Speculation Abe leaving

[Matt_B]

May I ask, not spitefully but out of genuine interest, do you believe that the changes, so far, have strengthened the City squad?

There haven't been many, but here goes.

Out:
Abe - a decent enough player but won't really be missed other than numbers wise
Fernandes - never saw the hype surrounding him
Moreno - enough said
Ball - same

In:
Drinkwater - don't know enough about him, but his display against us the other week was better than I've seen from Fernandes.

Overall I don't think we are any stronger but we are certainly no weaker and have a much reduced wage bill and have possibly got rid of some bad attitudes. I never expected us to really strengthen in January as the market is too expensive. Any load players bought in have the potential to add to the squad, and seeing as we have no third striker, Delfouneso does strengthen the team.

 

[Matt_B]

Pearson signed N'guessan though to take his place so it shows how much he rated Max

Would you have kept Gradel after he said he wanted out?

 

[drew]

Would you have kept Gradel after he said he wanted out?

Yes and it wouldn't have been the first time a club kept a player that wanted to leave.

 

[drummindefender]

Would you have kept Gradel after he said he wanted out?

He wanted out because Pearson signed N'guessan to replace him and he was in the reserves. How controversial...

 

[Mike - True Blue Tinter]

If the Abe £40,000/week is true, it frightens me what wages real underperformers like Mills, SSL and Beckford have been signed on. Though I suppose Abe was probably as a marketing thing. I am sure 'Top' will be looking for another Asian player to put on KP billboards around far eastern shops and airports. Any such underused players going spare in the Prem?

 

[Biffa Bacon]

If the Abe £40,000/week is true, it frightens me what wages real underperformers like Mills, SSL and Beckford have been signed on. Though I suppose Abe was probably as a marketing thing. I am sure 'Top' will be looking for another Asian player to put on KP billboards around far eastern shops and airports. Any such underused players going spare in the Prem?

40k per week is not anywhere near, he's actually on around 17k a week. The figures for some players wages quoted by some fans are stupidly inflated. The idiot who sits in front of me at the KP thinks we are paying Johnson 42k a week and we paid 4m for beckford.

 

[gregs_y2k]

Me too!

One of my favourite players at the club. After a shaky start I'd say he was one of the most consistent and tidy players we had.

 

[Redditch Fox]

There haven't been many, but here goes.

Out:
Abe - a decent enough player but won't really be missed other than numbers wise
Fernandes - never saw the hype surrounding him
Moreno - enough said
Ball - same

In:
Drinkwater - don't know enough about him, but his display against us the other week was better than I've seen from Fernandes.

Overall I don't think we are any stronger but we are certainly no weaker and have a much reduced wage bill and have possibly got rid of some bad attitudes. I never expected us to really strengthen in January as the market is too expensive. Any load players bought in have the potential to add to the squad, and seeing as we have no third striker, Delfouneso does strengthen the team.

I agree with all that.

The bottom line is that this club needed a big reality check before it disappears in a sea of debt caused by over expenditure on the ordinary and the useless.

There is no way that such a big problem was going to be solved without pain and I'm pretty certain that it's going to take more time than we have to put in a serious play off position challenge this season. If we did mount such a challenge that would be brilliant - but it's asking more than his reasonable.

A word of caution on Drinkwater. He's being built up too high by the local media - and he's going to be a bit of the solution not some sort of super star purchased from Barnsley for a few hundred grand. Price right - expectations unrealistic.

 

[Matt_B]

I agree with all that.

The bottom line is that this club needed a big reality check before it disappears in a sea of debt caused by over expenditure on the ordinary and the useless.

There is no way that such a big problem was going to be solved without pain and I'm pretty certain that it's going to take more time than we have to put in a serious play off position challenge this season. If we did mount such a challenge that would be brilliant - but it's asking more than his reasonable.

A word of caution on Drinkwater. He's being built up too high by the local media - and he's going to be a bit of the solution not some sort of super star purchased from Barnsley for a few hundred grand. Price right - expectations unrealistic.

Only point, we bought him from Man Utd for reportedly about a million, but your point still stands.

 

[The Old Fox]

I agree with all that.

The bottom line is that this club needed a big reality check before it disappears in a sea of debt caused by over expenditure on the ordinary and the useless.

There is no way that such a big problem was going to be solved without pain and I'm pretty certain that it's going to take more time than we have to put in a serious play off position challenge this season. If we did mount such a challenge that would be brilliant - but it's asking more than his reasonable.

A word of caution on Drinkwater. He's being built up too high by the local media - and he's going to be a bit of the solution not some sort of super star purchased from Barnsley for a few hundred grand. Price right - expectations unrealistic.

I admit that it has been a while since I regularly attended football matches, but I can honestly say that I never stood, or sat, at a game and thought, "Well, this is a load of rubbish, but at least the club is getting their finances sorted".

Indeed, are we sorting the finances? Presumably we are paying off the players that are leaving, with most of the wages that they would have received, and paying fees for the in comers (reported £1m for Drinkwater and supposedly we are going to out lay only a little less for Morgan). Unless one really believes that these are better players than the departing, what is the point?

 

[Durham Fox]

I admit that it has been a while since I regularly attended football matches, but I can honestly say that I never stood, or sat, at a game and thought, "Well, this is a load of rubbish, but at least the club is getting their finances sorted".

Indeed, are we sorting the finances? Presumably we are paying off the players that are leaving, with most of the wages that they would have received, and paying fees for the in comers (reported £1m for Drinkwater and supposedly we are going to out lay only a little less for Morgan). Unless one really believes that these are better players than the departing, what is the point?

so you you are basing all of our opinions on the players who have left on.....

 

[Calderfox]

we won't be paying SSL off (barring a relatively small loyalty bonus possibly i guess), and will recoup a fee for him.

michael ball left by mutual consent, so we will have paid him less than the full value of his contract.

wouldn't have thought it would cost us much to get shot of fernandes, as that was a loan which was terminated, partly to allow him to be loaned to Udinese; so St Etienne would be happy, as they still won't have to pay his wages, while also getting another fee for sending him on loan, so won't presumably have asked us to fulfill the majority of his wages for the rest of this season.

not clear what went on with abe, but he was either released so that he could move back to Urawa Reds, or was sold to them. neither would have cost us much.

so all the moves have cost us less than the full value of the contracts had we kept them; some considerably so. which gives pearson flexibilty to rebalance the squad, without massively inflating the wage bill or the number of players we have on the books.

obv we're still spending a lot of money, but if we come out of the window having got rid of the dead wood and replaced them with better, hungrier players in a more balanced squad (ie with more width and fewer central midfielders) while mitigating some of our losses on players like St Ledger, then that will have been a good january for us.

 

[SJN-Fox]

so you you are basing all of our opinions on the players who have left on.....

Nice to see the English lessons are coming in handy :icon_bigg

 

[Mawsley]

I heard he was on a million pounds a month and so I think we should now get Messi and Aguero.

 

[W88DY]

may i ask, not spitefully but out of genuine interest, do you believe that the changes, so far, have strengthened the city squad?

yes !

 

[Profondo Rosso]

Ehhh, decent enough player, but nothing earth shattering we're particularly going to miss and easily replaceable by someone on much cheaper pay (hopefully Drinkwater does this).

 

[Blue Maniac]

I keep seeing references to hunger. Why do so many insist malnourished players are a necessity?

 

[tedfoxxx]

I keep seeing references to hunger. Why do so many insist malnourished players are a necessity?

*Insert unfunny dog eating joke here*

 

[Motown Fox]

It is Official now as on the OS should we have a confirmed thread

 

[tedfoxxx]

Cites the distance between him and his family as the main reason, and fair play to him. Decent little player, never really looked out of his depth in the championship and always 'put a shift in' (I hate that phrase, but its better than pashuuuun).

Good luck to him.