Summer 2022 - Transfer Talk

Not sure if you've seen the above, but a lot of people seem to be getting excited it's a sign he's staying. I think they are going to be disappointed but hopefully I'm wrong.

 

Best game ever yesterday. I was watching it, thinking that Sutton fans must have been drooling over us having a player like that. Of course, yesterday wasn’t the full story.

 

It would but, he his form has been patchy before Hughes arrived, there have been some real sitters missed and that’s not coaching that’s bottle. Now he’s soon to be out of contract maybe it’s given him a new focus. Pretty sure if league one come knocking he will be off, might end up at Morecambe!

 

It’ll come down to finances. Simple as that. He’s got the chance to learn under one the games best coaches - not just at L1 or L2 level, but all 4 leagues. If we genuinely show ambition and pony up a decent deal, why would you go to somewhere like Morecambe? We have much more to offer over the longer term, but ONLY if we show ambition rather than talk about it.

 

Yeah. His interview was much more telling. Very respectful and diplomatic, but his answer when asked about his future told me that he’s likely to be off. As I say, a real shame. There’s ability and real potential there. If he could put together consistency, he has the potential to be a championship player. I think a year or two under Hughes is more likely to get him to that level than a number of options to move to League 1 in the summer. He may need to take a bet on his longer term career prospects being best served by staying here, but cash is king.

 

what a guy Hughes is, who would not want to play in his teams he is a superb man manager.

 

Apparently bought the whole team a fish supper on the way back last night - Cook must have thought all his Christmases had come at once!

 

Sadly I doubt we can complete with L1 wages with the sustainability tag, but you’d hope we can match most in L2. That’s half the battle in L2, attracting decent players to, let’s face it, a terrible league.

 

Absolutely! I wonder what the other ten ate?

 

Honestly, it should be very much within our gift to go a few hundred quid a week extra for a couple of key players. If someone like Vernam gets offered 5 grand a week to go somewhere like Sunderland or Ipswich, then fair enough. Not much we can do. But it won't be that. It will be somewhere like Morecambe, or Fleetwood, or Cheltenham that he'll end up at if he goes to L1.

 

And this is the lever we have to pull. Its a massive draw playing for Hughes, but players at this level aren't wealthy enough to disregard finances. There'll be limits to what we can do obviously but if we don't find that bit extra, the added 200 or 300k on the seasons budget to keep the 2 or 3 key attacking players we have, it'll be madness.

 

I think the best we can do is incentivize - promotion bonus etc? Then if we go up then Rupp will be happy to pay it. When he and Rahic tried to revolutionize the squad at the end of their first season Rahic spoke of favouring incentives and add ons.

all that said, I agree, at the whiff of a L1 offer with a higher basic wage, he’ll go.

we need to stump up to keep him, Paudie and realistically land Walker. Can’t see it happening :-(

 

Ask yourself this. What is the point in buying a nice top of the range Merc or similar and then scrimping on the essentials it needs to keep it in tip top condition? It would be like sticking the Merc in the garage because you refuse to go over budget on fuel. Christ we have a manager who wouldn't be out of place in the championship yet we have talk in the media of budgets and self sustainiblilty. If that was the case we might as well have gone with a manager from non league, let's give Hughes every help he needs and aim high FFS.

 

Agree. We’re so lucky to have landed Hughes. We’re wasting a huge opportunity with this sustainability lark - he is a massive lure but how frustrating players are then gonna turn us down due to paltry offers.

Fans will drive Rupp out if he doesn’t back Hughes. Sparks needs to make Rupp fully aware this summer is his last opportunity. Not holding my breath though :-(

 

Infuriating isn't it?

 

And there are different ways to look at sustainability. Investing, providing extra capital to drive higher revenue and grow your business can be absolutely sustainable.

Vernam is a great example. Suppose it took an extra 100k over a 3 year contract to keep him. If he had a season of performances akin to what he's shown of late, with a couple of years left on his contract, what would he be worth. Quite possibly several hundred grand, maybe even 7 figures.

Christ, just a bit of financial ambition and we could fly with Hughes at the helm.

 

Add to that if we were top 3 all season how many pay on the gates we could attract, maybe even throw in a cup run in there. Lawn and Rhodes weren’t perfect, but they created a deficit for exactly that, to generate their money back through winning football matches and made several million off cup runs and promotion. Sadly the club infrastructure meant we didn’t progress and once Parky left collapsed. But if we could do similar but build something so that when Hughes leaves the club isn’t in turmoil then happy days. Sadly for some any amount of money in the red means we’re not far off being Bury etc.

 

The Hughes factor and the magnificent but much used fan base are the only positives this club currently has. How about we stop taking the piss year on year out of this amazing fan base and the the Hughes factor to our advantage. Speculate now and we reap the benefits later in league 1. Push the boat out now FFS.

 

We spent 50k on Vernam to bring him here in the first place, surely we can offer him a decent contract? Obviously not if the L1 big boys are in for him, but if it's someone like Lincoln or Cheltenham we're competing with..

 

He's said there are interested parties or there have been interested parties in the past so it looks like he's prepared to talk about selling the club if he believes the people wanting the club are the right ones.
With regards the fans lets wait and see what sort of level season ticket sales we have for the coming season, in comparison football is so different from your local pub I couldn't envisage watching another football team than Bradford City, what we have seen from Mark Hughes and Glyn Hodges since their arrival certainly wets the appetite for most (there's always the exceptions) for next season, if he can get a tune out of this present squad I think what he brings in during the closed season can only make us better.