Where's the 15 Million gone?

[Lady Whistledown]

I'd say its almost inevitable that we will have to 2m+ for a new frontmen possibly 3m+ ...
Reports suggested we were happy to pay 1.5m+ for Grabban and Clayton . Clearly strikers are still targets and they don't come cheap.
What suggests we wouldn't be prepared to pay a big fee ?

I agree. I think the club would do it, recognising that there's always a premium on strikers. Within reason of course. And allowing for the fact that said striker would need to fit the profile (relatively young, decent resale value etc).

Can't see us whacking £5m on someone but maybe a couple of million or so.

 

[1234andcounting]

I don't write threads for everyone to agree with me, I don't write them to wind people up, I voice my opinions which is what this board is for isn't it. I'm not here to be mates with people, I have enough mates. We share our thoughts on the club.

Lucky them,your mates. Bet you are a bundle of laughs on a Friday night.

 

[Uncle Buck]

I'd say they half have been replaced.

Barnes / O'Grady (Don't forget CMS/Hoskins were out the picture and we have CMS now too)
Buckley / McCourt

Ward - maybe this week
Ulloa - expecting a multi million pound signing from abroad with a similar price to Ulloa's original fee

I cannot imagine that McCourt is going to be better than Buckley and suggesting he is will be heaping pressure on the lad. However it is a low cost risk with him.

 

[MattBackHome]

I cannot imagine that McCourt is going to be better than Buckley and suggesting he is will be heaping pressure on the lad. However it is a low cost risk with him.

To be fair he won't have to do a great deal to improve on Buckley's impact on last season.

 

[Downlander]

"Very wrong"? No, no I can't. Evidently I don't have your searing insight.

As if any of us give two shits about Sammy Lee: I'd say what was "wrong" there was that a club at a higher level offered him a bigger salary to go there. Which even you, in his position, would have done. Is that wrong, or just life?

Tony Bloom has always made it clear that he won't keep an unhappy player, as he feels, rightly IMHO, that such players damage morale. Therefore when the likes of Ulloa, Buckley & Bridcutt were offered huge pay rises & the chance to play in the PL, he felt- again, quite rightly- that it was better to let them go than have sulky players moping around the place, resenting the fact that they'd been denied their shot at the big time. What he DID do was ensure we got decent recompense for them. In the few games Bridcutt played in his final season, he looked like he couldn't be arsed. If we hadn't sold Ulloa, we'd have faced the same, I suspect.

What we do with that money is still up in the air. Some will no doubt go towards getting the club on a sounder financial footing, something which I can tell, from your little whinge about attendances there, you're very interested in. I think that's reasonable. I'd like us to be financially stable, unlike so many clubs. Some will go on players, and on the basis that there is still over a week left in which to sign some, I personally feel in no position to judge where we're at.

Obviously you, with your superior wisdom and foresight, do: all power to you.

Me, I'll leave it until 30th August before I decided whether the club have failed or not.

I like this post - although far too much common sense and logic for many on this forum. You could also have added that the clubs' costs have risen considerably with the opening of Lancing. Hopefully the complex will prove an excellent investment for the club and more than pay it's way, but in the meantime there is no money tree orchard in the vacinity. So - a considerable additional expenditure. In fact - could Brighton have the greatest running costs in the Championship?

 

[Uncle Buck]

To be fair he won't have to do a great deal to improve on Buckley's impact on last season.

That is true.

However prior to that Buckley was a game changer. At this stage I am not writing anyone off, but they are replacing some genuine quality and we are doing this by shopping at Aldi rather than Fortnum and Masons.

 

[HantsSeagull]

I'd say its almost inevitable that we will have to 2m+ for a new frontmen possibly 3m+ ...
Reports suggested we were happy to pay 1.5m+ for Grabban and Clayton . Clearly strikers are still targets and they don't come cheap.
What suggests we wouldn't be prepared to pay a big fee ?

well logic would dictate that as we have saved £1.5m on not paying for Clayton and given the amounts we have received, you would think that a big marquee signing up front would be perfectly possible if not probable. however.......

 

[chaileyjem]

That is true.

However prior to that Buckley was a game changer. At this stage I am not writing anyone off, but they are replacing some genuine quality and we are doing this by shopping at Aldi rather than Fortnum and Masons.

Aston Villa, Fulham, Liverpool, the Eredivisie, Celtic - is this your football definition of Aldi ?

 

[saafend_seagull]

I cannot imagine that McCourt is going to be better than Buckley and suggesting he is will be heaping pressure on the lad. However it is a low cost risk with him.

Buckley contributed very little the last 18 months, glad the sicknote has gone.

 

[Uncle Buck]

Aston Villa, Fulham, Liverpool, the Eredivisie, Celtic - is this your football definition of Aldi ?

More that we are dealing in low cost buys.

I would never have Celtic compared with Aldi, they are far more 99p Store.

 

[Uncle Buck]

Buckley contributed very little the last 18 months, glad the sicknote has gone.

Your opinion.

He could change a game, but he did not want to be here, so it was correct to sell. However it would be nice to actually line up a replacement, rather than be so reactive in the transfer market.

 

[KZNSeagull]

That is true.

However prior to that Buckley was a game changer. At this stage I am not writing anyone off, but they are replacing some genuine quality and we are doing this by shopping at Aldi rather than Fortnum and Masons.

But at Fortnum and Masons you are usually getting a similar product, just paying 10 times the price for a Fortnum and Mason sticker. Same with Marks and Sparks food (but not 10 times the price, but a significant price hike just so that you can look superior when buying the same baked beans).

 

[withdeanwombat]

The £15m(?) has been added to the Cup Final money, and been squirreled away.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

I started reading Soccernomics on the way home last night, which puts forward some interesting theories on this very subject (obviously I mean for football generally, not the Albion). Relating expenditure to success & all that. Results aren't as straightforward as you'd imagine, it would seem.

I'll let you know what they are when I've finished it

 

[Uncle Buck]

But at Fortnum and Masons you are usually getting a similar product, just paying 10 times the price for a Fortnum and Mason sticker. Same with Marks and Sparks food (but not 10 times the price, but a significant price hike just so that you can look superior when buying the same baked beans).

The problem with Aldi is we could end up with another supermarket trolley....

 

[hans kraay fan club]

That is true.

However prior to that Buckley was a game changer. At this stage I am not writing anyone off, but they are replacing some genuine quality and we are doing this by shopping at Aldi rather than Fortnum and Masons.

But nothing has changed. Bridcutt, Buckley, Barnes and Ulloa came from the Chelsea scrapheap, Watford, Plymouth reserves and the Spanish second division respectively. The pedigree of Toko, Holla and Teixeira is undeniably HIGHER than those I've listed, at the time THEY signed.

Aston Villa, Fulham, Liverpool, the Eredivisie, Celtic - is this your football definition of Aldi ?

Quite.

 

[WhingForPresident]

I don't get this at all. We put in a good performance yesterday, beat a team that have bought in a shitload of players, that were on a high after beating a promotion-chasing team on Saturday, in their own backyard, and the club are still getting slated. Not to mention the fact that the two "panic buys" were the stars of the show.

I think we are now a left-back (not after today hopefully), a quality striker and perhaps one attacking midfielder/left-sided inside forward away from having a well-stocked squad of players that should be looking at a top 10 finish at the least, considering we have Crofts, Toko and Stephens all still to come back.

If the club think we can have a solid top-half season or even a push for promotion on a shoestring then great. They certainly have my backing to keep the pursestrings tight as long as they can give Sami tools that are required to do the job.

 

[Uncle Buck]

But nothing has changed. Bridcutt, Buckley, Barnes and Ulloa came from the Chelsea scrapheap, Watford, Plymouth reserves and the Spanish second division respectively. The pedigree of Toko, Holla and Teixeira is undeniably HIGHER than those I've listed, at the time THEY signed.



Quite.

Lopez had been a 6 million Euro player. Orlandi a Premier League player, Buckley was playing in the league above when we signed him. Upson and Bridge both former England internationals, Tomas a Polish international.

At present the new boys do not follow that pedigree, however that is not to say they will be prove to be inspired.

 

[El Presidente]

So last nights result has changed lots of people's opinions, jesus, it's one game!

Nobody is asking for all the budget spent, but you want some quality then you have to pay, quite simple. In my opinion if we think a few free's and loans are the answer then it's going to be a very long season and an away win at Leeds wont change that.

Hope i'm wrong and we bring in lots of free players and it works out great, just cant see it and don't think the clubs policy of ripping the fans off is fair when it comes down to it.

Weren't PIG, Upson, Bridcutt, Orlandi, Spanish Dave, Ward, Lingard all frees or loans from the squad of last season?

 

[El Presidente]

I think we are a striker and a left back short of matching last year's squad.

Ideally we will sign two or three strikers as Leo had too much to do last season, Hoskins may have been a sicknote but there's still a gap there, Buckley could play up front by himself and Barnes has effectively been replaced by O'Grady.

As much as it pains me to say it, CMS has been a disappointment.