Think it’s fair to say it’s an exception but they have also shown they will sign older players if it’s right.
But how would it be? We'd only know that when they've spent half a season / full season here. You've mentioned further up that Charlton have spent £250k on the leagues top scorer. We've also got the leagues top scorer, and he was a free transfer. Similarly, they've spent a million pound on Conor Coventry, who I'd argue is an inferior player to Luca Connell, and was also a free transfer. I've never understood this fixation with figures personally. It's about getting the right player.
I always thought that wages are the real issue at our level. To me there's not much difference between spending 300k and 600k, but if you're laying out 8k a week on a 4 year deal for example then it's a big commitment. Especially if other players talk about contracts etc and 5 others want parity with this.
Absolutely. Id imagine the aforementioned Alfie May is probably earning more than anyone in our side too.
You can get players on a free of course, but this is January and unless they’re coming from abroad then they’re probably going to be under contract, which is going to require a fee. My first port of call would be good performing L2 players who are out of contract in the summer and see if we could pick anyone up for a decent price. Then out of favour champ players, etc etc.
On this one occasion, I think this 'Scott' kid is making a valid point, and I agree with it. I hope Collins does get backed somehow, rather than just being sold down the river. Which unfortunately has happened to some of our former managers/coaches.
If we can afford it! Unfortunately I didn’t think that was a possibility, given our current constraints…..
Of course, I was more questioning where you'd got a figure of £750k from. It's just a number, and doesn't mean anything. We might spend that, we might not, that's not really the issue. It's who we get in which is important.
I wonder how much is an issue with wage budget, or our wage structure. We seem to stockpile 20-25 year olds, probably a lot on similar wages. A smaller squad with scope for moving people up the wage tiers if they do well and we have space would work better.
I imagine the two are linked. I would rather have 1 James Norwood than 4 Max Watters. And it would cost us less as a Club. The problem is if that 1 James Norwood earns more than everyone else. Now you have a different problem to deal with.
It's a problem that every club has, and some deal with better than others. The problem would be that if we brought somebody in to be top earner and they failed. But if we offered a decent contract for somebody to stay, then it's already been justified by their performances, and the club can point to their performances when anyone demands parity.
I agree. But if one of the Max Watters suddenly has a 15 goal season then he brings in maybe a million plus in transfer fees. That's the quandary
Yep and the argument about smaller squads/better standard and higher wages just don’t add up. If you sign a player on £5k a week you could sign maybe 5 players for that. It only takes 1 of the 5 to hit a streak. That said lethtyke idea could work