Syn_13
Fly On, Little Wing
- Jul 17, 2008
- 14,852
- 20,661
...Is, quite frankly, something I hope we don't hear again for a long time. I remember lines to this effect being thrown around a lot in the past few years. Disgruntled fans, fed up with our tight-fisted chairman for not splashing the cash and keeping up with the competitors. Unfortunately, it hasn't quite worked out as we'd have liked.
I think a massive reason behind all this is the weight of expectation that a transfer record breaking fee provides. All 3 of the players we broke our transfer record with (Paulinho, Soldado and Lamela) are desperate to show why they've been bought for those amounts. It's not their faults they were bought for so much, but they have to provide the goods at the same time. It's tough, they have my sympathy, but there becomes a point when you just can't chalk it down to bad luck and pressure.
Now before people get up in arms, what I will say is that breaking a transfer record isn't a bad thing in itself. Of course, it's good to flex your financial muscles every now and again. It shows willing to our fans, players, sponsors, shareholders etc., but it also shows that we're up for a fight to the other clubs.
Being a club in our position is not really an enviable one. Sure, we're not relegation fodder, but at the same time we're not the cream of the crop. We're stuck in an odd limbo where we're too good to be shit but not good enough to be great. As a result we can't tempt players of the calibre of Chelsea or City without them being stolen from under our noses (Willian, anyone?). We have to hope to unearth hidden gems (Bale, Berbatov, Modric) or just strike it lucky with the kind of season that Southampton and West Ham are having (so far! Do think they'll both drop eventually). When you think about it, we really wasted our chance in the transfer window once we got CL football. That was the time for Levy to spend big, not after. Too reactive, not enough pro-active. Also, when we do get those gems they're eventually poched from us because we aren't big enough to keep them, so we have a very small window of opportunity to capitalise on them being here.
In all honesty, I don't want to see us throw shitloads of cash at clubs anymore, I'd rather us try to use the same kind of thinking behind the Eriksen deal. A player that has great potential, but doesn't cost the earth. If it doesn't work out we can recoup most of the money, and more importantly, not look like fools for spending mega-bucks in the first place. At least the media will lay off a bit, and it provides less pressure on us as a team to do so well.
I don't want to see us spend nearly £30m on a player who is realistically worth half of that, but because he's worth that much to the club we're forced to pay it to get him. Nor do I want us to spend that amount on a player who could be the next big thing, because quite frankly this game is full of fine margins and they could easily not make it to that level. It's too much money for that kind of risk, which is why the Eriksen model is smarter. The only time clubs should be spending money like that is on players like Suarez and Sanchez who genuinely show that they've got that world class spark about them, and let's face it, we're not in a position to be able to do that. We'd only get blown out of the water. I hope Levy has finally realised this, hence the ITK about him backing Poch's ideas to invest in youth, and bringing in people like Paul Mitchell. We see other Prem clubs at our level and lower make signings like Bony and Cabaye, players who don't cost a fortune and are bought through smart scouting, and yet we let these opportunities pass us by. Perhaps we think we're too good for players like this and need to rub shoulders with the big boys? Either way, we've done it before with the likes of Modric and Berbatov, so I can't see why we cannot continue to do so. Just makes more sense to me.
I think a massive reason behind all this is the weight of expectation that a transfer record breaking fee provides. All 3 of the players we broke our transfer record with (Paulinho, Soldado and Lamela) are desperate to show why they've been bought for those amounts. It's not their faults they were bought for so much, but they have to provide the goods at the same time. It's tough, they have my sympathy, but there becomes a point when you just can't chalk it down to bad luck and pressure.
Now before people get up in arms, what I will say is that breaking a transfer record isn't a bad thing in itself. Of course, it's good to flex your financial muscles every now and again. It shows willing to our fans, players, sponsors, shareholders etc., but it also shows that we're up for a fight to the other clubs.
Being a club in our position is not really an enviable one. Sure, we're not relegation fodder, but at the same time we're not the cream of the crop. We're stuck in an odd limbo where we're too good to be shit but not good enough to be great. As a result we can't tempt players of the calibre of Chelsea or City without them being stolen from under our noses (Willian, anyone?). We have to hope to unearth hidden gems (Bale, Berbatov, Modric) or just strike it lucky with the kind of season that Southampton and West Ham are having (so far! Do think they'll both drop eventually). When you think about it, we really wasted our chance in the transfer window once we got CL football. That was the time for Levy to spend big, not after. Too reactive, not enough pro-active. Also, when we do get those gems they're eventually poched from us because we aren't big enough to keep them, so we have a very small window of opportunity to capitalise on them being here.
In all honesty, I don't want to see us throw shitloads of cash at clubs anymore, I'd rather us try to use the same kind of thinking behind the Eriksen deal. A player that has great potential, but doesn't cost the earth. If it doesn't work out we can recoup most of the money, and more importantly, not look like fools for spending mega-bucks in the first place. At least the media will lay off a bit, and it provides less pressure on us as a team to do so well.
I don't want to see us spend nearly £30m on a player who is realistically worth half of that, but because he's worth that much to the club we're forced to pay it to get him. Nor do I want us to spend that amount on a player who could be the next big thing, because quite frankly this game is full of fine margins and they could easily not make it to that level. It's too much money for that kind of risk, which is why the Eriksen model is smarter. The only time clubs should be spending money like that is on players like Suarez and Sanchez who genuinely show that they've got that world class spark about them, and let's face it, we're not in a position to be able to do that. We'd only get blown out of the water. I hope Levy has finally realised this, hence the ITK about him backing Poch's ideas to invest in youth, and bringing in people like Paul Mitchell. We see other Prem clubs at our level and lower make signings like Bony and Cabaye, players who don't cost a fortune and are bought through smart scouting, and yet we let these opportunities pass us by. Perhaps we think we're too good for players like this and need to rub shoulders with the big boys? Either way, we've done it before with the likes of Modric and Berbatov, so I can't see why we cannot continue to do so. Just makes more sense to me.
