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Post by desman2 on Jul 30, 2015 10:49:48 GMT
I would say that if we can reach 9th last season with a seriously depleted squad through injury and also playing players who are carrying injuries then its actually looking very good this season. And dont forget weve signed some excellent young players who i reckon will be good enough for the odd game.
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Post by silverdollar on Jul 30, 2015 10:53:44 GMT
I shall watch this season with great interest. In particular Joselu, Van Ginkel, Afellay and Moha but I shall also be interested in Wollsheid and Butland. I have great faith being a supporter of Stoke City in our management team and hopefully all those who have posted such crap on this thread can be shown up for what they are. I believe the manager has done really well with the standard of player he has acquired whilst accepting that there are risks being taken. So sad to see NZonzi go and very difficult to replace. If we can add a couple more players with excellent pedigree I have no doubts that we will have another exciting season that will see us establish ourselves further as a top eight side.
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Post by silverdollar on Jul 30, 2015 10:54:42 GMT
I shall watch this season with great interest. In particular Joselu, Van Ginkel, Afellay and Moha but I shall also be interested in Wollsheid and Butland. I have great faith being a supporter of Stoke City in our management team and hopefully all those who have posted such crap on this thread can be shown up for what they are. I believe the manager has done really well with the standard of player he has acquired whilst accepting that there are risks being taken. So sad to see NZonzi go and very difficult to replace. If we can add a couple more players with excellent pedigree I have no doubts that we will have another exciting season that will see us establish ourselves further as a top eight side.
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Post by brinsleymaclagan on Jul 30, 2015 10:55:32 GMT
Stoke have done their best to spend big, but have so far been thwarted in their attempts, but we are now trying to recruit top class players, not ones who are just happy to play in the Prem. Personally, I would love to see us sign a top midfield player, one who could help us to dominate the midfield, as I think that's where games are won and lost, and I'm not sure that Van Ginkel is that player? but I am sure that if we don't manage to sign our No.1 choices, we have backup-trust in Hughesey!
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Post by thebet365 on Jul 30, 2015 10:59:36 GMT
Judging by all the knicker wetting and speculation on this site all summer, I'm not the only one who would like to see some big signings made. Are we happy to stay in mid table or do we want to push on? I agree we have done brilliantly to finish where we have without massive outlay, but how long can we carry on doing it ? I think we have weakened the squad and recorded negative investment. Push on to what ? Untouchables Man City Man Utd Chelsea Arsenal Can't compete financially with Liverpool That leaves 6th spot to fight for or a cup to get into Europe. The main problem is Scholes telling us we're after next level signings getting everyones hopes up. I'd rather them run the club like this and keep the football affordable for us fans to go to watch than bleed us dry to pay mega money to the top stars.
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Post by Davef on Jul 30, 2015 11:07:32 GMT
If we'd have signed Konoplyanka, we'd have still "spent nowt", yet would have one of the most highly rated wingers in Europe on our books. We hardly spent a penny on Bojan.
I really don't understand this obsession with throwing money into other football clubs' coffers. West Brom have just lined Hull's pockets with £8M on a player with one year left on his contract. That's madness in my book. Several other clubs are strutting around to see who has the biggest transfer dick.
We've signed some pretty decent players without pissing away our money. Ultimately, we're probably going to have to spend a wedge or two on players currently on decent contracts, but our policy has served us well so far.
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Post by stokie1997 on Jul 30, 2015 11:08:18 GMT
Let's count ourselves lucky that Pulis isn't here to spend any money. 8 million on James Chester and buying a 33 year old striker. In Hughes we trust
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Post by foster on Jul 30, 2015 11:09:57 GMT
Good business this Window Imo, just need some lw competition and we're sorted. Another rw would be nice but not a necessity.
Im not in favour of spending for thé sake of it, nor paying over the odds.
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Post by foster on Jul 30, 2015 11:11:39 GMT
If we'd have signed Konoplyanka, we'd have still "spent nowt", yet would have one of the most highly rated wingers in Europe on our books. We hardly spent a penny on Bojan. I really don't understand this obsession with throwing money into other football clubs' coffers. West Brom have just lined Hull's pockets with £8M on a player with one year left on his contract. That's madness in my book. Several other clubs are strutting around to see who has the biggest transfer dick. We've signed for pretty decent players without pissing away our money. Ultimately, we're probably going to have to spend a wedge or two on players currently on decent contracts, but our policy has served us well so far. One of the most highly rated wingers in Europe, yet most people have never heard of him. Ok.
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Post by sheikhmomo on Jul 30, 2015 11:16:09 GMT
I don't think it's "knicker wetting" or whatever hysterical epithet people want to put on it to point out that losing some of your best players, whilst at the same time operating a huge transfer surplus, works out badly far more often than it works out well.
It's alright being clever but it is possible to be a bit 'too clever'.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2015 11:19:35 GMT
I'm just looking forward to Stoke City beating Liverpool in a fortnights time
providing we can field our best eleven - and looking man for man - Im remaining pretty confident in spite of all the 'gnashing of teeth' on here
i.e. we're not spending the money
we can and will, 'do' them again
wouldve been nice though to open an extra 1500 seats where the scoreboard 'was' - definitely missed a major trick there Im sorry to say
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Post by JoeinOz on Jul 30, 2015 11:20:47 GMT
Ideally we pick up Michu type bargains. Pick up players who are value for money.
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Post by Gods on Jul 30, 2015 11:24:35 GMT
I don't think it's "knicker wetting" or whatever hysterical epithet people want to put on it to point out that losing some of your best players, whilst at the same time operating a huge transfer surplus, works out badly far more often than it works out well. It's alright being clever but it is possible to be a bit 'too clever'. It does I'm afraid. If our 2 yearly relaunch of the youth system ever delivered any end product it might be a bit different.
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Post by Kjones9 on Jul 30, 2015 11:25:40 GMT
This current transfer team hasn't let us down yet so I think they deserve our trust.
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Post by johnnysoul60 on Jul 30, 2015 11:27:17 GMT
I can see where you are coming from but Im not sure it really matters that much as long as the players you bring in do the job , in fact its better not to spend too much especially if the manager cant get his n0 1 targets.
I think we have cover for Bego , I'm a little worried about centre half , I think all of the players have their qualities but worry if Ryans back did flair up that we could struggle Having said that there seems to be a real shortage of decent centre halves just now so we are probably better than many clubs in that regard . I am in the why has he let Huth go camp but if they have fallen out there is the answer
Similarly we will have to see if Van Ginkel can replace Nzonzi but he certainly seeMS to have the ability to do so from the clubs he has played for
We could do with a right winger but Johnson could possibly play that position better than right back , he is very strong going forward
The new forwards are untried in the league but again have pedigree and seem worth the investment and if they dont come off we should still have plenty in Diouf Adam Bojan Crouch JW Arnie and Winge to score enough goals
So I dont think you need to worry too much even if this season we drop a couple of places all should be well .
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Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2015 11:27:29 GMT
I don't think it's "knicker wetting" or whatever hysterical epithet people want to put on it to point out that losing some of your best players, whilst at the same time operating a huge transfer surplus, works out badly far more often than it works out well. It's alright being clever but it is possible to be a bit 'too clever'. Transfer surplus this year is a rarity for us . It's not been the norm has it
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Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2015 11:27:35 GMT
transfer window remains open until the end of August by the way
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Post by stokemark on Jul 30, 2015 11:28:54 GMT
The level of spending on transfer fees is only an issue if we we fail on the pitch - so far we havent however I do think that we lack quality in key areas, the sort of quality that really is only addressable by spending large(ish) sums of money otherwise you are left fishing in a very small pond.
What has left me suprised so far in this close season is the approach of bringing in certain players seeming just because they are cheap / free (ie Johnson, Wollscheid, Affelay) when in reality I think it better to bring in 2/3 really top players and definately a top quality right winger and defensive central midfielder but my thinkiing is that we cannot do those sort of deals due to the wages that these sort of players would command (ie £80K a week plus).
I think the other risk / consequence of this current 'strategy' is you get left with a potential number of 'dead wood' players who you took on because they were cheap / free in the first place and simply fail to make the grade or are injury prone and cannot play (Sidwell, Ireland, Bardsley spring to mind - all no doubt draining the club dry with little in the way of return)
There are no certainties in football and the Premier League is littered with players who cost huge sums and have failed to make the grade but there is not doubt that if you do have money to spend on both transfer fee's and salaries your net can be cast far wider and there is a much greater liklihood of being able to bring in the right player in the right positions without the risks that accompany our current 'low cost' approach. Either way there are pro's and con's but I personally am disppointed that we have not gone for greater quality over quantity in this window.
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Post by sheikhmomo on Jul 30, 2015 11:29:47 GMT
I don't think it's "knicker wetting" or whatever hysterical epithet people want to put on it to point out that losing some of your best players, whilst at the same time operating a huge transfer surplus, works out badly far more often than it works out well. It's alright being clever but it is possible to be a bit 'too clever'. Transfer surplus this year is a rarity for us . It's not been the norm has it Recent deficits have been tiny though.
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Post by mattador78 on Jul 30, 2015 11:30:09 GMT
While it would be nice to show our intent to play with the big boys, plenty of big money signings simply don't come off. I'd rather we signed 5 £8 million players than one Mesut Ozil or Andy Carroll To be honest id take ozil in a heartbeat, but fuck Carroll off
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Post by ti on Jul 30, 2015 11:31:03 GMT
Signing on fees...
I wonder whether we just prefer getting the 'free' players so we don't have to deal with other clubs fuxking us around as well as they players and their agents.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2015 11:32:25 GMT
Perez at Newcastle would be my next signing
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Post by ukcstokie on Jul 30, 2015 11:35:49 GMT
This current transfer team hasn't let us down yet so I think they deserve our trust. Stop trying to reel Sheiky in mate.
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Post by Kjones9 on Jul 30, 2015 11:38:14 GMT
This current transfer team hasn't let us down yet so I think they deserve our trust. Stop trying to reel Sheiky in mate. I'm not, they've worked wonders. Pizza.
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Post by sheikhmomo on Jul 30, 2015 11:40:36 GMT
This current transfer team hasn't let us down yet so I think they deserve our trust. Stop trying to reel Sheiky in mate. Not playing I think the other way of looking at it, is that's it's unfair to expect the manager to keep performing miracles. If he's happy enough then you might say 'so what' but I look at our ins and outs and the decline of a few players in key areas and I can't see us progressing next season at this point. The job Hughes has done has been remarkable, recognised but underrated in the wider world but he will know better than anyone that the time to strengthen is when you're at the top.
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Post by bayernoatcake on Jul 30, 2015 11:41:07 GMT
But we're not even spending money on squad players on the whole. And only Joselu comes in at anything over 3m. It just seems strange to me! Yes but some people are moaning that we've not improved the 1st 11 and got freebies who are just squad players so imagine the uproar if we'd paid millions for them, which incidentally some teams seem to be. Look at Pulis paying £7m for a defender that most haven't heard of! I don't think half the players we've signed are overly needed tbh! He'll go into their first team and probably do well, I still wouldn't have spent 7m on him but I wouldn't have spent 3m on Wolly either!
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Post by Kjones9 on Jul 30, 2015 11:44:25 GMT
Stop trying to reel Sheiky in mate. Not playing I think the other way of looking at it, is that's it's unfair to expect the manager to keep performing miracles. If he's happy enough then you might say 'so what' but I look at our ins and outs and the decline of a few players in key areas and I can't see us progressing next season at this point. The job Hughes has done has been remarkable, recognised but underrated in the wider world but he will know better than anyone that the time to strengthen is when you're at the top. The transfer team (including Hughes) have acquired the right tools though and the performing micarcles has been the signing of the right players. It's not like Hughes has been handed donkeys to work with.
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Post by JoeinOz on Jul 30, 2015 11:44:44 GMT
Give WHU 17m for Mark Noble. Makes no sense but it means we will have spent money and that's what counts eh?
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Post by bayernoatcake on Jul 30, 2015 11:47:07 GMT
I know hence the "we shall see" bit! It's still frustrating though not seeing him backed like TP used to be. He was given 12-15m a season to spend, I don't think we've even seen an indication we're genuinely willing to do that with Hughes so far. He being backed. Clearly Given, Afellay, Johnson came because our wages are competitive, Joselu and Van Ginkel will be on serious wages and 3 other signings have been added to the wage bill. We now have 2 teams that are competitive at PL level and we have made significant bids for star names. No evidence he is not being backed or asking for things and being refused, quite the opposite. For example, we currently have 8 front men, Diouf, Crouch, Joselu, Walters, Wingy, Arnie, Afellay and Moha, which is commitment by anyone's standards. Our wage so far has stayed the same as it was under TP but we're spending less on fees. Afellay won't be on more than 30-40k I'd imagine which is pretty par for the course for us now. We do but the quality of the first team has gone down. We have allegedly made these bids, I'm very sceptical over the whole bidding for big names tbh. I'd called it wastefulness!
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Post by bayernoatcake on Jul 30, 2015 11:47:21 GMT
Give WHU 17m for Mark Noble. Makes no sense but it means we will have spent money and that's what counts eh? Literally nobody is saying that.
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