Whats the difference

[Stat Brother]

The more I think about it the more stupid it is not to get a couple of decent strikers in £40m to protect £100m plus income, TB has to be raging. Barbers chatting bollocks, Hughton gets ****ed over in the PL again. Shambles you can't defend this shit.

TB hires people to find players you really think he wanted to call DL in the dying minutes himself I would be thinking wtf am I paying you idiots for? Someone's getting sacked.

That all depends on how much responsibility for this clusterf**k Tony takes on himself.

I doubt he said in April:-
'here's a suitcase of money, make sure you come back with 2 strikers'.

Tony knew exactly what was (or to be precise wasn't) happening and when, and the shambles still happened.

 

[Rugrat]

In other words, I think it's a bit more complicated than that.

People are paid very good money to do complicated things

 

[Icy Gull]

That all depends on how much responsibility for this clusterf**k Tony takes on himself.

I doubt he said in April:-
'here's a suitcase of money, make sure you come back with 2 strikers'.

Tony knew exactly what was (or to be precise wasn't) happening and when, and the shambles still happened.

If you own/run a company and the people you employ to do a job fall short the buck stops with you surely?

Looking at this without emotion TB is the one who will suffer the most if our striker failure results in relegation. We might be pissed off, he will be millions out of pocket. I know which I'd prefer.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Parachute money:
£48m 2018/19
£37m 2019/20
£17m 2020/21

Bear in mind that the Albion were running £26m or more annual losses in the Championship and would now have PL scale wages on their books.

I suspect the fact we have relegation clauses in our contracts (as opposed to the fiasco scenario in 83) is one reason why we were not quite as able to secure the marquee striker as we might have been had we gambled our future in a Cardiff-style shit or bust mind****....

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Exactly.

Also borne out by PB saying in his TV interview that "staying in the PL is everything".

It may well be for PB, perhaps. It won't be for the club itself. I think we can yoyo comfortably if needs be in order to find a way of setting our unique club gyroscope so we can stay and thrive in the division. There is no one simple formula.

My main fear is that a tough season with possible relegation may turn the JCLs (and the ground is awash with 20 somethings now, with craft beards and ludicrous trousers - far from the typical NSC demographich as we have just learned) with their unrealistic expectations and a sense of entitlement into moany numpties. Something tells me, however, that the Amex will remain nicely full this season, and my fears about 'supporter' meltdown and b**w****** will be unfounded.

 

[Arkwright]

I suspect the fact we have relegation clauses in our contracts (as opposed to the fiasco scenario in 83) is one reason why we were not quite as able to secure the marquee striker as we might have been had we gambled our future in a Cardiff-style shit or bust mind****....

I have wondered this might the a problem in recruitment and a relegation clause in players contracts.

Going back to the OP I also think this is an issue that the club's target is 17th and Premier survival it doesn't paint a positive picture to the staff and supporters. Smacks of desperation and the need for cash. While this might be the case sell yourselves publicly as we are aiming for mid table mediocrity and then push on year by year.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

I have wondered this might the a problem in recruitment and a relegation clause in players contracts.

Going back to the OP I also think this is an issue that the club's target is 17th and Premier survival it doesn't paint a positive picture to the staff and supporters. Smacks of desperation and the need for cash. While this might be the case sell yourselves publicly as we are aiming for mid table mediocrity and then push on year by year.

Apologies - I had missed the club stating its ambition is 17th. When did that happen?

 

[Guy Fawkes]

I have wondered this might the a problem in recruitment and a relegation clause in players contracts.

Going back to the OP I also think this is an issue that the club's target is 17th and Premier survival it doesn't paint a positive picture to the staff and supporters. Smacks of desperation and the need for cash. While this might be the case sell yourselves publicly as we are aiming for mid table mediocrity and then push on year by year.

Most of the rest of the teams in this division are just looking to just survive for another season, but you think we should be going for what? .... A European place? challenging for the title? ....?

Why should we be any different to he rest of the also rans (ie, the Swansea, Stoke, Bournemouth, Watford, etc)

 

[Arkwright]

Apologies - I had missed the club stating its ambition is 17th. When did that happen?

I'm sure it was at The Fans Forum that the realistic target was to avoid the bottom three and 17th be a great season.

While I can understand this just be tad more positive in your goals, selling ourselves to prospective players as we are already in relegation dog fight before a ball has been kicked.

 

[Arkwright]

Most of the rest of the teams in this division are just looking to just survive for another season, but you think we should be going for what? .... A European place? challenging for the title? ....?

Why should we be any different to he rest of the also rans (ie, the Swansea, Stoke, Bournemouth, Watford, etc)

No, I'm a realist but sometimes the vibe coming out of the club needs to be more positive.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

I'm sure it was at The Fans Forum that the realistic target was to avoid the bottom three and 17th be a great season.

While I can understand this just be tad more positive in your goals, selling ourselves to prospective players as we are already in relegation dog fight before a ball has been kicked.

OK. Fortunately I doubt that the fans forum chat will infiltrate its way into the decision making centres of the brains of the agents of players on our horizon.

Also I think if a supporter asked me, the CEO, what I would settle for this season, I would be lying if I didn't say I'd snap the hand off anyone offering me a guaranteed 17th. However, that doesn't mean that I'd expect my team to play for 17th, or that I expect us to finish no higher than 17th.

There is news, there is nuance and there is nuance

 

[Guy Fawkes]

No, I'm a realist but sometimes the vibe coming out of the club needs to be more positive.

I can only recall their stating that their wish for us is to become an established PL team

Can't see that as being negative, it's usually fans that then twist things like this and turn it into something far more negative than it really is, with their slant put on the statement and we do have a section of fans that like to see the negative in everything and anything, no matter what the club would say or do

 

[DavidinSouthampton]

People are paid very good money to do complicated things

........and the more complicated it is, the more difficult it is to bring off......

 

[DavidinSouthampton]

Is it though? Huddersfield/Burnley managed it quite successfully.

Maybe they were lucky and things fell in to place.
Maybe we were unlucky because one of the many elements that needs to be in place for a deal to come off went wrong - medical, other club backing out, player turning us down, maybe even wife not wanting to move.

I think if Mr Bloom had felt te need to sack anyone, it would probably have happened by now. None of us know all the ins and outs of it all. Having just watched the Netherlands match, we did alright to get Propper, I would think - and that happened fairly early on. Last minute striker pursuit unravelled. Sh!t happens.

 

[Weststander]

It may well be for PB, perhaps. It won't be for the club itself. I think we can yoyo comfortably if needs be in order to find a way of setting our unique club gyroscope so we can stay and thrive in the division. There is no one simple formula.

My main fear is that a tough season with possible relegation may turn the JCLs (and the ground is awash with 20 somethings now, with craft beards and ludicrous trousers - far from the typical NSC demographich as we have just learned) with their unrealistic expectations and a sense of entitlement into moany numpties. Something tells me, however, that the Amex will remain nicely full this season, and my fears about 'supporter' meltdown and b**w****** will be unfounded.

Even in the dark days of the atrocious slow football under Garcia and Hyppia, with TB reigning squad spending in, s/t sales only fell by 3,500 I think. So there's a huge loyal base who keep their seat come rain or shine. This season perhaps there'll be empty seats against non 'glamour' clubs should we be in a non-winning run.

The odds are against yo-yo-ing back up. Next season we'd be up against our fellow two relegated clubs, plus all but three of; Cardiff, Massive, Wolves, Fulham, Hull, Norwich, Villa, Boro, Sunderland, Forest, Leeds, Derby, Reading, Brum, Reading and Bristol City. All with big money behind them one way or another, and entitled fanbases to varying degrees. I think it was [MENTION=6886]Bozza[/MENTION] who recently said "the Championship is a bitch to get out of".

Hence the steel behind PB is his statement that we must stay in the PL (at the first time of asking).

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Even in the dark days of the atrocious slow football under Garcia and Hyppia, with TB reigning squad spending in, s/t sales only fell by 3,500 I think. So there's a huge loyal base who keep their seat come rain or shine. This season perhaps there'll be empty seats against non 'glamour' clubs should we be in a non-winning run.

The odds are against yo-yo-ing back up. Next season we'd be up against our fellow two relegated clubs, plus all but three of; Cardiff, Massive, Wolves, Fulham, Hull, Norwich, Villa, Boro, Sunderland, Forest, Leeds, Derby, Reading, Brum, Reading and Bristol City. All with big money behind them one way or another, and entitled fanbases to varying degrees. I think it was [MENTION=6886]Bozza[/MENTION] who recently said "the Championship is a bitch to get out of".

Hence the steel behind PB is his statement that we must stay in the PL (at the first time of asking).

Points very well made