(28-06-2017, 20:09)Beefy 1965 Wrote: Bournemouth bulk at Defoe demand ........

£8 Million signing on fee, 80K a week = £20 Million over a 3 year deal   =(130k a week) For a 34 year old !!

Not being greedy is he  

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/west-brom-been-thrown-jermain-13251758

(28-06-2017, 19:37)Slick_Footwork Wrote:

(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......

The question with Taylor though, do we know we were definitely after him and if so, is he our first choice? There's a lot of information get 'leaked' to newspapers by agents just to drum up interest in their client.

The lad is out of contract, so it's an interesting one. Maybe we saw him as a squad player and would've took him if Leeds would've agreed a nominal fee outside of tribunal but decided not to gamble as they wouldn't agree to that.

I don't really understand the uproar anyway if he does go to Burnley. He's hardly proven talent. He looked very average to me in the games I saw him and couldn't force his way back into the Leeds side at the tail end of last season after injury.

If on the odd chance it is money related, it would again fall on the board rather than TP.

I can see where you're coming from regarding TPs style of play and agree, to a large extent. Although there's a lot wrong with our consecutive failure to back whoever is manager stemming from the board. This is why we will never really see what any manager is capable of.

But i'll judge this owner and TP at the end of the window.

(28-06-2017, 21:22)BaggieSteve Wrote: Hi Slick, it's a fair question regarding Taylor but I think the story had run long enough and been pretty consistent in its reporting to conclude there was some mileage in it. I'm sure we were interested and, as we don't have a left back and clearly need one, I'm also assuming he wouldn't have been a squad player. Having said that, if we were to sign Robertson from Hull I'd be happy as I think he's a very good player. Our forum chat often focuses on how much money we have and what is realistic for us to achieve as a club playing in a league that has become increasingly polarised between those with huge amounts of money and those like us who are relatively wealthy but cannot compete with the obscene amounts knocking around at the top. My issue is not that I think we should be challenging for a top six finish as I recognise that, without the money from a Russian oligarch or a sovereign wealth fund, we'll be an also ran like the majority of clubs in the league. My issue is what we do with our money and the type of player we sign, which leads to the style of football we deliver. I just think that we could do something more with it that makes us more adventurous. During the back end of the season, TP was playing a midfield of Fletcher, Yacob and Livermore (two of whom he signed) which had no semblance of creativity whatsoever. My concern is that this is fundamentally his preferred approach; contain and defend. After a time, this starts to grate on the nerves, particularly at home. I'm jumping the gun as the transfer window is in its early stages and rumours abound with little hard fact. I'm prepared to wait and see, it's just that I'm lacking a bit of confidence in what may happen. Fingers crossed!

(29-06-2017, 16:15)aries22 Wrote: Yes, we were definitely in for Charlie Taylor, because TP referred to the deal going to arbitration and potentially ending up too costly for Albion.
And yes, he would have been first-choice LB as he would have been the only orthodox LB we had!
I'm reading on BBC Sport Gossip that the Daily Mirror says Jonny Evans is considering his position at Albion in light of Albion letting Darren Fletcher leave. If that's true I'll eat my hat. Hasn't Evans just signed a new deal with us at £100,000 a week, and what does it matter to a defender if a midfielder leaves? Daily Mirror? Rag, more like.

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Slick, according to Leicester fans, they were delighted to get - was it £12 million? - from Palace. They wished him luck, but said he was never a full back. That said, I don't recall how he played last season.