And to rub that in: "Mourinho’s preference was for Lukaku to move to Fulham on loan. The Portuguese, whose 13-year-old son Jose junior has been offered student terms by the Cottagers following a successful five-week trial with their academy, is believed to have contacted Fulham to give them first refusal on Lukaku. However, Fulham had used up their budget with the signing of Darren Bent on a season-long loan from Aston Villa and could not afford the loan fee and salary payments needed to capture Lukaku as well. Everton took advantage of the availability of Lukaku, who has begun at Goodison Park where he left off at the Hawthorns, scoring five league goals in six matches for his new temporary employers." Source: http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2892...helsea-rookie-prevented-lukaku-rejoining-west
That's a painful thing to read. However, I feel we had to take the chance with Bent - we could not rely on Mourinho deciding to send Lukaku out on loan. Lukaku in front of Ruiz/Kasami/Kaca would have been a much better fit than what we have. Sigh, what might have been...
Laughable. Third richest chairman in the league and we couldn't afford a bloody loan fee. You really can't make it up.
And thereon is the issue with those that criticise Jol for scrimping and saving with free transfers and loans. It's very obvious that he didn't get sufficient backing financially. Not defending Jol's tactics or training, but he has been handicapped in the transfer window.
Absolutely. Khan and to an extent MAF are not blameless in our demise. I can only think the 'failure' of Ruiz dissuaded MAF from stumping up any serious amount of money Jol wanted, and Khan? Absolutely no idea what's going through his mind. I sympathise with Jol slightly, he has had to replace our three best players (Dempsey, Dembele, Murphy) with freebies and over the hill players (Karagounis, Parker, Bent). There's hardly a manager in the world who could arrest that sort of slide. But as you say, Jol certainly hasn't helped his own cause.
Jol will look to raid his old club Ajax for the signing of South African midfielder Thulani Serero this January, according to reports. please log in to view this image "Serero, 23, is considered a promising prospect at Ajax, though he has not managed to establish himself as a first-team regular since joining the club in 2011, and could be tempted by a switch to the Premier League. With Fulham performing so badly at the moment, it remains to be seen if Jol will still be in the job by the turn of the year, but he remains committed to his role and is already working on targets to improve his side's chances of staying up. Serero is an attack-minded midfielder, who has scored 3 goals in 12 appearances for Ajax this season, and who could be available for around £5million." Source: http://www.sportsdirectnews.com/football-transfer-window/36398-fulham-to-bid-for-ajax-midfielder.php PS ex-Fulham player (who we have a 30% interest in) scored for Ajax at the weekend.
Hope not. 3 in 12 is hardly brilliant (although I accept he is not an out and outl striker). Besides our last import from the Dutch league has hardly set the world alight, has he?
3 in 12 is a better ratio than any of our players at the moment, and teams battling relegation really can't afford to be picky.
3 in 12 from a midfielder. That's 9 in 36. If anyone in our midfield ended the season with 9 or10 goals, we wouldn't be complaining. That said, most players from the dutch league who come over to England find goals harder to come by here.
As I look forward to the January window, I'm stuck between two minds: should we build for the future by bringing in some good, young talent, while kissing our EPL chances goodbye? Or should we try to salvage our fading chance at staying in this league, rolling the dice for some immediate impact players? Because, unless Khan gives Jol or the next manager 100 million, I can't see us doing both. Serero, for instance, sounds like a player for the future, not one who's going to save our bacon tomorrow. From what I've seen, Dutch players need at least a year to get used to EPL football.
Building for the future or stay in the Prem? Jol won't be given much money in January, IMO. Sad but true. COYW / COBM
Papers are saying that Burnley have put a £10m price tag on Danny Ings. Should have got him when the Captain said.
Ruiz needs at least 5 years QUOTE=dempsey's revenge;5680488]As I look forward to the January window, I'm stuck between two minds: should we build for the future by bringing in some good, young talent, while kissing our EPL chances goodbye? Or should we try to salvage our fading chance at staying in this league, rolling the dice for some immediate impact players? Because, unless Khan gives Jol or the next manager 100 million, I can't see us doing both. Serero, for instance, sounds like a player for the future, not one who's going to save our bacon tomorrow. From what I've seen, Dutch players need at least a year to get used to EPL football.[/QUOTE]
I say we should do whatever is necessary to preserve our premiership status. If we went down our gates would be reduced to what 16/18 thousand which would be what a loss in takings of 250k per match,and what guarentee would we have for keeping our youngesters and management team,as sure as night follows day the cherry picking hawks would be out in force, and very few clubs climb straight back.
Yup, and here's a taste of what it might look like: 2012-13 Birmingham City accounts: Pre-tax losses £10m; turnover down 40% to £23.5m; total liabilities £45m; Wage bill £20m
If you think about it, there are two simple factors that will decide whether we stay up or not: How well we play How badly the other teams play. In other words, if we improve a little, we might be able to play our way out of this jam, but that only works if the other crap teams (Crystal Palace, Norwich, Sunderland ... to a lesser extent West Ham and Cardiff) don't improve. If we stay the same and any one of those teams makes any sort of improvement (my money is on Sunderland), we're doomed. That's how it played out last year: QPR and Reading raced to the bottom leaving Wigan and Sunderland fight for survival ... Sunderland improved enough to escape. If you look at the teams in the scrap this year, Crystal Palace and Norwich don't seem to have the player quality to make an improvement Fulham has a tired, old manager who's lost control of a squad of tired, old players who are already thinking about the off season Sunderland, on the other hand, has a decent squad of younger players and an energized new manager West Ham has had a tough run of games, but a decent squad Cardiff has a fortress at home I guess my point is, I don't think the two factors (our improvement, their decline) will work in our favor. I can't see any reason for us to improve, and I don't think the other teams will be bad enough to help us survive.
Someone we should have looked at in the summer to support Berbatov? Someone whose his price will have gone up now that he's managing to score goals? Shane Long - " Martin Jol's side have struggled so far this season and find themselves in the relegation zone at present, leading to the manager to look for opportunities to strengthen his squad in the January transfer window. The Cottagers are likely to enter the loan market for the likes of Manchester United midfielder Anderson, but SportsDirect News also understands that they could ready a bid of around £5million for Baggies forward Long. The Republic of Ireland international came close to leaving the club during the summer, with Hull looking like being his destination on transfer deadline day, before a move fell through late on. Hull are likely to renew their interest in the 26-year-old, and Fulham may also find themselves up against Newcastle and Stoke City in their pursuit of the former Reading man." Source: http://www.sportsdirectnews.com/football-transfer-window/36611-west-brom-fulham-join-chase-for-long.php
Christ Demps I was a tad optimistic before I read your post. I'm now suicidal! More positive vibes please from our representative in Germany. Lol
