Bloom's Open Letter

[symyjym]

What the club need to do every time a player has a bad game is to make them write a letter of apolgy to the fans.

 

[Triggaaar]

Going by the Janssen bid, it certainly looked like we were prepared to throw more money at the dilemma at the last minute, once our backs were really up against the wall, but by then it was all too late.

That may be true, or may not be. It's also possible that Spurs reduced their requirements in the last hours of the window.

Janssen looks like a last minute afterthought to me, not an actual target we were ever serious about until we were desperate.

Yes it does look that way.

 

[neilbard]

What the club need to do every time a player has a bad game is to make them write a letter of apolgy to the fans.

Skalak will be busy. #scapegoat

 

[Saladpack Seagull]

Middlesborough

'Nuff said....

 

[boik]

Barbers interview failed to mention Baldock and Murray aren't even fit, he's like a politician taking us for fools.

Identified his audience pretty well then! ;-)

 

[jimhigham]

The very fact that the club felt an open letter was necessary demonstrates that they are at least aware of the supporters' concerns. That's a charitable interpretation. One might also suggest they know much they've cocked up the quest for more striking options.

 

[GreersElbow]

There's no sugar coating it, so i hope they're worling extra hard in the background to secure a deal for January. Hopefully Andone can be agreed in principle

 

[Mo Gosfield]

Before Jan 1st, we play 21 games, that is 55% of the season. Eleven of those games are away and it is difficult to see more than 5-7 points accruing. Of the ten home games, 6-7 are potentially winnable but being cautious I have gone for 14 points. Therefore, we are going to hit the New Year with around 20 points, if all goes well. The last five games are a nightmare and I don't envisage many points. Possibly two draws and three defeats. That leaves 12 games to muster at least 18 points and again, the majority of those points will have to come at home.
If we are short of 20 points at Jan 1, then it will take an extraordinary effort to stay up. We have clearly made life more difficult for ourselves, with only one fit striker, who was fancied by Championship clubs!! Gonna be a bumpy ride.

 

[Charlies Shinpad]

Shows the calibre of the Man, has spent many millions but dissappointed as most are that Striker not signed,However remaining positive and asking for all our support. Lets get behind the team big time next weekend...West Brom at home beatable !!!!

I'm with you on that one [emoji106][emoji106]

 

[PoG]

Skalak will be busy. #scapegoat

Maybe the answer has been under ones nose the whole time...Skalak up front. #goalsforfun

 

[Easy 10]

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Mine is that this is bollocks. We did everything we could and just like other teams in the PL we did not get all that we wanted. Move on.

There probably aren't many clubs who got ALL that they wanted. And I do think that we have recruited well in other areas.

But the glaring deficiency in the squad going into this season (and to an extent the last, but we got away with it), is in the strikers department. We were already starting from a VERY weak position in this area, which other PL clubs still looking for signings are not. We got lucky last year insofar as Baldock, Hemed and Murray stayed (largely) injury free - but we always knew we were just 1 or 2 injuries / suspensions away from a complete and utter Akpom. That's now come home to roost with Baldock and Murray crocked, a risk we always knew was there, but have failed to address.

We'll move on and make do, because we have no choice now, we'll see how this plays out. But the cost of this could be such a heavy one to bear.

 

[Easy 10]

Where have we said we are overpaying? We were reported to be chucking £10-18m at clubs last night so clearly the money was there we just did not get it done. I respect Bloom for coming out and making a statement and as a fan (behind his positive statement) he will be as disappointed as all of us particularly as this weakens our chances of staying up and becoming an established premier league club.

Let us not forget we had one fit striker in our last premier league match day squad which is unforgivable at this level. Even with Murray fit we do not have that alternative option that allows Chris to mix it up a bit. We suffered from this last season when Baldock was injured and we played Murray and Hemed together in a two and we missed the running in behind that a striker with pace gives you. We are now in a division that is far less forgiving and will be poorer for not having this option in the match day squad with no sign of Baldock returning soon.

However despite this the club should be congratulated for the business they did get over the line and in Izquierdo we have added pace and goals which will help relieve some of the pressure on the strikers and Brown when fit again will give us an added option. Krul adds much needed PL experience to the squad and a viable alternative to Ryan if needed and Schelotto looks like a great addition alongside the our other additions earlier in the window.

We are fans we will get over this and get behind the team with the players we have but hard not to feel we have left ourselves an uphill task to get to January still in the mix where the club can hopefully achieve what the club aimed for in this window and bring in much needed striking option(s).

Fingers crossed we can keep the current strikers fit and they pull it out of the bag for us and priority now is supporting them and giving them every confidence at this level

Really good post. Sums up my feelings on it

 

[Pretty pink fairy]

the reality of the greedy world of modern day football coming home to roost, dress it up all you want those are the facts
regards
DR

 

[scamander]

I posted somewhere else on here about this Dyche gets it right signing players that are just happy to be in the PL instead of going for the more high profile types. Our first season proably requires this type of player.

This time last year we were in the same position and we're only a bit more advanced this time around. Players want to be in the Prem, therefore they are much likely to sign for a club they think will be in it for a few years or at least for the duration of their contract.

Our first season back in the Prem saw us sign Championship players (one overseas and another from League One). I think we missed out on other targets, one of which decided the Championship was preferable to us! Point being a new team in the Prem can cause a real problem attracting players because many don't want to risk it.

I think this might be in play more than some think it is.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Going by the Janssen bid, it certainly looked like we were prepared to throw more money at the dilemma at the last minute, once our backs were really up against the wall, but by then it was all too late. Janssen looks like a last minute afterthought to me, not an actual target we were ever serious about until we were desperate.

Or you might assume it was Tottenham whom offered him to us at the last minute once they secured Llorente when Swansea confirmed Bony. Why blame us for that? We probably got a call late doors saying Janssen is available if we wanted to do a deal, we clearly agreed this in principle with Spurs because the Deal Sheet was submitted before 11pm, we just couldn't agree personal terms with the player at such short notice.

So many ways to look at these things, but would the club have been wrong not to have considered this at the last minute?

 

[Bold Seagull]

No doubt we've had some issues.

Adone I think has been messed up by Arsenal's dreadful start of the season, and compounded by the heavy defeat at Liverpool. The sale of Sanchez was pretty much agreed, they were going to sell Perez to Deportivo and we were going to get Adone. That all collapsed when even though agreeing the Sanchez sale, Arsenal pulled out at the last minute.

Dwanema we've been led down the garden path as it is pretty clear Zurich knew about the heart issue but didn't disclose it, so that deal got to the final stages until our or our insurers cardiologists got hold of him.

Janssen as said above I think would have been Spurs offering the player to us once Llorente was confirmed. We clearly agreed terms with Spurs as the Deal Sheet must have been submitted before 11pm and likely we had an outline of a deal from the player's agent otherwise it wouldn't have got to the deal sheet stage, but the player or us has failed to agree the details of those terms, for whatever reason.

Not sure about what happened to other targets etc. but it's clear a lot of this has been out of our hands, even though we appeared to have agreement on deals.

 

[B52]

We may not have been short in any areas Tony, but....we still came up short.

It’s obviously never a straightforward process with so many factors involved to bring in a quality striker. But I still find it incredible that given the amount of time we had to sort this out, we still couldn’t get a deal over the line. Were our targets unrealistic ? Is our wage structure inadequate ? Going by the Janssen bid, it certainly looked like we were prepared to throw more money at the dilemma at the last minute, once our backs were really up against the wall, but by then it was all too late. Janssen looks like a last minute afterthought to me, not an actual target we were ever serious about until we were desperate.

I get that we’re PL rookies this season, but surely we *should* still be an attractive proposition to sign for. A club on the up, magnificent stadium and training ground, stable ownership with a well liked and respected manager, big crowds, great place to live. It’s not a hard sell to join a PL club like ours. And yet one by one, all our targets fell away until there was literally nobody left to bring in. Why ? We weren’t (to my knowledge) in any bidding wars with other clubs, where the auction just got too hot for us. Our targets stayed put, we were the only deal in town. So why ? What is the underlying reason ? This needs looking at.

I don’t just want to hear “its difficult”. Sorry, but other clubs seem to manage it, who on the face of it would be far less attractive propositions than ours. Is it simply a case that we refuse to pay the market rate ? Commendable to an extent of course, and I certainly wouldn’t want us to ‘do a Leeds’ obviously. But there is a balance to be struck, and at the moment, I think we’ve now left ourselves uncompetitive for the first half of the season. Come January the damage could be too great to rectify, and by the end of the season we could well be lamenting a swift return to the Championship, and left thinking “I just wish we’d really given it a proper go”.

Hope I'm wrong.

Unfortunately, I don't think you are.

 

[Questions]

If Murray, Baldock and Hemed where all 100% fit and stayed like that till January then I would feel happier. That's not likely though is it ?

 

[Ernest]

If Murray, Baldock and Hemed where all 100% fit and stayed like that till January then I would feel happier. That's not likely though is it ?

They still wouldn't be good enough for the PL

 

[Easy 10]

No of course not, because by that stage the fact was, we bloody well needed him. Levy was no doubt undoing his flies as soon as he saw us in trouble at the last minute, and was seeing the £££ signs flying around in front of him at what he'd be able to extract from us. Quite how much we'd agreed to part with for Janssen we'll probably never know, but it was clearly a long way north of our other targets - and the fact that this fee was agreed in double-quick time between Tony Bloom and a bloke who is know to drive the hardest of bargains, would seem to indicate we were prepared to bend over and take it right up the gary.

Then with the player - could we not agree terms, or was it more a case of Janssen getting cold feet at the prospect of joining a (possibly doomed) relegation battle ? That wouldn't be surprising. Were we wrong to go for that last-ditch deal ? Given our situation now, I'd say no. But what a desperate and embarrassing situation to arrive at.

All I can say is, they did all they could to salvage it, but it was just left far too late.