Yet another non-sensical post. I bet you also said Walters was garbage 12 months ago and he turned out alright. I never said we don't need a striker, but 15-20 goal-a-season strikers don't come cheap and I doubt we could afford the £15 million for Sturridge (which some of you seem to regard as pittence.) He's a brilliant player, miles better than what we have, but just not affordable in my opinion. Who would I go for instead? Probably someone like that Al-Arabi we were linked with. Might be worth a gamble.
OK fifteen Million then, as Smither's say's he's got pace too burn, score's goals and the ONLY thing he and Mama have in common is.. They both have two feet. <biggrin> SIGN him up Pleeeaasseeeee Mr Pulis.
Jose, you do not know the meaning of the word non sensible in this or any other instance, whereas you and your blind allegiance to Pulis is totally and utterly beyond belief. I will enjoy banter with you, any day of the week, but not repeat not with your absolute adherence to Pulis. Check back if you will, I never said Walters was garbage, so get your facts correct before you have a go. Finally for this post, try and get your head around the fact that you DID say 20 goal a season Strikers do not come cheap. Surprise Surprise Jose, absolutely effing well correct and let me tell you something that you may wish to ponder on in your wisdom and your cup of hot chocolate. 3 strikers at 6 million quid each totalling 15 goals a season are a waste of money, plus of course their aggregated weekly wage packet Now get your calculator out Mr Rocket Scientist and do the math as they say. Pulis might even save enough money to buy some more antiquated crocks
Come on guys, you know how Pulis likes his plans, this is probably another one, get the best you can for **** all then buy someone good with what's left. . . Hope so anyway. . . Even if it is only to shut Nick up
Thank you for your considered reply PP, NOW you know why I dislike Pulis as our Manager. Oh and just for the record ALL Pulis lovers; I do NOT hate Pulis or anyone else for that matter, hate is a silly schoolboy word, but then again there are a quite a few -- oh forget it.
Can you please tell me how I've got a "blind allegience" to Pulis? I've criticised him often enough in the past. I just feel the guy gets a raw deal on here and so I try to provide a bit of balance.
You can only defend to a certain point though, and repeating the same actions (mistake) and expecting a different result (as TP is doing for the 4 season on a row) is the defination of insanity! I agree he does get hammered, and like Rory and Mamaba he has been a great servant to the club - but that does not make it right now or in the future! Fair ****s for you standing your ground though Welsh Wonder, without you and a few others it would be very one sided!
Not chosing to answer my question then Nicky? @Smithers I don't believe my defence of Pulis is entirely unreasonable. I do slate him when I believe he's cocked up but I'm also not afraid to praise him when things are going well (as you all know). The thinking on this board seems to be "If something goes right, it's in spite of Pulis. However, if we lose it's entirely down to Pulis". The latter half of that thought process is often valid, but I try to realise that the guy has done, and is doing, a lot of good at this club. Whether you like him or not, he's the most successful manager this club has had since Waddington and that's reason enough for me to want him here a bit longer.
Jose, didn't answer because I would only repeat myself and I try to restrict that to twice a day. Now then, have you done the math for MY question: 1 x £20 million striker @ £90K per week = 15 - 20 goals Or 3 x £6 million strikers @ £35K per week each giving a combined total of 15 goals max. Oh and while you ponder THAT tricky one, hark back to last season when Villa spent £20 million plus plus for Bent, and what happened to Villa and where did they end up??
Putting all your eggs in one basket does not always produce the best omelette - Ask Chelsea I have less problem paying 15-20m than paying 90k wages.
Do you honestly think that: 1) Darren Bent would want to come here? Villa are a miles bigger club than us, and I believe Bent could easily interest the likes of Liverpool or Arsenal if they decided to splash the cash. 2) We could offer someone like Bent 90k a week without half of our current squad demanding an instant pay rise? How would someone like Etherington feel if Bent waltzed into the club on 3x's as much as he's earning, despite us penny-pinching on his curent contract negotiations? Brassed off, I'd imagine. I'd rather us pay something like £6 million for Cole (who's guaranteed around 10 goals a season) than £20 million for someone like Bent who would blow our wage structure to smithereens. I understand your frustration and I know my reasoning seems unambitious, but Peter Coates has always said he wants Stoke to be self-sufficent and that won't happen if we start paying silly wages.
OK Jose, fair point re dressing room discontent, Cole guaranteed 10 goals a season hmmmmm!! - I wish - I really do. Self sufficient, no can do with a max crowd of 28K - where is all the prem money going then, love to see our ACTUALLY weekly wage bill, player by player. The only way we are going to PROGRESS is by attracting a better QUALITY of player by playing a better QUALITY of football, which brings full circle to having a better QUALITY manager. Steve - which ONE player did Chelsea splash all the cash on?? Oh and while we are at it with egg based metaphors and it is regarding progress, you cannot make an omelette without breaking an (or several) egg (s). Anyway - what's your alternative , a self sufficient championship team??
Loads of valid points guys, but I would question how many 6 million strikers we can carry or use effectively. We have Sidibie and Fuller who are probably both past it now (love Fuller by the way) and Walters and Jones which is our current paring! Take into account that Fuller and Sidibie arnt going anywhere and the addition of a player like Cole isnt going to add anymore flexibilty to our team/squad, we will then have 5 strikers who have combined goal scoring record of 2010/2011 of 24 goals? That is a rough value of 1 million per goal in value and £433,333.33 in wages per goal. That by any stretch aint cost effective! Whilst I understand that big signings can sometimes fall flat (we have had a few) it doesnt take a rocket scientist to understand that you get what you pay for! There are the likes of Defoe who obvioulsy arnt going to play alot next season yet we could take on a loan and pay 65k a week for a season, and it would be more cost effective than paying 6 million and 50k a week for a Cole or Jerome who scored only 8 prem goals in over 65 games last season! Also, why can we be linked with paying 12+ million for CB but not a striker and we turn down Demba Ba on a basic free due to a medical but we give Woodgate a 1 year contract worth a million! Frightening facts but more importantly, deeply concerned about our clubs philosiphy!
In the last 3 seasons Carlton Cole has scored: 2008/9 - 12 goals 2009/10 - 10 goals 2010/11 - 11 goals Those stats suggest he could get 10 next season if he signs for us. As of last season we were self-sufficient, not sure how we're performing financially at the moment but TV income and gate receipts from the Europa League can't have harmed our situation. There's a lot of deadwood in this squad which, in my opinion, NEEDS to be shipped out asap. I'm talking about the likes of Soares, Tonge and Diao that are taking up valuable wages for doing sweet FA. I'd imagine Tonge and Soares are on combined wage of roughly 35-40k per week - that's probably what we'll offer Cole so a club of our size can't really afford to carry these sorts of players for much longer. Players I'd ship out: Tonge Soares Mama (as much as I love him) Diao (into a less-paid coaching role) Davies (if he hasn't gone already) That would probably free up around 60-70k A WEEK to go after a couple of players that would really push us on while still remaining relatively self-sufficient. Trouble is, who'd want our cast-offs? Nobody, I'd guess.
We need to fill the fukin corners in then to take our capicity up to approx 35k which is a 20% uplift. That takes our top earners from roughly 50K to 60K - Bang, Defoe, Crouch etc! Oh and I thought one of the 3 year plan objectives was to fill in the corners based on our league security and progression? Does Coates not think that we have progressed enough or secure enough to warrant the outlay? VERY FUKIN STRANGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jose - COLE SCORED 5 PREM GOALS LAST YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Prem goals are all that matter - non of this micky mose comp ****!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! KJ 9 JW 6 RF 4 CC 5 (WOW 65k a week for that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
I'm not sure why we've not filled at least one corner in TBH. We didn't sell out much last season at home so maybe it's just not a financially sensible option? Just playing devil's advocate here.
