The January 2024 "Will we actually sign a striker or just Che Adams/Kieffer Moore" Transfer Thread

[Deutsch Wolf]

Loads of the mechanics of FFP are counter-intuitive. Like imagine if some idiot had offered £10m for Guedes in the summer (stop laughing at the back), that would be good, no? Accept we made a huge mistake and take the big loss, move on. But no, that hurts us way more on the books than him remaining a Wolves player and going on pointless loans for at least a year. During which time his value drops to the ocean floor because he's an appalling player.

 

[Del Woppio]

I dunno, the fact that academy costs don't count towards FFP, and academy sales are huge boosts due to the lack of amortisation costs, does mean that clubs invest some good money into young players, which will in theory mean that English youngsters get better coaching and go on to play at a better level. Anything that encourages clubs to heavily invest in youth is a good thing, even if it does mean that it makes more sense to sell a 21 year old academy graduate than some 28 year old journeyman filler

 

[Wilf Wolf]

I dunno, the fact that academy costs don't count towards FFP, and academy sales are huge boosts due to the lack of amortisation costs, does mean that clubs invest some good money into young players, which will in theory mean that English youngsters get better coaching and go on to play at a better level. Anything that encourages clubs to heavily invest in youth is a good thing, even if it does mean that it makes more sense to sell a 21 year old academy graduate than some 28 year old journeyman filler

It’s working, we have some fabulous players now vying for places in the England team.

 

[The Dude]

Bit of recency bias here isn't there? There have been some poor/mediocre performances in his absence too, Burnley, Forest, West Ham for example.

Selling ourselves as a stepping stone club seems a bit like Southampton to me, and look where they are now - eventually it unravels.

We are 3 points off a European place, we should be gunning for that and strengthening, but of course we won't as the ambition is quite different to as it was, just "survival".

Was it really ambition that got us in to Europe? We done that by making some of the best signings the second tier had ever seen (Boly, Neves, Jota) and by bolstering the first XI after promotion (Patricio, Jonny, Raúl).

Of course there were ambitions; promotion and consolidation were obvious ambitions. Qualifying for Europe seemed to catch everyone by surprise though, as evidenced by the fines and European squad reduction imposed for breaching UEFA FFP rules.

I can't remember exactly what Jeff said about establishing Wolves as a top four side or emulating Man City, but I took it as nothing but bluster and bravado at the time because I'm sensible.

Certain fans point to our inability to achieve those "aims" as a failure on Jeff's part and feel let down by the lies.

I don't think our ambition is just survival, that would be a very dangerous tactic. I think the ambition is safety (which is different) and a bonus to achieve anything else.

I don't see much of a difference in ambition. I can see a clear change in how we achieve those ambitions though, which I fully support.

Chucking money around seldom works (United, Everton, Forest). Spending wisely with a clear strategy for the future is the way forward.

 

[Dinowolf]

Pre injury Jonny was the most reliable defender I’ve seen in 50 years supporting Wolves. Shame it ended the way it did but I’ll remember him as one of the best in an era we had a lot of outstanding players.

I liked Jonny too, but I think Frank Munro was better and IMO Jonny wasn't even our best full back, I think that crown should be worn by Derek Parkin.

 

[Deano]

I don't think our ambition is just survival, that would be a very dangerous tactic. I think the ambition is safety (which is different) and a bonus to achieve anything else.

I don't see much of a difference in ambition. I can see a clear change in how we achieve those ambitions though, which I fully support.

Chucking money around seldom works (United, Everton, Forest). Spending wisely with a clear strategy for the future is the way forward.

The problem is that most seasons the gap between 10/11th and the bottom 3 is quite small for the majority, sometimes all of the season so it doesn't take much to go wrong to find yourself in big trouble. I agree with your last sentence that spending wisely with a clear strategy is the way forward but they wont be able to keep selling our best players and getting players in on the cheap indefinitely, and that's the worry at the moment whether they are able to get the balance right.

You still need to invest a lot of money on players at this level, there are teams that buck that trend that and have good spells but it tends not to last over the long term and it's no coincidence that as a general rule teams that spend more, spend more time in the Premier League. Outside the big 6, the teams that have spent the most time and longest periods in the Premier League are the likes of Everton, Villa, West Ham and Newcastle and I've not checked but I bet if there was an all time transfer spend table those 4 would be the next 4 teams behind those 6 in that list. Being self sustainable is a nice idea but it's not really practical if you want to do anything with the way the league is set up.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1750505313847902582

 

[Kenny]

Just give in now and give Fraser the opportunity to be the back up option.

 

[Tony Towner]

I'm shocked

 

[Tredman]

So predictable.

 

[Del Woppio]

Maybe we can put our P&L in the trophy cabinet

 

[Dire Wolf]

Maybe we can put our P&L in the trophy cabinet

It'd look good alongside our points deduction letter...

 

[Jinky]

I mean we literally played on Monday night and after that he was "confident we'll get something done". Fast forward to today & they're "not doable financially". You'd have thought that we'd know this kind of stuff by this point in the window. The one yesterday sounds like Broja/Chelsea to me.

As per my earlier comment, I don't think we sign anyone now. It'll be the "we tried hard but January is traditionally difficult and we're happy to have Nathan in & around the squad anyway".

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

As per my earlier comment, I don't think we sign anyone now. It'll be the "we tried hard but January is traditionally difficult and we're happy to have Nathan in & around the squad anyway".

Yep, it's bloody tedious.

 

[sycophantia]

I liked Jonny too, but I think Frank Munro was better and IMO Jonny wasn't even our best full back, I think that crown should be worn by Derek Parkin.

Munro and Parkin are 2 of my favourite ever Wolves players but I still think Jonny was better than both those.

 

[Carrotdude]

I mean he did say they had a meeting yesterday so it’s likely he’s telling the truth that he was confident on Monday and now been told nothings happening. Just use Fraser and get on with it and see if they’re able to sign someone in the summer.

We can’t afford another Silva/Cutrone/Guedes cock up so I’d rather they were cautious anyway personally.

 

[Lycan]

The frustrating thing for me is the Kalajdzic/Silva loans. I get that Sasa didn't quite work for O'Neil and Silva is shite but it's left us incredibly short. We knew this was a possibility when we loaned them out, the drivel about there being 'only 1 game is January' and the loans being good for the individual players is exactly that. Drivel.

There would've been no shortage of interest in both players late in the window. They should've been made to wait.

 

[Del Woppio]

I mean he did say they had a meeting yesterday so it’s likely he’s telling the truth that he was confident on Monday and now been told nothings happening.

What's changed between Monday and Wednesday?

 

[AndyWolves]

What's changed between Monday and Wednesday?

Brojas value went back up

 

[Carrotdude]

What's changed between Monday and Wednesday?

I don’t know, I wasn’t there! Maybe we were negotiating on prices and the other teams have put their foot down at a certain point we’re not able/willing to meet? I doubt O’Neil is involved in the finer details.