Enrich-ing the squad on a shoestring

wanderlust · 1 Enrich-ing the squad on a shoestring Sat Jun 20 2015, 17:49

wanderlust

Nat Lofthouse

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What we know for sure is that somehow Neil has to save £5 million to put the club into trading profit for the first time in years.
Some of that will come in wage savings, some from the downgrading of the academy but it's unlikely that there will be anything much to spend - a view supported by our alleged targets who really aren't the top dollar signings we've been used to when it comes down to it.

If that's the whole story, I'm finally prepared to say I'm impressed by Lennon for sticking with us as I see him as a career-oriented. But is it the whole story?

So far, nothing much to report on inbound players so I'm starting to wonder if NL is holding out for the takeover bid to materialise.
If that were the case it would be no surprise that he's not in any kind of rush to sign players of the calibre we've been linked with so far or sort out contracts for Eidur etc.
His fallback position is trusting the youth to step up, but I don't think NL is convinced that would work given his alleged search for new players.

I'm left wondering if Neil is hanging around in the belief that a transfer budget will become available before the window closes in September? Alternatively, he may have succeeded in keeping his trading activities quiet which would be a first for this club.

So what do you think?

- Neil is just a good guy who plans to see the job through with us despite the financial situation and lack of transfer budget? Or..
- Neil believes his mates will buy the club and give him a wedge of cash to spend? Or..
- Neil has agreed a budget with Garty already and is in secret talks with players he wants and can afford - but is keeping shtum about it until the window opens and he can register them? Or..
- Neil thinks we have the basis of a good youthful squad and doesn't especially need any major signings so is driving too hard a bargain with those in contention?

Norpig · 2 Re: Enrich-ing the squad on a shoestring Sat Jun 20 2015, 18:04

Norpig

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i think he knows we have no money and i presume he must have been told that when he joined as otherwise he would have walked by now if he had been promised funds that never materialised.

As for the squad, there are still big gaps to fill such as fullbacks for both sides, a centre back and a striker (or two). Hopefully we have Clough and Clayton to come back next season and the likes of Walker, Taylor, Threlkeld and Kellett will continue to progress and form the backbone of the team for the next few years.

I think we will end up with a lot of loans again unless this mysterious take over ever goes through, but we must have saved a fair chunk of money with Mills,Bogdan, Andrews and Beckford leaving so that money needs to be invested wisely

Can't say i feel overly optimistic about next season at the moment, just more of the same i'm afraid Rolling Eyes

wanderlust · 3 Re: Enrich-ing the squad on a shoestring Sat Jun 20 2015, 18:19

wanderlust

Nat Lofthouse

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I think the savings from Mills, Andrews, Boggers, Beckford, Lee and the others let go probably add up to more than the £5 million needed to put us in trading profit.
I've heard some crazy figures as to their earnings so does anyone actually know what we were paying these guys? If so we can deduct e.g. Brighton's contribution to Andrews salary and the £5 mill we need to save and come up with an estimated figure available (perhaps) to Lennon.

So if the club was paying the guys who were let go a total of say £150k a week then in theory there should be roughly £2.5 million freed up - which equates to total wages of £50k a week for their replacements and zero transfer fee.

wanderlust · 4 Re: Enrich-ing the squad on a shoestring Sun Jun 21 2015, 18:02

wanderlust

Nat Lofthouse

Posts : 22924
Join date : 2012-01-12

We're in for "a busy transfer window" says Neil. cheers

That implies more than 2 or 3 coming in doesn't it? Or does 2or 3 qualify as "busy"?

I just hope that we get some quality in amongst the bodies and sadly I guess that will be determined by the financial situation above.

luckyPeterpiper · 5 Re: Enrich-ing the squad on a shoestring Sun Jun 21 2015, 21:24

luckyPeterpiper

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wanderlust wrote:We're in for "a busy transfer window" says Neil.

That implies more than 2 or 3 coming in doesn't it? Or does 2or 3 qualify as "busy"?

It doesn't imply anything of the kind I'm afraid lusty. It's a cover my arse phrase and when we get outbid for every single target Neil will say "We were really busy, talked to some really good players but sadly couldn't quite close the deal."

It could even imply we'll be busy because of the fifteen unreplaced players who leave us this summer.

I know, pessimistic as hell but I no longer believe a word the club tells me. I'll wait for it to be confirmed as a done deal on SSN or BBC before I believe we're signing someone.

wanderlust · 6 Re: Enrich-ing the squad on a shoestring Mon Jun 22 2015, 09:19

wanderlust

Nat Lofthouse

Posts : 22924
Join date : 2012-01-12

Maguire on a free is perhaps uninspiring to some but he's only 26, has always been on the fringe of the Scotland team and is versatile so that looks like good business in terms of Enrich-ing the squad on a shoestring.

However it's right to remain pessimistic inasmuch that nothing can be confirmed until the window officially opens.

Bwfc1958 · 7 Re: Enrich-ing the squad on a shoestring Mon Jun 22 2015, 11:47

Bwfc1958

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Just about anyone we sign, people will be unispired. For some reason people still expect a big marquee signing to come from somewhere and it won't happen. On the budget we probably have, maguire can be considered a decent signing if it comes off. What signings will inspire people? We will never be able to afford inspiring signings ever again with the state of the clubs finances. All we can do is hope that the players lennon brings in improve us in certain areas and make us that little bit better. I would feel a lot happier going into the new season of he could get a couple of half decent full backs in, but there's no point having high expectations that it will happen. I actually think we could do ok next season but it all hinges on the best players we have, ie Clough, Clayton, Mavies etc staying fit and injury free the whole season, which, with our track record of injury problems, would seem highly unlikely.

wanderlust · 8 Re: Enrich-ing the squad on a shoestring Mon Jun 22 2015, 12:41

wanderlust

Nat Lofthouse

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Bwfc1958 wrote:Just about anyone we sign, people will be unispired. For some reason people still expect a big marquee signing to come from somewhere and it won't happen. On the budget we probably have, maguire can be considered a decent signing if it comes off. What signings will inspire people? We will never be able to afford inspiring signings ever again with the state of the clubs finances. All we can do is hope that the players lennon brings in improve us in certain areas and make us that little bit better. I would feel a lot happier going into the new season of he could get a couple of half decent full backs in, but there's no point having high expectations that it will happen. I actually think we could do ok next season but it all hinges on the best players we have, ie Clough, Clayton, Mavies etc staying fit and injury free the whole season, which, with our track record of injury problems, would seem highly unlikely.

Totally agree - some people's expectations are unrealistic and anyway "marquee signings" aren't absolutely necessary in this division as Bournemouth showed - although they didn't do Norwich any harm.

This thread is more about speculating what's going on in Lennon's head though. I've read comments that suggest he's completely down with the rebuilding plan on no budget "or he'd have left already" but since he was personally linked to the Irish consortium takeover bid story I still have a sneaking suspicion that he may - repeat may - be harbouring a hope that the financial situation might change.

But for now we can only assume that he's the honest broker, fully accepts the situation and is going about his business on the no dosh basis.

And as fans, we should all accept that situation too.

Which is why I find it concerning that we're associated with "marquee" names like Palacios who is f****d and expensive.

As regards the full backs, I'm kind of hoping that we get in improved Kellett back from Manure seeing as we've no chance of signing Janko. The retained youngsters should really be playing first team footie by now - Andy Kellett will be 22 in November FFS.

Guest · 9 Re: Enrich-ing the squad on a shoestring Mon Jun 22 2015, 12:46

Guest

wanderlust wrote:Totally agree - some people's expectations are unrealistic and anyway "marquee signings" aren't absolutely necessary in this division as Bournemouth showed - although they didn't do Norwich any harm.

Bournemouth signed Wilson last season for over £3 million and Rantie the year before for a similar fee. Ritchie in League 1 the year before for £500k.

They made a 'marquee' signing every year, it's a complete nonsense to make out Bournemouth signed nobodies on a shoestring. They just did very smart business.

Guest · 10 Re: Enrich-ing the squad on a shoestring Mon Jun 22 2015, 14:11

Guest

I don't think anybody's expecting or demanding that we go out and blow a couple of million on striker - we're not thick and we all know we're skint.

But equally, knowing as we do that the well is now obviously drier than George Carlin's sense of humour, it's not surprising that people are raising their eyebrows when Lennon comes out and says that he's expecting a "busy transfer window".

The two things simply don't stack up.

I'd be far more relaxed about the whole situation if Lennon came out and said:

"Listen, we're proper skint. There's no money available and I'm having to try and assemble a squad capable of finishing mid-table with hardly any resources."

"I've got shut of the deadwood who were on big money, we've got a few decent kids who may well step up and become regulars and the only new signings I'll be making are the likes of Madine who nobody else is interested in."

But we're not going to get that, are we?

Because there's season tickets to be flogged,Gartside wheels Lennon out and makes him come out with party-line tripe like this "busy transfer window" bollocks.

If, for one minute, the people running the club would just be honest, I'd cut 'em some more slack but so long as they keep spewing out guff about how we're working hard to scout players all over Europe and how Lennon knows his targets and how there's a lot of work going on behind the scenes and nonsense like that, I'll reserve my right to shout "Bullshit!"

Fuck me, he didn't even know what his budget was until about a week ago and yet people are expected to believe that there's some Grand Plan being executed behind the scenes.....

MartinBWFC · 11 Re: Enrich-ing the squad on a shoestring Mon Jun 22 2015, 14:56

MartinBWFC

Ivan Campo

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Lennon doesn't strike me as a guy to be wheeled out to spout bullshit, I would even go on and say if he didn't think he had a chance in the market he is the type to just upstick and tell em to go fuck themselves.

Guest · 12 Re: Enrich-ing the squad on a shoestring Mon Jun 22 2015, 16:42

Guest

The likes of Maguire, Amos and Madine are exactly the type of signing I was expecting to be honest (should they happen of course). We're no longer able to compete with the top of the Championship in terms of transfers - it's become common for those clubs to spend around the £5 million mark which we can't get close to. But we're still able to offer better wages and financial packets than the clubs who have come up from League 1 in the last 5 years or so - Leeds, Sheff Wed, Charlton etc (for the moment anyway).

I think our biggest problem in the last few years is not having a team that plays like one, unorganised defensively and not working hard enough. Let's get a few decent players in but for me the real work starts on the training ground. Average players can overachieve in this division if they're properly drilled and that's down to the management team. Lennon needs to show what he can do and get this lot organised and motivated for the next season, new faces like Maguire, Madine and I'd like to think Enrich will help but they need to have the right mindset.

wanderlust · 13 Re: Enrich-ing the squad on a shoestring Mon Jun 22 2015, 17:14

wanderlust

Nat Lofthouse

Posts : 22924
Join date : 2012-01-12

bwfc1874 wrote:The likes of Maguire, Amos and Madine are exactly the type of signing I was expecting to be honest (should they happen of course).

Me too and I think that in general he's hoping to exchange average players on expensive contracts for less expensive average players who can put a shift in and show a bit of fight - but also have the potential to show a bit of quality from time to time.

Guest · 14 Re: Enrich-ing the squad on a shoestring Mon Jun 22 2015, 17:33

Guest

Ye exactly. Bogdan's a loss but I'd prefer Amos for every game than Bogdan's normal half season. Mills can be replaced pretty easily, the transfer fees he's commanded are criminal for a very average Championship center back. We can replace everything we've lost with equal quality on less money. The only think we need to 'splash' on is a replacement for ALF IMO. CYL's creativity should be covered by Mavies, Clayton and Clough (providing they stay fit).

Not all doom and gloom for me, but work to be done.

Guest · 15 Re: Enrich-ing the squad on a shoestring Mon Jun 22 2015, 17:46

Guest

"CYL's creativity should be covered by Mavies."

What about the other 37 games?

Ba dum......tish!

Guest · 16 Re: Enrich-ing the squad on a shoestring Mon Jun 22 2015, 18:07

Guest

Breadman wrote:"CYL's creativity should be covered by Mavies."

What about the other 37 games?

Ba dum......tish!

How dare you ignore my brackets.

Guest · 17 Re: Enrich-ing the squad on a shoestring Mon Jun 22 2015, 19:34

Guest

bwfc1874 wrote:

Breadman wrote:"CYL's creativity should be covered by Mavies."

What about the other 37 games?

Ba dum......tish!

How dare you ignore my advances

I love you.

Boggersbelief · 18 Re: Enrich-ing the squad on a shoestring Mon Jun 22 2015, 21:41

Boggersbelief

Nat Lofthouse

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bwfc1874 wrote:Ye exactly. Bogdan's a loss but I'd prefer Amos for every game than Bogdan's normal half season. Mills can be replaced pretty easily, the transfer fees he's commanded are criminal for a very average Championship center back. We can replace everything we've lost with equal quality on less money. The only think we need to 'splash' on is a replacement for ALF IMO. CYL's creativity should be covered by Mavies, Clayton and Clough (providing they stay fit).

Not all doom and gloom for me, but work to be done.

How do you know Amos is going to be fit for a full season?

Guest · 19 Re: Enrich-ing the squad on a shoestring Mon Jun 22 2015, 22:51

Guest

I'm a fucking psychic.

scottjames30 · 20 Re: Enrich-ing the squad on a shoestring Tue Jun 23 2015, 05:02

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PM me the lotto numbers then, i will let you in our gang.

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Enrich-ing the squad on a shoestring

1 Enrich-ing the squad on a shoestring Sat Jun 20 2015, 17:49

wanderlust

2 Re: Enrich-ing the squad on a shoestring Sat Jun 20 2015, 18:04

Norpig

3 Re: Enrich-ing the squad on a shoestring Sat Jun 20 2015, 18:19

wanderlust

4 Re: Enrich-ing the squad on a shoestring Sun Jun 21 2015, 18:02

wanderlust

5 Re: Enrich-ing the squad on a shoestring Sun Jun 21 2015, 21:24

luckyPeterpiper

6 Re: Enrich-ing the squad on a shoestring Mon Jun 22 2015, 09:19

wanderlust

7 Re: Enrich-ing the squad on a shoestring Mon Jun 22 2015, 11:47

Bwfc1958

8 Re: Enrich-ing the squad on a shoestring Mon Jun 22 2015, 12:41

wanderlust

9 Re: Enrich-ing the squad on a shoestring Mon Jun 22 2015, 12:46

Guest

10 Re: Enrich-ing the squad on a shoestring Mon Jun 22 2015, 14:11

Guest

11 Re: Enrich-ing the squad on a shoestring Mon Jun 22 2015, 14:56

MartinBWFC

12 Re: Enrich-ing the squad on a shoestring Mon Jun 22 2015, 16:42

Guest

13 Re: Enrich-ing the squad on a shoestring Mon Jun 22 2015, 17:14

wanderlust

14 Re: Enrich-ing the squad on a shoestring Mon Jun 22 2015, 17:33

Guest

15 Re: Enrich-ing the squad on a shoestring Mon Jun 22 2015, 17:46

Guest

16 Re: Enrich-ing the squad on a shoestring Mon Jun 22 2015, 18:07

Guest

17 Re: Enrich-ing the squad on a shoestring Mon Jun 22 2015, 19:34

Guest

18 Re: Enrich-ing the squad on a shoestring Mon Jun 22 2015, 21:41

Boggersbelief

19 Re: Enrich-ing the squad on a shoestring Mon Jun 22 2015, 22:51

Guest

20 Re: Enrich-ing the squad on a shoestring Tue Jun 23 2015, 05:02

scottjames30

21 Re: Enrich-ing the squad on a shoestring

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