Does anyone have....

it's impossible to compare..............

I started on Blackpool and the only three players they brought in for a fee were all "undisclosed" so I've given up !!

 

RE: This is what it has been reported we spent on players

De silva hardly played a game though after we bought him and played largely as a loan player

 

Does that mean we didn't spend the money? nt

 

I accept we have

but not really for a player for this season, just pointing out the players available to Davey totalled under 2 million

 

I've seen it reported elsewhere that we got Muller for free.

Muller for free, Foster for free, and I've also been told that there were appearance clauses in the fees we paid for all the foreign players, so that if they didn't settle in the style of football etc, we wouldn't have to pay as much - as in the reported fees were the maximum we would pay if they settled in, played regularly, etc. So it depends what you believe really. We definitely have a high "net spend" in comparison to a lot of other clubs, but thats only because our squad at the end of last season was so poor (Aside from Howard who was out of contract anyway) that nobody would have spent any money on buying them even if they were desperate.

 

not to mention

<strike>Thierry Henry</strike> Darren Bent for &pound;16.5m!

 

Don't let Nudger see that.

He'll somehow think it proves his point!!

 

Don't see how net spending is an issue

They've still been able to buy more expensive players than us, it just happened they are coming from a postion of strength in having players like Bent to sell. Highlights even more what we are up against as a club

 

I'm surprised you heard we got Foster for free

I think even the official website reported the £100,000 fee. I got the Muller fee from The Chronicle. I'm not claiming it as a FACT, but I do tend to believe Andrew Lodge.

 

YHPM nt.

nt.

 

RE: I've seen it reported elsewhere that we got Muller for free.

In support of your argument here (I think!) I find it far more palatable to consider in any 'net spend' statistics an evaluation of how much our current assets may have increased in value, as this effectively negates the spend. Naturally, this is very subjective and difficult to quantify, but as you suggest, the squad itself was virtually worthless at the end of last season.

Now, I would contest that Muller (£1m+), Foster (500k-1m), Howard (1m-2m), and JCR (500k-1m) would all command reasonable fees on the current market, plus De Silva, Nyatanga (if signed), Devaney, Steele and Souza are all likely to be sold for more than they were bought for. In my opinion, that is one of the main gains under SD for us as a club, we've shed the 'just out of admin' effect.

Maybe I've overestimated the impact, maybe others would say I've underestimated them. What can't be doubted is that we have far more saleable assets on the playing staff now than we have at any time since we came out of admin.

So long as we don't lose players for nothing for expired contracts, I'd be willing to bet that the players fetched in this season (as an aggregated whole) will leave the club for more than it cost for them to arrive.