Quote Originally Posted by FatherKnowsBest View Post
I get what you're saying, but shopping in Waitrose, you can pay three times what the bread and bog rolls cost in Aldi, and get little if no extra value. I think buying football players is pretty similar.

For me what we've really missed are those all important goals from midfield and the back. We also haven't had a credible alternative to Billy and Leon when they got stale and went out of form. Donaldson did his best but didn't look like a regular scorer.

I'd love for us to be able to have a player like Mitrovic, but he cost Newcastle £13m and £75k* a week, (so they say...). Unless we have an investor who is prepared to lose £30m over two seasons (like the oinkers gamble) and hope it works out, then we will be looking to unearth gems and inspire under-performers again.
I would agree re. what you might get for your money, and the performance you get from it.

My aim was more about the value, or otherwise of statistics and Aya's remark about trawling the lower leagues (again) allied to the 'grateful, let's settle for our lot' mentality

My stats show, to a degree, that buying quality CAN, and often does, give better returns but, as we all know, it comes with no guarantees, cf Rhodes.

CW has worked miracles with some of his speculative buys, others have been less successful. The problem with that, as I have said before, is that those above think it a viable strategy to continue with.

Surely the tailing off we have seen is proof that it isn't a credible long term strategy IF (?) you want to climb the league ladder to the top level.