10 hours ago, Nickcook26 said:

Sorry mate but to compare us with Arsenal is just laughable. Thank god our board don't run our club in the same way they are run (most expensive season ticket, accepting failure of the manager, no CL football, selling of star players).

Tbh the signs are gradually creeping in and if the board are not careful it could happen. Arsenal got away with it for a long time and sometimes just scrapped into the top 4, they made being in the top 4 as winning a trophy itself. Settling for 4th has caught up with them in the end and now there best players are running contracts down. Some Chelsea fans are settling for the top 4 and calling anyone who questions the board as spoilt or glory hunters. Chelsea haven't been willing to improve the first team for a while now  and with Courtois and Hazard not signing new contracts, the lack of ambition might be crucial in them signing or not.

 

2 hours ago, RIP Mourinho said:

We're still outspending everyone, we're just spending it on absolute sh*te. £250m this year and who have we bought that is an instant upgrade? 

Wanting the best for your team isn't being a spoilt brat. Just because someone expects more, doesn't make them any less or more of a fan. 

For some reason there’s people on this board who love nothing more than taking shots at other posters for any form of criticism towards the club or board. Not pointing fingers at this particular poster but I’m sure they know who they are.

 

Whether people like it or not we are not being run well at the moment. We are still one of the top spending teams, we just spend it on utter dross, I could understand if there weren’t any quality players available, but the moves we’ve seen taking place across the globe since the summer clearly indicates that there is top talent available, we just appear more likely to sign 2/3 average players instead of one top quality one. I find it bizarre personally. I would rather improve our starting 11 and have the person replaced fill a squad role than just buy a squad player that has little to no effect on the starting 11. I would even settle for what we used to do with Salah, KDB, Oscar etc and buy them young and hope to grow them to where they make the cut or we sell them for a profit but signings like DD don’t even fall in to that category.

 

Wanting the best for your club doesn’t make you spoilt, it makes you human. 

 

It’s not like anyone’s demanding we win the quadruple or sign Messi, Ronald & Neymar. All people are asking is to challenge & compete for the best players on the market which for a club of our size is IMO, not too much to ask. 

With the new FFP changes, I actually think that we are ahead of other clubs in the transfer market. The new rules means that you cannot have more than a £90m loss in transfers. City and united will be screwed as earnings are not taken into account whatsoever. 

We won the league with a net profit which I’m not sure any team in modern times has done. I think we’re very good at scouting and getting value in transfer. Getting the right players for a good price. Yes it’s frustrating that we’re not buying ready made players but if the new changes are enforced and have an impact, I think this is where our recent strategy will pay off compared to City and Uniteds ridiculous spending. 

Edited January 31, 20188 yr by JM7

5 minutes ago, JM7 said:

With the new FFP changes, I actually think that we are ahead of other clubs in the transfer market. The new rules means that you cannot have more than a £90m loss in transfers. City and united will be screwed as earnings are not taken into account whatsoever. 

We won the league with a net profit which I’m not sure any team in modern times has done. I think we’re very good at scouting and getting value in transfer. Getting the right players for a good price. Yes it’s frustrating that we’re not buying ready made players but if the new changes are enforced and have an impact, I think this is where our recent strategy will pay off compared to City and Uniteds ridiculous spending. 

But we’ve seen it before that these rules aren’t enforced, City & PSG already sh@t all over them and all they got was a slap on the wrist. If I thought for a second FFP would be actioned the way it was made out to I’d agree but I think it’s clear now that’s not going to happen.

These are new rules though. FFP v2.0

18 minutes ago, JM7 said:

With the new FFP changes, I actually think that we are ahead of other clubs in the transfer market. The new rules means that you cannot have more than a £90m loss in transfers. City and united will be screwed as earnings are not taken into account whatsoever. 

We won the league with a net profit which I’m not sure any team in modern times has done. I think we’re very good at scouting and getting value in transfer. Getting the right players for a good price. Yes it’s frustrating that we’re not buying ready made players but if the new changes are enforced and have an impact, I think this is where our recent strategy will pay off compared to City and Uniteds ridiculous spending. 

I cant see that, City are buying younger player's who they will get many great years out off. Then that success brings more profits, more champions league football etc. I really can't see how buying Zappa, Drinkwater, Baka, Giroud will pay off over City or even Utd.

Its also playing a dangerous game of not being good enough for the league but fighting for top 4, if Chelsea don't improve the first 11 again this summer i think it's very risky with player's ambitions and you might just fall out of contention. Moving stadium i reckon will also see a drop of performance in home games.

Edited January 31, 20188 yr by Ernie_blue

14 hours ago, Nickcook26 said:

Sorry mate but to compare us with Arsenal is just laughable. Thank god our board don't run our club in the same way they are run (most expensive season ticket, accepting failure of the manager, no CL football, selling of star players).

Yet we're getting to that phase of seemingly going for cheap, average players in order to save money for a new stadium. Sound familiar to you?

12 hours ago, Ewell CFC said:

No disrespect but it appears as if the only reason you support Chelsea is so you can celebrate silverware at the end of the season.

Reflected glory?

No disrespect but that's a really silly conclusion to make an overly simplistic. If we were a mid table club I'd want us to aspire for a top 6 spot, especially if we had the potential to do that. If we were always fighting relegation, I'd want us to aspire to be a mid table club, especially if we had the potential. If we were a top championship club but only remained that, I'd want us to aspire to be promoted to the Premier League, especially if we had the potential to.

You don't see Madrid fans content with sitting on 9 CLs. They wanted the 10th. And after the 10th, they wanted the 11th. Now that they have 12, they still want a 13th. That's what top clubs do, and quite frankly, that's what every supporters mindset should be. Aspiring for your club to always reach that next level.

I'm not sorry that I'm not content with our current predicament. Deal with it.

Sign average players, get average results.

34 minutes ago, Barrettinator said:

No disrespect but that's a really silly conclusion to make an overly simplistic. If we were a mid table club I'd want us to aspire for a top 6 spot, especially if we had the potential to do that. If we were always fighting relegation, I'd want us to aspire to be a mid table club, especially if we had the potential. If we were a top championship club but only remained that, I'd want us to aspire to be promoted to the Premier League, especially if we had the potential to.

You don't see Madrid fans content with sitting on 9 CLs. They wanted the 10th. And after the 10th, they wanted the 11th. Now that they have 12, they still want a 13th. That's what top clubs do, and quite frankly, that's what every supporters mindset should be. Aspiring for your club to always reach that next level.

I'm not sorry that I'm not content with our current predicament. Deal with it.

Amen to that!

10 hours ago, Ewell CFC said:

That's football. You've got to take the rough with the smooth.

The powers that be are under no obligation to compete financially with the Man City's of this world. Our comparitive austerity in transfer dealings has been " a train coming down the track" for many years, ever since it was announced that the club were to become self financing and not rely on a bail out from the owner year on year. Why the big surprise that this is now the case?

Wake up call time for the spoilt brats amongst our support, who only decided to follow CFC because we were outspending everyone else and cleaning up.

 

That isn't his point though, look at the spending, we have spent money but we've spent it on average players. We have literally spent almost 100 million on Bakayoko/Drinkwater, in what reality should that happen? 

What's depressing is that we've spent over 100 million on Bakayoko/Drinkwater/Zappacosta. It really makes you think, the man who got it all right last season is getting it all wrong this season. 

1 hour ago, Barrettinator said:

No disrespect but that's a really silly conclusion to make an overly simplistic. If we were a mid table club I'd want us to aspire for a top 6 spot, especially if we had the potential to do that. If we were always fighting relegation, I'd want us to aspire to be a mid table club, especially if we had the potential. If we were a top championship club but only remained that, I'd want us to aspire to be promoted to the Premier League, especially if we had the potential to.

You don't see Madrid fans content with sitting on 9 CLs. They wanted the 10th. And after the 10th, they wanted the 11th. Now that they have 12, they still want a 13th. That's what top clubs do, and quite frankly, that's what every supporters mindset should be. Aspiring for your club to always reach that next level.

I'm not sorry that I'm not content with our current predicament. Deal with it.

I find posts like that bizarre quite frankly, who in their right mind doesn’t want their club to win? 

 

‘Oh, glad we went out the Caraboa Cup, didn’t really fancy winning anything this year’ - that in reverse is the kind of over simplification people have when fans want their team to win.

 

It’s similar to telling Roman that he’s only in it for the silverware, after all he’s the one who sacks managers who don’t win anything, Christ - he even sacks the ones that do.

 

I follow my local team Hibs as well and I expect them to do the best they can. They were promoted back to the top flight at the beginning of this season. They’re currently 4th which to a lot of people would be a bloody good season. It doesn’t change the fact they had at the start of the season a very strong squad so I want them to be 3rd. Every supporter should want the best for their club whether it’s winning games or competing for achievable players. The mentality that it makes you entitled or spoilt to want the best for your club does my head in 

39 minutes ago, atomis said:

This is what happens when you put a woman in charge....an incompetent one, if she was any good I'll be the first to say so.

Man the Things I've been through.....from wars to whatever......but this goddamn board are making me go off.

Join the 21st century and get over yourself mate. 

1 hour ago, Zeta said:

Sign average players, get average results.

Spot on.

1 hour ago, Zeta said:

Sign average players, get average results.

Nothing average about that result.

3 hours ago, Barrettinator said:

No disrespect but that's a really silly conclusion to make an overly simplistic. If we were a mid table club I'd want us to aspire for a top 6 spot, especially if we had the potential to do that. If we were always fighting relegation, I'd want us to aspire to be a mid table club, especially if we had the potential. If we were a top championship club but only remained that, I'd want us to aspire to be promoted to the Premier League, especially if we had the potential to.

You don't see Madrid fans content with sitting on 9 CLs. They wanted the 10th. And after the 10th, they wanted the 11th. Now that they have 12, they still want a 13th. That's what top clubs do, and quite frankly, that's what every supporters mindset should be. Aspiring for your club to always reach that next level.

I'm not sorry that I'm not content with our current predicament. Deal with it.

To be clear from the off, I am a "board man" in that I tend to look at things from the business POV as far as how the club is run.

I understand the "want" that you talk about and completely agree with it. What I am increasingly struggling to understand, not only from yourself but from a growing number, is the level of anger/upset.

Maybe it's an age or generation thing but the only two things that anger or upset me about football is moronic behavior from fans or players and the obscene amounts of money involved.

I want us to qualify for the CL but if we don't then so what. I wanted us to sign Mahrez but didn't feel the need to rant and rave about the fact we never bid or that City did, who cares, he's one player.

Why I say maybe it's a generational thing, and maybe i'm wrong, but I get the feeling that a lot of the anger is born out of a combination of the desire to have the upper hand in the social media stakes and the fear or frustration of being on the receiving end.

 

1 minute ago, startedwithglenn said:

To be clear from the off, I am a "board man" in that I tend to look at things from the business POV as far as how the club is run.

I understand the "want" that you talk about and completely agree with it. What I am increasingly struggling to understand, not only from yourself but from a growing number, is the level of anger/upset.

Maybe it's an age or generation thing but the only two things that anger or upset me about football is moronic behavior from fans or players and the obscene amounts of money involved.

I want us to qualify for the CL but if we don't then so what. I wanted us to sign Mahrez but didn't feel the need to rant and rave about the fact we never bid or that City did, who cares, he's one player.

Why I say maybe it's a generational thing, and maybe i'm wrong, but I get the feeling that a lot of the anger is born out of a combination of the desire to have the upper hand in the social media stakes and the fear or frustration of being on the receiving end.

 

How can you care about the business of how the club is run when you seem to be okay with the rubbish business that has been conducted so far? Why spend 40m a piece on two average players when you can get a world class one for 70m and have him backed up by an exciting youth prospect from the academy? We've spent a lot of money on bang average players. Guess what that gives us? Bang average results. This fear of spending big money on real quality is puzzling because we still end up spending a lot of money anyway, just on poorer players. We'll end up looking to sell some of these players in the next few years to find better ones. We spent heavily in the early Roman years but then we didn't have to spend like that for the 5-6 years after that because we were already stacked up with world class young players or players just entering their prime. I think you get the point I'm trying to make.

I don't know, but I'm sure i'm not the only one that looks at our transfer dealings and scratches their head a little.  I thought the club showed great intentions with the Morata signing, and I was glad we went with him rather than Lukaku, still am.  However, given the rest of the money we spent on Zappacosta 23 Million, Drinkwater 35 Million, Bakayoko 40 Million (who i still think could work out) and Barkley 15 Million i think most of them could be easily categorized as "Squad depth" players.  That's a total of 113 million on Squad depth.

Now, I know loads of us harp on about youth players, etc.  Ake aside, i don't think we've got that great a price for the lads we've sold, and I'm still not sure we should have sold Ake (and that's not just after seeing him score against us today).

What I am perplexed by is that we've signed the likes of Barkley and Drinkwater, while letting RLC go on loan, and then sell Chaloba.  If squad depth is truly what we needed, then keep those, and spend the 113 million on quality.  I'd rather spend that kind of money on top players, and bolster the squad with youth players, than let the youth squad players go, and spend the money on rather uninspiring players.

Also, I've seen people argue that we've bought DD and RB because of the homegrown quota, but that falls short when you think RLC and Chabs helped with that anyway.

7 minutes ago, Barrettinator said:

How can you care about the business of how the club is run when you seem to be okay with the rubbish business that has been conducted so far? Why spend 40m a piece on two average players when you can get a world class one for 70m and have him backed up by an exciting youth prospect from the academy? We've spent a lot of money on bang average players. Guess what that gives us? Bang average results. This fear of spending big money on real quality is puzzling because we still end up spending a lot of money anyway, just on poorer players. We'll end up looking to sell some of these players in the next few years to find better ones. We spent heavily in the early Roman years but then we didn't have to spend like that for the 5-6 years after that because we were already stacked up with world class young players or players just entering their prime. I think you get the point I'm trying to make.

You might not like how it translates to the pitch but to say the club does rubbish business is straight out wrong because the opposite is true because we are where we are, CL regulars and 2 titles in the last 3 years with a similar net spend to some midtable clubs.

If City were a little less good then a lot of the more vocal of you wouldn't be but everything looks worse than it actually is in their shadow.

We have 50 points after 25 games, that's reasonable. Add 3-4 points to that and everybody would have taken 54 points at this stage before a ball was kicked.

The fact that City are having a phenomenal season doesn't mean we are doing terribly. Their season so far is the strange and abnormality, not ours, or United's or Liverpool's or Spurs.

If my daughter comes home and tells me she got 85% in her maths exam, i'd say "fantastic angel, well done". That doesn't change if she then tells me that her friend Amy got 92%.

 

4 minutes ago, mad_mac said:

I don't know, but I'm sure i'm not the only one that looks at our transfer dealings and scratches their head a little.  I thought the club showed great intentions with the Morata signing, and I was glad we went with him rather than Lukaku, still am.  However, given the rest of the money we spent on Zappacosta 23 Million, Drinkwater 35 Million, Bakayoko 40 Million (who i still think could work out) and Barkley 15 Million i think most of them could be easily categorized as "Squad depth" players.  That's a total of 113 million on Squad depth.

Now, I know loads of us harp on about youth players, etc.  Ake aside, i don't think we've got that great a price for the lads we've sold, and I'm still not sure we should have sold Ake (and that's not just after seeing him score against us today).

What I am perplexed by is that we've signed the likes of Barkley and Drinkwater, while letting RLC go on loan, and then sell Chaloba.  If squad depth is truly what we needed, then keep those, and spend the 113 million on quality.  I'd rather spend that kind of money on top players, and bolster the squad with youth players, than let the youth squad players go, and spend the money on rather uninspiring players.

Also, I've seen people argue that we've bought DD and RB because of the homegrown quota, but that falls short when you think RLC and Chabs helped with that anyway.

Chabs was given opportunites by Conte, was offered a new deal and turned it down so had to be sold. Ruben being on loan is the right thing for all concerned and he was developing to our benefit before he got injured.

Who are these top players we should have signed?

14 minutes ago, startedwithglenn said:

You might not like how it translates to the pitch but to say the club does rubbish business is straight out wrong because the opposite is true because we are where we are, CL regulars and 2 titles in the last 3 years with a similar net spend to some midtable clubs.

If City were a little less good then a lot of the more vocal of you wouldn't be but everything looks worse than it actually is in their shadow.

We have 50 points after 25 games, that's reasonable. Add 3-4 points to that and everybody would have taken 54 points at this stage before a ball was kicked.

The fact that City are having a phenomenal season doesn't mean we are doing terribly. Their season so far is the strange and abnormality, not ours, or United's or Liverpool's or Spurs.

If my daughter comes home and tells me she got 85% in her maths exam, i'd say "fantastic angel, well done". That doesn't change if she then tells me that her friend Amy got 92%.

 

When we got 95 points or so in 2005, it didn't mean Arsenal fans had to feel good about their season because "we were just that good". What's stopping us from giving City a real run for their money? I'll tell you; terrible business. How much have we spent on left backs since Ashley Cole left? A lot more money than Juve were asking for Sandro last summer. That's exactly what I'm talking about. Look at Zappacosta, what exactly was the point of wasting 23m on him when we have a really exciting young player in Dujon Sterling that could have done as good a job, if not better? That's 23m that could have been add to a few elsewhere to acquire a world class player. Conte is complicit in this too btw, imagine if he hadn't been forced to give Christensen a chance and we'd gone out to waste money on yet another CB.

And if my daughter comes home with an 85% score on her maths exam, I'd tell her she did a good job but push her to get a 95% next time. Because the student who got a 95% isn't superhuman. Man City aren't superhuman robots. They're just much better run than us, have a clear plan and clear vision for how they want to play and they back their manager on his targets big time.

Edited February 1, 20188 yr by Barrettinator

2 minutes ago, Barrettinator said:

When we got 95 points or so in 2005, it didn't mean Arsenal fans had to feel good about their season because "we were just that good". What's stopping us from giving City a real run for their money? I'll tell you; terrible business. How much have we spent on left backs since Ashley Cole left? A lot more money than Juve were asking for Sandro last summer. That's exactly what I'm talking about. Look at Zappacosta, what exactly was the point of wasting 23m on him when we have a really exciting young player in Dujon Sterling that could have done as good a job, if not better? That's 23m that could have been add to a few elsewhere to acquire a world class player. Conte is complicit in this too btw, imagine if he hadn't been forced to give Christensen a chance and we'd gone out to waste money on yet another CB.

And if my daughter comes home with an 85% score on her maths exam, I'd tell her she did a good job but push her to get a 95% next time. Because the student who got a 95% isn't superhuman. Man City aren't superhuman robots. They're just much better run than us, have a clear plan and clear vision for how they want to play and they back their manager on his targets big time.

I'm somewhat in agreement with you, not with the spending part but with the youth aspect.

And i'm glad you mentioned Conte because the appointments we make dictate what happens to the youth.

I've seen us win everything when I grew up thniking i'd never see us win anything. I'd rather enjoy what i'm watching than bulldoze to success nowadays.

I don't think much will change as far as managerial appointments and therefore the youth in the next few years because the club will want CL money regularly with the financing of the stadium.

Our signings have certainly been disappointing and average yes but in what way does that excuse the players and conte for that shower of shavings tonight? In not being able to compete with barca yes fine point the finger but Bournemouth? Really?

Tibo, dave,Andreas(then rudiger), Alonso, kante, hazard, Pedro. 

Yes I get Cahill is on his way down, zappa is an average player, baka a let down and Barkley not match sharp but come on our youth team would beat Bournemouth. How that happened tonight is all on conte and the players that should be more than capable of beating them at home!

11 hours ago, Munkworth said:

Join the 21st century and get over yourself mate. 

It has zero to do that she is a woman.......I clearly wrote that didnt I. So she does not seem incompetent to you? How much footballing knowledge does she have? I dont care if its a hobbit running our sh*t.....as long as he or she is good at what they do......

So this year we signed or recalled the following that have made an impact in the squad:

Morata - £58m / Bakayoko - £40m / Drinkwater - £35m / Rudiger - £31m / Zappacosta - £23m / Emerson - £18m / Giroud - £16m / Barkley - £15m / Willy - free / Christensen - recalled

 

£240m spent and i can't help but think half of it is/was a waste.

 

Morata - a lot of money and he hasn't really lived up to the price tag as of yet. I still think he'll turn good in the long run and was a good investment.

Bakayoko - Seems like a waste of money. Although i think he'll improve given time i can't help but feel RLC should have been given this role in the squad.

Drinkwater - £35m for him was mental. Not worth more than £15m. For this kind of money we could have bought Seri or promised more minutes to Chalobah. 

Rudiger - I think he's been one of the better signings and a good investment. Having said that, is he £15m better than Ake? Or Davison Sanchez for the same price?

Zappa - Nothing more than a squad player. If we wanted cover for Moses we have Sterling who is far too good for the academy now. If we wanted an upgrade we should have spent a bit more and attracted someone like Ricardo Pereira, Sidibe, Vrsaljko etc.

Emerson - I'm actually quite excited by this signing and think he'll offer something different down the left side. Coming back from an injury is a worry but certainly worth the risk for someone his age and previous quality. 

Giroud - Mental we've paid close to £20m for someone of his age AND helped out a direct rival in signing Auba. To say we are a club so intent on having resale value in our players this signing shocked me. Would rather have signed Sturridge on loan for half a season or Willian Jose/Ekambi, both of which fit a similar profile and are still in their mid twenties. Better yet, try actually giving Batshuayi some serious minutes. 

Barkley - Don't think he'll ever make a massive impression here but for the price i can't really moan. Cheap, young, English. 

Willy - Fantastic signing.

Christensen - Fantastic player, saved us about £50m on anyone else.

 

The above highlighted options could have saved us £135m which in turn could have been spent on a couple of actual upgrades in the squad.