Stuey, mate, I'm sick of seeing this comment over and over. We bid for Sanchez 35 million so the money was there. It's not his job to make decisions on players. It is Ayre, the scouting team and Brendan. JWH doesn't know who half the players were we signed. He and the rest of FSG just sign the cheques.
Ayres is in situ at the behest of FSG, he is they're eyes and ears, JWH has made his opinions known about the cheques and the figures involved on them.
How many signings got fu**ed up the same way, take Sanchez - it was well known he wanted a London club and anything above 35m would get him - it was dead in the water. Conveniently.
Do you think he ran the rule over signing Can, Markovic and Moreno etc? He didn't know who the hell they were. But he signed the cheques which totalled nearly 50 million pounds for the three of them because the people in charge said they're worth it.
All the mentioned players are deemed to have potential, the Suarez fee would have been better spent on a like for like striker, as well as providing dosh for potential signings.
And how can you say JWH specifically, didn't want to spend excessively? We bought Lallana for 25m, Lovren for 20m, Markovic for 20m, made a 35m bid for Sanchez, bought Moreno for 12m, Balotelli for 16m and Can for 10m etc. We spent a F**k load of money and the men in charge for making the signings have got it completely wrong.
JWH stated unequivocally that he would not spend more than he thought appropriate, modesty was the order of the day, as was subsequently borne out.
Except for Balotelli those players are kicking on - it will take time.
As stated the 35m Sanchez bid was dead in the water.
Fans can't use the excuse to criticise Ayre, Brendan and the committee saying they got signings wrong and then come in to a thread and say the owners didn't back the manager up enough and are too scared to spend money. A massive contradiction to use for an agenda against people at the club.
Criticism was never more deserved mate, in spite of the fine words four years ago we are in a similar situation football-wise as we were when FSG 'rescued us', it's as if the owners have got a pre-ordained image of the club's status and will not be deflected from that entity.
They employed a mid-table manager in the hope that the mid-table economics would not prove too taxing financially.
BR surprised everyone not least of all the owners by attaining 2nd place in the Prem., but it was no surprise that we were ill equipped to address the challenge; but help was at hand.
To retain the services of Suarez promises were made the previous season, none of which were acted upon and with Barca sniffing Suarez was gone.
85m was available to BR to make a stripped down squad CL material - yesterday.
Predictably it didn't go to plan FSG's deputy had ensured that JWH's prudence about transfer fees was observed.
The phrase quantity not quality come to mind.
In that light the flak the manager is subject to is misplaced.
Either the owners backed the manager and the committee and they fu**ed up.
Or the manager and committee weren't backed up.
Which one is it? It's very clear to me which one is the case.
And the result of the mess that was the 2014/15 Summer transfer window, is that we have this thread where Sterling is our first choice striker.
The 14/15 transfer window is a culmination of under investment, broken promises and boardroom contrivance.
