Competitive Budget?

[Saxo1man41]

I'm highly sceptical.

[champs95]

With the World Cup, nobody has done any business. Other than the odd squad player.
A huge thing for us, is we are securing the core of our team on contracts. One by one. If we get Dack sorted,me are already looking good, along with the players we have signed. Davenport will be a starter. That's all included in the budget.
And agents are away, no club has made any signing of any note, so it's impossible to judge anything.
In 3 weeks time, I think the big signings will be made, by us, and all the other teams. Best to see then.
I dont think we will,do much more other than Armstrong, Chapman and a few loan signings.
In no way shape or form are we going out spending £25/30m all at once this season. We probably have it, but that is just not what our plan is. Mowbray, the CEO etc don't want to go that way. That's all out in the open.

[Saxo1man41]

With the World Cup, nobody has done any business. Other than the odd squad player.
A huge thing for us, is we are securing the core of our team on contracts. One by one. If we get Dack sorted,me are already looking good, along with the players we have signed. Davenport will be a starter. That's all included in the budget.
And agents are away, no club has made any signing of any note, so it's impossible to judge anything.
In 3 weeks time, I think the big signings will be made, by us, and all the other teams. Best to see then.
I dont think we will,do much more other than Armstrong, Chapman and a few loan signings.
In no way shape or form are we going out spending £25/30m all at once this season. We probably have it, but that is just not what our plan is. Mowbray, the CEO etc don't want to go that way. That's all out in the open.

31 year old Burton Albion defenders? I was expecting a lot better.

[AucklandRover]

It's all smoke and mirrors.
I always look at every rumour and piece of gossip, but how many of them turn out to be accurate?
I am not going to witter on about agents again, although I could...at great length.
Suffice it to say that - unless you are a PL club where money doesn't matter - the manager has to play along with all the wheeling and dealing until the time and price are right.
This even seems to apply to contracts for EXISTING players!
I have no idea whether our budget is "competitive" or not, but the budget is not the only factor. NO-ONE is going to pay 2 million for Bauer, for example. He will probably be sold on deadline-day for less than half of that, because he'll be a free agent next year. It comes down to being patient and holding your nerve.
I think the World Cup has delayed things even more than usual. You can bet there will be a s*it-storm of activity on August 9th. That's when a desperate, panic-stricken PL manager is likely to come in with a ten million offer for Dack!
In the meantime, we have to be patient too - although the tendency to think we're missing out is inevitable.
To be honest, if we get Armstrong and Chapman (as the other thread suggests) but no-one else, I would be quite happy, anyway.
Do we REALLY need another back-up centre-half?

[robinrover]

I feel we do have an ok budget for consolidation
Let's face it that's what our main aim is this year
5-6 million on transfers this year
I am with champs on this lets see what the next couple of weeks brings before we start to panic.

[champs95]

It's all smoke and mirrors.
I always look at every rumour and piece of gossip, but how many of them turn out to be accurate?
I am not going to witter on about agents again, although I could...at great length.
Suffice it to say that - unless you are a PL club where money doesn't matter - the manager has to play along with all the wheeling and dealing until the time and price are right.
This even seems to apply to contracts for EXISTING players!
I have no idea whether our budget is "competitive" or not, but the budget is not the only factor. NO-ONE is going to pay 2 million for Bauer, for example. He will probably be sold on deadline-day for less than half of that, because he'll be a free agent next year. It comes down to being patient and holding your nerve.
I think the World Cup has delayed things even more than usual. You can bet there will be a s*it-storm of activity on August 9th. That's when a desperate, panic-stricken PL manager is likely to come in with a ten million offer for Dack!
In the meantime, we have to be patient too - although the tendency to think we're missing out is inevitable.
To be honest, if we get Armstrong and Chapman (as the other thread suggests) but no-one else, I would be quite happy, anyway.
Do we REALLY need another back-up centre-half?

I firmly believe we will use the formation that has been popular in this WC. That we reverted to last season.
We will play with 3 centre halves. We only have Mulgrew, Lenihan and Downing. With Williams able to step in. So I do actually think we need another defender.

A 31 with Champ experience who costs nothing is perfect. Or a young loan player from the Prem.

[champs95]

31 year old Burton Albion defenders? I was expecting a lot better.

I wish you would use your glass half full with England and adopt the same for the local club you support, and stop concentrating on any negative you can find. You where getting annoyed when it was about a bunch of rich Tottenham players. But you are unable with your own club. It's just weird mate. Sorry

[AucklandRover]

I firmly believe we will use the formation that has been popular in this WC. That we reverted to last season.
We will play with 3 centre halves. We only have Mulgrew, Lenihan and Downing. With Williams able to step in. So I do actually think we need another defender.

A 31 with Champ experience who costs nothing is perfect. Or a young loan player from the Prem.

For me, though, that would be emergency-cover only. Nyambe can play centrally, as well as Williams. Then we have Wharton, Platt, Magloire and others.
What would be the chances of another import being needed? Only with a serious run of injuries, I'd have thought. It's not as if we're talking about a first-choice centre-back. If it is a PL youngster, he'd have to be significantly better than Wharton, in which case, his club would probably be expecting him to get a regular spot with us - which I just can't see.
Yesterday's game seems to have emphasised yet again that - as a first priority - we need signings for the front end.
Incidentally, Gladwin again didn't figure, and there was no mention of him on the official site. Injured, or on his way?

[champs95]

For me, though, that would be emergency-cover only. Nyambe can play centrally, as well as Williams. Then we have Wharton, Platt, Magloire and others.
What would be the chances of another import being needed? Only with a serious run of injuries, I'd have thought. It's not as if we're talking about a first-choice centre-back. If it is a PL youngster, he'd have to be significantly better than Wharton, in which case, his club would probably be expecting him to get a regular spot with us - which I just can't see.
Yesterday's game seems to have emphasised yet again that - as a first priority - we need signings for the front end.
Incidentally, Gladwin again didn't figure, and there was no mention of him on the official site. Injured, or on his way?

Gladwin is injured as always. Pay him up get him out of the club, he's useless. Caddis has not been given a squad number and included thus far, as he has been deemed unfit. We need to get shut of him too. They are taking up 2 wages. And if things are tight, then we can't waste in on these 2.
I don't get why Mowbray keeps either. Caddis wasn't fancied at RB even when he need to weaken our midfield and drop Bennett back when Nyambe was injured. He clearly doesn't trust him.
Hart will go out again or be sold. He isn't up to it either. I don't think any of the young centre halves are close to the first team. They weren't in Div1 so I don't think they will be the answer. We only have 3 centre halves in the club. We do need another. Wharton needs to go on loan to a Div1 side this season. Same with Nutall.

But up front we desperately need pace. I can see Gallagher coming back. He has Champ experience and is 2 years older now than the raw player we had under Coyle. Plus Mowbray will know him.
I think Chapman will be used in the last 30 mins of games.

[AucklandRover]

I'm still sceptical. For the purpose you're suggesting, we might as well have kept Ward. If we're bringing in an experienced player cheaply, mainly as cover, he isn't going to be top-notch, and if it's a youngster with little first-team experience, it's a gamble. At least the club knows what Wharton can do. As for Bauer, I should have thought he would cost about a million. At that price, he'd be expecting a regular place.
Mowbray mentioned having five centre-backs on the park after the Port Vale game. It just doesn't look like a priority to me. Obviously, if Mulgrew and Lenihan both get injured in the first week, I'm wrong, but how far do you go down that risk-assessment route? Logically, that would mean having three players for every position, and a huge squad!