Jeremy Peace defends Albion transfer policy
Saturday 21st August 2010, 11:29AM BST.
Jeremy Peace today launched an impassioned defence of Albion’s transfer policy and hinted at further signings before the end of the summer window.
The Baggies chairman insisted the club will be attempting to pull off further new signings in the next 10 days.
But he stressed he would not rush into signing “the wrong players” in the final days before the transfer deadline.”We will remain busy until the end of the transfer window on August 31, trying to further strengthen the squad with players of the required quality,” said Peace, who has seen Albion land five new faces this summer in addition to signing two loanees on permanent deals.
“Unfortunately, any promoted club inevitably finds it difficult to improve its squad and, during this summer’s relatively quiet transfer window, it has been even more difficult to recruit the right players.
“And there is no point in signing the wrong players.”
The Baggies have committed around £7m in transfer fees this summer with Peace also seeing six players pen new, improved contracts.
And Peace is adamant the club are stretching their finances as far as possible.
The chairman, whose full statement can be read in the matchday programme for today’s clash with Sunderland, said: “We have analysed our previous seasons in the Premier League and we are trying to implement the lessons from those.
“And, as a consequence, we believe that the squad will be stronger and, in particular, more experienced than it was two years ago.
“This is part of the long-term policy of the club, which is to improve our playing squad and our infrastructure year on year.
“To this end, since I became chairman in 2002, we have invested a net £38m in transfer fees and a further £12m in infrastructure developments at The Hawt-horns and the training ground.
“I would stress that in terms of player recruitment, transfer fees are only a part of the costs. Wages continue to spiral, and so every player on our books also represents a commitment to pay wages into the future.
“We will continue to try to be inventive in the way we use our comparatively limited resources.”
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That seems to me to be an honest assessment of everything Albion, put in a cool, reasoned style. Were I JP I might have been tempted to display a sound knowledge of Anglo-Saxon learned in my first nine years in Great Bridge St. Time now to don the appropriate gear for a typical wet, muggy, Midlands welcome for the new boys and our team. See you there?
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That sounds about right. How we’ve managed to sign the amount of players we already have this summer I don’t know.
The ship is steadying and we now have some real quality in the squad. If the Albion manage to find the money for another striker and another defensive midfielder then I can’t see how we can be favourites to go down.
It sounds like the bookies are going purely off past ventures and not taking into account the massive changes in personel and quality.
It’s a fools bet in other words and many a Man U, Liverpool and Wolves fan will be lining the bookies pockets with it come May.
Come on you Baggies!
Boing Boing.
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Sorry jeremy, but 7 million is not enough, i know signing journey men is no good, but payments for promotion and parachute payments over a 8 year period, come on 7 million, we aint all fools
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Sid – I see you conveniently forget to mention the multi millions we have spent over those years…. £47 million alone in our last prem campaign….. and where did that get us ??
The albion are a club who need to spend wisely – and if we can get a bargain like Odemwingie then better that than waste £8 million on Kenwyne Jones.
Not sure who your millions would attract to the club – its hard to spend it – but easy to waste it.
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3 sid.
Read the article to the end. Yes it does say ‘£7 mill in transfer FEES.’ At the end it says ‘in terms of player recruitment transfer fees are only PART OF THE COST.’
You are not alone in not understanding this. It’s why Hull, Portsmouth, Leeds etc etc are in the trouble they are. It’s not just about paying these massive wages this week or even this year but for the next three or four years.
I wrote a post the other day mentioning some of the players we were trying to sign 11 years ago. At the time we were losing £30,000 a week, a massive amount then especially as home crowds were around 11,000. I was one of those 11,000, I don’t know if you were but I’m happy to leave those days behind.
11 years ago we could only dream of saying, ‘sorry Jeremy but £7 million is not enough.’ As you do so dismissively. Unless you have a few million to throw in the pot I’m happy to leave it to Mr Peace. He hasn’t done bad so far.
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happy, i totally agree m8, easy to waste, so im glad we didnt buy players from burnley, portsmouth etc, i think its just out of pure frustration i say things, but 47 mill in our last campaign we bought small players, who soon went, what we need is some quality just 1 or 2 good players, i dont think that would split the dressing room etc, wingie is a top signing and im glad hes here, so a few more would do nicely, so come on you baggies
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What have some people got againt our level-headed chairman. He does more than his best with the resources available, He is also a very patient man and he has to be with some of our fans, you wouldn’t think he is one as well. Anyway his patience is starting to pay off. Also thanks to Dan Ashworth and Roberto di Matteo.
~~~~BOING~~~~BOING~~~~JtH.
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well jp pulling the wool over us albion fans again no wonder theres no optimism from us,we will never do any good why your in charge of our club, do every albion fan a favour and leave, we have defended you as far as we can nobody is expecting you to throw 30-40 million at the prem , but at least give us half a chance,penny pinching chaiman you certainly are
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Just a quick note, 47 million? does this take into account, Koumas 4.5 million, Kamara 6.0, Curtis Davies 8-10, Ellington 4.5, Earnshaw 3.0, Robinson 1.5, + others ive probably forgotten and you might remember? and now Valero 4.5, Greening 3.0,all approx i might add, add to this 5 years prem money and 4 years parachute money,(Prem money is touted in excess of 30 million and this year as nmuch as 60 million is quoted, parachutes range from the initial 5 million plus to the 16 million last year, again approx figures), it doesnt take an accountant to think and ask the preverbial “wheres the money gone” !
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Happy Baggie,
Can you explain the 47 million spent last prem campaign?
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9 & 10 Barrie the Baggie?????
As you’re a new name on here and one that is spelt in a very strange way, I’m guessing you’re in all probability Shadrag.
I’m not Happy Baggie but after yesterday I’m a happy Baggie. If you’re not LW then I apologise for the slur on your character. However you say ‘it doesn’t take an accountant.’ I’ve heard of creative accountancy but you take the biscuit.
You include in your figures players that have been gone three years. The transfer fees you quote would have the News of the World blushing at the inaccuracies. The PL payments you quote include the years of parachute patments, they are not what you get for 1 year. And like most people of your ilk, you use Luke Moore as a double edged sword. A waste of 3 mill when you want to attack JP over it but ignore that he was part of the Curtis Davies deal when it suits your argument.
I can explain the £47 mill spent last campaign. £23 mull transfer fees, £24 mill players wages and bonus payments. It’s all in the club accounts. Independantly audited not pulled out of thin air like your figures. Add to these the running costs and the improvements in the infrastructure and you realise how lucky we are to have someone like JP running the club.
Although it may seem a waste of time answering an under cover Wulfie, I’ve done it because unfortunately it seems to reflect some of our own fans thinking.
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Sound analysis. But Albion have the lowest admission prices of the local Premier clubs. Would anyone asking JP to dig alot deeper, be happy if admission was raised all round by a tenner?
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12.Alex. Are you a plumber mate? No, not a plumber’s mate, that wouldn’t get you the wages to spend another tenner so easily. Just where would that extra tenner end up? In the player’s pockets most likely. We have an obscene situation where top players are completely outside the realms of fantasy, can get injunctions to prevent the newspapers reporting their sexual escapades and the newspapers are not rich enough to take them on. We have an ex LABOUR Prime Minister now rich enough to start a bank for the SUPER RICH ! The ordinary, honest man doesn’t stand a chance already. Oh, and Birmingham City were wondering where the fans were on Saturday. Couldn’t be the admission fee could it?
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Lets not forget Jeremy Peace paid more than a tenner for our club, I he had he would be able to throw another few million at it.
~~~~BOING~~~~BOING~~~~JtH.
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I like the guy and after previous owners like Thompson, Hale etc… I’m glad JP is operating in the way he is.
It’s way too easy to spend loads and get nowhere but to pick a few gems like we have takes a lot of hard work. Ok we’ve gambled and lost but that comes with experience.
Keep it up JP!
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