I agree with all that. BUT they could create funds by adjusting the signings to actually develop the first team rather than engaging in horse-trading all the time. One deadline signing is miles from the first team, he will still cost money as will some of the others we have on the wage bill. Cut four irrelevant players on £2k a week and pay a striker the extra £8k over the £8k we'd pay anyway and we could get someone decent.
prerty much my view. As I said definitely no easy answers but something has to change as this feels like lingering death. I contrast it with how my mates who are Luton fans are feeling with a similar/ smaller budget and morale couldn’t be different.
Not defending the club but we are able to discuss some rationale behind all of the below. If we want to run the club fairly without debt then we can't afford too many, if any, £2m players. I honestly don't think we have an issue with the transfer fee but that's a £15k a week player as has been proven by what our departing players go on to earn. People are having a meltdown because we didn't sign anybody yesterday. But that was the overseas deadline day. Isn't it then a positive as you would hope, if you're glass half full, that it means we're focusing on the domestic market? Also, in Ritz and Frieser that's two players identified by the departing Head Coach. For arguments sake let's just say the overall deal for Jacob Brown is £5m all in, eventually. That's 1/3 of what Palace paid for Eze and 1/3 of what Brentford are demanding for Benhrama. Those two were way, way, way out front in terms of performances last season. They should cost three times the amount of Jacob Brown. Haven't Man Utd just paid £10m for the standout teenager from South America as well? I loved Jacob by the way and really rated him, but as an outsider looking in I don't know why you'd pay more than what Stoke did. You're absolutely right on your last point though. Our succession planning for players departing is one of the biggest frustrations. We should only sell when the absolute replacement is identified. We need to improve in that area no end.
That would be all well and good if we’d got £5million. We didn’t. It might well be ‘undisclosed’ but all and sundry in the media seem to say it was £2million. Even if with add-ons theres another £500k potentially coming, that’s still only half what you suggested. If we had got a deal rising to £5million I’d accept it was good business. I strongly believe we didn’t.
Doug O'Kane said the £2 million figure was incorrect and that it was much higher. I think his words were 'not millions' (plural) but included additional payments and a sell on clause. From people pretty close to the situation (not working at the club) I was told close to £3.5m rising to close to £5m depending on success/performance. That's in line with the Chronicle so works for me. Even at £4m it isn't a bad deal compared to others.
"lock down version of Mads" ....Love it, you make him sound like something Schwarzenegger would play in a film (since he's Austrian he'd get the part as well)
I see the fee being talked about for Jacob Brown to Stoke City is £2million, but I understand it is more than that. Not millions more, but more.
