Should we really be in a position where we’re saying we need even more money putting in and even more players signing in January? Look at the amount of players there are on the books:
LW: Holland, Bodin, Cooper
RW: Whyte, Williams, Sykes
CF: Taylor, Winnall, Agyei
That is three completely different front lines, and none of them are cheap fodder. Nearly all of them are on very decent wages (some are on actively very large ones), and the ones you might say could be slightly cheaper in Sykes and Cooper, given they were both signed from part-time football and therefore won’t be on mega bucks, both cost six figure fees.
Then you’ve got Henry, Brannagan, McGuane, Kane, Gorrin, Hanson and Chambers-Parillon for the midfield three, plus Forde if you want to include him in his actual position. Brannagan, McGuane and Henry are three of the club’s best earners, Hanson is also on really good money, and Kane will be having a very good chunk of his not insignificant wages covered for Barnsley to let him go after paying over a million quid for him. That’s around 17 players vying for six positions on paper, the vast majority of whom cost a lot of money on fees and/or salaries. To turn around at this point and go, “I’m gonna need another couple I’m afraid” would be pretty ballsy to say the least.
The money and the time to build has been very much put in - they’ve even allowed the club to keep hold of players like Stevens and Brannagan rather than cashing in. At what point does somebody go, “Karl, you’ve had virtually everything you’ve asked for, you’ve pretty much got three sets of forward lines and three sets of midfielders, you need to make this work”? I also don’t know how anybody could look at those players and this squad on paper, consider the money spent on it and believe that we are plucky mid-table underdogs punching above our weight. We spend money at this level. We spend good money.
If he needs to do two out, two in or something similar to improve the quality then fine, but he’s got a squad of about 25 players (not bad considering so many people claim you can’t have two players for each position, and that decent players won’t come if they think they won’t be guaranteed starters), and they’re all ones he signed or chose to keep. He could never, ever claim he has not been backed. And that’s without mentioning how many new contracts and pay rises he’s had.
I think he needs to make it work now - the bigger boys won’t be as in awe of him as Tiger. I think he knows that, too, which is a positive. He needs to make it work.
