Next season

[Guest alex]

One thing you can guarantee is that the quoted £15-25m transfer funds available to Hughton has absolutely nothing to do with season ticket renewals being sent out.

 

Or it could be to do with gaining promotion and then letting it be known the next day what the general plan is for next season. Nah, i doubt that but why not? I'd be calling them idiots if they didnt, as long as they do intend to spend in that region then they should be letting it be known.

 

I know many people cant see them spending 20m but i cant see them not spending around that amount.

As others have said, it'll be interesting to see if the figure includes wages or is purely about transfer fees. Needs to be the latter as we'll need to spend £10m+ just on a goalscorer imo.

Indeed.

 

Smith and Butt's wages are about what? 60k for Smith? Same for Butt? 120k is 4 well paid young players. Thats before using the additional revenue.

Smith is here for another 2 years I think. Who'd buy him and pay him what he's on? So I'd be surprised if he left. Also, Butt got a contract extension and there's no way it'll been for what he was initially on when we signed him. The latter's out of contract come the summer though.

Not sure being club captain goes hand in hand with a large % wage cut. He'll be one of the highest earners at the club. As for Smith, am sure Billy Davies will be looking for experienced battlers if they go up.

It was a year extension wasn't it? At his age if he was offered £30k per week (which is what I'm guessing it was) he'd be daft not to take it because it's not like he could get that elsewhere anyway. Forest had no money in January so how can they afford anywhere near what Smith is on even if they come up? And, assuming they can't, what incentive would there be for Smith to go there? In other words I think the £120k saving is more likely to be about £30k a week. Still a good wage for a good young player potentially though.

[ChezGiven 0]

One thing you can guarantee is that the quoted £15-25m transfer funds available to Hughton has absolutely nothing to do with season ticket renewals being sent out.

 

Or it could be to do with gaining promotion and then letting it be known the next day what the general plan is for next season. Nah, i doubt that but why not? I'd be calling them idiots if they didnt, as long as they do intend to spend in that region then they should be letting it be known.

 

I know many people cant see them spending 20m but i cant see them not spending around that amount.

As others have said, it'll be interesting to see if the figure includes wages or is purely about transfer fees. Needs to be the latter as we'll need to spend £10m+ just on a goalscorer imo.

Indeed.

 

Smith and Butt's wages are about what? 60k for Smith? Same for Butt? 120k is 4 well paid young players. Thats before using the additional revenue.

Smith is here for another 2 years I think. Who'd buy him and pay him what he's on? So I'd be surprised if he left. Also, Butt got a contract extension and there's no way it'll been for what he was initially on when we signed him. The latter's out of contract come the summer though.

Not sure being club captain goes hand in hand with a large % wage cut. He'll be one of the highest earners at the club. As for Smith, am sure Billy Davies will be looking for experienced battlers if they go up.

It was a year extension wasn't it? At his age if he was offered £30k per week (which is what I'm guessing it was) he'd be daft not to take it because it's not like he could get that elsewhere anyway. Forest had no money in January so how can they afford anywhere near what Smith is on even if they come up? And, assuming they can't, what incentive would there be for Smith to go there? In other words I think the £120k saving is more likely to be about £30k a week. Still a good wage for a good young player potentially though.

Forest, if they come up, will also have an extra 40m to spend. I can see him interesting Birmingham, Wolves or even Stoke. I think we could get rid of Smith if thats what the management decide to do. Its what i'd do anyway, which would save a decent amount, no matter the details on Butt's contract extension.

[Guest alex]

I'd try and sell him too. I'm not convinced Hughton will try to though. There's been talk of an extension (presumably on a lower wage like). Tbh, I don't think he's been much cop this season after the 1st half a dozen games.

[Craig 6682]

If Smith moves on, any money he'll start bagging goals again

[Guest alex]

If Smith moves on, any money he'll start bagging goals again

I'll take that bet

[ChezGiven 0]

If we did get rid of them two anyway and replaced them with established premiership players, it would mean 7 midfielders at the club of the required standard.

[Guest alex]

If ifs and buts were pots and pans

[ChezGiven 0]

If Smiths and Butts were pots and pans, the midfield would be better.

[peasepud 59]

If you're going to implement a wage cap though then you have to get rid of the likes of Smith and Butt.

 

How can you ever hope to attract young talent and first team regulars on £15-£20k when they'll see the likes of Butt warming the bench and making coffee getting £10k more than you?

 

Even if they do sign up, it will do nothing for the team harmony we all hear being bandied about.

[Monroe Transfer 0]

I'd be stunned if Butt is still at the club next season.

 

He's been making noises about playing in a lower league and he wants to get into coaching too. From the sounds of it, he's not expecting us to hold on to him. And nor should we.

[Deano 0]

I think that wage cap was implemented JUST for the recruits in January.

 

I think a more realistic wage cap of around 30-40k is more likely.

 

Remember Butt 40kpw, Pancrate 10k pw, Hall 10k pw (presuming we are paying his wages) will be leaving, that alone is 60k pw and 2 players fitting into the PL wage cap.

 

I dont think Smith 60k, Barton 60k, Raylor 30k, Ameobi 30k or Nolan 40k will be sold, i think they will be kept and used rotationally...all experienced and all with PL experience which even without notable 'talent' is still important.

 

They all except Smith and Barton would fall under the PL wage cap if it were to be around 30-40k pw.

 

Then we have Coloccini 70k and Gutierrez 50k who are on big wages. These two are the two i think if anyone was to leave FMA would look to shift them out.

 

All in all as things stand we have a MUCH smaller wage bill than our last time in the PL...the smallest wage bill in our recent history so with the increased revenue of around 50mil i would expect about 20mil to be spent on players (not including wages).

 

20 mil is a realistic figure and one which is very probable, that number could be increased should any of Smith, Barton, Coloccini or Gutierrez go. And in turn minus their wages we could maybe have a higher wage cap meaning attracting better quality of players.

 

Its all speculation, ifs and buts, but i do see us spending 20mil and keeping the majority of our squad.

 

I dont see us selling many, if any of our players....just letting the out of contracts go.

Edited April 7, 2010 by Geordie Lad...

[Monroe Transfer 0]

Colo and Gutierrez won't be going anywhere. No-one is that stupid.

 

Steven Taylor we'd get a few £m for and he's probably on a decent wage given his contract renewals. I wouldn't be too upset if he went.

[Guest alex]

And Taylor only has a year left come June I think. Re: some of the others mentioned, players are a bit like football clubs, you can only sell them if someone wants to buy them.

[Deano 0]

I dont think Taylor or Carroll will be sold, like i said if we were to sell a CD then Coloccini would be the one as he is on 70k pw and wasnt great in the PL last time.

 

Taylor and Carroll are due for contract talks anyway.

[donaldstott 0]

I dont think Taylor or Carroll will be sold, like i said if we were to sell a CD then Coloccini would be the one as he is on 70k pw and wasnt great in the PL last time.

 

Taylor and Carroll are due for contract talks anyway.

 

Colo won't want to leave, he's on better wedge than he'd get elsewhere.

 

If he's willing to play a season in the championship to stay on that wedge, then he'll have no problem playing in the top flight.

[Guest alex]

Unless he has a good World Cup, obviously

[donaldstott 0]

Unless he has a good World Cup, obviously

 

That's my hope for Shola!!

[Guest alex]

Unless he has a good World Cup, obviously

 

That's my hope for Shola!!

Well, there's about as much chance of that I suppose.

[Dr Gloom 21924]

If Smith moves on, any money he'll start bagging goals again

 

no chance

[Andrew 4751]

If Smith moves on, any money he'll start bagging goals again

 

no chance

 

he never managed many goals in the first place, his best return on a season was 11 in 33

[Dr Gloom 21924]

If Smith moves on, any money he'll start bagging goals again

 

no chance

 

he never managed many goals in the first place, his best return on a season was 11 in 33

 

 

exactly. he's a centre forward that doesn't score goals or a centre midfielder that can't tackle, dribble or pass the ball forward.

 

plus he's on a massive bunce.

 

get rid, but only after we're shot of barton

[sniffer 0]

If Barton gets back to the level he played at City then he's better than anybody else in our midfield. There's plenty of players I'd ship out ahead of him. In fact, hughton is signing worse players than Barton on long term contracts who probably can't perform in the premier league.

[Giraffidae 0]

not sure why everyone bangs on about getting a creative midfielder as a priority when we’ve got Barton, Guthrie Nolan and even Jonas already.

 

We might have got away this season without an accomplished holding midfielder, but next season is a different matter — smith, Butt — oh dear!

 

 

 

 

This wage cap, no trophy signing player talk, the reason we did it in the past was because it can bring in huge amounts of sponsorship monies, lift the morale of the fans, sell replica shirts and increase ticket sales. It’s not all about the money going out. Not that I think Ashley and Co. are capable of sussing this, I presume they just sit there thinking ”where’s all the sponsorship revenue gone? — quick get that Ryan Taylor do some PR promotions”.

[dbsweeney 0]

If Barton gets back to the level he played at City then he's better than anybody else in our midfield. There's plenty of players I'd ship out ahead of him. In fact, hughton is signing worse players than Barton on long term contracts who probably can't perform in the premier league.

 

But is really worth taking the risk? A spare 60k a week could go a long way.

 

CH should chuck him on in these remaining few games and see what he does ... and make a judgment call on his future based on it.

 

And has he EVER shown any class in the years he's been here?

[OTF 7295]

Smith out would be great, but I can't see it happening. I think we should listen very closely to any offers for Barton, but in the end if noone comes in he could be of value throughout the season. I feel like a bit of a fool for saying that, but deep down I still hold some ill-formed hope that he'll come good.

 

Geordie Lad what are you basing your weekly figures on for the players? Some of them sound like complete bollocks. There's no way in the world Ryan Taylor is on 30k. N'Zogbia wasn't on 30k - there's no way they would have brought him and paid him more than the outgoing player (whilst it was clearly an exercise in making money). I'd say Raylor would be on 15k. Likewise I don't think Nolan would have been on 40k. Bolton wouldn't pay those sort of wages and they wanted rid, so I'd say he's closer to 25 (and would have had some form of relegation clause given the time at which he was signed).