We are reportedly getting an injection of cash for the first team in the summer, so where does it get spent.

Simply the main deficiencies are still there. A left winger, A commanding centre back and a centre forward.

Now I would say we also need a left back and two central midfielders. If we are to sign top quality players then this is going to leave us with no change out of around 40-50 million pounds!

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2001

Answers

Anyone we do sign is going to have to be convinced by the argument, "we're not in Europe but if you sign we will be". Obviously another 5-6 players are going to have to fall for that!

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2001

If you were a top-class player, would you fall for it? And anyway, isn't that the precise problem we've suffered from? Mercenaries who couldn't hack the fight when it got a bit tough? Throwing money at it isn;t the way to solve the problem. it's part of the solution but it'll only get you a certain part of the way...

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2001

I agree about the mercenaries but we don't have the players at the club with the required quality/experience to do the job so purchases will have to be made.

There must be some players who will be up for it but will that compromise the quality?

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2001

compromise the quality of who?

the ones already here or the ones coming in?!

Soz, must stop being so cynical... ;-)

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2001

RE throwing money at it!! Bobby, I believe is well aware of the mercanary situation!!! Look at his purchases as an example!!! Most of the players brought in are kids with potential, gavilan,O'brien,Lua Lua and are British (except gavilan)!! Bobby is building for the near future with these guys and also the young uns we already have. Hes bought Bassedas and Acuna to play football now. Bobby has a plan Im sure of it!! Hes using history as his guide, last 3 years we have spent £60 mill plus and weve been mid table at best, be patient (I know weve been patient for 30 years etc!!) but its time to have a manager for more than a season. I personally think this situation we are in now is virtually identical to Man Utd and Alex Ferguson at the beginning!!! AM

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2001

I agree but we still don't have a left winger out of that lot unless Bobby has a big plan for Lua-Lua in that position. In fact would that be such a bad idea?

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2001

Southgate, Bridges combine fee of about 10-11 million.

Carrick £10 million.

Left winger? Duff £5 million?

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2001

Despite Douggies confidence, I think we'll have serious difficulties persuading world-class players to come here right now - just as would have done when KK first came here.

Despite the positives - stadium, supporters, big payers - there are simply too many negatives. We aren't in Europe, thanks largely to dumb mismanagement this season; we've been relegation candidates for 3 consecutive seasons and there is no guarantee we won't be next season; we've got NO track record of success, in fact we've won nothing for over 30 years; and lastly, we have a 68 year old Manager who despite his track record and international reputation, could leave at a few months notice, leaving a highly uncertain future.

These are significant issues, and we will inevitably need to come up with really good answers to persuade anyone of any significance to come here. I really feel we will need to demonstrate some trend of improvement before we can really compete for the very best players.

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2001

We need to improve the squad. But for that we need money. Now, believe him or not, but DH has indicated that this will be available - whether enough or not I dunno. I also believe YBR has to shed some dross and hopefully generate another £5-7M. Let's assume that provides £30M spends for the summer, plus the associated wages, or balance one against t'other depending on how the xfer farce goes.

Now, let's just assume Bridges was fit. How much? £7M. Is a fit Bridges the calibre of player we need/want? IMHO, the Rivaldos (for example) of this world are priced out of our market. Nice if your SAF and only need to add one or two, you can pick and choose your Stamms and Van Nistelroys. But you can't get there in one fell swoop so we will have to be patient.

But with (say) £30M to spend, we could get 4 players of Bridges ability. We don't need to strengthen GK (do we??) I think we have a possible short-term problem in defence, tho YBR has already started buying and presumably won't buy another CB. Whether Quinn can crack it, who knows, but Hughes can cover at FB and I believe Griff can also play on the left - a la Neville but better ;-) Probably time to start thinking about putting Barton out to pasture.

We have Shearer up front for (say) 1-2 more seasons. Cort is there and will become increasingly #1 choice. Whether Shola and Lua x2 make it is yet to be seen. We will buy a striker (eg. Bridges).

The major problem area is still MF. RL and GS can't go on forever and neither is good enough to hold down a regular spot. LKD (assuming he recovers and stays) will hold down one spot, either just behind the front 2 or as "creative attacking midfielder" - perhaps like Giggs or Scholes??

I won't even start to address who could play wide left. We need to buy. We also need a holding/breaking-up midfielder in the Keane/Vierra mould. Another one to buy. Whether Bassedas, Acuna or Solano will fit in/come good enough, I dunno so perhaps a 4th purchase here? But to do this, we must get rid of the build-up of dross in MF. If they ain't good enough, then get rid. Sorry, but as much as I like and admire Rob Lee, I think he has less and less to offer over the whole season. Eventually, even Stanley Matthews had to hang up his boots ;-)

So, the question is, assuming we have circa £30M to spend, should we blow it one one or two huge buys or (say) 4 decent proven quality players?

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2001

4 decent proven Premiership quality players. Bridges, Southgate, Carrick and Bart Goor.

Given

Griffin-Southgate-Hughes-Quinn

Dyer-Carrick-Bassedas-Goor

Shearer/Bridges-Cort

-- Anonymous, March 20, 2001