With Leicester splashing the cash around like the worlds about to end, If I had the chance I would like to ask Mr Cortese two questions. 1.With our club being financially well off also why are we not competing in the transfer market for the same type of player?. 2. Has our plan and budget now changed due to the untimely death of our saviour Markus?. Don't get me wrong I am happy with the squad as is and I think we will do very well this season I think the play offs are very much in our grasp. I was just wondering what you think the response to the questions would be Thanks
Leicester's owners are very different to ours. They have bought Leicester, from my understanding, as a sort of advertisment for their company (King Power). They are trying to get their company well known in Europe and have decided that buying a football club and then heavily associating their brand with it is an inventive and effective way to do it. Obviously the Premier League gets the best coverage around Europe and they want to get their ASAP so that their spending will be justified with increase revenue through not only the TV money, prize money etc that come with being in the Premier League but as their brand awareness grows throughout Europe then increased revenue from people using their products and visiting their hotels/spas. We on the other hand are in no massive hurry to go to the Premier League, obviously we want to get their sooner rather than later,but the plan we have laid out is a 5 year one of which we are now entering the third year. Leicester seem to have a one year promotion plan as of right now, and if they don't go up it will be interesting to see what the owners do. EDIT - also Leicester, like Forest and Cardiff, lost a lot of their first team squad from last year, so even if they werent going out and splashing the cash on players they would of had to bring in 7/8/9/10 players anyway because their squad would of been so thin. We on the other hand have a settled squad with few players leaving so don't need to bring in that amount of players.
1. We already have a squad which, for the most part, can compete in the Championship. Nigel Adkins only wanted to add a few players before the start of the season, and with Jack Cork and Steve De Ridder, he has signed 2 excellent prospects. There are going to be one, or possibly 2 more signings before the Leeds game, which will probably be a centre back and a striker. No need for a wholesale rebuild like Leicester are doing. 2. The 5 year plan remains, but we have to be sustainable, and as far as possible, self-financing. This always was the case when Markus was alive. That's what Nicola would say I reckon!
Why would we want to compete with Leicester in the transfer market. I much prefer the Cortese/Adkins approach which appears to not over pay for anyone. Leicester have paid £5m for a CB from the championship. He may go on to be a great, but is he 5 times better than Fonte? I don't think so. Slowly, slowly, catchy Monkey.
The last thing we want to do is do what Leicester are doing. We have a young hungry squad that only needs a couple of quality additions to give us the edge. I honestly do think we are one of if not the best prepared squad in the division this season. We have players that play well together. After watching the West Brom matches, we played some fast flowing passing football which was exciting to watch. You only have to look at Norwich and Middlesbrough last season to see what is the best way of getting promoted.
Thanks for the detailed responses I didn't realise leicester were part of a kind of brand! As I said I am happy with where we are at right now, However I am still a little unsure as to the answer to the second question....
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dispatches/episode-guide/series-98/episode-1 Watch this - then you'll understand what's going on at Leicester
I think "Don Cortese" would say, in his best marlon Brando voice... " you disrespect me with these questions, you finda de horses head in your bed tonight i tink"
I think the answer to question 2 is that the budget probably has altered slightly and that maybe the self financing bit will be more pertinent, but we'll have to wait and see. I don't think there are any plugs being pulled, that's for sure.
I wasn't saying we should spend the same amount of money mate, I was saying competing for the same kind of player.... Maynard is a prime example seems we have both apparently been interested!
1. We don't need to compete with Leicester, if we did, we wouldn't be financially well off as you first said. 2. Of course the plan continues, Markus knew he was dying and has set aside plans for the club, as reaffirmed by Cortese. There's no pleasing some people unless they've got something to pick holes / whinge about.
Spening millions left, right and centre on new players - both in terms of transfer fees and wages - is not running a football club as a business. Since day one, Cortese has seemingly wanted to run it as a business. Yes we splashed out a bit at the start of the new regime - Lambert, Fonte, Puncheon, Barnard, Hammond - but that's only because the squad we were left with following relegation was thread-bare and nowhere near capable of securing promotion. For sure, splashing the cash can work. Look at Chelsea, they effectively bought themselves a handful of Premiership titles and domestic trophies. But it doesn't always work, incorporates a large element of risk, and generally requires constant reinvestment going forward (unless you have substantially increased your revenues, how do you expect to suddenly be able to afford to pay this massive new wage bill over and over again?). Splashing the cash isn't being prudent and it isn't a sound business strategy. It's rolling the dice, or it's having a bit of fun with your brand new toy (depending on what your reasons are for owning the club).
Cortese and Adkins have their boundaries on what they are willing to spend, not because we don't have the finance, but because we have principles and a wage structure we sick to. We're trying to be sustainable so that we never get into the situation we did back in 2009. If teams like West Ham and Leicester fail this season, it's not looking good for them is it? And besides, we have our own transfer targets, so we don't have to bid for who Leicester do. There are no concerns over finances
You can't throw 8 players into a team and expect them to dominate. We found that out at the start of the 09-10 season. Leicester have a massive squad and I think they will take time to spark.
We're in the best state we've been in for years, signing just one big name/wage player could upset the whole equilibrium of the squad. Just trust in NC Alex, he's done okay so far. Definitely don't upset him with your questions, or you might just find yourself wearing a brand new set of concrete Nike's.
