Ashley's statement basically ment, when he says bentiez can have every last penny the club makes is u can have about £50mil for about 6 new players and wages, and I'm not spending any of my own money, bc I've spent £40m net spend of my own money in 10 seasons...
Football is the one thing that is totally different to other businesses, if u keep under investing u will pay the price eventually,he gives rafa just about enough money for £5m players, then people like u and pboro complain about him buying ****, who the f*ck are u going to buy better than joselu for £5million????????????????he has no ambition, loves getting us relegated and loves p*sing off the fans.
He got well enough money. The fact that he wasted it and left himself peanuts for a striker is his fault entirely, not Ashley's.
And it's not just a case of complaining about him buying some garbage, it's about him buying players and rarely using them and/or simply discarding them on loan of to play among the youngsters.
5 million on a striker who got chance after chance after chance and yet we had a striker in the doldrums because Rafa refused to play him.
Yeah I know. It's because he couldn't play in Rafa's system, claptrap..
I tend to agree with you on some of your analysis but not all. I was somewhat perplexed by a couple fo the buys when we needed a goalkeeper, defender and striker. Though if push came to shove I would have gambled on a striker. Again, if I recall correctly did not Rafa highlight what he wanted and did not Chanley prevaricate and the accountant prevent the spending of a big part of the budget on a Striker thus time slipped by and we were left with bargain bin buys.
That cannot be put down to Rafa. Rafa is known for his planning and diligence and had a list in very early, he was let down by the hierarchy of the club.
Remember when he went in for a keeper and sels came for 6 million on a decent wage?
We know how that turned out.
The reality was, we didn't need a keeper as a priority. It may appear that Dubravka has proven otherwise but it's doing a massive disservice to Darlow and Elliot.
We did require a change in tactics and Kenedy provided it. It was a mere gamble by Rafa in terms of hoping Kenedy would hit the ground running and kick-start a change in footballing mindset that literally lifted the underperforming players who were being asked to graft and be cautious.
Merino got sick of it in short order and yes, I know his back was used as a massive excuse but I believe there was more to it, just like the dip in form of many others.
Rafa might be many fans knight in shining armour and fair enough if they think that.
As for me, I think he's came in and made some bad buys and was simply in a process of trying to nip and tuck as and when things didn't quite marry up.
I'm still not trusting of him but I'm more than happy to be proved wrong in the transfer market buys and also the football on the pitch being what we all expect, not being brainwashed into thinking we have to accept dire for most of the season...because of (add in all excuses).
If Rafa buys the players and they're not played or shipped out or sent to Coventry etc, then of course they're down to Rafa. Why would they be down to anyone else?
Unless you can tell me which players were bought without Rafa's consent?
As for the loans...of course it's a case of luck whether they immediately hit the ground running. Look at Dubravka and Kenedy....then take a look at Slimani.
All down to the lucky dip.