Can we stick to our recruitment principles if we want to stay in the top 5?

[Captain...]

Football is first and foremost a team game, the team comes first, we can't sign anyone that will destroy team morale no matter how good they are.

 

Look at the Sven era and what Pearson needed to do to fix all those costly mistakes.

[totbl]

I don't think we've had those principles since Pearson left or thereabouts.

[HighPeakFox]

I fully appreciate the question and the reason for it. I think it would be more 'small-time' to panic and abandon a successful long-term model.

[Sunbury Fox]

In the past 5 years we've sold 5 players for over £250m; players who cost us a total of only £25m. In the same period we've won the league, finished 5th, 9th twice and in the other season reached the CL QFs. On that basis, I'd say our recruitment has been pretty damn good!

[Bert]

Probably not, but is that down to us or is that down to other teams going out spending big and going for broke with us simply not being able to compete? 

[st albans fox]

Surely it isn’t complicated - we don’t have the money (be that coming in from ownership or generated via commercial avenues) 

 

we have to follow a model that gives us the best chance to compete with those that can manage one of the above revenue streams 

 

we could blow our seasons budget on one player but the risk is enormous if it doesn’t come off. And there are plenty of reasons why it might not ...... plus we have several players who see their futures elsewhere as they mature and it would be tough to keep them here now without increasing their packages - blowing the budget means you can’t do that 

[waylander]

17 hours ago, Webbo said:

The All Black's have a "no knobheads" rule that seems to serve them well. 

Could we have that on FoxesTalk in before the ban . 😝

[Clever Fox]

We have a tried and proven system with transfers. Quality is no always about money , it's about finding the quality players early enough in their careers like Mendez N Diddi, etc. That way we can compete with the big Clubs, while we continue to grow.

 

The mistake would be to think throwing more money at it would solve all the problems.

That's the West Ham and Everton approach, and look how they've faired.

We can continue to build a strong team which will keep us competitive.