the money's come rolling in... but not to spurs!

[yidio]

i apologise in advance for the length of this post...

So this season has arguably been the most competitive when looking at the teams outside of the top four. Villa had a great first half to the season, Everton have been as solid as ever, spurs have shown their potential under harry and hodgson has worked wonders with fulham.

Next season is a completely different kettle of fish, however. Not only will those four sides mentioned above improve (spurs & villa have some cash, moyes' sides always gradually improve and hodgson will certainly bring in some steel over the summer), but there are 3 other sleeping 'giants' to contend with. Man City, Sunderland and Portsmouth. 3 teams that from now on will be able to out-muscle us financially. Certainly have less to offer in footballing/success/location/fanbase terms than we do, but in financial terms, we lose. Citeh and Citeh MkII (pompey) are pretty much being run by the same guys, whilst Sunderland are supposedly getting a massive cash injection from this Ellis Short fella, to the extent that Steve Bruce is no longer good enough for them and a top european manager will be installed instead. I can see Paul Hart also being sacrificed for another big name foreign manager, whilst Mark Hughes may well be ending his tenure before he can even say the name 'kaka' this summer. So expect to see these three linked with Van Basten, Ranieri, Scolari, Eriksson, Ramos, Poyet and Alvarez over the summer.

the real question is, however, should we be worried?

'arry will go on about the need to raise funds, but in truth no-one really believes this, as we know the money is there, and the raising of extra funds shouldn't be too difficult since we have some extra-expensive dead wood lying around. shift this and we've got a mega transfer kitty, which will be employed to bring in probably more than the '1 or 2' (three) players 'arry wants to bring in, leaving us with a strong, balanced first team and squad next season. Citeh on the other hand already have a strong, balanced squad (albeit a bit weak at the back); add to this some more robinho's and they'll be (potentially) flying. Portsmouth no longer have to sell crouch, johnson, distin etc and they themselves can pick up the stars that citeh don't want. Sunderland are bound to go in to the transfer market all guns blazing, as the new manager will more than likely want to perform a huge juande-esque clear out, and bring in the overpriced superstars to get the fans going.

So what have we got to worry about next season? the consistency of Everton? the possibility of villa turning up for the whole season? the money of citeh, pompey and sunderland? the brilliance of roy hodgson?

or maybe it's just a simple matter of whether 'arry is really as good as they say he is. they do say he's really good, though.

 

[BringBack_leGin]

In answer to the 'real question': NO

We've proven that we can cope with the financial big boys, we have all our key players tied down for more than the foreseeable future, we are still a big lure for players regardless of Europa (which may well be a turn off to a lot of players) and we have a good manager. The only club to get instant results with a billionaire is Chelsea, and they were already in the European cup. I doubt we'll see many players choosing Sunderland or Pompy over us, some will take Citeh and Villa over us, and we won't even be in the market for the same players as Fulham and Everton.

We will be fine, don't worry, be happy, have a nice summer, pull a few pretty girls on some sunny island and come back for the new season.

 

[Hoowl]

Surely Spurs are a good example to show that spending isn't directly related to achievements?

 

[talkshowhost86]

Surely Spurs are a good example to show that spending isn't directly related to achievements?

Not just Spurs to be fair. Everton, Villa, Fulham, Spurs and Wet Sham all finished above the spending power of Citeh this season without spending as much as they did on one player.

Money is nice in football but it's far from the be all and end all. Too much spending leads to the team being uprooted constantly and that inevitably effects consistency.

I'm a bit concerned about Citeh because I think Hughes is a good manager who will try and get the right sort of players in but Pompey and Sunderland are miles off at the moment.

I think our main opposition will continue to be Everton and Villa...and maybe Fulham if Hodgson can keep them going.

 

[yidio]

In answer to the 'real question': NO

We've proven that we can cope with the financial big boys, we have all our key players tied down for more than the foreseeable future, we are still a big lure for players regardless of Europa (which may well be a turn off to a lot of players) and we have a good manager. The only club to get instant results with a billionaire is Chelsea, and they were already in the European cup. I doubt we'll see many players choosing Sunderland or Pompy over us, some will take Citeh and Villa over us, and we won't even be in the market for the same players as Fulham and Everton.

We will be fine, don't worry, be happy, have a nice summer, pull a few pretty girls on some sunny island and come back for the new season.

I was never really suggesting that we'd lose any of our players to these teams. As for 'proving we can cope', when have we proven that we can outmuscle citeh or chelsea (the only two financial 'big boys' that competed this season)? i seem to remember three players we went head-to-head with city for - martin petrov, craig bellamy and wilson palacios. we can't really talk about the bellamy and palacios deals as we supposedly 'stepped aside' so they could buy bellamy and we got palacios, but of course citeh didn't really need palacios since they'd already lined up de jong and already had kompany. if they have anyone with an ounce of sense up there then city's financial muscle won't only be used for bringing in the robinho's, but also for nicking their competitors targets, for example gareth barry or stewart downing.

i also agree that we won't be in the market for the same players as everton & fulham, but as this season shows, that doesn't mean we'll be finishing above them. whilst sunderland and pompey may have trouble attracting the ambitious footballers that we may go for, they'll have no trouble getting the big name overpayed ones, and as we all know these can go either way.

i'm not having a panic here, i just saw the news of the takeovers at sunderland and portsmouth and thought i'd post. more just an example of the extra competition we're in for next season.

 

[yidio]

Surely Spurs are a good example to show that spending isn't directly related to achievements?

we're also a good example to show how bringing in a (very expensive) new manager and spending a load can take a club from rock bottom to verging on europe!

not saying that money will buy citeh, pompey and sunderland trophies, but that it's going to put them on the right track, and if we only achieve a similar points tally next season to this season's, then i wouldn't be suprised if most of said teams finish above us.

 

[BringBack_leGin]

I was never really suggesting that we'd lose any of our players to these teams. As for 'proving we can cope', when have we proven that we can outmuscle citeh or chelsea (the only two financial 'big boys' that competed this season)? i seem to remember three players we went head-to-head with city for - martin petrov, craig bellamy and wilson palacios. we can't really talk about the bellamy and palacios deals as we supposedly 'stepped aside' so they could buy bellamy and we got palacios, but of course citeh didn't really need palacios since they'd already lined up de jong and already had kompany. if they have anyone with an ounce of sense up there then city's financial muscle won't only be used for bringing in the robinho's, but also for nicking their competitors targets, for example gareth barry or stewart downing.

i also agree that we won't be in the market for the same players as everton & fulham, but as this season shows, that doesn't mean we'll be finishing above them. whilst sunderland and pompey may have trouble attracting the ambitious footballers that we may go for, they'll have no trouble getting the big name overpayed ones, and as we all know these can go either way.

i'm not having a panic here, i just saw the news of the takeovers at sunderland and portsmouth and thought i'd post. more just an example of the extra competition we're in for next season.

when i said we could cope, i meant in general, not regarding going head to head for the same players.

for instance, despite the presence of billionaire clubs with megabucks, in recent years we have bought berbatov, gomes, modric, woodgate, corluka and palacios, all players who would grace most top sides in europe. we also already have brilliant players like lennon and king who we either produced or got dirt cheap, and (despite him turning out to be poo) highly thought of players with big reputations like bentley, bent and pavlyuchenko.

my point is that on the whole we seem to get the players that we really want, arshavin aside unfortunately.

 

[yidio]

when i said we could cope, i meant in general, not regarding going head to head for the same players.

for instance, despite the presence of billionaire clubs with megabucks, in recent years we have bought berbatov, gomes, modric, woodgate, corluka and palacios, all players who would grace most top sides in europe. we also already have brilliant players like lennon and king who we either produced or got dirt cheap, and (despite him turning out to be poo) highly thought of players with big reputations like bentley, bent and pavlyuchenko.

my point is that on the whole we seem to get the players that we really want, arshavin aside unfortunately.

but we didn't get these players despite the presence of billionaire clubs. citeh thought they had money until they realised their chairman was a fraud, so over last summer and the summers before, the only true financial muscle in england was chelsea, and even they weren't splashing the cash - so that rules out gomes, modric and woodgate. berbatov was pre-money bags citeh and he himself was shrugged off by manure, whilst palacios was brushed aside by citeh in favour of de jong & bellamy. corluka is the only exception, but he joined us because he truely wants luka modric's bum.

i'm playing devil's advocate here because i don't actually think we have too much to worry about, but this summer's transfer market will be a completely different ball game for english clubs because of the sheer amount of money floating around. i can't remember another summer where all of manure, chelsea, citeh, spurs, portsmouth, villa and sunderland could in theory afford david villa.

 

[Dr Know]

Well they just reported on SSN that Sven may be the next Portsmouth manager. I rate him highly especially for buying the right players so if true they may well be more of a problem than Man shitty

 

[BringBack_leGin]

but we didn't get these players despite the presence of billionaire clubs. citeh thought they had money until they realised their chairman was a fraud, so over last summer and the summers before, the only true financial muscle in england was chelsea, and even they weren't splashing the cash - so that rules out gomes, modric and woodgate. berbatov was pre-money bags citeh and he himself was shrugged off by manure, whilst palacios was brushed aside by citeh in favour of de jong & bellamy. corluka is the only exception, but he joined us because he truely wants luka modric's bum.

i'm playing devil's advocate here because i don't actually think we have too much to worry about, but this summer's transfer market will be a completely different ball game for english clubs because of the sheer amount of money floating around. i can't remember another summer where all of manure, chelsea, citeh, spurs, portsmouth, villa and sunderland could in theory afford david villa.

you are still missing my point. all i am saying is that, even with clubs around who have much more money than us, uncluding the non billionaire ones, we have still found top players. i'm not saying that the clubs are after those players, i'm just saying that we are and we got them and were happy.

basically, what i'm trying to say in a round about way it, there are a lot of good players, and there are only so many players one club can sign.

i'm going to unsubscribe from this thread no, circles make me dizzy.

 

[Adam456]

Despite what I said in the 'Bridging the gap' thread about billionairre clubs creating a two-tier system and bidding up wages - in terms of direct competitition to us over the next couple of seasons I'm not too worried. If any of them are good enough to challenge for top 5,6,7 then you'll probably see them take some points of the top four (at least at home) and that could get very interesting.

It's IF 5 years down they've spent several hundred million on a squad of world class players that we need to worry

 

[markiespurs]

Clubs like City, Sunderland and Portsmouth having sack loads of cash is a bit like putting lip stick on a pig, it still does'nt make the pig attractive, nor will being loaded make City, Sunderland and Portsmouth more attractive.

City are a great example of an unatractive club with loads of cash, sure they'll be linked with players like Kaka and Messi, but at the end of the day all they are likely to end up with are players like bellend and bridge, with the odd merchenary who could'nt give a shit like Robinhio chucked in for good measure.

 

[DC_Boy]

pompey and mackems will be strenghtened by their cash

the new money just makes it more difficult for the teams outside by the big 4

we gained by losing Newcastle (and previously Leeds) plus west ham's cash has run out (ATM anyway)

now we're facing the challenge of new 'rich clubs'

plus city will presumably be spending big again

the situation is more difficult for us than a few days ago

 

[yidio]

you are still missing my point. all i am saying is that, even with clubs around who have much more money than us, uncluding the non billionaire ones, we have still found top players. i'm not saying that the clubs are after those players, i'm just saying that we are and we got them and were happy.

basically, what i'm trying to say in a round about way it, there are a lot of good players, and there are only so many players one club can sign.

i'm going to unsubscribe from this thread no, circles make me dizzy.

sorry to make you so dizzy, but i never missed your point, i understand that quite clearly we've got some top players in over the past few summers (although we've missed out on a load too) despite not being the richest club.

but it's more a matter of you missing my point - i'm not really referring to transfer targets, i'm just saying that those 3 clubs are going to be strong next year, stronger than they otherwise would have been, and villa, everton and fulham wont weaken. i also think the idea of saying 'but we managed to get our targets over the last few years despite some rich clubs' is irrelevant because we've never been in a transfer window against THIS MANY rich clubs. in the space of 3 days we can already write off the chances of getting jones (no i don't want him btw) or johnson/crouch on the cheap, and even players like tuncay who may well be attracted by spurs could choose portsmouth or sunderland over us because they'll offer a good contract and probably more playing time. it's not just the big players that these new-found rich clubs will be after, but the squad players we want aswell.

dc boy basically summed up what my post was about - 'the situation is more difficult for us than a few days ago'

maybe i should have just said that!

 

[MarkinJapan]

Although these clubs won't become a major threat immediately (see Man City) I can see them improving season on season as they get better players in, and the following season even better...

Man City didn't manage to get Kaka, but having a better squad than this time last season may help to attract even better players. And let's face it with the players they have/can attarct I'm sure most of us would fancy our chances of managing them to some success let alone a professional manager... even if it is Mark Hughes.

If Man City, Pompey and Sunderland continue/start throwing money around within 5 years you'd be crazy if you didn't reckon on them having damn good squads.

So, yes. A bit worried.

 

[DC_Boy]

one thing that's quite funny is that a lot of west ham fans seem puzzled as to why two clubs they see as 'smaller/inferior/less attractive' have been bought, whilst they languish on the shelf

they don't seem to know/remember that pompey have won as many trophies as them - and their last one is lot more recent, while mackems have won more trophies than them

I don't know which club is the biggest - but there's a lot of deluded west ham fans out there when it comes to their club's 'pulling power/intrinsic value'

 

[lishiyo]

I agree with MarkinJapan, I don't think we have to worry much about any of them save Citeh next year (who imo already have a very good squad - they just need a new manager and a few shrewd signings this summer), but in the next few years the spending power of Pompey and Sunderland should not only improve their teams but also force us to spend even more in transfer fees and wages for players. We need to get into the CL before then for the funds and glamor unless we also get a sugar daddy or a brilliant manager who doesn't need money like Moyes, or we might be looking at midtable mediocrity for a while.

 

[Reece]

it's worrying how much money other clubs are going to have, but prior to last summer there's not many clubs that have spent more than us, and we haven't really got that far, i dont think its going to make much difference next season,

its going to depend on a whole mixture of events, not just how much money they have

 

[stemark44]

Its a double edged sword , on the one hand its very worrying for us because it will probably mean that we will become a lot more involved in bidding wars over top players and this could drive up the price leaving us empty-handed.
For instance I would imagine that the likes of Barry,Johnson and Dzeko will go for top dollar this summer.
However,it works both ways in that we should also be able to get nice prices for a lot of our players and I think we have a large list of players that these rich clubs might like.
Bale,Hutton,Bentley,Bent,Pavlyuchenko,Dos Santos,Taarabt and Zokora could all attract plenty of suitors.
All Harry needs to do is select the ones he wants to keep,if any!
Makes for a really interesting summer with lots of possible targets on the go at any time.

 

[Welshiespursboyo]

I wish people would quit fucking bitching about pompey's supposed new found wealth and just concentrate on tottenham hotspur fc.

Christ, it's only just ended this season and already people are being bloody negative FOR NO GOOD REASON about next season!

Just shut up.