Whatever that figure is, it would have been less had we been able to find a way to keep Andersen, Kitching, or preferably both. Particularly unlikely with Andersen, I know. But that's what does for us. Time after time after time. The replacements are rareley of the same calibre, and almost never ready to roll immediately.
I don't think you can quantify it like that. Ipswich spent millions, season after season trying to get out of this division, whereas Stevenage are having a good go, probably without spending too much, on their first season back at this level in about 5ish years.
Ipswich transfer spend:* 19/20 - £700k 1 player 20/21 - £0 21/22 - £3.2m 4 players 22/23 - £2.48m 3 players Majority of their signings were loans or freebies with odd exceptions. Ipswich fans will tell you it was the change of Manager in McKenna that’s made the difference. BFC spend over same period for reference albeit in different leagues* £10.75m *Figures taken from transfermarket.co.uk which we know is not always 100% accurate but will be indicative.
Just looked at Plymouth using the same site and it shows their spend at zero(which I don’t believe is accurate) but shows you don’t need to throw buckets at it to get out.
It's not finding em..its keeping em that's our problem. sometimes though it's us who move em on and not always their choice to go...
What you need to do is recruit players to improve the squad where it needs improving and not sign players just because the recruitment team thinks they'll be sold for a profit in a couple of years and takes no account of the needs of the squad. You also should avoid dismantling entire sections of the first team in one window and trying to replace them with inexperienced untried punts from aboard and non league you can get away with one player from a section but not two or three plus in the same window unless you replace with player at the same level who are ready to go. Like I keep saying it's not the plan that's wrong it's the incoherent way it's been implemented by the people in charge at the club.
But would they be as miserable as kane and the others had they stayed. Kitchings performances dipped massively when he heard of Coventry interest. Now we have players who don't want to be here and its showing in there performances.
The big issue is wages not transfer fees. We’ll spend more than some richer clubs in the hope of unearthing gems that we can sell on but where as we’ll be selling players because we can’t afford to offer them the money they want they can extend their contracts or offer them far more money in the first place.
One of those seasons you mention for us came after finishing 5th in the Champ, so you'd assume our budget would have been adjusted to consider a charge for the Premier League (albeit a very fruitless one). You've also to factor wages in as well. Freddie Ladapo for example is reportedly on over £10k a week, and couldn't nail down a regular place last season. It's an eye watering amount regardless. As you've also mentioned abive, Plymouth have probably been more cost effective. The point is, it's impossible to say how much is required to get you promoted. Didn't Leyton Orient get to to the league 1 play offs a few years ago, with a weekly wage bill of around £50k for the entire squad?
Plymouth is the interesting one as if you look at where they recruited from shows the right players can be found at the right money. Also perhaps the common theme through all 3 is not so much what was spent but who was in charge.
I looked at their recruitment last summer and was quite impressed. We were allegedly in for Finn Azaz who signed for them, and was influential during the start they made. I guess it shows that we were at least on the right lines in terms of recruitment. I tend to agree with you, though I'd say that our squad in particular is much weaker on paper than it was last year. I sympathise with Collins as I think he's certainly dealing with a worse hand than Duff had last season, and we're not a million miles off where we were in terms of points at this stage last year. It gives me hope that with the right recruitment in January, we could kick on again like we did last year. I think only then will we see whether Collins is the right man or not.
Not necessarily though, two of their loanees last season were on £17k per week at their parent club...the question is how much did Plymouth have to pay for their services.
You can do it with a low calibre squad, it just requires an excellent coach with some serious man management skills. Alot of modern coaches seem to have all the qualifications, badges and hours of tactical training but seem to lack the skills that can't be taught. Same in all industries I'd imagine.
Yeah get that, I wouldn’t imagine Plymouth would be paying anywhere near that though but don’t know. I was more referring to where their signings were coming from
There were rumours that Tedic is on a lot more than our general wage structure allows. The likelihood is that both us and Plymouth, weren't contributing anywhere near their full wage. Similarly with Claudio Gomes the year before.
