[Albion] Tony Bloom lumps yet another £8m on his Albion Premier League dream

[sydney]

we will scrape a play off spot at best without two serious additions.....the fabled no 10 and a quality striker , not because we are not good enough but because in newcastle and norwich i believe we have the top 2 already sorted......i may well be wrong as there are numerous others who are spending shed loads.....derby having a spend up as well and then there's villa......tough league ....!!

 

[casbom]

So does anyone have an inkling of who these 2 mysterious strikers were that couldn't be brought?

Wells? Rhodes? Someone Foreign?

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

So does anyone have an inkling of who these 2 mysterious strikers were that couldn't be brought?

Wells? Rhodes? Someone Foreign?

Guessing that being top of the league strengthened Huddersfield's resolve to refuse all bids for Wells.

Clough and Dack didn't move either suggesting their clubs also refused all offers.

I think the lesson is that with no loan window for replacements it is very difficult to sign a striker ( or Dale Stephens ) on transfer deadline day.

 

[chaileyjem]

we will scrape a play off spot at best without two serious additions.....the fabled no 10 and a quality striker , not because we are not good enough but because in newcastle and norwich i believe we have the top 2 already sorted......i may well be wrong as there are numerous others who are spending shed loads.....derby having a spend up as well and then there's villa......tough league ....!!

Newcastle didn't spend shed loads. Their net spending this window was + £30m.

We *did* spend shedloads. Bloom is effectively down £30m

 

[wakokid]

Very good post. Some clubs have spent millions in the transfer window but if you sell a player for say 7 million, you need to replace that player for someone equally as good or better, then it just becomes a money-go-round without necessarily strengthening the squad.

 

[Chicken Runner61]

Owning a football club is a fast way to lose lots of money unless you are very lucky and buy the club cheap while its languishing in the lower leagues and then shortly after hit the premiership jackpot and manage to stay there a few seasons.

In truth TB got the first bit right but has failed with the second - he's come close - twice even but failed through either bad luck or bad planning, some may say both.

Whatever happened with Gus was the first and missing out by one poxy goal last season was the other. Both were bad failures, its hard to say what was worse. On both occasions it seems TB would not commit the extra £10M (or whatever) it needed to get the extra goal and to agree to whatever Gus was going on about.

I don't blame TB though - everyone has a financial line they refuse to cross and its dumb to risk personal failure on a football club.

It seems to me TB is prepared to run up yearly losses that presumably he can claw back when we make it or if he sells but won't go all in where he could lose the lot. - seems fait to me.

Anyone who sees the ground and facilities as a pure asset that can never fail is wrong - Those facilities are racking up the debt / loan a little each year we are in the Championship - its probably ok at present but their value will not increase as facilities

 

[casbom]

Newcastle didn't spend shed loads. Their net spending this window was + £30m.

We *did* spend shedloads. Bloom is effectively down £30m

How is that CJ? Dunk bid was what, £5m from Palace with Stephens bid being £8m, and last I heard Newcastle's bid for Knocky was £6.5m? What were the final figures so to speak? Just wondering like!

 

[sydney]

Newcastle didn't spend shed loads. Their net spending this window was + £30m.

We *did* spend shedloads. Bloom is effectively down £30m

i am not having a dig just expressing an opinion....newcastle have murphy , lazaar and atsu as additions to an already strong squad.......unless some of the understudies are showing great promise in training & ds games then i think we are short up front.........and then villa went and took jedinak off palace , a player we dislike but never the less he will be immense in this league.

 

[chaileyjem]

In truth TB got the first bit right but has failed with the second - he's come close - twice even but failed through either bad luck or bad planning, some may say both.

Whatever happened with Gus was the first and missing out by one poxy goal last season was the other. Both were bad failures, its hard to say what was worse.

TB didn't fail last season. He funded a squad and found a manager that was good enough to get promoted. Thats all he can do.
The margins were so close - its ridiculous to suggest or pin the blame on a single thing.

Gus - slightly different. Gus could/should have got the team over the line. Not sure again how TB failed.

 

[blockhseagull]

Pritchard!

Dack, although not purchased by our rivals.

Pritchard we did everything we could ... Even offered terms he agreed

Dack did we ever want him

 

[CHAPPERS]

How is that CJ? Dunk bid was what, £5m from Palace with Stephens bid being £8m, and last I heard Newcastle's bid for Knocky was £6.5m? What were the final figures so to speak? Just wondering like!

He spent money on Norwood and Duffy.

 

[BensGrandad]

He spent money on Norwood and Duffy.

They are an open book at the moment and only time will tell if they were good purchases

 

[middletoenail]

If we had got rid of Stephens for approx 7m and not signed Duffy (who I'm not convinced we need), I think that we would have plenty of funds to sign a top quality striker.

Only time will tell boys and girls.

 

[AmexRuislip]

That's essentially what he's done with Dale Stephens isn't it?

After stumping up for the Amex, the training complex and picking up financial loss season after season, it might have been easy to take Burnley's money and lock in a return on Dale Stephens, but he didn't.

It's hard to imagine Stephens is a particularly happy chappy this evening, but he has 10 days to get over his sulks, get his head together and once again put in the kind of performances that we know he is capable of, and that will have Premier League suitors coveting his signature in the future. And, if the Albion do make it this season, he may be happy to stay put and experience the Premier League from familiar surroundings.

And that's putting aside Anthony Knockaert and Lewis Dunk. If bids had been accepted in addition to that for Stephens, £30m could be sitting in the Albion's bank account tonight.

When it comes to the end of the remaining 10 months contract for DS, what happens, does the club take the hit for him going for free or try and get him to sign a new contract?
Does it depend on how we get on this season?
Is there another option?

 

[marshy68]

It's not just that Baldock doesn't score, the guy got red carded vs Newcastle and killed our chances of a result there. If Murray gets injured we are f*cked.

For me this is the crux of the matter. TB likes a gamble, this is a big one to go into the champ season with

Murray (proven goal scorer at this level)
Hemed (great first season. Missed a lot of good chances)
Baldock (clever player but for a No9 doesn't score enough)
Manu (who the fvck knows - misses a lot and doesn't seem to understand the off side rule)

Injury to murray and as you say we are in big dodo.

What TB has done for this club is incredible. However it does seem odd to invest probably over £200 million quid and not be able to find this elusive 25 goal a season man. Its like we have a Ferrari with a Audi A3 engine....

 

[chaileyjem]

For once and for all he didn't sign a striker because he didn't have enough money or because it was dependent on something else happening
; because he signed Duffy, because he kept hold of Stephens, or all manner of other speculative reasons
TB/PB didn't sign one because they either couldn't land one because the clubs refused to play ball or because they couldn't find one who was value for money.

 

[chaileyjem]

If we had got rid of Stephens for approx 7m and not signed Duffy (who I'm not convinced we need), I think that we would have plenty of funds to sign a top quality striker.

.

Nope. One was not dependent on the other. He wanted to sign Pritchard for 7m and keep Stephens. The two were never connected.

 

[abc]

Yeah, it's so easy to spend £10m-£20m of someone elses money. Last season we were the highest scorers in the league, and still people bleat on about another f***ing striker. Maybe all of these keyboard warriors know the sum of f*** all.

Word for word, THIS!

 

[London Irish]

Word for word, THIS!

But it's not really true is it. The big scores we got against the crapper teams hid the fact we struggled to score against the best teams, which is why we didn't go up. Murray in the Jan window would have got us promoted I reckon. The board appear to be making the same mistake twice.

 

[BensGrandad]

We must hope that the recruitment team have already started scouring the continent and Eastern Europe for a striker to bring in during the January window if needed.