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Justin P 4:09 Mon Nov 19
How far off we from the so called top six? with stadium increase to 66k and Pellegrini at the helm?

First of all the question is which two teams are 5th and 6th in the so called top 6? Is that Arsenal and Spurs? and how far off those two clubs are we in terms of clout?

Is it purely a financial equation? If so what is the gap and how can we close it? We need to look to do that to keep our best players for a start!

I guess some will say its down to the wealth of the chairman etc and we certainly don't have the richest!

Be good to get thoughts on this:

Rossal 4:10 Wed Nov 21
Re: How far off we from the so called top six? with stadium increase to 66k and Pellegrini at the helm?

Darby_ 11:28 Wed Nov 21
Re: How far off we from the so called top six? with stadium increase to 66k and Pellegrini at the helm?
I disagree, Rossal. I don't think he's naive enough to think that he will survive a bad first season. He knows he has to get results more or less straight away.



Thats my point.....its a results based game all he cares about is the here and now and the next 3 or 4 games. Building a team for 3 years time i dont think is on any managers agenda as the life span is so small......let alone one as old as MP under owners as retarded as ours.

boleyn8420 3:28 Wed Nov 21
Re: How far off we from the so called top six? with stadium increase to 66k and Pellegrini at the helm?

What most of you forget is the spending that you suggest is well within the limits of 10 or more other premier league clubs and 6 or 7 clubs who spend the amounts being bandied about on a single player. So, unless we have the finance and capability to spend £50-60m on a single player, several times over, then we will still be buying in the bargain basement, relatively speaking, as the other mid table clubs and hope to get lucky with players like Diop.

If Diop continues to progress through the season then he will be sold as he goes to a bigger club and the merryground goes around again as we search around for another gem. Top 6 is a pipe dream for us.

stepney hammer 1:27 Wed Nov 21
Re: How far off we from the so called top six? with stadium increase to 66k and Pellegrini at the helm?

bankerboy 5:02 Wed Nov 21

I'm not sure we'd get all those players you've listed, but I agree with the sentiment.

Of the signings we've made in recent years the likes of Lanzini and Diop are the type we should be looking to make more of rather than punts on ageing and injury prone players on 100k+ a week salaries. It isn't a sustainable model.

As someone else said below, a lot of players Tottenham, Everton and Leicester have signed in recent years we could easily have been in the running for.

theaxeman 11:31 Wed Nov 21
Re: How far off we from the so called top six? with stadium increase to 66k and Pellegrini at the helm?

I reckon we're about £300m shy of challenging the top 6

Darby_ 11:28 Wed Nov 21
Re: How far off we from the so called top six? with stadium increase to 66k and Pellegrini at the helm?

I disagree, Rossal. I don't think he's naive enough to think that he will survive a bad first season. He knows he has to get results more or less straight away.

The proof? The amount of fans that were willing to turf him out after four games.

He had to create a squad with a mix of youth and experience and that's exactly what he did.

nychammer 9:53 Wed Nov 21
Re: How far off we from the so called top six? with stadium increase to 66k and Pellegrini at the helm?

After a poor start, Most of the MP signings are starting to come good. I suspect Anderson will shine in some games and not in others. Balbuena and Diop looks quality. Yarmolenko and Sanchez unlucky with injury. Nice to see diangana come through. We still need to strengthen in certain areas.

Our problem has and always will be keeping the likes of Rice and Arnie around. Fail to do that and we won’t ever be any more than mid table also-rans with periodic relegation battles.

Rossal 9:43 Wed Nov 21
Re: How far off we from the so called top six? with stadium increase to 66k and Pellegrini at the helm?

Manuel having full control over transfers is probably part of the problem. He knows he will be here max 2-3 years. So alot of the signings are short term fixes to get immediate results rather than building for the future. I dont think Pellegrini gives too many shits about what he leaves behind......he just wants to achieve results this season and next.

Darby_ 9:23 Wed Nov 21
Re: How far off we from the so called top six? with stadium increase to 66k and Pellegrini at the helm?

As far as I'm aware, Manuel has full control over the signings. If you think you're smarter than Manuel in the market then good luck to you, but I reckon I'll give him a couple more months before deciding.

He's hardly reluctant to play the youngsters.

Sven Roeder 8:04 Wed Nov 21
Re: How far off we from the so called top six? with stadium increase to 66k and Pellegrini at the helm?

Don’t know all those players, banker, but agree with the strategy.
Said earlier we could probably have bought most of the players that Spurs have in their first team at the time if we weren’t looking at 29yo’s and crocks.

bankerboy 5:02 Wed Nov 21
Re: How far off we from the so called top six? with stadium increase to 66k and Pellegrini at the helm?

It isn’t just how much money we spend, it is how and how well we spend that money. Of our recent high priced signings, Yarmolenko 18m for a 29 year old, Arnautovic, 25m for a 28 year old, Chicharito 16m for a 29 year old, Sanchez big wages on a 32 year old, Perez huge wages for a 29 year old combined with ill advised large contract extensions for Reid, Antonio and Ogbonna.

What Spurs and some others have done well is buy young talent like Dele Alli, Walker, Dier (overrated though he is), Eriksen, Trippier, Aurier, Davies, Lamela, Wanyama were all bought at 25 or younger, much younger in many cases.
Everton have tried to follow with the signings of Pickford, Richarlison, Keane, Lookman, Holgate etc,
Leicester with Gray, Madison, Ndidi, Soyuncu, Danny Ward, Iheanacho and Maguire,
Bournemouth with Ake, Lewis Cook, Mousset, Ibe, Brooks and Lerma.
The only really young player we have spent money on recently is Diop.
I would sell Chicharito, Antonio, Ogbonna, one off Creswell or Masuaku, Hugill, Obiang and replace them with Gabriel Barbossa, Wan-Bissaka, Chris Mepham, Kieran Tierney, Dael Fry and Phillip Billing. I’d also try to get Loftus-Cheek on a loan to buy.
Ideally we could use Antonio in full or part exchange for Wan-Bissaka, and the same type of deal with Hugill and Dael Fry.
Barbossa (Gabigol) would cost 15m more than we could get for Chicharito, and Tierney probably 10m more than we could sell either of our left backs for, but hopefully the rest would be economically neutral. We’d have replaced and upgraded players with an average age of 29 with players with an average age of 22, and for the first time in forever would have no weakness at the back as Wan-Bissaka and Tierney are both 6’0 full backs who are defensively sound and are suited to 4 at the back.
Fry and Mepham are 6’3 ball playing centre backs who would allow Rice to remain a midfield anchor, and Gabigol, while a bit of a gamble is technically superior to either Chicharito or Antonio.

If we start to build a squad with the future in mind, in addition to having Pellegrini and a 66k stadium we may catch the tail end of the big 6

Sir Alf 5:37 Tue Nov 20
Re: How far off we from the so called top six? with stadium increase to 66k and Pellegrini at the helm?

We will have to spend 60 -90 million for 2 or 3 more windows ( short term ) just to get the squad strong enough IMO. Now of course that would be gross spend on 2 or 3 quality players ( 25 or younger ideally ) . Immediate needs are full backs and at least 1 more athletic central midfielder who also has technical ability.

The FFP issue I am guessing will have to be addressed by selling some of the players who we will get a fee for or more importantly are on a high wage versus what they produce or the technical ability they have . Carroll, Reid, Hernandez, Antonio, Cresswell and Adrian for starters.
Also would be good to see the INs and OUTs and fees over the last 2 or so seasons again. I assume the 100 million will be offset to some degree ? We got a fee for Kouyate and before that Ayew, Payet etc....

If we can also bring through one or two more youngsters to the level where they are good enough for the squad at least, we will hopefully see further consolidation and a move to mid table or above. But IMO we still need to be spending gross 60+ million on players and the associated wages on top.

We might also want to spend on getting that training ground up to scratch.

pdbis 4:20 Tue Nov 20
Re: How far off we from the so called top six? with stadium increase to 66k and Pellegrini at the helm?

Getting the people who wear tea towels round their heads will give us a better chance at getting top 6.

Eggbert Nobacon 3:32 Tue Nov 20
Re: How far off we from the so called top six? with stadium increase to 66k and Pellegrini at the helm?

Their big new stand for example -

Front - 995 adults 497 seniors no kids
behind that - 1195 adults 562 seniors 562 kids
behind that - 1200, no senior or kid discounts
then at the back some for 950


so yeah at least one and half times our costs, nearer to double

Eggbert Nobacon 3:26 Tue Nov 20
Re: How far off we from the so called top six? with stadium increase to 66k and Pellegrini at the helm?

aso their kids ST of which we have about 10,000 at 99 quid range from 397 quid for the cheapest to 562 for the dearest, but over half their bands offer no discount for kids or oaps at all on season tickets

Eggbert Nobacon 3:13 Tue Nov 20
Re: How far off we from the so called top six? with stadium increase to 66k and Pellegrini at the helm?

Swiss

Seaosn ticket wise, yes probably they are, more if anything

Cheapest Adults are 975 for example

Sven Roeder 3:05 Tue Nov 20
Re: How far off we from the so called top six? with stadium increase to 66k and Pellegrini at the helm?

We could have probably bought most of the players Spurs have in their first team when they came up
Except they have a strategy of buying young hungry players and we keep buying crocks and giving money to over 30 types like Evra and maybe Nasri.

Swiss. 2:59 Tue Nov 20
Re: How far off we from the so called top six? with stadium increase to 66k and Pellegrini at the helm?

Eggbert

So you recon their ticket prices are more than 50% higher on average?

Deano might have been as good as Kane.

Alex V 2:47 Tue Nov 20
Re: How far off we from the so called top six? with stadium increase to 66k and Pellegrini at the helm?

Spurs had 5 years in the top six before Kane came through.

Eggbert Nobacon 2:19 Tue Nov 20
Re: How far off we from the so called top six? with stadium increase to 66k and Pellegrini at the helm?

I forgot Rooney too to be fair!!

Eggbert Nobacon 2:18 Tue Nov 20
Re: How far off we from the so called top six? with stadium increase to 66k and Pellegrini at the helm?

None of those came along in the last 20 years though

they played in that time yes but they came through youth sides prior to that

(other than Defoe)

goose 2:17 Tue Nov 20
Re: How far off we from the so called top six? with stadium increase to 66k and Pellegrini at the helm?

oh and obviously Wazza Rooney

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