West Brom stronger to Dan Ashworth
Tuesday 27th September 2011, 9:59AM BST.
Transfer chief Dan Ashworth has insisted the West Brom squad is stronger than last season despite their deadline-day defensive sales.
The Hawthorns sporting director claims the Baggies have strengthened their options for boss Roy Hodgson’s first full season at the helm.
Ashworth said: “I think that if you look at the squad as it stands now compared with where we were when we kicked the final ball of last season at Newcastle, we do have a stronger playing squad.
“And that is always the main objective, particularly as we were able to stay in the Premier League.
“The job we had to do was helped by the fact that for once, we not only stayed in the same division, but we achieved that with games to spare and we were able to do our business nice and early.
“We were assured of our status after beating Aston Villa here some three weeks before the season ended, so we had just that little bit more time to both plan and to act and that was helpful.
“It’s a luxury we haven’t really had all that often in the past.”
West Brom revamped their goalkeeping department in the summer and swapped experienced back-up defenders for younger alternatives from the Football League.
The Baggies also brought Zoltan Gera back to The Hawthorns on a free transfer and forked out an initial £4.5million to sign striker Shane Long from Reading.
They also tied stars Youssouf Mulumbu, Chris Brunt and Peter Odemwingie to improved contracts.
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Oh God. Personally I agree with him, but cue:
“Where’s the money gone?”
“Why didn’t we borrow £90m from the bank and go on a spree?”
“We should’ve signed a centre-back” (agreed, but Dawson and McAuley have done nothing wrong so it wouldn’t have changed our current position)
“JP out, let’s get Trevor Summers back”
and general generic posts implying that JP and DA were responsible for us not buying anyone on the last day…….
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By signing up players such as Odemwingie, Brunt and Mulumbu to long term contracts we are definately stronger this year as our players are more settled.
The aquisition of Long, Foster & McAuley also improved us and I have no reason to think Jones won’t show his worth in the league when called upon.
And we have Gera to come in soon too to give us some width which I think will see Peter revert to his more central role.
Our forwards have shown (in patches) enough to suggest there are goals in this team and 2 clean sheets already is proof that we are better in defense.
I think Roy will get the formation & personnel right soon and the players will soon get used to a new system.
Any chance we can stop moaning just long enough to appreciate what we have and start lookng forward to games??
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Dan,
McAuley, Foster, Jones, Long, plus Emerging Dawson, Thorne and others, Surely says you are right.
See (Todays transfers) the E&D have got it wrong again. If Birmingham are promoted they will have the cash to keep Ben Foster. He is under contract with them therefore can do nothing about it. I’ve mentioned before of their reporters giving false impressions when referring to ALBION, So no surprises there. I do not now expect (Like my other posts) this one to get through.
BOING~~~~BOING~~~~JtH.
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(1)
Warren,
……and most of those posts will come from dosey Dingles, mate.
Fancy me missing Gera out.
BOING~~~~BOING~~~~JtH.
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We keep hearing the line coming out of the club of how much stronger we are this year.
Not much evidence of that so far.
If we are this stronger unit how about proving it with some quality points acquiring performances.
A patient approach is great but we are almost in October and this wonderful new dawn at Albion has yet to break.
We are losing to the same old teams and failing to take full points from the usual sources such as Fulham at home.
Regardless of the views on formation, the Odemwinge/Long partnership is key to our future as a premiership outfit.
Albion have not looked a perfect fit at the back since the days of Wile and Robertson so we can only hope some chemistry will develop to help out our reliable Swede.
The goalkeeper thing does irritate me but I won’t spare the time on apparent quotes of Foster’s position until May. Only thing I will say is I’m not a fan of season long loans.
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Stronger squad than last season you say Dan,then why oh why were you desperately trying to sign Onouru and Baird to replace Cech and Ibanez on the last day when alledgely JP was in his holiday home in the Carribean.Memories of Jan 2006 when JP sold Horsefield & Earnshaw for 4.2 million and did not replace them.
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I do agree, but not fully! It wouldn’t have broke the bank to have brokered a deal with Blues for Dann, an initial payment of £5 million with another 2/3 million in add ons would have been a fantastic deal. My fears are that we have gone down a similar route to when we went down following the Great Escape season, we failed to strenghten then! Also Dan, you want to exert some pressure on Roy to stop meddling with the team and go back to 4-5-1 which the players are comfortable with, but i know that is outside your remit!
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Would Cech and Ibanez have dragged us into a European spot at this stage had they stayed?
Would Scott Dann have made a difference had he signed at Swansea and against Fulham, when neither Dawson nor McAuley put a foot wrong?
I think the answer to both is no.
We’d have all liked the latter and I don’t think there’s a person at the club who wouldn’t have wanted one more centre-back, but DA is absolutely right when he says we are stronger.
The transfer window can only provide the foundations, it’s now up to RH and his staff to work with that. The squad we have is easily good enough to survive comfortably, no question.
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Neither Cech or Ibanez would have played in the league so far, and I think most of us are agreed that McAuley did pretty well on an otherwise bad day last weekend so why (oh why oh why) are we moaning that they have been sold ?
Yes I’m sure that the club tried to strengthen us further in the window – but despite last day lack of activity we are still stronger now than before, and its not just cos of the new players…. signing our top players onto long term contracts makes us strongetr, having Thorne and Dawson developing makes us stronger, and yes, the players coming in are better than those going out which of course makes us stronger.
I’m bored of hearing calls for the manager’s head after 2 or 3 bad performances (during which we got 4 points).
We are starting to sound like the mick in/out brigade – wonder why !!!
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Agree with all the comments here really, i think we are a stronger squad now and its just trying to fit the right players to the right system. RH has at least got rid of some of the dead wood that we all knew were never good enough, Miller (post injury), Meite, Cech, Ibanez, Barnes, Zuiverloon, Carson. These are all players that would have probably been on good money. Whenever they had the ball you could hear the groans starting coz we knew they’d never do anything or make mistakes.
Up The Baggies!!
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Well Streetly Baggie, I happen to think the sale of Horsefield and Earnshaw was magnificent business. Horsefield was sold against the wishes of Robson for £1.2m and hardly played a game afterwards. Earnshaw never a £3m player.
The only way that Albion can compete is to buy at lower than true value … Mulumbu, Dorrans, Olsson etc. and sell at over value… Koumas, Greening and Kamara etc.
JP and DA are the best in the business at doing this and when all clubs have to balance their books, we will be well placed and much stronger than similar sized clubs.
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Stronger squad, I aint so sure. Is Foster really any better than Carson? Personally, I would of signed a new left back (I watched Shorey close up on Sat, row C in the East Stand, and he was woeful), a centre back, any out of the likes of Woodgate, Upson, Onuoha, Dann, Johnson would of done. I don’t think there’s a lot wrong with the midfield, and up front we should have enough, we just need the right blend. Cox & Tchoyi should get more action (look wahat they did when they came in last year) and get Chris Wood back from the Blues and on the bench putting pressure on the likes of Odemwingie & Long. Formation wise, 4-5-1 please Roy. And Mr Ashworth,a couple of decent signings in the Jan window please.
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11, Stuvetti
I totally agree with you regarding the fees we got for those two players but JP did not replace them with anybody and at the time we were 3 points above the relegation zone fighting for our lives and you must agree that Horsefield & Earnshaw are better than nobody !!!!
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Jamie Dodgers
I, like you, would’ve loved us to have signed Jonathan Woodgate. However he, Matthew Upson and Scott Dann are now playing for clubs with benefactors who will likely be subsidising losses made by those clubs and can afford to pay players upwards of £50k a week. Once they become involved, our interest in our player realistically ends.
I agree about Onouha and would’ve liked to have seen that. I still expect we’ll probably see him in Jan. But if McAuley builds on the promise he showed Saturday, I’m not sure that elusive centre-back will massively change our fortunes.
Streetly
I agree that perhaps selling those two was probably unwise as we didn’t have the depth to immediately replace them. But Cech and Ibanez were probably high-earners and without serious injury I doubt either would’ve seen a first-team game. We still have Mattock and Jones who can play at left-back and Tamas, McAuley, Dawson and Scharner who can play at centre-back. All can probably do as good a job the two departees can, so I don’t think this situation is comparible with Earnie/Hos.
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All this talking from ashworth and Appy, I fear there is something seriously wrong behind the scenes with Roy, ever since the dressing room bust up we have not looked good!
Come on albion, sort this mess out and get back to how we was end of last year!
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Have to agree with the post regarding Foster compared to Carson as he’s made the same type of errors that Carson did.
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Things are not going our way on the pitch at the moment, however, I expect this to change in the near future and Dan Ashworth is right we do have a better squad than last year. Which got me thinking.
Down the years we all have our favourite players and our best team, and these will cause much debate amongst us, but given the fact that alot of us can remember a time when there weren’t substitutes and that now the game is alot faster, more technical and bigger, with players coming from all corners of the world, I would have to say that this is without doubt the best SQUAD in the history of our beloved club.
So the moaning minnies out there just shut up and enjoy.
Never in our history have we won every game, and it will never happen, but things will change they always do, just be pleased that you are able to witness the finest group of players ever to wear the blue and white stripes!
Boing Boing!!
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8 would Cech have gave the ball away teice at chelsea,would Ibanez have let the ball bounce against stoke,would Dann have cut the cross out that lead to swansea,s 2nd goal.
i think the answer to both is yes.
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8 WARREN.
Mate I agree with what you say, personally I wasn’t sad too see Ibanez or Cech go. I wish them all the best but im afraid they won’t be missed too much. They never really played for us anyway.
Our full backs as opposed to our centre backs have concerned me more so this season, Reid is slower and Shorey is well off form, having said that lets hope form is temporary.
We have enough players like Jara and Billy Jones who can cover pretty much anywhere defensively and Dawson and Mcauley also. Not to mention a better keeper, although the jury for me is still out on Foster as he was at fault for the Stoke goal, for me.
Im not sure that I agree that the squad we have is easily good enough to survive comfortably. I think we have a good squad, and it’s early days, so I am not concerned yet, but Fulham was a game that we let slip from bad tactics and poor peformances, Swansea was a bad all around. I just hope we don’t get to see too many more of these performances. I personally think we could well be down there this season, and if that’s the case we need to all stick together. That is for sure!!!
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Superkev
Would Ibanez have defended as stoutly as Tamas did at Norwich under a barrage of high balls? If Cech’s such a solid left-back, why didn’t he establish himself? Why did we finish 11th without a significant contribution from either?
I can accept the argument that we might’ve brought in another centre-back, but if you’re honestly arguing that Cech and Ibanez bring something to the first team we don’t already have, then we’ll just have to agree to disagree.
Neither is the reason we’re where we are now……
P.S. Dann was marking Demba Ba for much of Saturday’s game at Newcastle……
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West Brom Loyal FTP
Cheers mate. When I said we were good enough, I don’t at all mean we’ve any divine right to stay up and I’m sure we’re gonna have to scrap for a few results.
I just meant that Bolton, Newcastle, Sunderland, Villa, Wigan and Everton are all arguably weaker than last year. Wolves have improved by one player and the three promoted sides are arguably weaker than certainly two of the three that went down at least.
It seems a weaker division than it has been, almost an opportunity to establish ourselves, and Scott Dann or not, I still think it’s well within our grasp. If we go down, I think there’ll be far more to it than not signing Scott Dann.
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I read McAuley has hailed the team spirit within the camp.
I don’t buy this for one minute. I know he’s around the playing and coaching staff 6 days at week, but at least a dozen posters in the last week know someone who’s cousin’s brother’s Auntie’s boyfriend’s a shareholders who knows who steward who reckons it’s all kicking off.
I blame JP….and Carson.
Boooooo, bring back Keith Burkinshaw.
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18 The answer to the three questions is yes!
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rather have mcauley and dawson, than dan, or any other journey man just innit for cash,greedy agents alike, a bit of pride and organisation and we will be fine, come on you baggies!!!!!
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Maybe it’s me,but the man seems to simply say-
‘I think we have a stronger squad than last season’.
And considering that we appear to have brought in more quality than we released in the Summer,he’s right,isn’t he?
As for starting a debate about who we DIDN’T bring in-
well,we didn’t get any of the Barcelona players,but we can still say the strength of the squad has improved,right?
Sometimes,we can turn a simple statement into a weekly series………
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(6)
Streetly,
ALBION are always seeking to improve the squad, yes Dan was trying to bring in re-enforcements right up to the final minute. But in hind sight I know we already have adequate cover at Centre Back with McCauley and Dawson, not forgetting Jara-Reyes. Mattock and Jones Have played well when they have come into the side. Just let the club breath and get behind it, instead of sniping at all and sundry. Roy needs to know what and how the playing staff can cope with different formations, who is suited to what. This knowledge is ongoing all season, as nothing stays the same. Only fools stand still. Who can say how our season will pan out until after fifteen games, then it will become a little clearer. Isn’t it better to get the bulk of the information early on, or do you think balance rights itself?. I reiterate, are we for our club unconditionally or do we want to knock it down?. I count myself as well. One thing I’m happy about is the only booing I heard against Fulham was aimed at the referee at half time. But some reports implied we were booing our team.
Boing~~~~BOING~~~~JtH.
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21 Warren: I agree mate, lets just hope we have the spirit at the club to fight for those results. I am already witnessing certain fans booing and getting on the players backs, and I think that comes from a good season last season, but that really now counts for nothing as it is just history, it will jhave no bearing on where we finish this season and so therefore we need to treat this season on it’s own merits and when things aren’t going well for us, get behind us as opposed to having a go. Im sure you will agree with me here anyway as it’s only the armchair few and the idiots who slag the team off. As I say, lets just hope we have it in us to scrape these results.
I haven’t seen much this season that we didn’t last season yet anyway. What I mean by that for example, I was listening to the radio last night for a very short spell and WM were asking what’s different at WBA this season to have started how we have? And I thought, well so far nothing. Because although we finished in a good position we weren’t faultless, we still had poor games last season, as did most/all clubs at some point or another. EG Dingles away, so it’s certainly not time to panic.
I do wish we had invested in an established centre back but McAuley had a good game against Fulham so he deserves a chance.
This season is a very good chance to establish ourselves, the only problem is whenever we have had chance to do that we have failed, so let’s hope this season is different, it will be a massive backwards step if we were to go down and different to previous relegation seasons in that we would almost certainly lose Odemwingie and Mulumbu, as well as possible others. However for the moment that thought is in the back of my mind and I hope our results keep it there.
Finally I agree with your last sentence wholeheartedly, if we were to go down it would have nothing to do with Scott Dann. Having Scott Dann does not cater for a poor performance by 11 players against Swansea for example, or a poor tactical decision in the first half on Saturday.
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26 JACK
To be honest mate i thought that booing at half time was directed at the team , not that i condone it or joined in with it. Mind you there are 4 near me who would moan if we won 4-0 everyweek.
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I have to agree, I believe that the booing was aimed at the teams derisory first half performance. At 0-0, quite what these people believe it will achieve I do not know, two blokes behind us were having a go at people who sit further back for booing, to be honest im sick of it already, booing after only a few games when we are not playing well, but still not losing. It’s disgusting.
One thing as a club you can not fault Stoke for is there support, at home the fans are phenominal and I can’t help but think it makes a big difference and drives them on at times. Remember the atmosphere our first season in the prem? Seems like a distant memory these days.
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if we lose to wulfies i will start the booing and chants of Roy out off.
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Who could that be at 30 everybody ????
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30 Lulu-
don’t worry,we’ve lost to wolves recently (when we weren’t trying),but it only happens about once a decade,or every blue moon.
And they’re dropping like a stone,while we’ve actually moving up.
What say yooou,Luloou?
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31 Max,
‘shirley,tom,lulu,whoever’ said to me that he/she wouldn’t say where they sit in the Hawthorns,but recently keeps saying ‘there I am,sitting there,and there,and there’.
Obviously a 24 carat plonker that needs to get a life………
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33 Shirley did ask you what pic was on page 64 of programme and you dident reply,besides if she did tell you what seat wouldent whb get jealous.
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34 Pete Burns
Anybody can buy a programme or read their mate’s……
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35 Warren-
he must have bought or found a programme somewhere.
The other option’s ruled out,due to the fact that he’s got no mates.
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(28,29)
Wall Heath, FTP,
I was situated behind the Brummy road goal. The amount of fouling Fulham got away with besides their bookings was disgraceful. One youth in front of me blew his top and the female with him calmed him down. Did not hear anyone shout for the head of any player, although a few were on about our formation in the first half. Without a doubt it was the referee who took the flack. Anyone would have noticed my shepherds crook.
BOING~~~~BOING~~~~JtH.
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37 JÁCK thé HÁT
I sit the back of the Brummy and personally heard Shorey get a mouthful of abuse from a fair few people, the usual go back to Villa comments with swear words included of course.
My mate who sits in the Smethwick also advised me he had a go at a woman who started booing when Morrison’s name was mentioned as he came on to the pitch.
There is no doubt that people were booing the players. Not when I heard things first hand.
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i think dawson will come good in the future and from what i seen of McCauley againest fulham, he looked decent but olson, shorey, reid and him have no pace, so when we play the likes of ya man u’s, man citys and arsenal, we going to get ripped apart. we have money to spend but every season if your a true baggies fan, after the transfer period you are left wondering, why havent we signed anyone. the only players we get linked with are loan bids or frees hence the current transfer period other than shane long which i reckon will be a very good signing.
for example scott dann was out there crying to leave blues, we had foster on loan with myhill being some part of the deal, blues had wood and ibanez, why havent we put in a bid for dann and offered them and money. blackburn aint no top 12 team and we currently are from last season. JP needs to start re paying the fans with some quality cash on quality players. in the past 10 years, never once have albion made a statement in the transfer window. the season strats and you find yourself asking the same old questions. JP out!!! we need to freshen things up and get someone in whos not afraid to gamble and just cash in on the best players.
personally i feel if wigan would of come in with 7 – 8 mil for odemwingie, JP would of accepted and said we have brought long so no need for anyone else.
hopefully i can be proven wrong in january but from what dan ashworth said today, we just gonna loan a nobody from the SPL from the sounds of it .
boing boing
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i think dawson will come good in the future and from what i seen of McCauley againest fulham, he looked decent but ollson, shorey, reid and him have no pace, so when we play the likes of ya man u’s, man citys and arsenal, we going to get ripped apart. we have money to spend but every season if your a true baggies fan, after the transfer period you are left wondering, why havent we signed anyone. the only players we get linked with are loan bids or frees hence the current transfer period other than shane long which i reckon will be a very good signing.
for example scott dann was out there crying to leave blues, we had foster on loan with myhill being some part of the deal, blues had wood and ibanez, why havent we put in a bid for dann and offered them and money. blackburn aint no top 12 team and we currently are from last season. JP needs to start re paying the fans with some quality cash on quality players. in the past 10 years, never once have albion made a statement in the transfer window. the season strats and you find yourself asking the same old questions. JP out!!! we need to freshen things up and get someone in whos not afraid to gamble and just cash in on the best players.
personally i feel if wigan would of come in with 7 – 8 mil for odemwingie, JP would of accepted and said we have brought long so no need for anyone else.
hopefully i can be proven wrong in january but from what dan ashworth said today, we just gonna loan a nobody from the SPL from the sounds of it .
boing boing
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39 Reece WBA
Dorrans was a nobody from a league lower than the SPL, Mulumbu was a nobody from PSG reserves.
Don’t judge a player on the basis of where he plays his football because I bet you don’t critise those two anymore?
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i’m glad Reece posted that twice, because i had to read it again to check i wasn’t seeing things. why are people so obsessed with Scott Dann anyway? he was never going to come here, he didn’t come here and he won’t come here. and is he all that good anyway? get over it
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41 WEST BROM LOYAL FTP
not saying that at all mate but we are never going for proven talents. both dorrans and mulumbu wasnt big hits straight away and if we want to establish ourselves in the prem, we need proven players such as gera, he a good premiership player and is proven. Allen – from dundee, he may be good in a few years time but it might be too late then. we also looking at that young winger from viola, again he may be good for the future, but we have 8 good midfielders already. we need some players who can step up and be good role models for the youngsters like ya g thornes and j hursts. we have sharner and s reid whom have bags of premiership experience but they now getting on abit,
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42 scott dann was an example. so you prefer tamas at the back rather than dann??? get with the times pal, what im saying is we never pay good money for anyone, we just get the 200k up and coming talents apart from long who we brought for decent money???
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Reece
Read the accounts mate, then you’ll see why we haven’t made a statement ( we did still sign 5 players in case you didn’t notice).
We only have a certain budget. In the predicament we’re in now, we have two options, either continue trying to get value for money e.g. Odemwingie, Tchoyi etc and gradually build, or do as you suggest and ‘make a statement’ and spend £7m on a Roger Johnson and £5m on O’Hara but then not be able to sign anybody else except for a cleaning lady called Doris…..
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Reece
When you finish reading the accounts, have a think about where the club is now and where it was under the previous half a dozen chairmen.
Then have a think about where you think we’ll generate some more money to make this statement you’re on about.
Then think about how big Albion are as a club in national terms and where you expect us to be.
Then think about Leicester, Derby, Forest, Sheff Weds, Leeds, M’Boro, Birmingham and West Ham and where they are in comparison…..
It really ain’t that bad mate…..
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Reece, i didn’t mean to get your back up, but i don’t know how good Scott Dann is because i don’t watch Scott Dann because he doesn’t play for Albion you see. So i don’t know whether i’d prefer Scott Dann over Tamas because i’ve only really seen Tamas, because Scott Dann doesn’t play for Albion so i don’t watch him
is it sinking in yet?
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The trouble is with our club, the fans expect us to pay big fees and big wages, whilst also expecting to pay minimal amounts through the turnstiles. We have charged reasonable prices all the times we have been in the Premiership (even better value for money for season ticket holders), and yet people still expect us to be able to pay big money for players on big wages.
We get roughly 23,000 per game as a season average gate at a guess, and we charge very reasonable prices (considering the going rate in this country), so surely its simple maths, that if we ain’t got the fans and don’t charge the earth, then how can we afford the big players on big wages.
Is that a fair and reasonable assumption?
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if you remember a few years back, we sold d kamara 5 mil, c davies 10 mil, koumas, mcshane and quashie- that must of generated at least 20 mil alone that season plus the next few years after we went up and down and up and down and up and down, so how are we in a bad financial position ??? all im saying is that JP has never spent much money. we dont have to spend 20 mil a season but lets go for some players who are proven.
and sherlock… u no how good rooney is and you dont watch him every week, he doesnt play for west brom does he u prat – if your a football fan in geneeral you know who good players are…
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46 warren – cleaning lady called dorris lol i agree with what your saying when alot of big clubs have gone down but we are in hardley any debt and from a fans point of view, we dont want to be in a relgation scrap everytime we are in the prem and now we have stayed up, theres not alot of intent been showed in the previous transfer window to say we really want to stay up. dont get me wrong i feel the team we have at the mo is strong enough, but we havent got another left back in the team if shorey gets injured, jara can play there but will prob be sent off lol we just dont have enough quality or cover at the back in my eyes…
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Reece
Re: Kamara, Davies, Koumas, McShane etc, you’re dead right mate, but we also spent £11m under Tony Mowbray when we were in the Championship on Hoefkens, Barnett, Brunt, Morrison, Pele, Miller etc.
We then spent £23m on Meite, Valero, Moore, Zuiverloon, Olsson, Bednar and one or two others when we got promoted. Then consider Ellington, Earnshaw, Kanu, Gregan, Marshall etc etc. It’s not all been one way and it’s honestly all visible in the accounts.
If you want to know where the vast majority of any football club’s money goes, then it’s player wages. Albion spend well above £30m a year on wages and salaries, that’s where the money goes and why we don’t have the capacity to splash out £25m on players.
If we did spend it, it wouldn’t be our money, it would have to be from a banking institution who could ask for it back at any time.
Also, as mentioned earlier, £23m on Moore, Meite, Valero, Zuiverloon etc. Where’s the correlation between more money and success?
Perhaps we could’ve signed one more centre-back but by all accounts we tried, it wasn’t that the intent wasn’t there.
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47. whether you’ve watched scott dann or not, from reading the paper you can see the speculation surrounding him and not tamas.
i personally do not rate tamas at all and feel that an experienced pl centre half would have been a must buy during the transfer window. i know that we bought in mccaulay but time will tell if that is a good addition to the squad as the pl is a big step up from the championship.
I understand what reece is saying about the constant dissapointment of transfer windows and i cannot understand how you can let go 3 defenders on deadline day and bring none in. the one position which we needed to be reinforced wasnt.
ashworth can say he thinks the squad has improved all he wants, results will speak for themselves.
all we can do as fans is back the team and the manager every game and keep the faith.
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warren – i agree with what your saying but i would say we raised about 15 mil not 23mil. but if you look at clubs like stoke, wigan, fulham, they dont spend 20 – 30 mil, they big two good players in the region of 5 – 10 mil and build on that foundation. fair enuff we brought long for 4.5 mil but again he’s unproven. i do think he will be a good signing but as i said stoke and that buy two good players, and build round that for the season and then the next season buy two more good players and build on that til eventually, you have a very good team and now both are in europe by doing this simple process. look where stoke and fulham were a few years back and you cant tell me stoke were bigger than the albion. and if you pay 450 – 500 quid for a season ticket, you want your club to show ambition. i feel we lack ambition and its ok saying look at the clubs who gambled but we are in a better postion financially than alot of clubs. in regards to signing another CB, every transfer window, the day after it closes, if your honest you read the birmingham mail, the internet sites and the express&star and it always lists a few players whom albion tried to get on the deadline day but we never actually get anyone. we was linked with onuoha – why didnt we try for him at the start as it was only a loan bid.
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