Interpolic Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 Maiga wasn't betting the house because all the work had been put in. Betting the house would be a new target who I think it is pretty safe to say would be costing considerably more than £6m. Isn't needing a striker and putting all your eggs in one basket by only following one target who, if it doesn't come off, leaves you not even attempting to buy a striker in about the 5th transfer window you've needed one "betting the house"? Exactly. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stozo Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 Maiga wasn't betting the house because all the work had been put in. Betting the house would be a new target who I think it is pretty safe to say would be costing considerably more than £6m. Isn't needing a striker and putting all your eggs in one basket by only following one target who, if it doesn't come off, leaves you not even attempting to buy a striker in about the 5th transfer window you've needed one "betting the house"? In real life I don't think things work like this. You can't actively pursue a player as a back-up just in case the deal falls through. There may well be players who we like and have researched but who simply aren't available in this window because the club won't sell or the fee is too high. In this scenario why would we sign player Y in January just because he is available when player X who the club knows is better will be available in the summer? I will say however if it is simply the club haven't done the work (which is a possibility) then they have fucked up and deserve to be criticised. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Interpolic Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 If I'm going to buy into what stozo's saying for a minute: We need more scouts and/or more people working on deals if the current setup won't allow us to pursue more than a couple of players then as it's causing real issues which will lead to stagnation and countless missed opportunities to improve the squad and repeatedly "go with what we have" as Pardew said today. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueStar Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 I don't see how Ashley, rather than the fans, is the one supposedly averse to gambling in this policy of never paying market price, even if that means buying players you don't really need or missing out on ones you do because of who comes up on the "spares or repairs" list in the classifieds that month. Is giving Marveaux a five year contract because he was available on a free less of a gamble than paying for a player who didn't come buyer-beware? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wallace Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 Frankly I think it is a thoroughly sensible approach being taken by the club. We're not in any danger of relegation and we have Ba, Ben Arfa, Best, Amoebi, Lovenkrands who can all play upfront. Better to save our money and get someone who we really want in the summer than panic buy in January. If the club can get 50,000 people sharing your view, Ashley has got himself a nifty business model. Staying up is enough, and a professional footballer is a professional footballer, no matter what their actual level of quality may be. What is there to gain by buying now? We look on course to finish higher than last season, even if things don't go as well in the second half of the season we will be OK. If our plan is Europe in the next three years then it is better to make steady progress in developing the squad than betting the house on a player to get us there in 6 months. Because it's quite possible that the 7th position we currently find ourselves in could make this our most attractive period in terms of appealing to players for some time if we now slide down the league? Let's be honest unless we have European football to offer there isn't much difference between finishing 8th and 14th. Also the point I'm trying to make is that whoever the new 'panic buy' striker in January was they would have been a massive gamble. High transfer fee, high wages, long contract and not enough reearch done to ensure they are right for the team. For a club that currently has Alan Smith and Xisco on its books and had Albert Luque on its books for many years surely we should have learnt the problem with this strategy. There is about £4.5m difference in prize money which surely would be of concern to the board. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wallace Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 I would be interested to know how they "sold" the club to players like Cabaye. If they continue to show a lack of ambition, then it will not be long before the word is out that the only reason to join NUFC is move to a bigger club ASAP. Surely we want to sign players who would hope to achieve success with us rather than just briefly pass through otherwise at best we will stagnate or worst just drop down the table. Enrique lost belief in the club's ambitions. Is Colo about to do the same? If that happens, how long before the rest follow? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomas Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 "Ashley fancies a gamble therefore ... " = whatever theory using that as justification is rancid turd. ASHLEY FANCIES A GAMBLE and is buying the entire Croatia U-17 squad for £5m to replace our current reserves + youth system. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
John P Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 Jesus christ, just seen this news. It's becoming more and more apparent that we will get absolutely nowhere with this board in charge (if it wasn't blatantly obvious before). They will always be happy with comfortably staying in this division whilst breaking even or making a small profit. As others have said, we have the spine of an excellent team, but this board will never ever spend the money required to push us on to the next level. The frustrating thing is that we're not even talking massive amounts of money, but it seems that spending £6m on a striker AND a defender is too much for us. It's also obvious from Pardew's recent comments that as soon as a decent bid comes in for one of our players he'll be gone, leading to more wheeling and dealing to replace him and a constant cycle that results in us going nowhere. Do they really want us to believe that we've had 18months to identify strikers, and all they came up with was Maiga or no-one? So during the African Nations we'll be left with Best, Shola or Lovenkrands up top? Fuck me. Oh well, better to wait until the summer then when we'll no doubt be fed other excuses. It also makes me wonder about Maiga failing his medical. The reason - I have numerous reasons to distrust the board, and no reason whatsoever to believe a single fucking word they tell us. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 There is about £4.5m difference in prize money which surely would be of concern to the board. If you can spend £5m less on transfers and wages in the process, that's a result. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Interpolic Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 The timing sticks in the throat for me as well, it's becoming a bit annoying how these messages are clearly carefully timed and delivered. The Maiga deal fell through weeks ago and they'll have most likely known that meant we'd not be signing a striker for at least six months as a result. But we were in the middle of a crap run of form so it's as if they've waited until we picked up a win, not to mention that we've 2 very tough games coming up and Ba can't stop scoring. Don't think I'll ever trust the people running the club as long as they're here tbh, and that still includes Pardew. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sicko2ndbest Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 I am happy to wait until the summer Lovens contract is up so we will need to go back in. Ba New striker Ben arfa Best Shola Is progression on this season Look at Chelsea! They will lose Drogba and be left with Torres as the main striker as Anelka wants out! As long as we finish top 10 to me that's progress! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmojorisin75 Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 Jesus christ, just seen this news. It's becoming more and more apparent that we will get absolutely nowhere with this board in charge (if it wasn't blatantly obvious before). They will always be happy with comfortably staying in this division whilst breaking even or making a small profit. As others have said, we have the spine of an excellent team, but this board will never ever spend the money required to push us on to the next level. The frustrating thing is that we're not even talking massive amounts of money, but it seems that spending £6m on a striker AND a defender is too much for us. It's also obvious from Pardew's recent comments that as soon as a decent bid comes in for one of our players he'll be gone, leading to more wheeling and dealing to replace him and a constant cycle that results in us going nowhere. Do they really want us to believe that we've had 18months to identify strikers, and all they came up with was Maiga or no-one? So during the African Nations we'll be left with Best, Shola or Lovenkrands up top? Fuck me. Oh well, better to wait until the summer then when we'll no doubt be fed other excuses. It also makes me wonder about Maiga failing his medical. The reason - I have numerous reasons to distrust the board, and no reason whatsoever to believe a single fucking word they tell us. funny, this came in just as i was about to post the following: why can't people get their heads around the fact that we'll never get the right balance with any board? we never did with hall/shepherd (there was always a position that needed strengthening), ashley is just unpalatable and under much more scrutiny than they were back then imo 'cause he's clearly an utter cunt, and southern no-one else outside the current top six or whatever is spending shitloads of money and we have no right to either tbh, except for a couple of big sales that raked in some cash...in spite of those sales we're having our best season for ages if we sign a striker we expect a CB, and vice versa, if we get both we start asking where the RB is and then the RW we need...and so on...it's a natural fan thing, everything is a game of FM to some biggest criticism i have at the moment with any of this is loven, shola, smith etc. are still on the books...extended contract for shola no less...that's where it the shit is clogging up the fan for me Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sifu Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 Tbh, whilst I'm very disappointed and frustrated, I'm not surprised that we've called off the striker hunt. As soon as the Maiga deal collapsed, I had a little feeling that we weren't going to pursue anyone else (despite what Douglas/Ryder's tweets said otherwise). Our alleged other targets would cost about £10 million + and we all know very well that such a price is no go with Ashley. Someone said it before, guess we put all our eggs in one basket with Maiga. "We tried." Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest palnese Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 I bet we'll miss out on 7th if we don't sign a striker in january. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sicko2ndbest Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 I bet we'll miss out on 7th if we don't sign a striker in january. What's 7th worth though An extra couple of mill in prize money? A fixture list in Europe that will see our prem league position plummet I would rather us have a good crack at the domestic cups Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smal Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 aye, fuck it. Let's just finish mid-table every season Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmojorisin75 Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 aye, fuck it. Let's just finish mid-table every season what's the realistic alternative man? there isn't-fucking-one, not even selling everything we own would be able to propel us back into europe (CL) man never mind winning the fucker Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tooj Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 aye, fuck it. Let's just finish mid-table every season what's the realistic alternative man? there isn't-fucking-one, not even selling everything we own would be able to propel us back into europe (CL) man Spurs have done it over time, so why can't we? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
John P Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 Jesus christ, just seen this news. It's becoming more and more apparent that we will get absolutely nowhere with this board in charge (if it wasn't blatantly obvious before). They will always be happy with comfortably staying in this division whilst breaking even or making a small profit. As others have said, we have the spine of an excellent team, but this board will never ever spend the money required to push us on to the next level. The frustrating thing is that we're not even talking massive amounts of money, but it seems that spending £6m on a striker AND a defender is too much for us. It's also obvious from Pardew's recent comments that as soon as a decent bid comes in for one of our players he'll be gone, leading to more wheeling and dealing to replace him and a constant cycle that results in us going nowhere. Do they really want us to believe that we've had 18months to identify strikers, and all they came up with was Maiga or no-one? So during the African Nations we'll be left with Best, Shola or Lovenkrands up top? f*** me. Oh well, better to wait until the summer then when we'll no doubt be fed other excuses. It also makes me wonder about Maiga failing his medical. The reason - I have numerous reasons to distrust the board, and no reason whatsoever to believe a single f***ing word they tell us. funny, this came in just as i was about to post the following: why can't people get their heads around the fact that we'll never get the right balance with any board? we never did with hall/shepherd (there was always a position that needed strengthening), ashley is just unpalatable and under much more scrutiny than they were back then imo 'cause he's clearly an utter c***, and southern no-one else outside the current top six or whatever is spending shitloads of money and we have no right to either tbh, except for a couple of big sales that raked in some cash...in spite of those sales we're having our best season for ages if we sign a striker we expect a CB, and vice versa, if we get both we start asking where the RB is and then the RW we need...and so on...it's a natural fan thing, everything is a game of FM to some biggest criticism i have at the moment with any of this is loven, shola, smith etc. are still on the books...extended contract for shola no less...that's where it the s*** is clogging up the fan for me For me the balance would be spending the money on positions we need and no more, which by no means is too much to ask. If we had a striker and centre back and we'd actually shown ambition by filling the gaping holes in our squad then I would be over the bloody moon, I wouldn't care about right wing and right back because we have acceptable players to play in those positions. I know that we can't fill every position in one transfer window, but we need to fill the ones that are obvious to everyone. It's been obvious even before the Carroll sale that we needed a striker - this still hasn't been addressed. We've needed a centre back since the start of last summer - that wasn't addressed and left us with Perch and Simpson as cover. Unlike other teams we are apparently in a sound financial position, surely it's not asking too much to spend £6m or £7m on someone? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JH Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 aye, f*** it. Let's just finish mid-table every season Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmojorisin75 Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 aye, fuck it. Let's just finish mid-table every season what's the realistic alternative man? there isn't-fucking-one, not even selling everything we own would be able to propel us back into europe (CL) man Spurs have done it over time, so why can't we? spurs have been in the CL less times than us man, and it's taken ENIC what, a decade, to get there? i have no problem with that but my question is if that's how long it takes to challenge why is everyone so sure ashley is so far off at the moment? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
colinmk Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 Why on earth are people acting like they are genuinely surprised? HAS IT NOT SUNK IN YET?! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmojorisin75 Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 For me the balance would be spending the money on positions we need and no more, which by no means is too much to ask. well, this is the crux isn't it, the real bone of contention? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
John P Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 For me the balance would be spending the money on positions we need and no more, which by no means is too much to ask. well, this is the crux isn't it, the real bone of contention? Which positions would you say we desperately need to fill in the squad? I'm sure most of us on here would come up with the same two first. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeyt Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 Maybe we'll get a defender who can play striker a la Gary Docherty Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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