Transfers under the Ashley regime

[Jaehyun]

To be honest Ashley paid over the top for players and our club did make a lot of transfer noise under his regime as well. I think the real change is the manager. Hughton is doing the business quietly and efficiently, I think Ashley is actually backing him properly after he was revealed by the Keegan court case.

[Mattoon]

Whatever the reasons for the current transfer policy, let it continue. Some good talent for the future being bought and quietly conducted so we don't get pipped at the post. For the first time in I can't remember since, I finally feel excitement for the future, like we're finally over the turmoil and moving back up to where we should be. The current transfer policy reminds me a bit of the Robson era, where we bought young, upcoming English tallent from lower leagues, it's just a pity CH isn't quite in the same league of management as Robson.

[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.

 

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.

 

I think he was keen to move back south, but you're right on Duff not saying anything. But I think it is clear from interviews with Taylor and Harper etc that they sat down and discussed that for the sake of the team, those that were not commited were free to go. Duff may have not been as obvious as Bassong, Martins and the like but was one of those that wanted away in the end.

 

I didn't have any faith that Ashley and co would stretch to bring any decent players in, but I had a funny feeling that there was no real intent to force anyone who was on big wages out which was the general feeling at the time. Fingers crossed the same will be the case in this window.

[Guest BlacknWhiteArmy]

The way we have gone about making transfers in this window has been excellent- The transfers have come right out of the blue, Hughton's been diplomatic and safe on his answers to the press, I'm impressed.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

To be honest Ashley paid over the top for players and our club did make a lot of transfer noise under his regime as well. I think the real change is the manager. Hughton is doing the business quietly and efficiently, I think Ashley is actually backing him properly after he was revealed by the Keegan court case.

 

That would be the version I most hope is true - it would show that Hughton is becoming a decent manager and that Ashley is backing him. Both of which we want.

[Broadsword]

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.

 

Duff wasn't out of the blue.  It took a while for the confirmation to come through.  Bernard doesn;t count as a signing and Martins took ages to come through.

 

So 1 out of the blue signing 4 years ago. Nice.

[Thespence]

The Moses bid is about as under wraps as the bids for Kilgallon & Beckford ffs.  We have to thank the Boro for showing us Routledge was up for grabs. As I said up above that plonker Nixon from the Mirror knew we were in talks with Hall days ago ffs. As for Williamson he is player we went for in the last window & have went back for in the next.

[The Prophet]

We should probably wait until the end of the window before we start sucking each others dicks, but yeah this is definetely a positive.

[Wullie]

Pity his main transfer policy has been to sell our best players and replace them with worse/not replace them at all.

[mouldy_uk]

We should probably wait until the end of the window before we start sucking each others dicks, but yeah this is definetely a positive.

 

this

[steve_69]

We should probably wait until the end of the window before we start sucking each others dicks, but yeah this is definetely a positive.

 

this

 

Fuck! I was well up for a blowey

[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.

 

Duff wasn't out of the blue.  It took a while for the confirmation to come through.  Bernard doesn;t count as a signing and Martins took ages to come through.

 

So 1 out of the blue signing 4 years ago. Nice.

 

Not how I remember it. Reports were all about Duff going to Spurs. Then news leaked about us & Liverpool being interested and we signed him the next day.

[khay]

I'm pretty sure we seen duff at newcastle airport a couple of days before we signed him.

 

I remember adding him into PES along with owen.

[Broadsword]

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.

 

Duff wasn't out of the blue.  It took a while for the confirmation to come through.  Bernard doesn;t count as a signing and Martins took ages to come through.

 

So 1 out of the blue signing 4 years ago. Nice.

 

Not how I remember it. Reports were all about Duff going to Spurs. Then news leaked about us & Liverpool being interested and we signed him the next day.

 

So it wasn't out of the blue then?

[johnnypd]

The Moses bid is about as under wraps as the bids for Kilgallon & Beckford ffs.  We have to thank the Boro for showing us Routledge was up for grabs. As I said up above that plonker Nixon from the Mirror knew we were in talks with Hall days ago ffs. As for Williamson he is player we went for in the last window & have went back for in the next.

 

the Routledge and van Arnholt deals seem to be the only ones that have surprised people, there were some rumours about Routledge but no big stories in the press. of course we might make another surreptitious transfer in the next few days if our top targets fall through. Bids for Perch, Kilgallon, Beckford, Williamson, Simpson, Hall, Moses have been well publicised, and there's also been rumours about Vaughan, Shittu, Curtis Davies, Martin Taylor etc. So our activity has hardly been this well kept secret that some people are suggesting.

[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.

 

Duff wasn't out of the blue.  It took a while for the confirmation to come through.  Bernard doesn;t count as a signing and Martins took ages to come through.

 

So 1 out of the blue signing 4 years ago. Nice.

 

Not how I remember it. Reports were all about Duff going to Spurs. Then news leaked about us & Liverpool being interested and we signed him the next day.

 

So it wasn't out of the blue then?

 

Okay. I thought we were talking about keeping transfer activity out of the press until a deal was agreed, I didn't realise your criteria included making sure no-one spotted the player while he travelled to the ground for a medical or anything. We obviously have different thresholds for "out of the blue". 

 

[Howaythelads]

The reason we are in the Championship is because of Ashley.

 

The reason people are happy with signing players who would not have been considered good enough for us under the previous Board is because Ashley has driven down hopes and expectations.

 

The fact is, he sold players last January and made a profit in the window, we were then relegated by just 1 point.

 

That we are signing players now could be the fat tw*t realising how stupid he's been in the past but I won't be holding my breath.

[Ronaldo]

We still don't have the player we've needed since Jan 1st.

[Thespence]

We still don't have the player we've needed since Jan 1st.

 

With Jose & Taylor getting knackerd meant CH took his eye off getting in a striker. Did Boyd ever join Villa?

[johnnypd]

We still don't have the player we've needed since Jan 1st.

 

a central midfielder? 

 

tbh the only signing we've made so far that improves on our first XI as it was before January is Routledge, but, credit to Hughton and the board, that is exactly the kind of player we needed.

[Ronaldo]

We still don't have the player we've needed since Jan 1st.

 

With Jose & Taylor getting knackerd meant CH took his eye off getting in a striker. Did Boyd ever join Villa?

 

That's hardly an excuse, those two have only been ruled out in the last week or so.

[Ronaldo]

We still don't have the player we've needed since Jan 1st.

 

a central midfielder? 

 

 

That isn't really a priority till we go up. 2 out of Barton, Guthrie, Nolan and Smith should see us right till the end of this season. As long as it isn't the latter two starting together.

[TRon]

We still don't have the player we've needed since Jan 1st.

 

a central midfielder? 

 

tbh the only signing we've made so far that improves on our first XI as it was before January is Routledge, but, credit to Hughton and the board, that is exactly the kind of player we needed.

 

A central midfielder is one of the most crucial signings but getting hold of a good one who has all the necessary attributes probably isn't easy or cheap. We haven't had any real driving force in that position for a few years now. I'd like to think if we go up we'll spend big on a real quality schemer, in the premier you can't get away without one. Not sure we'll get what we need in the January window.

[johnnypd]

We still don't have the player we've needed since Jan 1st.

 

a central midfielder? 

 

 

That isn't really a priority till we go up. 2 out of Barton, Guthrie, Nolan and Smith should see us right till the end of this season. As long as it isn't the latter two starting together.

 

Aye but it will be. and when Smith's out with his monthly suspension...Butt will come back into the side.

 

I do agree that we need a striker though. If we miss out on Moses we better have a backup option in mind.

[Thespence]

We still don't have the player we've needed since Jan 1st.

 

With Jose & Taylor getting knackerd meant CH took his eye off getting in a striker. Did Boyd ever join Villa?

 

That's hardly an excuse, those two have only been ruled out in the last week or so.

 

We have been fucking around trying to get Beckford in!!!