SUMMER SPENDING: CAN IT MEET FAN EXPECTATIONS
Thu Mar 30, 2017 11:26 am
Can Cardiff City's summer spending live up to fan expectations?
By Scott Johnson
Warnock has stressed his desire to launch a promotion challenge next season, but will the summer transfer window prove fruitful for the Bluebirds?
When Emyr Huws departed for Ipswich in the January transfer window, Neil Warnock made an admission that seemed to have passed by relatively unnoticed.
Warnock claimed: “I was going to do a swap and unfortunately the player I wanted to swap was injured.”
A process of elimination would seem to suggest that the player in question may have been striker Leon Best, who Warnock managed at Rotherham last season.
This was in the days prior to Kenneth Zohore’s renaissance, when Cardiff were in desperate need of more cutting edge, but all things considered, that hypothetical deal still strikes me as especially underwhelming.
Huws is a 23-year-old Welsh international and rich in potential, while Best, who was once highly regarded, has become something of a journeyman in recent years.
Best is out of contract in the summer, so if that deal was once mooted, it won’t be resuscitated in the summer, but it remains to be seen if he is a player that Cardiff will move for in the summer.
I was reminded of this recently when Cardiff were linked with 32-year-old Lee Camp, like January signing Greg Halford, another player Warnock worked with at Rotherham. Maybe he will become the new Paddy Kenny, who followed Warnock wherever he went.
Best and Camp are not bad players, the problem lies in the fact that I don’t think that Cardiff supporters are expecting transfers of this calibre in the summer.
A lot of assumptions are being made with regards to a proposed transfer kitty and an assault on the play-offs. This is partly due to another Warnock comment.
“You don’t know what is around the corner, but I do want to have a go,” he stated, when quizzed on the chances of him staying beyond this season.
“When you see these teams spending £10m and £12m on one player, I am talking about half that on three or four players. I don’t think I am asking for an awful lot.”
Now that Warnock has agreed to another year, the conclusion that has been made is that he has five or six million pounds burning a hole in his pocket.
READ MORE
Blakey's Bootroom Podcast: The Wales internationals Cardiff City could sign and the massive Bamba v Gunnarsson captaincy question
That may not be the case in reality. Even if he does have that sort of sum to play with, no one knows if that would also have to include wages and associated costs.
Warnock has done so well during his time in charge, with the players he has inherited and the few he has managed to bring in, that if you were to spread that form over the course of a season, they would be in and around the top six. It is therefore expected that if he is to bring in three or four more players, then next season that forecast is likely to become a reality.
That all depends on the standard of the players coming in though. Warnock has bemoaned the lack of options he has on the bench, but Cardiff do not need squad players, they need starters that will elevate this side to the next level. Suffice to say, they do not come cheap.
This Cardiff squad may have underachieved in recent years, but it is a talented collective and was expensively assembled, as Cardiff’s wage bill will attest. It won’t be easy for them to identify, attract and afford better players.
Cardiff are crying out for a player like Aiden McGeady, who has transformed Preston on loan from Everton and can create something out of nothing. His signing would require a decent transfer fee and taking on pretty hefty wages, which I can’t see happening.
Aiden McGeady in action for Preston against Aston Villa
The same would probably apply to Tom Lawrence, who Warnock recently stated he would love to have at his disposal. Unfortunately, Cardiff had their chance and that ship has probably since sailed.
There will be plenty of high profile free agents this summer too, including the likes of Joe Ledley, Charlie Adam and George Boyd. But the absence of a transfer fee affords them the opportunity to ask for large salaries and signing on fees which may also prove prohibitive.
My hope is the same as everyone else’s; that Warnock will have the funds to go out and buy three or four quality players early in the window and bed them in for a crack at the top six. Such progress is far from a foregone conclusion though, as their wealthier rivals will continue to spend big and the gulf will continue to grow.
READ MORE
Cardiff city centre roads will be closed for over 24 hours around the Champions League final
There is also nothing to suggest that Cardiff can afford or are willing to facilitate such a splurge. Their accounts certainly don’t, neither do their attendances. Short of a spike in season ticket sales or selling the naming rights to the stadium, their revenue is likely to be about the same as this year, with one final parachute payment forthcoming.
The fact that they have yet to agree new deals with Peter Whittingham, Kadeem Harris and Junior Hoilett has set alarm bells ringing, as has their claim that they cannot afford to make Allan McGregor’s temporary signing permanent. But the imminent departures of Adam Le Fondre, Tom Adeyemi and Bruno Ecuele Manga will certainly free up some space on the wage bill.
Le Fondre celebrates a goal during his 2015 Bolton loan spell
Warnock is in no mood to waste time and will have required certain assurances before agreeing to stay put. He has earned our trust by transforming the club, inside and out, during his brief time in charge and also made players like Hoilett and Sol Bamba, cast offs that were derided at their former clubs, pivotal to his plans.
Cardiff are selling season tickets based on a promotion challenge, so here’s hoping that the players that arrive will be of the required standard. So more Wayne Hennessey than Dean Gerken, or Marvin Emnes over the likes of Best.
By Scott Johnson
Warnock has stressed his desire to launch a promotion challenge next season, but will the summer transfer window prove fruitful for the Bluebirds?
When Emyr Huws departed for Ipswich in the January transfer window, Neil Warnock made an admission that seemed to have passed by relatively unnoticed.
Warnock claimed: “I was going to do a swap and unfortunately the player I wanted to swap was injured.”
A process of elimination would seem to suggest that the player in question may have been striker Leon Best, who Warnock managed at Rotherham last season.
This was in the days prior to Kenneth Zohore’s renaissance, when Cardiff were in desperate need of more cutting edge, but all things considered, that hypothetical deal still strikes me as especially underwhelming.
Huws is a 23-year-old Welsh international and rich in potential, while Best, who was once highly regarded, has become something of a journeyman in recent years.
Best is out of contract in the summer, so if that deal was once mooted, it won’t be resuscitated in the summer, but it remains to be seen if he is a player that Cardiff will move for in the summer.
I was reminded of this recently when Cardiff were linked with 32-year-old Lee Camp, like January signing Greg Halford, another player Warnock worked with at Rotherham. Maybe he will become the new Paddy Kenny, who followed Warnock wherever he went.
Best and Camp are not bad players, the problem lies in the fact that I don’t think that Cardiff supporters are expecting transfers of this calibre in the summer.
A lot of assumptions are being made with regards to a proposed transfer kitty and an assault on the play-offs. This is partly due to another Warnock comment.
“You don’t know what is around the corner, but I do want to have a go,” he stated, when quizzed on the chances of him staying beyond this season.
“When you see these teams spending £10m and £12m on one player, I am talking about half that on three or four players. I don’t think I am asking for an awful lot.”
Now that Warnock has agreed to another year, the conclusion that has been made is that he has five or six million pounds burning a hole in his pocket.
READ MORE
Blakey's Bootroom Podcast: The Wales internationals Cardiff City could sign and the massive Bamba v Gunnarsson captaincy question
That may not be the case in reality. Even if he does have that sort of sum to play with, no one knows if that would also have to include wages and associated costs.
Warnock has done so well during his time in charge, with the players he has inherited and the few he has managed to bring in, that if you were to spread that form over the course of a season, they would be in and around the top six. It is therefore expected that if he is to bring in three or four more players, then next season that forecast is likely to become a reality.
That all depends on the standard of the players coming in though. Warnock has bemoaned the lack of options he has on the bench, but Cardiff do not need squad players, they need starters that will elevate this side to the next level. Suffice to say, they do not come cheap.
This Cardiff squad may have underachieved in recent years, but it is a talented collective and was expensively assembled, as Cardiff’s wage bill will attest. It won’t be easy for them to identify, attract and afford better players.
Cardiff are crying out for a player like Aiden McGeady, who has transformed Preston on loan from Everton and can create something out of nothing. His signing would require a decent transfer fee and taking on pretty hefty wages, which I can’t see happening.
Aiden McGeady in action for Preston against Aston Villa
The same would probably apply to Tom Lawrence, who Warnock recently stated he would love to have at his disposal. Unfortunately, Cardiff had their chance and that ship has probably since sailed.
There will be plenty of high profile free agents this summer too, including the likes of Joe Ledley, Charlie Adam and George Boyd. But the absence of a transfer fee affords them the opportunity to ask for large salaries and signing on fees which may also prove prohibitive.
My hope is the same as everyone else’s; that Warnock will have the funds to go out and buy three or four quality players early in the window and bed them in for a crack at the top six. Such progress is far from a foregone conclusion though, as their wealthier rivals will continue to spend big and the gulf will continue to grow.
READ MORE
Cardiff city centre roads will be closed for over 24 hours around the Champions League final
There is also nothing to suggest that Cardiff can afford or are willing to facilitate such a splurge. Their accounts certainly don’t, neither do their attendances. Short of a spike in season ticket sales or selling the naming rights to the stadium, their revenue is likely to be about the same as this year, with one final parachute payment forthcoming.
The fact that they have yet to agree new deals with Peter Whittingham, Kadeem Harris and Junior Hoilett has set alarm bells ringing, as has their claim that they cannot afford to make Allan McGregor’s temporary signing permanent. But the imminent departures of Adam Le Fondre, Tom Adeyemi and Bruno Ecuele Manga will certainly free up some space on the wage bill.
Le Fondre celebrates a goal during his 2015 Bolton loan spell
Warnock is in no mood to waste time and will have required certain assurances before agreeing to stay put. He has earned our trust by transforming the club, inside and out, during his brief time in charge and also made players like Hoilett and Sol Bamba, cast offs that were derided at their former clubs, pivotal to his plans.
Cardiff are selling season tickets based on a promotion challenge, so here’s hoping that the players that arrive will be of the required standard. So more Wayne Hennessey than Dean Gerken, or Marvin Emnes over the likes of Best.
Re: SUMMER SPENDING: CAN IT MEET FAN EXPECTATIONS
Thu Mar 30, 2017 11:51 am
Bit of a nothing article...Warnock may or may not have a sizeable budget..he may or may not go for ex premier league free transfers..he may or may not try to get in players he has worked with in the past and we may or may not have tried to buy Leon Best in the last window.
Truth is apart from Tan, Choo, Dalman and Warnock nobody knows what the budget is for next year.
Personally, I think we maybe pleasantly surprised with the players coming in
Truth is apart from Tan, Choo, Dalman and Warnock nobody knows what the budget is for next year.
Personally, I think we maybe pleasantly surprised with the players coming in
Re: SUMMER SPENDING: CAN IT MEET FAN EXPECTATIONS
Thu Mar 30, 2017 12:15 pm
Callum Patterson from Hearts on a free???
Re: SUMMER SPENDING: CAN IT MEET FAN EXPECTATIONS
Thu Mar 30, 2017 12:44 pm
oohahhPaulMillar wrote:Bit of a nothing article...Warnock may or may not have a sizeable budget..he may or may not go for ex premier league free transfers..he may or may not try to get in players he has worked with in the past and we may or may not have tried to buy Leon Best in the last window.
Truth is apart from Tan, Choo, Dalman and Warnock nobody knows what the budget is for next year.
Personally, I think we maybe pleasantly surprised with the players coming in
It's a question and (to be fair) your final sentence is a positive contribution
Re: SUMMER SPENDING: CAN IT MEET FAN EXPECTATIONS
Thu Mar 30, 2017 12:49 pm
ill be honest I don't have huge expectations on big money being spent but that's fine with me. I trust the club to spend what we can and trust Warnock to use what he has to the best of his advantage.
Re: SUMMER SPENDING: CAN IT MEET FAN EXPECTATIONS
Thu Mar 30, 2017 1:12 pm
It's a funny one as on one hand you want to see players with real quality and ambition come through the door, bit on the other hand what can you get with the supposed budget these days?!
E.g. I like Shane Long but is he a £19m player and if that's the case what exactly does £6m get you?
E.g. I like Shane Long but is he a £19m player and if that's the case what exactly does £6m get you?
Re: SUMMER SPENDING: CAN IT MEET FAN EXPECTATIONS
Fri Mar 31, 2017 5:29 pm
2blue2handle wrote:ill be honest I don't have huge expectations on big money being spent but that's fine with me. I trust the club to spend what we can and trust Warnock to use what he has to the best of his advantage.
Agree with you