Why did we not sign a striker in January???

[Thunder Bolt]

1. Accepted, but we could have done business about 4-5 weeks ago.

2. Everything. Albion are one of the best supported teams in the Division, if we cannot afford a striker now, when will we be able to?

Our budget/FPP considering the way we decimated the squad should be fine, would they want to come - well that's another question? Surely you would, if you saw the set up & that the club were ambitious!

All the supporter's money, club shop sales, catering sales & sponsorships don't add up to one parachute payment.

 

[father_and_son]

Our budget/FPP considering the way we decimated the squad should be fine, would they want to come - well that's another question? Surely you would, if you saw the set up & that the club were ambitious!

No so convinced.... there is a risk (personally think its a small one myself) that we will not be playing in the championship next season. This HAS to figure in the decision making of any prospective new player. New training facility or not, no quality player wants to be playing in L1 next season if Championship or PL football was assured elsewhere. A club really had to be flashing the cash to draw a "name" in this window, something which we have never done.

Therefore, a club like Derby will always be the more attractive proposition at this stage of the season. A club which, incidentally, attracted 30k+ the other week (according to FLS).


The Academy and training facility are about being attractive to [very] young players who can progress through the system and, in 9 out of 10 cases, be sold on for a profit. This is the club's long term goal and the reason that Tony has stumped up the cash for it... so that in the long run he can STOP stumping up the cash and the club becomes self-funding (or as close as to this utopia as possible). This is a 5-10 year project, not something that delivers benefits in the first year.


Finishing clear of the relegation zone is the only target for the remainder of this season and we don't need a big name/big bill signing for that.

 

[BensGrandad]

1st priority is to stop giving away goals once that is sorted the other end will come..

 

[Gazz15]

Therefore, a club like Derby will always be the more attractive proposition at this stage of the season. A club which, incidentally, attracted 30k+ the other week (according to FLS).


Finishing clear of the relegation zone is the only target for the remainder of this season and we don't need a big name/big bill signing for that.

I agree with much of that post, however, we need/must have Championship football at this stage - we don't want relegation and more years in L1, the PL dream already looks distant enough as it is!

Derby may well have got 30K, BUT they are unless I'm mistaken 1 point off the top of The Championship - very exciting times for them and their fans.

All I'm saying is, we shouldn't be facing relegation here, with our packed stadium and recent play off history - why was the squad so decimated and a really decent striker not added, when we lost Noone, Barnes, Ulloa in succession, all the time knowing how bad CMS injury was?

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

With relegation a realistic possibility, why oh why have we left ourselves bereft up front?

Even players like Stead at Bradford or the ancient Cureton know how to put the ball in the net, there must have been someone we could have signed permanently or on loan - after all we do have 25K+ at every home game?

I think it's disgraceful!

You make a very good point.


The summer will take care of itself with massive wages for CMS and Agustien freed up to bolster the striking department with 2 new recruits.


However, for now, a 93 day loan of (say) Glenn Murray, could save not just our season, but 2-4 wasted years while we get back to where we were last May.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

2: We spent £2 million on strikers last summer. Spending money doesn't guarantee goals. A striker would see we have CMS, Baldrick and COG and wonder how easy it would be to get the one striker shirt that is available, and probably decide to stay where he is and see what is available in the summer, especially if he doesn't fancy League 1.

And then he'd look at their pitiful combined goals tally and decide it would be a piece of piss.

 

[father_and_son]

I agree with much of that post, however, we need/must have Championship football at this stage - we don't want relegation and more years in L1, the PL dream already looks distant enough as it is!

Derby may well have got 30K, BUT they are unless I'm mistaken 1 point off the top of The Championship - very exciting times for them and their fans.

All I'm saying is, we shouldn't be facing relegation here, with our packed stadium and recent play off history - why was the squad so decimated and a really decent striker not added, when we lost Noone, Barnes, Ulloa in succession, all the time knowing how bad CMS injury was?

My personal take on this (ie I have no facts to back this up!)...
Barnes was going whatever the club did. We pushed him before he jumped so that we got at least something for him. Given the hatred focused on him, I think he was happy to go asap and no offer from us would have kept him. JFC will be the next to leave like this. Both are "Marmite" players and it has to be hard for them (with their egos the size they are) to face such animosity from their own fans, never mind the opposition.

Ulloa was just one of those deals that you can't say no to. I don't think anyone wanted him to go and I think we could have kept him but when silly money appears, sometime you just have to take it. To a lesser degree, add Buckley & Bridcutt to this list.

Noone, Grabbon, Best, etc are just the nature of the modern game where cash is king. Add any number of other names to this list.


So with money in our back pocket, should we have splashed the cash immediately to replace Ulloa with a similar quality player...? Of course we should - had a similar quality player been available! But Ulloa coming to us was a long time in the making, he needed an EU passport before he could make the move, so needed his stint in a country a bit more flexible giving out passports than the UK is! Had we been planning to offload I'm sure it would have been after 2 years of similar planning and preparation, but it really isn't that easy.



Oh... and I'm not disagreeing. We shouldn't be at this end of the table even if it was a "rebuild" year following the loss of some key players. However, if the manager we had failed to get the most from the players we have then the result is less that it should be. If the manager we have can get the most from the players we have, then we are safe and we look to CH putting us back where we deserve... up towards the top of the table, with a motivated team, playing good football and being better than the sum of the parts (like we were last season and the season before!)

 

[phazza]

With relegation a realistic possibility, why oh why have we left ourselves bereft up front?

Even players like Stead at Bradford or the ancient Cureton know how to put the ball in the net, there must have been someone we could have signed permanently or on loan - after all we do have 25K+ at every home game?

I think it's disgraceful!

i gave theory to this on another thread.
i can't help thinking the good patch we had in january (nathon jones doing welland then hughton ) reduced the necessity to buy more than we did. for me if that's the case, we may have taken a big risk. lets hope that either way we can stay up.

 

[el punal]

With relegation a realistic possibility, why oh why have we left ourselves bereft up front?

Even players like Stead at Bradford or the ancient Cureton know how to put the ball in the net, there must have been someone we could have signed permanently or on loan - after all we do have 25K+ at every home game?

I think it's disgraceful!

So's your post.

 

[Stat Brother]

What's the point.

Even the most proven of proven goal scorers can't hit a cows arse with a banjo when playing in stripes.

 

[Pavilionaire]

We can't score away and we don't win that much at home. I agree with the OP that sticking with the existing strikers - plus Best less Bent - is a big risk.

It almost feels like by not strengthening the squad we had 'pre-window' we've written the season off, gambling that Hughton will keep us up and then we spend in the summer. With no parachute money I can see the sense in this; the mistake was not getting in someone like Murray when we sold Ulloa.

 

[Withdean11]

Or a winger. We had a whole month to sort this mess out, if we get relegated my finger will be pointing at Bloom. Kind of feel sorry for Hyypia.

 

[Mellotron]

2: We spent £2 million on strikers last summer.

For a side with Premier League ambitions, that's a very, very small amount to spend on strikers.

 

[SteveTheSeagull]

Because our board are frugal and think loan signing's are the way forward.

 

[Zebedee]

Because our board are frugal and think loan signing's are the way forward.

Then they are bloody stupid.

 

[El Presidente]

For a side with Premier League ambitions, that's a very, very small amount to spend on strikers.

It's the same amount as we spent on Ulloa.

 

[Icy Gull]

It's the same amount as we spent on Ulloa.

We had people who knew what they were doing spotting players back then though.

As a matter of interest who is in charge of player recruitment now?

 

[Mellotron]

It's the same amount as we spent on Ulloa.

Which was a gamble that massively paid off. Jordan Rhodes cost £8m. Assombalonga was something like £5.5m.

Ulloa was possibly the best signing we've EVER made in terms of then selling on for profits. It is not the yardstick to be measured by, very much a one off.

 

[Diablo]

For a side with Premier League ambitions, that's a very, very small amount to spend on strikers.

No one not Bloom or Barber can have prem league ambitions any more the way the squad has been decimated in last two seasons.

 

[GT49er]

Jon Stead had scored 3 goals this season.

They were saying on MOTD yesterday that Sunderland got rid of him because he didn't score goals. if you look at this record, he has rarely reached an average of one goal every 4 games. he has hardly set the world alight.

Maybe our failure to sign him shows we did some homework, or that he was never on the radar in the first place, because he doesn't score many goals..

Not saying that I think we should have signed Jon Stead, but wouldn't a striker - any striker - who scored once every four games be a welcome improvement?

Pity we don't seem to be able to spot opportunities like Reading do - not long ago they got in Jason Roberts for his swan-song, which worked brilliantly for them, and now they've gone and got the Yak. Nothing against Leon Best, and I hope he does well here - but I'd still rather we'd signed the Yak!