Football 2010-2011

[jump]

Mentioning Hargreaves

Guessing the search for a new club isn't going well. Posted 18 youtube videos of him training, presumably to try and prove his fitness.

Depressing stuff and good luck to him.

http://www.youtube.com/user/owenhargreavescb#p/a/u/1/7jtCnhqTjEo

[eFestivals]

No guarantees of that though.

Budget wise, I wouldn't say it wasn't an option. The loan was the year we signed Nani, Anderson and Hargreaves and we did spend £30m the following year for Berba. Could probably have eaten into next summers transfer budget if wanted (and so no Berba), or signed Tevez over one of the other incoming players that year.

Thing is questionable what price Kia would've looked for at the time to relinquish his asset that early (perhaps Kia only made him available on loan at the time?), and unlikely that we'd sell a contracted player to City so would be looking elsewhere for someone to stump up the cash if looking to move him on. Would've been a big risk paying c.£30m for him just based on 1 season in Europe (where only really played for half of that season). The loan mitigated that.

If at his current level with City at his age when he with us then we'd probably have no problems finding a suitor, but no guarantees we'd recoup that amount if looked to move him on after his second season with us where he wasn't at his best. His form in that season didn't really justify him being a £30m forward to anyone other than City, who needed a profile signing to increase attractiveness to their project.

They'd have been a better guarantee than there was with pissing £10M up the wall, as happened.

But I wasn't suggesting that Utd couldn't afford to buy Tevez, I was saying that the option to buy simply wasn't there at that point. That option only became available after The Prem changed the rules about 3rd party ownership, which made no-money-Kia realise that selling was the only option if Tevez was staying in the UK.

[eFestivals]

Mentioning Hargreaves

Guessing the search for a new club isn't going well. Posted 18 youtube videos of him training, presumably to try and prove his fitness.

Depressing stuff and good luck to him.

http://www.youtube.com/user/owenhargreavescb#p/a/u/1/7jtCnhqTjEo

PMSL - "top footballer for sale on YouTube".

[onemangang]

why's it ridiculous?

Eto'o scored around 35 goals last year. Know he's 30 whereas Tevez is 27, but not like going to be much long-term security with Tevez when he wants to f**k off again after 2 years.

Can't really see Barca offloading Villa either. I take the "we only have £45m" talk with a huge pinch of salt though. Unwise to come out and say we have 100 trillion dollars!!!! They'll get both Fabregas and Sanchez, which is a pretty frightening prospect for their squad depth.

Tevez is an excellent player but massive risk in terms of what kind of return you'll get for the outlay. No-one wants to pay £35m + huge wages for a player that a year down the line is going to start kicking up a fuss.

[jump]

he may of scored around 35 goals last year, but he's two old for the premiership. we might of got one or two good seasons out of him at the most, city would need allot more than that if they were giving away one of the top strikers in the world.

going back to him scoring around 35 goals, he scored them in serie A a league that is well known for leaking goals because of poor defences. and allot of the teams he would of played against would of been the equivalent to some of our championship sides.

if he came to England aged 30 and scored over 20 goals that would surprise me.

[The Nal]

The Italians are known for bad defending?

[onemangang]

The Italians are known for bad defending?

Man City are very much a short term planning team, if he had 2 good seasons that would be good enough for them with taking away Tevez disruptive element.

[ralph250]

As for your point on Wenger, i'm still firmly on his side. The lack of spending has been driven by the board and not him. Yes he has been stubborn, but in the most place, he's fronted for the board when tyhe blame doesn't lye with him.

[ralph250]

They'd have been a better guarantee than there was with pissing £10M up the wall, as happened.

[ralph250]

he may of scored around 35 goals last year, but he's two old for the premiership. we might of got one or two good seasons out of him at the most, city would need allot more than that if they were giving away one of the top strikers in the world.

going back to him scoring around 35 goals, he scored them in serie A a league that is well known for leaking goals because of poor defences. and allot of the teams he would of played against would of been the equivalent to some of our championship sides.

if he came to England aged 30 and scored over 20 goals that would surprise me.

[Halcyon]

Stepping outside the top flight for a moment... it's all happening in League 2. Newly promoted Crawley town have been splashing the cash about, and have signed up just about everyone. They've got so many quality strikers it's unreal. They really are the Man City of League 2.

Having said my team (Gillingham) have been busy in the market. Announced the signing of 7 players in the last week... a couple of non-leaguer's coming up, and some quality players from other leagues coming in. For the first time in a long time I'm confident of a good season with the players we have, and can't wait for it to start. So glad I renewed my season ticket.

I swear... lower league football is where the real game is. None of these flouncy over-earning over-spending premiership players... cold wintery trips to macclesfield and morcamber are where it's at!

Edited July 5, 2011 by Halcyon

[ralph250]

I thought he was about to sign with an American team. Did he fail a medical, couldn't agree terms or something?

[ralph250]

Stepping outside the top flight for a moment... it's all happening in League 2. Newly promoted Crawley town have been splashing the cash about, and have signed up just about everyone. They've got so many quality strikers it's unreal. They really are the Man City of League 2.

Having said my team (Gillingham) have been busy in the market. Announced the signing of 7 players in the last week... a couple of non-leaguer's coming up, and some quality players from other leagues coming in. For the first time in a long time I'm confident of a good season with the players we have, and can't wait for it to start. So glad I renewed my season ticket.

I swear... lower league football is where the real game is. None of these flouncy over-earning over-spending premiership players... cold wintery trips to macclesfield and morcamber are where it's at!

Edited July 5, 2011 by ralph250

[ralph250]

Coentrao's gone Madrid, €30m.

[eFestivals]

Stepping outside the top flight for a moment... it's all happening in League 2. Newly promoted Crawley town have been splashing the cash about, and have signed up just about everyone. They've got so many quality strikers it's unreal. They really are the Man City of League 2.

Having said my team (Gillingham) have been busy in the market. Announced the signing of 7 players in the last week... a couple of non-leaguer's coming up, and some quality players from other leagues coming in. For the first time in a long time I'm confident of a good season with the players we have, and can't wait for it to start. So glad I renewed my season ticket.

I swear... lower league football is where the real game is. None of these flouncy over-earning over-spending premiership players... cold wintery trips to macclesfield and morcamber are where it's at!

I gotta say, I can't wait for the season to start.

Not entirely sure what's happened more recently, but previously for Aldershot all the old players were being signed by Wazzock at Wycombe while Deano was bringing in a rather alarming number of players from the lower leagues .... I'm hoping that he's getting them for their hunger and it doesn't mean a drop back to the conf. But he's potentially the best manager in the league, so I'm keeping my fingers firmly crossed.

[The Nal]

Corriere dello Sport, who claim that Inter are desperate to sell Wesley Sneijder to Manchester United for £30m because they need the money to pay for Velez Sarsfield midfielder Ricky Alvarez, Santos defender Jonathan and Genoa striker Rodrigo Palacio.

[olliet101]

Regarding Arsenal, I don't think the board are holding back nor are there are financial problems as pointed out, but there is a wage model in place in order to be self-sustaining.

Thus Wenger can't go out and splash the cash on big names when he isn't allowed to offer high wages that they would desire.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2011/jul/04/arsenal-cesc-fabregas-samir-nasri?CMP=twt_gu

[modey]

[pink_triangle]

going back to him scoring around 35 goals, he scored them in serie A a league that is well known for leaking goals because of poor defences. and allot of the teams he would of played against would of been the equivalent to some of our championship sides.

if he came to England aged 30 and scored over 20 goals that would surprise me.

[ralph250]

Regarding Arsenal, I don't think the board are holding back nor are there are financial problems as pointed out, but there is a wage model in place in order to be self-sustaining.

Thus Wenger can't go out and splash the cash on big names when he isn't allowed to offer high wages that they would desire.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2011/jul/04/arsenal-cesc-fabregas-samir-nasri?CMP=twt_gu

Edited July 5, 2011 by ralph250

[ralph250]

(Wages include all staff).

And regards Wages, discussed before but they have a pretty competitive overall wagebill, but a wage policy different to others, instead weighting high pay towards the youngsters comparative to what other clubs offer.

2009/10

Chelsea £173m

Man City £133m

Man Utd £132m

Liverpool £114m

Arsenal £111

Arsenal's interim results has them at an extra £4.5m in salary increases for the first half year, so at a guestimate £120m for 2010/11.

United's 3rd quarter results had us an increase of 8.1% (or 7.7m over the same period in 2009/10) so guestimate of around £142m ish for our "staff costs" for 2010/11, though would predict a reduction currently as would presume De Gea, Jones, and Young would be on lower wages collectively than VDS, Neville, Scholes and Hargreaves. Would guess that's around c. £250k p/w off the wagebill before the incoming players. Still to see what we do in midfield, though again Brown, O'shea and Gibson look to be off (probs c. 100-120k p/w), and possibly others.

*United's "staff costs" also include player signing on fees spread over the length of their contract. Doesn't say, but presume Arsenal do likewise. No mention I can see regards where bonuses are allocated but possibly within those staff costs too. If so, would affect United's figure more considering higher degrees of success.

As stated before though. Arsenal's policy is to pay top whack for their youngsters and from the AST presumably in high numbers. Pay well, to attract good youngsters when transfer fee is minimal, develop them then presumably sell for profit. Tough with the wage structure weighted that way, to retain the players that develop to an elite standard though. Get a player that becomes one of the top 10 in the world, and they'll look to see there's 50 players worldwide getting paid more and want remuneration commensurate with their perceived worth/ability.

Great for those that work out, but perhaps liable to significant waste aswell, if paying comparitively high wages to a number of youth that don't make it at a high enough level to resell/recoup investment in that player. And to those that do, as before, tough to shift likes of Bendtner and Denilson when they're on reportedly £50k p/w. As I put to Steve aswell, possibly breeds a "I've made it" culture (at least at that particular club), if not much upshot salary wise of improving there. Though some of opined it's a Wenger idea, in that he feels a big disparity in salary can cause fractions. Whether that's true or not I don't know, but conversely I'd guess some players could be dissatisfied if making considerably more impact than someone else yet earning the same (or close to).

What works for them though, and they may feel the benefit of getting players early for lower fees is more beneficial.

The AST has previously raised with the club the suggestion that the club should review its overall playing infrastructure to make sure that it is investing its considerable wage bill as efficiently as possible. We would also welcome more explanation of the costs of running such a large reserve and youth squad and whether this provides added value in the round.

Feb 2011

http://www.arsenaltrust.org/recent-news.php?article=341

Edited July 5, 2011 by ralph250

[ralph250]

Might be premature but Mail and Sun reporting City have got Nasri.

We've got Nasri! Manchester City claim £19m deal for Arsenal rebel

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2011633/Samir-Nasri-set-19m-Manchester-City-switch.html

Edited July 5, 2011 by ralph250

[The Nal]

19 million for Downing?!

[sifi]

As for Crawley, the business model is completely unsustainable and they look like a club prone to explode anytime soon. The whole situation just doesnt make sense, why would investors not from the area suddenly decide to throw money at crawley when there are teams in the league above like bradford with far more potential. They have also got a manager found gulity of tax evasion who was involved in other dodgy activitites. Something just doesnt seem right about the club and I suspect in 5 years time they will have gone bust. However with their history the fans may take a few years of glory and a return to the lower leagues.

[ralph250]

19 million for Downing?!