What Is The Clubs Transfer Strategy

[Sabricadabra]

12th highest income.


Either way, 7th position was an overachievment

[Jacksbadhobbits]

12th highest income.


Either way, 7th position was an overachievement.

Credit where credit is due

[Sniffer Dog (Admin)]

What a load of crap sniff... no offence. We have 4 rbs on our books already and one more coming. He may be better than what we have but ffs wages are astronomical. For such a great business man he is losing money hand over fist and doing little about it other than adding to the problem.

My point wasn’t just because we are signing another rb it was simply that, despite having one of the best defences last season we seem to be spending a lot of effort in that are. We were,one of the lowest scoring teams in the league... this is the area we need to improve. Sabri is the problem... he is obviously requesting more defensive players so we can have 11 men behind the ball for 90 mins but still forget injury time and concede. But surely, someone should be saying wait a minute... don’t we need to score at some point. Ems club yes... not sure I agree with his strategy.

What is a load of crap? Signing Christie on loan to replace our right back who was sold? Another one of our right backs will either be sold or go out on loan too. So where is the problem? Why are you so worried about wages and finances? Vrentzos and co are experts. Relax and enjoy the ride.

[Username]

It will take a lot more than 11.

As for squad size, I’d be far more annoyed if the club passed up the opportunity to sign a good player who could strengthen us because of the number of players in the squad. 33 isn’t that many.

Nothing to do,with squad size... it’s wage size that is the problem

Just to put into context we were 16th in the wages table last year, and it certainly won’t have increased overall 
So we actually punch above our weight

Where did you get 16th from?

As far as the last published accounts go we came in at 7th in the wages League table for the EFL with a wage bill of 35m

However, that wage bill was inflated due to paying off a number of players to have their contracts cancelled.

The year prior to that we came in at 15th with a wage bill of 28m

Apart from last years rise, the wage bill has been reduced over the two years prior; I read somewhere that the predicted wage bill for last season was around 25m - we will not know for sure until the accounts are published next March

Hence why I queried where the position came from as the figures aren’t publicly available for all clubs yet so is just guessing.

[wassy04]

Getting frustrated today, seems the 'in' criticism is we've signed too many players. I suspect broadly the criticism is coming from the same people that said we lacked depth last year, weren't good enough etc. We've got a clear strategy of going for it with mainly proven players, I think its been the best transfer window I can remember personally.

Diallo - not important either way
Mckenna - most onlookers agree we've done well, improves team
Soh - the most off script of the signings but looked alright last night
Christie - recent promotion, replaces Cash. Does make jenkinson signing look even worse. Improves team.
Blackett/Iannou - wait and see on Iannou, blackett a proven backup looks best equipped for a back 3. Doesnt improve team (so far)
Colback - replaces Watson, so was needed. Class player first time around. Improves team
Arter - recently promoted, improves team
Freeman - allegedly the player everyone desperately wanted, improves team (Sabri needs to change formation to put him in the right position, otherwise its Carv mk2)
Taylor - free transfer, everyone agreed we were short up front last year. Competition for grabban/compliment to him, improves squad.
Guerrero - need depth up top, improves squad.

So for me all bar the new left back are definitely required and if ribeiro is off and Bong is gone then they were required too.

Only really the extra full backs that have created excess capacity in the squad otherwise these signings have filled in gaps or replaced outgoing players.

[Salvatore Matrecano]

The problem is NOT the individuals we have signed, you can make a case for every one of them except Bachirou who seems to have been signed for the sole purpose of keeping Bong company.

Its is collectively where the problem lies. We did not need 12 players. The club doesn't need the 6 of them who are over 30 and signed on high wages either assuming we will soon get a new manager who will want to bring in his own players as well. We have added depth but not necessarily quality, too many of these are no better that what was already here.

The strongest element of our team last year was the defence. OK we needed to replace Cash and back up left back but that was it. We have bought an entire new defence. It cant help the confidence of any when they see players bought in to replace them. Also importantly there is a knock on effect, players see how their mates are being treated and frozen out it affects overall morale.

Ribeiro was a revelation last season, almost everyone thought he was outstanding. So we bought Blackett in as cover who can play LB and LCB, I get that. Then yesterday both these players see another arrive as competition. Blackett will have thought when he signed this was a fantastic move for him, bet he is having doubts already.

You can make similar cases for poor from throughout the squad, how much of it is simply down to player turnover and not knowing how their teammates play, what their strengths and weaknesses are. There is more to this than will be fixed by changing the head coach.

[wassy04]

The problem is NOT the individuals we have signed, you can make a case for every one of them except Bachirou who seems to have been signed for the sole purpose of keeping Bong company.

Its is collectively where the problem lies. We did not need 12 players. The club doesn't need the 6 of them who are over 30 and signed on high wages either assuming we will soon get a new manager who will want to bring in his own players as well. We have added depth but not necessarily quality, too many of these are no better that what was already here.

The strongest element of our team last year was the defence. OK we needed to replace Cash and back up left back but that was it. We have bought an entire new defence. It cant help the confidence of any when they see players bought in to replace them. Also importantly there is a knock on effect, players see how their mates are being treated and frozen out it affects overall morale.

Ribeiro was a revelation last season, almost everyone thought he was outstanding. So we bought Blackett in as cover who can play LB and LCB, I get that. Then yesterday both these players see another arrive as competition. Blackett will have thought when he signed this was a fantastic move for him, bet he is having doubts already.

You can make similar cases for poor from throughout the squad, how much of it is simply down to player turnover and not knowing how their teammates play, what their strengths and weaknesses are. There is more to this than will be fixed by changing the head coach.

So aside from the left back situation and perhaps it seems there might be more to it with ribeiro. Who else would you have not signed? 

(I forgot about Fred, weird one so far that one)

We can all agree Figs has been struggling for a while so we needed a new CB for example

[Salvatore Matrecano]

Colback is the one I am least convinced of actually, I have a hunch he will be Next years bomb squad. A 3 year contract for both him and Arter is a big commitment for ageing players.

Soh is left field, Diallo was unnecessary, Guerrero no idea, Taylor IMO is not as good as some think he is. Christie as you say highlights how bad a signing Jenkinson was but he will be another who’s morale will have dropped through the floor.

[wassy04]

Colback is the one I am least convinced of actually, I have a hunch he will be Next years bomb squad. A 3 year contract for both him and Arter is a big commitment for ageing players.

Soh is left field, Diallo was unnecessary, Guerrero no idea, Taylor IMO is not as good as some think he is. Christie as you say highlights how bad a signing Jenkinson was but he will be another who’s morale will have dropped through the floor.

Most teams carry three keepers, dont see that one having any impact either way. I'm a huge fan of Colback, he's just missed a lot of time needs matches to get fitter again. I think he'll be much appreciated by the end assuming a new manager doesnt bin him off.

Guerrero sure random, but we need depth up front everyone agreed with that. Maybe he's not that great but he's still solid and was a free transfer. On paper most would've had him near the top of logical rational signings.

I think you need to separate this window from the last few. Yes they made some pretty bad signings that are now bloating the squad due to being replaced. However this window there was a clear change in strategy that has built a better squad.

I also think the effects of a big squad aren't as big a deal as most are making out. We're not suddenly going to play worse because Bong and Darikwa are sat at home not doing anything. Financially sure it will hinder but would you prefer they corrected previous mistakes or just doubled down on them by not fixing them?

[ThePromisedLand]

Colback was poor last night - but he spent the first hour covering for Sow who just charged around looking like an accident waiting to happen.

[Salvatore Matrecano]

My issue is throwing ever more players at it will not fix the issue unless they are better than what we have. As I said you can argue the case for any of the individuals, it is the squad as a collective where the problem lies.
Alex Neill whinging about what we have spent, but I bet Preston play far better as a team than we do. Barnsley with their limited resources have out played and out battled us 3 games in a row. We did well last season, played above our abilities and went toe to toe with the top teams and won. The defence was outstanding last season, did it need a total rebuild? It seems to me we have just diluted what we had.

[the jock]

Colback is the one I am least convinced of actually, I have a hunch he will be Next years bomb squad. A 3 year contract for both him and Arter is a big commitment for ageing players.

Soh is left field, Diallo was unnecessary, Guerrero no idea, Taylor IMO is not as good as some think he is. Christie as you say highlights how bad a signing Jenkinson was but he will be another who’s morale will have dropped through the floor.

I agree on Taylor.  His cv certainly would back that up too .