hogesar 9,760 Posted May 21, 2007 With the transfer window approaching sooner and sooner, how much does the future of City rely upon this?What''s our maximum expenditure? How much of it will we spend? Quality or quantity? These decisions can all be vital in a promotion push or relegation dog-fight.With a thin squad who seem likely to have problems with injuries, surely quantity is the correct decision?Then remembering how we build our team next season. do we base it around huckerby, earnshaw or a future signing? MY honest opinion is that we will not have a large expenditure and will focus on league 1, 2 etc young players with low cost to help numbers within the squad, whilst keeping room for potential. Our biggest transfer will be that of a goalkeeper, whoever that is remains a mystery. Our squad will be built with the HONEST intention of finishing high mid-table.Then again, its just my opinion![Hogesar] Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ZLF 275 Posted May 22, 2007 No more or less crucial than last seasons imo, but we got that one horrendously wrong.To compete we have to strengthen just about every position in the pitch, from keeper to striker, with competition for places as well as basic quality. Inevitably such a deep shopping list will mean that there will be much wailing and gnashing of teeth whne we sign you but hopefully ambitious relatively unknown lower league players, prem league reserve players and some champs cast offs. Whatever our budget the size of PGs task means he has to sign these sorts of players.Shame to see that Lee Camp will be signing for Weds as I thought he could have been good for us. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
As my login causes problems [ :o) ] 0 Posted May 22, 2007 Is it the most crucial ever?Well it depends on your ambition, if you EVER want to get back in the Premiership then next season is probably the last chance to break into the group of 25 clubs that will from now on make it up.Parachute payments, plus wisely invested funds from your time in the Premiership mean you will drop down to the Championship with squads infinitely better than those offered by the journeymen clubs of the Championship. When we won promotion figures of £20m were being bandied around, now this year they reckon the play off final is worth £70m.Parachute payments presumably are three times as big as well.This season we face the relegated three going back up, next season the relegated three start as runaway favourites to go back.The top two will certainly come from the relegated teams from next season onwards with that sort of financial clout, and the only chance of breaking into the elite club will be via the play-offs in the certain knowledge that it is just for one year.So yes City you have to get it right this close season unless you really do prefer just playing for a bridesmaid place in the championship for evermore, or until the unthinkable does happen and we go down.Money corrupts and Premiership money corrupts absolutely. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ShrewsCanary 0 Posted May 22, 2007 We need to perform whats known in the business as ''A Wolves'' or a ''Shrewsbury Town''.We need to pick up young and hungry talent whilst instilling a never say die attitude... this doesnt necessarily cost money either.. so pick the right ones and we could be onto a winner. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gingembre 0 Posted May 22, 2007 For years I''ve admired the club and their stance on not gambling, but where has it got them?The honeypot that is the Premierleague is immense and is not worth just one seaon of taking a gamble or two to get there.....They have support like no other, look at the poor season, yet 9/10 fans have already renewed for next season....if you don''t buy a ticket, you''ll never win the raffle x Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Citizen Journalist Foghorn 0 Posted May 22, 2007 The most vital one was pre premiership, when worthy wasnt given enough funds even though funds would prove to be available as we found out in January. The next most vital was on relegation, where Worthy got it all horrendously wrong. The next most vital was pre last season, when a single player was signed....So no, not city''s most vital, just another transfer window i''m afraid... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nutty nigel 7,645 Posted May 22, 2007 [quote user="Citizen Journalist Foghorn"]The most vital one was pre premiership, when worthy wasnt given enough funds even though funds would prove to be available as we found out in January. The next most vital was on relegation, where Worthy got it all horrendously wrong. The next most vital was pre last season, when a single player was signed....So no, not city''s most vital, just another transfer window i''m afraid...[/quote]It''s the most vital one now though CJF. The others are in the past with a different manager. If all the post Xmas fears of relegation were correct then it could be argued that last January was the most vital in the past anyway! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Saint Canary 0 Posted May 22, 2007 [quote user="Citizen Journalist Foghorn"]The most vital one was pre premiership, when worthy wasnt given enough funds even though funds would prove to be available as we found out in January. The next most vital was on relegation, where Worthy got it all horrendously wrong. The next most vital was pre last season, when a single player was signed....So no, not city''s most vital, just another transfer window i''m afraid...[/quote]I agree with that CJF in so much as the last 3 were vital. However I think this one is more so than before and I don''t mean in regards to promotion ambitions either. This transfer window is vital to restore some faith amongst the supporters and for the club to prove it has learnt from its mistakes. Last year''s 1 signing of Lee Croft and then later Dublin was not good enough by a long way considering the numbers we had lost and how little cover there was for the first 11.Some positive signings this summer will have a massive impact on the atmosphere in and around Carrow Road and Colney. I would hope it would bring some renewed optimism to both players and supporters alike. What we don''t want is to get to October hoping we can hang on until January to make a last ditch effort to save our season. For 3 years now we have gone into January with glaring gaps and deficiencies in the team/squad, which must not happen again. January is the time to tweak, the summer is the time to rebuild. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
canary cherub 1 Posted May 22, 2007 [quote user="Saint Canary"][quote user="Citizen Journalist Foghorn"] The most vital one was pre premiership, when worthy wasnt given enough funds even though funds would prove to be available as we found out in January. The next most vital was on relegation, where Worthy got it all horrendously wrong. The next most vital was pre last season, when a single player was signed....So no, not city''s most vital, just another transfer window i''m afraid...[/quote]I agree with that CJF in so much as the last 3 were vital. However I think this one is more so than before and I don''t mean in regards to promotion ambitions either. This transfer window is vital to restore some faith amongst the supporters and for the club to prove it has learnt from its mistakes. Last year''s 1 signing of Lee Croft and then later Dublin was not good enough by a long way considering the numbers we had lost and how little cover there was for the first 11.Some positive signings this summer will have a massive impact on the atmosphere in and around Carrow Road and Colney. I would hope it would bring some renewed optimism to both players and supporters alike. What we don''t want is to get to October hoping we can hang on until January to make a last ditch effort to save our season. For 3 years now we have gone into January with glaring gaps and deficiencies in the team/squad, which must not happen again. January is the time to tweak, the summer is the time to rebuild. [/quote]I totally agree Saint that the summer is the crucial time. Wise and sensible words.As you say, they''ve got it wrong for the past three seasons - ever since the transfer window came into play, which I don''t think is a coincidence. Before that, they still didn''t spend much in the summer but started bringing in players in the autumn if things weren''t going well - even in the promotion season we got off to an indifferent start. Since we stopped being able to do that, they don''t seem to have had a Plan B. They''ve got money in the bank from season ticket renewals, so there''s really no excuse for cheeseparing in the close season. Because of the transfer window, most of our competitors will do what you suggest, using the summer as the key strengthening time and aiming for a flying start. If we don''t, the writing will be on the wall imo.It has often been said that the season is "a marathon, not a sprint". It is, and it starts in August not January. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
