"We get criticism for not signing English players but as you’ve seen in the last window a lot of them moved very last minute, especially the ones we had on our list."
Wonder which ones? Obviously we wanted Henry, but he didn't move.
That's fine, all Guy needs to do is make a boardroom request to reduce the transfer budget to cover the wage budget and ask for an increase in transfer percentage on any deals in the future. That's what I do on FM anyway
"We have access to European scouting. Patrick and Ahmed are the result of watching games for other players. A Standard Liege [until recently owned by Charlton supremo Roland Duchatelet] scout was watching another player and noticed Patrick. It was the same with Kashi."
So what's happened to this scout is he no longer in the loop and the blinkered fella who found polish he'll come good Pete still in the mix
"We have access to European scouting. Patrick and Ahmed are the result of watching games for other players. A Standard Liege [until recently owned by Charlton supremo Roland Duchatelet] scout was watching another player and noticed Patrick. It was the same with Kashi."
So what's happened to this scout is he no longer in the loop and the blinkered fella who found polish he'll come good Pete still in the mix
"We get criticism for not signing English players but as you’ve seen in the last window a lot of them moved very last minute, especially the ones we had on our list."
Wonder which ones? Obviously we wanted Henry, but he didn't move.
Odd quote from KM. I'm sure all fans would agree that the players we want can be from wherever as long as they do the biz on the pitch!
states we have exceeded wages budget and then states she/we will be "doing something" for morgan fox and nick pope.Is this a way of telling them there is no money in the pot when they come calling with their wage increase demands.In other words this is a message for both the fans and the players .
I think it goes to show the improved commitment the board have made in the months since January. I was angry and frustrated after the way Luzon was appointed, that combined with the lack of activity in the Jan window meant I openly stated I was against the network, having been encouraged by the start under Peeters and new players etc.
We can't be anything but pleased with the commitment shown this summer. And I'm glad they're not being silly re: chasing what isn't within our budget. Going over a little is okay though, that's what I tell myself when I buy stuff
Now we know the budget is already maxed out, then if we do bring in those two loans most of us agree we need, it will tell us if Roland is prepared to bend his own rules for that chance at success.
As i agree with the general idea of living within our means and building a team slowly for the future but i still think both points are naive about just how crazy the amount of money that is getting thrown about in the English game currently.
I can't see how we will ever not make a loss each season outside of the top tier without severely weakening our playing squad or we manage to produce a Gomez to sell every single season, even then it is hard to break even.
I would also doubt that the likes of Gudmundsson, Bauer, Watt and Cousins(assuming they keep up their current form) will all stick around for multiple more seasons or even next season waiting for us to be ready to compete in say three seasons time.
So we have the issue of finding their replacements, which is easier said then done and a dent in the idea of building a squad for future seasons.
I'm pretty sure Polish Pete was bought from the back of a van with a couple of dodgy speakers. Rd though he was doing some great business and got mugged
But concerned about us putting long term commitment in Nick Pope.
Sounds harsh, I know, but I'm not convinced he has shown enough to earn another deal considering we have let go of better players for nothing in recent years.
But concerned about us putting long term commitment in Nick Pope.
Sounds harsh, I know, but I'm not convinced he has shown enough to earn another deal considering we have let go of better players for nothing in recent years.
I'm hardly Pope's biggest fan, but I'm curious, who are these players?
1. The Gomez money hasn't really had a noticeable boost to the squad. The influx we have seen was pretty much the minimum we would have expected. So similar investment in future would possibly need the same level in sales.
2. The massive boost to Starprix coffers by selling Liege doesn't look like having any impact on our budget either
1. Charlton has its own coaching staff; 2. RD is astute enough to know that said Charlton coaching staff need augmenting in view of his decision to sell Liege and cede his right to access to their coaching facility. 3. We are not shopping for cash in the English market unless there is a bargain to be had. 4. There is a certain amount of pressure on Luzon to have academy products in and around the squad to develop them ready for the first team, to keep up our British & FFP quotas/requirements and for sell on purposes.
Clearly more pressure on our own scouting network now that Liege connections have gone.
It's ok , the money we get for Lookman in the summer will cover it
I think the same thing will happen to Lookman as it did with Charles - Cook and Ahearne - Grant. He will miss out the U21 s and be fast tracked into the first team squad.
I think we will continue to be in the dark for some time. Going over budget doesn't surprise me - I'm sure that has happened at many clubs.
The key points for me are;
1) As @AFKABartram says, there's no noticeable boost to the squad after the Gomez sale. That won't happen every year. 2) Some say going over budget shows commitment. It kind of does, but also could mean that RD is one year nearer pulling out and cutting his losses. 3) Living with means seems nigh on impossible in the Championship unless you don't care if you play in League One.
RD's strategy may be to take a slight risk unless it looks worthwhile taking a bigger risk, i.e. we are there or thereabouts in terms of the Promised Land of the Premiership.
No mention of Gomez sale maybe suggests they are working with two budgets: transfers and wages separately. We paid undisclosed fees for a few of the new boys, after all, so imagine that is where the Gomez money went. In the past my understanding was that we looked at it as one budget.
There has generally been an noticeable improvement to the squad though hasn't there? At least based on what we've seen so far. Numbers wise we are about the same but Big Mak is better than Church, Sarr better than Bikey, Bauer better than TBH etc.
Those good quality replacements for players that have left have a cost attached to them - even if they are theoretically cheaper than equivalent players bought within England, I would expect they are costing more in wages than the players they have replaced.
I think throughout RD's time, there has been a commitment to invest in the club on and off the field. The problem was those first 12 months when pretty much all the bad decisions were made - underestimating the quality of the Championship and some of our existing players while overestimating the quality of some of the players transferred in on too long contracts and for too much money. Some of those decisions are still hurting us and have maybe held us back a bit but the trend over the last couple of seasons is one of identifying decent to good Championship standard players and securing them for reasonable fees (well... rumoured fees anyway).
It's true there are still a couple of gaps in the squad, but if the right players weren't available for the right price then we have accept they won't be signed and shouldn't be. Better to run for a season with a mediocre left winger and limited right back cover than to risk the financial security of the club - I'm pretty sure no one ever got relegated because they lacked an experienced reserve right back and we still have the loan system and January to protect ourselves.
Our better players are all secured on longish deals and should, silly bids aside, be around next season. Rome wasn't built in a day so we may have to wait until next summer to put the finishing touches on the squad. Personally I can happily wait at least that long, but patience isn't in every football fans volcabulary.
Next summer, however, it will be key to fill any holes because we won't have the emergency loan system to bail us out.
So basically we exceeded our budget but still made bids for Henry. In my opinion, this means 1 of the following things: 1 - We will still try to bring in a target even if it means slightly going over budget if we feel that signing is the right one for the club, ie - Henry 2 - The public interest in Henry was never really accurate and was just a ploy to pretend the club was still looking to improve. 3 - We were looking to move certain players on and would have made another signing had we been successful in getting rid of the likes of Nego and Bikey
I suspect it is one the latter, probably the third if we are to believe KM's statement. But, regardless of this, there is still a worry. Yes there is lots to be positive about, the quality of acquisitions is the best under RD yet. However, the squad is thin, and some of the younger players stepping up are not good enough. Players like Muldoon and Kennedy are being involved in the 18 because of numbers, and not quality. We cannot rely on another Cousins, Poyet or Gomez coming through. They stepped up because they were good enough, and not because they needed to fill the squad.
With the players coming back from injury, we could be alright but we are very reliant on most of the squad staying fit, especially key figures such as JBG, Watt,Solly and Bauer.
We are not going to compete this year without at least 2 loan signings IMO, and the difference between competing and staying in the division will be made up by RD's decision to take a risk. We have seen a fair few clubs taking a massive risk in order to go up, even Bristol City are chucking money at it. I don't blame RD for not taking the same risk as it can cause massive harm to the club, but he needs to at least take a small risk and take some of the pressure on the best players at the club and also allow some of the younger players to develop in the U21's rather than being chucked in at the deep end.
Katrien was on our train on the way up to Wolves, and was quite open in saying that we were over budget, and needed to get rid of a few. She did confirm that Bikey was on that list to go, but it's obvious that they had to take the hit by paying up his contract, as they couldn't flog him.
She did say that if they needed to they could dip into the loan market, but that would be more for an emergency replacement if injuries get out of control.
Would be interesting to see how it compares to other teams in the league, I'd be willing to bet we are still below halfway in that table given some of the spending going on. You have to wonder how those clubs are affording it, seems to be a lot of gambling going on to make it to the promised land.
I am surprised we are paying part of the wages for Dmitrovic this season, as i just assumed one of the benefits of loaning him to another network club would be it takes that burden off our wage budget to bring in that additional player important for Luzon this season.
I also assumed this is why we agreed to the loan in the first place despite us only having one fit first team keeper at the club after Marko left for Spain.
Not sure what Charlton gained from that decision but maybe it is one of those benefits the network decision but risky for our club, either way i have plenty of praise for KM saying all of this as i am one who has been calling for more blunt honesty to us fans, even if it is not what we may wish to hear.
Comments
Wonder which ones? Obviously we wanted Henry, but he didn't move.
"We have access to European scouting. Patrick and Ahmed are the result of watching games for other players. A Standard Liege [until recently owned by Charlton supremo Roland Duchatelet] scout was watching another player and noticed Patrick. It was the same with Kashi."
So what's happened to this scout is he no longer in the loop and the blinkered fella who found polish he'll come good Pete still in the mix
I'm sure all fans would agree that the players we want can be from wherever as long as they do the biz on the pitch!
We can't be anything but pleased with the commitment shown this summer. And I'm glad they're not being silly re: chasing what isn't within our budget. Going over a little is okay though, that's what I tell myself when I buy stuff
As i agree with the general idea of living within our means and building a team slowly for the future but i still think both points are naive about just how crazy the amount of money that is getting thrown about in the English game currently.
I can't see how we will ever not make a loss each season outside of the top tier without severely weakening our playing squad or we manage to produce a Gomez to sell every single season, even then it is hard to break even.
I would also doubt that the likes of Gudmundsson, Bauer, Watt and Cousins(assuming they keep up their current form) will all stick around for multiple more seasons or even next season waiting for us to be ready to compete in say three seasons time.
So we have the issue of finding their replacements, which is easier said then done and a dent in the idea of building a squad for future seasons.
Sounds harsh, I know, but I'm not convinced he has shown enough to earn another deal considering we have let go of better players for nothing in recent years.
1. The Gomez money hasn't really had a noticeable boost to the squad. The influx we have seen was pretty much the minimum we would have expected. So similar investment in future would possibly need the same level in sales.
2. The massive boost to Starprix coffers by selling Liege doesn't look like having any impact on our budget either
1. Charlton has its own coaching staff;
2. RD is astute enough to know that said Charlton coaching staff need augmenting in view of his decision to sell Liege and cede his right to access to their coaching facility.
3. We are not shopping for cash in the English market unless there is a bargain to be had.
4. There is a certain amount of pressure on Luzon to have academy products in and around the squad to develop them ready for the first team, to keep up our British & FFP quotas/requirements and for sell on purposes.
Clearly more pressure on our own scouting network now that Liege connections have gone.
The key points for me are;
1) As @AFKABartram says, there's no noticeable boost to the squad after the Gomez sale. That won't happen every year.
2) Some say going over budget shows commitment. It kind of does, but also could mean that RD is one year nearer pulling out and cutting his losses.
3) Living with means seems nigh on impossible in the Championship unless you don't care if you play in League One.
RD's strategy may be to take a slight risk unless it looks worthwhile taking a bigger risk, i.e. we are there or thereabouts in terms of the Promised Land of the Premiership.
But, really, we are all just guessing.
Those good quality replacements for players that have left have a cost attached to them - even if they are theoretically cheaper than equivalent players bought within England, I would expect they are costing more in wages than the players they have replaced.
I think throughout RD's time, there has been a commitment to invest in the club on and off the field. The problem was those first 12 months when pretty much all the bad decisions were made - underestimating the quality of the Championship and some of our existing players while overestimating the quality of some of the players transferred in on too long contracts and for too much money. Some of those decisions are still hurting us and have maybe held us back a bit but the trend over the last couple of seasons is one of identifying decent to good Championship standard players and securing them for reasonable fees (well... rumoured fees anyway).
It's true there are still a couple of gaps in the squad, but if the right players weren't available for the right price then we have accept they won't be signed and shouldn't be. Better to run for a season with a mediocre left winger and limited right back cover than to risk the financial security of the club - I'm pretty sure no one ever got relegated because they lacked an experienced reserve right back and we still have the loan system and January to protect ourselves.
Our better players are all secured on longish deals and should, silly bids aside, be around next season. Rome wasn't built in a day so we may have to wait until next summer to put the finishing touches on the squad. Personally I can happily wait at least that long, but patience isn't in every football fans volcabulary.
Next summer, however, it will be key to fill any holes because we won't have the emergency loan system to bail us out.
1 - We will still try to bring in a target even if it means slightly going over budget if we feel that signing is the right one for the club, ie - Henry
2 - The public interest in Henry was never really accurate and was just a ploy to pretend the club was still looking to improve.
3 - We were looking to move certain players on and would have made another signing had we been successful in getting rid of the likes of Nego and Bikey
I suspect it is one the latter, probably the third if we are to believe KM's statement. But, regardless of this, there is still a worry. Yes there is lots to be positive about, the quality of acquisitions is the best under RD yet. However, the squad is thin, and some of the younger players stepping up are not good enough. Players like Muldoon and Kennedy are being involved in the 18 because of numbers, and not quality. We cannot rely on another Cousins, Poyet or Gomez coming through. They stepped up because they were good enough, and not because they needed to fill the squad.
With the players coming back from injury, we could be alright but we are very reliant on most of the squad staying fit, especially key figures such as JBG, Watt,Solly and Bauer.
We are not going to compete this year without at least 2 loan signings IMO, and the difference between competing and staying in the division will be made up by RD's decision to take a risk. We have seen a fair few clubs taking a massive risk in order to go up, even Bristol City are chucking money at it. I don't blame RD for not taking the same risk as it can cause massive harm to the club, but he needs to at least take a small risk and take some of the pressure on the best players at the club and also allow some of the younger players to develop in the U21's rather than being chucked in at the deep end.
She did say that if they needed to they could dip into the loan market, but that would be more for an emergency replacement if injuries get out of control.
I also assumed this is why we agreed to the loan in the first place despite us only having one fit first team keeper at the club after Marko left for Spain.
Not sure what Charlton gained from that decision but maybe it is one of those benefits the network decision but risky for our club, either way i have plenty of praise for KM saying all of this as i am one who has been calling for more blunt honesty to us fans, even if it is not what we may wish to hear.