£20m

[Blade56]

The exception rather than the rule.

We’re going into a gunfight with a blunt teaspoon. It is what it is, but I’d rate our chances of survival as tiny.

Wasting our time on Mauriss and Dozy has been a terrible strategic decision. Timing couldn’t be worse.

Thing I’m concerned about is the volume of players out of contract all at once. If we replace them all at once with budget players we will be stuck with them for 3-4 seasons. Youth from abroad and academy is the route, might not be good enough to survive PL but a good base for a strong Championship club.
Unless something crazy happens with ownership / funding it does fuel the sell Ndiaye and or Berge argument to invest in youth cause them two alone won’t get us up to 9th again.
Think HRH had a vision and a passion with that vision of a club network and growing / promoting our own youth but underestimated the cost and the passion turned to worry and financial risk.

 

[Greasy Chap Butty]

 

[Brownieblade]

It's probably going to look like a relegation side with a 20m budget whether Berge stays or not, isn't it

Berge's numbers at championship level by the way are far from indicative of someone who'll be any serious creative force in the PL

Without doubt it will, and it might be true that he isn’t the creative spark we need in prem either

But just replacing for the sake of it and with someone who is also unproven at being creative in the top league isn’t anything that suggests it has a better chance of succeeding either

If you are going to sell for 10 then what’s the point, you may as well keep for a year and let him walk for free if it doesn’t work out

 

[ChipButtyBlade]

£20m is this a sort of ambitous Norwich City model of spending,for a Premier League campaign.

 

[Yogi]

£20m is this a sort of ambitous Norwich City model of spending,for a Premier League campaign.

Norwich got a new academy and the ball rolling on a new stand out of it. We won’t so it’s not even really a Norwich type approach.

 

[robbiez666]

View attachment 161119

It just says 'current wages are covered by Premier League cash'.

I'd not assume that £20 million is solely for purchases. Loan signings at this level normally involve loan fees, for example.

 

[3Cheers4Ramirez]

Without doubt it will, and it might be true that he isn’t the creative spark we need in prem either

But just replacing for the sake of it and with someone who is also unproven at being creative in the top league isn’t anything that suggests it has a better chance of succeeding either

If you are going to sell for 10 then what’s the point, you may as well keep for a year and let him walk for free if it doesn’t work out

It's not replacing for the sake of it if it means we'll not lose him for free. We shouldn't be throwing away 10m for no reason..... and if we could replace him with similar or better, there is no reason. It's also a matter of principle - losing him AND Ndiaye for free is hideous and negligent. To justify that we'd have to be very confident of staying up

 

[TopBoy]

PL net spend this season:

View attachment 161107

So we've got €102m more than Brighton to spend? I'll take that.

 

[jono_t2000]

It's not replacing for the sake of it if it means we'll not lose him for free. We shouldn't be throwing away 10m for no reason..... and if we could replace him with similar or better, there is no reason. It's also a matter of principle - losing him AND Ndiaye for free is hideous and negligent. To justify that we'd have to be very confident of staying up

Depends how you look at it. Even if Ndiaye leaves for free you could argue that he has brought in 150 mill to the club on an initial outlay of virtually zero.

Based on that I would say that keeping him this season to give us a slight increase in chances of staying up is well worth the risk, regardless of how confident we are.

 

[Champagneblade]

I think there could be quite a few difficult decisions.

Suppose Fleck is on 15k per week in the Championship.

You get promoted and his last deal was rising to 25k in the Premiership.

How's the conversation go that your importance has dropped to the point that you're only worth 15k per week to me in the Premiership?

It's a tough pill to swallow, but what I don't want is to be using the PL money to be overpaying all the older pros you are marginal on.

Even Billy. He's a great influence. But paying someone a million a year just to be there if needed in a crisis isn't what the club needs.

Hecky might want to keep the squad intact but a few might be facing harsh realities and realise the take it or leave it offers the club may be giving could be the best ones available to them. Whether pride gets in the what is another thing though I'd imagine footballers accepting they are on the down will be a challenging experience for them despite the realities of it.

 

[3Cheers4Ramirez]

Depends how you look at it. Even if Ndiaye leaves for free you could argue that he has brought in 150 mill to the club on an initial outlay of virtually zero.

Based on that I would say that keeping him this season to give us a slight increase in chances of staying up is well worth the risk, regardless of how confident we are.

Ndiaye has to be kept regardless, because he's the only thing that gives us a chance. It's far from the case with Berge

 

[ChipButtyBlade]

Norwich got a new academy and the ball rolling on a new stand out of it. We won’t so it’s not even really a Norwich type approach.

Way we could fix the hole in the academy roof (if it has'nt already been done) and get the ball moving on removing the poles on the Kop that would put us on a par.

 

[Brownieblade]

It's not replacing for the sake of it if it means we'll not lose him for free. We shouldn't be throwing away 10m for no reason..... and if we could replace him with similar or better, there is no reason. It's also a matter of principle - losing him AND Ndiaye for free is hideous and negligent. To justify that we'd have to be very confident of staying up

But you didn’t replace him or his potential creativity in your suggestions and I’m not sure replacing with lesser or more workmanlike is really justifying it

For me if Illy and Berge can do enough to keep us up for another season then that’s paid that off, you have already gained far more in that scenario than 10 million you would get selling on cheap( obviously you would get more selling illy)

 

[Rodley]

Norwich got a new academy and the ball rolling on a new stand out of it. We won’t so it’s not even really a Norwich type approach.

Yep Norwich spent fuck all and used the money to get their facilities up to PL standard. We’re just spending fuck all.

 

[Yogi]

Yep Norwich spent fuck all and used to money to get their facilities up to PL standard. We’re just spending fuck all.

Hopefully it’s been lost in translation and it’s 20 million on top of whatever the previous agreed budget was not just 20 million flat.

Either way we need that takeover pronto.

 

[Green7361]

Not overly worried about having money to spend as long as the club sorts itself out off the pitch, in relation to lack of possession in Prem games I think both Jebbison and Osula have potential so would be happy playing on the counter. My only real concern is lack of pace in midfield. Think Manning would be an excellent signing and then some focus on some pacier midfielders or certainly someone that's capable of moving the ball quickly

 

[Rodley]

Hopefully it’s been lost in translation and it’s 20 million on top of whatever the previous agreed budget was not just 20 million flat.

Either way we need that takeover pronto.

Yep, but past performance indicates another bugger’s muddle.

 

[Teddy]

It just says 'current wages are covered by Premier League cash'.

I'd not assume that £20 million is solely for purchases. Loan signings at this level normally involve loan fees, for example.

Yeah I agree - why would there be a magical separate pot for loan fees/wages and free transfer signing on fees/wages? For starters how much you need for “purchases” totally depends on your dealings in the loan and free transfer market.

The article may be total bollocks (be it made up or put out by the club to manage expectations and improve our bargaining position) but if it’s true then I think it’s much more likely to be £20m for fees/wage costs of all new players

 

[Harrisblade]

I think there could be quite a few difficult decisions.

Suppose Fleck is on 15k per week in the Championship.

You get promoted and his last deal was rising to 25k in the Premiership.

How's the conversation go that your importance has dropped to the point that you're only worth 15k per week to me in the Premiership?

It's a tough pill to swallow, but what I don't want is to be using the PL money to be overpaying all the older pros you are marginal on.

Even Billy. He's a great influence. But paying someone a million a year just to be there if needed in a crisis isn't what the club needs.

Hecky might want to keep the squad intact but a few might be facing harsh realities and realise the take it or leave it offers the club may be giving could be the best ones available to them. Whether pride gets in the what is another thing though I'd imagine footballers accepting they are on the down will be a challenging experience for them despite the realities of it.

If they've had a bonus for winning promotion, why do they get a pay-rise as well?
Especially as its unlikely that any other PL club will want to sign many of our older players.
As you say, what we offer, even if not Man U levels of salary might be the best they get.

 

[Bladeinleeds]

If they've had a bonus for winning promotion, why do they get a pay-rise as well?
Especially as its unlikely that any other PL club will want to sign many of our older players.
As you say, what we offer, even if not Man U levels of salary might be the best they get.

That’s literally the way contracts work.

Same as most (all!?) of them took a wage cut when we went down.

 

[Champagneblade]

If they've had a bonus for winning promotion, why do they get a pay-rise as well?
Especially as its unlikely that any other PL club will want to sign many of our older players.
As you say, what we offer, even if not Man U levels of salary might be the best they get.

I guess their contracts will have a basic Championship wage and Premiership wage. Then they'll probably get more based on where we finish.

 

[3Cheers4Ramirez]

But you didn’t replace him or his potential creativity in your suggestions and I’m not sure replacing with lesser or more workmanlike is really justifying it

For me if Illy and Berge can do enough to keep us up for another season then that’s paid that off, you have already gained far more in that scenario than 10 million you would get selling on cheap( obviously you would get more selling illy)

As I said, the creativity and goals would come elsewhere. He doesn't need replacing like for like. No matter what we do, the midfield basically needs building from scratch anyway

 

[3Cheers4Ramirez]

If they've had a bonus for winning promotion, why do they get a pay-rise as well?
Especially as its unlikely that any other PL club will want to sign many of our older players.
As you say, what we offer, even if not Man U levels of salary might be the best they get.

Paying the large promotion bonuses to players who've contributed little is a huge motivating factor to get them off the wage bill. I'm thinking Stevens and Fleck in particular

 

[jono_t2000]

£4m deals for Anel happen once in a lifetime. 99.9% of the time it buys you half of Callum Robinson or one Luke Freeman.

Not necessarily true. For example Lucas Esquivel i mentioned in future prospects thread we could likely get for even less than we got Anel.

Would he rip the premier league apart? Possibly not. Would he be too good for the championship.. almost certainly.

Caveat is, would he sign for us if we were currently a championship club. Almost definitely not. We have a golden (but limited) opportunity as a premier league club to attract foreign youth for smart money.

I just hope we utilize this opportunity.

 

[Mouth of the South]

Not necessarily true. For example Lucas Esquivel i mentioned in future prospects thread we could likely get for even less than we got Anel.

Would he rip the premier league apart? Possibly not. Would he be too good for the championship.. almost certainly.

Caveat is, would he sign for us if we were currently a championship club. Almost definitely not. We have a golden (but limited) opportunity as a premier league club to attract foreign youth for smart money.

I just hope we utilize this opportunity.

I'd be more confident of the club's ability to secure better value for money from signing via foreign markets if the scouting network had been improved more than it has. I don't know but I would expect the club's connections to be more Northern Europe based than Central and South America. Scandanavia, Belgium and to a lesser extent, NL and France should hopefully be hiding some gems.

 

[Brownieblade]

As I said, the creativity and goals would come elsewhere. He doesn't need replacing like for like. No matter what we do, the midfield basically needs building from scratch anyway

I think the hope the creativity would just come somehow somewhere would be equally as bad as the keeping Berge and llly comment you made earlier

I do agree the midfield will need lots of rework regardless, I doubt Berge will sign a new deal regardless

I just personally think we can do that just as well next season

 

[jono_t2000]

I'd be more confident of the club's ability to secure better value for money from signing via foreign markets if the scouting network had been improved more than it has. I don't know but I would expect the club's connections to be more Northern Europe based than Central and South America. Scandanavia, Belgium and to a lesser extent, NL and France should hopefully be hiding some gems.

Problem with France Belgium and even Netherlands now is that the prices they're placing on their players heads is catching up to UK over inflated prices.

South Korea, Japan, USA, Canada and South America is where the value for money lies. (Ukraine, Hungary, Bosnian leagues as well but harder to guage)

 

[finlaytheblade]

I'd be more confident of the club's ability to secure better value for money from signing via foreign markets if the scouting network had been improved more than it has. I don't know but I would expect the club's connections to be more Northern Europe based than Central and South America. Scandanavia, Belgium and to a lesser extent, NL and France should hopefully be hiding some gems.

What we have to take into consideration! 15 points required by the individual to qualify to play in this country makes it a lot harder to bring players through united world and on loan for this season.

 

[jono_t2000]

Problem with France Belgium and even Netherlands now is that the prices they're placing on their players heads is catching up to UK over inflated prices.

South Korea, Japan, USA, Canada and South America is where the value for money lies. (Ukraine, Hungary, Bosnian leagues as well but harder to guage)

Oh and Scandinavia as well like you said has value for the time being.

 

[jono_t2000]

What we have to take into consideration! 15 points required by the individual to qualify to play in this country makes it a lot harder to bring players through united world and on loan for this season.

South America and Asia is super relaxed since Brexit (bit of a trade off)

Brighton ( regarding South American players) have been taking full advantage.

Celtic although not under the same work permit rule have been going to town on Asian players and making hefty profits on resell value.