No no no no no no no (lots of words)

I don't agree.

We don't have the money to compete on a traditional basis with around 30 to 40 or so clubs in the country. They are owned by people who can bankroll to a level we cannot compete with.

I don't want us to.

What we can offer is a route for young players and players who have dropped off the radar to prove themselves at a high level, if they buy into what we're doing, are patient and prepared to work hard.

We can also show that rather than chucking money at mercenaries at the expense of the people who brought us success we are prepared to put that money (bonuses, salary increases) to the people who got us there.

I prefer us doing it this way. It is ambitious. Just ambitious in a different way.

Let's also be blunt, how we've done this has been the absolute opposite of sentimental or naive. We have quite mercilessly dropped and shed first teamers over the course of the season who didn't display the right attitude (Olivera) or weren't up to it (Pinto) or just didn't settle (Marshall).

And so, even if the headline is right (and let's be honest, in negotiations I would hope for myriad reasons that we weren't telegraphing that we were intending to spend large amounts of money in the summer) I am more than comfy in ruling out recruiting people who aren't prepared to be paid in line with their teammates. I am more than happy for any recruits to join knowing that they will both get a chance, but also need to fight for their place.

It may prove to be an approach which doesn't work. But the times when we've tried to do it the other way (see our two highest transfer fees) it's been monumentally bad.

We're going to be moving quite a few people on (Franke, Naismith, Pinto? Marshall, Olivera maybe one of Hanley or Klose?).

Let's pick up promising youngsters who are ready or who are a year or so off (as we did with Godfrey, with Maddison). Let's plan for the next three to four years, not (just) for September.

So no.

Posted By: Cardiff Canary, Apr 24, 09:05:45