The amount of money we're spending

[eddie]

3 hours ago, CumbrianRam said:

The teams oustide top 6 are pretty weak

Compared to what - the teams not outside the top 6?

That's a statement that cannot be substantiated.

[Ovis aries]

7 hours ago, TheHomunculusLives said:

 

 

7 hours ago, TheHomunculusLives said:

Is anyone else a bit concerned by the amount of money we've been throwing around since Clement took over - and the standard of player we're investing in? £20 million in the summer and now Camara and probably Blackman too. That's a serious level of investment - more than some Premiership clubs.

Granted, we are second in the league and generally playing well but surely that's the minimum we should expect bearing in mind we were already a strong team before the summer spending spree and this is a weak division. I reckon McClaren or even Clough could have done the same with such strong financial backing.

Anyway, I guess the point I'm trying to make is that we're spending big money on players who are solid rather than spectacular and I wonder if we could be doing more with our apparent new found wealth? 

Who are you?...

What do you mean throwing around.?

 

[RamNut]

The current spending is in sharp contrast to the parsimonious policy of GSE, and in the context of FFP its reasonable to puzzle over the change and the risk of excessive dpending.

i assume that there will be someone leaving soon for a reasonable fee to help balance the books.

i just hope that every 7 figure signing has something significant to contribute and don't tip us over some important limit or threshold.

[G STAR RAM]

I will only be concerned if the price of my season ticket goes through the roof or if the team gets hit with FFP sanctions.

My real worry is the effect this could have on players and PC who now should be under real pressure to secure promotion.

[LazloW]

7 hours ago, TheHomunculusLives said:

Is anyone else a bit concerned by the amount of money we've been throwing around since Clement took over - and the standard of player we're investing in? £20 million in the summer and now Camara and probably Blackman too. That's a serious level of investment - more than some Premiership clubs.

Granted, we are second in the league and generally playing well but surely that's the minimum we should expect bearing in mind we were already a strong team before the summer spending spree and this is a weak division. I reckon McClaren or even Clough could have done the same with such strong financial backing.

Anyway, I guess the point I'm trying to make is that we're spending big money on players who are solid rather than spectacular and I wonder if we could be doing more with our apparent new found wealth? 

I think the days of 'spectacular' signings made for £1-2 million are long gone. This is the going rate for decent squad players - which considering the strength of the squad is all we probably need at the moment.  You mention a strong squad already but a lot of the reported £20m we have 'thrown' around has been on making loans permanent and filling gaps from long term injury.  So in many ways we have just been maintaining squad strength.  Having said that, the squad is still atronger then last year.

I'm sure this has all been said before but we are both relative 'newbies' (or in my case long term absentee) so no doubt going over old ground.  

[VulcanRam]

We live in a time of an inflated market. Players that might have cost £3 million three years ago are now double that. Market forces and the need to be in the PL is pushing prices up at a faster rate. £20 million "thrown around" (ridiculous phrase) isn't anything like what it was three, five or 10 years ago, when it would have bought you a whole lot more than it does now.

That's just the way it is; the only decision Mel has to make is whether he chooses to opt in or out when it comes to spending.

And I'm not even going into the "weak league" or "we spent the most so we should be top" arguments, because they hold no water. 

Not sure what you mean when you say "solid not spectacular" - Ince, Johnson, Butterfield, Shackell, Carson have all made us better. Weimann's been a bit of a turkey and Bent I'm convinced will do well given pitch time. Pearce no ideas as we haven't seen him. That's not a bad return. 

[Srg]

7 hours ago, TheHomunculusLives said:

That's exactly my point - we have lost to poor Forest and Leeds teams despite the amount of money we've spent. We should be running away with this league with the investment added to what was already a strong squad. I also don't get the argument that we will make profit on our signings - with the possible exception of Ince of he ever discovers some consistency, which of Clement's signings are going to make us money if we sell them? Shackell? Baird? Carson? Steady eddies to get us up but never going to be stellar performers in the Premier League. Butterfield, Pearce and (if he joins) Blackmon are no better than what we had already.

Jesus ******* Christ man. We've lost 3 damn league games and it isn't good enough for you. You do know no amount of money you spend can guarantee a damn thing? It just gives you a better chance than it would normally. 

Yes we should have beaten those teams, but we could have easily lost other games. Football isn't played on paper. 

Bet you start groaning at sideways  passes after 2minutes on a Saturday. 

[Wolfie20]

58 minutes ago, Srg said:

Jesus ******* Christ man. We've lost 3 damn league games and it isn't good enough for you. You do know no amount of money you spend can guarantee a damn thing? It just gives you a better chance than it would normally. 

Yes we should have beaten those teams, but we could have easily lost other games. Football isn't played on paper. 

Bet you start groaning at sideways  passes after 2minutes on a Saturday. 

You're assuming he actually goes to the matches - I wouldn't bet on it

[Manicsheepreacher]

I think it was 10 years ago this month that we finally broke our barren spell of not parting with any cash, which was on Darren Moore for something like 300k. It was during the time Phil Brown was having to loan in players like Blessing Kaku. Looking back it's a big achievement that we never got relegated to league 1. But can you imagine getting a proven campaigner like Moore in for that price now? 

Since we're pulling in the highest average attendances in the league, are attracting more and more commercial interest in the club and not forgetting that the owner has just sold his King shares for over 400 million, then the reality is we shouldn't be worrying as much as other clubs are about FFP. As things stand the club is in a very fortunate place.   

But when you look at the transfer market now,the 11 million fee spent on Ross McCormack changed the spending trend in this league significantly. And the way Derby are playing it, with the money at stake, I think it's worth pushing the boat as far as the rules will alllow. And that appears to be exactly what we're doing.     

 

   


   

[TheHomunculusLives]

I love the fact that just because I express a point of view that's a little controversial I apparently don't attend matches.

I am looking at the long term here and I am not convinced a lot of the players we have signed are worth what we paid or good long term investments. I understand we want to get promoted at all costs this season due to the Premiership gold mine available from next season but I would rather we kept a bit more of our powder dry or invested in really good players who could step up into the Premiership. But I guess Mel Morris might well be happy to rebuild again when we go up and invest another huge sum replacing the players who aren't good enough.

[eddie]

28 minutes ago, TheHomunculusLives said:

I love the fact that just because I express a point of view that's a little controversial I apparently don't attend matches.

I am looking at the long term here and I am not convinced a lot of the players we have signed are worth what we paid or good long term investments. I understand we want to get promoted at all costs this season due to the Premiership gold mine available from next season but I would rather we kept a bit more of our powder dry or invested in really good players who could step up into the Premiership. But I guess Mel Morris might well be happy to rebuild again when we go up and invest another huge sum replacing the players who aren't good enough.

Probably fair to make unsubstantiated assumptions. After all, your initial post was nothing but.

[TheHomunculusLives]

I give up!

[ossieram]

3 minutes ago, TheHomunculusLives said:

I give up!

Good.

[StockholmRam]

3 hours ago, G STAR RAM said:

I will only be concerned if the price of my season ticket goes through the roof or if the team gets hit with FFP sanctions.

My real worry is the effect this could have on players and PC who now should be under real pressure to secure promotion.

This season you mean G Star? 

I don't see that really. Great to be 2nd start of new year. Surprised really. Up and above where I expected us to be. I was hoping for top 6 at a push. It can take time for new managers/ head coaches and a ruck of new players to settle and gel. 

Im sure I heard MM say this was not a " pressure to get into the prem" season. Be nice if we do though. 

[Ewe Ram]

I'd be interested, seeing as how the OP doesn't agree with the signings, or maybe just how much we have paid, who he would have signed and how much he would have paid. 

Then I'd like to understand how he will guarantee that they would be worth more when sold or indeed been good premiership players. 

[SaintRam]

Just now, Ewe Ram said:

I'd be interested, seeing as how the OP doesn't agree with the signings, or maybe just how much we have paid, who he would have signed and how much he would have paid. 

Then I'd like to understand how he will guarantee that they would be worth more when sold or indeed been good premiership players. 

I would absolutely not be interested in any of that information. 

[TheHomunculusLives]

Courteous bunch on this forum these days aren't you? I posted for years on this site's predecessor Ramzone as ThePekingHomunculus and am really disappointed by the infantile, insulting responses from some of today's posters.  If you don't agree with my point of view that's fine, but if you don't have anything constructive to say then why not just stay silent?

For anyone who is interested, I would personally have brought in a couple more high quality Premiership loans as we did with Thorne originally and others like Wisdom and Ibe. Players who could make the difference at this level rather than spending big bucks on squad players.

I am really struggling to see why we need to pay significant fees for so many players - I genuinely don't understand why we have just paid £3 million for Blackman as well as £1.5 million for Camara when we already have Martin, Bent, Weimann, Ince, Russell, Dawkins, Calero and Zanzala. 

[SaintRam]

1 minute ago, TheHomunculusLives said:

Courteous bunch on this forum these days aren't you? I posted for years on this site's predecessor Ramzone as ThePekingHomunculus and am really disappointed by the infantile, insulting responses from some of today's posters.  If you don't agree with my point of view that's fine, but if you don't have anything constructive to say then why not just stay silent?

For anyone who is interested, I would personally have brought in a couple more high quality Premiership loans as we did with Thorne originally and others like Wisdom and Ibe. Players who could make the difference at this level rather than spending big bucks on squad players.

I am really struggling to see why we need to pay significant fees for so many players - I genuinely don't understand why we have just paid £3 million for Blackman as well as £1.5 million for Camara when we already have Martin, Bent, Weimann, Ince, Russell, Dawkins, Calero and Zanzala. 

Well, first of all Calero and Zanzala are not good enough at this level. Dawkins clearly isn't rated at all. That leaves us with 5 players across three positions and without a lot of option for system changes. 

So why Camara? Well, he's a very fast, direct player. He runs at defenders, tries to take them on. None of our wingers do that. So he gives us an option we don't have. 

Why Blackman? I don't know a lot about him unfortunately, so I can't defend the signing in the same way but I certainly am not displeased by it. £2-£2.5m for one of the top scorers in the league should not be sniffed at.

Why haven't we brought in anyone on loan? That's a more interesting discussion topic. Lots of people dislike the loan system, maybe our management team fit in that bracket. But we're safe from an Ibe style situation, none of our signings can be recalled. And would any loanees that are available actually get time in our side with the level of competition we have? Let's face it, the lads sitting on our bench week in week out would start for most champ sides. 

[Curtains]

Thanks for the new strikers Mel. 

Speculate to accumulate.

120 Milion premier league gold here we come  

 

 

[ossieram]

7 minutes ago, TheHomunculusLives said:

Courteous bunch on this forum these days aren't you? I posted for years on this site's predecessor Ramzone as ThePekingHomunculus and am really disappointed by the infantile, insulting responses from some of today's posters.  If you don't agree with my point of view that's fine, but if you don't have anything constructive to say then why not just stay silent?

For anyone who is interested, I would personally have brought in a couple more high quality Premiership loans as we did with Thorne originally and others like Wisdom and Ibe. Players who could make the difference at this level rather than spending big bucks on squad players.

I am really struggling to see why we need to pay significant fees for so many players - I genuinely don't understand why we have just paid £3 million for Blackman as well as £1.5 million for Camara when we already have Martin, Bent, Weimann, Ince, Russell, Dawkins, Calero and Zanzala. 

Maybe they had a look at how things worked out when we were loaning players and thought buying would be the better option seeing as we still ended up in the Championship after our loans.