Re: OT - All New Leeds United thread : Fri Jun 04, 2010 8:01 am  

rhinoms wrote:

Do you not think that it's too early to be having a pop at SG and writing the team off before a ball has been kicked in anger?
Afterall it's still only the 1st week in june and plenty of time to get other players in of the right quality.

It certainly is... the free signings made so far imo are very good ones. We haven't spent a penny yet, so hopefully that leaves us in a strong position to spend good money on some quality.

Re: OT - All New Leeds United thread : Fri Jun 04, 2010 8:16 am  

rhinoms wrote:

Do you not think that it's too early to be having a pop at SG and writing the team off before a ball has been kicked in anger?
Afterall it's still only the 1st week in june and plenty of time to get other players in of the right quality.

Excuse me. Where have I had a pop at anybody? I was stating the strategy as it appears and been a realist, that's all.

I said if you get your top targets then it is great business.

Re: OT - All New Leeds United thread : Fri Jun 04, 2010 8:28 am  

rhinoms wrote:

Do you not think that it's too early to be having a pop at SG and writing the team off before a ball has been kicked in anger?
Afterall it's still only the 1st week in june and plenty of time to get other players in of the right quality.

I don't think Gotcha is having a go at SG - more at the possible constraints he is having to work with.

It might be that there aren't any great constraints and it just happens that at the moment he's picking up freebies but has a number of negotiaitions underway working from a decent transfer kitty.

Steve Claridge said:

"I would say Leeds will need a minimum of eight new players if they want to compete next year, which would probably be the best part of £10m.

They should have that money too. I do not know what their debts were but they made £4.5m last year and have sold Fabian Delph and had a great FA Cup run since then too."

If anything like that is available then there can be no complaints but since administration there's been plenty of money coming in but precious little going out. So far things don't look any different.

Re: OT - All New Leeds United thread : Fri Jun 04, 2010 8:33 am  

Gotcha wrote:

Excuse me. Where have I had a pop at anybody? I was stating the strategy as it appears and been a realist, that's all.

I said if you get your top targets then it is great business.

That's how i read it,if i'm wrong i apologise mate.
It comes across as though you're having a pop because we missed out on Montgomery and Eustace and saying we are going to be left with 3rd,4th or 5th choice.
I'd love us to spend some money and i honestly think if the deal is right we will but fans have to realise what kind of ££££ climate we are in at the club i know what money has been made from t.v etc and players leaving but we still have a very high wage bill so i don't think its as clear cut as all the money going to Bates' offshore account.
I'm not keen on Bates either but if he did a Ridsdale there'd be a riot so at least until the season starts and we see the full squad i'm prepared to sit tight and wait and see where we are.

Re: OT - All New Leeds United thread : Fri Jun 04, 2010 8:36 am  

Puig-Aubert wrote:

I don't think Gotcha is having a go at SG - more at the possible constraints he is having to work with.

It might be that there aren't any great constraints and it just happens that at the moment he's picking up freebies but has a number of negotiaitions underway working from a decent transfer kitty.

Steve Claridge said:

"I would say Leeds will need a minimum of eight new players if they want to compete next year, which would probably be the best part of £10m.

They should have that money too. I do not know what their debts were but they made £4.5m last year and have sold Fabian Delph and had a great FA Cup run since then too."

If anything like that is available then there can be no complaints but since administration there's been plenty of money coming in but precious little going out. So far things don't look any different.

I see yer point and i agree but we don't know how much of that has gone on the rent,our wage bill and bonus' for promotion etc etc.
It doesn't seem as clear cut to me tbh and i'm not defending bates by any means but there are other factors to consider when trying to calculate the amount of £££ we have available.

Re: OT - All New Leeds United thread : Fri Jun 04, 2010 8:44 am  

rhinoms wrote:

That's how i read it,if i'm wrong i apologise mate.
It comes across as though you're having a pop because we missed out on Montgomery and Eustace and saying we are going to be left with 3rd,4th or 5th choice.
I'd love us to spend some money and i honestly think if the deal is right we will but fans have to realise what kind of ££££ climate we are in at the club i know what money has been made from t.v etc and players leaving but we still have a very high wage bill so i don't think its as clear cut as all the money going to Bates' offshore account.
I'm not keen on Bates either but if he did a Ridsdale there'd be a riot so at least until the season starts and we see the full squad i'm prepared to sit tight and wait and see where we are.

You did misread me. Although I can't deny I am dissapointed with the strategy.

Like I said earlier, 3rd, 4th, 5th choice only comes into play when your strategy is free signings only. If you are paying money then generally you may get what you want. There is only so many quality free signings available. The strategy is not wrong if you get the best of them that fits into your requirements, Kisnorbo and Smeichal perfect examples. But if you miss out on your 1st and 2nd choices and persist with the freebie route, then it is quite obvious you are not getting good business, but desperation to plug a gap only.

Re: OT - All New Leeds United thread : Fri Jun 04, 2010 8:49 am  

Gotcha wrote:

You did misread me. Although I can't deny I am dissapointed with the strategy.

Like I said earlier, 3rd, 4th, 5th choice only comes into play when your strategy is free signings only. If you are paying money then generally you may get what you want. There is only so many quality free signings available. The strategy is not wrong if you get the best of them that fits into your requirements. But if you miss out on your 1st and 2nd choices and persist with the freebie route, then it is quite obvious you are not getting good business, but desperation to plug a gap only.

Fair enough i hear yer.
I really think with the Schmeichel and Paynter signings we've done well and imo it looks as though the quality/potential we are aiming for is good.
I think another thing that needs to realised with the Montgomery situation and us getting out-bid by Sheff utd is that they will have far more money to offer.
Lets not forget they recently got relegated so have had the parachute payments,transfer money for the likes of Hulse and Killgallon plus they had a big £££ pay off from West Ham so it's no surprise they could offer more ££ than us.

Re: OT - All New Leeds United thread : Fri Jun 04, 2010 8:58 am  

rhinoms wrote:

Fair enough i hear yer.
I really think with the Schmeichel and Paynter signings we've done well and imo it looks as though the quality/potential we are aiming for is good.
I think another thing that needs to realised with the Montgomery situation and us getting out-bid by Sheff utd is that they will have far more money to offer.
Lets not forget they recently got relegated so have had the parachute payments,transfer money for the likes of Hulse and Killgallon plus they had a big £££ pay off from West Ham so it's no surprise they could offer more ££ than us.

I dissagree on Paynter been good business, but hope to be proved wrong. He is a gamble, simple as that. Not a bad gamble, but you certainly can't say good business. He is totally unproven at this level, and has had one good season only in his career so far. Infact he is very much the "Journeyman" that Jeff Stelling talked about earlier this season, which most fans reacted negatively to. As he is free then that gamble is not a big risk, but I certainly hope expectations at the club are not so high.

With Montgomery, I think there as to be more to that deal than just money. I dissagree entirely that Sheffield could afford more than Leeds. Yes, they might be able to afford more than Bates want's to spend, but that is different. They do not get the parachute payments anymore, and it is for that reason why they are having such an overall of their squad.

The Euastace deal seems peculiar to me. He came up to have a medical, which would presume he had agreed money terms. The rumour was he failed the medical, which has just been shot down this morning by Euastace himself, who say's it is complete rubbish. It appears he just simply had a change of mind. That is a concern for me, because I don't think he is the only player so far who have changed their minds about possibly joining Leeds for next season. I might be been biased, but I can't accept that any player would rather play for other clubs at this level than Leeds, where money is not the deciding factor.

Re: OT - All New Leeds United thread : Fri Jun 04, 2010 9:07 am  

Gotcha wrote:

I dissagree on Paynter been good business, but hope to be proved wrong. He is a gamble, simple as that. Not a bad gamble, but you certainly can't say good business. He is totally unproven at this level, and has had one good season only in his career so far. Infact he is very much the "Journeyman" that Jeff Stelling talked about earlier this season, which most fans reacted negatively to. As he is free then that gamble is not a big risk, but I certainly hope expectations at the club are not so high.

With Montgomery, I think there as to be more to that deal than just money. I dissagree entirely that Sheffield could afford more than Leeds. Yes, they might be able to afford more than Bates want's to spend, but that is different. They do not get the parachute payments anymore, and it is for that reason why they are having such an overall of their squad.

The Euastace deal seems peculiar to me. He came up to have a medical, which would presume he had agreed money terms. The rumour was he failed the medical, which has just been shot down this morning by Euastace himself, who say's it is complete rubbish. It appears he just simply had a change of mind. That is a concern for me, because I don't think he is the only player so far who have changed their minds about possibly joining Leeds for next season. I might be been biased, but I can't accept that any player would rather play for other clubs at this level than Leeds, where money is not the deciding factor.

I'd expect Eustace to shoot down the Medical theory mate and if it's not the case then just like Nicholls i think the club and expectation is "too big for him".
As for Sheff utd we'll have to agree to disagree they've had so much more income than us for the last few years and imo it's no surprise they've out bid us on Montgomery.
You also have to question whether the player was really "hungry" enough to sign for us,look at the Schmeichel situation he had a host of clubs vying for him but chose Leeds who i bet were'nt the highest bidders.
I guess when we see the final squad we'll have a bigger picture of where we've been "shopping".

Re: OT - All New Leeds United thread : Fri Jun 04, 2010 10:37 am  

I see another player we were strongly linked with as today signed for Doncaster.

Not that we will ever know if we definately were in for him, but he was in a position we require someone for, and we have been heavily linked for a couple of weeks.