Time to map out a plan for Villa's future
- Says blogger Matthew Turvey
Baggies must sell to buy
Thursday 27th December 2007, 11:43AM GMT.
Albion chairman Jeremy Peace has told Tony Mowbray he will have to sell before he can buy new players in January.
Peace has revealed the Baggies plan to reduce the size of their squad in the transfer window and again warned against significant mid-season transfer activity.
“If the opportunity exists to bring in the right player or players then we will look to do so,” said Peace in his programme notes for yesterday’s victory over Bristol City.
“However, any such signings will need to be financed by players leaving the club.”
Mowbray is likely to have some room for manoeuvre in the winter transfer market with Ronnie Wallwork likely to leave after spending three months on loan at Huddersfield and frozen-out striker John Hartson another potential departure.
The loss of their wages from the budget would open up room for a new face or two, with a goalkeeper top priority.
But Peace again stressed his unease at January transfers. He said: “The transfer window opens again in January but, as ever, finding good players at realistic prices will be difficult at this time of year.
“I can only reiterate that January is a time for fine-tuning rather than major changes and that we will always do the bulk of our business in the summer window.”
Read the full story in the Express & Star.
Albion chairman Jeremy Peace has told Tony Mowbray he will have to sell before he can buy new players in January.
Peace has revealed the Baggies plan to reduce the size of their squad in the transfer window and again warned against significant mid-season transfer activity.
“If the opportunity exists to bring in the right player or players then we will look to do so,” said Peace in his programme notes for yesterday’s victory over Bristol City.
“However, any such signings will need to be financed by players leaving the club.”
Mowbray is likely to have some room for manoeuvre in the winter transfer market with Ronnie Wallwork likely to leave after spending three months on loan at Huddersfield and frozen-out striker John Hartson another potential departure.
The loss of their wages from the budget would open up room for a new face or two, with a goalkeeper top priority.
But Peace again stressed his unease at January transfers. He said: “The transfer window opens again in January but, as ever, finding good players at realistic prices will be difficult at this time of year.
“I can only reiterate that January is a time for fine-tuning rather than major changes and that we will always do the bulk of our business in the summer window.”
He revealed his wish to reduce the squad as he praised the fringe players for their win at Leicester with nine players missing.
He said: “The victory showed that the squad was not found wanting when it mattered most.
“Indeed, with 28 players in the squad, if anything it is too large and we will be looking to trim it in January because even now there are players who are not getting an opportunity to play or who have been loaned out.
“The said, I would underline in the strongest terms that that nothing will be done to jeopardise our push for promotion.”
Peace also spoke of the £2m extra spending on players in the summer with £12m spent on transfer fees and an extra £7.6m committed on wages against £17.7m recouped in transfer fees.
He reiterated his commitment to expand the worldwide scouting network.
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Quite right! and who says we need any major signings?
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Just need a keeper IMO
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well fair enough that we dont realy need to sign any players, exept a goalkeeper, but if we want to buy someone why do we have to sell before we buy, wot happend to the money we got in, 11m from the Kamar and Koumas deal, 2.5m for mcshane, 3.5m Ellinghton, and i dont knw how much is the curtis Davies deal worth. good manager but not so good chairman.
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Hartson, Wallwork and (possibly) Chaplow out, keeper in and we’re done IMHO!
Lovin’ it…..!!
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There’s no need for major changes,but even the top premiership clubs constantly look to bring in more quality.Albion’s midfield and strikers are a class apart in this division,but the defence can still look a bit dodgy.Buying a good keeper AND a quality central defender could just about cement promotion.We made millions profit in the summer,spending a bit more now could guarantee us making a fortune next season,so be careful but don’t be too tight.
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the money from the players pays the ridiculous wages ,it is fantastic this year but if we dont go up it will be a massexodus but king mowbray(if he stays ) will have another pile,i believe peace is a good chairman and if he said we had 10 million to spend the prices would be even dearer ,i would like to see the loan signings made permanent and the sale of curti rubber stamped! happy new year fellow baggies boing boing!!!!
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This is the best news I have had for weeks. Please don’t buy any more players, I am depressed as it is.
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you have a dodgy keeper and a dodgy chairman…you’re top of the league and money should be no object now to show some ambition and get to the premier.If he won’t spend now he won’t spend when you get there and you’ll come straight back down.
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i agree with baggie stu 4, get rid of those 3 plus macdonold, all we need is a back up keeper,we have strenth in depth through out the rest of the team why spend money on players we do`nt need until were promoted.
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Malvern Wolf
i was cringing thinking of what comments you wolves guys would come up with CRISIS AT ALBION, ALL YOUR PLAYERS WANT TO LEAVE, YOUR GOING BANKRUPT ETC, Im glad you came up with such a neutral comment.
Good to see JP is keeping firm on his anti-January transfers, we dont NEED more players really do we? however its a shame we can’t bring in the rumoured guys if thats the case, hopefully we can wait til the end of the season and grab them then. Thats if Villa dont rob our scouting plans like usual!!
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Unbelievable!
We get murdered by Fuller at Joke. Our defence isn’t good enough against decent strikers and this idiot, instead of making sure of the automatics by buying a defender and a keeper, allows us to run the risk of failing through the Play-Offs, just like last year.
So much for Derby spending and mucking up last year, hey, Jezza?
PEACE OUT!
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oh wait…..i missed comment number 8……..silly me
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The best signing we could make would be GERA on a three year deal.
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excuse me TheJackal
have you been watching this season?
what is wrong with you pal. It infuriates me to read comments like this from baggies fans, this is a site for the faithful, if you have no faith please take your childish comments elsewhere. i cant complain about anything this season, nor can any other albion fan. we’ve got an amazing goal difference, we have some quality players who WANT to play for us and we’re top of the table.what more do you want, a £50 million splash out on people we dont need, i’ll say one thing to you and i hope it sticks…….Leeds United.
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Mr Peace, have a word with Mr Moxey as he likes selling things this time of year, we need a keeper and wouldn’t it be nice to take Mr Hennessy off the dingles hands, he is their only decent player.
Happy New Year all you baggies out there.
Boing boing
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BoingBoing666.
could’nt agree more, what’s wrong with these people? we’re playing some of the best football seen at the Hawthorns in years & indeed, in this division. If the Jackal wants somthing to really moan about, go visit the Custard Factory!
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you’ll end up regretting this agin at the end of the season just like last year.
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all we need is a keeper and defender and a chairman who wants albion in the prem
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TheJackass.
You are obviously one of our blind fans, we are in a fantastic position at the moment, one which many other teams can only dream about. So what if we lost to stoke, it happens from time to time, one bad result does not constitute a bad season. grow up you prat.
On another note, its nice to see some constructive and decent comments comming from the wolves fans recently, well done, Its a good thing to see, there is too much bitching going on at the moment, MM will do a good job he just needs time.
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to be fair TheJackass hasn’t said we’ve had a bad season or the fact that we have a bad team. What he has said is that we need to strengthen our weakest area in January – our defence/ keeper. Do we not all agree? We are not that great at the back and haven’t been all season. However, I do feel we have got better over the past few months since Cesar was introduced. I feel Jackass may not have put his point across particularly well but I do think it’s a good one – we should have strengthened last January and paid the price for not doing so. No one expects millions to be spent at the drop of a hat but I for one hope we don’t make the same mistake and we get the relevant reinforcements Mowbray feels we require during the upcoming window to ensure we win the title.
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A keeper, Central defender and release Hartson, Chaplow, Wallwork, Macdonald and that should be fine.
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we do need a keeper i think we av alredi agreed this deal wiv a keeper n if we sell i agree wiv stu 4.
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the only reason we have to sell before we buy is that we got a big squad.I cannot name one outfield player from the championship who could get into this team or even on the bench.the goalmachine is going up in style.
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wolves fans on here are just saying nice comments to keep on the right side of us at the moment, but if we slip up they will come looking.. they said we will lose best players and struggle now they say good buisness – so be carefull and i hope wolves dont even make mid table
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be assured baggie boys and girls,if tony mo wants any new signings he will get them..keeper already sorted with danek..things are looking rosy sat on top of the leaque…we dont need any big signings till were up..then we splash the cash..
prem here we come…OH YES
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The chairman spent like a man posessed in the summer , which is why we have such a big squad. That has proved successful so far and now we just need a bit of fine tuning,which again is what he is saying.
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how about we swop hartson,chaplow,mcdonald,clemence,steel,for hennesy and try and help them out abit,oh and throw wallwork in there as well :-)boing boing
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we have the money for new players but the squads too big some players like hartson cant get in the 2nd team.the chairman and the gaffa know what they are doing.I cant name one outfield player from the championship who could get in our side or the bench.the goal machine is going up in style.
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one keeper one quality centre half and its in the bag gie.
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Need to sell in order to buy? Why not go on e-bay: for sale, a small group of middle class conservatives who are like minded, but lack bottle. Same old story…
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JP is trying to do two things here:
1 – Suggest no one will be poached by struggling Prem Clubs leaving our promotion plans in tatters unless a) its silly money or b) there is a deal for a replacement that is better available (in which case the Prem club should go after that player !)
2 – Protecting the club in case we do not make it over the summer then the 8 million for Curtis can be spent then when it actually arrives.
This is sound planning from JP given that his nature is cautious rather than ambitious. Not that I always agree with him but I can see where he is coming from.
I think that the lads, except Hartson, Chaplow (sorry but he doesn’t have enough for me – I’d rather have kept Carter and sent Chaplow up to Preston!) and perhaps Ronnie and Steele; deserve the chance to continue the work they are doing. Remember the problems our so called better players caused with their attitude last year. We have a settled and fairly successful squad – we only need to change it if it is right for us. TM and JP KNOW we need a new keeper and perhaps a centre back with some pace that can cope with the likes of Ricardo Fuller and co. We should not get worried about next season yet – it’s horses for courses and this squad is doing the business right now and it has already come through the strength in depth test whilst KP and Miller were out and Morrison is still out and we are okay.
I’d like to see us consolidate Bednars loan into a permanent move as well but I’m not so sure of the terms.
There will be a lot of money available next summer if we are successful.
Keep up the good work TM
Boing Boing!
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stop slagging off Peace. He is a shrewd financier, who i believe DOES want albion in the premiership. He just realises that we already have the squad to get us there. And lets be honest there is deadwood on stupid money that does need offloading (Hartson). He backed Tomo to the hilt in the summer, lets not forget that. I agree with his shrewd economics – lets not forget that we need to remain profitable to exist – we ain’t got no sugar daddy.
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We’ve got a class team, a class manager, a class chairman, class fans, on the whole, a CLASS club.
If we need to buy, we’ll buy. I think we’ll only buy if premiership quality becomes available at a decent price.
They are not going to shout it from the rooftops!!
Keep up the good work TM and JP.
Baggies – Premiership bound
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Yet again Peace is threatening to undo all the good work by instructung the manager to sell players before he can buy!
Always the same, he never changes, the man still has to go for me.
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Can’t believe this story has drawn any negative comments – who do you think we will sell… Tex ? Chris brunt ??
Hartson is probably on more money than Phillips – chappy on more than Koren… we have to prune the squad, its good sense.
If we can move on the 4 or 5 players we all know will not feature often with the depth of quality we have and buy just 1 player in the january window, then it will be a job well done – only teams in panic buy heavily in jan – the real work starts in the summer.
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a good buy for the baggies would be wes hoolahan, a class act but too good for blackpool, if you can afford him go for it.
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We have been brilliant this season but most of us agree we need goalkeeping cover and a commanding centre back. Peace must make the money avalible to sign players in these two positions or we run the risk of missing out again. spending say 2m now to guarantee 30m when we get back up surely makes sense. Lets not forget the Davies money is already in the bank. In summary, if peace takes this gamble for the second year running and we miss out again he has to go !
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It has not been said that we won’t buy. It’s just that we won’t buy unnecessarily and there are players who won’t get a game who can go.
Read 33 TheMowbrayWay!!
Can’t you see what’s already been done by the Chairman and Manager? Come onnnn!! Support them!!
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will be difficult to improve on what we got
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