How much do we need to spend?

[luke45]

It seems as each season goes by in the premiership the recently promoted teams need to spend more and more to avoid the drop.

Take Sunderland for example, they spent £48 Million last season, and beat the drop by 3 points, it's quite a concerning prospect.

We MUST invest promptly in pre-season, and look to spend in the £25 million region, if we can get the right players in i see no reason at all why we can't stay up, and finish 16th or above.

Tony spends wisely and i'm sure we are all aware he wont panic buy, we were concerned at the lack of pre-season transfer activity last season, but at the end produced something memorable.

On a positive note look at the success Reading and Wigan had in their first seasons in the top flight both finished very highly, and didn't massively transform there teams in pre-season in my opinion so hope is there.

We have 5 or 6 players currently who could definately cut it in the top flight, and if we can build a stronger squad around them, we can achieve alot this season.

If we beat the drop, even if it's 17th on goal difference, it's job well done as far as i'm concerned.

I'm very confident for next season, i think our two styles of play might give teams certainly in the bottom half of the table problems at times.

I mean we can play good flowing football, but also adapt a long-ball to mama if need be, it may be seen as " tedious " but our success this season has proven that it can win you games.

I think our main success this season has been based around the fact we've had a never say die attitude throughout, and the fact that this season more than last we have regularly adapted both styles of play, long-ball to mama or good build up play with whelan as the playmaker through the middle.

We have the credentials to beat the drop and i really believe we will, i think the next few months and how much transfer activity materialises will give us an insentive into how much we can achieve, and what the club as a whole aim to achieve.

Gooarnnn Stoke

[stokey-pokey pudding and pie]

really all depends on the market he's buying in. sunderland spent 48 mill, but they spent it in the british transfer market(mainly) and at least a few of the faces keane brought in havent really featured. if the noises arent misheard and tp is looking mainly at top flight players in the french and german leagues, then i dont see any reason why 15 mill couldnt put a decent squad together.

lets say we need a keeper, 2 full backs, a centre back, a holding midfielder, a left winger and 2 strikers. and lets assume that 3 of those 8 are bosmans, that leaves an average of 3 mill per player. sorted!

[CashBack]

You can't really look at Sunderland's example can you?

They spent shit loads of money on over inflated players such as higgie, kenwyn jones and craig gorden

They spent like 5m on Chopra didn't they?

They signed many players at high prices IE they panic bought and yes it did pull off BUT if they hadn't of survived they would of most certainly gone towards a Leeds situation.

You can survive without spending silly money. For a start we have better squad players then sunderland imo. People like shawcross, Whealen, Fuller and Lawrence want to prove themselves rather then be in it for the money like most of Sunderlands players.

[robin1302]

£34.99

[tclueless]

You need to replace the majority of your squad. a Good 30 million.

[stokecityscott]

all 3 teams need to replace the whole squad near enough.

[tclueless]

Well albion Need a New Keeper, New Starting Center back in the Sol Campbell Mode, A new Left back, a New first team striker. Thats deffos, and back up for all postions. Unless Gera goes, Midfield is ok, though a Little lightweight,

[CashBack]

So do you.

Phillips, Gera and Martin with the funny boots won't stay.

Keily is probably the worst keeper in the Premiership now.

Greening will be too old to play his playmaker role.

Hoefkins can't defend which we know too well and Robinson can only just defend without being sent off in the Championship god knows in the prem

Koran, Brunt, Morrison, Texiera and Barnett will cut it.

So a good 30m for you too

And the above is from me watching many of your midweek games when Stoke have either not played or are of to palace or some other place i can't get to on a Tuesday night.

[biddulphchav]

Hmm thats a bit of an ambiguous question old boy.

Its more a question of how well we spend whatever we do spend, and in that I would include signing on fees and the like.

What it boils down to in my eyes is whether TP is prepared to gamble on some foreign imports. And how well he does so if he decides this is the way forward.

Sunderland are a shite example in truth. They spent their money very poorly, almost exclusively in the British marker (which is over-inflated) and in my opinion unless they add some serious QUALITY then they may well be there or thereabouts as far as relegation is concerned in the next few seasons.

I hope we can bring in some solid players from abroad, with a bit of experience. A couple of gambles on players that are on the up, and maybe some that have faded and lost their way would seem to be the way to go.

We are naturally among the favourites to go back down, lets have a real go at it, take a few risks whilst ensuring that the long term future of the club remains stable.

Now get off your arse and do some scouting TP!

[Premiership Titanic Captain]

£25-30m I would say.

Hopefully we can generate a good £3-6 million from players leaving us.

[MrBigJobby]

$3-6mil from players leaving? Who?

[biddulphchav]

3-6 Million is a tad optimistic isnt it?

Only players that are worth more than a few 100k are:

Simmo
Lawrence
Fuller
Whelan
Shawcross
Cort
And possibly Sidibe - (if the club signing has a deaf, dumb and blind manager )

I cant see us wantint to let any of these players go. At the very least I expect them to be squad players next season.

So I cant see where 2 million is coming from, let alone 6.

[frasier37]

Now we're in the Prem they're going to insist on silly money, that's a fact.
Stoke will need to strengthen right through the team so, i agree with tclueless's £30 million at least.

[MrBigJobby]

I thought it was just me Chav!

[Premiership Titanic Captain]

May 23, 2008 5:44:00 GMT MrBigJobby said:

$3-6mil from players leaving? Who?

Simonsen - £500k?
Pugh - £500k?
Cresswell - £500k?
Parkin - £300k?
Pericard - £100k?
Cort - £800k?
Wilkinson - £250k?
Rooney - £200k?
=============
Total = £3.1m-ish?

Add on clauses and sell-on fee's, it all adds up. More than doable.

[MrBigJobby]

I wouldnt have thought Simmo, Pugh, Cresswell, Cort or Wilko would be going anywhere

[Premiership Titanic Captain]

May 23, 2008 5:56:38 GMT MrBigJobby said:

I wouldnt have thought Simmo, Pugh, Cresswell, Cort or Wilko would be going anywhere

Why not? I would think they would be available at the right price.

Pulis' recent words are 'I have had to build a squad the last two season - this year is no different'. The players I listed are also not good enough to be in the top-flight, with the exception of Cresswell who I would like us to keep.

Cort's time is up I think. With Higgy & N'Daw rumoured to be coming, he's going to be 4th in line for a starting place. No doubt another defender will come in too.

Not much to be said about Pugh & Wilko, as they probably wouldn't even make our bench next season.

Cresswell & Simmo could be useful squad players, but if there's a chance to cash in on them, we should. Especially Cresswell who is nearly 31.

[MrBigJobby]

Captain- No doubt none of them are good enough as a Premier league starter, but even with new signings there still needs to be some form of competition for places however poor it is, if they were to be sold in favour of the new and improved...there is still no one in back up!

[biddulphchav]

Sorry Titanic I dont agree at all:

Simonsen - £500k? - we will keep him

Pugh - £500k? - ok I'll give you that one

Cresswell - £500k? - I dont think anyone will pay that for an injury prone 31 year old

Parkin - £300k? - we signed him for 275k when he was on the up after a great loan spell. He's not worth half that anymore.

Pericard - £100k? Sorry - Free Transfer all the way

Cort - £800k? We'll need to keep him, hopefully as back up

Wilkinson - £250k? A think 100k is more realistic. Not very experienced.

Rooney - £200k? You have got to be joking?! One hattrick doesnt mean shit - he's isnt good enough. Nominal fee I imagine, if any.

All in all I'd say we'll be lucky to get 1.5million - provided we are actually looking to sell the like of Pugh, Cort and Cresswell. If we are not them I'm afraid our 'squad players' are a load of garbage.
I know it and so do all the managers out there. Lets not kid ourselves!

[Premiership Titanic Captain]

May 23, 2008 6:24:02 GMT biddulphchav said:

Rooney - £200k? You have got to be joking?! One hattrick doesnt mean shit - he's isnt good enough. Nominal fee I imagine, if any.

If Pato could go for £275k rising to £450k at a tribunal, then Rooney could surely go for £200k when he's already a proven League One/Two scorer?

Cresswell would have plenty of offers at Champ/League One level. Maybe £500k is a tad bit much but I can see someone paying it.

Either way though, I agree that we need to strengthen our squad players dramatically.

[biddulphchav]

Hmm - but what was Rooney's record like last season out on loan?

I'm not sure of the stats with this one so I could be wrong but I dont think he did a great deal.

The Patto example actually is quite a good one - although he did have good loan spells and was highly regarded here and elsewhere.

All in all you are probably right - 200k sounds fair - for his potential ability rather than current level.

We certainly have to strengthen - if these N'Daw rumours are true, I hope we get him in soon. Would certainly help me sleep better knowing we're being pro-active. Eventhough we've been promoted I'm so used to inactivity in the summer its kind of ingrained in me to expect it again!

[Lakeland Potter]

Pato's form at Grimsby (the season before he went to Scunthorpe) was much better in terms of goals per game than Rooney's has been at Chesterfield and Bury. I can't see any club offering much for him unless he goes on loan first and then does well.

[billyboothen32]

40 million else we are going back down.

[MrBigJobby]

then i guess we are going back down, because there is no way he is going to spend that much! and quite rightly so

[billyboothen32]

Alan hansen says any promoted to team must at least spend 40 million to stay up

[billyboothen32]

birmingham spent 15 million went down and look at the players they have .AT the end of the day its grred league and its all down to money.

[MrBigJobby]

Alan Hansen is fucking Idiot then! Its easy to say $40 million, but almost no one can and will do that 1st season up, it would potentially send us down the shitter

[FullerMagic]

Hansen was basing that on Sunderland's mad spending.

40m to get 20m worth of players!

[billyboothen32]

LETS HOPE HE SPENDS AT LEAST 20 MILLION AS WE WILL GET DICKED LIKE DERBY

[billyboothen32]

keane brought charlies in and higgy is 1 lol