When Reading won the Championship, much was made of them folowing the recruitment policy of Norwich and Swansea and signing lower league players. According to this story, I think that idea has been 'blown out of the water - http://www.metro.co.uk/sport/footba...erton-stick-with-steven-pienaar#ixzz1uaF7P3MO. I can't see Defoe playing for a mere £30,000 a week, or whatever the salary cap is at Reading.
Surely Norwich and Swansea, being established Premier League clubs this season, and proven success at developing League 1 talent (e.g Pilkington/E.Bennett) and Championship talent (e.g Johnson/R.Bennett/D.Graham) would not only have 1st pick of any such players, but also, would be a far more attractive destination than Reading? Anyway I maintain my 3 signings that I wish to see: 1) Naughton 2) Rhodes 3) Snodgrass Anyone else is a bonus
Also, the Norwich model is just £15k a week salary cap, so £30k a week would not count as following it , instead this article suggests the QPR route (ex-england internationals, with a supposed first team appetitie, but mercenary wage demands, with little ambition left)...which we all know is the wrong one, not only from a sustainable financial point of view.
Even though some people might like other clubs trying to follow us personally I dislike it immensely, I don't like other clubs comparing themselves to us do your own thing. There is a lot more to doing an Norwich two back to back promotions being favourites to be relegated every season we're battlers and we have that mentality that's the Norwich way.
Totally agree. That and the team spirit which has been in evidence a lot more than it hasn't is what's got us to where we are in the league. The belief PL and IC have instilled in the players is IMMENSE and I'm not sure many other management teams could have done the same!!!!
The more teams that follow the QPR route, the better for us! (Especially if QPR go down). If everyone started 'doing a Norwich', well there is only so much talent in the lower leagues, so we'd end up struggling to recruit players. Annoyingly, I fear that QPR will be able to establish themselves more next season (if they survive), which is one of the reasons I'd like them relegated. With a season in the PL under their belts, they'll be able to attract a 'higher calibre' of mercenaries, and probably end up with the most expensive team to ever finish mid-table (Liverpool excepted).
Dyer epitomises what QPR have been about this season. Over-rated, over-paid and injured within two minutes of a debut.
I know you all like an opportunity to have a pop at QPR but Warnock really didn't have a lot of choice. Given the sort of players he's gone for before I really don't think he'd have gambled on ****e like Dyer and Gabbidon given the choice. Briatore refused to give him any money to go for the players he really wanted, such as Graham and Morison so he was pretty much left to get whoever he could in in the hope he could cobble some sort of team together. Fernandes finally took over with very little time left in the transfer window and with Warnock's targets snapped up, meaning he was left to gamble on what little was left, hence signing Wright-Phillips and Barton and the rest when he'd really have preferred to have done all his business early on like Lambert did and get the same type of players in. By the time Hughes came in we were in a desperate position and going for proven experienced players made sense, even if the results have picked up only just in time or possibly slightly too late. Rodgers and Lambert have done a great job but QPR's situation isn't really a comparable one in my opinion. If we stay up there will be a lot of dead wood to shift thanks mostly to Briatore and if we go down it's unlikely there will be too many of our players in much demand so at least we'll be in a reasonably strong position to attempt to get back up.
Hi WR, good to see you venturing over here a little more frequently and not just to wum One of the points you have made is NW wasn't given the money to spend for the players he wanted. That I accept and I do have a fair amount of sympathy towards, most of what happened in the summer was beyond his control BUT......Now TF has taken charge, it has been mentioned, albeit perhaps in the tabloids, that he only wants 'big name' players to join QPR. 1. Is that actually true? 2. If it is true, does that then suggest QPR are likely to continue to buy as they did in August and again in January? Note that in January, it was once again 'names' that were being targeted. I do not recall any player from the Championship or lower being mentioned as serious candidate. It was all PL, ex PL that has moved to Europe or Italian players that were being linked with your team.
Hi Thai, always happy to contribute. The way I see it, we had 17 points from 20 games when Hughes got the job and about two weeks for him to get some players in to turn it around. The short-term goal of just scraping over the line this year was far more important than the long-term goal of buying in good value as there was no guarantee of their quality. Zamora, for example, Hughes knew exactly what he was getting. He could have gone for a lower league player I suppose, though there were no obvious gems left, but we needed players who had more chance of doing a job straight away and, I think, some players with some character to lift the dressing room because we were completely gone under Warnock. We got outplayed at MK Dons before he got sacked and had just lost Faurlin for the season and I've no doubt we'd be on a similar points total to Wolves if Warnock had stayed. Looking to next season, fingers crossed in this league, I think there will be a bit more balance. If he's got money to spend, Hughes will spend it but I don't think he'll be focusing on 30 year-olds unless they're really going to add something to the team for a few years. He doesn't know the Championship as well as Lambert & Rodgers so I doubt we'll be going for the likes of Butterfield, Sean Murray or whoever they're eyeing up. What he does have is a very good scouting system abroad- Diakite and Taiwo have been superb and will probably be signed permanently if all is well at 5pm today and I think he'll mostly carry on with that policy- decent value, physical foreign players. I'd take Fernandes with a pinch of salt as it's mostly not his money. He's a good PR man for sure and even if we do go down the changes off the pitch give us a really good chance of bouncing back relative to what Briatore & co would have offered.
WR - You've raised some good points and backed them up with valid arguments. I heard via another contributor on these posts that Barton was causing unrest in the dressing room and whilst I think he is a very talented footballer (he's scored some terrific goals), he can be a complete **ick by allowing himself to be wound up be opposing fans or players or both and retaliating. Hopefully MH will have more influence on who is actually added to the squad, rahter than buying players because of what they 'have achieved' and then paying them serious 'wonga' - look where that got Portsmouth. I don't see Bolton getting the result they need at the Brittania today, so my guess is you'll stay up and look forward to renewing our hostilities next season and of course would love to get 6 points off you - not holding my breath on that one though.
I agree with a_skeward, you should avoid the drop today even if you get a severe beating at the Etihad. Your last 6 homes game all but got you over the line, just. It will be interesting to see if there is more balanced transfers taking place in the summer and then perhaps you guys can shake off the some of the tags you have collected this season. You certainly cannot keep taking on these old heads, as good as they might have been in seasons gone by. As you say, MH has little or no experience of the lower English leagues but perhaps your scouts do (I really have no idea), there are players in those leagues that can adapt, both ourselves and Swansea have demonstrated that this season. I am always suspect of foreign players coming in, as with many Norwich supporters, mostly because we have almost always signed players that really did not live up to expectations (to put it mildy in most cases) but if it works for you guys then fair enough. Anyway, good luck for later today (not that you will need it IMO) and catch up again another time
