League tables when Lai took over

[soulman101]

http://www.englishfootballstats.co.u...es/2016-17.htm

[boingy]

When we finished 10th we needed huge investment to compete and push on. We were given nothing. It all went pear shaped from there. If you don’t spend big in the Prem it’s not long before the others walk all over you. There are odd exceptions but they are few and far between.

[WBA1955]

I will only sell to someone who can take the club forward - Jeremy Peace.
He bought out genuine shareholders at a knock down price, made the ground smaller, told fans we were punching above our weight, thought of expanding and upgrading the ground then decided a lick of paint will do, got rid of Megson because he was too ambitious with the list, and finally for his final p iss take, he sold us to Lai and sailed off into the sunset after selling the club for more than Wolves, Villa and Blues put together.
And people still think he was okay.🙄

[mickd1961]

When we finished 10th we needed huge investment to compete and push on. We were given nothing. It all went pear shaped from there. If you don’t spend big in the Prem it’s not long before the others walk all over you. There are odd exceptions but they are few and far between.

This was around the time James Morrison started suffering the injury that finished him.

I was constantly banging on on here about the need to invest in a replacement for him, someone who could pass but also break the lines, beat a tackle and put a defence on its heels.

Jimmy also contributed with goals, we were desperate for this type of player.

The other thing we needed was a proper centre forward, NOT Brown Ideye FFS or the 7-9 goals a season Rondon ( Mr Goal every 4 1/2 games! )

We never replaced Odemwingie who scored at a rate of 1 every 2.95 goals per game but who could also do a bit of everything from holding the ball up to running in behind.

The rest of the squad was fine at this time, we just lacked that midfield game breaker and a proper up front man who could play on his own in a 4-5-1 or a 4-2-3-1 that we preferred at that time.

At the time Lai needed to spend around £25m on these two players.

This penny pinching ended up costing us very badly.

[boingy]

This was around the time James Morrison started suffering the injury that finished him.

I was constantly banging on on here about the need to invest in a replacement for him, someone who could pass but also break the lines, beat a tackle and put a defence on its heels.

Jimmy also contributed with goals, we were desperate for this type of player.

The other thing we needed was a proper centre forward, NOT Brown Ideye FFS or the 7-9 goals a season Rondon ( Mr Goal every 4 1/2 games! )

We never replaced Odemwingie who scored at a rate of 1 every 2.95 goals per game but who could also do a bit of everything from holding the ball up to running in behind.

The rest of the squad was fine at this time, we just lacked that midfield game breaker and a proper up front man who could play on his own in a 4-5-1 or a 4-2-3-1 that we preferred at that time.

At the time Lai needed to spend around £25m on these two players.

This penny pinching ended up costing us very badly.

In a nutshell Mick. Just one prolific striker and we could have still been there. It’s a lousy league now though the Prem.

[mickd1961]

In a nutshell Mick. Just one prolific striker and we could have still been there. It’s a lousy league now though the Prem.

We didn’t really even need “prolific” mate, we needed a 1 in 3 striker not the likes of that useless t w a t Rondon.

I remember him getting that headed hat trick v Swansea and then I think it was over 20 games before he scored again or something close.

If Odemwingie wasn’t scoring at least he was causing trouble for defenders.

We’ve never unearthed the magic young striker we can get a couple or three great years out of before selling on for mega money.

Look at Brighton, there lad Evan Ferguson is 18 and already banging them in and playing for Ireland.

They’ll sell him to Man City or United in the next couple of years for £100m plus and then there’s Mac Alister who’s going for £70m.

Bringing in this sort of money allows you to spend on proven quality and to take chances on potential because the cost of their possible failure isn’t damaging financially.

We seem incapable of finding young talent that actually “makes it”……it’s easy to throw around names like Izzy Brown and Louis Barry but they’re no different to George Thorne and Jonathan Leko, regardless of the fact they left us they ultimately failed.

If they’d been made of the right stuff they’d have flourished elsewhere but they didn’t which means they’d likely have failed with us as well.

Blues are better than us at spotting youngsters.

It’s ridiculous that Jude Bellingham ended up at Blues considering that his dad Mark played for Stourbridge FC and ex Albion player Gary Hackett was his Stourbridge manager and good friend and that Bellingham started off in Stourbridge age group sides.

Hackett still had connections within Albion, it’s inconceivable that he didn’t try to alert Albion as to Jude’s potential and even if he didn’t, we were a Premier League side when Jude was 10-16 and in a better position than Blues to attract talent.

We couldn’t find our own a r s e with our own right hand!

[BaggieSingh]

Didn’t we spend £45m that season?
Not saying it was spent well, but Lai had no idea who to buy
I think Pulis has to carry the can also, he was the death of our club as he just made us a boring 10 behind the ball club, with no creativity
We scored at set pieces

I agree Rondon wasn’t the best but he had no service
Also as for a young striker I remember a certain Saido Berahino who was keeping Harry Kane out of the U21s
The club for whatever reason doesn’t try and turn these guys into sellable assets we get them to play 1 up top and moan when they don’t run back even though they are banging em in

I don’t know who to blame but many decent players have been here and just not done it, but some clubs seem great at getting half way decent players sold for stupid fees

[WBA1955]

Didn’t we spend £45m that season?
Not saying it was spent well, but Lai had no idea who to buy
I think Pulis has to carry the can also, he was the death of our club as he just made us a boring 10 behind the ball club, with no creativity
We scored at set pieces

I agree Rondon wasn’t the best but he had no service
Also as for a young striker I remember a certain Saido Berahino who was keeping Harry Kane out of the U21s
The club for whatever reason doesn’t try and turn these guys into sellable assets we get them to play 1 up top and moan when they don’t run back even though they are banging em in

I don’t know who to blame but many decent players have been here and just not done it, but some clubs seem great at getting half way decent players sold for stupid fees

Tottenham offered over £20m for Berahino but Peace doesn't believe in installments, unless he's buying.
You are right though we spent money on inferior players. Our scouting system is pants.
We are still buying crocks and has beens because nobody at the club can identify uncut diamonds.
Asante being the exception.