https://www.twtd.co.uk/ipswich-town-news/33824//?scrollto=post373694 If this article has ANY weight to it whatsoever - I'm sorry to say I'm very much of the opinion that this season is going to be BLOODY hard work. How in gods name can we be expected to compete with bucket load of clubs in this league!? Notts Forest for example - Perhaps Wolves the 2nd!? https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/44482778 I mean, IF true what saleable assets do we even have!?!??!? * Bart the obvious ( 100% convinced he'll go ) maybe £3.5 - £6 mill. Last year of contract etc.... * Knudsen. Not really my cup of tea but probably low £1 mill. Maybe £1.75 mill? I don't know. * Waghorn!?!?! Had a fantastic season - not really being linked anywhere etc, but PERHAPS someone may come in!? No idea on fee..... * Webster - too injury prone probably - fee maybe a lot lower due to this. Some of the kids!? If true, I'm worried big time right now. IF not, and Evans does his usual, based on them two signings from Forest alone it again is going to be a long hard season.
Why is this a surprise? Where have you been for the last ten years? It's not to say we won't buy anybody, but we won't splash cash on players that cost several million.
I'm sure PH took the job on with the full knowledge of what the financial restrictions would be.I expect minor tweaking of the squad rather than wholesale changes.And yes we'll probably have to sell in order to pay out anything like a significant fee.
Ermm here the past 10 years will be my diplomatic response to your... ' question '... That's about the best I can do. It's a surprise given we cannot even go and make bids for a lower league player without having to offload someone first! What a ridiculous position for us to be in. I wish Hurst all the best / pleased for a change but it's going to be very difficult for him. Lets see what the summer brings / what happens. Perhaps just a lazy report / may not be the case
The biggest surprise is that if we sell someone .....some money will go to replacements....and not just disappear.
Business as usual then. We have one of the lowest wage bills in the division, we haven't spend big for over half a decade, and Evans remains hesitant to pump money into the club after the FFP regulations and the high-cost failures of Keane and Jewell. Over the years, we've offloaded the likes of Cresswell, Mings, Murphy, and Wickham for fairly big fees, which I presume was reinvested in the wage budget rather than any stand-out transfer fees. Regarding our profitable playing assets, I agree that bar the World Cup pairing of Bart and Knudsen, we don't have many players that can bring in a fee over £1m. I think the strategy at the club is that the academy players like Dozzell, Nydam, Downes, Kenlock et al will be blooded successfully and then gradually sold for massive fees over a period of time. This money will then be invested in weaker areas of the squad / continuing the academy production line, similar to the model we used under Burley's Town side in the mid-to-late 90s. We've invested a lot into the academy and so I think it's clear that this is the way the club wants to operate. Regarding the Shrewsbury pair, I think in today's crazy transfer market, even players from a third-tier club can demand a fairly big fee, especially off the back of a successful season.
Not sure it's as black and white (or as negative) as that in my opinion. We have always had to generate some income before we make any substantial outlay.. This summer won't be any different. I expect there will be money available to sign 1 or 2 players at a combined fee of possibly £1million (Much like Ward & Webster in 2016 and Garner & Waghorn in 2017) but if Hurst has more grand ideas of who he wants to sign (Jon Nolan for example) then he will need to generate some extra funds to be able to sign anyone for a higher fee than we have been used to. Also (and probably most importantly) Hurst hasn't seen our squad first hand so may amend his transfer targets as he gets to know what he is working with in more detail. For example he might be targeting a centre back but after a week or two of pre season may see Wolfenden or Smith as being adequate cover and therefore can move that position down in terms of priority, the same for the likes of Rowe etc.
Can't see us doing anything more than 16-23 next season. Not down to Hurst, the investment just isn't there. In a league where 15 sides or more are likely to spend alone £5- £10 mill in transfer fees, our ' investment ' is miles off having the desired effect.
Just after Hurst was appointed you said this: "I'll give a prediction based on pre season / spend / what others have done. Far too early for me to have any remote idea as to what this season has in store." What made you change your mind about giving an early prediction,Westy?
I would say I've been influenced somewhat by the given likely spend. That's my early hunch. However, of course when I can see what we HAVE done and not pure heresay then of course I can give a better prediction. Premier league loanees will be done a lot earlier this season for a start, so that will have a big knock on.
