So old has beens? No thanks. We had Warnock, Tonge, Brown, Pearce, Pugh, Kenny, Morison, Sharp etc all of them proved useless with us and they were proven championship quality.
We need good quality + time for them to get used to the league and not be written off without even half a season having been played.
O OK, 300 each, fair compromise?!
Sheff Utd have a good team because they've stuck with it for 2/3 years + built from league one, a luxury we don't have. We stick with this set up and player base + add 1/2 per season for 2/3 years I honestly think we'd do very well, our problem is we haven't retained those players. If we'd kept the likes of Snodgrass, Gradel, Cook, Howson, McCormack, Beckford, Becchio, Byram, Lees, Johnson, Wood, Taylor etc at any point and built with them we'd be promoted/have done a lot better each year but sadly we haven't. If this current squad had Cook, Byram, Taylor, Wood in it and we'd managed to retain Bartley we'd be top 4. Like if we don't go up this year it is all about keeping Saiz, Alioski, Jansson, Vieira, Phillips etc and then adding the 2/3 to that rather than what we normally do is sell our 1/2 best players then have to start all over again which is never going to work in this league.
On Sheff Utd, honestly think they're getting found out slowly but surely. Once teams combat the 3-5-2 they play and the attacking style I see them dropping down the league.
I can't see Sheffield utd Cardiff or Bristol staying up in the top 6 on the basis their squads ain't good enough
Agree entirely on the building block approach, and taking time. Nearly all the players you name are either British or had substantial experience in English leagues, and as you say had we retained most if not all, we'd be a force to be reckoned with in any division.
We could have "that luxury", if the owner had such a strategy and was willing to deal with the frustrations (from fans and players) that might cause. Just doing what has been done before, hoping that some rough diamonds can be polished, just doesn't seem likely to deliver long term results?
If she can find better value for money players than Saiz, Alioski and Ekuban, dig her up. You mention elsewhere about the likes of Blunts being a project.. but you give our players less than 3 months?? Odd ..Not every player will work out, most of ours have been young signings. Some not given a chance yet or injured. Only the re signing of Sacko I wouldn't agree with so far. And you don't forge a team in one transfer window
Need to read more than one post.#27 mentions building, and IF the owner wants to do so, thats absolutely fine by me, but hoovering up a dozen or so players in the hope that most will come good isn't exactly a plan for stable structures (and it seems from what Orta left behind at Boro that that is about the only "plan" he has in his dossier.
Agree with you about Saiz and Alioski, (Ekuban has had one good game, not enough to judge by (even for me!)) and if we keep both in January and at the end of the season, no matter where we end up in the division, THEN the signs might be that we are going to build not just feed other clubs with the rough diamonds we have polished.