Opinion and hypothetical situations based on nothing more than media conjecture about Blackpool’s transfer ‘activity’ this summer.
So, here we are: a week and half away from the start of Blackpool’s biggest season in decades and the perceived turmoil surrounding the transfer situation is beginning to get to me.
The likes of Hameur Bouazza and dare I say it Ben Burgess, have left gaping holes in key areas upon their release and obviously the team are missing key loan players including sought-after striker DJ Campbell.
Replacing these players has proven much more difficult than first imagined.
Bids for players were knocked back earlier on in pre-season, labelled derisory by rival clubs but cheeky by people within our own. Is that really how a newly-promoted club going into the richest league in the world should go about their business? By effectively pissing potential sellers off so much that they’re unlikely to do business with us again?
Bids of well underneath half a million for players like Garry Kenneth at Dundee United is just laughable, but supporters seemingly in the know say that the club are only paying what they think people are worth.
And that’s the crux of the problem: the jump up in leagues isn’t just huge for the management and team, but for the Chairman and co too, who need to learn that a player is worth what his club believes he is. And fast.
I’m not advocating that we pay ridiculously inflated amounts for the Scottish or lower league talent we’ve been linked with. Haggle and negotiate away, but nothing now comes cheap in the league we`re competing in.
Well, apart from Jon Stead from Ipswich. He was coming cheap. A quarter of a million in fact – for a player who has never moved for under £600,000 and commanded transfer fees of £4.4m. If Ian Holloway thinks that Jon Stead is good enough to play Premiership football – which we have to assume if he was here for talks – then wages shouldn’t be a problem, especially at this slightly desperate time.
It was said that Stead wanted parity with his Ipswich contract, whether or not that is true I couldn’t say, but because of the relatively small fee a couple of extra grand a week perhaps shouldn`t be a problem. It wouldn`t be to others in both the Premiership and Championship.
Or if we’re bothered about getting value for money then attempting to bring in players on smaller wage packets currently is another option. It`s doubtful whether Angel Rangel or Brett Pitman for example would be the highest earner at the club, but the club would have to spend a big transfer fee to lure their club into selling.
But that’s not strictly true – Stead would cost less over a year than Pitman and is more proven at a higher level.
As an example, I’ll do a bit of maths. Here is a comparison between Pitman and Stead and how much they’d cost for the season, based upon nothing but personal opinion on wages and transfer fees.
Stead: £250,000 + £17,000-a-week = £1,134,000
Pitman: £1,000,000 + £10,000-a-week = £1,520,000
Again, I’m not advocating that we sign either but highlighting that the bright youngsters we thought we’d be able to pick out of lower league or Scottish clubs are set to cost a fair bit more than first imagined. They could even be more expensive than the more experienced but not necessarily old pros who will do a better immediate job in the Premiership.
Maybe this is the burden of the Charlie Adam Syndrome. Being blessed with such quality for bargain basement prices has perhaps made the club nonchalant about their transfer policy.
All conjecture, mainly hypothetical, but perhaps something to think about.
