Alan Shearer NO NO NO NO

[Jim Chimmerney]

Anyone else heard Shearer with Paul Scholes as player-coach?

I certainly heard a rumour about Scholes from a ManU 'ITK' in the Summer.

 

[Darthblade]

If this is true then McCabe has lost the plot. Totally unproven manager who can attract big names quality players (but that is not enough remember Robson ).

If we have a prudent policy then give Blackwell a chance - we have been hard hit with loans and injuries he should get until the end of the season in my opinion.

If McCabe has had enough of Blackwell then surely Curbishley should be the choice - proven record of taking a club up on a budget and keeping them there.

Blackwell has been given his chance and has failed to prove his ability to manage and motivate "better quality" players. He is another Neil warnock, at his best with "125%" players, but he hasn't the skills or ability to work with better quality players.
The injury crisis is a red herring really, he's using that to death to try to save his job. He failed to put in place a balanced squad in the summer and took a chance on making it through to January without too many injuries. That has backfired on him in a big way.
UTB

 

[Come from away]

Mind yourself, if you keep grinding that old axe you'll have little left soon. On the other hand, if he's as good as Neil then we have a great manager who will get us in the Prem and keep us there - thanks for being soooo positive.

 

[matth]

On the other hand, if he's as good as Neil then we have a great manager who will get us in the Prem and keep us there -

Did I miss something? I suppose us still being in the Prem would explain why we're getting turned over week in, week out

 

[Sothall_Blade]

Davis £2.5M
Horsfield £1.2M
Leigertwood £600K
Hulse £2.2M
Killa £1.75M
Stead £750K
Shelton £1.85M
Fathi £700K
Kazim-Richards £125K
Bennett Free
Seck Free
Sommeil Free
Nade Free
Total £11.68M.

Unless Bennett, Seck, Sommeil and Nade got a £1M signing on fee each, Warnock spent well under £15M on transfers. If you compare that with the expenditure of "smaller" clubs like Hull and Stoke, you'll find that even £15M isn't usually enough to keep a club in The Premiership. Yet we very nearly did it.

In addition, Warnock wasn't given the scope on the wage bill to attract proven players on Premiership wages like Beattie, Naysmith and Speed. Instead, he was forced to gamble on players from the lower leagues managing to make the step up. Some like Hulse, CKR and Stead did. Others (like Kilgallon) didn't but then no gambler wins all their bets.

As soon as Robson arrived, the wage bill was increased dramatically and Warnock's highest transfer fee was nearly doubled. There's no doubt in my mind that Warnock's team would have got the ONE extra goal we needed to stay up, if he'd only been given a Robson-style budget to work with.

So he had about £13 Million, how much did Hull/Stoke spend in their first season?

According to Soccerbase. Stoke City:-
Dave Kitson Reading £ 5500000 18-07-2008
Seyi Olofinjana Wolves £ 3000000 26-07-2008
Thomas Sorensen Aston Villa Free 28-07-2008
Abdoulaye Faye Newcastle £ 2250000 15-08-2008
Amdy Faye Charlton Signed 15-08-2008
Andrew Davies Southampton Signed 19-08-2008
Tom Soares C Palace Signed 01-09-2008
Michael Tonge Sheff Utd Signed 01-09-2008
Ibrahima Sonko Reading Signed 02-09-2008
Danny Higginbotham Sunderland Signed 02-09-2008
Matthew Etherington West Ham £ 2000000 08-01-2009
James Beattie Sheff Utd £ 3500000 13-01-2009
Total: £ 16250000

Signed means an "undisclosed" fee but add the fees for Faye, Davies, Soares, Tonge, Sonko and Higginbotham to the £16.25M and you're probably looking at nearly double our expenditure.

Hull City:-
Craig Fagan Derby £ 750000 02-07-2008
Geovanni Man City Free 05-07-2008
Bernard Mendy Paris St-G. Free 11-07-2008
Peter Halmosi Plymouth £ 2000000 16-07-2008
George Boateng Middlesbro £ 1000000 16-07-2008
Tony Warner Fulham Free 16-07-2008
Anthony Gardner Tottenham £ 2500000 28-07-2008
Mark Oxley Rotherham £ 150000 08-08-2008
Daniel Cousin Rangers Signed 01-09-2008
Stylianos Giannakopoulos Bolton Free 23-09-2008
Jimmy Bullard Fulham £ 5000000 23-01-2009
Kamil Zayatte Young Boys £ 2500000 23-01-2009
Total: £ 13900000

+ Loans (players in)
Marlon King Wigan 14-08-2008 21-01-2009
Paul McShane Sunderland 29-08-2008 15-01-2009
Kamil Zayatte Young Boys 31-08-2008 22-01-2009
Manucho Man Utd 16-01-2009 25-05-2009

 

[Paulus]

Between us going up and Hull and Stoke the PL TV contract changed hugely increasing the amount of money available - in real terms I don't think that we were far away from their expenditure.