Apologies if ts been asked before but there's too many posts to catch up on...are we one of the two teams interested? Or is this 27 pages of transfer speculation for another teams signing?
Exactly. FFP and the new tv money mean that the majority are now making money rather than losing it. This is only likely to increase.....
and Austin is valued at £4m! The Afobe deal (IMO) is barking mad as is Charlie Austin's! Price should be reversed. I would take Rhodes like a shot, on Saturday he was a constant thorn in our side and pushed Dunky and Goldson to their limits (who were fantastic throughout the game). £6m should do it. He's proven at this level, hard working and age is on his side.
Gerd Muller, the classic case. Did nothing except score virtually a goal a game for his entire career.Plenty of players like that in history. Never really thought Thomas Muller does a lot when he plays for Germany, but his scoring record is freakish.
Likewise, Gary Lineker was renowned for scoring tap-ins. We all look on at certain players and think, so and so doesn't do blistering runs, or hit rockets into the top corner, or beat six men before rounding the keeper. Perhaps the instinct to be in the right place at the right time is one of the most precious commodities of all, and Rhodes certainly seems to have it.
The championships Ruud Van Nistelrooy. Exactly what we need, the man to find a little bit of space and put away the one chance they get when it matters!
It would be great if we could get him but I think Blackburn will price us out. He's already mid twenties so may have less resale value than someone like Calleri who's 22 which could put us off a little.
The only way to afford a 12 million pound striker on 40K per week within FFP is to give him a 5 or 6 year deal, or raise 4+ million from player sales.
So, no to Rhodes from me.
How many clubs in the Premier League are making a profit every year?
Not sure that I follow you. Are you suggesting that it's not worth the push to get there or that losing 10 million a year but having the 6th/7th/8th/9th best team in the division is the way forward? From my perspective if the club choose to just mark time in this division and hope to get lucky I'd be happy, I'd just like them to be honest about it. I think promotion is the aim at the moment though isn't it?
I just don't think the Premier League is the cash cow that people think it is. Players are paid an obscene amount of money. Clubs that have been in the Prem can struggle after relegation without further investment.
I just don't think the Premier League is the cash cow that people think it is. Players are paid an obscene amount of money. Clubs that have been in the Prem can struggle after relegation without further investment.
To an extent you are correct.
However if you look at Palace (pains me to say it), Parish has run them very sensibly. In the past they go up, blow the money, come down, go into administration and then repeat the cycle.
When they went up in 2013, they did not spend large amounts, Gayle was £6m, but that always looked like a signing if they went down again.
Even last year, they did not spend huge amounts.
Granted this season they have spent a fair bit on Cabeye and Wickham, but they could argue that that as it is their third season, they are now sadly an established Premier League club.
So my point in the above ramblings is, that to establish yourself in the top league no longer means throwing silly money around, in fact it is the getting there that can be the living beyond your means.
Couple in that from next season the money gets really silly, will the top club not get £80m for being rubbish?
I just don't think the Premier League is the cash cow that people think it is. Players are paid an obscene amount of money. Clubs that have been in the Prem can struggle after relegation without further investment.
This thread seems to reflect the debate a crowd of us had just before the game at Rotherham: 'transfer window clock is ticking down - so which striker would you buy?'
Derbyshire / Rhodes / McCormack / Blackman / Washington and Ulloa all got mentioned - or do we take a punt on a South American who might be a 'flairista', but an unknown quantity in The Championship?
a) Yes, we need a 20 goal a season striker
b) We seem willing to pay well in excess of a Club record transfer fee
c) Anxiety that spending towards £10m might not guarantee goals, but to 'do nothing is not an option' if we are serious about getting to the PL
d) Why is it that Rhodes / McCormack etc are not playing in the PL?
e) Blackman was a cheaper option but his overall scoring record is very average, so might end up only warming the bench at Derby
f) Washington could be OK but a bit of a punt given the CMS and Baldock effect
g) The unease at the Albion doing legwork on transfer deals only for unrealistic fees to be demanded or be gazumped, then miss out on other more realistic options
h) In the end no one could agree on who that striker might be, other than Ulloa as a known quantity so ought to be money wisely spent - but then Ulloa doesn't seem to be available....
i) spend £10m only for the injury jinx to strike - don't put all our eggs in one basket....
Conclusion: it ain't easy folks!!
Answers on a postcard to Paul Winstanley at BN1 9BL.
Using Palace as an example, they are still having to court extra money from the Yanks to continue at that level.