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Mike Ashley


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As long as the prices are right, we'll do business. He does need reminding though prices have gone up quite a bit since we were last here, let's hope he's took it all in and is ready for the challenge.

 

 

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As long as the prices are right, we'll do business. He does need reminding though prices have gone up quite a bit since we were last here, let's hope he's took it all in and is ready for the challenge.

 

Let's hope he stays the fuck out of it, tbh.

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As long as the prices are right, we'll do business. He does need reminding though prices have gone up quite a bit since we were last here, let's hope he's took it all in and is ready for the challenge.

 

Let's hope he stays the fuck out of it, tbh.

 

Him staying out of it is exactly what we don't want. That's when people get in his ear or he starts to feel like he needs to do something. He can still be involved, listen to the plans, be educated and have his opinion, but ultimately let the football men do the action, he just enjoys the ride and keeps us financially competitive.

 

I think it's finally hit him what a difference a decent manager can make. He thought it was all about the players, it's why he spunked £80m, hired Wally and went down after coming on to saying we'll make our own luck and bolt a horse to the cart. He thought that's what he was doing when really he needed a figurehead and build from there. That £80m this coming window is what he needs to do again, this time with someone with a plan in charge of it not just a collection of players with potential and no leadership.

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It's not even a case of SPEND LOADS OF MONEY NOW YA TIGHT b******! It's more simply 'be sensible, back the manager, don't lie'.

What do you class as sensible spending for this summer ?

 

However much Rafa thinks he needs to spend in order to achieve whatever he wants to achieve next season, give or take a few million either way. There isn't a specific number.

 

I don't really like the whole "oh, we need to spend X amount," because that isn't how it works. I've argued before that I don't think we need to spend absolutely gazillions in order to create a side that will stay up. We need a minimum of four significant upgrades in defense, midfield and attack to ensure we've got a team capable of surviving, imo. Fuck knows how much they're gonna cost; it'll be whatever the selling clubs are prepared to sell for.

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I think something around £50 million as a low end of the estimate to be honest.

 

But ultimately it's not about how much we spend, it's who we buy. There needs to be a solid mix of players. I think many are feeling like we have had our fingers burnt in recent years by buying cheap from the continent and it failing. The problem is we've consistently bought cheaply, we've bought players who don't fit in technically, who can't settle mentally, who never wanted to be here in the first place, or who don't fit into a system we're implementing. Then they've been playing under terrible managers who have had no idea how to build a side.

 

We've now got a manager with a set way of playing, with an idea of the players he wants, and who has a broad knowledge of British and European football. I think down the spine of the team in particular it would be advisable to pay a premium for some PL-ready players. A decent goalkeeper (Begovic?), a solid no frills CB (Shawcross?), a quality number 10 (Sigurdsson?). Players that are top half players and you could hang your hat on being good enough to lift us into mid-table. Then, it'd be advisable to play the market in terms of finding players with promise across Europe and the lower leagues who will be a bit cheaper and more of a gamble, but also with potential to give more of a return too.

 

The main thing is simply to find players to fit Rafa's system. This is the major problem with almost all of our signings in recent years. Going out and buying players with no clue how to fit them into a line-up. Wherever we buy from, this needs to be the most important thing. As long as this is the case I'm sure we'd end up with a solid percentage in terms of successful purchases.

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The biggest worry for me is that I think Ashley's eyes will be looking at the current bottom half of the PL, and thinking that to stay in the league it wouldn't actually take much investment. Burnley and Bournemouth for example have done it with a handful of signings dropped into a team of lower league plodders. Bournemouth in particular have actually done it with most of their major signings hardly involved. There's a significant chance that he will see the amount of money needed to stay up in 15th, then look at what it would take to be pushing top 7/8, and think "fuck that for a laugh". This will be where egos and ambitions will clash and it could be disastrous.

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The biggest worry for me is that I think Ashley's eyes will be looking at the current bottom half of the PL, and thinking that to stay in the league it wouldn't actually take much investment. Burnley and Bournemouth for example have done it with a handful of signings dropped into a team of lower league plodders. Bournemouth in particular have actually done it with most of their major signings hardly involved. There's a significant chance that he will see the amount of money needed to stay up in 15th, then look at what it would take to be pushing top 7/8, and think "f*** that for a laugh". This will be where egos and ambitions will clash and it could be disastrous.

 

Yes but big Mike told us all on Telly he wants to win a cup with us innit. And the buck stops with him.

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The biggest worry for me is that I think Ashley's eyes will be looking at the current bottom half of the PL, and thinking that to stay in the league it wouldn't actually take much investment. Burnley and Bournemouth for example have done it with a handful of signings dropped into a team of lower league plodders. Bournemouth in particular have actually done it with most of their major signings hardly involved. There's a significant chance that he will see the amount of money needed to stay up in 15th, then look at what it would take to be pushing top 7/8, and think "fuck that for a laugh". This will be where egos and ambitions will clash and it could be disastrous.

 

 

50-60m gross- 30- 40m net. guarantee it.

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The biggest worry for me is that I think Ashley's eyes will be looking at the current bottom half of the PL, and thinking that to stay in the league it wouldn't actually take much investment. Burnley and Bournemouth for example have done it with a handful of signings dropped into a team of lower league plodders. Bournemouth in particular have actually done it with most of their major signings hardly involved. There's a significant chance that he will see the amount of money needed to stay up in 15th, then look at what it would take to be pushing top 7/8, and think "f*** that for a laugh". This will be where egos and ambitions will clash and it could be disastrous.

 

Yep, exactly what I'm thinking.

 

Rafa will want to challenge at the top end. Ashley will be happy with Premier League survival. The gulf in the budgets needed for each option will cause the friction between them and I wonder whether they will be able to meet in the middle somewhere.

 

I think we're in for a nervy ride this summer.

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Gamble paid off after the January fiasco.

 

Could have made this season go a lot quicker if he'd invested.

 

I do not think january was a fiasco. The right players were not available or they were silly expensive.

 

We had what we needed. We had key players out for most of the 2nd part of the season and still won promotion fairly easy.

 

More money for the summer window and less deadwood to get rid. There will be enough to do before our squad is ready to challenge for top 8...which i hope is our target for the first season in the PL.

 

 

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