I'll confirm that Barmby wasn't allowed to sign the players he wanted, his transfer budget was zero, not a ****ing bean, Brucey has been given a budget 5-6 million times bigger and we still haven't got a decent striker available. I don't question the investment of the Allam's, it's about £60m ffs, I just question the chances of getting any return on that investment when your team doesn't have a decent striker.
I'm sure Nigel Pearson would have signed better than the likes of Adebola and Harper had he been given the budget SB seems to have. In fact, he'd probably still be here now and we'd be in the Premiership this season !
Not sure i subscribe to the view that Barmby didn't have money to spend. During the January transfer window 2012 Barmby was looking for a striker but HE didn't sign one because he couldn't get value for money not because he didn't have any money. He could of signed Sharp but didn't, that was his fault. He realised it and tried to cover his tracks with statements against his employers. OLM we do have a striker two, Simpson and Proschwitz, granted prozzy was Bruce signing but Simpson wasnt, nor was Mcclean, our best striker is out for the season and he is looking to recruit to the front line, not sure what else he can do right now. Not SB fault that the two Campbells don't want to sign for us.
The guy who said the Allams should invest £40 million to get us in the Prem, not sure if you were serious but, if so, would you be prepared to invest 10% of your total personal wealth? ISPLT, you keep banging on about Leicester's owners' investment. They are one club out of 92, how many of the others would be prepared to invest the level of their personal wealth that the Allams have? You seem to be castigating them for not being the number one investor in the Football League. Also, which other club in our league has spent what we have in this window? Regarding Barmby, as far as I could see he had a philosophy about the team ethic, and his theory was that the wages Sharp demanded could have destroyed that. A reasonable, if arguably misguided, point of view. Let's not forget though that he was very inexperienced in his role and maybe should have been supported, and forgiven the odd mistake. That episode still sits uneasily with me. Cracking thread this by the way.
How much experience did Ehab Allam have of recruiting/managing football managers such as Pearson and Barmby?
I'm genuinely not sure which side of the fence I fall on at the moment but to pull you up on your first point there... If I had 20k to my name and gave 2k away, then I'm only on 18k... That's a significant loss with how things are valued in today's economy... If I had £400m and gave £40m away, I'm pretty sure I could get by on the remaining £360m and still have an incredibly lavish lifestyle... particularly when I appear to be making more and more profit each year despite a recession. I can understand what the Allams have done for us so far and it's hard to be critical, but if we're already eating into next summers budget with Brady and Meyler then I can safely assume we're not bringing in a striker if DJ and Gedo fall through because it will likely cost us more than we're willing to splash. That being said, why fund this amount so far and then pull the plug when you're in such a good position with the best chance you may have of promotion, knowing full well that your competition is strenghtening dramatically?
None. Good point. He's an experienced businessman though and that was a human thing rather than a football thing imo. If he was unhappy with Nick's performance as manager he should have said so rather than do it the way he did. He would have looked less ridiculous than Forest or Southampton's owners as it turned out. It wasn't particularly intended as a dig at the Allams though, they are definitely in credit as far as their decisions at City go.
I have not criticised for not spending enough.Others may have done. The problem today was mot so much lack of spending, but players underperforming. We had more than enough on the pitch to see off Barnsley.
They're still learning. There's a lot wrong with the club at the moment and I'm not sure the Allams are even aware of it. Not everyone bows down and licks their anuses just because they have put money in- it doesn't mean they know how to run a football club (yet).
What concerns me is whether anyone at the club, aside from Bruce, knows anything about football. I don't think I'd have sanctioned the spending of £6.6m on Brady, Meyler and Proschwitz.
Good point again but it depends on the level of your your outgoings. My point really was that nobody should be criticising others for the amount of their own money they are prepared to invest. We have had far, far more frugal owners than them.
Out of the three there, Proschwitz is looking the least value for money by some way. If there's still a budget to improve ourselves further then it's not a problem to me. The scary part is if we're eating into our summer budget. Has this been confirmed? If so, and we don't go up, we're going to have a struggle next season when the contracts expire! Even if we do go up will we even strengthen? Or will we use the earnings as a profit and end up getting battered every week?
Every club has these sort of fans. Wouldn't get too upset about it. I bet on Luton's radio station someone called in to say they should have played a different formation or the player who scored wasn't good enough. Fact of life i'm afraid.
We have spent into next summers budget. That doesn't mean we should particularly worse off next season. We have fantastic players tied down on permanent contracts who are only going to keep getting better and increase in value. Stockdale aside, if we wish (contract renewals depending), we will still be able to field the exact same team as today. If we dont renew the contracts Hobbs and Evans will fill 2 out of those 3 gaps (who i think are better players anyway) leaving rb and goalkeeper the main and only real problem areas, which I'm sure the Allams will be prepared to spend on filling. Fryatt will also be available. Next season we could field this team: New goalie/jak New rb Chester Hobbs dudgeon Brady meyler koren Quinn Aluko fryatt Evans, Bruce, McLean, Proschwitz, Stewart, Cairney, jak/oxley That is a ****ing good championship side. It's not like our squad is built of loans, and if we don't go up, they return and we find ourselves considerably weaker next season. We will still have a string squad and just as good a chance with players who will have improved after this season and will look better on paper than we do now. I'd like to see us polish the job off and bring in those 1 or 2 key players we need to make us a real force, but if it doesn't happen and we miss out on promotion it's not the end of the world, it's not now or never, we will have just as good a chance next season.
It's not Bruce's or the Allams' fault that BOTH Fryatt & Aluko are out. If 2 wheels fall off your car, you ain't going to get to work on time are you?