Transfers under the Ashley regime

[lovejoy]

its amazing how we sign so many players under the radar.

 

most of our signings that have been made under him have been bolts from the blue.

 

have to say, i enjoy it, its great logging on and seeing the likes of the routledge deal from nowehere, same went with simpson and jonas etc.

 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

This is probably the biggest improvements over past regimes.

 

Lots of things have been a disaster obviously, but the way we make signings is much better.

[Guest icemanblue]

I'm not looking to get into an argument with anyone here, but is a thread like this really neccessary? I mean, in the threads for each signing it's full to the brim with people giving it 'eeeeeh, i geet didn't expect this - propa out the blue'.

 

It's a slippery slope to Ashley bumming, and noone likes an Ashley bummer.

[Dr Venkman]

couldnt care less, what really matters is we buy the right players for the right price.

[Jayson]

Really this period of dodgy form we've been in combined with getting several key injuries, might end up in giving us a much better future & team than if we'd been fine.

 

Especially the timing of it all happening around the jan transfer window, been quite lucky.

[S.S.R.]

I'm pleased with the signings that have been made, but the thing that has really surprised me is that we have retained so many decent players.

 

It would have been easy to flog Taylor, Colo, Enrique, Jonas and Krul for some quick money, and replace them with the likes of Fitz Hall etc.; but fair play to Ashley and co for holding onto them and giving us a solid base for promotion.

 

Credit where credit's due.

 

[lovejoy]

couldnt care less, what really matters is we buy the right players for the right price.

would you not say the two were linked though?

[Dave]

I'm pleased with the signings that have been made, but the thing that has really surprised me is that we have retained so many decent players.

 

It would have been easy to flog Taylor, Colo, Enrique, Jonas and Krul for some quick money, and replace them with the likes of Fitz Hall etc.; but fair play to Ashley and co for holding onto them and giving us a solid base for promotion.

 

Credit where credit's due.

 

 

Bit early to say that. As we're finding out, lots happens in the last few days of the window.

[lovejoy]

I'm not looking to get into an argument with anyone here, but is a thread like this really neccessary? I mean, in the threads for each signing it's full to the brim with people giving it 'eeeeeh, i geet didn't expect this - propa out the blue'.

 

It's a slippery slope to Ashley bumming, and noone likes an Ashley bummer.

 

i am an ashley bummer. i admit it.

[BottledDog]

I'm pleased with the signings that have been made, but the thing that has really surprised me is that we have retained so many decent players.

 

It would have been easy to flog Taylor, Colo, Enrique, Jonas and Krul for some quick money, and replace them with the likes of Fitz Hall etc.; but fair play to Ashley and co for holding onto them and giving us a solid base for promotion.

 

Credit where credit's due.

 

 

Bit early to say that. As we're finding out, lots happens in the last few days of the window.

 

Quite, would be very impressive if we held onto the core of the high earners but there is still plenty of time for outgoings.

[Lenny]

I'm pleased with the signings that have been made, but the thing that has really surprised me is that we have retained so many decent players.

 

It would have been easy to flog Taylor, Colo, Enrique, Jonas and Krul for some quick money, and replace them with the likes of Fitz Hall etc.; but fair play to Ashley and co for holding onto them and giving us a solid base for promotion.

 

Credit where credit's due.

 

 

Bit early to say that. As we're finding out, lots happens in the last few days of the window.

 

Quite, would be very impressive if we held onto the core of the high earners but there is still plenty of time for outgoings.

 

Yeah, it's gone far too smoothley so far.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Don't get the feeling we are even thinking about outgoings. Would be mental to keep te core of the team together last summer and let a couple of key players go

in January.

[BottledDog]

Don't get the feeling we are even thinking about outgoings. Would be mental to keep te core of the team together last summer and let a couple of key players go

in January.

 

I was happy to forgo any new signings (just replace the loadns) at the start of the window if we could keep the group together, but I realise that with suitable short term relacements, any time is a good time if the right offer is made sadly.

 

Fingers crossed though.

[Dr Venkman]

couldnt care less, what really matters is we buy the right players for the right price.

would you not say the two were linked though?

 

i take your point. perhaps there is a direct link in price as far as if other teams are aware of our interest it could start a bidding war etc. however the end result is the main concern, not how you get there imo. i realise the last week or so has been like a breath of fresh air and i'm all for a bit of positivity, but i think this is just trying to find things to praise ashley for after having literally nothing to go on.

[Cronky]

I like the fact that our permanent signings are players who will look on our club as a step up in their careers. We've been signing too many players who - even if they're not necessarily bad players - are on the way down. eg Smith, Nolan, Owen, Duff, Butt etc

 

I think if the balance isn't right, it can affect the whole mentality of a team.

[UV]

This is probably the biggest improvements over past regimes.

 

Lots of things have been a disaster obviously, but the way we make signings is much better.

 

I love how some people make out that Ashley is doing things radically different from any other club or the previous board here. When we bought players in their mid-twenties before they were over the hill / on the way down / looking for one last payday (only if they turned out to be less than brilliant of course), now when we buy or look at players in their mid-twenties they are young and hungry and can only improve (typically because they've done nothing their past careers to be on the way down from).

 

All clubs and the previous board here would buy players on the quiet if at all possible and to say this is some radical departure by Ashley is just not true, especially considering all the fuss this window over the first choice players we were after and didn't sign. Just as an example, we signed 4 players in the Summer of 06, Duff, Martins, Sibierski & Bernard 3 out of those 4 were completely out of the blue.

[UV]

I'm pleased with the signings that have been made, but the thing that has really surprised me is that we have retained so many decent players.

 

It would have been easy to flog Taylor, Colo, Enrique, Jonas and Krul for some quick money, and replace them with the likes of Fitz Hall etc.; but fair play to Ashley and co for holding onto them and giving us a solid base for promotion.

 

Credit where credit's due.

 

 

Taylor yes (but he's injured now), maybe Enrique, but the other 3 would not have attracted interest for any significant amounts of money, especially not Coloccini and Gutierrez who are on high wages.

 

During the Summer I would be amazed if it were not the case that most of the squad were up for sale, but that we were just lucky (from a getting promoted point of view) that there was little interest in most of them. Now it's a different scenario of course as we've done better than most would have predicted and are a very good bet to go up, so I'd agree I'd be very surprised if we sell anyone significant.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

UV, I realise that nobody really knows, but it's a bit harsh to choose to believe that the whole squad was up for sale and it was just luck to hold onto them.

 

Surely Taylor and Enrique would have been snapped up, and Colo and/or Jonas would have gone to Spain or somewhere like that. Especially if we were accepting any half-decent bids as some people seem to think. And a minor injury wouldn't stop anyone buying S Taylor in January either, if he was being peddled around.

[Yorkie]

Credit to everyone for this window. Jose getting injured could be a bit of a Godsend and i don't think Colo will go. And our lack of interest in a left-winger suggests there's no solid interest in Jonas, so i'm guessing we're all good.

 

Very, very pleasantly surprised.

[Gash]

Credit to everyone for this window. Jose getting injured could be a bit of a Godsend and i don't think Colo will go. And our lack of interest in a left-winger suggests there's no solid interest in Jonas, so i'm guessing we're all good.

 

Very, very pleasantly surprised.

In a thread about signings coming under the radar...

[Yorkie]

Ha, fair point.

[UV]

UV, I realise that nobody really knows, but it's a bit harsh to choose to believe that the whole squad was up for sale and it was just luck to hold onto them.

 

Surely Taylor and Enrique would have been snapped up, and Colo and/or Jonas would have gone to Spain or somewhere like that. Especially if we were accepting any half-decent bids as some people seem to think. And a minor injury wouldn't stop anyone buying S Taylor in January either, if he was being peddled around.

 

I agree that Taylor could probably have been sold in the Summer for a decent amount and that supports your argument, but a counter to that would be that Taylor was such a fan favourite that it would have pushed supporters over the edge (it's not a very good counter argument as Ashley knows by now he can do what he wants and people will still turn up and pay to watch the team). Maybe Taylor blocked any move himself? We didn't hesitate to sell Bassong though and he is exactly the sort of player we ideally would have hung on to ahead of the likes of Coloccini if we wanted to lower the wage bill.

 

Where I disagree is with people's valuations of the likes of Enrique, Coloccini and Gutierrez. I like Enrique and disagree with the negative reports he gets, but last season you would struggle to see a positive comment about him from anywhere outside of message boards or local press. No English team would touch him for a decent fee, and the kind of foreign teams who would be interested don't have the money. Coloccini and Gutierrez are simply not really worth more than £3-4m, and their high wages make them very hard to shift without us subsidising the move and negating much of the transfer fee.

[Thespence]

Apart from the Chelsea kid all the signings this window have been talked around here before the players have signed..........even Nixon from the Daily Mirror knew we were talking to Fitz Hall days ago.

 

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Transfer-news-Newcastle-and-Burnley-battle-for-QPR-centre-half-article302875.html

[BottledDog]

UV, I realise that nobody really knows, but it's a bit harsh to choose to believe that the whole squad was up for sale and it was just luck to hold onto them.

 

Surely Taylor and Enrique would have been snapped up, and Colo and/or Jonas would have gone to Spain or somewhere like that. Especially if we were accepting any half-decent bids as some people seem to think. And a minor injury wouldn't stop anyone buying S Taylor in January either, if he was being peddled around.

 

I agree that Taylor could probably have been sold in the Summer for a decent amount and that supports your argument, but a counter to that would be that Taylor was such a fan favourite that it would have pushed supporters over the edge (it's not a very good counter argument as Ashley knows by now he can do what he wants and people will still turn up and pay to watch the team). Maybe Taylor blocked any move himself? We didn't hesitate to sell Bassong though and he is exactly the sort of player we ideally would have hung on to ahead of the likes of Coloccini if we wanted to lower the wage bill.

 

Where I disagree is with people's valuations of the likes of Enrique, Coloccini and Gutierrez. I like Enrique and disagree with the negative reports he gets, but last season you would struggle to see a positive comment about him from anywhere outside of message boards or local press. No English team would touch him for a decent fee, and the kind of foreign teams who would be interested don't have the money. Coloccini and Gutierrez are simply not really worth more than £3-4m, and their high wages make them very hard to shift without us subsidising the move and negating much of the transfer fee.

 

We didn't sell anyone who didn't make it known that they wanted to leave for a start, and I disagree with your assesment of our other assets - A good few of the remaining big names could have been sold if Ashley had the mind for it and ended up like Boro and their great chairman, but we didn't. We kept the core of the squad and, with the players commitment and Hughton's help, got them playing for one another for the first time in a long time.

[UV]

UV, I realise that nobody really knows, but it's a bit harsh to choose to believe that the whole squad was up for sale and it was just luck to hold onto them.

 

Surely Taylor and Enrique would have been snapped up, and Colo and/or Jonas would have gone to Spain or somewhere like that. Especially if we were accepting any half-decent bids as some people seem to think. And a minor injury wouldn't stop anyone buying S Taylor in January either, if he was being peddled around.

 

I agree that Taylor could probably have been sold in the Summer for a decent amount and that supports your argument, but a counter to that would be that Taylor was such a fan favourite that it would have pushed supporters over the edge (it's not a very good counter argument as Ashley knows by now he can do what he wants and people will still turn up and pay to watch the team). Maybe Taylor blocked any move himself? We didn't hesitate to sell Bassong though and he is exactly the sort of player we ideally would have hung on to ahead of the likes of Coloccini if we wanted to lower the wage bill.

 

Where I disagree is with people's valuations of the likes of Enrique, Coloccini and Gutierrez. I like Enrique and disagree with the negative reports he gets, but last season you would struggle to see a positive comment about him from anywhere outside of message boards or local press. No English team would touch him for a decent fee, and the kind of foreign teams who would be interested don't have the money. Coloccini and Gutierrez are simply not really worth more than £3-4m, and their high wages make them very hard to shift without us subsidising the move and negating much of the transfer fee.

 

We didn't sell anyone who didn't make it known that they wanted to leave for a start, and I disagree with your assesment of our other assets - A good few of the remaining big names could have been sold if Ashley had the mind for it and ended up like Boro and their great chairman, but we didn't. We kept the core of the squad and, with the players commitment and Hughton's help, got them playing for one another for the first time in a long time.

 

Could be wrong but I don't remember Duff saying he wanted to leave, and IMO more than any of the midfielders we kept he'd have stormed this league.

 

Of course you could be right, no-one here really knows what Ashley's intentions were, but going on past form and on the players who left, I think you're deluding yourself if you think keeping the majority of the squad was the intention.