Vision shadesrwrf Yes, we need to step up to the next level. Some people seem to think in order to step up we only need to spend a few extra quid here and there. I'm not so sure about that. I think the reality is to take that step will cost us a considerable amount more. It'll mean a wholesale restructuring of wages and a significant increase in transfer fees paid. Yes the club's got a bit of extra money floating around at the moment. Is it enough to fund the next part of the campaign? I don't know and actually doubt it very much. But I'll bet the real cost is a lot more than many think.
I do subscribe to the "look how far we've come" school of thought. I subscribe to it because it's true. However, whilst I don't want this to be a short vacation I do want to be sure the club I love exists for years to come. Madejski, Hammond, Coppell et al got us where we are. At this moment in time I have no reason to believe that anybody else would be able to do better whilst ensuring the future of the club is secure.
Good post.
We are of course gradually increasing the wage bill by our ethos of improving the contracts of those that have done the business for us rather than paying straight into the hands of some mercenary who may or may not actually contribute anything. This in time will mean that our wage structure does rise in time to the level where bringing in better quality players doesn't have such an immediate impact on the wage structure.
Rather than harping on about transfers being the sign of whether we've resigned ourselves to relegation as some on here are suggesting ( f*ck me Fulham have bought a whole team with 2 seperate managers in the last 6 months and are 2nd bottom ) I think Coppell needs to make more use of the resourses that are available to him. I've said it before but as brilliant a manager as he is, if he isn't going take financial risks in the transfer market then he has to start taking the odd risk with those players already here. Our cup performances have shown that some of our fringe players do have the capability to perform at this level and they really should be utilised more than they are. The same could be said for the younger players. If we're not going to invest heavily in transfers then he has to take a risk or 2 with these guys otherwise the replacement of the 3 or 4 players who are reaching the end of their shelf life with us won't be as seamless as he would like.
We need to totally re approach how we go about transfers. We can't get the 'Coppell type' players everytime and we're far too picky about who we approach. The club keep saying the deals we're not right for us, but we've needed a right winger all season and all we've manged to get is a player Coppell's never seen and doesn't seem to know much about.
As we have seen if you don't add to your squad you go backwards at this level. You cannot stand still and that's what we do.
I'm sure we'll get the usual how do you know we've not tried to sign 10 players this month? How do you know what we do? I've said before it's doesn't matter what we do, what matters is who we sign.
Touch wood we get away with it this season. We can't keeping take these massive risks though.
