Obviously this is a totally academic question, but if Neil Warnock had had the transfer budget and wages budget available to him at the beginning of the summer that Tony Fernandes made available after his takeover, which of the players that Warnock actually signed, in both tranches of signings, do you think he would have signed? Try not to use hindsight in your judgement. It is easy to discount say Dyer based on his horrific injury record, but what about say Bothroyd? With the funds available would we have managed to sign Danny Graham and not bothered with Bothroyd? Would SWP be at the club, or would he have pushed harder for Routledge? How about cup hero Gabbidon? I doubt that we would have signed him. So of the new players, who do you think he would have signed?
Ferdinand and Young .....would we have got Graham???? We had the money, Neil's wife liked him. Was it just the underlying tension of the Goons that stopped him??? The only person we were up for who I really would have liked (instead of Barton) was Bellamy......but he would never come in a million years...So Barton was second best to Bellamy imho
I think it easier to look at his choices as he was only able to sign frees and Bosmans therefore I have no dought in my mind that he would never have signed Dyer, Bothroyd, Gabbidon, Perone, Barton and SWP(panic buy) but DJ & Traore probably was on his list as a 3rd or 4th choices, the only definate one would have been Young. As you say Danny Graham apparently was number 1 and Definately Wayne Routledge , remember we had an agreement to buy him for 1.5 mil, he was sold for nearly 2 mil in the end, I really think he would have worked out better than SWP as he knew our team and had a good understanding with Adel. Williams from Swansea is also a player he liked and Craig Mackail-Smith was on his list so he was a possibility but would he have gone after him if DG had been bought? I will need to get my thinking cap on to remember any others.
I think that NW would have still sign Boothroyd bearing in mind he was a free transfer. I also have a feeling he would have still signed Dyer or kept him on an extended trail basis to see if he could keep fit. Young Ferdinand, Troare, poss Barton would have joined. Gabbidon was a risky a free transfer from west ham (maybe should have put extremely risky next to Dyer), have a feeling Routledge would never sign a permanent deal. I do wonder whether it was wages that meant Graham went to Swansea (rather than Mrs W's choice of biscuits or cakes when he visited) and that it was that issue that stopped the deal from progressing. Not sure about DJC - he did OK with Blackpool but I am still not convinced NW would have signed him with TF cash. I would not have been surprised to see a spuds striker (Pav) arrive on a season long loan deal, and, maybe more money would have been made available to get Craig Bellamy - but Liverpool are always a more attractive team to ply your trade with.
