I think we’re also behind due to the current ownership. We’ve wasted a lot of money on poor players with no resale value. There’s a lot to say about the Allams but the academy did improve under their watch, and netted us some big pay days as a result.
I can take dud transfers. Every window will have one or two. Granted we’ve had our abundance under Acun that we have to swallow costs or presumably will have to like with Giles potentially. We need to invest in the infrastructure at the club. I get the issues around the council but I’m almost of the mindset whoever builds us a new stadium will probably unlock the potential of the club. The fanbase is clearly there if we are averaging over 20k despite winning naff all at home for 2-3 years
I think you have to build the scouting system and academy first. Get some big transfer fees coming in like Brighton and you can unlock more investment in all sorts in the club.
Which is why we need to hope that the Zambrano deal gets done. Handled correctly could have great financial benefits for the club.
Regarding transfers with obligations to buy, we really need to get a grip on it & change it to something more favourable like first option to buy. Where the Puerta option seems to be a good one, the Giles one was a disaster. Obligation to buys should really be kept at arms length & avoided as much as possible IMO!
But if you sign a player on loan with an obligation to buy it's no different to just signing the player on a permanent in the first place. Essentially it's a permanent deal, just dressed up as a loan for accounting purposes. Whichever it is, we need to be absolutely sure we want the player and will still want him in 6 months or a year's time, and too often we clearly haven't.
we need to find a way to get the best out of giles next season. He's cost way too much, and we’re surely going to be stuck with him. He can cut it at this level, he’s done it before.
Equally he needs to come back and get his head down or his career will just waste away. So hopefully it works for both parties
It would be great if we could get some value from him. The issue I see is that he probably needs a run of games, and within that, he probably needs to be allowed to make some mistakes and not feel pounced on. Unfortunately he won't be afforded the fresh start required here.
Wasn't he desperate to go to Middlesbrough when we first got him? Well if that's the case he went and didn't do well. Maybe he's realised he's not as sought after as he thought and he might get his head down now? If his heart's in it he could be good for us.
All the talk about improving infrastructure was a load of bollocks. Acun never had any intention of improving our training facilities or other infrastructure.
I know Giles gets paid a **** ton and should be professional etc. And I agree...but, have you ever been somewhere where your hearts not in it, you don't like it etc. You try to give 100%...but then others days not so much. I get it to an extent. He don't want to be here. He's still a ****! But I get it...sort of, I've been places i did not want to be (in the end) and no amount of self professionalism did not stop me performing badly a fair bit of the time. We just need to move him on.
He did some superficial stuff which is fine but it's very clear we need proper investment. Even if we go up we'll spunk it all on players. I'd rather go up, spend the pl money on a new training ground, go down and use parachute payments to sort the team.
Yeah. All his mates at boro and he wants to be there with them. I always thought the accusations that he wasn’t trying and didn’t give a **** were spurious. He just hasn’t been up to it and struggled, kept making mistakes. Similar with Kamara. People will point out that goal where he just jogged nonchalantly and let his man run free and call him lazy. It was clearly a mental lapse in concentration, or even hesitation and misunderstanding his instructions. Been plenty of evidence throughout the season that he can and does put the hard yards in.
