(28-06-2017, 00:24)Slick_Footwork Wrote:

(27-06-2017, 22:14)BaggieSteve Wrote: Let's be honest with ourselves, despite all press and agent speculation linking us to some exciting young overseas, and occasionally domestic, talent, this transfer window will follow the others of recent years and provide us with a slew of completely uninspiring signings, ones that fit the Pulis mound of hard working, ageing, Premier League players who have either seen better days or are cheap because they've gone off the boil and couldn't score in a brothel. There will be no signings that will take your breath away or even excite you, just run of the mill journeymen, most likely from recently relegated clubs. The tactics next season will be the same as last season - defend, defend and then defend some more, cede all the possession going, pray that Fozzie plays a blinder and hope to nick a goal from a corner in the one attack we have late in the second half. Oh, and pay £30+ for the privilege of watching it. As long as Pulis is manager, this club I have supported since 1962 will play some of most boring, sterile football any of us can imagine, devoid of creativity or flair. Not losing and survival will be all that counts, some ambition. It doesn't have to be like this, clubs similar in size and stature to us make a better fist of it, have more belief, more courage. Who we sign and the efforts made to get them on board tell us a lot; right now clubs around us are being ambitious, are doing business. What do we do? We baulk at paying a reported £5milion for a young and, by all accounts, talented left back (a position we all agree we desperately need to fill), even though we have a £40million transfer kitty but will spend £12million on a non scoring, injury prone striker who cannot get into the starting line up of a club similar to ourselves. I know this is a very negative and I would dearly love to be proved wrong, at which point I will happily eat humble pie on this forum and admit my error, but right now I see nothing to convince me that this transfer window and next season will be any different to our recent history.

I'm not sure that Phillips and Chadli fit that mould, nor Livermore or Evans for that matter.

People seem to be forgetting the side that TP inherited, full of either aging or bog standard Premier League players. We scraped up by the skin of our teeth the season before he came and looked nailed on for relegation the season he arrived too. Clearly we have improved massively since his arrival.

Now I don't want to make it sound like I'm a big fan Pulis, because I'm not. I agree the football needs to be better, particularly away from home where we could play against the Hen and Chickens and go for a draw. However, the improvement is there to see, despite pathetic backing.

On the subject of pathetic backing last year -in 16-17 our net spend was less than £10m. Less than Sunderland, Burnley, Bournemouth, Watford and Hull. And significantly less than West Ham, Stoke, Palace and Middlesborough! Didn't see any of these sides playing particularly free flowing football either.

In fact, the only teams with a net spend lower than ours were Liverpool, Southampton and Swansea - the former two because of huge player sales.

It's clear to me that like his predecessors, Pulis hasn't been backed in comparison to our competition. Despite this, he gets slagged off left, right and centre by some fans. The reality is, in black and white, he's got us punching well above our weight in terms of league position to what he's been given to spend.

IMO it's time for the board to back him and then if we continue to play rubbish football, we're within our rights to slag him off. At the moment, when he's got us in mid table on a shoestring budget, it feels really harsh to see some of the criticism he gets.

(28-06-2017, 11:15)talkSAFT Wrote: BaggieSteve, that's exactly my view. You sum it up well.

(28-06-2017, 11:40)Worldclassalbion Wrote: BaggieSteve I agree 100%

(28-06-2017, 09:54)BaggieSteve Wrote: Slick, much of what you write I don't disagree with and, just as you say you don't want to be seen as a big Pulis fan, well I'm not completely anti Pulis, despite how I may come across. I fully recognise the improvement he has brought to the club, particularly in the way we are organised, and also the stability that has ensued. My issue is that I believe we are entering a period of diminishing returns with TP; I honestly feel he has achieved all he can with the Albion and that we have got all the benefit from him that we will ever get. It is not in his DNA to play a different style of football, I think what we are seeing now and for the last two seasons is what we will see going forward and for as long as he is the manager. Just as people highlight Wenger's inability to recognise the need to defend, so I feel Pulis has the opposite problem. At some point, just staying in the PL cannot be enough, there also has to be some entertainment, some pleasure in watching the Albion, some excitement. However, the fear from the club's owners will be that changing the current approach and the manager will result in relegation, so we continue down the same path on the grounds that, in their eyes, this formula works. I personally believe this is a fallacy but, to date, history does not support my view. I was delighted when he signed Phillips and Chadli and, by and large, these have been successful for us. But he's also been responsible for Lambert, McManaman, Robson-Kanu, Chester, the completely wasted loan signings of Gnabry, Pritchard and Galloway and, although I like the guy, Rondon who couldn't hit a cow's arse with a banjo. Evans was a brilliant signing but I have a less positive view on Livermore, who I feel is OK - next season, and the absence of Fletcher, may push him on. As you say, let's see what this transfer window brings and judge afterwards, I think you have more faith than me, Slick. Still, at least it looks like the Vile will be signing Terry, so some good news

(28-06-2017, 18:16)BaggieMan Wrote: Whilst I respect the views of both arguments, I have to say I am in the Baggiesteve camp on this one.

I believe there is currently an unfortunate apathy within the club that smacks of lack of ambition and penny pinching with Charlie Taylor being a classic example. How can Pulis and Co have consistently chased him for over a year and then back off when frightened by the tribunal or fee level expected by Leeds. Has he become a poor player in that year? Has he suffered a long term career threatening injury? No on both counts.

I was full of hope with the announcement that we would be investing heavily in this Window and that we would be completing our business early. I now believe that to be a ruse to boost season ticket sales and I for one fell for it along no doubt with many others. I also sadly now believe we will end up with aging cheap 'has beens' and that hope I held that we will display some ambition, in the same way as those teams around us, will be extinguished.

As for Pulis, all of you know that the Baggieman is certainly not a fan and never will be given his boring defensive style. I find it difficult to accept the argument put forward regarding his short spell at Palace. That was now years ago and it was a case of 'shit or bust' and the gamble paid off. Had he stayed with Palace you can bet your bottom dollar he would have reverted to his usual defend, defend, defend style with which he is now tainted.

I can now see nothing in the future for us other than flirting with relegation and at best, a bottom half finish. Both Pulis and the board have had several windows to invest in an exciting future but have not really grasped the metal apart from the odd good signing. The change of ownership was last year a convenient smoke-screen to cover our lack of ambition. This summer, there is no excuse and one would hope the club will once more launch an exciting buying policy and bring in quality players of the right age and skill to cement a top half finish.

I'm not holding my breath......