BR stated it was imperative to invest to maintain Premier league status - as proven time and again However as has been pointed out by informed pundits - BR has failed to secure a solid / proven / premier league spine - Caulker is a (albeit much acclaimed) rookie; failed to secure a proven Central Midfield Holding player; DG is clearly struggling to establish himself as a PL striker. Absolutely does not augur well for the tough season ahead. What on earth happened to BR's commitment to astute investment? What happened to the much vaunted BR-network with the likes of Chelsea et al? All-in-all a poor recruitment campaign [BTW, my london collleagues at work were genuinely disappointed with the lack of traction gained by BR in the recruitment market - all had high hopes due to the unique and refreshing brand of football - despite not being prima facie swans fans]
for what we are prepared to spend on signings then we are not going to pay £5--£10 million for a player. It was a shock that we paid £3.5 mill for danny. It may be our downfall but you cant blame Brendan as his hands are tied and the players he could have got were out of our price range.
Dai - youre missing the point - its not about spending loads, its about spending wisely BR has not delivered as hoped by many - not leveraging his alleged netowrk (particularly chelsea up-and-comings) A dissapointment - which even you Dai cannot disagree
Why so much doom and gloom? Brendan proved everyone wrong last year, so it would be foolhardy to dismiss his work this season so early on. Give the man a break, for goodness sake!
Sinclair & Borini!! Outstanding keeper signed!! Williams & Caulker forming a new partnership!! Agustien starting to find his feet & influence, with the Britton stability behind him!! Graham getting in the positions, just needs time!! A promising spine!! Only thing I could say, is that I would liked to have seen some quality midfield playmaker.......
i think he has recruited very well, ok i think danny is well over priced but overall he has done well. some of the targets either cost too much or they wanted too much wages.....Its very hard to get everyone you are after if you have a set budget and a set wage policy....
With only 3 games in and 3 of the signing not even have kicked a ball in a swans shirt (this time around for Bessone) how the hell can anyone say that the investment hasn't been astute!! If we stay up, which believe it or not given the negativity, is a very real possibility then only spending the amount we have for the return is a bloody brilliant investment, maybe even the best in world football i would go as far to say seeing as all the signings haven't added up to £10 million. And other thing which i have heard loads of over the last couple of days over deadline day which i think is full of bull is this need for premiership experience!! West Ham and Birmingham were chocked full of Premier League, Champions League, La Liga, Serie A experience and where did it get them???? Both in a fair amount of debt and RELEGATED!!! What we need and what we have got is a group of players that are playing the right way IMHO to stay up and want to play for the club, not just pick up some money for their retirement fund!! And as for poor recruitment? Vorm - performance speak for themselves Caulker - has gelled wonderfully with Williams and has helped with us getting 2 clean sheets so far Routledge - his speed is helping us a lot more in the role behind the striker and has performed really well Graham - he knows where the back of the net is, when he gets his first one (against arsenal!) they will come Finally Halliche - kept Rooney and co quiet in the WC so just fingers crossed he can bring some of that ability when he is called upon In fairness to Rodgers the Reading fans said he used to bang on about his links at Chelsea but i haven't heard him much since his arrival so he may not be using them in case he gets a reputation of relying on chelsea and cant find his own player or he may not even have them any more!!
Agree with this completely, we need to remember that Chelsea, won't like us pinching their best youngsters all day long, and Rodgers still has his eye on one or two players there, so I think that you need to come back in January with this one Cam Jack, as we only have half a story yet, and we don't know how his signings will do. I'm not impressed with some of our signings, Lita and Routledge are a wast of money in my view, but Rodgers obviously feels he can get something from them, so we are just going to have to see how it goes up till January!.................. please log in to view this image
We brought in Halliche & Bessone in as cover for defence, which was needed. And also, we had an exciting signing in Darnel Situ. Caulker and Graham have only had 3 games to gel into the team, I wouldn't start panicking just yet. To be fair though, Caulker has done more than alright, considering he's only 19. 'Failed to secure a proven Central Midfield Holding player', Agustien is like a new player, and just what we need. Oh, and have you seen our new goalkeeper?
This. Does anyone think Rodgers wouldn't have brought in more players if available? What we have is clearly what we can afford, and what was the best option at the time. I'm sure Danny Graham will come good, and when he does everyone will be a lot more cheery. Also, do you actually think that there were players Brendan could have brought in, who he thought would benefit the team
Fair points Dragon - tho Im convinced BR is himself not thrilled with the outcome of his recruitment - at the 11th hour he stated that he was looking for a solid Defensive Midfielder - this one could well be our achilles heel despite the resurgence of KA/Britton axis
Britton seems to have taken on a much more important role this season, and he seems a lot more responsible for the team as a whole. Good on him!
considering the wages we can pay, i think brendan has done a sterling job. i'm not dissapointed with any of the recruits.
All some fans see is £90M. It's not that simple. Lots of established top flight players take some persuading to come this far down the M4, particularly to a Club that is not an established force in the Prem and may well be relegated. The big money clubs and the London based clubs have a definite advantage. Top players also demand top wages that we (quite rightly) aren't prepared to pay. Most teams that have blown their Prem dosh on big buys in their first season have regretted it. I think BR has struck the right balance between doing his best to keep us up but making sure the financial future of the Club is secure.
Good points from HTR about it not being that simple. There are a lot of factors behind a player moving... The wages, bonuses, signing on, agents fee, location, stature of the club, does the Mrs like it?, can I spend money down there?, are there any players I don't get on with?, will I be first team every week? etc... There's a lot of questions that need to be answered and boxes to be ticked when you want to sign "Proven" players. Often these proven players have other options, unfortunately Swansea to an outsider isn't the most appealing club to join. Add into all of that the financial structure the club is run by, makes it very difficult. With all of that said though... Vorm, Caulker, Kemy (not a new signing, i know) and Graham all look to be fitting in great. We'll see more of Routledge and Lita in coming weeks and see if they are up to it. Situ seems to be a decent punt, Halliche should be good cover, but I don't think Bessone was on BR's target list... I get the feeling that one is a bit desperate and was suggested maybe by HJ? I don't know.
Could not be happier with the transfer window . Got the most exciting keeper around & Graham is perfect for us, a hard working forward . Where most will laugh at getting a guy like Bessone back , he knows how the TEAM play goes at Swansea . Lots of money left , whether we spend it or not , brilliant !!
Very true. Most fans think it's like fantasy football and you can have any player you want. lol. Their answer is always... well we should have bought xxx. But they don't understand that maybe xxx wasn't available or maybe he didn't want to come to Swansea. If they have a choice or London or Swansea, most would choose London. Swansea is at a huge disadvantage geographically. Most fans don't realise this.
