We won't be spending £2 mill fees any time soon from what was coming out of Milne's mouth. Ontop of a fee, players usually get 10% of the fee as a signing on so that's an extra £200,000k and then say if we did push that deal through wage wise he'd again be one of the higher earners - simply because of how much the transfer fee was again. So it's a difficult one. Agents know what players are on - if a clubs desperate with a big fee the agent will play billy big balls. We didn't get Charlie Austin from Swindon as his agent was being like that apparently. I know the Knudsen signing so far hasn't worked out too well, but I'd like to think we could sign 3/4 players for a fee potentially from abroad for say 150-300k a pop? I don't think that's too unrealistic. We have an extra £2 mill revenue ( as do all clubs in this league ) to do with what we'd like this summer so we may be a little more active on actual transfers. As for " start getting players from the lower leagues " we've given that approach a go more so the past 3/4 years in Sears/ McGoldrick / Wordsworth / Cresswell whereas before it was your Bullard/ Bowyer etc etc so I'd imagine our summer policy will be something along the likes of - 2 x season long loans 2/3 x transfer fees from lower / our league / abroad 2 free transfers Departures galore.
Agreed with Weighty, we need a balanced approach to the transfer market. In the past, we had mediocre managers throw money at mediocre mercenaries. You know the shtick, we brought in so-and-so because he had 'potential' or 'Premier League experience'. It was a poor approach and, ultimately, a waste of resources. Now, our approach is severely restrictive and counter-productive, we're effectively limited to a pool of rejects and the occasional gem, with the odd low fee thrown in (eg: Sears and Knudsen) and then a mad scramble for the emergency loan system when the injuries hit. Being able to sign a few first-choice targets, such as Stretchy's suggestion of Dack, a player who would presumably have had a positive effect on us post-January and may have reversed some of our poor results. But as Westy states, signing a player north of £500k, let alone £2m, sounds very unlikely from this board. I can't see why we can't afford a few £500k type players, promising lads from the lower leagues or the odd bargain. We presumably have a decent scouting system? The question is, would you trust McCarthy with a decent-sized budget? History shows he can get you promoted by spending cash (see Sunderland and Wolves), but the temptation and feeling around the place, recently, is to replace McCarthy with a more progressive and passionate manager, who advocates an attacking and more positive philosophy. If the new guy gets backed in the market, and I think he'd have to, to a certain degree, then we could see an overhaul of style and, hopefully, on-field performances.
The reason being Nuggets - without sales we're losing £6 mill plus every single season! Our wages have gone up £4 mill in the past four years, I'd love to read a statement as to what different players are on. It's bloody ridiculous interms of outgoings at this club!
For a portion of supporters now it won't matter how much money we spend in the transfer window if the football itself doesn't change.
Unfortunately Westy, that type of shortfall and expenditure is prevalent across the Championship. To think that there are several clubs financially worse off than ourselves. At this level, you have to speculate to accumulate, you either win (Bournemouth, Swansea, Leicester, Norwich, Burnley, and Watford) or lose (Leeds, Nottingham Forest, Wigan, Coventry, Bradford, Portsmouth, Bolton). All those clubs tried to show ambition. We did back in the Keane/Jewell days, and almost suffered the ignominy of relegation. Now, we're a middling second tier side looking like we're going nowhere. One obvious option is to reduce the wage bill, but that comes at the expense of squad depth, team harmony, and talent. It's also presuming that there are clubs interested in our high-earners. I'm pretty sure the likes of Berra, Chambers, Skuse, McGoldrick, and Murphy are on a pretty penny, however, I'm not sure the best option is to clear out all the high-earners and replace them with youngsters and lower-league bargains. The loanees that return at the end of the season should offset some of the wage bill, as most clubs now have to pay a percentage of loan players' wages these days, but I admit it's unlikely to make much of a dent. I don't think we can get away with trying to break even at this level, not anymore. I know it sounds financially reckless, but seemingly every other club with a similar stature to ourselves, are going for broke to get that Premier League money, and this season, sadly, is showing what happens when you get left behind in the crowd.
The same as the "mindless hoofball" or "champagne football",argument.There is a middle way of playing football.
Brentford along with a host of other teams we've seen this season showed just how poor our midfield is, their central midfielder drives forward with ball at his feet knowing he has support left and right, 2 or3 passes later they are threatening our goal, our players get the ball and pass backwards and sideways for 5 or 6 passes and we are still in our own half! The opposition has all the time in the world to get organised so it's a hopeful hoof forward which just hands possession back to the opposition. The truth is that our players are just not good enough and yes our most skillful players such as Fraser, McG and Bishop have hardly played this season and Bru was out for 3 months and Hyam out for many months as well but generally our ball skills and creativity are way below the standard of other teams, some explain this by stating that they cost very little in transfer fees which is true but in quality terms that's exactly what we got, very little. I exclude Bart and Freddie from any blame but the rest are not good enough, Murphys goals last season papered over the cracks but it's obvious our squad is weaker this season, Knudsen is not as good as Mings and the right back saga drags on. Without investment in decent players we are going nowhere with this squad regardless of whoever the manager is and if we can't really afford the players we have already then perhaps we should get money for whoever we can and start again wherever that takes us.
I actually think Knudsen has shown some promise recently and will keep getting better, seems to have the right attitude. RB needs sorting, Midfield except Skuse needs overhaul.
I agree with you C S that Knudsen has improved and hopefully will continue to do so but this season he is not as good as Mings who in turn was not as good as Cressy, as far as Midfield goes Skues is the most uncreative of players but gets some good blocks in so we clearly need a creative Midfield player with good ball skills to get us moving forwards so Sears doesn't spend his time in his own half looking for the ball. Knowing what we need probably means we won't get it because Evans won't pay the going rate, just think back to this January's transfer window when we didn't sign anyone and a few days after the window closed we were scratching around for emergency loans due to injuries, and the only two players we could afford hadn't played a game for months so we're unfit, what a total balls up.
How the hell has this happened? If our wages have gone up by this much we should have far more quality than we do despite the lack of fees!!
For me Skuse has got a decent creative pass in him he just shows no intent of doing so. I've said it for a while Skuse is the epitomy of McCarthy, decent play with good quality however will not ever fulfil his potential because he has such a negative mindset, never shows intent to control games despite having the ability to do so!! If we want to be more creative perhaps yes we need more creative players but a side is only generally as creative as how their manager wants them to be. I don't care to much about creativity, the first step for me is to get some of our players showing courage of the ball and wanting it!!
We can't agree on Skues being creative itfcptc but I do accept that a creative player needs similar players around him to get things moving, and by that I mean players who can pass to feet and move for at speed for the return instead of playing in tight triangles on the touchline until the ball is lost and the opposition defence is organised and waiting just in case, whatever happened to playing into space? Playing a high tempo game so the opposition defence can be split before they've got back in numbers? The Club policy of not spending for quality players means in the main we've finished up with some seriously second rate players that are taking us nowhere.
I agree Skuse isnt creative however I'm saying he could be or he could at least step up and try to control a game. He actually has quite a good range of passing he just shows absolutely no intent or desire to get on the ball and control a game. He's not like Hyam who is probably suited to just doing the basics and breaking up play there is so much more to his game he just doesn't show it. Agree with you we need more quality but on the flip side I've seen us play much better under managers who equally had limited funds. It's not just about the funds and quality but also about how the manager wants the team to play and how they are coached. You can see the effect each manager has on style of play even with the same players.
And as for Toure...do you think Mick did a Souness and signed him after taking a phone call from one of the better Toure brothers' agent claiming to be their cousin and as good as them?
Wasn't he signed on the recommendation from Bru?! The two played together for Levski Sofia and (as the story goes) apparently Mick asked Bru if he knew any decent players from the Bulgarian league and he came up with Toure.... who also happened to be out of contract. (Just how Mick likes them) Not sure exactly how accurate that is.. But I would like to think that Toure could actually do better than we have seen recently despite Mick clearly having given up on him from quite an early stage
Skuse is a good distributor when he has wingers to hit. With what we've had often the past 2/3 years no he is not. I've seen him on many occasion pick passes for fun at Bristol City = depends what instructions he's been given. Not that he's as good as some think but he's better than others think. When he'd missed games for us, the first game we won without Skuse in his ENTIRE TIME here was Huddersfield away this season. Speaks volumes. As for Toure, I honestly though he was quite decent vs Brum at Portman Road Sky game back in September I think it was, however, what's happened to him? Fitness etc !? Haha Stretchy I remember a few years ago having a fair bit of that the night before a game. My manager put me in goal as I " didn't seem right " - we had 11 players, I let in 4 in the first 15 mins. Then I went to my usual spot at Cm and we lost 5-3. Anyone wanting bans for Mutu etc I can say it certainly did nothing to help my performance I felt bloody chronic!
