The £300 million team

A total momentum reverse under Reed. Simple as that. Gone from getting things mostly correct to getting things mostly horrendously wrong. And as with any object that has recently fallen from a large height, we've been accelerating in recent seasons. Question is, have we gone terminal under Reed? And where is the bottom?

I have spoken before about Les Reed and the momentum curve and our journey since he took over is classic.

The momentum created by Cortese / Paul Mitchell was powerful and allowed us to continue apparently unfazed from the Cortese /Mitchell departures. I preached (apparently trolled) about the dangers but fans work game to game and when you're winning you think it will last forever.

We peaked (top of our momentum) 15/16 and needed new impitus to stop the inevitable and predicted slide.

Puel was that impitus and set us nicely sliding down the momentum curve.

The decline is not finished yet and while it might slow down the damage is done.

We have killed the academy and discouraged the next generation of fans in 2-3 years of mismanagement.

Club needs a clear out before momentum could start positively again. Could take years to recover from this Les Reed era

I have spoken before about Les Reed and the momentum curve and our journey since he took over is classic.

 

The momentum created by Cortese / Paul Mitchell was powerful and allowed us to continue apparently unfazed from the Cortese /Mitchell departures. I preached (apparently trolled) about the dangers but fans work game to game and when you're winning you think it will last forever.

 

We peaked (top of our momentum) 15/16 and needed new impitus to stop the inevitable and predicted slide.

 

Puel was that impitus and set us nicely sliding down the momentum curve.

 

The decline is not finished yet and while it might slow down the damage is done.

 

We have killed the academy and discouraged the next generation of fans in 2-3 years of mismanagement.

 

Club needs a clear out before momentum could start positively again. Could take years to recover from this Les Reed era

He could see what we needed and would have been on the case strengthening the side. Anyway it is history and we have to move on and stomach the bad decision (IMO) of getting of him

Some of that I agree with but Puel is not to blame for the slide. He would have developed us by now into a decent team.

He could see what we needed and would have been on the case strengthening the side. Anyway it is history and we have to move on and stomach the bad decision (IMO) of getting of him

For all Puels strengths and he had a few, he was appointed at the wrong time.

We were delicately poised at the top of our momentum curve and Puels new considered approach was not fitting with the squad we had.

For all Puels strengths and he had a few, he was appointed at the wrong time.

 

We were delicately poised at the top of our momentum curve and Puels new considered approach was not fitting with the squad we had.

Imagine had we hired Bielsa when Koeman left, squad that just finished 6th, battle hardened and needed pushing

Instead we got a damp rag

Imagine had we hired Bielsa when Koeman left, squad that just finished 6th, battle hardened and needed pushing

 

Instead we got a damp rag

Puel killed the momentum with his chosen style that's for sure, but I don't blame Puel.

I blame Les Reed as he appointed Puel (and Little Wilson and Eric F-ing Black.)

Was like taking a fast moving train and applying a 15mph limiter on it.

Imagine had we hired Bielsa when Koeman left, squad that just finished 6th, battle hardened and needed pushing

 

Instead we got a damp rag

a damp rag that got us to 8th and a cup final. Strachan played pretty poor football and he gets lauded.

You understand how a momentum curve works right? You don't just go from 250mph to 20mph

Its gradual but clear your spreed is declining.

8th wasn't the issue it was the clear playing decline + massive points drop and failure to win a single game against the top 6 in the league.

A run that's now extended 800+ days.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2557[/ATTACH]

You understand how a momentum curve works right? You don't just go from 250mph to 20mph

 

Its gradual but clear your spreed is declining.

 

8th wasn't the issue it was the clear playing decline + massive points drop and failure to win a single game against the top 6 in the league.

 

A run that's now extended 800+ days.

 

Yes I do know how such things work. Of course with all these things it depends on what fuel you feed into it to give it power. The fuel was starved for Puel as they didn't give him any players in the pre season and so the carbs were blocked.

of course, playing Austin wide left (before dropping him) was a masterstroke

Wrong, it's impossible to know what is just paper talk and what's genuine but Van Dijk was linked with Spurs and Everton, Mane - Manchester City, Spurs and West Ham and Wanyamma - Arsenal, Liverpool and Everton amongst others.

Meanwhile here's Arsenal being linked with Elyounoussi

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/5759369/arsenal-eyeing-up-basel-ace-mohamed-elyounoussi/

And Everton linked with Armstrong.

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/royalbluemersey.sbnation.com/platform/amp/2017/8/17/16160692/everton-transfer-rumours-news-stuart-armstrong-celtic-west-brom-southampton

And Everton linked with Vestergaard.

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/everton-news-transfers-live-lookman-14831095

And Arsenal linked with Vestergaard.

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/www.skysports.com/amp/football/news/11670/11199942/arsenal-transfer-news-and-rumours-theo-walcott-and-jannik-vestergaard

You understand how a momentum curve works right? You don't just go from 250mph to 20mph

 

Its gradual but clear your spreed is declining.

 

8th wasn't the issue it was the clear playing decline + massive points drop and failure to win a single game against the top 6 in the league.

 

A run that's now extended 800+ days.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2557[/ATTACH]

Sent from my SM-T580 using Tapatalk

I don't know how a momentum curve works. Could you explain it a little more please.

 

Sent from my SM-T580 using Tapatalk

don't take the mickey, Micky

Whilst not defending of condemning anyone, it seems that everything that is/was good has nothing to do with Reed but everything bad is/was the fault of reed...

 

Nick, that`s how its judged on here by the lynch mob so give up trying to explain, your efforts are respected by those with sensible reasoning but will be ultimately futile for the aforementioned mob

Forgive my heavily sarcasm laced post - consider this fair warning not to read on . But I am so fed up with this board and management structure. We are going absolutely no where compared to before KL wanted out. No ambition, no drive, and a total sell out of the club's values. Thats probably our lot as saints fans. But lets not act like our current board are any good ffs.

Things that went well under current board/Reed. He hired Koeman.

List of things that went badly wrong:

Pochettino

2014 - lied to the fans, season ticket window shut, sold lambert, sold lallana, sold chambers, sold clyne, sold lovren, sold shaw (mostly to the same club) - utter decimation of fan trust in the club's board (a stain that lingers) and decimated the remaining players'

confidence and trust in the club. Also blamed all of the above on his predecessor whilst taking credit for anything he could get his hands on (someone floating to the top)... From there the rot set in - as did Glasgow's famous momentum curve.

We got Koeman - a great appointment, but literally the only thing this board / reed have got significantly right.

Epic **** up with Toby - Literally ****ing epic. And a serious nail in the Koeman coffin.

further fallings out with loyal club servants like Morgan and Fonte. Sales of other key players like Wanyama, and key backroom staff... No other club has experienced this in the premier league from the position saints were in. Its almost like they wanted to completely erase all vestiges of the previous regime...

Its okay though, because Reed was instrumental in our rise. He signed Lambert, Fonte, Hammond, Harding, Puncheon etc etc... Even persuaded Kelvin to stay at the club before Reed even took up his own position.

And after he had actually signed, Reed was able to get a great deal selling Oxlade to Arsenal, and was instrumental in securing players like Jayrod and Clyne. Sadly though he wasn't able to prevent the evil Don from signing players like Gaston and Jack Sparrow... (I've got this right haven't I? - everything good was Reed, every bad was Cortese?) I.e. he wrestled power from Cortese to hire Adkins, but was in no way involved in the decision to sack him and hire Poch?

As was obviously going to happen, Koeman finally had enough of reed (or vice versa - assume ego involved somewhere), and when it was obvious he couldn't get Koeman to extend on his terms he took Everton's money and ran. Quickly flogged of Pelle and Mane (cheap) whilst he was at it - that was okay though because we signed redmond and boufal

Lets also not forget "The Southampton way" - an approach introduced and pioneered by Cortese/Poch with the credit taken by Reed (multiple press conferences) and this board - whilst we quietly abandoned it on the side - all the while signing highly paid foreign players on the books.

Almost forgot Fraser 6years Forster

Puel.

Pellogrino.

Failure to sack Pellegrino until literally the last bloody second - but thank god someone did sack him.

Carrilo (wrong place, wrong time for this guy)

Just off champions league to 46points in 1 year. Relegation scrap inside 2 years. (I think only Leeds have done better than that in modern times...?)

I could go on and on.... But i think thats a fair initial summary of what our current board have delivered for the club.

We did get new floodlights I suppose?

I also never know who we credit the training ground too? Is it Cortese? Or was he the most financially incompetent investment banker ever with no idea how to manage the club finances... so confused by all the spin now ... But then without him we would never have had the training facilities we have now (for numerous reasons)

Great summary 86.

You understand how a momentum curve works right? You don't just go from 250mph to 20mph

 

Its gradual but clear your spreed is declining.

 

8th wasn't the issue it was the clear playing decline + massive points drop and failure to win a single game against the top 6 in the league.

 

A run that's now extended 800+ days.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2557[/ATTACH]

Which part of the momentum curve were we on here pal?

https://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?43615-Team-playing-well-under-Pochettino-MYTH&highlight=Glasgow+Saint

LOL okay then.

 

Meanwhile here's Arsenal being linked with Elyounoussi

 

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/5759369/arsenal-eyeing-up-basel-ace-mohamed-elyounoussi/

 

And Everton linked with Armstrong.

 

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/royalbluemersey.sbnation.com/platform/amp/2017/8/17/16160692/everton-transfer-rumours-news-stuart-armstrong-celtic-west-brom-southampton

 

And Everton linked with Vestergaard.

 

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/everton-news-transfers-live-lookman-14831095

 

And Arsenal linked with Vestergaard.

 

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/www.skysports.com/amp/football/news/11670/11199942/arsenal-transfer-news-and-rumours-theo-walcott-and-jannik-vestergaard

I never said they were not linked with anyone.

I never said they were not linked with anyone.

So what point were you actually making in that original post then?

The quality of our signings has gone down. I would have thought that was obvious.

The quality of our signings has gone down. I would have thought that was obvious.

Fu ck me you are special.

You need to blather about spurious transfer rumours from 2013/14/15 to make the point that Mane, Virgil and Wanyama are better than our current players?

 

Fu ck me you are special.

Just illustrating how we appeared to be more ambitious back in the Cortese/Leibherr days, **** me it’s not rocket science.

Why are you wetting your pants over it anyway - ****ing weirdo.

Just illustrating how we appeared to be more ambitious back in the Cortese/Leibherr days, **** me it’s not rocket science.

 

Why are you wetting your pants over it anyway - ****ing weirdo.

We are probably close to paying off Cortese debt soon and then we can kick on and lose out on the net spend trophy.

That was the issue back then, apparently

We are probably close to paying off Cortese debt soon and then we can kick on and lose out on the net spend trophy.

 

That was the issue back then, apparently

It was the issue then.

The problem now isn't that we're not spending money, is it? It's that we're spending money on players who don't fit (Gabbiadini, Lemina to a certain extent, Vestergaard (IMO) will work out that way possibly) or simply isn't good enough (Carrillo, Hoedt etc).

Just illustrating how we appeared to be more ambitious back in the Cortese/Leibherr days, **** me it’s not rocket science.

 

Why are you wetting your pants over it anyway - ****ing weirdo.

Elyounoussi from a player spec/history/status/potential perspective is no less ambitious than Mane. Ditto Vestergaard vs Virgil or Lovren.

We've signed two twenty million pound strikers in two consecutive windows. That's pretty ambitious. We've signed a keeper for £13m when we've already got one on something like £100k a week. We had a bench full of £15/16/18m players last season.

You're confusing ambition with success in retrospect. Leicester's transfer activity the summer Ranieri joined was utterly uninspiring and completely unambitious.

We haven't signed another Mane but then not many other clubs like us have or will. Get over it.

Lots of talk about club working within limitations and how difficult it is for us to compete.

 

Our squad has cost c£300 million and our wage bill is c£100 million a year

 

Can you show us how you arrived at this valuation?

Which part of the momentum curve were we on here pal?

 

https://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?43615-Team-playing-well-under-Pochettino-MYTH&highlight=Glasgow+Saint

Forgive my heavily sarcasm laced post - consider this fair warning not to read on . But I am so fed up with this board and management structure. We are going absolutely no where compared to before KL wanted out. No ambition, no drive, and a total sell out of the club's values. Thats probably our lot as saints fans. But lets not act like our current board are any good ffs.

 

Things that went well under current board/Reed. He hired Koeman.

 

List of things that went badly wrong:

Pochettino

 

2014 - lied to the fans, season ticket window shut, sold lambert, sold lallana, sold chambers, sold clyne, sold lovren, sold shaw (mostly to the same club) - utter decimation of fan trust in the club's board (a stain that lingers) and decimated the remaining players'

confidence and trust in the club. Also blamed all of the above on his predecessor whilst taking credit for anything he could get his hands on (someone floating to the top)... From there the rot set in - as did Glasgow's famous momentum curve.

 

We got Koeman - a great appointment, but literally the only thing this board / reed have got significantly right.

 

Epic **** up with Toby - Literally ****ing epic. And a serious nail in the Koeman coffin.

 

further fallings out with loyal club servants like Morgan and Fonte. Sales of other key players like Wanyama, and key backroom staff... No other club has experienced this in the premier league from the position saints were in. Its almost like they wanted to completely erase all vestiges of the previous regime...

 

Its okay though, because Reed was instrumental in our rise. He signed Lambert, Fonte, Hammond, Harding, Puncheon etc etc... Even persuaded Kelvin to stay at the club before Reed even took up his own position.

 

And after he had actually signed, Reed was able to get a great deal selling Oxlade to Arsenal, and was instrumental in securing players like Jayrod and Clyne. Sadly though he wasn't able to prevent the evil Don from signing players like Gaston and Jack Sparrow... (I've got this right haven't I? - everything good was Reed, every bad was Cortese?) I.e. he wrestled power from Cortese to hire Adkins, but was in no way involved in the decision to sack him and hire Poch?

 

As was obviously going to happen, Koeman finally had enough of reed (or vice versa - assume ego involved somewhere), and when it was obvious he couldn't get Koeman to extend on his terms he took Everton's money and ran. Quickly flogged of Pelle and Mane (cheap) whilst he was at it - that was okay though because we signed redmond and boufal

 

Lets also not forget "The Southampton way" - an approach introduced and pioneered by Cortese/Poch with the credit taken by Reed (multiple press conferences) and this board - whilst we quietly abandoned it on the side - all the while signing highly paid foreign players on the books.

 

Almost forgot Fraser 6years Forster

 

Puel.

 

Pellogrino.

 

Failure to sack Pellegrino until literally the last bloody second - but thank god someone did sack him.

 

Carrilo (wrong place, wrong time for this guy)

 

Just off champions league to 46points in 1 year. Relegation scrap inside 2 years. (I think only Leeds have done better than that in modern times...?)

 

I could go on and on.... But i think thats a fair initial summary of what our current board have delivered for the club.

 

We did get new floodlights I suppose?

 

I also never know who we credit the training ground too? Is it Cortese? Or was he the most financially incompetent investment banker ever with no idea how to manage the club finances... so confused by all the spin now ... But then without him we would never have had the training facilities we have now (for numerous reasons)

Correct i wont read on.... you seem to be all worked up about it though...

Forgive my heavily sarcasm laced post - consider this fair warning not to read on . But I am so fed up with this board and management structure. We are going absolutely no where compared to before KL wanted out. No ambition, no drive, and a total sell out of the club's values. Thats probably our lot as saints fans. But lets not act like our current board are any good ffs.

 

Things that went well under current board/Reed. He hired Koeman.

 

List of things that went badly wrong:

Pochettino

 

2014 - lied to the fans, season ticket window shut, sold lambert, sold lallana, sold chambers, sold clyne, sold lovren, sold shaw (mostly to the same club) - utter decimation of fan trust in the club's board (a stain that lingers) and decimated the remaining players'

confidence and trust in the club. Also blamed all of the above on his predecessor whilst taking credit for anything he could get his hands on (someone floating to the top)... From there the rot set in - as did Glasgow's famous momentum curve.

 

We got Koeman - a great appointment, but literally the only thing this board / reed have got significantly right.

 

Epic **** up with Toby - Literally ****ing epic. And a serious nail in the Koeman coffin.

 

further fallings out with loyal club servants like Morgan and Fonte. Sales of other key players like Wanyama, and key backroom staff... No other club has experienced this in the premier league from the position saints were in. Its almost like they wanted to completely erase all vestiges of the previous regime...

 

Its okay though, because Reed was instrumental in our rise. He signed Lambert, Fonte, Hammond, Harding, Puncheon etc etc... Even persuaded Kelvin to stay at the club before Reed even took up his own position.

 

And after he had actually signed, Reed was able to get a great deal selling Oxlade to Arsenal, and was instrumental in securing players like Jayrod and Clyne. Sadly though he wasn't able to prevent the evil Don from signing players like Gaston and Jack Sparrow... (I've got this right haven't I? - everything good was Reed, every bad was Cortese?) I.e. he wrestled power from Cortese to hire Adkins, but was in no way involved in the decision to sack him and hire Poch?

 

As was obviously going to happen, Koeman finally had enough of reed (or vice versa - assume ego involved somewhere), and when it was obvious he couldn't get Koeman to extend on his terms he took Everton's money and ran. Quickly flogged of Pelle and Mane (cheap) whilst he was at it - that was okay though because we signed redmond and boufal

 

Lets also not forget "The Southampton way" - an approach introduced and pioneered by Cortese/Poch with the credit taken by Reed (multiple press conferences) and this board - whilst we quietly abandoned it on the side - all the while signing highly paid foreign players on the books.

 

Almost forgot Fraser 6years Forster

 

Puel.

 

Pellogrino.

 

Failure to sack Pellegrino until literally the last bloody second - but thank god someone did sack him.

 

Carrilo (wrong place, wrong time for this guy)

 

Just off champions league to 46points in 1 year. Relegation scrap inside 2 years. (I think only Leeds have done better than that in modern times...?)

 

I could go on and on.... But i think thats a fair initial summary of what our current board have delivered for the club.

 

We did get new floodlights I suppose?

 

I also never know who we credit the training ground too? Is it Cortese? Or was he the most financially incompetent investment banker ever with no idea how to manage the club finances... so confused by all the spin now ... But then without him we would never have had the training facilities we have now (for numerous reasons)

Would you mind listing out the monies paid for our squad (so it reaches c£300m), and doing the same for all the other teams so we can see where we sit in comparison to everyone else, so we know where we should end up in the league. And wage bill too. Obviously if a player was brought on a free, or came through the youth academy (in whatever format) then you'll have to just estimate their worth (Kane for example). Only then can we see if we still have any valid excuses to use. Vs Europe is not relevant, as we are not competing against anyone outside of the Premier League. Or link to an article detailing this comparison if you're a little busy arguing with MLG about something to have time to work out the stats. Cheers! (I was going to say "cheers pal" but then realised how this sounds after seeing how Shurlock uses it!)

Can you show us how you arrived at this valuation?

I think we need another 12,000 posts before he will acknowledge our existence.

At first I was like but then I realized that this tiresome **** has been wuming for years and years and years on here. Most people grow out of trolling for a laugh, not this clown...

At first I was like but then I realized that this tiresome **** has been wuming for years and years and years on here. Most people grow out of trolling for a laugh, not this clown...

Possibly but to be fair to him he did point out the hypocrisy of the biggest troll

I think we need another 12,000 posts before he will acknowledge our existence.

Don’t worry I read your posts

Can you show us how you arrived at this valuation?

I think we need another 12,000 posts before he will acknowledge our existence.

Sorry guys thought these were jest posts.

Thought it was fairly simple. Take the current squad and apply/add the reported transfer fee paid for each.

If the are from our academy then it's 0. If the reported fee was 0, then 0 if the reported fee is £8m then £8m...

Apologies thought this was self explanatory.

Sorry guys thought these were jest posts.

 

Thought it was fairly simple. Take the current squad and apply/add the reported transfer fee paid for each.

 

If the are from our academy then it's 0. If the reported fee was 0, then 0 if the reported fee is £8m then £8m...

 

Apologies thought this was self explanatory.

Can you show your working?

Ahh right, clear as mud. Now, back to that momentum curve.....

Sent from my SM-T580 using Tapatalk

Chomp chomp chomp

Do they all have squads that cost £300m?

 

I suspect we are easily top 10 in squad cost, but bottom 5-10 in terms of quality

Prove it

There

There are two sides to all arguments, we have currently a very average squad as a result of 3 poor summer transfer windows.

However, as bad as we have been at spoting talent of late, outside of the top 6, so has everyone else. Just look at last season where every team outside the top 6 at some point flirted with the relagation zone. I'm not defending Les, but given every other teams transfer dealings, whose teams recruitment team would we poach who have consistently unearthed talent! Unless you have the spending power of the top 6, who can buy proven talent, everyone else is in the same boat of having to take a punt.

Outside of the top 6 the quality is pretty much the same (Everton may have spent their way out of the dross), which was Saints saving grace last year. There are not many players that stand out, outside of the top 6.

My fear for Saints in the long term (and for many outside the top six) is newer fans of those clubs getting dis-illusioned, with gates tailing off. Even in the years with Tiss when we spent every season in the bottom half there was still a feeling that on our day we could beat the top 6 teams. This year it feels a forgone conclusion. This disillusionment was amply demonstrated at the semi finals where we failed to sale large blocks of seats.

We were led to believe that the motivation for selling the club by Kate was she felt that she couldn't take the club to the next level. Sadly our new owners have shown little ambition beyond ticking over. Of course we could contrast this against the many basket case owners who have ruined their clubs and be thankful that we have some stability. There are two main issues as I see it though, the first is the model we have is too spot, nurture and sell to fund the next seasons players. Given our current squad, I'm not sure how many players we have whose value is on the rise. The fact we had to loan players as no one wants them makes me fear for future transfer windows as the squad still needs better players, but how will we fund this with no assets worth selling.

My second observation with our new ownership is there seems to be little drive from the top. It feels like they are just ticking over. Contrast Ralph's upbeat talk 3 years ago, with recent talk of us being a small club (we would assume with the owners approval). I would like to think if I had £200 million to spare, I would be a bit more involved. This is just a personal view, but at the moment Saints feels like a London flat, bought by overseas investors, who leave it vacant, believing they don't need to do anything as the value will just rise.

If we manage to avoid the drop, next summer will test our new owners, with few players, if any worth selling, how will we refresh an average squad. Think Newcastle, Aston Village.

Don’t worry I read your posts

cheers pal

Quite close, give or take 100 million.....

https://talksport.com/football/342055/revealed-top-25-clubs-most-expensive-squads-europe-including-crystal-palace-and-everton/

Quite close, give or take 100 million.....

 

https://talksport.com/football/342055/revealed-top-25-clubs-most-expensive-squads-europe-including-crystal-palace-and-everton/

 

Prove it

Prove that our squad has cost us c£300m? Is it difficult adding up 20 numbers together?

We have only spent money on about 20-22 players so this shouldn't be too difficult.

Quick maths our squad has cost £265m and that's without some of the legacy and cheaper purchases like Yoshida and Davis

I know it's easier to belive we are a small club which can't possibly compete with the Premier league big spenders like Leicester, Bournemouth, Watford and Burnley

Quite close, give or take 100 million.....

 

https://talksport.com/football/342055/revealed-top-25-clubs-most-expensive-squads-europe-including-crystal-palace-and-everton/

 

[emoji38]

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

Prove that our squad has cost us c£300m? Is it difficult adding up 20 numbers together?

 

We have only spent money on about 20-22 players so this shouldn't be too difficult.

 

Quick maths our squad has cost £265m and that's without some of the legacy and cheaper purchases like Yoshida and Davis

 

I know it's easier to belive we are a small club which can't possibly compete with the Premier league big spenders like Leicester, Bournemouth, Watford and Burnley

No, that our squad cost £300 million and "I suspect we are easily top 10 in squad cost".

Prove that our squad has cost us c£300m? Is it difficult adding up 20 numbers together?

 

We have only spent money on about 20-22 players so this shouldn't be too difficult.

 

Quick maths our squad has cost £265m and that's without some of the legacy and cheaper purchases like Yoshida and Davis

 

I know it's easier to belive we are a small club which can't possibly compete with the Premier league big spenders like Leicester, Bournemouth, Watford and Burnley

Do you still think we are a level below Stoke in terms of club stature and ambition?

We’ve all flirted with Stoke and Tony Pulis in the innocence of our youth.

Moussa Dembele joins Lyon for £19.7m. What a bargain when you consider what we paid for Carrillo.

We moved away from our business model, mainly due to fans (understandably) getting fed up at selling all our best players to Liverpool. To counter this we offered long term contracts to players with little re-sale value - blocking moves to Wanyama, Schneiderlin and VVD (although we relented the following season) sent a message to potential players that we aren't the same club as before ie) offering a launch pad to a top 4 team. Our squad cost £300,000,000 - but this has been financed by players sales that must get close to that amount.

 

The thing is that wins against Brighton and Palace change the mood drastically. You can't legislate for a player doing something stupid like Hojberg, overall the style of football is much better than last year; clearly Hughes' is trying to find his best 11 but I am not worried at the moment.

Wins against Brighton and Palace, how is everyone’s mood?

Prove that our squad has cost us c£300m? Is it difficult adding up 20 numbers together?

 

We have only spent money on about 20-22 players so this shouldn't be too difficult.

 

Quick maths our squad has cost £265m and that's without some of the legacy and cheaper purchases like Yoshida and Davis

 

I know it's easier to belive we are a small club which can't possibly compete with the Premier league big spenders like Leicester, Bournemouth, Watford and Burnley

Can you show your working?

Going through our transfer history I make our squad costing £212million give or take a couple, including all players at the club or out on loan.