Sothall_Blade
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- Aug 6, 2009
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While checking my facts for the fans forum questions, I came across this very interesting old article on the official site:-
http://www.sufc.co.uk/page/Gaffersnotes/0,,10418~1713259,00.html
So to summarise the situation on 3rd July 2009:-
1) We were very close to signing Andew Surman but he chose Premiership Wolves ahead of us and signed for £1.2M
2) We had a bid accepted for Tommy Smith but he chose Premiership Portsmouth ahead of us and signed for £2M.
3) We had a bid accepted for Michael McIndoe but we ultimately pulled out of the deal and he signed for Coventry for £500K.
4) We had made a bid for Ched Evans and another unnamed Premiership player. We ultimately signed only Evans from the Premiership for between £750K and £3M.
5) Blackwell stated that at this point he had only 14 players including only three strikers and a back four. None of the players we had reportedly made bids for were defenders and the only defender we subsequently signed was Taylor for around £300K.
So, what the hell happened? Why wasn't the £3.7M we had apparently committed to spending, subsequently spent on alternative targets? Why did Blackwell only sign one permanent defender to supplement the "back four" he was unhappy about in July?
The gap between what was planned in July and what subsequently happened is simply enormous. Were Blackwell's statements in July 2009 untrue? Could he simply not find any players? Or did the board suddenly pull the plug on his spending plans? I'd love to hear the official answers to this but I'm also interested what others think?
http://www.sufc.co.uk/page/Gaffersnotes/0,,10418~1713259,00.html
So to summarise the situation on 3rd July 2009:-
1) We were very close to signing Andew Surman but he chose Premiership Wolves ahead of us and signed for £1.2M
2) We had a bid accepted for Tommy Smith but he chose Premiership Portsmouth ahead of us and signed for £2M.
3) We had a bid accepted for Michael McIndoe but we ultimately pulled out of the deal and he signed for Coventry for £500K.
4) We had made a bid for Ched Evans and another unnamed Premiership player. We ultimately signed only Evans from the Premiership for between £750K and £3M.
5) Blackwell stated that at this point he had only 14 players including only three strikers and a back four. None of the players we had reportedly made bids for were defenders and the only defender we subsequently signed was Taylor for around £300K.
So, what the hell happened? Why wasn't the £3.7M we had apparently committed to spending, subsequently spent on alternative targets? Why did Blackwell only sign one permanent defender to supplement the "back four" he was unhappy about in July?
The gap between what was planned in July and what subsequently happened is simply enormous. Were Blackwell's statements in July 2009 untrue? Could he simply not find any players? Or did the board suddenly pull the plug on his spending plans? I'd love to hear the official answers to this but I'm also interested what others think?
