Said a few times it's definitely quality over quantity this summer. Need minimum 3 quality signings, 4 if Hackney goes. No projects, unless we are in a lovely position after the quality has been brought in and someone really interesting becomes available.
How many of them played without a striker? Not getting one as a stop gap was criminal.
I know what you mean but I don’t even use the term balancing the books. he’s prepared to make losses where necessary, to invest in playing assets and build ffp for a future push.
Agree with that. Patience isn't a great virtue amongst fans in general but I can see what they are trying to do.
It is certainly very debatable.
what was Akpoms value 2 years ago, I'm sure we would've been happy to let him go on a free
That we have gone backwards on the pitch is not debatable. We have.
We already had Hackney, absolutely **** all to do with Scott.
Looking at the squads over the last 4 seasons, it's been a massive overhaul in playing asset value. I think from where we were 4 years ago we have improved quality in every department, and improved the squad value, and done without building debt, in fact selling Akpom, Tav and Spence has pretty much paid for the overhaul. The progression is there to see,
| 20/21 | 21/22 | 22/23 | 23/24 | |
| GK | Pears £500k Stojanovik £500k Bryn £100k Total = 1.1m Quality = D | Lumley 1m Stojanovic 500k Brynn 250k Daniels 500k Total = 2.25m Quality = C | Lumley 500k Roberts 500k Daniels 500k Brynn 500k Total = 2m Quality = C | Dieng 5m Glover 500k Jones 0 Brynn 1m Total = 6.5m Quality = A (GK department is good enough for auto promotion) |
| DF | Fry 6m McNair 4m Hall 1m Wood 100k Stubbs 100k Bola 500k Coulson 500k Dijksteel 1m Spence 7m Fisher 500k Total = 20.7m Quality = B (7-12th in champo) | Fry 6m McNair 4m Hall 1m Wood 100k Bamba 100k Bola 500k Coulson 500k Taylor 500k Dijksteel 1m Spence 7m Fisher 500k Peltier 300k Total = 21.5m Quality = B | Fry 5m McNair 3.5m Lenihan 3m Clarke 3m Hall 500k Bola 300k Coulson 100k Dijksteel 500k Smith 500k Fisher 0 Total = 16.4m Quality = B- (didn't really own viable championship fullbacks) | Fry 3m McNair 0 Van Den Berg 15m Clarke 4m Lenihan 2m Engel 1m Bangura 1m Dijksteel 500k Smith 100k Total = 26.6m Quality = B play off quality |
| MF | Hackney 100k Saville 1.5m Wing 1m Morsy 1m Howson 1m Tavernier 12m Total = 16.6m Quality = B | Hackney 300k Payero 2m Morsy 1m Howson 1m Boyd-Munce 100k Tavernier 12m Total = 16.4m Quality = B | Hackney 6m Barlaser 1.5m Boyd-Munce100k Howson 250k Conteh 100k Payero 2m Total = 9.95m Quality = B- | Hackney 18m Barlaser 1m Howson 0m Total = 19m Quality B- lacks an extra option |
| Wing | Browne 300k Jones 1m Total = 1.3m Quality = D | Olusanya 100k Jones 5m Ameobi 500k McGree 3m Total = 8.6m Quality = B- | Sivi 100k McGree 5m Jones 3m Forss 3m Total = 11.1m Quality B+ | McGree 4m Silvera 1m Gilbert 100k Jones 4m Forss 4m Total = 13.1m Quality = B+ |
| CF and 10s | Watmore 1m Akpom 2m Assombalonga 2m Fletcher 1m Coburn 100k Total = 6.1m Quality = B- | Crooks 1.5m Akpom 2m Ikpeazu 500k Coburn 500k Watmore 1.5m Total = 6m Quality = C | Watmore 500k Akpom 12m Hoppe 500k Kavanagh 100k Finch 100k Total = 13.2m Quality = B | Coburn 1.5m Hoppe 500k Lath 6m Azaz 2m Total = 10m Quality = B |
| Total = 45.8m Quality C (12-18th in the champo level | Total = 54.75m Quality = B- (10-12th quality) | Total = 52.7m Quality = B (7th - 12th) | Total = 75.2m Quality = B+ (borderline play offs) |
gone backwards in the table because of a ridiculous injury crisis and not spunking a massive wedge of money on loans, something we couldn't afford to do every single year. What we do instead is develop our own talent building asset value and profit, while potentially having high quality players for longer.
I have no agenda, it's no more bias than your analysis of my analysis
Because we don't on loans....that's entirely my point. A football clubs long term success cannot be based around loans, they are a short term fix to a bigger problem, poor recruitment. You have effectively confirmed my point, loans are not strategic, you can't predict i they will work, they are an operational fix.
I haven't made any performance predictions. I've analysed where we came in those years and looked at the various strengths of the squad.
We finished 2 points above 12th, so yes, they had enough impact to lift us just above the overall squad capability.
You forget how average all those players were. Those 3 strikers got 13 goals in 50 starts games between them. They did some good stuff, but they also went missing a lot. They were not high enough quality or embedded in the squad and tactics enough to make a major different....thus proving my point, loans, even seemingly high quality ones, often don't work out. They're a high risk, low return strategy for a club.
We have the squad to be borderline, but have had a once in a decade injury crisis.
I'm not 'against' them, and they're not improving by an average of 5 places. They were highly effective last year, that is uncommon. They are usually moderately effective. They should be used to cover one or two positions max. The last 4 seasons we have loaned: