So Huw has gone and said there'll be no big bucks available for Laudrup to spend - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18480907. Cue Dai. Huw must be talking in relative terms to the rest of the teams in the Prem. Huw and the rest of the board have looked at our long term plan (academy, stadium expansion, etc) and have a budget of say £15m for players and think it's reasonable given the revenue streams we have. Also I'm sure they have a contingency for the worst scenario - relegation. Pretty sure he could have told the journo to go and look up 'prudent accounting' in Google. I do hope they haven't tightened the purse strings too much as we definitely need some new blood but I'm sure the board know what they're doing. How much do you think we'll spend on contracts and new players? Onwards and upwards.
However much they spend,let's hope they spend it wisely. Keeping fiscal control is vital,money can be frittered away very quickly in the P.L. environment,both on inflated wages,and transfer fees,etc. Huw Jenkins and the rest of the Board are fully aware of that,and will act accordingly.
I would say that £15m would be about right, we are boosted by the £7m we got for Brendan and Co so that will help.
If we are allowed 15 million for transfers & 7 million is for the sale of Brendan & Co. ..... then were only spending 8 million from the new Premier money . Throw in a couple of million for January bargains & infrastructure here we come .
We already have a great team so don't need to spend much. There is no point spending money just for the sake of it. We need 2-3 new players and that's it.
Read this earlier this morning and whilst most of us applaud our policy one comment did make me sit up with some alarm: "Most of the work where we felt we needed to strengthen has already been done by what we did last year. I don't think a lot of that is going to change." Seems to me that the Board and Rodgers already agreed what needs to be done, but what if Laudrup has other ideas? For example, the Board may feel, having listened to BR, that the CB position is paramount and that there is no need for up-front strengthening. What if Laudrup thinks that getting in some serious competition for Graham is a must? Hope they can work things out if that's the case. Not looking for problems where there might be none but I'd have thought Laudrup will want to put his own stamp on this inherited squad asap.
As with what rogers inherited tinker a bit and add some quality players but dont mess with the established way we do things the core of the team is built on long evolved solid foundations.
I'd say given Caulker's absence even as attacking as Laudrup is he'll appreciate the need to get in a young domineering centreback to partner Ash...
I know Scott, that was just an example. The point I'm making is that Laudrup may not be happy being told that the decisions on where to strengthen have already been made - by the previous Manager! I know I wouldn't be happy with that.
You'd hope that given that the holes in our squad are so evident the new Manager will come to the same conclusions. How he'll address them is something entirely different.
I think it's all too easy to take things out of context, if Laudrup puts a case to strengthen our forward line, then he'll get the Boards support, as Jenkins conformed when he said "If we feel it's right for us then we'll make every attempt as always to make sure that we bring in and spend whatever the manager sees fit". So I'm not worried regarding Jenkins initial opening line, which is probably setting some ground rules we all know anyway. And I'm sure Laudrup has been given some funds to work with, as there will be a need to strengthen our goal threat, particularly if Siggy goes, and there are rumours that Laudrup is looking at Markus Rosenberg!............. Link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2160770/Swansea-target-Markus-Rosenberg.html
Laudrup would not be coming here unless he was happy with the transfer situation. We're not talking about someone in need of work or struggling for other offers. We're talking about someone in a relative position of negotiating strength. He knows how much he'll be allowed to spend and what arrangements are in place to help him spend it. Besides, when has the board not backed a manager to the best of their ability? (Cue the halfwit who still thinks Martinez left because of a lack of funds).
There's no doubt that ML will be given licence to spend - wisely. Huw et al know as well as we all do where we need strengthening and will work with ML to ensure we plug those holes - efficiently and effectively. Sourced largely from Spain and of course scandinavia
We've got one...ex French U16-19 captain and hotly tipped young star Darnel Situ....struggled to settle last year, but this boy has pedigree and I'd love to see him progress this year. Wasn't too long ago he was tipped to go to Man Utd, Chelsea & Liverpool... Shame he's only made one senior appearance and might be best to get him some loan time in the championship first however.
