January Transfer Speculation (or lack of) Thread

[pauliewalnuts]

Too right it could be worse, that goes without saying.

Just like it could have been worse under Doug.

[James]

We always get these demands for statements from the board then as soon as they do the same people say "don't tell me, show me" or some similar nonsense.

We all know what the position is, we're having to get the wage bill in order so in order to gring pmayets in others will have to leave.

Yes, but what then? Is he trying to sell up? Is he going to put the past mistakes behind him and 'go again'? Is there another year of 'scrimp and save' to follow?

We just don't know, like Blackburn fans and to a lesser extent Arsenal fans whose boards just aren't talking to them, hence, fans feeling 'disconnected' from the clubs.

A simple statement could change that and get fans back with the club now, or indeed totally cut them adrift, but the perception is that he is disinterested, given up or whatever. Nobody can know whether that's correct or not because there's nothing, nothing, coming from the board.

A few honest words on the OS from Randy could go a lot further than however many coaches he paid for yesterday in terms of getting fans behind the club and his choice of manager. Right now nobody knows what to think and that's lousy management by anyone's standards, what we used to call 'mushroom management' in fact and it's proven not to work!

I'd love to believe that it would be 'learn, regroup and go again' from the summer, but I have nothing to base that on at the moment other than blind hope! And if it is that Randy is selling, then we can at least brace ourselves for whatever happens next. It's not asking too much nor is it pointless to want some idea from the man what direction he sees us taking.

I'm not saying that I want him out because I don't know what his thoughts are, and personally he's done more than enough already IMHO to be accorded the respect and faith of fans to 'go again'. He just needs to let us know where he stands!

[Greg N'Ash]

yep. Lerner's totally lost any interest. Death by slow boredom

What is boring about relegation battle after relegation battle? I find it quite exhilarating to be honest.

yep. Lerner's totally lost any interest. Death by slow boredom

yep. Lerner's totally lost any interest. Death by slow boredom

This is the same Lerner who paid out for 60 + Coaches to take fans down to the Emirates ? , thats some kind of disinterest .............same old morose post-match , navel gazing bollox on here , I see , Plus ça change plus ça reste la même chose , unfortunatley .  ......................Godzvilla!

yeah, well if i'd pocketed about 15m from the club in transfer fees in the summer, i'd woiuldn't mind paying for a coach trip either.

[john e]

i dont think statements from the club do much good to be honest, people just twist and read what they want to in them, myself included.
it just creates even more speculation and a lot of people will just refuse to believe whats being said anyway

actions always speak louder than words, thats what i'l be waiting for

[Merv]

And that is the sort of mentality we seem to have in some quarters- 'It could have been a lot worse' !

Try, 'It could have been a lot better', because initially it was supposed to be.

Well, yes. This is what happens when the expectations have been gradually reduced for 18 months or more.. we're now saying things could be worse, which they could. But, as you say, they could be a lot better, too. We shouldn't lose sight of that.

[eastie]

To stay where we are in the premiership would take a fair amount of investment , to get anywhere near the top 6 would take multi multi millions as liverpool are finding out - with the prize money as it is why would randy spend £30m to get maybe £2m more in prize money- seems to me without massive investment in players we are going to be stagnating for a long long time and gates will continue to drop.

Football nowadays is all about money and not the game I loved in the 70s.

[Vanilla]

To stay where we are in the premiership would take a fair amount of investment , to get anywhere near the top 6 would take multi multi millions as liverpool are finding out - with the prize money as it is why would randy spend £30m to get maybe £2m more in prize money- seems to me without massive investment in players we are going to be stagnating for a long long time and gates will continue to drop.

Football nowadays is all about money and not the game I loved in the 70s.

Absolutely true re: Liverpool. They spent multiples of millions in the last 12 months just to stay in the shadow of the leading pack. Villa did the usual short term splurge, then pulled the purse strings closed.

[Duncan Shaw]

To stay where we are in the premiership would take a fair amount of investment , to get anywhere near the top 6 would take multi multi millions as liverpool are finding out - with the prize money as it is why would randy spend £30m to get maybe £2m more in prize money- seems to me without massive investment in players we are going to be stagnating for a long long time and gates will continue to drop.

Football nowadays is all about money and not the game I loved in the 70s.

Absolutely true re: Liverpool. They spent multiples of millions in the last 12 months just to stay in the shadow of the leading pack. Villa did the usual short term splurge, then pulled the purse strings closed.

Well I've just done the BBC predictor thingy, as honestly as I could, and I've got us finishing 7th.  That said there were only three points between 7th and 11th.

We'll be OK when QIA take over!!

[Rick_avfc]

We have been linked with Keith fecking Andrews of Blackburn!  ffs! 

Also, Albrighton has tweeted saying he is will out for 10 days and should be back for the Citeh game

[Risso]

Splash the cash or leave and preferably the latter option.

Leave to be replaced by who?
Think Venky's or Ranson before you go wishing for Lerner to leave.
Couldn't be worse you say? Oh yes it fucking could!

Dead right. I'm not overjoyed at the way Randy's running things at present, but it could be a damn sight worse

Why does it have to be a Venkys? Why not a Mansour, Abramovitch or ENIC?  To be honest I'd seettle for a decent businessman instead of a rich playboy type who apparently isn't that rich any more.  Lerner has proved in two teams that he's hopeless, so expect his name to start being mentioned in the same vein as Venkys anytime soon.

[KevinGage]

Could be worse should be our new club motto.

In fact, it would have been a perfect fit from about the early noughties onwards (with a brief interlude between 2006/10).

[Shrek]

yep. Lerner's totally lost any interest. Death by slow boredom

What is boring about relegation battle after relegation battle? I find it quite exhilarating to be honest.

yep. Lerner's totally lost any interest. Death by slow boredom

yep. Lerner's totally lost any interest. Death by slow boredom

This is the same Lerner who paid out for 60 + Coaches to take fans down to the Emirates ? , thats some kind of disinterest .............same old morose post-match , navel gazing bollox on here , I see , Plus ça change plus ça reste la même chose , unfortunatley .  ......................Godzvilla!

yeah, well if i'd pocketed about 15m from the club in transfer fees in the summer, i'd woiuldn't mind paying for a coach trip either.

Randy never folked out anything, we used the profits from progressing in the cup to pay for the coaches.

If we had won yesterday we would have earnt £451,000.00 so far in the FA Cup, even with us losing we would have got at least half that.

It was still a good gesture though, one which shows he cares about the club in my opinion.

[Greg N'Ash]

I think i'd rather he'd just kept the money for the club's finances. okay so what he paid for the coaches probably just about came to Beye's monthly wage but when you're busy telling us how we have cut the wage bill, sell to buy etc.. it seems a bit much to be wasting money in other directions, nice gesture or not.

[Clampy]

I think the free coaches was a fantastic idea. If it enabled fans who normally can't afford to go away a chance to do so and get behind the team, then that's fine by me.

[PeterWithesShin]

Person 1: "Randy doesn't care about the club anymore and he should fuck off as he obviously is only interested in saving money"

Person 2: "What about the free coaches to Arsenal? That shows he cares and they weren't free for to him/the club?"

Person 1: "Well yeah, but he shouldn't have spent the money, he should have saved it and done nothing rather than show us he cares"