With hindsight - January

[Tom_Mc9?]

If we'd done what every supporter hoped for and spent some money in January, would it have made a difference?
Newcastle, Norwich and Sunderland all spent various amounts of money with only one of the three staying up. We were around eight or ten points behind. Was Lerner justified or was the white flag inexcusable?

I tried to add a poll, but can't find it on my crappy phone - apologies.

[Des Little]

Pains me to say it, but no.  I feel that the cancer in the club is too advanced - too many of this squad had downed tools and the power in the dressing room wouldn't have been overturned by the addition of two or three players.  Until the likes of Guzan, Lescott, Richards and Gabby are moved on it's not much use getting new players in.  We'd be down now regardless of any incoming players in this vile situation.

[ClaretAndBlueBlood]

Pains me to say it, but no.  I feel that the cancer in the club is too advanced - too many of this squad had downed tools and the power in the dressing room wouldn't have been overturned by the addition of two or three players.  Until the likes of Guzan, Lescott, Richards and Gabby are moved on it's not much use getting new players in.  We'd be down now regardless of any incoming players in this vile situation.

I think you're probably right Des but it may have given us a chance

[FranzBiberkopf]

No.

We were too far gone; the malaise too deep.

We've had three managers this season - not one of them has managed to make a modicum of improvement on their predecessor. Yes, you could argue that the managers weren't up to scratch (which they patently weren't), but with the squad they'd have to deal with, it was irrecoverable.

For me, the writing was on the wall the day we called Cisoko back. He's no worse than the other charlatans we have in the team/squad, but FFS what sort of message did that send to us as fans and his team mates? "We've lost our best player so far this season to a long term injury (Amavi), so rather than replace him properly, lets recall someone who failed abysmally here previously and hope for the best".

[Chris Jameson]

Don't think it would but we'll never know. To have a chance of coming back up next season I hope whoever is the new manager is able to get rid of Richards, Agbonlahor and Lescott to make sure their influence is nowhere near the dressing room, even it means paying up their contracts.

[Gareth]

Absolutely correct to spend nothing, we needed 6 or 7 players to have given us any hope and that would have been 40-50m gamble.

The big mistake was last summer when we didn't buy a keeper when Sherwood had proved he had no faith in Guzan & not replacing the 32m striker with a proven player.  That might have given us a chance!

[andyh]

Even if we doubled our points total (17) we would still be relegated.
The problem was created last summer, keeping Sherwood and allowing all that money to be spent on sub standard players.   

[Risso]

It's impossible to say, but a new striker scoring 10 goals, and a decent defender and keeper MIGHT gave given us a chance.

[Des Little]

I think the saying 'you can't polish wet shoes' springs to mind with the current crop of wastrels that we have.

[boozey182]

It's strange to think now, but back in January there was a little bit of positivity about the place. We'd had our mini unbeaten run, we'd been unlucky only to get a draw against Leicester and picked up some wins (which is when you score more than the opposition).

I remember speaking to someone after the deadline shut, saying how frustrated the players like Ayew must have been, who had been working their socks off to drag us through January, probably under the assumption that he'd get some help afterwards. And then, immediately afterwards, there was the West Ham game (the 8th last game at Upton Boleyn) where we'd come flying out of the traps and were battering them...until Ayew''s frustration got the better of him. I'm certain that it was linked to the transfer window. And it meant Gabby was our only option up front...

Plus the main reason everyone else is so far ahead of us is what's happened since then. The whole one point in twelve matches thing.

Saying that, it would have been a huge risk to spend a big chunk of money (although there was obviously some available as we had the keeper that fell through), and probably not a sensible business move. Which, while understandable, is so depressing. We were probably down anyway, and knowing for so long does make it less painful. Still, I hope the mindset of the club changes with new owners.

[PaulWinch again]

It's impossible to say, but a new striker scoring 10 goals, and a decent defender and keeper MIGHT gave given us a chance.

Also it would have given us a bit of momentum into next year as well. We have been by far the worst team in the league and that will take some turning round. If we'd at least been competitive in the second half of the season that turnaround would have been easier.

[Chico Hamilton III]

Does anyone think that idiot of an owner ever intended to spend in January? regardless of our position? Sorry, but this is a convenient excuse for him (or his mom) giving up on us and letting us slip off the edge.

Where there's life there's hope and we should have had a fucking go and spent some money.

[OzVilla]

No it wasnt worth it, those Sunderland and Norwich games totally stuffed us.

I thought at the time we were best to keep our powder dry until the Summer with Garde's consent and have a real clearout but all that went tits up. 

Its reported (cough) Newcastle gambled and spunked £80 million with no relegation clauses. Im certain we too would have just thrown money away and im glad we didnt.

[AVH87]

Spending money doesn't have to be a complete waste, whatever happens.

Spend money - stay up - keep the players.

Spend money - go down - some players impress (e.g Townsend) and you get all or most of your money back.

We should have spent something, going down on the kind of run we are on could really set us back next season.

[andyh]

I'll repeat what I posted sometime ago.
A long standing season ticket holder I go to games with wrote a long, complaining letter to the club in January.
The response was that he got the usual 'consultation' phone call from the club in early February.
During that call, the person from AVFC said that 'the best business the club did in January was NOT spending any money in the January window'.
Remember, this is when we still a little bit of hope that we might stop up so my mate was livid at the time and took it as confirmation that the club had already given up and resigned itself to going down.