Burnley spent loads in their PL season. Just not on their team. Sky did a documentary with Geoff Shreeves and Sean Dyche and basically most of the money they got for being promoted went into training facilities and infrastructure rather than the first team. So they don't necessarily have loads of money.
They're trying to get Category 2, like we did, it didn't cost us a bomb. They submitted a plan for their new training ground at Gawthorpe Hall, but a quick google has revealed it hasn't got out of the planning stage yet (although most of the stories were from 2014) Out of the 120m (roughly) they earned, they won't have blown it all on training facilities. Plus the sale of Ings will probably help.
I'd argue it was NOT the right thing to do. The evidence of what happened last season has shown that the medical team actually made the wrong cal; his knee was fine and stood up perfectly to the rigours of a PL season. And then we have the facts from last season of what Austin was capable of. Therefore it was not the right thing to do. Hey ho, it's a decision that only cost us £100 million plus! Even if Austin broke down this season, signing him would have been an incredible ROI. On the other hand, we have Snodgrass, Diame and Jelavic. Known problems, yet signed, and lo and behold. Questions have hopefully been asked.
Torino Still In Negotiations For Hull City Striker Torino are set to renew their attempts to sign Hull City forward Abel Hernandez. Toro have found negotiations with the Championship club difficult due to the Tigers not reducing their asking price for the Uruguayan international. However, according to Tuttosport, after failing with an offer to take Hernandez on loan with obligation to buy, the Granata will now meet Hull’s asking price of €8 million. The Yorkshire club will have this offer presented to them later this week when the player’s agent returns to England. The 25 year-old only moved to England last summer but endured a difficult first season making just 15 starts and scoring only four goals. Hernandez has enjoyed a previous spell in Serie A with Palermo who he scored 36 goals for in 122 appearances. http://forzaitalianfootball.com/2015/08/torino-still-in-negotiations-for-hull-city-striker/
Because of course, he would've been exactly the same here as he was at DQPR. Just because he stayed fit last season and scored a few for them does not mean he'll do the same for us. It doesn't work like that. For all we know, he could've done a Bullard first game. It was the right call to play it safe and NOT sign him.
Sometimes I wonder whether some clubs compete with promotion/ relegation rivals in the transfer market just to force the original club to pay more for their targets. After all if you can help drain the oppositions transfer kitty early you may prevent them from recruiting other players they could have afforded.
It's not the other clubs that leak any interest to the media but the selling club and/or the players agent. Both do this to drive the price up/generate more interest/force a deal to a conclusion. I am aware of a former Grimsby player who was linked to us via his agent in attempt to draw contract offers from elsewhere (this was obviously back in the day!). As has been pointed out - Burnley don't seem likely to make an offer but someone at the Brentford end looked at who might reasonably expect to compete with us & then leak this story.
Luke Greaves @Luke_GMS Ignore claims that Burnley have made a bid for Andre Gray. They are false rumours. #HCAFC still close to getting deal over the line.
They were definitely building something on the Sky vid. They had bought an area of land and had tractors turning over turf here and there and buildings being erected. Not sure if it's the same thing. I'm not saying you're wrong, I jut remember Geoff asking Dyche why he was happy his transfer money was spent on that instead of the first team because he could easily be sacked for lack of results when they didn't invest. Like you say, there's 120m so there must be some left hanging around.
How long have Torino been pissing about now? Every story is the same. Hernandez wants to go there, they want him, we're happy for him to go but they can't afford him. How many times does that story need repeating?
I've not seen the documentary, so I can't really comment, but I couldn't find anything in their local paper about it. As you said they'll have a fair amount of money from the PL, plus their owner isnt exactly light on cash either. I suggested him earlier in the window, but he doesn't seem as lethal an option as Gray does. Plus Huddersfield would probably want around £6m-£7m, which I think is double what he's worth.
For some reason I think he'd do a better job - got a decent amount of goals for a struggling team - compared to Gray who got a few more playing for a team who created a shed load. On their forums they do say he misses a lot of chances and could have got 30 goals if his finishing was better - this worries me slightly as we're not known for giving our strikers the greatest service.