Originally Posted by
cardiff55
What we bought Medel, Caulker and Cornelius for we got pretty much the same back in fees, except of course for Cornelius. but we sold Mutch at the end of the season for a big profit so it sort of cancels it out. Odemwingie went in part exchange for Kenwynne Jones .
The problem seems top be when OGS signed a load of players in the January, Eikram, Berget, Daehli, Jones, Fabio, Cala and Zaha on loan when we already had a squad of about 25. So in a year we would presumably lost all the signing on fees those players cost and potentially a chunk of the agents fees.
Then when we got relegated OGS was allowed sign Morrison and Manga at £5m each, Le Fondre for about £2.5m , Adeyemi for about £1, Pilkington for £1.5m and Dikgacoi, Guerra and Macheda on frees. And Gabbidon too when we already had 5 centre backs! All those signing on fees, agents fees and wages. And we had a squad of about 35 players!
Just after OGS was sacked and Slade came in the cost cutting started. Berget, EIkram and Dahlia all went (although got £2m for Daehli). Hudson was sold for £300k, Brayford for about £1.5m. Guerra, Cala and Kim were paid off too.
Later that season we were signing the likes of Peltier, Revell, O'Keefe, Doyle, McAleny and Kennedy.
Of the ones that stayed I'd say Macheda, Dikgacoi, Le Fondre, Adeyemi were flops. Only Peltier, Pilkington , Manga and Morrison of those proved a success.
It took a few years, probably until Warnock came in to get rid of all the deadwood. Revell, Macheda and Dikgacoi soon went. We got £3m for Mason and £2m for Fabio which helped. Doyle didn't last long either. O'Keefe and Pilkington are winding down their contracts and Jones was eventually sold ( I think he was sold?).
Then we signed Saadi (not very got but we allegedly got £2m for him a year ago), Immers and Zohore (the only positive one).
Even two years ago we were selling Marshall for the fee (£4m), and Moore £500k). We still signed a few duff ones like Gounongbe, Huws, Lambert, Amos (on loan).
The turn around definitely started when Warnock got here. Hoilett and Bamba were great signings, he got Pilkington and Zohore playing well. Then he signed Etheridge, Mendez- Laing, Tomlin(?), Ward and a string of loan players.
I think 2013/14 and 2014/15 could have bankrupted us if it wasn't for Tan's support. Thankfully now we have an owner who financially supports the club, and won't go belly up some clubs. We can now laugh at out neighbours down West instead!
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