My Cardiff supporting colleague thinks:-

[SeagullSongs]

They've spent the most of any championship club at an est 13m. They bought:

Craig Noone
Heida Helgusson
Craig Bellamy
Nicky Maynard
Tommy Smith
Matt Connolly
Kim Bo-Kyung (2.5 million)
Etien Velikonja (2 million)
Jordan Mutch (2 million)
Joe Lewis

Okay, so it's not necessarily really expensive signings, it's just a lot of them!

 

[kemptown seagull]

They've spent the most of any championship club at an est 13m. They bought:

Craig Noone
Heida Helgusson
Craig Bellamy
Nicky Maynard
Tommy Smith
Matt Connolly
Kim Bo-Kyung (2.5 million)
Etien Velikonja (2 million)
Jordan Mutch (2 million)
Joe Lewis

Their wage bill must be huge. Bellamy is on £35,000 a week

 

[Papa Lazarou]

Okay, so it's not necessarily really expensive signings, it's just a lot of them!

And I bet they're paying un-sustainable wages as well....

 

[deletebeepbeepbeep]

Okay, so it's not necessarily really expensive signings, it's just a lot of them!

At what point did £2m + signings become inexpensive for a Championship club?

 

[Stat Brother]

Why is it so funny for them to win the league by 5 points totally possible, I'd say there one of the strongest in this league and could well finish above us.

5 points is nothing really

I just don't see the championship being won by a win and 2 draws.
Dicked by Bristol City hardly strengthens the argument.

 

[SeagullSongs]

At what point did £2m + signings become inexpensive for a Championship club?

When did I say they were inexpensive? I just said they're not really expensive. Expensive, yes, but £2m+ signings are what's to be expected from a side pushing for promotion, no?

 

[ferring seagull]

Cardiff are a decent side but, IMHO for what it's worth, I don't think that necessarily they will finish above us.

I reckon either would be a good bet for top six or better.

This is the short answer !

 

[deletebeepbeepbeep]

When did I say they were inexpensive? I just said they're not really expensive. Expensive, yes, but £2m+ signings are what's to be expected from a side pushing for promotion, no?

Maybe you would expect them to make 1 or 2 signings like that but not 4 or 5 of them! I expect Helgusson Bellamy and Maynard all cost upwards of 2m if not significantly more. It just shows that if we get anywhere near the playoffs Poyet would have done very well.

Money spent doesn't equal success though, you only have to look at Leicester last year to see that.

 

[SeagullSongs]

Maybe you would expect them to make 1 or 2 signings like that but not 4 or 5 of them! It just shows that if we get anywhere near the playoffs Poyet would have done very well.

I already think Poyet has done exceptionally well with our signings! 9 over the summer, all from teams currently in either the Premier League or La Liga, with transfer fees potentially below £2m allowing us to pay higher wages.

 

[Acker79]

95/96 - 4pts between first and second
96/97 - 18pts
97/98 - 3pts
98/99 - 18pts
99/00 - 2pts
00/01 - 10pts
01/02 - 10pts
02/03 - 6pts
03/04 - 8pts
04/05 - 7pts
05/06 - 16pts
06/07 - 2pts
07/08 - 2pts
08/09 - 7pts
09/10 - 11pts
10/11 - 4pts
11/12 - 1pt

10 of the last 17 years were won by more than 5pts.

 

[Stat Brother]

Or 4 of the last 6 have been won by less than 5.

 

[tubaman]

The robins will no doubt finish somewhere around the play offs again. (just below BHA)

 

[Deleted member 18477]

The thing is Cardiff had Bellamy, chopra and boothroyd a few years back. This was meant to be the best strike force in the division. Did they go up? No!

They have bellamy back, helgusson and Maynard. On paper... Very good! Means nothing though!

This division is f***ing hard to get out of. It's the best teams that go up not the team with the best players on paper!

I fully expect us to be in the playoff hunt with Cardiff. Can see Blackburn and Leeds/Blackpool going up top 2 this season.

Noone tripled his wages going to Cardiff. Can hardly blame him. He's not from Brighton and both teams are pretty even with good crowds and new stadiums. They just have more experience in this division as a club.

 

[HastingsSeagull]

If Nooney keeps winning them free-kicks and their immense midfielder keeps sticking them away, what else do they need but to sit back behind the ball and grind out some wins. Think they'll do well but wouldn't have taken any of those bets

 

[Stat Brother]

If Nooney keeps winning them free-kicks and their immense midfielder keeps sticking them away, what else do they need but to sit back behind the ball and grind out some wins. Think they'll do well but wouldn't have taken any of those bets

It only occurred to me, towards the end of the Nooney debate post his Cardiff debut, so i couldn't be bothered to mention it.

But Wolves wouldn't have seen much of CN, and wouldn't have scouted him pre game.
Hence IMO Nooney running riot.

Cardiff have Leeds, Millwall, Palace and Blackpool coming up.
They all know what Nooney is about, it will be interesting to follow.

 

[Perkino]

I think their starting line up is very strong and their attack is strong in depth but defensively they look light and an injury or two could see them hit a tricky set of results.

I think their starting line up is stronger than ours but our squad has more strength in depth, I hope we can beat them but as we all know Red is lucky so Cardiff will win in easily

 

[kevo]

It started as a reasonable debate, I was cautiously optimistic about our chances.
I would only go so far as to say we'll do better this year.

But he had one of those moments and it all came spewing out:-
'We've brought the league this year'.
'£2.5m on a player and not play him'.
'Nobody will get close to us'.
It was then the 5 point issue was raised, and I started laughing.

Admittedly I was concerned when I let my jaw run away with me, and offer 'nobody will win by 5'.
I was quite pleased he did take that one up.

Just remind him of all this at the end of the season. It'll be so sweet.

I have a Southampton-supporting friend who (like most) were convinced they were going to walk League One a couple of seasons back by an absolute mile. Even when we drew at St Mary's he was all 'There's absolutely no way you'll be above us at the end of the season' blah blah blah. As soon as the final whistle went that day at Walsall, I was on my phone....

 

[jmsc]

Why is it so funny for them to win the league by 5 points

I don't think they'll win this league by 5 points because they've bought Noone as a first team player!

He's good but that's all, he's good! Poyet let him go because we have better players for that position.
If they are aiming at automatic promotion, I think they need to aim higher than our Craig!

 

[Seasider78]

Wonder if they do something really out of character like bottling it in the playoffs

 

[LamieRobertson]

I don't think they'll win this league by 5 points because they've bought Noone as a first team player!

He's good but that's all, he's good! Poyet let him go because we have better players for that position.
If they are aiming at automatic promotion, I think they need to aim higher than our Craig!

i think its there craig now