Shoddy transfer business

[samspurs92]

Its called running a business responsibly Mr Risdale. We don't have limitless funds like City and Chelsea. Comments like this IMO are so far off the mark - Levy has done a fantastic job and we are in a better postion for it. We could start spending ridiculous amounts on wages and transfers and go broke then people would moan about how irressonsivle DL was.

Plus we put in massive bids for players in January, we have had lots of ITK saying Levy is willing to spend BIG on the right players, it doesn't mean those player will agree but he is willing to spend it and show our ambition.

Yes we have a strict wage structure but we have too we cant afford to pay £150k+ a week, we have to live within our means. Levy is a businessman but he is a Spurs fan and he is not "tight"

Well, we'll just have to settle for mid table mediocrity then won't we? No way will we get anywhere near the top 4 with our current strikers, don't even pretend we will. The only reason we did last season was because Liverpool imploded and Arsenal nearly did.

Every other team has improved and surprise surprise we haven't when the start of this campaign is arguably the most difficult and important in recent years. I can't wait to see Defoe and Crouch scoring at Old Trafford :roll:

We don't have to pay the '150k' a week wages though, there are ways around it. If Levy was willing to spend the money on the right player then all we have to do is give them a large signing on fee that subsidises the basic wage.

We have to strive to keep improving and the only way is by signing quality players, and we are at the point now where the only players that will improve us are very expensive.

If we aren't willing to spend the money and improve, then we might aswell just give up. I really hope Levy can get us the striker we need and I firmly belive that we are a quality striker away from challenging to be in the top 3. Oh and drop the patronising tone.

 

[venablesphil]

Well, we'll just have to settle for mid table mediocrity then won't we? No way will we get anywhere near the top 4 with our current strikers, don't even pretend we will. The only reason we did last season was because Liverpool imploded and Arsenal nearly did.

Every other team has improved and surprise surprise we haven't when the start of this campaign is arguably the most difficult and important in recent years. I can't wait to see Defoe and Crouch scoring at Old Trafford :roll:

We don't have to pay the '150k' a week wages though, there are ways around it. If Levy was willing to spend the money on the right player then all we have to do is give them a large signing on fee that subsidises the basic wage.

We have to strive to keep improving and the only way is by signing quality players, and we are at the point now where the only players that will improve us are very expensive.

If we aren't willing to spend the money and improve, then we might aswell just give up. I really hope Levy can get us the striker we need and I firmly belive that we are a quality striker away from challenging to be in the top 3. Oh and drop the patronising tone.

I completly agree with near all of what you say above but you however you seem to have changed the discussion there, I was commment on you calling Levy tight, we have had plenty of ITK saying that Levy is more than willing to spend big money on the right players which is why I completly disgree wth you earlier comment of "Levy being so tight".

 

[SpurSince57]

Isn't it great to have people with experience of successfully running premier league football clubs and multi-million pound businesses on SC? People like Nev and samspurs, for instance. I'm sure the Dear Leader could learn so much from them.

:roll:

 

[samspurs92]

Isn't it great to have people with experience of successfully running premier league football clubs and multi-million pound businesses on SC? People like Nev and samspurs, for instance. I'm sure the Dear Leader could learn so much from them.

:roll:

:razz: Calm down matey. Just my opinion, after all this is what football is about. Opinions make the game.

 

[StartingPrice]

:razz: Calm down matey. Just my opinion, after all this is what football is about. Opinions make the game.

Well, some folk say that.
And others listen to them, and demand, as of right, to inflict their opinions onto others.

Me:shrug:
I tend to think 22 players on the pitch make the game. Listening to professional footballing people is the surest bet, not infallible, of course, but surest - unless they are nosediving and refusing to acknowledge what all can see. A shi'ite player is a shi'ite player, no matter what anyones opinion on him is. And, mostly, the nonsense that fans habitually talk (including myself, at times, no doubt), has little to do with the inner workings of the game :grin:

 

[NEVILLEB]

Isn't it great to have people with experience of successfully running premier league football clubs and multi-million pound businesses on SC? People like Nev and samspurs, for instance. I'm sure the Dear Leader could learn so much from them.

Yes it's fantastic. Thanks SS67!

May I say it's also great to have someone with experience of cleaning a premier-league toilet like yourself.

 

[rich75]

If you want to criticise others at least be man enough to put your neck on the line.

If you think we're broke then put a low figure.

:roll: There's nothing "manly" about making wild guesses

 

[DFF]

I acknowledge this completely.



DFF doesn't give a cock (Eek) about what I would or wouldn't allow. It wasn't meant to be taken literally...I kinda got the impression you were disagreeing with me, and was doing the same back. Sorry, I'll be more serious, now.

If you want to lpay it that way: Your argument is complete bolloxs FULL STOP. I wasn't making a comparison - that is why, sometimes, you really just shouldn't isolate one sentence in a complex argument and assign a totally different meaning to it than the one intended. it was part of a greater whole, making the point that we could all take exactly the same tack all of the time, and then, when it is proven wrong, one day, one week, one month, or two and a half months later, make with the 'I'm so glad to be proven wrong' argument. That way, none of us would ever stick our necks out, and we would all appear wise if nothing did happen - and, quite frankly, I think it is pathetic.

Oh, poor us, poor Spurs, things might not work out and I'll be upset

As for your last paragraph - what it means is we can all be a little disappointed, but a bit more understanding. I will repeat (and for you, Peter-the_Yid, if you are watching, this is why I think the OP is completely invalid, after reading the whole of his argument, as stated in my first post): A TRANSFER WINDOW CAN EITHER BE JUDGED A SUCCESS OR A FAILURE ONLY IN ITS ENTIRETY - THAT IS, AFTER IT HAS CLOSED.

Wouldn't it be great if we lived in parallel universes, and you could support a Spurs who sold all of their players at a loss as soon as possible, and paid over the odds for Carlton Cole and Emile Heskey on the 1st June (allowing you to think the TW was a success). And I could live in a completely differtent one where DL continues to run our finances like the genius he is by not just selling our assets for zilch, and we get Adebayor and Falcao (for example) on 30th August. Though something tells me I would be getting the better of the deal.

You have a knack for saying an awful lot without saying much at all, you waffler.

Of course a Transfer Window's success is to be judged on its entirety. Just like a team's season is. Just like an individual player's season is. But that doesn't mean we can't express opinions and make judgements about how they're currently doing, along the way. Otherwise you might as well lock this forum until the end of the season.

 

[Sp3akerboxxx]

I've ignored this thread for ages, but i feel i'm in a piss poor mood enough right now to comment.

DOOM AND FUCKIN GLOOM!!! WE'VE NOT SIGNED MESSI, INIESTA AND A COUPLE OF DOZEN OTHER STARS SO I'M GONNA SLAG OFF LEVY & HARRY AND THEN JUST FUCKIN KILL MYSELF!! AAAAAARGH!!!

Those who are pissing and whining just shut the fuck up, will you? The window isn't shut, we still have about a dozen players who we could do with removing from the wage bill before we can sign so, unless you intend to shell out your hard-earned and buy these players out of their contracts yourself, stop whining in my fucking ear about it.

I have perspective, i have a realistic view of the world. Every single transfer window, a handful of cock-nosed chuds start bleating on about how this transfer window is a disaaaaster and how we've blown it before the season has already begun, endlessly hating on Levy and Harry, as if, had they been in charge, they could've magically shifted all of our fringe players for several million a time and we'd be seeing pictures of the worlds very best holding our shirt with quotes like, "sure, i had to take a £200,000 per week pay cut, but it was worth it to come to Spurs!".

Get
Fucking
Real.

I know that those who are already geared up to hate whatever and whoever we sign this window, claiming we could've gotten better, etc. will roll their eyes at me for saying it but if you're that great at transfers; financially astute enough to keep a club running on an even balance when those around us sponge, football minded enough to identify exactly who we are in need of and able to sweet talk the cream of the footballing world into signing for us without breaking the financial structure in two and fucking us for the future, why the hell aren't you doing it then?

Hands up, all those who are whining, if you are speaking from direct experience in the transfer market, dealing with professional, world class footballers.

Now, put your hands down if it was on Championship Manager.

Yeah, thought as much. Get back to doing your job and supporting your team, let Harry and Levy get on with theirs, if for no other reason than they aren't listening and couldn't give a monkeys cock what you think as you simply don't know better.

Oh give over and shut the fuck up, you sound like a girl. This is a Tottenham forum specifically designed for Tottenham fans to share their OPINIONS. Just because a number of people have a different opinion to you does not mean that it is any less valid.

Additionally, stop using that stupid fucking "you're not in football" excuse, it is juvenile and self defeating. Your argument essentially states that no one can have an opinion on anything Levy and 'Arry do, except Levy and 'Arry. If you truly believe that, then can you be the first one to adhere to your rule and stop posting please? Lead by example.

 

[Sp3akerboxxx]

Not good enough...a TW is either good or bad in totality. We could all, always, say every TW is an absolute fooking disgrace disaster, starting from the 1st day, until proven otherwise - but surely, you can see how pathetic that would be.
The most I could allow, this TW, would be to say it is a tad disappointing that early deals weren't struck, and I am getting a little worried.
But even then, we have to believe that Levy knows what he is doing - I, for one, just totally cannot believe he won't upgrade the strikers (which is what we are really talking about, here) - I just cannot credit that, at all.



^^^ A TW is viewed as a success or failure in its totality /of.

I don't think successful clubs operate in any particular way, I think that is just you trying to impose you desire that all transfer business should have been done early onto a set of disparite facts. Let's take one example, the most successful club of all: I'm sure you would point to them having done their business early this Summer, but did they do their business early when they brought BerbaGit from us? The one player they really needed to replace was Scholes - have they replaced him early = NO. If they buy Sneidjer now, are you really going to say it was a bad show, and they would have been better buying O'Hara off os us right at the start of the Summer? Really!

The fact is, by your reckoning, our window wold have been more succesful if we had brought Carlton Cole and Emile Heskey on the 1st June, than if we buy (loan) Adebayor and Falcao (for example) on the last. Well, hey, you believe that if you want - but please stop trying to impose your panic on me. I'm a little worried because this is a seminal moment in our history, but, while acknowledging that we are not top tier, quite, I still think we have a fair pull in the TM, and I believe our Chairman is going all out to improve us this Summer. So, I believe the sensible thing to do is judge the TW when it is closed, and anything else is premature ejaculation.



Oh, I'm sorry, my bad - I did actually have this out with someone (one of the loose collective known as The Doom Mongers) in the ITK thread, so sorry I haven't posted a permanent link to it.

Yes, YES - that is the whole point! I WILL say I have been naive to have trusted Levy and believed he would do the best for the club if the TW closes and he hasn't upgraded the strikers - indeed I would allow myself to be called a simpering buffoon idiot (or some such).

But there is one thing I can fooking guarantee to you: Every single one of The Doom Mongers will be bouncing up and down, cheering and celebrating along with everyone else if we sign Adebayor and Falcao (or some such) on the last day. Not one of them will have the gall to say "I do this every fooking year, every fooking TW and every fooking game - bearing a miserable, pessimistic shi'ite - and now I don't deserve to take any enjoyment from our success". Will they say this? Will they!

So, that is the whole point - it isn't me who is afraid of being left high and dry by the consequences of my opinions:razz:

In all fairness you can judge things that have not reached their entirety yet. For example, the second world war was going disastrously, until Germany invaded Russia. The TW up to this point has gone disastrously, until we sign someone to change that fact.

 

[Sp3akerboxxx]

I'm not expecting us to make waves in the market now. The time for that was when we at least had the allure of CL. This window i was just expecting us to go into the season with a serviceable striking corps.

This is true, Champions League aspirations rarely entice Champions League players. However, i still hold some (perhaps naively) hope that we will be able to sign a top quality forward.

 

[Spurs Man]

I notice this has gone off topic....

We should have sorted our business by now instead of leaving things to last minute every time.:roll:

If we'd meant business we'd have wrapped up REALISTIC TARGETS - Cahill, Parker, Johnson, and Adebayor/Llorente by now and be set for a title challenge. As always, 1 step forwards 3 steps back.

 

[Mr-T]

This is true, Champions League aspirations rarely entice Champions League players. However, i still hold some (perhaps naively) hope that we will be able to sign a top quality forward.

Liverpool havent been CL for a while now but still managed to sign Suarez, hang on to Gerrard and spunk a load on Carroll. I think we've still got good pulling power especially for a forward, as this years CL teams are chocka full of strikers (apart from Arsenhole who no ne wants to go to for fear of butt-rape).

 

[Sp3akerboxxx]

Liverpool havent been CL for a while now but still managed to sign Suarez, hang on to Gerrard and spunk a load on Carroll. I think we've still got good pulling power especially for a forward, as this years CL teams are chocka full of strikers (apart from Arsenhole who no ne wants to go to for fear of butt-rape).

Indeed but Suarez was never looking for CL, Gerrard is pretty easy to keep as he has aged and his form has dropped off significantly, and he is a diehard bin dippers fan. Carroll is just not a Champions League caliber footballer. They have paid over the odds for average players (excluding Suarez).

 

[StartingPrice]

You have a knack for saying an awful lot without saying much at all, you waffler.

Of course a Transfer Window's success is to be judged on its entirety. Just like a team's season is. Just like an individual player's season is. But that doesn't mean we can't express opinions and make judgements about how they're currently doing, along the way. Otherwise you might as well lock this forum until the end of the season.

And you have a knack of saying little and it meaning even less.

No, judging a transfer window in the middle isn't like juding a teams season in the middle - what a spurious, and dare I say, foolish, analogy.
If a club has lost 9 of it's 18 games in the middle of a season, they can't suddenly unlose them on the 19th game, can they. Even if they turn things around after then, and don't lose another game, they have still lost a quarter of their games - which is likely to mean their season wasn't great and the first half of the season was dreadful.
But if a club hasn't brought anyone half-way through a TW, and then suddenly buy 3 WC players just after, by the end of the TW they will have had a good TW, and it is impossible to say the first half was relegation candidate level - that's just silly. In fact the whole notion is silly. I ask you again, if we had signed Carlton Cole and Emile Heskey on the first day of the window would you classify it as more of a success than if we sign Adebayor and Falcao (for example) on the last day of it?

And, finally, we get back to the old chestnut - you just want to express your opinion and that is what a forum is about. Firstly, there are far more things to discuss on a Spurs MB than whining incessantly about how terrible the transfer window has been. Secondly, if you really imagine that MBs are just places for folk to express their opinions, then clearly we have very different notions of what an MB is. To me, an MB is a place to discuss opinions. If you hold an opinion that is logically weak, and you can't stand anyone telling you that, perhaps you should have an online blog, instead - that way you can count all of the hits on your site and live in the conceit that you are some kind of genius imparting wisdom on to the (Spurs) World. Fine. When you want to express judgements, which are wholly spurious - like the notion that you can judge something in the middle which can only be judged a success or a failure in its entirity, you have to expect that others might tell you it is:bs: And, this may come as a surprise to you, and be difficult to accept, this is my opinion - why you no let me express my opinion This place we express opinions, yes I want express opinion your opinion shi'ite and you no let Let me express opinion...it no fair
So, what are you saying - you want seperate threads for every shade of opinion, and no-one who doesn't hold that opinion is allowed to comment in it:duh:

Grow up. It is my opinion that the notion that we can judge something part of the way through that can only be judged in its entrity - and I am expressing it.

In all fairness you can judge things that have not reached their entirety yet. For example, the second world war was going disastrously, until Germany invaded Russia. The TW up to this point has gone disastrously, until we sign someone to change that fact.

Yes, but W.W.II was a very, very different thing to THFCs TW - what a silly analogy. The fact that Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan invaded half the known World, inflicting terrible causualties and cruelty along the way wasn't altered by D-Day or the capture of the Reichstag, was it:shrug: It didn't un-tragedy the whole thing, or bring folk back to life, did it:shrug: The fact that we could make some amazing signings today which will qualify the TW as a resounding success can change the whole picture of a TW - which is, after all judged solely on whether the team was improved or not.
The TW hasn't gone disastrously at all...it just hasn't seen as much movement as some folk would want as quickly as they would want.
I will ask you the same question I asked DFF, and others, elsewhere: if we had signed Carlton Cole and Emile Heskey on the first day of the window would you classify it as more of a success than if we sign Adebayor and Falcao (for example) on the last day of it?

But I get it - a few miserables want a whole thread to themselves were they can weep together and confirm themsleves in believing the TW window has been a disaster, and no matter who we sign now, they can confirm themselves in their negative opinions, and gripe and moan. Oh, what sad and bitter tears you must weep:roll: Well, go ahead, weep away, because my participation in this thread is over and done with, as you would clearly confort one another in your sadness than listen to arguments based on reason:hello: No more posts from me in this thread.

 

[kaz Hirai]

i think we will panic buy someone before the window closes, but this all should have been taken care of back in june/july

we will travel to old trafford on monday trying to beat the champions with the 3 amigos still

 

[Spurs Man]

And you have a knack of saying little and it meaning even less.

No, judging a transfer window in the middle isn't like juding a teams season in the middle - what a spurious, and dare I say, foolish, analogy.
If a club has lost 9 of it's 18 games in the middle of a season, they can't suddenly unlose them on the 19th game, can they. Even if they turn things around after then, and don't lose another game, they have still lost a quarter of their games - which is likely to mean their season wasn't great and the first half of the season was dreadful.
But if a club hasn't brought anyone half-way through a TW, and then suddenly buy 3 WC players just after, by the end of the TW they will have had a good TW, and it is impossible to say the first half was relegation candidate level - that's just silly. In fact the whole notion is silly. I ask you again, if we had signed Carlton Cole and Emile Heskey on the first day of the window would you classify it as more of a success than if we sign Adebayor and Falcao (for example) on the last day of it?

And, finally, we get back to the old chestnut - you just want to express your opinion and that is what a forum is about. Firstly, there are far more things to discuss on a Spurs MB than whining incessantly about how terrible the transfer window has been. Secondly, if you really imagine that MBs are just places for folk to express their opinions, then clearly we have very different notions of what an MB is. To me, an MB is a place to discuss opinions. If you hold an opinion that is logically weak, and you can't stand anyone telling you that, perhaps you should have an online blog, instead - that way you can count all of the hits on your site and live in the conceit that you are some kind of genius imparting wisdom on to the (Spurs) World. Fine. When you want to express judgements, which are wholly spurious - like the notion that you can judge something in the middle which can only be judged a success or a failure in its entirity, you have to expect that others might tell you it is:bs: And, this may come as a surprise to you, and be difficult to accept, this is my opinion - why you no let me express my opinion This place we express opinions, yes I want express opinion your opinion shi'ite and you no let Let me express opinion...it no fair
So, what are you saying - you want seperate threads for every shade of opinion, and no-one who doesn't hold that opinion is allowed to comment in it:duh:

Grow up. It is my opinion that the notion that we can judge something part of the way through that can only be judged in its entrity - and I am expressing it.



Yes, but W.W.II was a very, very different thing to THFCs TW - what a silly analogy. The fact that Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan invaded half the known World, inflicting terrible causualties and cruelty along the way wasn't altered by D-Day or the capture of the Reichstag, was it:shrug: It didn't un-tragedy the whole thing, or bring folk back to life, did it:shrug: The fact that we could make some amazing signings today which will qualify the TW as a resounding success can change the whole picture of a TW - which is, after all judged solely on whether the team was improved or not.
The TW hasn't gone disastrously at all...it just hasn't seen as much movement as some folk would want as quickly as they would want.
I will ask you the same question I asked DFF, and others, elsewhere: if we had signed Carlton Cole and Emile Heskey on the first day of the window would you classify it as more of a success than if we sign Adebayor and Falcao (for example) on the last day of it?

But I get it - a few miserables want a whole thread to themselves were they can weep together and confirm themsleves in believing the TW window has been a disaster, and no matter who we sign now, they can confirm themselves in their negative opinions, and gripe and moan. Oh, what sad and bitter tears you must weep:roll: Well, go ahead, weep away, because my participation in this thread is over and done with, as you would clearly confort one another in your sadness than listen to arguments based on reason:hello: No more posts from me in this thread.

:rofl:

What a load of NONSENSE! SP could probably write a 10 page essay on a yes/no answer.:roll:



Whether we still have time in the transfer window to buy or not doesn't change the fact that any potential new signings won't be given time to settle and gel with the team before being thrown straight into competitive games. NOT IDEAL. So saying that the window is still open, stop moaning etc is nonsense.

 

[sloth]

How much do you think we can spend on a transfer fee?

How much on wages?


I'd really love to hear what everyone's figures are on this. Especially the one's who are saying we're broke. Put in the maximum you think we can spend.

I'll go first! :shake:

Transfer fee = £22M
Wages = £90k

Not sure why you started a new thread, it seems like part of the same conversation to me.

First of all I'd say your figure is in the right ball-park. I reckon without selling anyone we've got about £22m (poss more) and as you suggest £4.5m p/a wages, or £22.5m wages over a five year contract. That would eat up all the additional revenue from last years CL and increased sponsorship deals.

If we spent all of that on a striker then we wouldn't be able to afford a midfielder or defender, but seeing as it's a striker that we need I think we should go for it.

A transfer fee - if spent on a player in his early 20s - can be recouped at a later date if we need to cash in one of our assets, either to buy a better player, or in extremis, to bail us out of financial hot water.

The wages are gone forever.

So purchasing a player is an investment and will show on the company accounts as an asset. Wages are simply a cost.

The risk when investing in a single expensive player is that he breaks, or just your judgement turns out to be completely wrong (Bentley). A further consideration must be a player's age.

Someone like Peter Crouch, for instance, may have another year in him where he can offer something to the team, but he will have two years after that where he potentially won't and yet we won't be able to sell him to anyone else because of the high wages he's on.

This is also what happened to Robbie Keane who we took a £12m hit on (those who try to pretend that it was ok spunking £15m on Keane because we'd just sold him for £20m completely miss the point that it was £15m which could have been spent on another player had it not gone on him - Rossi for instance).

So to re-cap I agree with you that we've got about £22m to invest in a player or players and an extra £22m over five years we can spend on wages.

The younger and better the player then the more we would invest; the older the player then the less.

If on top of that we can raise funds buy selling some of our assets and at the same time free up wages from the wage-pool then we will have even more.

After that it's simply a question of identifying the right targets and persuading them to come.

This is what I'm sure the club as been moving heaven and earth to do over the last few months.

The problem as I see it is that clubs like ours need to box clever in the transfer market, we can't target Falcao or Cavani after they've proved themselves in a European league or a big club, but as with Porto and Catania or even Napoli we have to take a a calculated risk before that happens.

For that you need a man in charge of scouting who the manager and the chairman both trust. I think Broomfield could be pretty good, I think he got it right with Sandro and even if I believe Redknapp was reluctant between the three of them they got it right with him.

I don't think that over all though Redknapp is much interested in doing it this way. For him the mantra is spend big/win big and its obverse don't spend big/win fuck all.

He's happy to spunk it on known quantities - even if they're on their swansong - such as Joe Cole, Robbie Keane, Peter Crouch, Diego Forlan, Scot Parker etc. Not for him the transfer fee/wages/age equation. It won't matter to him if we can't afford that bright young thing in couple of years because we've got some ageing pros on massive wages clogging up the squad, he won't be here. What'll count for him is the job he does at the new club and the fact that he won an FA Cup or whatever at the last one.

Anyway, in short, we have the cash, I suspect there's a division between the types of targets we're going for. There's no point in Levy buying a player Harry doesn't want. But if Harry doesn't want the right kind of player (as in a long-term financially sustainable one) we can't go for him either. Which then perhaps leads us to waste our time going for the long-shots, the players of undoubted class who both chairman and manager can agree would improve the side, but who we're very unlikely to get.

This is imo Levy's fault for hiring Redknapp. But it's also Redknapp's fault for not engaging with the issues which face a club our size.

Hopefully once Harry can be convinced he's not going to get Falcao or Rossi, nor is he allowed to sign the likes of Forlan, Parker or Cole he'l knuckle down and take a punt on a Broomfield recommendation (or one of his own hunches; as long as it's not an Odemwengie type hunch) and we can wrap our business up in short order.

Final thing, I think an Adeybayour loan would be perfect for us. It satisfies manager and chairman, we get a striker and we've still got funds left for the next manager when he comes in the summer of 2012.

 

[jimmy-jojo]

Couldn't agree more with Sloth's synopsis.

 

[Ron Burgundy]

Not sure why you started a new thread, it seems like part of the same conversation to me.

First of all I'd say your figure is in the right ball-park. I reckon without selling anyone we've got about £22m (poss more) and as you suggest £4.5m p/a wages, or £22.5m wages over a five year contract. That would eat up all the additional revenue from last years CL and increased sponsorship deals.

If we spent all of that on a striker then we wouldn't be able to afford a midfielder or defender, but seeing as it's a striker that we need I think we should go for it.

A transfer fee - if spent on a player in his early 20s - can be recouped at a later date if we need to cash in one of our assets, either to buy a better player, or in extremis, to bail us out of financial hot water.

The wages are gone forever.

So purchasing a player is an investment and will show on the company accounts as an asset. Wages are simply a cost.

The risk when investing in a single expensive player is that he breaks, or just your judgement turns out to be completely wrong (Bentley). A further consideration must be a player's age.

Someone like Peter Crouch, for instance, may have another year in him where he can offer something to the team, but he will have two years after that where he potentially won't and yet we won't be able to sell him to anyone else because of the high wages he's on.

This is also what happened to Robbie Keane who we took a £12m hit on (those who try to pretend that it was ok spunking £15m on Keane because we'd just sold him for £20m completely miss the point that it was £15m which could have been spent on another player had it not gone on him - Rossi for instance).

So to re-cap I agree with you that we've got about £22m to invest in a player or players and an extra £22m over five years we can spend on wages.

The younger and better the player then the more we would invest; the older the player then the less.

If on top of that we can raise funds buy selling some of our assets and at the same time free up wages from the wage-pool then we will have even more.

After that it's simply a question of identifying the right targets and persuading them to come.

This is what I'm sure the club as been moving heaven and earth to do over the last few months.

The problem as I see it is that clubs like ours need to box clever in the transfer market, we can't target Falcao or Cavani after they've proved themselves in a European league or a big club, but as with Porto and Catania or even Napoli we have to take a a calculated risk before that happens.

For that you need a man in charge of scouting who the manager and the chairman both trust. I think Broomfield could be pretty good, I think he got it right with Sandro and even if I believe Redknapp was reluctant between the three of them they got it right with him.

I don't think that over all though Redknapp is much interested in doing it this way. For him the mantra is spend big/win big and its obverse don't spend big/win fuck all.

He's happy to spunk it on known quantities - even if they're on their swansong - such as Joe Cole, Robbie Keane, Peter Crouch, Diego Forlan, Scot Parker etc. Not for him the transfer fee/wages/age equation. It won't matter to him if we can't afford that bright young thing in couple of years because we've got some ageing pros on massive wages clogging up the squad, he won't be here. What'll count for him is the job he does at the new club and the fact that he won an FA Cup or whatever at the last one.

Anyway, in short, we have the cash, I suspect there's a division between the types of targets we're going for. There's no point in Levy buying a player Harry doesn't want. But if Harry doesn't want the right kind of player (as in a long-term financially sustainable one) we can't go for him either. Which then perhaps leads us to waste our time going for the long-shots, the players of undoubted class who both chairman and manager can agree would improve the side, but who we're very unlikely to get.

This is imo Levy's fault for hiring Redknapp. But it's also Redknapp's fault for not engaging with the issues which face a club our size.

Hopefully once Harry can be convinced he's not going to get Falcao or Rossi, nor is he allowed to sign the likes of Forlan, Parker or Cole he'l knuckle down and take a punt on a Broomfield recommendation (or one of his own hunches; as long as it's not an Odemwengie type hunch) and we can wrap our business up in short order.

Final thing, I think an Adeybayour loan would be perfect for us. It satisfies manager and chairman, we get a striker and we've still got funds left for the next manager when he comes in the summer of 2012.

I can't give you a rep for this (I have to 'spread it around more' apparently) but that's spot on

Great post