Well OK, Liverpool balked at the transfer fee (they never had a bid accepted) and Tottenham didn't want to spend much on his wages, probably partly because of the transfer fee and partly because they didn't view him as a key player. I'll say again, he was on £20k at Bologna. We didn't have to offer him silly money for it to be a significant upgrade on his old salary.
Then all is good. All I was pointing out is that we spent more on transfers but much less on wages. From what I hear our top earners are on £35k (Lallana, Lambert, Fonte) and I doubt Ramirez would have gotten much more than them or they would be questioning the chariman. Good to see you guys happy, but in the main we are also happy. We haven't got the financial problems behind the scenes that you or Bolton or Liverpool or ManU have etc, we're playing some great football (albeit sometimes with no end product.) We haven't got owners obsessed with moving us to an oversized athletics stadium and our supporters are proving to be very together and very loud and very passionate again as you could hear throughout the WBA game. Proud to be a saint no matter what the outcome (meaning even prouder than when we played some rough stuff and scraped survival every year. lol)
Now this shows the "happiness" of fans. I think you are playing just as well as last season. The only difference is you are 6th in a league you thought you might be 17th and last season you were so arrogant you expected to be top, but got pissed off little old Reading and Southampton out shone you. If there is any hypocracy, it's from the West Ham fans about their own team.
You can only speculate on Ramirez' wage though. Tottenham couldn't meet his demands, a club which is reportedly paying Adebayor 75k per week and offered Modric 100k plus per week. So either he lowered his demands because he was desperate to play for the Saints or your chairman abandoned your wage structure and I quote 'made him an offer he couldn't refuse" (http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11700/8088482/Bologna-explain-Ramirez-sale). We do have financial problems I accept. These were down to some rather frivolous spending by our Icelandic owners just before the Icelandic banking crisis hit. Unfortunately we were unable to have our debts written off and start again with a clean slate. Thankfully we now have proper owners who know exactly how to run a club. They have got the debt under control and we are out of danger. The Olympic stadium admittedly divides opinion among our fans. It would be very strange if such a massive decision didn't spark some disagreement. I would imagine there were a fair few of you chaps who didn't want to leave the dell when you did. We just have to hope that it can be converted properly and that the owners know what they are doing I suppose. I wouldn't call a 60k seater stadium oversized for a club like ours. Better transport links and cheaper tickets mean the ground will be close to capacity most weeks and will also enable us to grow should new investment in the club arise in the future. So overall, I don't think either club is being run particularly better than the other. Yes our wage bill is higher than yours but then our points tallies reflect that. I am sure your chairman will splash his millions a bit more wisely in January to give you the best chance of survival. Good luck.
I find the Ramirez discussion slightly peculiar to be honest. Yes, it was a long, drawn-out pursuit, but as has been mentioned, players of his quality don't come around too often within reach of a club like ours. In reality I would MUCH rather have saved the £7m spent on Rodriguez and used that money on a defender or two, than the £12m for Gaston.
Come on mate. You were great last season but that's all in the past. You gotta move on and look at the now. You outperformed us last season there is no question but you can't keep using that as an argument against us now that we are 13 points and 13 places above you. We are a completely different side this season playing much better with 6-7 new signings in our first 11. To say we aren't any better than last year is very silly and comes across a tad bitter.
Maybe his "demands" to Tottenham were to play every week - ever thought of that? I'm amazed you see that it is "speculation" yet you sare still prepared to use this in your comparison in how the two clubs are run. Take the Ramirez deal out of the way as this seems to cloud your judgement... now do you think that the clubs are being run in a pretty similar, sound, financial footing? How much do you really know about the workings of Southampton FC? I doubt you only know what you think you know or assume from deals seen in the newspapers. Any fan from a club that admits it is on the brink of financial disaster, comparing it to a club that he really knows nothing about, is a fool.
See, you miss my point again. I'm not comparing the two teams. I picked up on your "happy now" line. I think you are playing very similar to last season... you hardly lost, yet now Hammers are happy but last year you lot were on suicide watch and moaning like hell about Big Sam. The only thing that has changed is the expectation. Your last comment suggests thta I thought you were poor last year - another assumption. I thought you were the strongest team in the league last year that just had a dodgy run of draws at home. Where's the bitterness there. The only thing that makes me bitter, no mad, is a cock sure supporter of another team who compares us off field when I bet you know nothing about Southampton off the pitch, or close to nothing. You are making assumptions based on nothing. Your post above suggests you didn't even read mine at all as it bears no resemblence to the topic I discussed.
With you on that one. I think we would never have bought JRod later in the window (or at least paid less for him).
Tottenhams offer to Ramirez meant he would have moved on the same money (his words). Suggests Spurs didn't value him as much as us. Gaston was told that he was central to our plans, whereas I suspect Spurs thought he might be one for the future (like their purchase of Falque).
This is a quote from Ramirez' agent when talking about his move to spurs: "'But the deal didn't go through because Spurs offered too low a wage to the player ". No need for me to say anymore on that point. I am simply defending my club against a poster who suggests your club is better run than mine that's all. I haven't once said you are badly run. I am merely using the Ramirez situation as an example of your clubs big spending. He did after all cost a lot more than our record signing which somewhat dilutes some of your fans argument that we have bought our way to where we a now. I don't know why you think I am claiming to be an expert on all things southampton. I am far from it. Just as I am sure none of you are that clued up on what is going on at Whufc. But when one of your fans questions our methods, I think I am within my rights to argue my point and to perhaps question some of yours. I think you are a well run club. But so are we. We may go about things different to you. Our wage bill is high but well within the going rate for a club that wants to stay in this division. Using our financial problems against us is a bit questionable given where you were just a few short years ago. Our debt will eventually be fully repaid and long term our future looks sound and secure. As for calling me a fool
Couple of points: 1. The quote from his agent - what context is it taken in? What did spurs offer? Without knowing that, it has no point. 2. You did compare the clubs. My point is how can you compare how they are run without any knowledge of one of the clubs? That is impossible unless you are assuming or guessing. Don't comment or make a comparison when you admit you don't know the information. I didn't make a derogatory comment about your finances - I just pointed at the fact and trust me, we fully understand the precariousness of a poorly financially run club and why we are sensitive about these things now. The info on WHUFC has been made a lot more open to public knowledge by your owners and thus we have some knowledge. You can defend your club of course, just if you choose to compare to us "off field" only do that if you know some facts. I will concede that I should not have called you a fool. apologies. By the way, do you see now there was no bitterness about on field success...
Agree with Trixter on that. West Ham, though I say it through gritted teeth, are showing the value of having an experienced manager and some knowledgeable hardy players. I'm glad that we're going the route we are - it's brave and may end up looking foolhardy, but I think for the long term it's the better road for this club (working on the presumption we stay up!) Both clubs are indeed run well from my limited knowledge, but I have to admit whenever I see any type of image of Gold & Sullivan I feel quite unwell. There's just *something* about them.
I posted a few pages back that their manager and the core of Prem players they have is part of why they have started so well. They deserve that. I even posted that I thought they were the stongest team last season, but a run of draws at home stopped them winning the league. Somehow another saints fans' views have become mine. My original point to Trxiter was this: He said Hammers are happy now. I think that is a little shallow as they seem to me to be playing as good as they were last season with the exception of letting a few leads slip into draws at home; I don't recall them being too happy with Big Sam last season, yet to me they are playing as well (albeit ina style different ot ours). It is as shallow as those saints fans bemoaning Nigel now.
Your joking??? Haven't you seen David Sullivans velvet Jackets and Russian hats? The bloke oozes class!
We do not know how much spurs offered Ramirez. If Spurs did offer 12m+ for Him, I can only assume his wage offer would have been proportional. I only bought the Ramirez situation up in defence of West Hams wage bill. I do not know how much he is on but I think it is reasonable to guess he is probably on a fair whack considering you were able to entice him to your club in the first place. With regards to my knowledge on how your club is run, I know little. Probably a similar amount to whoever began the debate about club finances (impsaint?) knows about the running of Whufc. Both sides of the argument are based mainly on estimates and assumptions. I was mistaken when I accused you of having a pop at our finances. It was actually my old mate Impsaint again! I am going to end my side of this discussion now. You provide good debate and we are both clearly passionate football fans. To conclude I think both clubs have both been badly mismanaged off the field in recent years. Both have come back strong and both deserve credit. Our chairmen clearly have different methods and they are all far shrewder business men than you and I. I think it's fair to say both clubs are in fairly good shape overall. Time for me to go do some work. And don't worry, I forgive you for calling me a fool, hurtful as it was
