Transfer Policy

[Kev Gee]

Yeah, let's get 2-3 £1m+ fringe premiership/championship players in and hope we get a Brayford and not a Cofie attitude from them.

Then the manager & scouts would be as much to blame as the player themselves for not doing their homework before paying the money.

 

[Worksop_Blade]

Sheffield United are the biggest and most well attended team in League One.

We should be snapping up this division's talents, wowing the best players with our training ground, stadium and history. No football player would rather play in front of 6k than 19k.

Wolves did this last season and won the league with 103 points.

 

[Sothall_Blade]

For me it's about identifying either young(ish)players who are surplus to requirements in the league above or those who are already top players at their clubs in this league. Look at what they are worth like. Look at their likely potential. Look at how much promotion would bring in. If you buy a player who is doing well already in this league who is likely to improve and have a re-sale value, then paying more than he's worth (within reason) is the sensible. It's an investment.

I think this is exactly the right strategy and to a certain extent it's one we've been following for the last couple of seasons.
When spending £100-£300K on players like Baxter, Cuvelier, Murphy, Scougall, McNulty, McGahey we have made an investment.
The value of those players isn't likely to plummet, so there's no risk of that money being totally wasted.
Some may be worth slightly less (e.g. Cuvelier) but the majority will be now worth more than we paid for them (i.e. the rest).

What the club seems currently unwilling (or possibly unable) to do is adopt the same policy but with players who are maybe in the £750K to £1.5M bracket.
It could be that we simply can't persuade players in that bracket to drop down to our level.
(Although that's not what we've been told regarding Brayford and the three transfer targets on Monday)

When people talk about "throwing money at it" it implies we would be throwing money away.
On the contrary, if we throw money at the right sort of targets we would benefit from in improved team now and a probable profit on that investment further down the line.

 

[sheffielder]

Wolves had mucho parachute payments to have that big money. It enabled them to keep players rather than buy, apart from one notable exception.

We have the Prince, Harry money and last season's cup run.

They also signed Dicku and that lad from debry, the winger

 

[wizadry]

Wolves had mucho parachute payments to have that big money. It enabled them to keep players rather than buy, apart from one notable exception.

We had parachute payments once upon a time,they don't always work,not in our case anyway.

 

[SouthEssexBlade]

We had parachute payments once upon a time,they don't always work,not in our case anyway.

Aye, we appointed a fantastic manager to use that wedge!

 

[Zlatan]

We need to get out of this league. If that means spending over the odds the so be it.

Spot on. If we know we are getting a good player then I'd be happy for us to pay over the odds.

Who are these lunatics voting that they would rather us sign average League One players? I can only assume they are happy to finish mid-table in this league year after year, because that's all you're going to get.

 

[mattbianco1]

Does that logic include the selling club wanting over the odds for said player?

Where's the lickle insect things gone

 

[kop_blade9]

You appear to be ignoring the fact that the selling clubs said no.
Do you want to us to keep inflating the figure until they eventually say yes? Or you unsettle a player as in Maguire.
Is this your first option?
It's often the case that seemingly average players can suddenly flourish given the right manager, like Coady.
It's also the case that average players can get worse (especially when we buy em).
Is this your second option?

Obviously you would prefer more of the 1st option but we are not a Manchester club so you need a good dose of option two and hope they flourish.

 

[shreds1975]

I think it is an interesting dilemma Clough faces. If he goes for Championship level players, there is a cost in terms of fee and wages and there is a perception (rightly or wrongly) that we are attracting good players.

What would fans have said if we had spent a significant (for L1) sum on Luke James a young and talented L2 striker, but with a goal a game record of less than 1 in 4? Posh fans seem delighted, yet I can think of many Blades fans who would find reason to moan. Is £6/700,000 on such a striker ambitious, or too risky?

 

[Pierre's PC]

Where's the lickle insect things gone

Swapped it for a kitteh and a packet of wine gums.

 

[wizadry]

Swapped it for a kitteh and a packet of wine gums.

Yes,but are they Maynards

 

[JOEYDEE]

Why aren't we ever linked with any foreign players?
Same with DW1 and DW2 ?
Aren't they supposed to be more affordable and offer something different...
NC seems to follow the same pattern of 'made in Britain' types ,before anyone sez owt ..the jocks don't count !! At least until the referendum results !

 

[Deleted member 875]

Why aren't we ever linked with any foreign players?
Same with DW1 and DW2 ?
Aren't they supposed to be more affordable and offer something different...
NC seems to follow the same pattern of 'made in Britain' types ,before anyone sez owt ..the jocks don't count !! At least until the referendum results !

How many foreign players who are half-decent do you think would want to drop down to the third tier of English Football?

 

[JOEYDEE]

How many foreign players who are half-decent do you think would want to drop down to the third tier of English Football?

Don't really know,thats why I asked the question..sorry ...

 

[Deleted member 875]

Don't really know,thats why I asked the question..sorry ...

So why don't you try and have a think about it?

 

[BornOnShorehamStreet]

We should be snapping up this division's talents, wowing the best players with our training ground, stadium and history. No football player would rather play in front of 6k than 19k.

Trouble is they'd rather play for 19K than 6k - per week

 

[Cyprus Blade]

Now that the English Premier League has been officially crowned as the league with the 2nd most imports playing in it ( Cyprus is 1st) and with our transfer team seeming rooted on Blackpool, Derby and Scotland (and the wildly successful trip across the channel to discover Higdon) I took to wondering how many English players are plying their trade overseas. I came across this

http://eurorivals.net/abroad/english.html

 

[JOEYDEE]

So why don't you try and have a think about it?

I've had a think ,maybe as many as the half-decent champ /prem players (coady/bray),that chose to drop down ?
Surely it will increase our chances of gettin someone in if we widen our net ?
we're not fleetwood or rochdale you know ...

 

[sheffielder]

How many foreign players who are half-decent do you think would want to drop down to the third tier of English Football?

Just one off the top of my head

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/José_Fonte