A local lad made good, like the Brighton bloke (I think) would be ideal. But we don't have many of those, not that want to own a football club anyway. And before anyone mentions the Allams, I mean someone who understands football and isn't going to wage war on the fanbase
But isn't that exactly where our scouting seems to be headed, look where they've come from.... Puerta (Germany) Belloumi (Portugal) Matazo (France) Zambrano (Ecuador) Pandur (Holland) Racioppi (appreciate it hasn't worked out) Switzerland... plus a host of others that have been mentioned in dispatches as us having interest. Then throw in Alzate and Pedro, even Amrabat and even Crooks. Then look at the UK market. We've said for long enough we should be looking down a league or two for those that might make the jump, Charlie Hughes and now Kyle Joseph. Oh and I even forgot Sinik..LOL... We may always be connected with a Fenerbache player, but thats the nature of the beast. Doesnt mean they're all garbage. Sure, there have been blobs, but every club has those. I dont think its a case of pumping money in at all costs, (that might have been last January). I do think they have settled on a formula, including with Selles whose talents seemed to be working with young players and developing them and I can see us becoming something like a Brentford or Brighton with a fair wind. Find them, sell them, find another. Ultimately, of course he's in it for the money and in his case the glory. None would surely deny him the chance to do so.
Yes, as I said in the podcast, that is the story both club and player shared immediately after the test came back positive. I’m not Colombian though. Zambrano has been a model professional throughout all of his short career. Incredibly grounded which is a rarity. To say he was doing something unethical on purpose is ignorance.
You’d be incredibly naive to think this isn’t the case at nearly every club. Only ones that I think of that could be different is the likes of Brighton and Bristol City where the owner is also a fan
I think we’re debating the same point here - I agree on the whole. I stand by the point that we’ve wasted far too much money since Acun come in - but I do think we’ve also made some smart signings that will be worth more money in the future. I do wish we’d been more savvy last Jan but I think for all the wailing - we signed some promising talent in the summer and we have been a tad unlucky with injuries. Hughes, Belloumi, Puerta (if signed) and Alzate could easily make us north of £25m collectively. That’s a good way of doing things But at the same time we are too prone to making weird transfers that don’t fit a long term formula (Mehlem, Palmer, Giles) - but this is with benefit of hindsight I guess.
What's going on with Lincoln? a missed opportunity by the admin with it being the presidential inauguration.
But is he? I honestly think making money from us is not his main driver. It may of course come to that one day .....and on the other hand may well end up with him having lost a lot of money on.us. What evidence is there that he's ultimately in it for the money. I see literally none, not a shred. Just continuing cynicism and skepticism (which tbh pisses me off). I get that people, especially City fans, find it hard to trust and believe. He's even said clearly that getting us into the PL isn't even the end game (meaning it's not about getting us promoted then selling). Only twt of course but I see nothing to suggest he's in it for the money, in fact, I see quite the opposite.
Giles was a youre having him signing ( think we were hoping we'd get gazumped) , Mehlem was likely to keep TW sweet and Palmer we maybe just needed a signing... thankfully, none look like being disastrous financially and as I said, every club will sign a dud or two along the way.
He's in it for the money, but I don't really care as for him to make money we have to be successful so it's a win all round
But as we’re now 3 years in the duds are starting to build up a bit and we’ve had a number of different tactics in windows now. The last couple of windows look more promising but we’ll see, I wouldn’t be surprised if we changed again. I certainly wouldn’t be confident our long term plan is set in stone yet.
And you are so certain, you know that how? I'd be also be happy for him to make money for the reason you state. But there's literally no evidence that he's in it for the money, that making money is the driver. I see plenty of evidence that it's not.
Just from the bits I hear and am told by people I trust. I also look at it logically....if he wasn't here to make money then why on earth would he buy us? Businessmen of acuns wealth don't buy clubs they have absolutely zero connection to as toys or hobbies ( they just aren't that wealthy in the grand scheme of things ). He's a media man, knows what to say, when to say it and how to say it to come across a certain way and to win people over. Which is absolutely fantastic as we've seen the attendances grow, the club be in a better place within the community, feels more open etc etc. but the end game is to see a return on his investment and make money. Why are you so sure he isn't?
I know you like your squad numbers Kalman, as I do. Anyone who's not a squad number geek should stop reading this post. I was thinking recently, our 7-11 shirts seem almost cursed. They're the glamour numbers that you want to have star players wearing and selling shirts. But for us in recent years almost nobody has any success wearing them. Sinik has squatted on #11 for years, Ömür has gone to **** since taking the #10, as did Traore prior to him, and before that it was Salah-Eddine Oulad M'Hand (and did Ebiowei wear it later that season too?). #9 Bedia, enough said, before him it was Ohio, meh, before that Allahyar who barely played after getting that shirt, before that Eaves. #8 Mehlem, meh, Docherty who was decent but less and less involved in his last couple of years in it. #7 was Tufan for a couple of years which is the only one to have any real success of any of these, and prior to him it was an uninvolved Malik Wilks. So for the last 2-3 years nobody but Tufan has had any sort of success in those shirts. It's about time that changed.
Oh silly me, so I suppose Preston can win the FA Cup as they're still in it and it's knock out football and anything can happen?
