Rumour - Ben Watson

[Platypuss]

Don't they use that word in the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang song?

I have seen that film so many times and am trying to think of when the word was used.

[Streets]

I can't believe we're still talking about the possibiltiy of us signing Watson.

We simply will not spend the money required.

NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN.

[Archie's penalty]

I can't believe we're still talking about the possibiltiy of us signing Watson.

We simply will not spend the money required.

NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN.

It's called a severe lack of news and a large dose of boredom...

[Roger the Rabbit]

I can't believe we're still talking about the possibiltiy of us signing Watson.

We simply will not spend the money required.

NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN.

Although of course it might, no indication that it won't (other than your repeated assertion and use of capital letters !!).

[Streets]

I can't believe we're still talking about the possibiltiy of us signing Watson.

We simply will not spend the money required.

NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN.

Although of course it might, no indication that it won't (other than your repeated assertion and use of capital letters !!).

We will not break the bank for anyone at this level. We will probably stretch and I mean stretch to about £1.5m tops, but more than that and you're crazy for holding out any hope.

We can't afford Ben Watson.

[Roger the Rabbit]

I can't believe we're still talking about the possibiltiy of us signing Watson.

We simply will not spend the money required.

NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN.

Although of course it might, no indication that it won't (other than your repeated assertion and use of capital letters !!).

We will not break the bank for anyone at this level. We will probably stretch and I mean stretch to about £1.5m tops, but more than that and you're crazy for holding out any hope.

We can't afford Ben Watson.

I'm not sure on what basis you say that. Presumably £1.5 million is a guess rather than as a result of deep knowledge of the accounts and budgeting process ?
I don;t see any basis for being so certain we can't, let alone won't, pay a fairly middling fee for the right player.
I'm assuming you aren;t factoring in any money raised from selling players ?

[rotherwick_royal]

Don't they use that word in the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang song?

I have seen that film so many times and am trying to think of when the word was used.

I think you're referring to the lyrics in the song....

"fine four fendered friend"

....and I'm hugely embarrassed about knowing that

[Southbank Old Boy]

I'm not sure on what basis you say that. Presumably £1.5 million is a guess rather than as a result of deep knowledge of the accounts and budgeting process ?
I don;t see any basis for being so certain we can't, let alone won't, pay a fairly middling fee for the right player.
I'm assuming you aren;t factoring in any money raised from selling players ?

As a guesstimate I think 1.5 is a pretty good stab.

We didn't break that figure for a player when we were desperate to improve our squad to stay on the Premiership gravy train. I can't see us spending more now we're jus living within our means on parachute payments and whats left in the piggy bank.

[Roger the Rabbit]

I'm not sure on what basis you say that. Presumably £1.5 million is a guess rather than as a result of deep knowledge of the accounts and budgeting process ?
I don;t see any basis for being so certain we can't, let alone won't, pay a fairly middling fee for the right player.
I'm assuming you aren;t factoring in any money raised from selling players ?

As a guesstimate I think 1.5 is a pretty good stab.

We didn't break that figure for a player when we were desperate to improve our squad to stay on the Premiership gravy train. I can't see us spending more now we're jus living within our means on parachute payments and whats left in the piggy bank.

Except the reason we didn't break the figure was because Coppell chose not to, rather than there was some limit to what we could have spent. There was no financial restriction on what we could have done.
What's left in the piggy bank is probably what was there in January, and potentially a fair chunk more as well. If we do restrict spending to a low level it will either mean all the players touted as moving on actually stay, or Coppell has unearthed more along the lines of Doyle, Hunt and Sonko !

[Ian Royal]

I'm not sure on what basis you say that. Presumably £1.5 million is a guess rather than as a result of deep knowledge of the accounts and budgeting process ?
I don;t see any basis for being so certain we can't, let alone won't, pay a fairly middling fee for the right player.
I'm assuming you aren;t factoring in any money raised from selling players ?

As a guesstimate I think 1.5 is a pretty good stab.

We didn't break that figure for a player when we were desperate to improve our squad to stay on the Premiership gravy train. I can't see us spending more now we're jus living within our means on parachute payments and whats left in the piggy bank.

£2.5m twice? Plus several bids of around £4m that didn't come off? Or are you talking about specifically in January where we spent something similar to that figure on one player, plus Kebe who I'm unsure of the amount for. Having spent ~£4m in the summer plus swapping Seol for Rosenior. We'd have spent about £1.5m more than that if our Brown had of come as well. Unless we were getting Fae anyway, in which case an extra £4m.

Given the figures bandied about for how much we should and could have spent were £10m by those of us who are fairly cautious rising to about £20m. So we actually spent something like £6m last season on players, at a rough estimate, plus an "exchange".

Not a vast amount for the premier league, but pretty fecking big for us.

But of course we do everything on the cheap and didn't spend any money did we!

[Southbank Old Boy]

Except the reason we didn't break the figure was because Coppell chose not to, rather than there was some limit to what we could have spent. There was no financial restriction on what we could have done.

Coppell is still the manager right? Or have I missed something?

I agree the funds were there but the manager didn't want to spend them. I don't think that'll have changed much. As Ian Royal points out, we spent 2.5m twice, and both times were major disapointments. I think that has made Coppell even more reluctant to spend the money available to him.

Hopefully the relegation has proven to him that he needs to bring in certain players, and it's likely that those types of players are going to cost us decent money. Only time will tell if Coppell will see fit to spalsh the cash, but I think the 1.5 is glass ceiling isn't a bad guess given Coppell's history.

Ian Royal, I'd forgotten about Halford actually, but I was meaning more our lack of spending once we knew were in the mire which, according to Coppell, we realised back in September.

[Roger the Rabbit]

Except the reason we didn't break the figure was because Coppell chose not to, rather than there was some limit to what we could have spent. There was no financial restriction on what we could have done.

Coppell is still the manager right? Or have I missed something?.

I think you've missed the many interviews Coppell has given since !
I'd agree that we're unlikley to spend £5 or 6 million on a player, it's definitely not Coppell's style and he obviously prefers findingand making his own players rather than buying in expensive 'ready made' players.
I don; thowever think a random figure of £1.5 million rings true - apart from anything else transfer fee inflation means that £1.5 million now buys you much less than it did last time we were in the Championship !

[brendywendy]

i guess having the fans wait till we actually sign someone/sell someone before wildly speculating on how much we may spend is asking too much

[papereyes]

i guess having the fans wait till we actually sign someone/sell someone before wildly speculating on how much we may spend is asking too much

Wild speculation is going to happen.

perhaps a better request would be "before commenting on how well we've spent the money"? or "commenting on the amount spent"?

Maybe?

[Southbank Old Boy]

i guess having the fans wait till we actually sign someone/sell someone before wildly speculating on how much we may spend is asking too much

Yeah, who ever wants fans to be able to speculate on the fortunes of their football club

Next you'll want them to turn up to see how their team plays

[Bill Oddie's Beard]

i guess having the fans wait till we actually sign someone/sell someone before wildly speculating on how much we may spend is asking too much

Yeah, who ever wants fans to be able to speculate on the fortunes of their football club

Next you'll want them to turn up to see how their team plays

There's a difference between speculating on the fortunes of the football club and slagging them off for not spending money before they've even had the chance.

[Southbank Old Boy]

i guess having the fans wait till we actually sign someone/sell someone before wildly speculating on how much we may spend is asking too much

Yeah, who ever wants fans to be able to speculate on the fortunes of their football club

Next you'll want them to turn up to see how their team plays

There's a difference between speculating on the fortunes of the football club and slagging them off for not spending money before they've even had the chance.

Where was anyone doing that?

Giving an opinion or speculating on something that might not be a rosey view of things isnt slagging off.

[Southbank Old Boy]

Your case is pretty weak if you're having to resort to using idiots like that to support your claim!

Ignoring those posters that aren't worth the time, I still don't think anyone is slagging off the club.

[Bill Oddie's Beard]

Your case is pretty weak if you're having to resort to using idiots like that to support your claim!

Ignoring those posters that aren't worth the time, I still don't think anyone is slagging off the club.

Pretty harsh considering he was backing you up Although he did reinforce my point that there are those slagging off the club, regardless of how stupid and pointless they may be.

[Southbank Old Boy]

Your case is pretty weak if you're having to resort to using idiots like that to support your claim!

Ignoring those posters that aren't worth the time, I still don't think anyone is slagging off the club.

Pretty harsh considering he was backing you up Although he did reinforce my point that there are those slagging off the club, regardless of how stupid and pointless they may be.

To be fair I think that was the only post getting close to the slagging off the club mark, and it was made after yours.