I think you have to step back and look at where we are compared to 2/3 years ago to conclude whether the transfers gave been a success. It's been an amazing journey and most have played a significant part. For several, the pace at which we have grown has been difficult to keep up with. You can remember several contributions from the likes Lee, Mayuka, de Ridder and others. Jos, Yoshida and fox type players are still good cover. J rod was a real bargain. By today's standards so are Ramirez and Osvaldo. Even though they have yet to get a decent run due to injuries / suspensions you have to remember the squad train with them every day and will be improving their own skills as a result. Forren was the one exception for me but I think that was more about a young man who simply got home sick.
It might be crap, but it is our crap Beefy !. I enjoyed being at Sunderland with my son last week, just as I enjoy going to watch Aberdeen. It`s different - there are degrees of crapness, starting at Barca/Bayern/Real etc and rolling downhill after that. I enjoyed watching Saints in L1 just as much as I do now - in some respects, more. I`ve got cup semis coming up with Aberdeen, and we are second in a crap league. Aberdeen didn`t spend a penny on any of the team, same as everyone else in Scotland (except Celtic), and it shows. COYR
I understand the point Black makes, but I suspect that there might not be too many easily readable patterns about our experience to decipher. Rodriguez has been extremely good, but what if had got injured whilst he was still "one-goal" to certain posters?
Transfermarkt suggests that we've spent around £70m in transfer fees on our acquisitions since returning to the Prem. We've brought in Artur Boruc, Maya Yoshida, Gaston Ramirez, Emmanuel Mayuka, Paulo Gazzaniga, Nathaniel Clyne, Steven Davis, Jay Rodriguez, Dejan Lovren, Dani Osvaldo, and Victor Wanyama. Have there been some major misses in there? Undoubtedly, and the best signings have been some of the less expensive ones. But I'm not sure if, taken as a whole, we haven't gotten value for money. If we were to turn around and sell the lot of them, we'd probably recoup most if not all of that money, thanks largely to the improved values of Clyne, Lovren, Jay and perhaps Wanyama. It's a disappointment that we've spent 30m on players that haven't provided a hell of a lot, but we've yet to botch anything that couldn't be (largely) fixed...might take a haircut on the disappointments, but they can all be moved on at a tolerable loss.
Agreed, the vast majority of the signings have improved the squad. Despite recent events would you rather have Osvaldo or Guly on the pitch, Yoshida or Martin? I think we've bought players at great ages to be able to improve and keep a decent valuation if necessary. Not every signing can work out, but bar Everton I think we had one of the best summer windows
I used to be an HR Manager in another life, recruitment was something of a speciality with me. If I'd only got it right 50% of the time I'd have had to have sacked myself Football is somewhat different I agree. I think I'd basically agree with Mikey: Excellent - Boruc, Clyne, Davis, Rodriguez, Lovren Good - Yoshida, Wanyama Poor - Ramirez, Mayuka, Gazzaniga, Osvaldo TVFC* - Forren ALthough, I might put Boruc in the 'good' box. I started a thread the same as this a month ago because I basically think we have wasted a bit of money.
Is this what you gathered from me saying that Lovren and Wanyama had been "vital" to our season? Exactly right! Because for every Osvaldo we sign, it's a potential Rodriguez we don't. Also as you pointed out, even if Ramirez/ Osvaldo get moved on as we recoup that transfer fee, we still lose a lot in wages, so more cash down the drain. Signings like Rodriguez are ideal because these players will work hard for their team and if things don't work out right away they will keep at it. I get the feeling players like Osvaldo who were big-shots in Seria A expect to walk into the team and be an instant star. We don't need to unearth a gem of a player because more than likely one will come through the Academy. Did that also get dismissed out of hand by certain (not everyone) cliquey posters?
You'd have only selected the tough, hard nuts with rough looking hands and none of the pretty lads with good hairstyles and nice looking nails
Cliquey? Eh? More than one person disagreeing with you doesn't make them cliquey, it means they just disagree with your opinion that in this case there's any point to be concerned about. That's all.
Well, maybe not dismissed out of hand but most people seemed reluctant to admit that Ramirez and Osvaldo were costly mistakes. Even though both of them were awful at the time, apparently their very presence improved everyone else's performance! If they had been playing well, I maybe could have agreed but they weren't. Admittedly, it was early days for Osvaldo but as it happens, I wouldn't say that his presence has improved things much
It's still early days to determine whether Osvaldo's performances on the pitch have been value for money. He's been our best centre forward this year (admittedly not saying much) and he's never played in the country before, it's fair to say he was still adapting so judging him as a footballing failure was stupidly premature. After yesterday, though, I'm not so hesitant to disagree when people want to call the transfer a mistake.
Nothing wrong with a nice hair-do. I don't count corn rows as nice though, and I'm not overly convinced by the Argentinian/Italian look either
Can not see why Yoshie is put in with the dodgy signings, he was first choice last season and probably our best CB, this year he acts as a reserve and can cover several positions, if he played alongside Lovren we would see an improvement akin to Jose´s. With regards to Ramirez and Danni, they cost roughly the same as Blackburn paid for Rhodes yet I know who I would prefer Southampton to have paid that amount of money for. Danni may be abit shot in the head but has so much ability.
Er, no, though I may have conflated your point about premier league players with all domestic players, in which case I apologise.
Yep, shame Rangers aren't in it to at least make the league exciting. What you really need is another Scottish club to be brought out so they can challenge Celtic. I still watch the Scottish league now and again due to my uncle supporting Celtic.
One way to judge the players is to see how much they are now worth, compared to what we bought them for. For instance, what would J-Rod fetch now is he was on the open market? My guess is that he's worth a darned sight more than we paid for him.
