[Archived] Big Fat Sam's Shopping List

[patrickvalery]

60k really? For an unknown quantity as you say? I'd give him 30-40k

I think he wants to play every week, and the only reason he hasn't signed a 60k deal at city, is coz he knows he will not play next year.Never mind another shopping bender from city in the summer.

we must have a lot of wages coming off the books in summer, BS is probably looking at expiring contracts and bosmans now, if sam is anything he's a wheeler and dealer.

Rsc and sturridge would be a good partnership next season in my opinion

Agree. It would be a very good partnership. The trouble is RSC almost certainly won't be here. When i say unknown quantity i just meant he's not established. Giving that much money to a youngster will undoubtedly upset some of the established pro's on less money. The 60k figure was only from one of the Sunday rags so its hardly a reliable source.

But the expiring contracts will not be the huge boost we hope for. The club has said that wages make up the most part of our outgoings (80% i think). Coupled with Sam saying he hopes to trim the squad down to 18 good quality players suggests the club are looking to reduce this percentage significantly.

[Hughesy]

The money was rejected purely on the fact that he wants to keep his options open and City only want to make money on him.

He will in the summer for free, and will go on much less than 60k a week, unless he signs for Chelsea.

[Fraserkirky]

Agree. It would be a very good partnership. The trouble is RSC almost certainly won't be here. When i say unknown quantity i just meant he's not established. Giving that much money to a youngster will undoubtedly upset some of the established pro's on less money. The 60k figure was only from one of the Sunday rags so its hardly a reliable source.

But the expiring contracts will not be the huge boost we hope for. The club has said that wages make up the most part of our outgoings (80% i think). Coupled with Sam saying he hopes to trim the squad down to 18 good quality players suggests the club are looking to reduce this percentage significantly.

If it is true good for him turning down 60k a week, city have no intention of using him and like hughesy said they just want money for him. A good year next year for the lad and he could be part of a world cup squad.

Funny I'm not convinced RSC will be away in the summer now, for two reasons. The injury problems from his past has returned, lowers his value drastically since January. Poor season due fitness/injury, won't be the flavour of the month so to speak when summer hits. Your Chelsea's and city's will have better options in the summer.

What's RSC's worth come summer? for us probably 15m + when fit, doubt we'll get that for him after this season. Lets keep and get him fit for next season.

On the financial side of it, I thought I heard a while back that there was a bunch more tv money coming in for next season's premiership? If the club reduces the wage budget we can expect another relegation battle. The summer we need investment somehow.

I agree the squad needs trimmed, getting rid of the imposters(Vogel) and guys who cant play 90mins of football(Reid,Grella), along with the guys who are just plain not good enough(Treacy,Simpson,Gallacher,etc).

[modes98]

sturridge??? for free?

Bigger fish to fry. Only reason he would have come to us would be the first team slot. I thought he had a better shot at that in January.

I fear Dzeko will go elsewhere to.

[Hughesy]

The money was rejected purely on the fact that he wants to keep his options open and City only want to make money on him.

He will in the summer for free, and will go on much less than 60k a week, unless he signs for Chelsea.

Didnt think the 60k quoted was correct -

Manchester City will offer contract rebel Daniel Sturridge a take-it-or-leave-it final £40,000 a week offer. (Daily Star)

Or 19-year-old striker Sturridge will be offered a contract worth £30,000 to stay at Eastlands, with Chelsea and Aston Villa keen on the youngster. (Daily Mirror)

[mellison24]

Didnt think the 60k quoted was correct -

Manchester City will offer contract rebel Daniel Sturridge a take-it-or-leave-it final £40,000 a week offer. (Daily Star)

Or 19-year-old striker Sturridge will be offered a contract worth £30,000 to stay at Eastlands, with Chelsea and Aston Villa keen on the youngster. (Daily Mirror)

Gospels that the papers are these days eh? lol

[Ozz]

Andre Ooijer may not be leaving after all, and has not signed anything yet. Sky.

[gazsimm]

Andre Ooijer may not be leaving after all, and has not signed anything yet. Sky.

if he doesn't want to leave then i would give him a new one year contract, its good to have someone of his experience around the team. Plus he is a good super sub to have as well!!!

[LeChuck]

I'd be quite happy for him to stay another year, we're not going to have any money to replace him with and I doubt we could do better on a free transfer/loan.

I was watching the Man Utd v. Porto game last night and some of the Porto players looked excellent, although I hadn't heard of most of them. Had a quick look at their squad after the game and none of them seemed to cost much (the Romanian right back whose name I've forgotten looked very good), so it seems as though good players for small prices are out there, you just have to be one the that finds them first.

[JAL]

Andre Ooijer may not be leaving after all, and has not signed anything yet. Sky.

I think it would be great news for Rovers if Ooijer stayed at least for another season unlkess theres a younger more affordable player out there.

[American Rover12]

Porto's Fernando please

[Mozzer]

porto's left back looked pretty good aswell..

i would say next season-we need a good 6-8 players-and im sure allardyce will find some unknown talent..

[Hughesy]

Porto were just an average side - but because they had real pace in their attack they go far. That is something we desperatly lack. Get some fast players in our team!!

[LeChuck]

They were also strong in central midfield though (aforementioned Fernando especially) and had two full backs who could run all day and were strong in defence and attack.

The left back Cissokho covered so much ground and was a real presence at both ends. He's 21 and cost Porto around £200k. Thankfully Sam seems to place a huge emphasis on the scouting side of things so I hope we have a good chance of catching players like this before they end up at big clubs. It's the only way we can compete at the top really.

[67splitscreen]

One young player that has impressed me this season in the Prem is, Ryan Shawcross

A young Colin Hendry type of player. Scored some good headers from set plays, he seems to be very mobile, good feet and a good work rate for a CB,

Apart from one blunder a few weeks back has been very solid.

Signed from manure for around 2m, England under 21. Made 21 starts for Stoke this season scored three in the Prem and only 2 yellows, At 22, one for the future in the shirt of the three lions at CB.

Probably still needs to play along side a more experienced player but one I would be happy with if he was brought to Ewood. For me Nelson may only have one more season in him at Prem level, he's getting slower by the month.

[thenodrog]

i think since Sam has come in, Robinson has been good for us and i can't seem to remember him letting any silly goals in of late. Robinson is a good keeper, he has had a couple of bad moments in his career which did not help his confidence, but i think since Big Sam has come into the club he has not put much wrong what i can remember.

He is not as good as Brad was, but i think about 17 other teams in the premier league don't have a keeper better then Brad.

Sam has improved the defence first and any goalkeeper's confidence always feeds off a sound defence in front of him.

I've criticised Robinson and frequently still do, he is nearer average that real quality thats for sure, but after all those years of watching arguably the best keeper in the Prem over the past 8 years or so it's fair to say that we've been spoiled. Robinson played for England only because he played for 2 big clubs and GK and left wing are Englands Achilles heel... and have been for some time.

In his defence people are praising Samba and Dunny for the 3 points v Spurs but imo Robinsons save from Bent was the defining moment of the match. I was right behind the line of the shot and I can confirm that it was an absolutely top class save, and at a crucial stage. 0-2 down would not have seen us recover to win.

[gazsimm]

Sam has improved the defence first and any goalkeeper's confidence always feeds off a sound defence in front of him.

I've criticised Robinson and frequently still do, he is nearer average that real quality thats for sure, but after all those years of watching arguably the best keeper in the Prem over the past 8 years or so it's fair to say that we've been spoiled. Robinson played for England only because he played for 2 big clubs and GK and left wing are Englands Achilles heel... and have been for some time.

In his defence people are praising Samba and Dunny for the 3 points v Spurs but imo Robinsons save from Bent was the defining moment of the match. I was right behind the line of the shot and I can confirm that it was an absolutely top class save, and at a crucial stage. 0-2 down would not have seen us recover to win.

agree totally theno, Robinson's save was top class, if that went in, it was game over.

[RoversSG]

agree totally theno, Robinson's save was top class, if that went in, it was game over.

Agreed with you too, Robinson might make my heart drop everytime a cross comes in but that has to be one of the best saves i seen this season. I thought it was a goner when i saw that through ball cut through our defence.

[RevidgeBlue]

Andre Ooijer may not be leaving after all, and has not signed anything yet. Sky.

That would be a very bad move imo.

Get him off the wage bill and get someone younger and better in.

[LeChuck]

Get him off the wage bill and get someone younger and better in.

With what money? By signing some so old Hughes ensured that we'd have this dilemma when Ooijer did leave. Midfield has to be the priority this summer.

[John]

By signing some so old Hughes ensured that we'd have this dilemma when Ooijer did leave.

When you have such tight finanical restraints, you can't get too picky over age. Yes, ideally you want someone young who will improve and who we can possibly sell on for a profit, but in reality it is not as easy as that.

[LeChuck]

When you have such tight finanical restraints, you can't get too picky over age.

It should be the complete opposite!

With tight finances you simply can't afford to buy players who will have no resale value in a couple of years, otherwise you just fall into a pattern of picking up ageing freebies and loan players to fill the gaps when players leave/retire.

It's the big teams that can afford to pay for old stars because they'll always find the money from somewhere to replace players when they go.

[John]

It should be the complete opposite!

With tight finances you simply can't afford to buy players who will have no resale value in a couple of years, otherwise you just fall into a pattern of picking up ageing freebies and loan players to fill the gaps when players leave/retire.

It's the big teams that can afford to pay for old stars because they'll always find the money from somewhere to replace players when they go.

It would be great if possible, but it is not realistic for that to happen. The strategy of Hughes and I would presume Sam was/will be about bringing in quality players regardless of age (we can't be flexible). I am sure they would perhaps like younger players, but if you don't have any money in the first place, then it makes it much harder.

[LeChuck]

In general I don't think that was Hughes' approach at all, apart from Savage I can't think of another player he did it with (and Savage was somewhat of a necessity at the time).

I'm not sure why you're making it sound almost impossible to buy younger (i.e. 27 and under) players at our level, plenty of teams do it and we did it for the vast majority of Hughes' reign. It's the only way clubs like ours can survive at this level. I've got no problem with older/experienced players coming in, but they should be on nominal fees/free transfers. Actually this is almost exactly what Sam did at Bolton!

[John]

In general I don't think that was Hughes' approach at all, apart from Savage I can't think of another player he did it with (and Savage was somewhat of a necessity at the time).

Point I am making is that Hughes was looking at the quality of the player available to him, not their date of birth. I don't remember him stating that he was pleased with the signings he made because they were in their low 20s.

Of course the strategy should be to buy younger players if possible, but if you have literally no money to spend in the first place, this is quite difficult to achieve! Plus the fact other clubs are more wiser these days when it comes to the transfer market, so it is more competitive, making it much more harder for clubs like us (Sam eluded to this when he first took over).

You need to take these factors into account, therefore your ideal transfer strategy for us is very difficult to follow.