Rodley
Well-Known Member
What's your definition of a head turning transfer? £20m is barely head turning for a Premier League team.
And how does no head turning signings equal a £10-20m budget?
We could sign 6 £8m players and spend the best part of £50m.
£10-20m is suicidal given what we need, and won't happen. We've been hit by Covid and we've lost a few million from crowds not being there, but we've got more prize money than expected, will get sell ons if Bournemouth go down and sell Brooks and Ramsdale, have a few players to sell ourselves, and the Prince has taken out a mortgage so as not to dent our ability to spent the PL money too much.
Every season we've got a sixpence and some belly button fluff for transfers based on nothing remarks during interviews. Has nobody heard of keeping your cards close to your chest?
On reflection I’d agree I was being conservative, but I think £20-£30m is probably realistic and we can’t hope for more. Reasons as below:-
- I would have thought our spending was £60-65m on transfers fees last season.
We signed Sander Berge in January for £22m in January. Wilder expressly confirmed at the time that this money was brought forward from next season’s transfer budget. Whilst this isn’t head turning money for the top 6 clubs and those with serious money behind them, it was head turning money for us. - On the basis that last year‘s spend (less Berge) was £40m and a bit, I would have ordinarily expected a budget of £50m for this season, possibly more due to prize money and the potential to renegotiate the sponsorship. Let’s be optimistic and call that £60m for arguments sake.
- Take the £22m off the £60m transfer budget and that’s £38m.
- But we have to factor in the additional costs of the purchase of the property assets and (to a lesser extent) the progression of the new Academy. On top of that the anticipated payment of the TV money has reduced due to Covid-19. And the loss of gate receipts and commercial income. Given we have an owner who is the best in our lifetime, but admittedly doesn’t have the personal resources of many of his contemporaries, this has to have had an impact. Probably to a disproportionate extent. Wilder has pretty much conceded this point in recent interviews.