Of course we could. 20k a week is about what a million a year? If we had 20 million in the bank you just assign say 3 mil to cover a 3 year contract. Done. We chose not use our money this way. Now it may be the better choice but don't be deluded into believing that we couldn't do it.
And when the whole starting eleven demand in the region of 20k a week? 11 million a year. Where's that coming from? Or do you think Cryne and all the generations of owners before him have deliberately underpaid players because they couldn't be arsed?
If I'd posted that I'd have Conan and Redstar down on me like a ton of bricks. We should strive to compete at the highest level we possibly can. Unfortunately ambition and sheer determination doesn't magically treble what's in the bank account.
Ermmm, obviously not. But how long do you think your little utopia of paying Conor and Winnall 20k each would have lasted when Roberts, Scowen, Hammill, Davies and any other worthwhile player at the club realised they were getting paid a third of what those two were getting?
They won't be, but if one player is on 10 times another first team regular, how long would it be before he was demanding more money. You're at the same crossroads then, do we pay said player this money and inflate the wage bill, or let them leave.
This conversation has been done to death about 849 million times but there are a couple of variables that people have never mentioned. Yes the massive increase in wages, job security and longer contracts have a massive baring on the players leaving last season but there are also other factors. Didn't Scowen want to be closer to home after having a baby? Moved to London Aren't Villa the biggest club in the division by a mile? Hourihane is an ambitions lad who wants to play in the PL and for ROI. Maybe he thinks he has a better chance of that at Villa? Norwich just relegated from the Prem. Many people's tip to go back up. Watkins went there. We should never have lost Roberts but the money he's on at Brum is life changing and the club decided it couldn't compete. Also they gave Redknapp a load of cash in the summer for a promotion tilt. Never worked but they did it. The Wendies have been in or around the play offs the last couple of seasons. Maybe the snake thought it was his ticket to the big time. Although no one will ever convince me they didn't sign him just to derail us. So What I'm saying is surely it isn't all financial and we have to realise that sometimes players will see us a stepping stone to bigger things. Just as players playing for Watford and Stoke in the PL will be shooting to play for Manchester City or Chelsea et al.
Right but would we have to lay 20k a week. What would we have needed to pay to keep Scowen Watkins and Roberts (who still had a contract) to bring in couple more around the same level as those? Then when we are saying we will have to sign extra players because lots of them won't work out. Now we are looking at throwing more money at it to try and stay up. If that fails and we do go down we lose more money. Will it all have been a saving in the long run?
I heard that Scowen wanted parity with Alex Mowett but we wouldn't match that. Can't vouch for that being true though.
I heard from a fairly direct source that he would rather have stayed and wanted the be one of the best paid at the club but not the best which seems reasonable.
Did Derby do that with Winnall? Or Wednesday with Gary Hooper. Daft to say that no clubs attract Championship level forwards without spending millions. I am not knocking recruiting long term projects and developing players. Do I think we should do that without any deviation? No I don’t. We only got promoted by deviating from it to sign Hammill for example. We need someone who is capable of stepping straight into the team and making an impact. Back to Hughill he was loan out a couple of times and spent the majority of a season as a sub with older heads guiding him. He wasn’t expected to turn up and make an impact straightaway. You don’t develop players by chucking them into the deep end until you know they can swim.
I’m sick of our own fans dampening down and belittling the club. Of course we can compete. We are the leagues most successful Championship club. We have spent more time here than any other club. Too much Keith Hill thinking. I never heard talk like that until that idiot turned up. Coincided with the death of atmosphere inside Oakwell. I think the 2 are linked.
Take Hooper as an example cost Wednesday 3.5 million on a reported 22k a week over 3 years that is 3.4million so nearly 7million pound outlay.
That's spot on. Wasn't his missus crying because they were moving and his dad was tweeting that all he wants was a salary that he's worth?
You were chucking in the towel not long back and considering a season ticket at Bradford so I’m not sure how you have the right to say this as if you’re above others. Just because players are from League One it doesn’t mean they can’t step straight in. Who do you think we should sign upfront who is affordable, will accept under 10k a week and has a good chance of making an instant impact?
Sorry jc. We are not the league's most successful championship club. We've only ever got promoted out of it once. We're the club who has spent the longest time in it. And that's where we are now. Interspersed in that have been extended spells in the lower leagues. I was 22 before I ever saw us kick a ball in the second tier. Again, no amount of wishful thinking was ever going to change that. The only way to significantly change our fortunes was with a large injection of cash. Now you can start wishing.