Transfer Policy and Squad Size - what do you read into it?

[brendywendy]

The way I read the comments coming out of the club (or from the manager in particular) is he wants to trim the squad to a more manageable level by getting rid of those who have made or will make little or no impact, and replacing them with a smaller number of quality players.
That way, the numbers are reduced but the standard is increased.
Could anyone argue with that plan ?

nope

if we lose a couple, replace them with decent players, get a right winger
and have the yoof as the squad back up instead of the sodjes and bennets of this world ill be more than appy

[Chuckle Brother]

The way I read the comments coming out of the club (or from the manager in particular) is he wants to trim the squad to a more manageable level by getting rid of those who have made or will make little or no impact, and replacing them with a smaller number of quality players.
That way, the numbers are reduced but the standard is increased.
Could anyone argue with that plan ?

nope

if we lose a couple, replace them with decent players, get a right winger
and have the yoof as the squad back up instead of the sodjes and bennets of this world ill be more than appy

Having just read the article in the EP (font of knowledge that it is) it is a little worrying that he mentions getting rid of "stars" and generating transfer fees aswell as reducing the wage bill.
However, assuming he is thinking of the likes of Shorey, Hunt and Fae, would losing them really make much difference ? Given their displays in the second half of the season (Shorey wanting away, Hunt with fat new contract, Fae being Fae) personally I don't really care if we get rid of them. And if we get 10 million quid then all the better.

[Apocalypse Now]

Not a big fan of Hunt but he's the type of player that will be vital in the Championship, especially with Convey's injury problems.

Shorey, Fae and Lita all on their way. £8-10M should be raised for the sale of those three. The players will remain loyal to Coppell, I can't see other key players leaving unless Sunderland offer ridiculous amounts for the likes of Hunt and Doyle.

Left back and right wing are the areas of concern and need to be strengthened.

[rhroyal]

I agree that Hunt would be awesome in the Championship but if Roy Keane is going to offer £4-5mill you'd be a fool to turn them away. I'd love to give Madejski an intense interrogation as to where the revenue from the last 2 seasons and parachute payments have gone, perhaps Medieval style so we can be sure he's telling the truth.

[Huntley & Palmer]

I don't see how anyone can value any three of our players to the tune of £10 million unless they are on lengthy contracts. Both Shorey & Lita only have one season left before they can walk on a free, there is not a club in the land (even Sunderland) that would pay over the odds for those two. I can see Shorey going for a couple of million maybe and us recouping our transfer fee to Brizzle for Lita, we will take a hit on Fae just to get him and his wage packet out of the club. £4 million for all three and I would see that as very good business

[brendywendy]

from what i can see the finances are all above board, and sensible
it doesnt take alot to work out "where all the cash has gone"

all the grief mr mad gets over it is laughable IMO.


and as for th eabove post

i wouldnt accept less than 4M for shorey,3M for hunt, 2M for lita, and 1 million for fae

[Platypuss]

The way I read the comments coming out of the club (or from the manager in particular) is he wants to trim the squad to a more manageable level by getting rid of those who have made or will make little or no impact, and replacing them with a smaller number of quality players.
That way, the numbers are reduced but the standard is increased.
Could anyone argue with that plan ?

Nope. However it does rely on us:

1. Finding buyers willing to pay our asking price for the "dead wood".
2. Attracting the quality replacements.

2 will always be a problem as WWABAP.

[Chuckle Brother]

The way I read the comments coming out of the club (or from the manager in particular) is he wants to trim the squad to a more manageable level by getting rid of those who have made or will make little or no impact, and replacing them with a smaller number of quality players.
That way, the numbers are reduced but the standard is increased.
Could anyone argue with that plan ?

Nope. However it does rely on us:

1. Finding buyers willing to pay our asking price for the "dead wood".
2. Attracting the quality replacements.

2 will always be a problem as WWABAP.

On point 1, I wouldn't envisage us expecting a fee for many if any of these players. It is just a question of getting them off the wage bill. And a few of them have gone already.
On point 2, I know what you mean. However, at least in the CCC a player that can really influence a game should be available for around 15k a week. While for the same thing in the Premier League you would probably need to treble or quadruple that.

[11.30 from paddington]

In reference to the JM press conference - did anyone really expect him to come out and say, "We'll spend, spend, spend to get back into the Premiership!"

It would result in rival clubs demanding ridiculous fees for players we're interested in. Not forgetting, the prospect of agents licking their greedy lips as they work out what outrageous wage demands to make on behalf of their client.

JM is too much of an astute businessman to announce that we've got £10m to spend, or whatever.

[Southbank Old Boy]

In reference to the JM press conference - did anyone really expect him to come out and say, "We'll spend, spend, spend to get back into the Premiership!"

It would result in rival clubs demanding ridiculous fees for players we're interested in. Not forgetting, the prospect of agents licking their greedy lips as they work out what outrageous wage demands to make on behalf of their client.

JM is too much of an astute businessman to announce that we've got £10m to spend, or whatever.

Thats the excuse that us always rolled out. It may have some weight to it but it's not the reason we've not spent enough on getting better players in for however long.

[Smoking Kills Dancing Doe]

from what i can see the finances are all above board, and sensible
it doesnt take alot to work out "where all the cash has gone"

all the grief mr mad gets over it is laughable IMO.


and as for th eabove post

i wouldnt accept less than 4M for shorey,3M for hunt, 2M for lita, and 1 million for fae

Agree with that.

I think JM has a slight image problem. It's like people almost want him to be ripping the club off.

Sure the money he's given us has been loaned, but that's how it works at every club.

There aren't many people like Jack Walker who have just thrown their money at a club.

[rhroyal]

2 will always be a problem as WWABAP.

Would people please stop using ridiculous abbreviations that are hard to understand. You probably saved all of 5 seconds by writing tht instead.

[rhroyal]

Sure the money he's given us has been loaned, but that's how it works at every club.

Liverpool are at least £400M in debt, and Manure are £1bn in debt. They could go bust, both of them.

People should get in touch with the real world - I often wonder when it came to be so that people on here started thinking there was some way to reasonably justify their ridiculous demands for 20-30 millions of pounds to spend on players? Where is that money supposed to come from, and why on earth do some people (Possibly people from planet fcukhead) believe that it is fair to critisize JM for not throwing that kind of cash at the club? Can someone answer that please?

Either these people should come up with an explanation to justify their ridiculous viewpoints, or they have to readjust them to conform with the real world!!!

What we need is a season where ridiculous spending catches up with people. For example, Sunderland where in debt when Niall Quinn bought them, if they're going to spend another £50mill plus wages this season I can't see how that will be sustained. Then there's the examples you just gave, then there's clubs like Fulham and Wigan who rely upon 1 stakeholder, rather like Gretna did for a while. They are lined up for a fall if something happens to Al-Fayed or Whelan. We need a good 3 or 4 Premiership clubs to have all this ridiculous spending catch up with them in a year or so and then maybe everybody will realise that's it's going out of hand. If that could be combined with a couple of teams in Italy and Spain suffering similar problems then it could become a global realisation. That would be so awesome, wishful thinking I fear.

[Richi Royal]

I think we are maybe reading into these comments to litrally. As mentioned before JM at the end of the day is a very astute buisnessman, he is not going to tell selling clubs we are willing to splash the cash because they will just double their asking price.
I am sure Coppell and Hammond have sat down and drawn up a list of player to keep, a list of players to sell and a list of players to buy, and the first prority will be to remove the players he does not want (sodje, shorey, fae, halls, bennett etc as well as possibly hunt and lita) and JM is alerting clubs that we have some players which we would like to sell but at the same time by making us out to be poor reading he is telling them they will have to pay the going price for them and we will not be bullied into selling on the cheap. One thing JM has always been excellent at is selling players for more than they are worth, Hughes and Halford to name two, we very rarely let players go one the cheap when we could have held out for more. He has also made it clear we don't need to sell players we don't want to, again over the years something he has been exellent at.
Then after selling the player we will go about our buisness, i dont think we will spend alot tbh maybe 2 millionish as i expect our signing to be a few frees (muich like hunt and oster) a few small fees and then maybe one larger fee.

I would however like Coppell to swallow his morals and do two things, first start to use the loan market, this can be a very sucessful tool and one good loan signing can make the difference between a midtable team and a promotion chasing team much like hull and frazer campbell. And secondly instead of signing average squad players give youth a chance. Pearce is better than Bennett and sodje so it is pointless having them in the squad. And if Henry isnt better then Kebe he should find a new career. I feel when Coppell signs player he feels as if he HAS to give them a few games no matter how bad they are when it would be much more worthwhile giving the academy a chance. For example, cox did more in his cameo against spurs than kebe has done in all his appearences yet Cox gets no chance and kebe gets more chances.

[Irvinchangeyaname]

Not a big fan of Hunt but he's the type of player that will be vital in the Championship

Inability to cross a ball and giving the ball away is the same whatever league you're in. It's attitude with him and that's the worry.

[Denver Royal]

[It is a little worrying that he mentions getting rid of "stars" and generating transfer fees aswell as reducing the wage bill.

Its worrying to me, too. I figured we'd keep our 'stars' to better ensure a promotion run.

it doesnt take alot to work out "where all the cash has gone. all the grief mr mad gets over it is laughable IMO.

Ok, so tell us...where has all the cash gone? I think its a reasonable question. Because by the sounds of it, at a time when we were supposedly to have a huge financial advantage over the other teams in the CCC, there suddenly doesn't seem to be much money available.

We seem to be starting at ground zero again. Am I to believe that in reality there hasn't been much tangible financial benefit from us being in the Premiership? And that money-wise, we aren't that better off currently than most other Championship sides?

Suppose we had been in the Championship for the last 3 seasons. Are you saying that money-wise, we'd be about where we are now?

[1871royals]

I reckon 3 mill is a great deal for Hunty. A player who 90% of the posters on hobnob can cross a ball better than.

[Royal Rother]

Can we not leave aside the issue of the new contract? I just don't think Hunt is the sort to suddenly down tools because he's got more money; over the last 2-3 seasons Hunt improved massively and became a vital ingredient in our team, often getting MOTM plaudits.

Maybe he just lost form, or pehaps more likely (given his on-pitch hyperactivity and constant selection) he was burnt out.

He's clearly not as good as Sunderland's apparent bids might have suggested but I see no reason why, after a damned good break, he can't bounce back and be an integral part of our team next season.

£25k pw may be too high to carry so I recognise he might have to go but how quickly people forget what he gave us for our wonderful first 18 months in the PL.

Some people have fish-like memories.

[Skyline]

One thing JM has always been excellent at is selling players for more than they are worth, Hughes and Halford to name two, we very rarely let players go one the cheap when we could have held out for more.

Really? I'm struggling to think of too many players that that would apply to other than those two. In fact, in the last 10 years or so, how many players have we actually sold for a fee? Not too many. There was a fee involved for Cox going to Swindon. Seol basically went in a swap deal for Rosenior. Beyond that I'm struggling to think of anyone.

[SpaceCruiser]

Carl Asaba £650K - though he was sold at a £150K loss.....
Shaka Hislop £1.5m
Scott Taylor £500K
Simon Osborn £500K + Michael Meaker.

Edit: Sorry, I see you said the last ten years. That'll be just Carl Asaba then!