Big signing to replace Murray?

[APACHE]

Perhaps people such stop saying Murray is moving because it's he's last chance at a big payday for his future retirement . He's been at BHA for 3yrs, in that time he's most likely earned what an average worker would get in 10 -20. Some players now live in a detached world in which the money now comes before the football. Gus is always on about the right attitude.

 

[hola gus]

Was at a mates wedding today, just got back. During the day I got chatting to a old friend who's an Arsenal fan who had heard Gus is looking at Bendtner on a season long loan as Wenger is looking to get rid. Appreciate its the silly season so will watch with interest to see if anything develops. Personally I'd have thought he'd still get a gig at a Premiership club. Anyway just passing on what I've heard so don't shoot the messenger.

Am not a JCL before the accusations start flying, just a long time lurker deciding to join the conversation...

What would worry me about signing bendthner is his love of the social scene. Id be worried he'd enjoy Brighton as a city a little too much! But like you say im pretty sure he will be at a premiership club next season.

 

[trueblue]

Is this guy dazzalewis really a football agent? Jesus - how thick would you have to be to think that someone who comes across so badly is the right person to represent you?

Thankfully, some of the shrewder players have always preferred to use their own brains a bit while taking the advice of someone who is genuinely intelligent, such as a solicitor. It would be interesting to know what qualifications this bloke has for the job.

Incidentally, if any of the players ARE upset that Murray hasn't been able to hold the club to ransom, bad luck. I hope we're going to be a club that will always put its long-term survival and financial viability ahead of the excessive demands of the modern footballer... And the people that leech off of them.

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

But sounds like TB is watching the money. No deal was done.

Good.

 

[severnside gull]

Murray will have gone for a salary of £1m+ over the next two years and a signing on fee of (probably) around a quarter of a million pounds. Whatever happens his future and that of his family are secure and I don't blame him in the slightest for pursuing that option because it would never have been available at the Albion had he stayed. Calling him a Judas is silly and frankly pointless. No-one here would have done any differently and if Palace is where he had to go to get the best deal for him and his family then so be it. One thing for sure is that it won't worry him what we think or how we react.

Tony and Gus clearly have an excellent relationship. Tony will have set a budget in consultation with Gus - not absolute numbers but broad percentage increases over and above the current figures. With all his experience Gus will know how vital it is to have a nominal individual salary ceiling based, as others rightly say, on keeping a degree of harmony in the camp. It is Gus who would quite probably have not only proposed it but actually set the level.

I am certain that Dazza is right and Gus would have liked to keep Murray. It would have been an easy option but not one he was prepared to break the bank for. I don't think Tony blocked matching Murray's demands. I think it is much more likely that he backed Gus' judgement that they were excessive in relation to the rest of the squad and to his plans for the next two years.

I have a sneaky suspicion that Gus had no intention of playing Murray as his front line striker next year despite him being our top scorer. I believe we will move on from including a target man in the first choice side as "Plan A" and that Gus' response to our inability to hold sides who attack at pace and pressure us high up the field is to go for a more mobile and fluid strike force. Murray, I think, would have been "Plan B" off the bench to help hold on to a lead.

I'm surprised when I see people say that Barnes and Hoskins will compete for one place. I think that if Barnes is able to continue the progress he has been making to the next level he and Hoskins, together with a third, similarly mobile/ball-playing striker will be the choices. Which two of the three plays will be purely down to form.

I don't think that Buckley, if he comes, is that third striker. I think he is the new Bennett but I would be delighted to be proved wrong as I hope Norwich don't pursue their interest in him.

The fourth striker - the one who has to replace Murray to allow for a Plan B, will ideally be an experienced "older head" and may well not be someone who Albion fans will instantly take to heart but who will have height and aggression and be able to hold the ball up in the opponents' third. Their scoring ratio in such as role may actually be of less significance.

Interesting to see how it pans out. For sure we are going to be an exciting side to watch and "pleasing on the eye".

My very slight concern is that this is exactly the description of West Brom when they went up to the Premier League and got found out a couple of years ago. We are a quite similar side. What they lacked then was some steel in midfield (someone to take the ball and carry it forward as an alternative to passing) and defensive organisation. I don't think Gus will make either mistake so I am just as interested to see who comes in to the midfield and defence and hopefully we will be as quick to resolve those options as we have been to bring in Hoskins..

 

[BensGrandad]

My only concern about this is that we could have paid Murray the extra £2k per week and then if not successful sold him in January for 3-400k having spent less than £50k extra on his wages. I accept that he could have said in January I am not going and sat on his contract but I think that would be unlikely as he wants to play football while he can.

 

[glasfryn]

My main disappointment is that he went on a free so didn't get any financial return on the £300k we shelled out for him !

other than the goals
Hoskins is a direct replacement for Murray neither tried or tested in the championship, but I trust Gus to find that striker that is tested in that division.
the relationship between Murray and the Albion has always been a little tenuous right from the start and if we as the fans have not learned from the Forster episode that Gus wants straight up and down loyal players then we should open our eyes.

Thank you Glen and good luck at your new club ..........you really are going to need it

 

[DT Withdean]

Murray will have gone for a salary of £1m+ over the next two years and a signing on fee of (probably) around a quarter of a million pounds. Whatever happens his future and that of his family are secure and I don't blame him in the slightest for pursuing that option because it would never have been available at the Albion had he stayed. Calling him a Judas is silly and frankly pointless. No-one here would have done any differently and if Palace is where he had to go to get the best deal for him and his family then so be it. One thing for sure is that it won't worry him what we think or how we react.

Tony and Gus clearly have an excellent relationship. Tony will have set a budget in consultation with Gus - not absolute numbers but broad percentage increases over and above the current figures. With all his experience Gus will know how vital it is to have a nominal individual salary ceiling based, as others rightly say, on keeping a degree of harmony in the camp. It is Gus who would quite probably have not only proposed it but actually set the level.

I am certain that Dazza is right and Gus would have liked to keep Murray. It would have been an easy option but not one he was prepared to break the bank for. I don't think Tony blocked matching Murray's demands. I think it is much more likely that he backed Gus' judgement that they were excessive in relation to the rest of the squad and to his plans for the next two years.

I have a sneaky suspicion that Gus had no intention of playing Murray as his front line striker next year despite him being our top scorer. I believe we will move on from including a target man in the first choice side as "Plan A" and that Gus' response to our inability to hold sides who attack at pace and pressure us high up the field is to go for a more mobile and fluid strike force. Murray, I think, would have been "Plan B" off the bench to help hold on to a lead.

I'm surprised when I see people say that Barnes and Hoskins will compete for one place. I think that if Barnes is able to continue the progress he has been making to the next level he and Hoskins, together with a third, similarly mobile/ball-playing striker will be the choices. Which two of the three plays will be purely down to form.

I don't think that Buckley, if he comes, is that third striker. I think he is the new Bennett but I would be delighted to be proved wrong as I hope Norwich don't pursue their interest in him.

The fourth striker - the one who has to replace Murray to allow for a Plan B, will ideally be an experienced "older head" and may well not be someone who Albion fans will instantly take to heart but who will have height and aggression and be able to hold the ball up in the opponents' third. Their scoring ratio in such as role may actually be of less significance.

Interesting to see how it pans out. For sure we are going to be an exciting side to watch and "pleasing on the eye".

My very slight concern is that this is exactly the description of West Brom when they went up to the Premier League and got found out a couple of years ago. We are a quite similar side. What they lacked then was some steel in midfield (someone to take the ball and carry it forward as an alternative to passing) and defensive organisation. I don't think Gus will make either mistake so I am just as interested to see who comes in to the midfield and defence and hopefully we will be as quick to resolve those options as we have been to bring in Hoskins..

It's only mid-May.

Gus will know our weaknesses inside out e.g. lack of height and bullies in centre-midfield/defence which the 'hoof' teams like Southampton and Dagenham obsessed with when playing us.

Hoskins is just a start. Gus has the money and the knowledge to address this.

The Guardian stated yesterday that Champ' clubs earn £3m a year from tv rights. (Compared to next to nothing in League One).
Even more money in the coffers to improve the squad.

 

[sparky]

murray in top 5 strikers i have seen at club. been watching since ward days. very difficult to replace with his defensive qualities as well

 

[WATFORD zero]

Congratulations to Severnside on the most thought to go into an NSC post

I agree completely that last season, Gus was getting the best from what he had and that Murray was essential to that. It therefor makes sense that if Gus prefers a more mobile faster attack, Murray would become the significant part of our plan B. There were hints that he may not be a first choice next season and this may be the reason he has left, to get regular football. Because despite what is being said about money, i still can't believe a professional footballer in 2011 would choose palarse over the albion, even with a 50% pay rise.

So we now need a striker for our plan B, and we are not going to blow the largest part of our budget on plan B.

 

[acrossthepond]

murray in top 5 strikers i have seen at club. been watching since ward days. very difficult to replace with his defensive qualities as well

It's actually this as much as his goals that I think we may miss, and need to replace. How many times this year have we seen Murray as the one clearing the ball out at corners....

 

[NMH]

We wouldn't need a 'big' signing to replace Murray, just a forward capable of doing what he's supposed to be there for, and good at.

 

[16bha]

murray in top 5 strikers i have seen at club. been watching since ward days. very difficult to replace with his defensive qualities as well

Mind you, he developed those qualities at Brighton. When he first joined he was a lazy sod when tracking back.

 

[seagull_special]

My main disappointment is that he went on a free so didn't get any financial return on the £300k we shelled out for him !

The question is how much were Murray's goals worth financially in getting us promoted better than a poxy couple of hundred grand we might have got in Jan for a soon to be out of contract player. I f he had gone then we could have done a Bournmouth and crashed and burned

 

[8ace]

Gus wanted to pay murray the money and
Bloom blocked it.
Unrest in camp.

This is true, apparently Barry Lloyd had the final say.

 

[BensGrandad]

This is true, apparently Barry Lloyd had the final say.

Why would that be as he is not chief scout now. Would Stephenson, having been with a Championship club and knwing the players etc have had any input into the decision

 

[pork pie]

murray in top 5 strikers i have seen at club. been watching since ward days. very difficult to replace with his defensive qualities as well

One of the top 5 you have seen since Peter Ward's days? I am very sorry to hear that you went blind. How about Peter Ward, Spider Mellor, Gordon Smith, Andy Richie, Micheal Robinson, oh, that was easy wasn't it! And we have not even got beyond the early 80s.

Some peoples' over-reaction to a lower league striker who could only manage 22 goals in a team that pissed the league, and enabled a young sprog to get 20, is quite simply - pathetic!

 

[bhaexpress]

Why would that be as he is not chief scout now. Would Stephenson, having been with a Championship club and knwing the players etc have had any input into the decision

Ahem, that was sarcasm.

 

[Foolg]

Was at a mates wedding today, just got back. During the day I got chatting to a old friend who's an Arsenal fan who had heard Gus is looking at Bendtner on a season long loan as Wenger is looking to get rid. Appreciate its the silly season so will watch with interest to see if anything develops. Personally I'd have thought he'd still get a gig at a Premiership club. Anyway just passing on what I've heard so don't shoot the messenger.

Am not a JCL before the accusations start flying, just a long time lurker deciding to join the conversation...

Bendtners the last kind of player Gus would be interested in signing. Probably on 30k+ a week, never looks interested, and always looks to be in a sulk. If what he said about football needing the correct personalities in a team to succeed, Bendtner couldn't be further from it, and that opinion's based on his "Professional football isn't the dream job, it means I can't go skiing" comments in a recent interview. Either way, he was being chased by AC Milan in January, so no chance.

 

[SEAGULLS TILL I DIE]

Poyet will buy 2 more class strikers, defenders, goalie, winger.

Regarding Murray's final destination - nothing is yet decided:

Croydon Advertiser:
"DOUGIE Freedman admits he would love to bring Brighton & Hove Albion striker Glenn Murray to Selhurst Park but knows he faces fierce competition for the striker's services.
Murray, 27, scored 20 goals for the Seagulls to help them lift the League One crown.
But his current contract expires at the end of the month and he appears certain to leave Gus Poyet's team for a new challenge.
Millwall and Southampton are also both firmly in the hunt but Freedman has not given up hope of bringing Murray to south London.
"We are interested," he said. "He is a good player and someone I feel would improve us as a team.
"He is on a Bosman and that's the kind of market we are working in.
"I would like him to come here but I know there are other teams in for him as well. Millwall and Southampton are also certainly interested."
Freedman denied rumours that emerged on the internet earlier this week that Murray had undergone a medical at the Eagles' Beckenham training ground on Monday. But the Palace manager did concede he had spoken to the striker and his representatives.

"He knows we are interested," said Freedman. "But I think we might be somewhere down the pecking order."

Murray is believed to be after wages in the region of £10,000 per week, a figure Freedman would struggle to match.

Both Southampton and Millwall would be better placed to reach the Brighton star's requests.

poyets already said he's not signing a goalkeeper so don't know how you know that he 'WILL' buy a goalkeeper but ok!