Astute business/panic buy

Anything yellow and blue
Post Reply
ty cobb
Middle-Aged Spread
Posts: 1121
Joined: Sun May 14, 2006 6:55 pm

Astute business/panic buy

Post by ty cobb »

So that was the most interesting transfer window I can remember. £4.6 million coming in (albeit a big chunk going to WBA) and coming up to a million spent on players. When you bring in more than you spend you will expect to be weaker, however, after spending more than most in the division I would hope, provided the money has been spent wisely, to have a squad which should be pushing for play offs.

Hemmings has demonstrated that looking good in Scottish football will not necessarily make you stand out straight away in league 1 and it will be very interesting/exciting/disappointing to find out whether Marvellous Marv can bring us the much needed spark and pace missing since Roofe and COD left. On the face of it half a million (or thereabouts) for a player who scored 6 goals in one season in Scotland, 10 goals in the conference the season before that and 2 in the conference the season before that is far too much money for a club with very large debts and limited income streams.

On the defender front, I thought it was odd we didn't bring in a left back, especially with Skarz injured and no cover (a make shift central midfielder doesn't count) and another centre back confirms getting rid of Wright and Mullins was a huge mistake - I have seen nothing from either of the new guys to suggest they are an upgrade, if anything they are worse.

I worry that we are overstocked with young unproven players, are missing a bit of experience and look all over the place at the back. However, going forward we now have a number of different options and it will be very interesting to see how all these attacking players are going to slot in, especially when Hall comes back.

It's nice to see us spending proper money (provided you ignore how we can afford it) it creates a buzz around the place (I wasn't the only one frantically refreshing twitter when the Oxford site gave a 5 minute warning) so lets hope the performances pick up and make this another season to remember.
Old Abingdonian
Mid-life Crisis
Posts: 844
Joined: Mon May 29, 2006 10:05 am
Location: Blakeney, Gloucs

Re: Astute business/panic buy

Post by Old Abingdonian »

I imagine the 'whether we can afford it' equation is complex. We can't afford to be relegated, we would do better still financially if we were promoted to the Championship. Thee is also the difference in marketing revenues, and whatever business opportunities may open up if the club is higher profile.

I think you are harsh on Nelson - looked good playing for PAFC, and looked good against Leicester in the friendly.

I have no idea how good Johnson will prove to be, but at least MApp has addressed the issue we have all identified - and was obvious - pace out wide.
Kairdiff Exile
Mid-life Crisis
Posts: 707
Joined: Mon Jun 17, 2013 3:59 pm

Re: Astute business/panic buy

Post by Kairdiff Exile »

ty cobb wrote:It's nice to see us spending proper money (provided you ignore how we can afford it)
I think we've got the balance about right. Plenty of muppets were demanding we spent every penny of what we made from Kemar and Callum's departures, totally oblivious to the investment that had been made already to develop them into players who commanded those sorts of fees. On the other side of the coin though, recruiting adequate replacements doesn't come cheap (especially when you leave it so late in the window!). Reinvesting 20-25% of the transfer 'gain' seems about right, and is probably the only way our financial model of buying/recruiting young players and developing their skills over time can really work.

I fully agree with you when you say that Division 3 is a tougher league than the Scottish Premiership. Celtic might be hard opponents, but for the majority of games against McGinty Rovers and Tartan Athletic, Johnson and Hemmings really won't have been tested as well as they will be this season. FWIW, I actually think they'll be a good combo, and we'll now see Hemmings get the service he needs to bang in some goals. Like Ty though, I'd still be asking some serious questions about our (lack of) strength in depth in defence. I'd like to think we'll win every game from now until May 4-3, but I somehow can't see it happening so we need to stop conceding with such alarming regularity.
recordmeister
Middle-Aged Spread
Posts: 1808
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2007 11:34 am
Location: London

Re: Astute business/panic buy

Post by recordmeister »

In what world is it okay to use phrases for a foreign league like "McGinty Rovers and Tartan Athletic"? You wouldn't say that playing in India is easy "against the likes of Turban Athletic or Bindie Rovers"- that would be just down right racist. Ergo, your comments about McGinty Rovers and Tartan Athletic are also racist and offensive. If I had any time, I'd ask the opinion of my good Scottish friends, family and colleagues. But they're too busy chomping on deep fried Mars bars to care...
OUFC4eva
Grumpy old git
Posts: 2369
Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2008 5:57 pm

Re: Astute business/panic buys

Post by OUFC4eva »

In my humble opinion United currently have
assembled its best squad in circa 25 years.

It looks very exciting but it may take a bit of time to reach
it's full potential. Eastwood, Edwards, Dunkley, Nelson, Skarz,
Ledson, Lundstram, Sercombe, Maguire, Hall, Johnson, Taylor,
Hemmings and Crowley is a squad rich in
talent and promise.Some of that talent is latent but
credit to Eales and Appleton and the recruitment
guys for the work they have done.They have got the balance
about right with the spending.

Eales is ambitious and wants Championship
football but is also possessing and developing tradeable assets
which is sensible. The club needs to further strengthen
and develop its commercial and sponsorship
shortcomings which to be fair is now addressing.

The only fly in the room is Firoka - a dangerously
big and gruesome bluebottle fly.
Last edited by OUFC4eva on Fri Sep 02, 2016 8:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Kairdiff Exile
Mid-life Crisis
Posts: 707
Joined: Mon Jun 17, 2013 3:59 pm

Re: Astute business/panic buy

Post by Kairdiff Exile »

Fair point, Recordmeister. I'll apologise for that element of the post, which was a cheap shot. I stand by the wider point though, that outside of Celtic (and to a lesser extent Rangers at the moment), the Scottish premier is really not up to much.
SWA
Puberty
Posts: 405
Joined: Mon Feb 19, 2007 9:59 pm

Re: Astute business/panic buy

Post by SWA »

Disagree. Aberdeen and Hearts are playing good stuff. Do you watch any Scottish fitba?
Dr Bob
Middle-Aged Spread
Posts: 1064
Joined: Mon Sep 18, 2006 2:16 pm
Location: Nottingham

Re: Astute business/panic buy

Post by Dr Bob »

But there is another aspect to this debate. A certain third division side in England (albeit a progressive one) has just signed the second top scorer from the SPL from last year, and a highly rated winger. On the other hand Motherwell, in addition to signing a West Ham winger on loan, have signed a striker from Gateshead. A few years ago Simon King, having been released by Gillingham, was signed by Inverness CT.

These are the examples that, for obvious reasons, jumped into my head, but outside the Old Firm and, to a lesser extent, Aberdeen and possibly Hearts, the traffic in players is rather often between SPL and lower division English clubs. Of course, given the lack of significant TV money in Scotland, this may reflect wages and transfer fees compared with the top two English divisions, but I would guess that this is only a part of the story.
Werthers Original
Dashing young thing
Posts: 584
Joined: Sat Dec 30, 2006 8:30 pm
Location: Oxford

Re: Astute business/panic buy

Post by Werthers Original »

It's probably relevant to say that last year Dundee's average attendance was 6,000 while Motherwell's was 4,900. So the moves are to a slightly better but comparable club.
Post Reply