[Archived] £15 M To Spend - What Are You Strengthening And Who Are You Buying?

[mode_m]

Dreaming time...this is what I'd love us to end up with:

.................Robinson

Seitaridis Samba Givet Warnock

..................Grella

.........Emerton...M'Bami

....Tuncay.................Pedersen

..................Janko

Subs: Bunn, Nelsen, Reid, Dunn, Diouf, Roberts, Di Santo

Left over: Olsson, Andrews, van Heerden, Doran, Judge, Blackman

Looks good apart from Emerton, maybe we should be starting Diouf over him or our new signing van Heerden.

[jonman105]

Santa Cruz - £15m to £18m

Derbyshire - £2.5m

Paul Gallagher - £1m to £2m

Khizanishvlli - £1m to £2m

Treacy - £1m

Jason Brown - £500,000

Even being prudent, we should get around £20m for this business. That should give Sam enough to rebuild the squad, and invest in the next Bentley/Duff/Santa Cruz. I think we have the chance now to build a decent footballing side. I'm not expecting us to become the equivalent of the Harlem Globetrotters, but we can certainly refine the way we played last season - which was pretty ugly but necessary at the time.

Do you honestly think we could get £1m for Keith Treacy?!

[Grez]

Do we actually generate any money apart from sales at Rovers anymore? The reason I ask, is because we got £7m for Bentley that was not part of the bottom line profit for last year + all the money for RSC and soon to be £2.6m for Derbyshire. By my reckoning that means we have £24m for summer spending without money generated from operational activity. My gut feel is that we will clear a large part of the bank overdraft and end up with £15m to spend overall. £4m probably already spent on Givet (good signing)

Having said that - still think we will end up with a loan signing (Di Santo), a freebie (Vassell or Benjani) and maybe a bid for Sturridge (via tribunal).

That makes me think the lions share of the money will go on midfielders.

[philo]

i think we should buy jo young i think he is good

[waggy]

in tonights telewag it says lardarse has 13 million to spend,how is he going to buy the players we need with such a paltry sum.we need two forwards and at least 2 midfielders better employ his son,pretty dam quick

[gazsimm]

in tonights telewag it says lardarse has 13 million to spend,how is he going to buy the players we need with such a paltry sum.we need two forwards and at least 2 midfielders better employ his son,pretty dam quick

i am sure sam will hopefully sign us some freebies as well Waggy, dont worry

[Billy Castell]

Right time for some pure speculation:

Cox, Lambert, Veccio/Beccio (Leeds) or Beckford for £2-3m after a trial to see if they are up to scratch.

Davies up to £3m. Any more will be a waste.

Doyle £6.5m

M'Bami on a free

Rothen on a free

Tikkabilla £4m

Civilli or that greek sounding bloke beginning with S for right back.

Out the door:

Gallagher nominal fee, £500,000 if we're lucky

Derbyshire £3m

Roberts £1-2.5m

Brown Whatever we can get

[daveoftherovers]

Do you honestly think we could get £1m for Keith Treacy?!

The M must stand for something else referencing Keith, personally I think he's pants.

[Amo]

The M must stand for something else referencing Keith, personally I think he's pants.

I don't rate him either (hence offloading him). But he's a young lad who featured for a Prem club last season. If we can hype his potential up enough, I'm sure we could nab £1m.

[The Prof.]

Aaaarghhhh! Just heard Sam has been limited to 2 players and sees a right back and a forward as his priority - seems the wage bill is too big for more!!!

This is back to the bad old days of David Brown and Willie Bancroft. You sell Kevin Hird for £400,000 and bring in Martin Fowler on a free. More relegation scraps I'm afraid!

Season Tickets could be a quid and it won't be worth paying to watch. £15 million quid!

The business must be completely unviable in the extreme if we have to undergo the lottery of unearthing a gem for nowt to stay afloat.

[Rover Down Under]

This is back to the bad old days of David Brown and Willie Bancroft. You sell Kevin Hird for £400,000 and bring in Martin Fowler on a free. More relegation scraps I'm afraid!

Why were Brown and Bancroft so bad? Brown is still deputy Chairman isn't he? Is Bill Bancroft still around?

[47er]

Aaaarghhhh! Just heard Sam has been limited to 2 players and sees a right back and a forward as his priority - seems the wage bill is too big for more!!!

This is back to the bad old days of David Brown and Willie Bancroft. You sell Kevin Hird for £400,000 and bring in Martin Fowler on a free. More relegation scraps I'm afraid!

Season Tickets could be a quid and it won't be worth paying to watch. £15 million quid!

The business must be completely unviable in the extreme if we have to undergo the lottery of unearthing a gem for nowt to stay afloat.

That doesn't mean we can't sign 1 or 2 mid-fielders on frees but I agree its a worry.

[BrownieFC]

Aaaarghhhh! Just heard Sam has been limited to 2 players and sees a right back and a forward as his priority - seems the wage bill is too big for more!!!

Well if we sign a player on a free couldn't the fee we save go towards his wage, plus we have lost at least 6 players (one being Roque who was one of our highest paid players) we should be able to afford the wages of more than 2 players if not I think this club is in dire straights and needs a big cash boost.

[Lurid Coat]

Aaaarghhhh! Just heard Sam has been limited to 2 players and sees a right back and a forward as his priority - seems the wage bill is too big for more!!!

Horrible news if true. The midfield has been in decline for years now, and a box-to-box midfielder who can pass a football to a teammate is BADLY needed.

[RoyRover]

We need a right back and I would like someone like Aleksandr Anyukov, who's the Russian right back. A defensive midfielder who can really get around the pitch would be another area I would strengthen, with Stephane Mbia being someone who comes to mind. We also need to add some creativity from the midfield and preferably a player with pace. It's obvious that we need two more strikers. The guy Di Santo from Chelsea could be a good bit of business, but we should also be looking at a striker who is rapid, like Mohamed Tchite from Racing Santander. It could also be worthwhile seeing if Carlos Vela is available for loan.

[joey_big_nose]

Aaaarghhhh! Just heard Sam has been limited to 2 players and sees a right back and a forward as his priority - seems the wage bill is too big for more!!!

This is back to the bad old days of David Brown and Willie Bancroft. You sell Kevin Hird for £400,000 and bring in Martin Fowler on a free. More relegation scraps I'm afraid!

Season Tickets could be a quid and it won't be worth paying to watch. £15 million quid!

The business must be completely unviable in the extreme if we have to undergo the lottery of unearthing a gem for nowt to stay afloat.

That can't be true can it? I bet we get in two strikers, a right back and one midfielder.

[Blue blood]

We have to get a midfielder in. With Tugay and the axe leaving and the fitness of three others in question Sam will be forced to bring in another midfielder even if it's just to have the numbers.

The only alternative is that he sees Emerton as our box to box midfielder. If we get a top quality right back that could work.

[russellday]

We have to get a midfielder in. With Tugay and the axe leaving and the fitness of three others in question Sam will be forced to bring in another midfielder even if it's just to have the numbers.

The only alternative is that he sees Emerton as our box to box midfielder. If we get a top quality right back that could work.

Kevin Nolan

Dean Ashton

A guy called owen?

[The Prof.]

Why were Brown and Bancroft so bad? Brown is still deputy Chairman isn't he? Is Bill Bancroft still around?

They both put their own money in, sold stars, replaced them with freebies or older cheaper players and we got relegated. Think BB passed away.

[Rover Down Under]

They both put their own money in, sold stars, replaced them with freebies or older cheaper players and we got relegated. Think BB passed away.

Elaborate please, and to answer my first question DB is still Vice-Chair?

[joey_big_nose]

Bored on a friday. The only answer is useless speculation!

The rumours going around look like we could end up with a squad something like this:

Strikers - Cardozo, McCarthy, Roberts, Hoilett, Di Santo

Central Midfielders - Grella, Reid, Dunn, N'Zoni, Bradley, Judge, Rothen

Wingers - Pedersen, Diouf, Van Heerden, Doran

Defenders - Nelsen, Samba, Givet, Zurab

Full Backs/Utility Players - Emerton, Warnock, Olsson, Chimbonda,

Keepers - Robinson, Bunn, Brown

26 man squad which would be top end of what we could really expect to sustain, even with all the youngsters in there. It would mean that Andrews and Gallagher would have to be out the door (a shame but we can't have too many) on top of the six (!) players who have already left.

Realistic (I hope) incomings in Cardozo (8 million? Oklahoma recons that is fantasy but some newspaper repots suggest otherwise...), Di Santo (loan), Hoilett gets a work permit, Bradley (6 million?), Chimbonda (2 million), Van Heerden (free), N'Zoni (500k), Rothen (free). Looking at it maybe that is execting too much from our budget?

The main weaknessees are three key central players being very injury prone which was a big problem for us last year but I don't see what we can do about that as no one will buy them.

However I do like the large amount of youth in there with Di Santo, Hoilett, N'Zoni, Doran, Judge, Olsson, Bradley, Bunn all being under 25. It should give the squad hunger and, for the first time in ages, quite a lot of pace. Hopefully this will enthuse the old hands a bit. Di Santo and Hoilett look top prospects. Judge, Olsson, Doran and N'Zoni seem more like gambles but we have done well in this department before with the likes of Samba, Bentley and Derbyshire.

There is also a nice experienced spine to the the squad of McCarthy/Cardozo/Roberts-Grella/Dunn/Reid/Rothen/Pedersen/Diouf-Warnock/Givet/Nelsen/Samba/Emerton/Chimbonda-Robinson.

If it does pan out this way probably the key purchase, apart from Cardozo, is going to be Rothen. Eddie has given him a bashing but he is the one we will be looking to take over from Tugay and make the side tick over. I disagree with Eddie in that I do not think he will play wide for us, he will be central. We will need him to thread the passes and give a level head to the team.

All in all If we ended up like this I would be pretty happy. It would be a very balanced squad, if still maybe one or two players heavy. One of the three crocks in midfield should go in Jan if they (paradoxically) manage to maintain their fitness long enough to attract buyers.

We would also be able to take a lot of injuries/suspensions and be able to put out a decent side because of the flexibility of many players. Warnock, Emerton, Chimbona, Givet, Samba, Diouf can all play multiple positions.

Jesus. How long is it till the new season?.....

[Amo]

Zurab's off to Gala, Joey.

[joey_big_nose]

Zurab's off to Gala, Joey.

Has that actaully happened? If it does we are going to need a new centreback. We will only have three!

[Amo]

Has that actaully happened? If it does we are going to need a new centreback. We will only have three!

Nothing official yet, but if it does happen Sam could always sign a midfielder who can cover at the back.

[joey_big_nose]

Nothing official yet, but if it does happen Sam could always sign a midfielder who can cover at the back.

I don't think that will cut it - we need four players at least who are dedicated centrebacks.