The Mail Bag
Money, my rear end
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It's like Groundhog Day all over again. Every summer we are told about all these teams with foreign investors who are going to splash the cash and walk all over us. For the past three years this hasn't happened and I don't think it'll happen this year, either.
Why? Simple. As I keep saying, the Premier League is full of muscle-bound neanderthals with 'good engines'. The so-called 'super athletes' who have great Pro-Zone stats but can''t pass a ball or possess any footballing intelligence.
We have a business model designed to keep us at 5th place. This is by making sure the manager has little or no money to spend, sells players for more than he pays, buys lower-league/injury-prone players and gets the best out of them.
Your Villas, Citys, etc buy average players for mad money, aren't able to gel them into a team, sell them at a loss, and start the cycle again.
I agree that we need massive investment to break the top four. While that isn't coming, the current business model, plus some luck and Moyes's increasing managerial skill, will keep us 5th.
Moyes has completely sussed out how to keep us at 5th place. I hope we can buy more players of better quality, but if we can't/don't, I can still see us finishing 5th.
Paul Tran, Posted 09/07/2009 at 09:22:59
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What is it all about?
OK, can’t keep a straight face any more. But just a taster of some of the comments your article, as spot on as it is, will receive.
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This my favourite bit. Closely followed by...
"We have a business model designed to keep us at 5th place."
A business model? That involves not spending money we don’t have? That is actually designed to win a certain amount of football matches? And that is dynamic dependent upon how the teams around us are doing?
Good grief.
Under our circumstances I am in complete agreement with you.
Position wise, fifth is marvellous.
Sparky Hughes doesn’t know how to do it (yet? - he might get lucky); O’Neill has demonstrated his inability to do it; any number of NUF said managers have failed to do it (Sourness being my particular favourite).
Loads of money - short term - isn’t the answer. Longer term it gives you a bigger squad of mercenaries who will play a few games a season for a huge wage. And probably deliver the goods when required.
We may agree that more ’investment’ is needed, but at what cost? I’m quite sure that should David Moyes be told in the future ’here’s your three new players lad, cost us a fortune - go out and win a trophy’, we will be praying for Sam Allardyce or even Sparky Hughes to come in a pick up the pieces a few days later.
On another note, as per the rumour that Micah Richards was spotted with Osman, correct me if I am wrong, but I thought Osman was in Scotland??
Could you expand on how he has sussed it out?
I wonder if yer mán has enough about him to accept your challenge?
’Local lads - The myth that they are automatic whipping boys’?
"The day I paid my dues and contributed"
Or "Snipers don't do firing lines"
Or "OK AK, I’m going to give a sucker an even break"
Or you could always expose the Myth and prove
Colin Harvey, Mick Lyons, Gary Ablett, John Ebrell, Dave Watson Joe Royle, Alan Harper, Peter Reid, Tony Hibbert and Victor Anichebe were all just imagining it
The good thing about submitting an article is YOU get to choose.
Done and submitted.
Not exactly football related but pertinent enough.
Maybe I’ll get a football one done next time.
Generally, these players have ’good engines’ but no football brain. Take away Arteta and how many players do we have who can reliably, consistently pass the ball?
Kenwright’s business model seems to be like many small business I’ve encountered: spend no money, get the most out of your management and staff and hope no one else improves enough to take your market share. He will argue it’s currently working. Some of us may argue that it won’t go on for ever and we need to improve things further.
Brian, as a fellow cynic, I think Moyes has sussed things out by being better at organising his team than the rest of the rest and by supplementing it with some attacking players that a lot of us asked for. We have first run on the West Hams, Villas, Citys , who now are forced to spend more money hoping they find a good team to challenge us.
Hope that makes more sense.
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1 Posted 09/07/2009 at 13:55:50
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