[Archived] Big Fat Sam's Shopping List

[TimmyJimmy]

i) ... but it's only an advantage as long as that high wage bill is a result of having superior players. Paying mediocre players massive wages is no recipe for success. Cutting some deadwood is needed.

ii) Noone likes cutbacks, but having wages amount to 85% of our turnover isn't at all healthy. Something needed to be done.

i) A very fair point, I salute you. Trading up on the level of quality at the same cost as we're paying for the deadwood is something that didn't occur to me - no really - I'm not being sarcastic. Don't know how that can be done as I generally expect better players to cost more that bad ones, but if anyone can then Sam can, so fair do's on that comment.

ii) Wages v Turnover at those levels would be a nightmare in any other industry but is it really that bad in the EPL? If we're servicing our debt and the facilities are of a good standard (which they are) then what would we be spending the turnover on anyway? Two kit washes a week instead of one, better cat food for the Brockhall rat catcher. In industry shareholders are the ones who scream at figures of this size because they're not likely to be get the size of returns they want and their share prices won't be on the up. But in our case we are wholly owned and a private company so where's the pressure from to keep the wages down? Surely the Trustees don't want to improve the size of their dividend or the value of their shares do they. Maybe our resident accountants could comment, I'm just a supporter but it doesn't seem to be that big of a problem to me. If the trustees say no both to new transfer money and to wages then that's a double blow to being competitive. Is our business plan just to save money? What exactly are the 'means' we are meant to be living within?

[bennyboyt11]

How much is Reid on again?

[Hughesy]

So Gally is on 16k? Can't believe we paid him that much to be honest, but I will take your word for it as you seem sure. We still wouldn't send him out for free, I'd imagine other clubs were paying around half of that. We're not in a position to be charitable. We wouldn't have been paying a penny to Derbs in Greece. A loan fee isn't a substitute for paying wages.

I still don't it should be too difficult to get the wage bill down with Mokoena, Ooijer, Tugay, at least one of the goalkeepers and Roque all moving on too. I can't see both Dunn and Reid being here next season either, we can't afford two injury prone players in a trimmed down squad.

No gally was on 16k, and then got a new contract. I dont honestly believe he didnt get a payrise out of that do you?

Im pretty sure it will be around 20k like Iv been saying.

Problem with Reid & Dunn, who will sign them? Maybe we could get a fee for Dunn, but not Reid. Would people be happy to see Dunn sold again?

Reid will be on at least 30k a week, as he signed a new deal despite an official bid from Spurs. He WAS becoming hot property so I wouldnt imagine he will be on any less.

[Amo]

Sam will give Reid pre-season at least to prove his worth.

[RibbleValleyRover]

You would think Reid will get this one last chance under Sam to see if he can remain injury free and perform to a level where he can add something to the team. If he breaks down again then i can see him going on a free the season after, iirc his contract runs out in 2010?

I have no problems with Reidy staying.

[LeChuck]

No gally was on 16k, and then got a new contract. I dont honestly believe he didnt get a payrise out of that do you?

I can't see why he would, nobody else would have paid him anymore than we were. He was lucky to be on £16k, I don't see why we'd decide to up that when he wasn't even playing regularly. Certainly I don't believe we would have upped his basic, maybe we could have added performance related things in there.

[Hughesy]

Possibly - who knows.

Can nobody get hold of the rovers payroll and then we can see exactly who is ripping us off?!

[bennyboyt11]

Possibly - who knows.

Can nobody get hold of the rovers payroll and then we can see exactly who is ripping us off?!

I can't imagine it would be a pleasant read!

[unluckymorton]

Possibly - who knows.

Can nobody get hold of the rovers payroll and then we can see exactly who is ripping us off?!

Benni, Santa Cruz (for the last few weeks that he hasn't been interested), Stephen Reid (although it hurts to say it), Th'Axe, and of course I'de love to see what it cost us to get rid of Ince and for him to keep his mouth shut (that one is worth every penny though).

[Majiball]

Very very good player is Driver. I've been concerned for sometime that he was going to end up turning Scotland down to play for England, and then sign for Burnley. Both are distinct possibilities and would put him well and truly in my bad books. Coyle has been after him for a while.

He's had a good year. A family memebr is a season ticket holder at hearts and he says he done well, quick with a good left boot. There are one or two up north that I would definitly be looking at for rovers, young talent for nothing like the money they cost in england. And yes T4E your right he should be allowed to play for scotland, but since they can't even get players born in our country to play for us (Mcgeady and McCarthy) I doubt it'll happen. If Burnley come up though I reckon we'll see him down south.

Drivers stats

I would have hoped to see more assists TBH. Perhaps they'd take a straight swap for Treacy??????????

Sam will give Reid pre-season at least to prove his worth.

Reid will spend the whole summer getting himself back to fitness with some guidence I'm sure, so he can hit the ground running, pre-season. He's desperate to play again, we'll have learnt from his breakdown last time and hopefully we can get him back up and running again.

Having just read through most of this thread, I'm pleased to read about the wage budget being cut it does make sense. Every year we have 5M to spend and spend 40M on wages for our vastly overpaid squad. Every penny of the sky money is accountted for by those two items, the rest by our every dwindling crowds and as such I assume ever decreasing merchandising sales. Who knows perhaps after this we will have 10M to spend each year, with out sales.

We can do a lot better for 40M a year, I do not believe collectively we have a squad of players worth 40M between them. Does anyone know where that puts us in relation to the rest of the teams in the premiership??? We all know the club has run a fine line finacially now we'll have some flexibility with where our money is spent.

As long as the monies not taken out of the club it will be good for rovers. Brockhall is a fantastic training centre, but needs more knowledge (specialists) and these cost money, we could get some more coaches, equipment etc that costs 10's of thousands could be bought and so on. Getting that extra 1% sam talks about will require investment.

I see we're once again linked to Crouch, well he'll score goals at least 12-15 a year. Having him and Samba would make our set-pieces something to be feared, provided we sign some one who can take a corner. 11M seems a lot for us TBH perhaps they'd like to take andrews of our hands??? Crouch has done well at pompey in the lone role, and weighs in with a few assits each year.

We can expect a lot of changes this summer at Ewood its gonna be exciting especially if big gob (sorry apparently rescuing fallen madonna's warrants no respect) goes for 15-20M. I for one am looking forward to it.

[Hughesy]

£11M for Crouch is way too much. No more than £7m if it was up to me.

Where do people think Owen will end up? I think Everton is a very likely destination for him. Apparently he is willing to cut his wage to 55k a week - which in my opinion he is still worth that amount.

[Billy Castell]

I'd have Owen on a basic wage of £20,000 p/w with appearance and goal bonuses of about £20,000. He is worth nothing more. Crouch is not worth £11m either.

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

I'd have Owen on a basic wage of £20,000 p/w with appearance and goal bonuses of about £20,000. He is worth nothing more. Crouch is not worth £11m either.

I think you would have to look at the wider picture - IF we signed somebody like Owen there would signficant commercial spin offs - including potential increases in gate, as well as a higher media interest.

Its a shame he has such an horredous injury record - this alone would make him a huge gamble for club looking to have a smaller squad.

[Blue blood]

A fully fit reid would be a massive boost, and performing at the levels pre-injuries would be like having a new £4/5 million pound signing. However, I'm doubtful that this will happen.

With regards to having a small squad I'm quietly optimistic this would go ok. We've survived with Samba up front, Warnock in midfield and probably through juggling players around we could do so again. Sure, with a few players out of position we'd probably not challenge for europe but i reckon we'd scrape by.

[Billy Castell]

I think you would have to look at the wider picture - IF we signed somebody like Owen there would signficant commercial spin offs - including potential increases in gate, as well as a higher media interest.

Its a shame he has such an horredous injury record - this alone would make him a huge gamble for club looking to have a smaller squad.

He may have a box office name, but its no good if he is s__t at actually playing the game. Otherwise we might as well sign Pele, Beckenbauer, Maldini and Julia Roberts. Mind you I'd fancy Julia Roberts would score more goals when one-on-one with the keeper than Jason Roberts.

Signing this former Liverpool super striker would be almost as bad as signing that other shortish former Liverpool striker who used to score for fun. Now what was his name..................

[nicko]

As I recall Sam was the first manager big enough to actually point out that Owen had fitness problems while they were together at Newcastle United.

And he was right.

So the chance of a Rovers move for Owen is almost nil.

[modes98]

Rovers lead chase for Amir Zaki

[Billy Castell]

Eek. He's a bit of a tit isn't he? I mean, not bothering to come back on time on four separate occaisions. And he was only good for half a season.

[RibbleValleyRover]

Rovers lead chase for Amir Zaki

Troublemaker who was found out by opposition defenses after a bright start. No thanks.

[Amo]

I don't see anything in that article aside from conjecture.

[thenodrog]

So you're getting rid of 2/3 keepers and Zurab, who is probably a relatively inexpensive but capable back-up.

ZK has put in a good shift over the years. Unless he definitely wants away we'll not get much better imo for the money who will also be content to be 4th choice CH.

[nicko]

Rovers lead chase for Amir Zaki

Rovers are after better than him...

[T4E]

Tease. Gizza clue?

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

It's Bojan, isn't it?

Everyone, it's Bojan. I'm sure it is. It is, isn't it? It is.

I'm off to get Bojan printed on my shirt.

[nicko]

Tease. Gizza clue?

When the time is right.