A massive summer clear out and I hope Tony Bloom delivers on his promise......

[Rugrat]

Regardless of contract position and our ability to sell (e.g Bruno), of the current 1st team squad I'd keep

Stockdale
Walton
Dunk
Ince
Stephens
Kayal
JFC
KLL
March
Crofts (I guess)

 

[Guinness Boy]

HAHAHAHAHA!

Oh I get this. Hang on...

Messi is the weak link in the Barcelona team.

Really not sure what you're on about. The primary function of any full back is to defend. Ours can't. I have genuinely lost count of the number of goals conceded from bad defending on our flanks this season. If Bruno really is our Messi that says everything you need to know about this squad and our ambition. Most creative player - right full back. LOL.

 

[-gully-]

We need to stop messing about with one up top as we do not have the players to do it well and it clearly isn't working. Bite the bullet and play 2 together.

 

[Justice]

Wolves play three pacy players upfront and we have that slow **** COG, I feel sorry for the match by match payers as watching a league 1 standard front line is a piss take.

 

[chaileyjem]

Here we go. Yes he spent 200m and yes we are grateful etc etc blah blah.

Fact is if he wants promotion we need GOALS and players that score goals are expensive.

No more L1 top scorers or luck gambles like Ulloa but BALLS OUT strikers cost lots of loot.

Agreed strikers can sometimes cost millions (see; Jordan Rhodes, Ross McCormack)
However nearly all the top goalscorers in the Champ this season are either "L1 top scorers", didn't cost "lots of loot" and and are certainly "luck gambles".

 

[WonderingSoton]

I'm beginning to wonder what Tony's priorities are, I know he likes bricks and mortar as he's built a brilliant stadium, he's also built a brilliant training complex and now he's building a quality hotel, so given all that when is he going to get around to building a fecking quality football team.

I've always got the impression that Bloom's thinking is that if the infrastructure is good enough, the team on the pitch will naturally come into place by itself in time without the need for vast expense. Whilst their maybe a small element of truth in that, I think it's mostly flawed.

Bournemouth being mentioned as an example here, the difference there is that a lot of their team came up with Howe from midtable League One and thus was built up in confidence and quality slowly over a longer period. It was then supplemented with a couple of expensive individual additions for the Championship. We have a different job on here.

We have a wholesale squad to rip up and rebuild that has to be Championship level quality immediately. It's a massive challenge for Hughton, but I think it's a job that can be done. Given the correct level of funds, and most importantly some time and patience from us lot. It might need a couple of seasons to come into place.

 

[chaileyjem]

If we don't reinforce as is clearly required it will be interesting to see the accounts and where the Ulloa, Buckley and Bridcutt cash has gone.

Tony Bloom said at the beginning of the season in a fans forum that incoming money from transfer fees isn't all spent on wages/transfer fees but on reducing losses.

 

[chaileyjem]

If we don't reinforce as is clearly required it will be interesting to see the accounts and where the Ulloa, Buckley and Bridcutt cash has gone.

This is what TB said in September about incoming transfer fees.

"We’ve just got to make sure we get the best possible deal for the football club. We invest some of [the transfer] money but we didn’t spend it all, and some went on the huge costs we have here.
“It helps with financial fair play, but it’s not the main thing. We lose a lot of money each year, approximately £10 million so if we reduce those losses and have a very good squad then that’s even better.”
via http://www.buzzfeed.com/jems2/16-things-bhafc-fans-learnt-from-tony-bloom-and-p-f8gc

 

[Marshy]

CMS, Kemy, Best and COG surely just removing those 4 of the wage bill frees up enough cash to pay 2 top class strikers ?

 

[chaileyjem]

I've always got the impression that Bloom's thinking is that if the infrastructure is good enough, the team on the pitch will naturally come into place by itself in time without the need for vast expense. Whilst their maybe a small element of truth in that, I think it's mostly flawed.
.

He's funding the most expensive squad in terms of wages in the clubs history and reports suggest as in previous years that we are in the top ten at least for our wage bill in the Championship so this perception that TB isn't interested in funding a competitive squad is mistaken. Although he's obviously and rightly suggested that the club needs to be sustainable in terms of losses/income etc.

He doesn't coach or pick the team though and relies on others to find players with (some of) his money. Clearly he's frustrated with how that went as he's sacked both of them before christmas.

 

[SurreySeagulls]

But splashing cash doesn't always work. Look at Fulham, Forest and Blackburn who have all spunked 10's of millions on multiple players and have all failed miserably. It is about getting the right kind of players to work for the system the manager wants to play. We got it horribly wrong with CMS and as much as I dislike Bournemouth they have done superbly well in getting a squad together and adding in quality where needed. We will have our work cut on Friday to avoid a Sky Broadcast Massacre, they need one more goal to beat their previous record of scoring 104 goals (in think) in a season and what better team to provide the hospitality of allowing players to run without being challenged than us to get them over the line.

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

CMS, Kemy, Best and COG surely just removing those 4 of the wage bill frees up enough cash to pay 2 top class strikers ?

Yep undoubtedly so. Trouble is we may be looking at not spending a fee. So wages no problem but £££ is.

 

[Man of Harveys]

I've always got the impression that Bloom's thinking is that if the infrastructure is good enough, the team on the pitch will naturally come into place by itself in time without the need for vast expense. Whilst their maybe a small element of truth in that, I think it's mostly flawed.

Excellent post. It's what one might call the Reading In The Early 2000s Syndrome: "Of course we'll go up at some point! Look at our stadium!" - you'd hear it from their fans all the time, and we used to deride them for it.

 

[chaileyjem]

Yep undoubtedly so. Trouble is we may be looking at not spending a fee. So wages no problem but £££ is.

But Bloom has been ok funding large fees for CMS, Baldock, Ulloa, (and Grabban) in the past . Why do you think he's any less reluctant to spend to fund a squad/strikers in terms of transfer fees/wages when the evidence is there is that he's done it in the past and has already publicly confirmed he wants to "strengthen" the squad in the summer.

 

[Hotchilidog]

But splashing cash doesn't always work. Look at Fulham, Forest and Blackburn who have all spunked 10's of millions on multiple players and have all failed miserably. It is about getting the right kind of players to work for the system the manager wants to play. We got it horribly wrong with CMS and as much as I dislike Bournemouth they have done superbly well in getting a squad together and adding in quality where needed. We will have our work cut on Friday to avoid a Sky Broadcast Massacre, they need one more goal to beat their previous record of scoring 104 goals (in think) in a season and what better team to provide the hospitality of allowing players to run without being challenged than us to get them over the line.

Absolutely agree with this. It is the quality of player not their cost that is key. However if either the recruitment team or Hughton have identified a player they feel will make a difference, then money should not be regarded as an issue. If it means splashing out to get the right player then we have to do it if top 6 is the aspiration for next season.

It is figuratively and almost literally painful watching CoG, CMS and Best out there on the pitch at the moment. I'd rather play Calde at striker than those three. People can moan about negative tactics away from home all they like, but it is the lack of quality that is the issue, and it needs to be addressed urgently. Even yesterday CMS had a sharp near post chance he got nowhere near, there were also plenty of crosses in that Best made no effort to get on the end of.

I have confidence that CH has seen enough to decide who'll be leaving this summer and I hope he is already compiling his list of targets.

 

[Man of Harveys]

One of their humble customers here feels a need to ask of the club's representatives on earth/NSC: why did they choose to flog off players that we already knew were good enough for a promotion challenge, only to replace them with expensive journeymen and ropey loanees who didn't turn out to be good enough for a promotion challenge? It seems like a bad investment: spending more in order to cut investment in the future AND taking a big risk doing so. It's not paid off. And yet we're being promised the same again this summer.

If any of you could let us know what the unquestioning and relentlessly grateful Albion public should think about that, it would be much appreciated as we are clearly in need of yet more unremitting and just ever-so-slightly patronizing guidance on what to think and say (apart from "keep spending the money", obviously - we'll take that as a given). Cheers.

 

[JBizzle]

I don't actually think we've got that bad an overall squad. I see it as follows (excl. Carayol as don't feel it's fair to judge just yet and incl. other loans):

Starter Quality:

Stockdale, Walton, Dunk, Halford, Ince, Kayal, Stephens, Teixeira, Lua Lua

Back Up Quality:

Greer, Bruno, Calderon, Forster-Caskey, Holla, Crofts, Baldock, March, Colunga, Chicksen

Let Go:

Hughes, Agustien, O'Grady, Mackail-Smith, Ankergren, Best, Bennett, McCourt, Fenelon, Monakana

That's 9 good enough to be starters, 10 good enough to fill in and 10 of which to get rid. That's a core squad of 19. Add 2/3 strikers, a left back, a right back, a winger and perhaps another couple of squad players and we'll be fine.

Key is two things: an undisrupted pre-season and a striker that knows where the goal is.

 

[Horses Arse]

This is what TB said in September about incoming transfer fees.

"We’ve just got to make sure we get the best possible deal for the football club. We invest some of [the transfer] money but we didn’t spend it all, and some went on the huge costs we have here.
“It helps with financial fair play, but it’s not the main thing. We lose a lot of money each year, approximately £10 million so if we reduce those losses and have a very good squad then that’s even better.”
via http://www.buzzfeed.com/jems2/16-things-bhafc-fans-learnt-from-tony-bloom-and-p-f8gc

Interesting. So the transfer fees have gone on meeting this period's FFP. That would suggest to me that Mr Barber is some way off where he needs to be with financial control. Also seems odd that we managed last period without such huge 'investment' via transfer fees but need the Ulloa/Buckley/Bridcutt fees for this period.

 

[rippleman]

All goes back to the day Barber turned up, the juggernaut did a reverse that day and it's been backwards ever since

This, this, this and this. His bung is too much of a drain on the playing budget.

 

[nwgull]

This, this, this and this. His bung is too much of a drain on the playing budget.

Paul Barber came along in May 2012, after which we had the 2 most succesful seasons in over 20 years. He also has negotiated some huge commercial deals for the club, so I'm sure his net value to the club contributed to the playing budget rather than drained it. If you want an example of a drain, then look at sick notes like Kemy, Hoskins or Orlandi (in his 2nd season). All of those will have been on 500K a year.