Something that bugs me

I often read this and it just bugs me, I understand that it's done to emphasise how well we have reinvested the Carroll money but the error just annoys me when it's so obvious to me.

Frequently you will read in reports or on people's comments that for £35m we got Ba, Cabaye, Ben Arfa, Santon, Cisse and Obertan. Truthfully the only player we have signed with the Carroll money is Cisse and maybe possibly Ba.

Cabaye was bought for 4.3m, funded by Nolan leaving for 4m
Ben Arfa was at he club on loan before AC was sold and then made into a permanent purchase for an additional 2m, this was arguably paid for by the loss of Barton's hefty wages.
Santon was bought for 5m, funded by Enrique leaving for 6m
Obertan was bought for 3m, funed by Routledge leaving for 2m
Ba was free plus some agents fees.

The only player we have bought with the Carroll money is Cisse, 35m-9m=26m which conveniently leaves around 20m to invest this summer, as is the figure Pardew has been quoted with. Some of the remaining 26 went into the training facilities and the academy and small purchases such as Bigi and Amalfitano.

Add 3m for sale of Best, plus loss of Guthrie's, Lovenkrand's and especially Smith's wages I'd say we have 25m in the kitty to spend. Forget bringing Carroll back, as much as it might be a positive move it's just not good value for money. The 25 should go on Remy for 13, Debuchy for 7, and Douglas/other dominating CB for 5.

Rant over

 

Some valid points.
Wages do come into it too though.

 

Why really care? The only thing that is important is that the club is moving forward sensibly in the transfer market. Thus far, we've exceeded all expectations, I think, so I'm not that bothered about adding up numbers. Hopefully we can do as well this year as we did last, and that's all that really matters. It's not like Ashley can put the money directly in his pocket anyway.

 

transatlantic rep

 

Remember those nice headlines about NUFC being the most profitable club a little while back?

So yes, we made more than we spent in the transfer market yet ended up with a stronger squad. Sounds good to me.

 

Good opening post and valid points. We are now after wasting money bringing in quality players for fair prices. I'm happy the way the club is going.

 

You also forgot about the existence of Sylvain Marveaux and Rob Elliot. Abeid too if we're including wages.

 

agreed

 

wages play a big part, MA & DL have made it clear that wages are counted as part of a players overall cost, and not just ignored and put down against the everyday running costs funded by merch / tv money / gates etc.

a player on 50k a week = approx £2.5m per year. the club is being wise in it's budgeting of not just automatically assigning that against running costs (like many others do, and Newcastle used to)

 

It's good the papers seem to think we have spent most of the money and used it up in some form of fashion. As it means other clubs might take the bait and not squeeze the purse strings as tightly several years ago with us.

We got a bloody good deal from big Andy, invested in some very talented potential and bought some class acts, along with improved training facilities.

 

I'm not really sure you can say that Cabaye was funded by Nolan, Santon by Enrique, etc. They were all bought out of the bank account that all of the money goes in.

Your analysis that we should have about £25m to spend, though, tallies quite well with the amounts we are said to be offering. So, good analysis - - just can't see anything to be unhappy about

 

Yes, Andy was good for us in many ways.

 

I think it'll take the FFP auditors five minutes to check our finances, not like the mess we were in with FFS when we were still paying for players who had long gone.

I love the straightforward methods of MA, payment up front, wages counted in the budget, only look at players with a resale value, it really sets us up nicely financially.

The biggest thing is we are safeguarded against financial meltdown should things go tits up. Say we fumble next season and enter a relegation battle. The players who want to leave all have good pricetags on them due to their age and talent, the ones who want to stay and underperform, their wages are already budgetted for so there's no surprises or overspending on the wagebill if we can't shift them.

Basically, the way we work now, we will never suffer another Alan Smith situation where we waste £10m+ on a player and get nothing out of him. I'm sure if FFS was still in charge we'd have broken the bank for Drogba, I'm glad those days are over.