Ashley I understand

[sherwoodmag]

That you don't want to sell your shares in Sports Direct to buy players and lose control of the Company you built from scratch.
However most players are bought on the drip.You KNOW we need a good striker and playmaker to stay up.
You also KNOW how much TV money the club will receive this season and next if we stay up.
What is stopping you buying players and paying for them as the TV money comes in?

[Zippity]

Aye, this is what I was saying yesterday. it's a false economy not going into the red temporarily if by not doing so we lose our premier League status. I'm not saying we will go down if we don't spend but when key positions aren't strengthened then it's definitely a risk you run.

Just because it's his, doesn't mean Ashley should run it exactly the way he wants because, simply, it's not realistic.

[ghostrider]

We have play makers and we have strikers.
We are still in the hunt for more players regardless of having to rely on the drip.

This is what Ashley said:
He's NOT prepared to bank roll the club with his own money.
He doesn't have that sort of money on tap and it's tied up in shares of which he would have to sell in order to PERSONALLY give to Rafa, which takes away the purpose of the club running itself.

He can't compete with the big hitters so why bother using some of his personal wealth to make a pin hole?
Why go into debt for a mercenary?

Trust me. If we have to get a player on the drip then you can bet your life that the player will be sickeningly expensive and asking for sickening wages.
That would be the start of our problems not the solving of any.

[Davearmy]

Aye, this is what I was saying yesterday. it's a false economy not going into the red temporarily if by not doing so we lose our premier League status. I'm not saying we will go down if we don't spend but when key positions aren't strengthened then it's definitely a risk you run.

Just because it's his, doesn't mean Ashley should run it exactly the way he wants because, simply, it's not realistic.

I KINDA agree BUT the argument could be made that if we spend the tv money now ETC what are we going to spend next season?

[ghostrider]

Aye, this is what I was saying yesterday. it's a false economy not going into the red temporarily if by not doing so we lose our premier League status. I'm not saying we will go down if we don't spend but when key positions aren't strengthened then it's definitely a risk you run.

Just because it's his, doesn't mean Ashley should run it exactly the way he wants because, simply, it's not realistic.

It's also a massive risk going into the red at such an early stage.
I'd understand taking a risk if we had a squad of literal garbage, but we have a better squad than many people believe we have, in my absolute honest opinion and far better than a lot of what many of the clubs outside of the top 8 or so have bought in on ridiculous fees and wages.

[Zippity]

Well aye, I agree with that to an extent. Going into the red is a big risk but you've got to balance that out against the risk of not adequately strengthening. I'd love to share your optimism about the state of our squad but I have to admit it worries me. I suppose time will tell about our strengths relative to the teams around us. Lejeune looked good until Kane's assault and Merino looked comfortable too when he came on. I'm looking forward to seeing Murphy develop as well although he's more one for the future (and the fact that he cost £12 says a lot about the current state of the market) but the failure to invest properly in a striker is a big worry for me.

[sherwoodmag]

We have Gayle who has hamstring and muscular problems,Mitrovic who is slow and gets red carded,and we haven't seen Joselu in action.We are as week as pish in the striking department and if we don't strengthen we will go down and miss out on next years TV money.We need a quality striker NOW.

[ghostrider]

Well aye, I agree with that to an extent. Going into the red is a big risk but you've got to balance that out against the risk of not adequately strengthening. I'd love to share your optimism about the state of our squad but I have to admit it worries me. I suppose time will tell about our strengths relative to the teams around us. Lejeune looked good until Kane's assault and Merino looked comfortable too when he came on. I'm looking forward to seeing Murphy develop as well although he's more one for the future (and the fact that he cost £12 says a lot about the current state of the market) but the failure to invest properly in a striker is a big worry for me.

Take a look at West Ham.
Look at what they spunk on players. It's obscene and doesn't appear to give them any steady outlook, yet it appears from the outside looking in that they have ready cash on the hip at all times.
What's up with that?
They have a stadium handed on a plate that is subsidised and owners of yesteryear industries that were struggling at the other clubs they were at after initial gung ho spends.

Who's really looking after these clubs?
Look at Tottenham getting wembley as their home until their new stadium is built.
Spent nothing but that's ok as they somehow have the title winning potential, as we're told.


London clubs that can pluck the cash of the Euro tree that just keeps on sprouting bundles.

West ham were a smallish family type club with players coming through the ranks then sold off.
Today they buy their players and put them all on sickening wages as well as paying pathetic transfer fees for duffers and nonsensical players like Arnautovic.

What are West ham going to win?
Where can they go?
Are they guaranteed to finish higher than we are?

Look at the state of the team we are duking it out with.
They all have players that are itching to get away in search of supposed trophies.
Mahrez at Leicester and a few others at the same club. the very same club that upped all their wages to silly heights and bought them all new sports cars for winning the exact trophy they are striving to get away and win.

It's ridiculous and turns teams into joke teams because you end up with half the team full of mercenaries.

I guarantee you that, if we go into the red to buy players, we are doomed.
All that will happen is, we will become a magnet for the scraps of the best of the rest to pledge their allegiance to, all in the name of helping the club win trophies but secretly topping up their bank accounts that little bit higher due to other clubs not having any more lee-way in their wage coffers.

Let's build with a ceiling and let's recruit from those that give a real hint at football hunger to go hand in hand with a decent pay packet.

We aren't just competing against the Dele Alli's and the Hazards or the near 3 figured pogba's and Lukaku's, etc. We are competing against the officials of the game and the media that make them all the darlings above anything we can offer.

Can we better this team?
Yes we can, of course, but I honestly don't think we will better it for long if we decide to goo into debt to do so, because I believe it will have a massive negative effect on everything and then we will be in real trouble.

[ghostrider]

We have Gayle who has hamstring and muscular problems,Mitrovic who is slow and gets red carded,and we haven't seen Joselu in action.We are as week as pish in the striking department and if we don't strengthen we will go down and miss out on next years TV money.We need a quality striker NOW.

We used to have a striker called Shearer who's knees and ankle was as weak as piss.
Imagine if we'd relied on him?

We have Joselu who is unknown to us but soon will be, either in a good sense or a bad sense, or maybe a useful sense.
Mitro is apparently slow but still plays for his country.

All strikers in the premier league are not whippets.
Giroud is no whippet.
I could go on.
the point is, yeah we could do with better this and that but so can most, if not all teams, depending on their circumstances and expectations.