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What Is Going On? Hypothetical Questions


Davefevs

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32 minutes ago, Shtanley said:

Did SL not step in more in terms of demanding we reject Chelsea's advances rather than demanding we start using Semenyo? 

We were still after Hogan despite getting Semenyo, so I dunno if Semenyo was kept around instead of getting in a striker.

IIRC Johnson said something along the lines of "the owner suggested we bring him back and have a proper look at him" 

As @Kid in the Riot said - I doubt very much that SL was pleased to be "outed" like that. To me that seemed like a clear message upwards from LJ. SL has also been quite outspoken about the Leeds sypgate debacle and the possibility of ringfencing the Rugby Premiership. Maybe he'd be best advised to keep his own counsel nowadays. 

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15 hours ago, Robbored said:

Jeez..........:disapointed2se: this thread.........:facepalm:

Full wild speculation and conjecture that adds up to bugger all.

So LJ and Macca had a spate - so what? Surely that’s a sign of respect between them? Doesn’t anybody argue with their manager? I know I did.....and I had a long and successful career. It means nothing.....other than they disagree on on maybe tactics and/or substitutions.........:dunno:

Im delighted they had a disagreement! 

In front of 22000 people?

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LJ is not in a bad position right now. His stock is definitely rising at the moment giving him options.

If we get in the play-offs it should help him in negotiating a new contract.

If we don’t he can go to Steve and say “well I did tell you we needed an experienced striker so if you want me to give it another go then you need to back my judgement, otherwise I’m off’.

Of course he might just take us up from the play-offs and then it’s a name his price scenario and we can order his statue to go alongside big John’s.

As an aside it was interesting to note that Alan Nixon when asked about him a few days ago said ‘he knows when to move’. A cryptic hint maybe or just based on past evidence ?

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16 hours ago, Robbored said:

Jeez..........:disapointed2se: this thread.........:facepalm:

Full wild speculation and conjecture that adds up to bugger all.

So LJ and Macca had a spate - so what? Surely that’s a sign of respect between them? Doesn’t anybody argue with their manager? I know I did.....and I had a long and successful career. It means nothing.....other than they disagree on on maybe tactics and/or substitutions.........:dunno:

Im delighted they had a disagreement! 

image.png.78755e93430aaad6cb179239d13af47a.png

Page 66 - Marinovic's bungled clearance

Page 83 - The Memorial Ground, Horfield

Page 104 - Ian "Skeletor" Hollowhead

 

 

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In all honestly, I think it's as simple as one and/or two problems:

  1. Our style of play is tiring on our players, and they inevitably burn out mid-way through the season trying to keep that performance going.
  2. There is a leadership void in the playing team, and when we hit a bad patch the players cannot dig themselves out

#1 has been my running theory for a long time, and it matches with our we're doing at the moment. We burn out around the same time each season, except this year where we have a larger squad, and we've lasted a bit longer.

I also think #2 is a problem, since we've got a very young squad that struggles to handle the mental pressures of pushing for promotion, and for digging themselves out of negative performances.

I actually think LJ is doing a good job, and quite frankly a change in manager won't change our fortunes if this is the issue.

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13 hours ago, westonred said:

We all know what the problem is, we wont spend big to achieve the dream. We always try and do it on the cheap this must really get LJ down.  If we had brought Tammy Abraham back in the summer (it was reported that he would loved to have come back) then i honestly think we would have been comfortably top 3. Sometimes you need to splash the cash and Tammy wouldn't have been a risk as we know his DNA is right for the club as MA would say, he loves the club, the fans love him and he will get you 20 to 30 goals a season.

No Brainer really

Spot on but cannot see it ever happening with SL calling the tune. So we get in amongst it and then fall away. So we know we won't sign Kalas and will get more Marley Watkins or ones for the future like Liam Walsh. And not address the problems areas. Quantity not quality. 

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1 minute ago, billywedlock said:

He has a wage bill similar to  Leeds (players not coach...)and greater than  Sheffield United. Resources are not that bad if you use them well. It also will not be far off Norwich after they reshaped to cope with their first year without parachute payments.

You are right, we are no longer a bottom 6/7 budget team in this division like we were in 16/17’s accounts.  SL has stated that we are now paying much better wages.

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In a thread of conjecture (and I had my own on that Mark Ashton 'suspending the strategy' video) it's interesting that most of the debate here has centered on the January transfer window, and surprising (to me at least) that the abiding view from most (even those who from memory haven't liked the bloke) is quite sympathetic towards LJ and critical towards SL?!

That's quite a revelation in tone for OTIB!! Why are we all of a sudden endorsing LJ's right to walk away "hard done by" because he wasn't bought a striker? I don't doubt it is the best way for LJ to continue his media upward trajectory free of real examination of his actual successes, but it's a bit of a re-write for the history of SL's support for LJ in the transfer market.

If I was SL this transfer window I would also be asking questions about all the money spent already before I shelled out again. Nearly £2m spent on a striker who has had about 25 minutes all season in the league. Seriously? We also committed nearly £2m more last summer to two wingers who barely play either. You can go back and add many more to the list. 

I honestly wasn't bothered that we didn't sign a striker in January - I knew it might be a problem, and that it would certainly be a convenient scapegoat, but on a pure investment/return basis, it seemed fair that he just get on with it using what was already bought. Otherwise it's just a false picture where the more SL spends the better LJ's return on objectives is!

None of this is me being anti-LJ or not acknowledging his efforts. I am also sympathetic towards him following the Mark Ashton video which sadly emphasised to me the blurred lines of influence on transfers and selection that must go on behind the scenes all the time. For all I know the Eisa deal was SL and his mate Gary, and therefore unfair to pin on LJ.

But the point is, one way or another SL is spending a lot of money on this squad, LJ is Head Coach and has not done badly out of it so far. So what if the odd player isn't to his liking or SL/MA stick their noses in more than they should. That's been the gig for 3 years and it's a comfy setup that afforded him plenty of time, and a lot of players. It's a bit late now to pipe up.

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9 hours ago, billywedlock said:

He has a wage bill similar to  Leeds (players not coach...)and greater than  Sheffield United. Resources are not that bad if you use them well. It also will not be far off Norwich after they reshaped to cope with their first year without parachute payments.

Wage bill may be similar but lets put it like this, SL will not allow marque style signings. I think the problem is we over pay average players in order to get them to sign for us. In all due respect the pull of Leeds or Sheff UTD is far greater than us so if say a player in League One is offered a deal from them on a small wage increase on what they are on they will take it, however for Bristol City it would prob cost us more. You only have to look how hard we find it to offload average players and often it comes down to clubs in league one or so who would buy our reserves can't afford to get near the wages they are on.

I imagine someone like Taylor is probably on something close to 10K a week and realistically he won't get half of that at any league one club, so it makes him a hard player to sell. 

Every player we seem to sign except on loan is either unproven, unheard of or a player that fits into the buy to sell at a profit.

Bigger clubs than us all seem to be able to get experienced pro's for a season or two which adds vital experience and quality within their wage structures, but because these crucial players have no sell on value, our club wont even go near them.

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10 hours ago, Davefevs said:

You are right, we are no longer a bottom 6/7 budget team in this division like we were in 16/17’s accounts.  SL has stated that we are now paying much better wages.

But to distinctly average players ......

Look at the likes of Sheff Utd and Norwich and the quality they have under the same structure. Apparently we have similar budgets but they have several players on 20K plus a week and I dread to think what Norwich are paying Jordan Rhodes!

I would honestly be surprised if any player we had bar Kalas or Webster was anywhere near 20K a week, but I think our problem is we pay average players too much just to get them here. The only players we can trade as people call it is younger players as they often sign for us on low wages, and leave because we wont match decent wage demands they can get elsewhere. It wouldn't surprise me if our decent young players like Kelly, O'Dowda, Brownhill and Elliason were on a fraction of the money that averahe players like Taylor, Pisano, Wiemann or Wright are getting. 

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14 minutes ago, Suffolkcity said:

Bigger clubs than us all seem to be able to get experienced pro's for a season or two which adds vital experience and quality within their wage structures, but because these crucial players have no sell on value, our club wont even go near them.

Not the first time it has been said, but about the most important sentence you will read on OTIB and I hope people pay attention. 

City's transfer policy in a nutshell. We ONLY buy players who hold or increase value, alongside a relatively modest wage. In doing so, we reject other more experienced players, often cheaper in the transfer market, but a much larger drain on our wage bill.

The difference? Transfer fees are irrelevant - SL runs a share trading company and knows this, money is not sunk, just invested in assets that will mature. But these players are rarely leaders and certainly don't have experience of getting to the Premiership.

Over a longer term profits generated from buying assets and increasing their value will fund increases in the wage bill to maybe get the odd proven player, to in turn make us more competitive, but it will be small increments, and a long drawn out process.

It's a microcosm of short term versus long term. If you want short term success you recruit some proven players (there may not even be a transfer fee - just end of contract), on chunky wages, and go for it. But in financial terms these are liabilities not assets.

As you say, we will never go near such players (and Gary O'Neil's injuries make us even less likely to) and therefore that vital bit of leadership and seen-it-all-before is missing when the season falters. LJ doesn't want to manage these sorts of players anyway!

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23 hours ago, Major Isewater said:

I believe that SL is a decent bloke with the best interests of BCFC at heart however I firmly believe that he is profoundly too ‘safety first ‘ to make the necessary decisions that could elevate the club to the highest level.

 I believe that LJ is very frustrated that for the second consecutive season he has got us into a very good position to get promoted and each time he hasn’t got what he needed to achieve his goal .

LJ builds up the house of cards and the draft from the transfer window opened by the owner blows them all down.

Will LJ walk ?

Dya know, it wouldn’t surprise me if he left in the summer . 

Would WBA interest him ? Damn right it would. They believe that they should be in the Prem and know what is needed.

Meanwhile at Ashton Gate , Jamie Mac will be promoted to head coach with Skuse coming in as assistant.

Nice ‘ n safe for Uncle Steve who will sanction the buys of more ‘ not quite good enough ‘ players and rinse and repeat.

 

I don’t. SL might be a decent bloke but the only interests he has at heart are his own.

He doesn’t give a flying **** about BCFC - or if he does it’s only to serve his own interests. 

And that happens to be make more and more money.

Sure he’s invested - for that is precisely what it is - in a new stadium where this summer you can take your pick from some top music acts. You can eat pizza whilst you wait for the footy. You can drink beer at your seats whilst you holler “come on Brisss”.

**** me you can even join a breakfast club to make your fellow citizens proud.

But when it comes to ambition for the football club we see the square root of **** all. 

Kallas walks round/off on his own at the end and sounded thoroughly dejected after Leeds.

Now I’m happy to accept that as someone ITK who knows what’s what.

We’ve been luck most of this season. For most of that we’ve been ok. Playing it patiently across the back four has worked more often than not but hasn’t resulted in much.

The occasional brilliance from all has been outweighed by mediocrity at best, complete shit at other times.

FD isn’t good enough. He needed support - last January and this. What did we get? Nothing apart from the likes of Kent and Diony.

Most of what we’ve got are ok for occasional good performances. They ain’t good enough for week in week out that can be sustained.

Those that are - Kallas - will move on. Those that were - or thought they were - have already left.

Under SL we might get lucky and get promoted but it’s not his priority - or at least to the same extent it has been for others.

I can see where @Davefevs is coming from. You enjoy your sun based training in Dubai.

Me? I’m off to reminisce of the good old days, looking at my Promotion Ale, the boy’s framed 76 promotion shirts, and my William’s Turnstile. From the days when you couldn’t get a beer or pizza in the ground. And you didn’t have anything other than a kagoule to keep you dry.

But Christ. Wasn’t the football then more enjoyable.......

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4 minutes ago, BigAlToby&Liam said:

I don’t. SL might be a decent bloke but the only interests he has at heart are his own.

He doesn’t give a flying **** about BCFC - or if he does it’s only to serve his own interests. 

And that happens to be make more and more money.

Sure he’s invested - for that is precisely what it is - in a new stadium where this summer you can take your pick from some top music acts. You can eat pizza whilst you wait for the footy. You can drink beer at your seats whilst you holler “come on Brisss”.

**** me you can even join a breakfast club to make your fellow citizens proud.

But when it comes to ambition for the football club we see the square root of **** all. 

Kallas walks round/off on his own at the end and sounded thoroughly dejected after Leeds.

Now I’m happy to accept that as someone ITK who knows what’s what.

We’ve been luck most of this season. For most of that we’ve been ok. Playing it patiently across the back four has worked more often than not but hasn’t resulted in much.

The occasional brilliance from all has been outweighed by mediocrity at best, complete shit at other times.

FD isn’t good enough. He needed support - last January and this. What did we get? Nothing apart from the likes of Kent and Diony.

Most of what we’ve got are ok for occasional good performances. They ain’t good enough for week in week out that can be sustained.

Those that are - Kallas - will move on. Those that were - or thought they were - have already left.

Under SL we might get lucky and get promoted but it’s not his priority - or at least to the same extent it has been for others.

I can see where @Davefevs is coming from. You enjoy your sun based training in Dubai.

Me? I’m off to reminisce of the good old days, looking at my Promotion Ale, the boy’s framed 76 promotion shirts, and my William’s Turnstile. From the days when you couldn’t get a beer or pizza in the ground. And you didn’t have anything other than a kagoule to keep you dry.

But Christ. Wasn’t the football then more enjoyable.......

Spot on mate, bricks and mortar his interest; while the manager is fed crumbs from the table. I see fans are happy with year on year "improvement.....aint gonna happen this year.

Cant stand LJ he needs to stop trying to make a silk purse from a sows ear and ask for a decent wedge to push this club to the next level or walk away and try elsewhere with a more understanding boss.

Like you have my proper days at the footie to remember and players who gave us everything.

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9 hours ago, billywedlock said:

Blaming our current blip on January transfers  is hardly fair. We all know that January is the most difficult and least effective recruitment period. The issue was back last year, it was pretty obvious we would need better strikers than Weimann and Taylor who have both proven they cannot score regularly at this level (but have other attributes) I cannot see how SL is to blame for no business in Jan , options are few and far between when the problem was obvious to everyone back in  August . Wwe could have done something more if we had prepared correctly. January risks upsetting the squad, paying too much for players and making mistakes. I am all for developing Antoine, and he is surely going to benefit from working with the first team and getting game time now that will have a greater impact in seasons to come. Not sure he was thrown in against Leeds though. That was a step too far too early. 

If SL paid what was necessary to bring in an experienced goalscorer then it would have happened so it is his fault.

Before we get into the FFP debate , we could have moved on two or three players to create the balance in the budget.

It is a failure to grasp the moment which may , most probably, cost us a play off place and a chance of promotion.

The players and coaching staff have done brilliantly to be in with a shout and once again they have been let down when it really matters.

 

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57 minutes ago, BigAlToby&Liam said:

 

But Christ. Wasn’t the football then more enjoyable.......

Red tinted glasses.  You seem to have forgotten the grief AD got as he built the promotion team.  Or the accusations of lack of ambition as FF failed to make the signings to get us promoted to the old 1st division.  Or some of the football as we tumbled down the divisions.  

In 40 years time when we are turning in poor performances under Jon Lansdown's chairmanship and third generation Johnson management, today's teenagers will look back fondly at our recent cup performances and flirting with the play offs.

Everything was better back in the day. Except it wasn't.

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What's going on? Other than what we see on the pitch, none of us know. We all have opinions but that's all they are.

My stab in the dark starts with a squad that is both tired and not quite good enough to stay the season. Dips in form tend to happen during March and April, ours has come a little earlier. Josh and Marlon have been brilliant for us this season. They have also played every match and almost every minute. That takes it toll. There has not been the strength and depth in the squad to rotate in the middle. Has LJ ever even tried to replace either of them, other that in the odd cup match?. Conversely LJs rotation in wide positions has been ridiculous. I rate Famara but for every decent game, he is completely isolated for 5 more. I believe he is our best striker but must have someone playing with/off him. January window gone was an ideal opportunity to bring in that support. When things are going well LJ is able to sprinkle his happy dust, when things dip, he strikes me as a gaffer that needs to blame his players. The final smell of coffee for me is that we are plain and simple middle to low tier in respects of players wages. Whether we like it or not, I just don't see us bringing in the top notch players that will give us lift we need. If we cannot hold on to the likes of Flinty, Joe, Bobbi and Callum what bloody hope do we have?

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2 hours ago, Suffolkcity said:

But to distinctly average players ......

Look at the likes of Sheff Utd and Norwich and the quality they have under the same structure. Apparently we have similar budgets but they have several players on 20K plus a week and I dread to think what Norwich are paying Jordan Rhodes!

I would honestly be surprised if any player we had bar Kalas or Webster was anywhere near 20K a week, but I think our problem is we pay average players too much just to get them here. The only players we can trade as people call it is younger players as they often sign for us on low wages, and leave because we wont match decent wage demands they can get elsewhere. It wouldn't surprise me if our decent young players like Kelly, O'Dowda, Brownhill and Elliason were on a fraction of the money that averahe players like Taylor, Pisano, Wiemann or Wright are getting. 

Baker, Weimann too I reckon.

Think the key is more effective use, i.e. trimmer squad in terms of numbers, back-filled by youngsters, so that you can pay appropriate wages.  You could trim our squad by 3-5 players easily and free up £30-40k in wages....whilst giving a bigger carrot to the likes of Morrell and Semenyo....they;be not even been on the bench every game.

Bielsa has no fears about pitching in his youngster, like Clarke, Shackleton, Bailey-Peacock, etc....and some of them shine.

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Over 50 years stood on the terraces and sat in the stands at Ashton Gate. The football wheel of fortune swinging back and forward. Days at Wembley, Coventry. Eastville. Alan Dicks, Gerry Gow, Norman Hunter, Mike Gibson, Super Bob and Flint says No and Smiiiiiittthhhh balanced out with The Ashton Eight, Tony Pulis and all those times of hope and broken dreams.

Bristol City is our life in a nutshell. Getting in to the Premier League would add a few bits but it wouldn’t change the way I feel whatever happens. Back in the day there were moaners in every part of the ground and as a boy I wondered why they didn’t stay at home with the Missus rather than endure more heartache. Well with red buttons and internet streams many of them can now but for me the all round match day experience has never been better and I thank Steve L for that. 

I actually think we will get to the promised land and if we do it without going bust again all the better. We are not Man Utd or Spurs and I thank god for that. It’s strange that as the days ahead get fewer that for some of us patience becomes easier. Enjoy the ride as much as some enjoy the moan and you might just find true happiness at Ashton Gate. 

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2 hours ago, Olé said:

Not the first time it has been said, but about the most important sentence you will read on OTIB and I hope people pay attention. 

City's transfer policy in a nutshell. We ONLY buy players who hold or increase value, alongside a relatively modest wage. In doing so, we reject other more experienced players, often cheaper in the transfer market, but a much larger drain on our wage bill.

The difference? Transfer fees are irrelevant - SL runs a share trading company and knows this, money is not sunk, just invested in assets that will mature. But these players are rarely leaders and certainly don't have experience of getting to the Premiership.

Over a longer term profits generated from buying assets and increasing their value will fund increases in the wage bill to maybe get the odd proven player, to in turn make us more competitive, but it will be small increments, and a long drawn out process.

It's a microcosm of short term versus long term. If you want short term success you recruit some proven players (there may not even be a transfer fee - just end of contract), on chunky wages, and go for it. But in financial terms these are liabilities not assets.

As you say, we will never go near such players (and Gary O'Neil's injuries make us even less likely to) and therefore that vital bit of leadership and seen-it-all-before is missing when the season falters. LJ doesn't want to manage these sorts of players anyway!

You're absolutely right, and for me it's about balance. There is a lot of grey area between say, the Brentford buy talent and sell them for profit model, and the Villa model of buying big to push for promotion. 

We need to get the balance right. Maybe look at Sheffield Utd. How did they do it?

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2 minutes ago, mozo said:

You're absolutely right, and for me it's about balance. There is a lot of grey area between say, the Brentford buy talent and sell them for profit model, and the Villa model of buying big to push for promotion. 

We need to get the balance right. Maybe look at Sheffield Utd. How did they do it?

I guess we are there in the mix of clubs outperforming our budgets by performing in the top half of the Championship, alongside Preston, Brentford (14th at the mo’), and Sheffield Utd....but we are never the top dog in that bunch in the main - one or more of them are seemingly always above us at any given point in time (except last Xmas).  That is maybe the frustration.

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2 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

I guess we are there in the mix of clubs outperforming our budgets by performing in the top half of the Championship, alongside Preston, Brentford (14th at the mo’), and Sheffield Utd....but we are never the top dog in that bunch in the main - one or more of them are seemingly always above us at any given point in time (except last Xmas).  That is maybe the frustration.

The fact that we've been able to poach talent from teams like Ipswich (Webster) and Preston (Brownhill) is a good sign. If we can follow that pattern there are good players out there with Championship experience. 

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31 minutes ago, billywedlock said:

So you blame SL for the inability of LJ and team to not use a wage bill the same/similar as Leeds, bigger than Sheffield `United and very close to Norwich (two of whom finished below City last term, one a place above). Very very generous of you . Coaching staff done brilliantly , ok maybe , but brilliant absolutely not.  Having lost 24 million in the last accounts, I think  SL has paid more than what is necessary for the club to compete with Norwich, Leeds and Sheffield United. His error is not the budget, but the people he employs to use it

 

Quite so. But it is a major error he is unlikely to do anything about.

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14 minutes ago, mozo said:

You're absolutely right, and for me it's about balance. There is a lot of grey area between say, the Brentford buy talent and sell them for profit model, and the Villa model of buying big to push for promotion. 

We need to get the balance right. Maybe look at Sheffield Utd. How did they do it?

When is someone like Sean Bean ever going to come to play for Bristol City?

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13 hours ago, billywedlock said:

He has a wage bill similar to  Leeds (players not coach...)and greater than  Sheffield United. Resources are not that bad if you use them well. It also will not be far off Norwich after they reshaped to cope with their first year without parachute payments.

With respect, you don't know that as this season's accounts haven't been released yet. As this is their second year at C'ship level I suspect Sheff U's wage bill would have gone up a fair bit. I doubt we completely closed the gap on Norwich's wage bill either which was £43m last season compared to our £27m.

As usual when these comparisons are made there is no mention of the fact we are above the likes of Villa, Stoke and Swansea all of whom have wage bills considerably higher than ours.

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22 hours ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Kalas we have to hope to retain, Da Silva let's hope he enjoys it enough here to join on a permanent...Palmer is bit part, could put the cash we saved in Jan by not loaning Assombalonga and would save by not buying him permanently towards finding that right striker- trade out Diedhiou if necessary to help finance it...we'll need to be a bit creative and I question whether we'll deliver that.

I'm still interested in where this hope comes from? Kalas has so many options right now and I fail to see how we're his best one.

Celtic - Pretty much guaranteed a league title, maybe the Scottish cup too, will definitely get a shot at European football, pretty much a given that he'll get a nice pay raise.
Rangers - Would have a shot at European football, pretty much a given that he'll get a nice pay raise.
Fulham - Already played for them and said he enjoyed it, after relegation, they'll have the money to give him a better wage than we can offer, more likely to gain promotion than we are.
Hull - Probably one of the lesser likely transfer options, may be able to pay more but this one I'd say we're a better option.

Kalas was quoted as saying:

Quote

"Once I felt the coach was not convinced, I dismissed it. Bristol watched other players as well but the coach wanted me, even if it would be beyond their budget. If anyone has such an interest, it is decisive. He wanted me to be an important player for them to be successful."

His main reason for joining us was that we showed the most interest but he also says "even if it would be beyond their budget". That doesn't sound like a player we can realistically afford being as he's said so himself. On top of that we've now had him for a season and I'm certain other clubs will be showing a similar level of interest as we were prior to the season. Kalas will now know how likely, or unlikely, we are to progress with him at the club. Our only hope is that he has enjoyed it so much that he's willing to take less money, Chelsea are willing to do a bargain deal and he want's to stay here more than he wants to play European football... that's a lot of factors that don't favour us.

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How much of the problem is Mark Ashton ? He obviously knows how to iron out a great deal when selling on our stock, but if he is in charge of recruitment then surely if we are paying average players too much, that blame has to lie at his door.

I mean LJ may identify players he wants, he will be told X and Y are out of budget so he agrees that you if you can get Z get Z.

Now take Wiemann for instance, his club want to move him on, fee is not huge, but he's coming from a club who pay big bucks. LJ might think if we can get AW as a player who has lost his way, on the cheap under a wage that ifs fair with an agreement of if it works, he gets an improved contract then he thinks its good business.

However what if he says I will sign but I want 15-20K a week. Does MA agree his terms to get a player here or does he say to LJ right he wants 20K a week. I'm not convinced the latter happens as I'm sure LJ's response would be, nope lets move on we can get better for that wage.  We know AW doesn't have a goal bonus, I mean what sort of player signs a contract as a midfielder or striker without a goal bonus, unless you've been given a big signing on fee, and possibly a big wage.

I mean perhaps he should get 6K a week, extra 4K if we win, 2k if we draw. Gets 2K for every goal and 1K for every assist. A player who wants to be successful and knows they will score goals would take it, with an increase in wage, if the season is successful, But it seems like our players are on a flat wage only, no bonuses, so if he knew he wasn't getting bonuses, he prob pitched in with I want 14/15K a week, if we agreed to that we've basically paid him a fee whatever when to normally get that he would need to be part of a winning team and scoring goals.

If I was SL I would be wanting to know why we are paying big money, matching wages of bigger clubs but not having the quality. Something in the recruitment area is clearly not doing it's job effectively, and I feel a lot of it is down to those who negotiate the deals and therefore Mark Ashton has plenty to answer for. He may be good at getting us top dollar for our players, but does that mean he knows in order to get what he wants, he is prepared to pay over the odds as well.

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