This is the reason other clubs are doing well and we are in line to be a yoyo club... they are spending money on actual class... we are too scaredy cat to take a gamble... especially since RVW i guess? It's all very frustrating! Hopefully this frustration will be quashed by a bit of good, quality action before the close of the window. Not holding my breath though!
I think we need to put in that 6-7m bid for Sebastian Haller. Other than Afobe he's the only rumor that I've heard for a striker that's actually exciting.
Bear in mind we're the poor relations of this division. We can't match what say, Bournemouth can afford to offer for players. But refer back to DHCanary's post about scouting etc. He quite correctly points out that we've signed 3 new youth / academy players recently. Well, as the Murphy's can't get a game for the club, what a total waste of scouting time for such a small club - pathetic
Oh right. It is frustrating That the two clubs who came up with us and recruit so freely, and with such impact. When we are the club who had the years of Premiership money and parachute payments.
Guess we can only hope that the board realise that some real money needs to be spent on genuine class some time soon!?
Ain't going to happen with DS and MWJ at the helm, though is it. The only way we could "compete" financially is for them to step aside (which I'm in no way advocating, btw) and a rich backer come in - and we've seen at Cardiff and Hull quite recently the potential implications of that! Maybe the signing of Pinto from Dinamo Zagreb may have opened a few doors as there's undisputed (comparative) value to be had from Croatia, Serbia, etc
Trouble is if we can't match the going rate for players the only other viable option is to is the youth / academy route. This is how Southampton have got where they are, but it is a l.ong term strategy.
Oscar Cardoza of Trabzonspor new striker being linked to us in Italy. Us and Everton said to be interested.
This came up the other day... trouble is he is 32. Mind you, id take him over Crouch who was suggested earlier!
Palace after Fulham's Moussa Dembele, apparently. And the article highlights the 'poor form' of their current strikers - yes, Dwight Gayle gets a mention http://transfernewscentral.com/2016/01/10/crystal-palace-cut-price-striker/
Yes, exactly - spot on. We are comfortably the poorest club in the division in terms of transfer funds, not only because of the lack of very wealthy benefactor/investor, but also because we have a more expensive squad than those with lower turnovers than us (e.g. Bournemouth). A lot of people saying we should have got Afobe and sold Grabban and I have a lot of sympathy for that - I think we'd be a lot better off in that position! But look at it from Bournemouth's. Point of view... They may simply have outbid us for Afobe. If we can't compete, we can't compete. And so we need to speculate on youngsters. I imagine that's also why we can't "just offload" the expensive junk in our squad. We simply have to seek a maximum return otherwise we are left even shorter. We have a small squad too, so selling risks leaving us even shorter. I personally hope we are focusing on a CB, as compared to our rivals we are scoring plenty and I would rather if we do have as much as £10m it went towards a quality CB.
He's another one I'd really like, but he's been linked with United and stuff, so no way we would bother trying to compete financially. He reminds me of Thierry Henry.
My problem with this, and arguably our wider transfer policy, is that we value players, our own and those we're interested in, regardless of how much interest they're generating. And in terms of strikers, we could definitely lose a couple without blinking. Leeds appear to be Lafferty's only option, and we've scared them off by demanding a permanent transfer. If we can't find another suitor, that's cost us potentially £300k in his wages over the rest of the season, and him rotting in our reserves doesn't make him easier to sell in the summer. Why do we not appear to be negotiating? Why hold out for "fair" prices for out own players, even when we don't want them here, if selling them cheaper frees up the capital to make another deal work?
I just get a blank black screen with a timer clock and stuff on it. No sound or pictures or anything?
