Dodgyknees Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 Concerning HH figures on investment this window and if you couple that with the January window then overall it must be considered as disappointing when you look at what other clubs have spent. Lerner has definitely hoodwinked the majority into thinking that for a club of our stature in another re-building process that a 13m-14m expenditure over the above stated period is acceptable. It isn't and it could well be that the club is being prepared for a sale? We might have protested in 2009. Ah so we should be defining our rebuilding process on the amount of money spent and not on the players that have been bought? Well, we did when we signed Bakke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted September 3, 2013 Moderator Share Posted September 3, 2013 If anything it looks like he's getting costs to a level that he can keep them at. Why this propensity to see the worst possible case scenario all the time? The club isn't for sale and our striker is still here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briny_ear Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 Keeping Benteke is massive gain for us this window. Bit of decent-looking squad building/weeding too. But keeping Benteke is the major item. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ulver Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 someone, it may have been Hairy Hands (it also may not) suggested the budget wasn't there to add a creative playmaker as well as Kojak which seems to suggest the whole 'it's not the transfer fees it's the wages' mantra that we've been beaten over the head with was indeed utter bollocks as many assumed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyBM Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 i think to an extent we are always going to have a bomb squad which will cost us money, currently we have Given, Hutton, Stevens, NZogbia, Ireland, Bent and Delfouneso, imo, being loaned out doesnt count until theyre completely off the books but when these are gone, whos next? if we buy better players, then those who we currently rate as good will be surplus to requirements, we could see el ahmadi, in there, maybe bowery, herd or albrighton, who knows, we just dont until new players arrive every window Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodgyknees Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 someone, it may have been Hairy Hands (it also may not) suggested the budget wasn't there to add a creative playmaker as well as Kojak which seems to suggest the whole 'it's not the transfer fees it's the wages' mantra that we've been beaten over the head with was indeed utter bollocks as many assumed I'm very happy with what we have done. But what you have said is one of the small things that bothers me, another lie. It makes it hard to trust the new one - that this type of investment is just short term. Etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 i think to an extent we are always going to have a bomb squad which will cost us money, currently we have Given, Hutton, Stevens, NZogbia, Ireland, Bent and Delfouneso, imo, being loaned out doesnt count until theyre completely off the books but when these are gone, whos next? if we buy better players, then those who we currently rate as good will be surplus to requirements, we could see el ahmadi, in there, maybe bowery, herd or albrighton, who knows, we just dont until new players arrive every window Difference is our deadwood in future won't be on massive wages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morpheus Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 Ah so we should be defining our rebuilding process on the amount of money spent and not on the players that have been bought? No i'm not saying that at all. I would like HH to confirm whether Lambert was backed on all of his targets? Until HH confirms lets for argument sake say that he wasn't since we apparently enquired about 1-2 AMs which we didn't get. Then look back to January when we needed new players but none were forthcoming other than a loan who contributed nothing. Does that situation in January or a total expenditure of 13m in two windows suggest to you that Lambert has had the full backing of our board? Do you think that Lambert didn't target more players within the 7m-12m range to improve us? Thats what i'm getting at hence my comment about the possibility of Lerner getting our house in order to be more attractive to a potential buyer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AvfcTheObsession Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 i think to an extent we are always going to have a bomb squad which will cost us money, currently we have Given, Hutton, Stevens, NZogbia, Ireland, Bent and Delfouneso, imo, being loaned out doesnt count until theyre completely off the books but when these are gone, whos next? if we buy better players, then those who we currently rate as good will be surplus to requirements, we could see el ahmadi, in there, maybe bowery, herd or albrighton, who knows, we just dont until new players arrive every window On the plus side Ireland and Delfouneso will never be Villa players again as when their loans expire at the end of the season their contracts with us are up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 (edited) Ah so we should be defining our rebuilding process on the amount of money spent and not on the players that have been bought? No i'm not saying that at all. I would like HH to confirm whether Lambert was backed on all of his targets? Until HH confirms lets for argument sake say that he wasn't since we apparently enquired about 1-2 AMs which we didn't get. Then look back to January when we needed new players but none were forthcoming other than a loan who contributed nothing. Does that situation in January or a total expenditure of 13m in two windows suggest to you that Lambert has had the full backing of our board? Do you think that Lambert didn't target more players within the 7m-12m range to improve us? Thats what i'm getting at hence my comment about the possibility of Lerner getting our house in order to be more attractive to a potential buyer. Just a slight point, we also brought in Sylla who contributed greatly towards the end of the season. At this point it's all just speculation, but it could've been the case that Lambert identified a number of players he wanted but they were simply out of our price range. Attacking midfielders are fast becoming more expensive than strikers these days. Edited September 3, 2013 by Mantis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morpheus Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 Yes i forgot about Sylla but the point still stands. I don't think it has been by choice that Lambert has continued to purchase potential rather than the finished article so we must come to the conclusion that he hasn't been fully backed to bring in who he wanted, even within reason. 10m-12m for a AM on top of what we have already spent in the last two windows certainly wouldn't have bankrupt the club. We have brought the wages down. We have also got rid of many of the leaches and by doing that it was widely thought on here that once we did that then we would see better quality coming in. To date it hasn't happened which leads me to the conclusion that either Lerner is happy to keep us where we are or we are balancing the books in preparation for a sale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Folski Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 People get too bogged down on figures, we've seen last season what peanuts can buy. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 Yes i forgot about Sylla but the point still stands. I don't think it has been by choice that Lambert has continued to purchase potential rather than the finished article so we must come to the conclusion that he hasn't been fully backed to bring in who he wanted, even within reason. 10m-12m for a AM on top of what we have already spent in the last two windows certainly wouldn't have bankrupt the club. We have brought the wages down. We have also got rid of many of the leaches and by doing that it was widely thought on here that once we did that then we would see better quality coming in. To date it hasn't happened which leads me to the conclusion that either Lerner is happy to keep us where we are or we are balancing the books in preparation for a sale. It's all just speculation. I certainly don't think it's beyond possibility that Lambert simply prefers to buy young players. I mean, a lot of the time young players can cost more than the older more experienced players. As for the elusive AM, maybe they couldn't find anyone that was good value for money? We just don't know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morpheus Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 Yep it can only be speculation until someone confirms whether he has been backed on all his targets or not and therefore i'd be more than a little interested in what HH would have to say about it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papillon Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 Reasonably happy with this window. We haven't really enhanced our first-XI and we haven't spent money on any special players, but we have kept Benteke and that was the most important bit. Without him we would have done similar to last season, with him we can do much better. Saying that, we will never know what would have happened if Benteke had left. That would have given us 25M and money to spend, maybe it would have been spent on Kozak? It's hard to get excited though, the difference between the top teams and the rest is at an all-time high. It is impossible for any team to contest for top 4. Everton and Newcastle have been up there in recent seasons, we as well a few years ago and all of the teams had hopes of finishing 4 even though everyone knew it wouldn't happen. Now it is impossible in every single way.... Bummer... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexicon Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 **** hell - the last two posts of this thread have been tragic. Just give it a rest lads - things are really looking up for a change. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morley_crosses_to_Withe Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 Yep it can only be speculation until someone confirms whether he has been backed on all his targets or not and therefore i'd be more than a little interested in what HH would have to say about it? Brian won't say anything about that. His job is to put a positive spin on everything (so even if he did comment, you wouldn't get a 'warts and all' answer). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swerbs Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 Yep it can only be speculation until someone confirms whether he has been backed on all his targets or not and therefore i'd be more than a little interested in what HH would have to say about it? Brian won't say anything about that. His job is to put a positive spin on everything (so even if he did comment, you wouldn't get a 'warts and all' answer). HH is Brian Doogan?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P3te Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 No chance he's doogan IMO. He gives far too much away to be him. He's mentioned how much money is or isn't there on a few occasions which Doogan wouldn't do in a million years Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
omariqy Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 My guess is he is part of the coaching staff or a scout Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts