You don't really get this football malarky, do you? Despite a rather long history of footballers of ALL clubs going to bigger clubs when they achieve a certain level of ability & performance, you now seem to think this force of nature needn't apply to SFC. We are currently competing at the highest level we can compete at. The clubs our players move to, are competing at a higher level, because they are much bigger & richer clubs. This ends Football Lesson No1.
Real Madrid are a much bigger and richer club than Atletico. AC Milan are a much bigger and richer club than Parma. People who talk about a status quo in football always fail to mention that there was a different status quo a decade ago. And a different one a decade before that. And so on.
I do get PTF's point. There has to be a tipping point where we keep the best players and the best players want to stay if we are to achieve real success. The problem last season is that we played some great football, show cased our players, but obviously don't have the draw of United or Chelsea etc. This is a long term thing...won't be achieved over night.
All of the following clubs have been champions of their nation in my lifetime: Leeds United, Blackburn Rovers, Deportivo la Coruna, Kaiserslautern, Stuttgart, Werder Bremen, Wolfsburg, Sampdoria, Nantes, Auxerre, Lens, Montpellier.
To illustrate the point, here is the First Division table from 40 years ago: (please excuse the crap formatting) League Division 1 P W D L F A W D L F A Pts 1. LEEDS UNITED 42 12 8 1 38 18 12 6 3 28 13 62 2. Liverpool 42 18 2 1 34 11 4 11 6 18 20 57 3. Derby County 42 13 7 1 40 16 4 7 10 12 26 48 4. Ipswich Town 42 10 7 4 38 21 8 4 9 29 37 47 5. Stoke City 42 13 6 2 39 15 2 10 9 15 27 46 6. Burnley 42 10 9 2 29 16 6 5 10 27 37 46 7. Everton 42 12 7 2 29 14 4 5 12 21 34 44 8. Queen's Park Rangers 42 8 10 3 30 17 5 7 9 26 35 43 9. Leicester City 42 10 7 4 35 17 3 9 9 16 24 42 10. Arsenal 42 9 7 5 23 16 5 7 9 26 35 42 11. Tottenham Hotspur 42 9 4 8 26 27 5 10 6 19 23 42 12. Wolverhampton Wanderers 42 11 6 4 30 18 2 9 10 19 31 41 13. Sheffield United 42 7 7 7 25 22 7 5 9 19 27 40 14. Manchester City 42 10 7 4 25 17 4 5 12 14 29 40 15. Newcastle United 42 9 6 6 28 21 4 6 11 21 27 38 16. Coventry City 42 10 5 6 25 18 4 5 12 18 36 38 17. Chelsea 42 9 4 8 36 29 3 9 9 20 31 37 18. West Ham United 42 7 7 7 36 32 4 8 9 19 28 37 19. Birmingham City 42 10 7 4 30 21 2 6 13 22 43 37 20. SOUTHAMPTON 42 8 10 3 30 20 3 4 14 17 48 36 21. MANCHESTER UNITED 42 7 7 7 23 20 3 5 13 15 28 32 22. NORWICH CITY 42 6 9 6 25 27 1 6 14 12 35 29 And from 30 years ago: Canon League Division 1 P W D L F A W D L F A Pts 1. LIVERPOOL 42 14 5 2 50 12 8 9 4 23 20 80 2. Southampton 42 15 4 2 44 17 7 7 7 22 21 77 3. Nottingham Forest 42 14 4 3 47 17 8 4 9 29 28 74 4. Manchester United 42 14 3 4 43 18 6 11 4 28 23 74 5. Queen's Park Rangers 42 14 4 3 37 12 8 3 10 30 25 73 6. Arsenal 42 10 5 6 41 29 8 4 9 33 31 63 7. Everton 42 9 9 3 21 12 7 5 9 23 30 62 8. Tottenham Hotspur 42 11 4 6 31 24 6 6 9 33 41 61 9. West Ham United 42 10 4 7 39 24 7 5 9 21 31 60 10. Aston Villa 42 14 3 4 34 22 3 6 12 25 39 60 11. Watford 42 9 7 5 36 31 7 2 12 32 46 57 12. Ipswich Town 42 11 4 6 34 23 4 4 13 21 34 53 13. Sunderland 42 8 9 4 26 18 5 4 12 16 35 52 14. Norwich City 42 9 8 4 34 20 3 7 11 14 29 51 15. Leicester City 42 11 5 5 40 30 2 7 12 25 38 51 16. Luton Town 42 7 5 9 30 33 7 4 10 23 33 51 17. West Bromwich Albion 42 10 4 7 30 25 4 5 12 18 37 51 18. Stoke City 42 11 4 6 30 23 2 7 12 14 40 50 19. Coventry City 42 8 5 8 33 33 5 6 10 24 44 50 20. BIRMINGHAM CITY 42 7 7 7 19 18 5 5 11 20 32 48 21. NOTTS COUNTY 42 6 7 8 31 36 4 4 13 19 36 41 22. WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS 42 4 8 9 15 28 2 3 16 12 52 29 30 years ago neither Chelsea nor Manchester City were in the top flight. In 1975 Derby County won the League title. In 1979 Nottingham Forest won the European Cup. The only constant is change. Our time will come. I believe that we will... oh hang on.
With a sell on clause I presume. Not that I expect United to sell him, if he is the success that I expect him to be.
Based on what? It seems like we've basically accepted their first offer to me. Need someone to unearth the details of these extras or we might as well assume they're worthless.
The question is whether they'll be a success. He could be too good for even them in a couple of years. Imagine if he's really good for them, but they don't get back into the top four in a couple of years, and Chelsea come knocking.
27m up front rising to 33-34 with add ons. Doubt we will know what they are, but fair to say they won't be crazy like the Liverpool ones.
People just don't get it. We finished 8 so realistically any club above 8th is a step upward We pay around £50k-60k a week to top earners. All the clubs above us pay 100k-300k to their top earners. We are not a famous club (from history or recently.) All the clubs above us are much much bigger as global brands and household names. This is no different from Van Persie, Fabregas, Nasri, Cliche etc leaving Arsenal to go to Man Utd/Barcelona/Man City. They decided that the move was a step in the right direction for them either for financial and success reasons or both. Going back through history this has happened to clubs that are bigger than us. Sol Campbell and Michael Carrick didn't think 'Tottenham are massive, I am staying here'. They moved onward to achieve success. We will continue to lose players to the likes of Tottenham, Liverpool, Arsenal, ManchesterU/C, Chelsea and other clubs that are below us at the moment. Al we can do is try to manage it well, make sure that if we cannot convince a player to stay that we get the best deal from the transfer as well as replacement. It will take a long time, constant good management, a fair bit of luck and success along the way before we can get closer in wages to these clubs and offer a similar chance of success. It is a romantic notion that players that have come through the ranks here will see us in a more favourable light. Take Lallana's change of heart in less than a season. We do however have an incredibly good base to achieve the leap upward as we do have a much better production line than other clubs. We aren't spending £15m on a player that we might sell for £30m in a couple of years time (or £5m if they fail.) We are selling players that cost us nothing (in real terms) whilst making use of them for a couple/several years and then making massive profits which can be reinvested into the club (not necessarily the first team.) So if we want to keep hold of these players we will have to maximise profits to increase revenue streams. We aren't going to fill an expanded stadium at the moment even if we win the league next year which is also highly unlikely, however every time these big clubs play we are mentioned. Southampton is gaining from this too when Bale walks out on the pitch and Southampton are mentioned. When Ox / Walcott walk out and Southampton are mentioned. Now when Shaw walks out for Man U and Southampton are mentioned. I would say when looking at it realistically we will probably come out of this in much better condition than Atletico. I think we will make more money than them (pro rata) whilst selling less players. I think we also have more draw than them when signing players because the PL is a massive draw.
