| Frey 10:49 - Feb 5 with 36021 views | loftboy |
Much maligned when he first joined, I’m now disappointed if he’s not starting, a beast of a striker who seems to be improving all the time. |  |
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| Frey on 11:47 - Feb 5 with 724 views | dannyblue |
| Frey on 11:21 - Feb 5 by bosh67 |
In an ideal world this is probably quite true. It comes down to shopping in stores you can afford to be in, if you forgive the analogy. It seems like a lot of our recruitment comes in either from overseas or lower divisions because aside from the Ronnie Edwards transfer our ability to compete at the same level as our counterparts in this division is limited. We spent £4.5m on Edwards whilst teams around us can spend £10m+. But at least Edwards and RND have played at this level previously.
The policy seems to be to get in players from a level below us, who have potential, and try and polish them up. Problem is that players like Poku are a gamble. He's cost us £1m from League 1 and he certainly can play and is potentially a great asset, but he comes here with horrible hamstring injury issues. I guess that's why he came for £1m rather than £5m. We've taken a chance we can get him right. Unfortunately he could end up in the Richard Ord column if he keeps braking down.
Management wise it is a tough one. The better former player at championship options are limited. The ones that are around seem to command a higher fee than we are used to with no guarantees.
Love or hate Nourry I think he is trying to work with what we have and also bring in younger players that can be polished up to make the level. Where they come from as youngsters doesn't matter as much.
I am not an expert in finances at all but my uneducated guess is that we are generally unable to compete financially to get many other players who have played at Championship level in, bar a few based on our finance ability at the time. |
Good points leading to the conclusion that picking up someone like Sam Field would be great business for another championship club in our situation. |  | | |
| Frey on 14:50 - Feb 5 with 436 views | nick_hammersmith |
| Frey on 11:47 - Feb 5 by dannyblue |
Good points leading to the conclusion that picking up someone like Sam Field would be great business for another championship club in our situation. |
No, I don't believe so.
I love Sam Field, but that recent contract extension might have made him one of the clubs higher earners.
So, do we want to have our highest earners in the squad as backup, even if they can play in a number of positions?
Add into this that Sam's resale value is decreasing year on year, and his presence in the team is actively stopping our other young players from getting minutes and developing.
I guess to use a different analogy, maybe having Sam Field is a bit like having a nice Range Rover and keeping it in the garage.
The RR costs a lot to own and tax, and you might only drive it for 10' on a Sunday.
-- Are we better off buying some other cars at a local auction, where one or two of them might end up being sold for a profit
(this analogy went south quickly)
Probably nearer the truth is that a Rolls Royce turned up for sale (Ronnie) and the club needed some cash back quickly to pay for this new car to join the fleet.
I think the squad is better for having some Championship (or above) experience in it, but I guess we have that now with Dunne, Cook, Hayden going through the spine of the team. |  | | |
| Frey on 15:46 - Feb 5 with 334 views | dannyblue |
Just pointing out the irony of saying we look abroad or at league 1 because we don't expect to be able to afford proven championship players...while offloading a former player of the year, captain, with a good availability record, height, approaching 200 games in the championship, and years left to give. | | | |
| Frey on 15:59 - Feb 5 with 298 views | kensalriser |
| Frey on 10:45 - Feb 5 by stainrods_elbow |
Perhaps one step worth considering is to recruit more players (and ideally managers) who actually play/have played in the Championship? |
Brilliant idea. Although if you take it to its logical conclusion, the players and managers in this closed loop will get older and older and eventually the games will be walking football. |  |
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| Frey on 16:15 - Feb 5 with 248 views | nix |
| Frey on 15:46 - Feb 5 by dannyblue |
Just pointing out the irony of saying we look abroad or at league 1 because we don't expect to be able to afford proven championship players...while offloading a former player of the year, captain, with a good availability record, height, approaching 200 games in the championship, and years left to give. |
Isn’t that the point though. We can’t afford him wages wise unless he’s playing every match. Much as I like Sam he hasn’t played that well this season. He also doesn’t seem to suit the way we’re set up under Stephan.
It doesn’t mean he won’t do well for another team. So it’s best for everyone for him to move on. It’s better to have Morgan coming on and getting extra minutes than to shoehorn Sam into playing higher up the pitch. A loan fee for Sam plus having him off our books for six months could mean we could afford an extra player next season. Our finances are likely to be that tight. And while we all would love to be in play off contention this season it seems like we’ll just fall short. So saving cash for next season isn’t a bad idea. |  | | |
| Frey on 20:03 - Feb 5 with 129 views | dannyblue |
| Frey on 16:15 - Feb 5 by nix |
Isn’t that the point though. We can’t afford him wages wise unless he’s playing every match. Much as I like Sam he hasn’t played that well this season. He also doesn’t seem to suit the way we’re set up under Stephan.
It doesn’t mean he won’t do well for another team. So it’s best for everyone for him to move on. It’s better to have Morgan coming on and getting extra minutes than to shoehorn Sam into playing higher up the pitch. A loan fee for Sam plus having him off our books for six months could mean we could afford an extra player next season. Our finances are likely to be that tight. And while we all would love to be in play off contention this season it seems like we’ll just fall short. So saving cash for next season isn’t a bad idea. |
In the circumstances it may be for the best and also appears to show respect to Sam’s wishes. I thought at the time Hayden was a luxury we didn’t need, and it’s a shame Varane got injured / those bids didn’t arrive…because I’d be happier being without either of them than being without Sam. | | | |
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