just weighing up the situation, reports, opinions and comments on this thread I cannot see us spending 9 million quid on anybody let alone Gray. I also cannot see a Premier League Club coming in for Jelly although there might be interest from a European Club but I personally doubt it. Same with Hernandez who simply has not got the runs on the board to make him an attraction to top level Clubs and taking his wages into account I cannot see him going anywhere either. Big Tom could be of interest to lower Premier League Clubs but there is nobody else I could see leaving. This leaves us with an attacking force of Jelly, Akpom and Hernandez which could be enough at this level to secure promotion. The two new kids, Greg Luer and Calaum Jahraldo-Martin are way off this level so we need a possible loan in striker. Just my opinion. We have Elmo (who has been surprisingly quiet in the first two games) who, when he has the measure of his marker (which he should have at this level) can tear defences to shreds and get the necessary crosses in whilst Aluko should surely come into his own. Still very early doors and we have yet to field our best team with Diame and Snodgrass on the sidelines for a while.
I'd have a look at Tom Bradshaw playing for Walsall or Iain Henderson at Rochdale - both seem to be scoring for fun at the moment.
