Sell Hughes to buy new players?

[networker1884]

After some thought, I've decided that our squad just isn't good enough. There isn't enough quality. Looking at the top end of the championship towards the premier league it is clear that consistency is what true quality is all about. The best players perform week in week out, but the only player in our squad that does this, is Hughes. Because he's the only player in our squad that has genuine premier league quality. I do believe that Hughes is going to have to be sold to improve the squad, so that we can add more of these true quality players, and for the first time ever I actually feel that I want Hughes to be sold. For the greater good.

[Leicester Ram]

Frustratingly there's only 23 hours left to sell him, get him loaned back, buy a 3 million pound super CB, buy a PL RM, put in a few cheeky bids for some LB's, get a bulky CM on loan until Hendrick's back and hire a hitman to take out Billy Davies.

 

We'd have had to have done it at least a few weeks back to really do it well and get in some decent players. We're stuck with Forsyth now, we'd have bought a proper LB if we'd had the money (I'm thinking that Shane Ferguson? It's definitely something Ferguson, was on loan at Birmingham last season). We could have kept hold of Brayford too. Imagine that

 

Ferguson - Super CB - Keogh - Brayford

 

Laughing our way to the top of the league.

[Ambitious]

Frustratingly there's only 23 hours left to sell him, get him loaned back, buy a 3 million pound super CB, buy a PL RM, put in a few cheeky bids for some LB's, get a bulky CM on loan until Hendrick's back and hire a hitman to take out Billy Davies.

 

We'd have had to have done it at least a few weeks back to really do it well and get in some decent players. We're stuck with Forsyth now, we'd have bought a proper LB if we'd had the money (I'm thinking that Shane Ferguson? It's definitely something Ferguson, was on loan at Birmingham last season). We could have kept hold of Brayford too. Imagine that

 

Ferguson - Super CB - Keogh - Brayford

 

Laughing our way to the top of the league.

 

Super 3million pound centre back you say...

 

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[CumbrianRam]

22 hours to get some to bid for Hughes and bring in them players, nice try but never going happen.

 

Fact is even though Hughes was poor on Sat he was still our best midfielder and going into the next three months with a Eustace/Bryson centre mid pairing with no cover will be as bad as the CD situation.

 

If the club do sell him at this point (which they won't) I will firmly become board and Clough out.

[Ambitious]

22 hours to get some to bid for Hughes and bring in them players, nice try but never going happen.

 

Fact is even though Hughes was poor on Sat he was still our best midfielder and going into the next three months with a Eustace/Bryson centre mid pairing with no cover will be as bad as the CD situation.

 

If the club do sell him at this point (which they won't) I will firmly become board and Clough out.

 

I agree, selling Hughes now would be ridiculous - although, anything can happen in football.

 

It would probably involve a loan deal for 6 months, but still - the moral around the place would drop like a 10 ton **** from the highest point on earth.

[Mostyn6]

Perhaps quicker and easier to replace the coaching set up with a group who can organise a defence and send a team out with some semblance of a plan to break down big strong opponents!

[WilkoRam]

Hmmm do I want Will Hughes in the team or do I want to trust Nigel et al with the money to spend on the team......option number 1 please.

Can we not bring in a Baldini to do the transfers?

[Day]

Give me a figure of how much we'll get, tell me who we'll sign and I'll give you an answer.

Until then I'll just wait for the Brayford money to be reinvested like they told us.

[Mostyn6]

Not sure I'd trust Clough with magic beans!

[Alph]

That's the thing.

What figure do you think Derby would take for Hughes?

If I said £7.5m do you think that'd be about right?

£7.5m to build a promotion team. Don't forget that there will always be a wage budget and that's our biggest stumbling block rather than the fees.

How much have Leicester, Cardiff, West Ham, Forest, QPR spent?

Could Nigel build a promotion team?

Do we stand more chance with Hughes?

Poll?

If he couldn't then we'll never get a better chance. Who would you trust to spend money wisely if not Clough?

[Mostyn6]

I'll be honest, if it looks like Clough cannot capitalise with this squad, We should act and get in a manager who can use the likes of Hughes, Hendrick and co to the best of their ability.

 

When you look at Blackpool's squad, they only really have Tom Ince, but he's contributing to wins.

 

Why isn't Hughes winning us games? Is he being stifled? I think so.

 

So, get someone else in if it looks like Clough cannot make the most of it. If we get to next summer and have finished 10th or below again, both Hughes and Hendrick will want out.

[Alph]

I'll be honest, if it looks like Clough cannot capitalise with this squad, We should act and get in a manager who can use the likes of Hughes, Hendrick and co to the best of their ability.

When you look at Blackpool's squad, they only really have Tom Ince, but he's contributing to wins.

Why isn't Hughes winning us games? Is he being stifled? I think so.

So, get someone else in if it looks like Clough cannot make the most of it. If we get to next summer and have finished 10th or below again, both Hughes and Hendrick will want out.

Yeah I think I agree.

This season he has to prove that Derby can gain promotion. If we miss out on the Play Offs by a few points then I'd back him for one more season (it would be his last chance imo because his contract expires?). If we are miles away then it's time to look for the right man. The squad is about as strong as we could hope for. He's built a decent bunch.

I'm not confident of keeping Hughes beyond next summer if he keeps up his act.

So lets say we miss out on Play Offs by a couple of points. Or we lose in the semi final. We face one more season at least in this division. We probably have to let Hughes go. Who gets the money? Would it give Nige that slight edge that he lacked this year? Or a new manager who might spend £7.5m on buying a similar quality squad to this one but with players he likes instead?

This is a big season for Nige. (I don't say that every year before the usual retort). He has the squad, a bit of cash and Will Hughes (or Hughes' money if he takes that route)

[gcdcfc28]

Selling Hughes doesn't nesasilary mean we will have a pot of cash to buy someone decent.

How much of the seven million from the sale of Jay Rodriguez did Burnley spent? Plus who's to say the money won't be spent on a flop a'la Cluade Davis, Chris Maguire?

[ChaddesdenRam]

Forest have spent 6-7 million.

[Whoneedshuls]

Forest have spent 6-7 million.

that's cause there manager will moan at the board until he gets some cash to spend.

I'm afraid ours won't

[sheeponacid]

Yeah I think I agree.

This season he has to prove that Derby can gain promotion. If we miss out on the Play Offs by a few points then I'd back him for one more season (it would be his last chance imo because his contract expires?). If we are miles away then it's time to look for the right man. The squad is about as strong as we could hope for. He's built a decent bunch.

I'm not confident of keeping Hughes beyond next summer if he keeps up his act.

So lets say we miss out on Play Offs by a couple of points. Or we lose in the semi final. We face one more season at least in this division. We probably have to let Hughes go. Who gets the money? Would it give Nige that slight edge that he lacked this year? Or a new manager who might spend £7.5m on buying a similar quality squad to this one but with players he likes instead?

This is a big season for Nige. (I don't say that every year before the usual retort). He has the squad, a bit of cash and Will Hughes (or Hughes' money if he takes that route)

Totally disagree that the squad is about as strong as we could hope for...Vaughn v SPL lucky dip Russell, Baptiste v nobody, Burke v Eustace, these were players that we were supposed to be interested in & look who we ended up with...

 

Then there was hope that Brayford was going to resign right up until the last minute...

 

As strong as we could hope for, as weak a list of signings as I could of hoped for (Grant excluded)...

 

As to whether this is down to Nigel or our board I dont know...Sell Hughes no way, all we are going to end up with is more over hyped signings such as Russell, Sammon, Keogh..

[t'oldu]

It's one thing saying the money is there for Nigel to spend but ultimately it is the owners who sanction a deal so they determine HOW MUCH can be spent on a quality player.  Whatever is said publically they have the control.

[curb]

Not while Clough's in charge, I wouldn't trust him to get the right players in, or be able to manage them properly.

We've only got one shot at it, if it gets frittered away on crap signings like Tyson and Keogh it could be a long time before we're in a position to spend again.

New manager now, let him get up to speed on who's worth keeping (not many, I know), then build with the money we get from selling Hughes at the end of the season.