Newcastle v Preston

[Mellotron]

Nope. We spent a shitload of cash to build a good championship squad. Nowhere near close to being good enough to "guarantee" promotion. e.g. last time we were down our squad was good enough to nigh on guarantee promotion, and few if any of our current squad would get in that team. Our squads (yours and ours) are comparable, but we had to build ours in 1 summer.

We spent about £0.5-1m per first eleven player on average, you spent about £5m on your equivalent. They're not even vaguely comparable.

Players like Matt Ritchie and Jonjo Shelvey are FAR too good for the Championship, and came - when no doubt they had Prem offers on the table - because you can offer them silly money.

 

[Nixonator]

But to achieve our promotion, we've finished above 7 (hopefully 8) clubs who had BIGGER budgets than ours, so if people were to suggest that, they'd be a little bit simple. I'd expect we'd just smile at them, and pat them on the head.

Hudds had a smaller budget than us who were 1 of 3 contesting automatics, so they could (and have) said the same about us.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Players like Matt Ritchie and Jonjo Shelvey are FAR too good for the Championship, and came - when no doubt they had Prem offers on the table - because you can offer them silly money.

Point of order, Mello: Shelvey was signed IN the Prem (last January) to keep them up. On £100k per week.

 

[Stat Brother]

Nope. We spent a shitload of cash to build a good championship squad. Nowhere near close to being good enough to "guarantee" promotion. e.g. last time we were down our squad was good enough to nigh on guarantee promotion, and few if any of our current squad would get in that team. Our squads (yours and ours) are comparable, but we had to buy ours in 1 summer.

That reads better.

 

[Peter Grummit]

I'm not sure our squads are comparable, certainly not in wage terms. Newcastle have the best technical player in the Champ in my view (Shelvey) and in Ritchie and Gayle 2 more who are close. What they don't have is the spirit to dig in and grind out results in quite the way we have, and that may prove to be the difference. Murray and Gayle have similar goals but Murray brings more to the team. Stephens has dug in when we've needed him but for every time Shelvey produces a sublime assist or free kick, he also has got mardy and got himself booked or worse.

Credit to any team that gets out of this division, it is tough, tough as even NU fans have found. But I wouldn't trade our team spirit for their wage bill.

PG

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[hans kraay fan club]

Nope. We spent a shitload of cash to build a good championship squad. Nowhere near close to being good enough to "guarantee" promotion. e.g. last time we were down our squad was good enough to nigh on guarantee promotion, and few if any of our current squad would get in that team. Our squads (yours and ours) are comparable, but we had to build ours in 1 summer.

That reads better.

Its still complete bollocks either way.

As per my post on the previous page, they could field a team purchased for over £51 million using only existing players (ie those retained from last season, before ADDING £55m more).

Miracle of St James'.

 

[SeagullofMalaysia]

I'm not sure our squads are comparable, certainly not in wage terms. Newcastle have the best technical player in the Champ in my view (Shelvey) and in Ritchie and Gayle 2 more who are close. What they don't have is the spirit to dig in and grind out results in quite the way we have, and that may prove to be the difference. Murray and Gayle have similar goals but Murray brings more to the team. Stephens has dug in when we've needed him but for every time Shelvey produces a sublime assist or free kick, he also has got mardy and got himself booked or worse.

Credit to any team that gets out of this division, it is tough, tough as even NU fans have found. But I wouldn't trade our team spirit for their wage bill.

PG

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Indeed.

The camaraderie and team spirit within the Albion has been the tonic that enabled us to have a better squad than the Toon, dragging us out of jail in situations when the Toon might have crumbled (Brum away and the Massive games spring to mind)

To be fair though, several Toon players will walk into a mid table Prem side! Ritchie and Jonjo spring to mind, and Rafa certainly has done a job well done

 

[Triggaaar]

Because it's significantly more than Burton and Rotherham

Oh dear, you're being a bit dense. As I said in my first reply, it's more than Burton and Rotherham so you'd expect us to finish above them, and wouldn't expect us to be congratulated for doing so. However, we're far above them and above everyone else too, despite having a lower budget than several teams. We're not being congratulated for finishing above Burton and Rotherham, we're being congratulated on being ahead of everyone. This is not complicated.

just as our budget is significantly higher than yours.

And you're not above us!

 

[Mellotron]

Point of order, Mello: Shelvey was signed IN the Prem (last January) to keep them up. On £100k per week.

Ah, so just a decent-ish Champ player then, probably?

 

[Mellotron]

I'm not sure our squads are comparable, certainly not in wage terms. Newcastle have the best technical player in the Champ in my view (Shelvey) and in Ritchie and Gayle 2 more who are close. What they don't have is the spirit to dig in and grind out results in quite the way we have, and that may prove to be the difference. Murray and Gayle have similar goals but Murray brings more to the team. Stephens has dug in when we've needed him but for every time Shelvey produces a sublime assist or free kick, he also has got mardy and got himself booked or worse.

Credit to any team that gets out of this division, it is tough, tough as even NU fans have found. But I wouldn't trade our team spirit for their wage bill.

PG

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This sums it up quite nicely, and shows what an unbelievable job Hughton has done compared to Rafa. I guess it is harder to foster team spirit when players are on insane wages.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Ah, so just a decent-ish Champ player then, probably?

Comparable to Sidwell or Norwood, I guess, what with the squads being much the same.

 

[Ernest]

Ah, so just a decent-ish Champ player then, probably?

Surely you mean the BEST player ever (according to SKY that is)

 

[Stat Brother]

Its still complete bollocks either way.

As per my post on the previous page, they could field a team purchased for over £51 million using only existing players (ie those retained from last season, before ADDING £55m more).

Miracle of St James'.

I imagine Pixar are already in final production to this Summer's 'rages to riches' blockbuster release.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

I imagine Pixar are already in final production to this Summer's 'rages to riches' blockbuster release.

Its the biggest miracle world football has seen, since Saint Eddie of Boscombe got Bournemouth up on a veritable shoestring, three seasons back.

 

[Badger]

I imagine Pixar are already in final production to this Summer's 'rages to riches' blockbuster release.

Toon Story

 

[Nixonator]

Its still complete bollocks either way.

As per my post on the previous page, they could field a team purchased for over £51 million using only existing players (ie those retained from last season, before ADDING £55m more).

Miracle of St James'.

Our first 11 is worth more than 50M+. What does it matter what we purchased them for? Ours was a building project over years, they ****ed up massively by getting relegated with a decent PL squad and didn't have the luxury of time.

Totally different situations, Toon were relegated with a bunch of PL mercenaries and needed to conjure up a Championship squad ASAP to bounce straight back. They spent wisely in doing that.

If we were to get relegated and Everton or somebody splash 20M on Knockaert and 20M on Dunk, I would hope and expect us to reinvest that wisely on players just as they have to bounce back.

 

[Weststander]

Its the biggest miracle world football has seen, since Saint Eddie of Boscombe got Bournemouth up on a veritable shoestring, three seasons back.

That really was a miracle. AFC Bournemouth only had club income of £13m, half ours.

But I almost forgot to mention that their costs that year were £52m including over £30m on payroll, and their Championship squad cost £23m in transfer fees.

God moves in mysterious ways.

 

[Stat Brother]

Toon Story

Damn I knew it was there, I just couldn't see it.

 

[Weststander]

This sums it up quite nicely, and shows what an unbelievable job Hughton has done compared to Rafa. I guess it is harder to foster team spirit when players are on insane wages.

Chelsea and Spurs manage it. How do you explain that?

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Our first 11 is worth more than 50M+. What does it matter what we purchased them for?
.

Err? It matters because that is the entire POINT of the last three pages of discussion! If our promotion-winning squad is 'worth' a great deal more than it cost to put together, that is the very over-achievement that we are rightly celebrating. We have done it on a fraction of the budget - that's why it is so laudible.

Putting together a squad with £106 million and then picking a side to win Championship matches, really isn't a footballing fairytale, however much [MENTION=35039]The Fish[/MENTION] and his mates are desperate for us to say it is.