Speculation : Shane Long to return

[jellytot]

No the money was not a problem. BM thought he had enough to compete. Anton said as much on
ff. Also that we wished we had done more in the summer backed up by BM. They got it wrong.

[melonhead]

No the money was not a problem. BM thought he had enough to compete. Anton said as much on
ff. Also that we wished we had done more in the summer backed up by BM. They got it wrong.

brian was given a tiny budget, and spent it all
of course he said he thought they could compete.
hes not going to come out and say- my owner didnt give me enough money, and none of my players are good enough, is he?

[Extended-Phenotype]

No the money was not a problem. BM thought he had enough to compete. Anton said as much on
ff. Also that we wished we had done more in the summer backed up by BM. They got it wrong.

brian was given a tiny budget, and spent it all
of course he said he thought they could compete.
hes not going to come out and say- my owner didnt give me enough money, and none of my players are good enough, is he?

I think the concern is that Brian decided what budget/players he needed, and got that massively wrong.

[melonhead]

thats not usually how it works here tbf

[Extended-Phenotype]

Seems to be the story: “all the players I wanted, I got” etc etc.

Did he realise we needed more? Did he fail to make a good enough case for bringing in more? Or were they not really concerned with staying up this time around?

I guess we will never know.

[White Rougier]

There's as much chance as Pardew and McGee coming in as manager and assistant than Long coming back.

enjoy your dreams if you think its going to happen

[Extended-Phenotype]

"There's as much chance as Pardew and McGee coming in as manager and assistant than Long coming back.

enjoy your dreams if you think its going to happen"

[SapperBRoyal]

No the money was not a problem. BM thought he had enough to compete. Anton said as much on
ff. Also that we wished we had done more in the summer backed up by BM. They got it wrong.

brian was given a tiny budget, and spent it all
of course he said he thought they could compete.
hes not going to come out and say- my owner didnt give me enough money, and none of my players are good enough, is he?

Precisely right. We don't seriously expect that Mr McD thought that a) the best course of action following catastrophic success in the latter half of last season was to show unbelievable restraint with a plentiful transfer budget on offer prior to a season in the Prem, or that b) were the funds (realistically) not available, it would be good to embarrass his new owner on national TV by contradicting him in this respect. There was no money.

[melonhead]

Seems to be the story: “all the players I wanted, I got” etc etc.

Did he realise we needed more? Did he fail to make a good enough case for bringing in more? Or were they not really concerned with staying up this time around?

I guess we will never know.

all the players i went for i got

within the budget i was given

[Extended-Phenotype]

Spose.

[jellytot]

He will return but in a WBA shirt sadly!

[Ian Royal]

Seems to be the story: “all the players I wanted, I got” etc etc.

Did he realise we needed more? Did he fail to make a good enough case for bringing in more? Or were they not really concerned with staying up this time around?

I guess we will never know.

all the players i went for i got

within the budget i was given

It's probably somewhere between the two in the middleground. As is usually the case.

McDermott failed to appreciate how much we needed to strengthern (unsurprising given his managerial experience), we also got unlucky with loss of form to key existing players and a few niggly injuries, combined with a lack of direction in terms of putting together a winning strategy and signing new players with a clear purpose in mind, rather than just "he's a good player". But at the same time we weren't expecting promotion and so didn't have as much money as we needed available.

I don't believe McDermott was given a budget and spent absolutely all of it. I also don't believe he was given a budget and said "nah, take back two thirds of it, we only need a little strengtherning."

TBH I think the majority of the signings he made had the quality to have made a difference under slightly better circumstances. The only one who's really failed to live up to expectation through performance alone has been Gunter and possibly Guthrie (although I think he seems to have been misused a bit and brough in with some sort of blind hope that having one good passer will develop a better passing style).

McCleary's done pretty much exactly what I thought he was brought in for - back-up and occasional stand-in for Kebe.
Shorey, arguably he was brought in as cover but has been very good and maybe has done enough to suggest he was an improvement to the 11 (apart from his last 2 or 3 performances).
Pog's scored goals at an ok rate for his appearances and his lack of top performance is probably more down to our general malaise than not being good enough.
Mariappa, now he's partnered with someone in decent form and with a bit of experience above League One looks a much better player.

Sorry, this probably wasn't the right place to go into that.

On topic, stating the obvious, Long isn't coming back anytime soon.

[Hoop Blah]

thats not usually how it works here tbf

How do you think it works then brendy?

Everything I've ever read about the way transfers works is that the manager goes to the powers that be and asks for a player and they review whether or not he can be afforded.

Things may have changed since TSI got involved but Zingaravich was pretty clear of Football Focus that money wasn't the issue over the summer. Brian also said that he go everyone he wanted and spent all that he had. If he wasn't given a specific figure to spend (as we've done it in the past) then it follows that he'd have spent all he was given as he was only given the funds to buy the players he asked for.

There seems to be slightly conflicting stories coming from the two, but not ones I'd suggest are in total disagreement with each other, or are any more than passing comments on the summer from either of them (in other words I wouldn't take either statements too literally).

[royalZILLAAA]

On topic, stating the obvious, Long isn't coming back anytime soon.

Except to bag a brace against us this weekend.

[melonhead]

Seems to be the story: “all the players I wanted, I got” etc etc.

Did he realise we needed more? Did he fail to make a good enough case for bringing in more? Or were they not really concerned with staying up this time around?

I guess we will never know.

all the players i went for i got

within the budget i was given

It's probably somewhere between the two in the middleground. As is usually the case.

McDermott failed to appreciate how much we needed to strengthern (unsurprising given his managerial experience), we also got unlucky with loss of form to key existing players and a few niggly injuries, combined with a lack of direction in terms of putting together a winning strategy and signing new players with a clear purpose in mind, rather than just "he's a good player". But at the same time we weren't expecting promotion and so didn't have as much money as we needed available.

I don't believe McDermott was given a budget and spent absolutely all of it. I also don't believe he was given a budget and said "nah, take back two thirds of it, we only need a little strengtherning."

TBH I think the majority of the signings he made had the quality to have made a difference under slightly better circumstances. The only one who's really failed to live up to expectation through performance alone has been Gunter and possibly Guthrie (although I think he seems to have been misused a bit and brough in with some sort of blind hope that having one good passer will develop a better passing style).

McCleary's done pretty much exactly what I thought he was brought in for - back-up and occasional stand-in for Kebe.
Shorey, arguably he was brought in as cover but has been very good and maybe has done enough to suggest he was an improvement to the 11 (apart from his last 2 or 3 performances).
Pog's scored goals at an ok rate for his appearances and his lack of top performance is probably more down to our general malaise than not being good enough.
Mariappa, now he's partnered with someone in decent form and with a bit of experience above League One looks a much better player.

.

im going on what the people involved are quoted as saying
youre going on gut feeling, and made up brain spew.
you may still be right, but until i hear different ill believe brian rather than you

combined with a lack of direction in terms of putting together a winning strategy and signing new players with a clear purpose in mind

think we absolutely had a clear purpose.
filling the 6 positions we absolutely had to fill before going into the season(LB,RB,Striker,cb,mf, rw) SPENDING THE MONEY WE HAD AVAILABLE TO DO SO, AND BRINGING IN AS MUCH QUALITY AND EXPERIENCE AS WAS POSSIBLE
I THINK WE ACHIEVED THAT,(OOPS CAPS)

[melonhead]

thats not usually how it works here tbf

How do you think it works then brendy?

Everything I've ever read about the way transfers works is that the manager goes to the powers that be and asks for a player and they review whether or not he can be afforded.

Things may have changed since TSI got involved but Zingaravich was pretty clear of Football Focus that money wasn't the issue over the summer. Brian also said that he go everyone he wanted and spent all that he had. If he wasn't given a specific figure to spend (as we've done it in the past) then it follows that he'd have spent all he was given as he was only given the funds to buy the players he asked for.

There seems to be slightly conflicting stories coming from the two, but not ones I'd suggest are in total disagreement with each other, or are any more than passing comments on the summer from either of them (in other words I wouldn't take either statements too literally).

multiple quotyes from brian saying"i had a budget, i spent it all"
ill believe that until he changes his mind

[Extended-Phenotype]

Do you think he asked for the budget?

[melonhead]

pretty sure weve always given the budget to the manager and he works within it


quotes from coppell before the crawley game(which i pretty much see as being brians opinion, seeing how close they are) seem to back up the idea that they were surprised how low it was, and didnt think it was any way near enough.


like i said. im not saying i believe it just cos brian said it. and ill happily believe something else if it comes along and looks more plausible.
it just hasnt yet.

[Z175]

pretty sure weve always given the budget to the manager and he works within it

Yeah exactly. I mean McDermott, and formerly Coppell..were paid millions by the board. They weren't exactly going to admit to not having enough money.

Some managers do, Benitez for example and Redknapp too, but when you start down that line you are basically declaring to the media that your players aren't up to it and if you had your way you'd buy a load of better ones. Not great for belief and morale.

So when Brian says we have a budget, we can do something, it means hes been given 300k and signed a Crawley Town player, not Zingarevich lined up Defoe and Arshavin but as an experienced manager he believes McAnuff and Hunt are better options...

So far TSI have put in £2-3m last January, paid SJM £25m and hold 51% of a company that will probably make a c. £10m profit this season. Not sure we can claim "there is money but Brian won't spend it". Heard that argument before.

[Ian Royal]

all the players i went for i got

within the budget i was given

It's probably somewhere between the two in the middleground. As is usually the case.

McDermott failed to appreciate how much we needed to strengthern (unsurprising given his managerial experience), we also got unlucky with loss of form to key existing players and a few niggly injuries, combined with a lack of direction in terms of putting together a winning strategy and signing new players with a clear purpose in mind, rather than just "he's a good player". But at the same time we weren't expecting promotion and so didn't have as much money as we needed available.

I don't believe McDermott was given a budget and spent absolutely all of it. I also don't believe he was given a budget and said "nah, take back two thirds of it, we only need a little strengtherning."

TBH I think the majority of the signings he made had the quality to have made a difference under slightly better circumstances. The only one who's really failed to live up to expectation through performance alone has been Gunter and possibly Guthrie (although I think he seems to have been misused a bit and brough in with some sort of blind hope that having one good passer will develop a better passing style).

McCleary's done pretty much exactly what I thought he was brought in for - back-up and occasional stand-in for Kebe.
Shorey, arguably he was brought in as cover but has been very good and maybe has done enough to suggest he was an improvement to the 11 (apart from his last 2 or 3 performances).
Pog's scored goals at an ok rate for his appearances and his lack of top performance is probably more down to our general malaise than not being good enough.
Mariappa, now he's partnered with someone in decent form and with a bit of experience above League One looks a much better player.

.

im going on what the people involved are quoted as saying
youre going on gut feeling, and made up brain spew.
you may still be right, but until i hear different ill believe brian rather than you

combined with a lack of direction in terms of putting together a winning strategy and signing new players with a clear purpose in mind

think we absolutely had a clear purpose.
filling the 6 positions we absolutely had to fill before going into the season(LB,RB,Striker,cb,mf, rw) SPENDING THE MONEY WE HAD AVAILABLE TO DO SO, AND BRINGING IN AS MUCH QUALITY AND EXPERIENCE AS WAS POSSIBLE
I THINK WE ACHIEVED THAT,(OOPS CAPS)

You're taking one quote and taking it literally in the face of contradictory quotes. I'm working on the basis of how we've always done things, and all the quotes, treating each with a pinch of salt and applying logic in hindsight and my view of what our problems are.