Sullivan & Gold - Where's the ambition?
arsegrapes 1:20 Tue Aug 16

Other articles by arsegrapes...

I am surprised they haven't invested more this window. £32.5m net spend for our inaugural season at the London Stadium. Where is the ambition? The fans have backed them and sold out the stadium for two years in advance, seems like they are resting on their laurels. 75m TV money last year + Boleyn stadium sale and auctions, then two years advance tickets sales for sell out 60k stadium, next year TV money goes up to 100m? I look forward to seeing the accounts ending 2017 and 2018 showing a massive jump in profits, which will increase the club value for a potential buyer and or investment going forward which must be the plan.

Sullivan has said that is it, we will not be spending anymore. Don't tell me we couldn't find cover for RB as we soon bought quality cover for LB when Cresswell got injured. We sold Tomkins and should have bought another quality CB with the money to partner Oggy. Collins is great but getting a little older and slower. Reid is also very good but gets caught out all too often, lacks a cool head.

We were crying out for a tough tackling no nonsense midfielder to breakdown opposition midfields win possession and drive us forward. Our midfield is powder puff all last season and Nordveit with his highlights is the campest recent addition.

Plenty of talk from Sullivan but no striker, all cheapo loan and freebies. Pay peanuts you get monkey's.

Bilic had a great first season last year and Sullivan says he won't be agreeing a new contract yet as a lot of managers find their second season difficult. They should be backing him more in imho. They say Bilic doesn't care about the money, but it doesn't mean they should take advantage of that.

It is obvious that the owners haven't been able to compete with the big clubs in the transfer market and it will prove almost impossible to get into the top 4-6 which is where the club needs to be to fill the second largest stadium in the country after the honeymoon period of the first two years, although they have done a great job they have reached their limitations. The trouble is they have agreed to pay a percentage to the LLDC if they sell up within 5 years, so expect several more years of cheap dealing and mid table before they sell up to avoid paying a cut to the LLDC. I just hope they sell some shares and bring in some inward investment soon before the whole project falls apart.

Takashi Miike 1:25 Tue Aug 16
Re: Sullivan & Gold

I was told they had to pay off various loans they had on the old ground and that's where a lot of the money has gone. I can't believe they'd pay off that much in one hit and I think they're trying to get by spending as little as possible

*cue slagging from pro Sullivan fundaMENTALists*

ornchurch ammer 1:28 Tue Aug 16
Re: Sullivan & Gold

They need to bite the bullet and bring another experienced striker in regardless of whether they offload Sakho or Valencia.

Carroll is our only proven front man as I think that Ayew will be too small up front, unless in a 2, and both Fletcher and Calleri are unproven and a gamble.

penners28 1:31 Tue Aug 16
Re: Sullivan & Gold

Cracks me up when people think they have invested, or "spent the kids inheritance" on us. they have LENT us the money. Not that I'm complaining, as on the whole they have done a great job. But lets not get caught up in all the TWITTER bollox.

The older sullivan boy loves a tweet so people will fuel his ego with all the DONT LISTEN TO THEM DAVE. WE APPRECIATE WHAT YOU HAVE DONE FOR US! replies, when someone dares question something.

Eric Hitchmoe 2:07 Tue Aug 16
Re: Sullivan & Gold

"The older sullivan boy loves a tweet so people will fuel his ego with all the DONT LISTEN TO THEM DAVE. WE APPRECIATE WHAT YOU HAVE DONE FOR US! replies, when someone dares question something."

Ha-ha. I make you right on this.

dicksie3 2:12 Tue Aug 16
Re: Sullivan & Gold

I quite like our owners but, yeah, they're proper cheapskates.

Sullivan is worth almost £1bn now, apparently. Gold is worth over £350m.

They didn't even want to pay tens of thousands to replace the black coloured seats at our new ground so it's highly unlikely that they'll spend mega bucks on a proper striker.

Still, they've done a decent job overall in the past 6 or so years since they bought us.

gank 2:20 Tue Aug 16
Re: Sullivan & Gold

It doesn't matter how much they spend, it's the quality that counts. Admittedly, the quality is lacking but that isn't to do with the price. Ibrahimovic's transfer fee was zero, Fuka's was £6m and I know which of those two is the better player.

El Scorchio 2:26 Tue Aug 16
Re: Sullivan & Gold

Ibra will cost Man u way way way more than Arthur will cost us over the duration of their respective contracts- including transfer fee.

hornchurchsteve 2:34 Tue Aug 16
Re: Sullivan & Gold

To get the top players you need to pay the wages. They clearly don't want to do that. All well and good having bids accepted but no good if you can't back it up.

They are not going to change.

arsegrapes 2:36 Tue Aug 16
Re: Sullivan & Gold

Dicksie I agree, not having a dig at the owners, they can only do their best, but we have the momentum from last year and then the move this year and think they are missing a trick, should have pushed the boat out instead of wasting time chasing unrealistic players that want Champions League.

The owners are successful businessmen and they have created a monster. They know when you run a business that outgrows you because you don't have the funds to keep feeding its growth it will stand still and you can't stand still as then the only way is down.

The only way out for the owners is to bring in outside investment (IF THEY CAN GET IT?) by selling some shares with the option to buy more each year and eventually a majority stake in 5 years when they are free of the LLDC penalty.

This is why I believe they are paying down debt (rather than investing in the team) with our hard earned to show higher profits and maximize potential investment/sale proceeds further ahead.

Takashi Miike 2:38 Tue Aug 16
Re: Sullivan & Gold

arsegrapes, but every owner in our history has done that. every time we're on the brink of something special they fuck it up by lack of investment or asset stripping. i wouldn't never accuse sullivan of that as he seems to want to keep hold of the better players we have like payer, but we needed to push the boat out this summer and we've come up short

Takashi Miike 2:39 Tue Aug 16
Re: Sullivan & Gold

*payet*

The Stoat 2:42 Tue Aug 16
Re: Sullivan & Gold

It's a bloody big stadium for championship football innit

goose 2:42 Tue Aug 16
Re: Sullivan & Gold

right pair of spiv cunts, i cant stand them. they pretend to be in it for the fans but at the end of the day we are just a business proposition to them.

sooner they are gone the better.

hornchurchsteve 2:44 Tue Aug 16
Re: Sullivan & Gold

Agree goose.
They don't give a fuck for the likes of us who stump up st money year after year.

arsegrapes 2:46 Tue Aug 16
Re: Sullivan & Gold

Takashi Miike

Agreed, still think Sullivan & Gold are the best owners we have ever had, this move to the 66k soon London Stadium needs to be sustained though with some very good players being brought to keep filling it, which will cost much. It is not as if we have to pay back a loan for decades to build a 500k stadium like Arsenal did or Spurs will now do, we have never been in a better position to stake a claim.

i-Ron 3:01 Tue Aug 16
Re: Sullivan & Gold

I think we've done well.

Lanzini is a top signing, if we'd bought him last season we'd all be saying he's worth £25m+ now and we got him for about £10m didn't we?

Feghouli would cost a lot too, probably £20m plus if he wasn't out of contract...and he cost £0. Where's the problem?

Payet in my opinion is invaluable now and we got him for £10m

Just a shame we couldn't land Ayew on a free last season and he's cost us £20m but he's class.

Maybe we are a striker short but hopefully Calleri will do the business and we have another option to buy.

I dunno what fans are expecting to be honest. Everyone on here moans that every player in world football is over rated and over paid....but then you all whinge like fuck when we lose to Chelsea who pay through the nose for top players on top wages.

As for the remaining budget, I know Sullivan suggested anywhere between 30, 40....50 million on sky and I still hope we'll bring in one or two players

If we include Henry as a over 21 like last season in the 25 man premiership squad we currently have 24 players.

Hopefully it's not the last transfer activity we do but I think we're better than last season.

Trevor B 3:07 Tue Aug 16
Re: Sullivan & Gold

ronny

i swear that we have some fans that would be happier if we had spent 30m on feghouli and nordveit, rather than getting them on freebies (which are never really free, as we all know). apparently signing bosmans means you're cheap, not that you've done really well in signing a top player for no transfer fee.

ornchurch ammer 3:09 Tue Aug 16
Re: Sullivan & Gold

For all of Gold and Sullivan's faults who could we expect to have as better owners?

There may be richer people out there but I can't think of any owners who actually give a fuck about the supporters of their clubs.

kylay 3:10 Tue Aug 16
Re: Sullivan & Gold

All of the loan business just sounds like a bunch of financial maneuvering to manipulate valuation. All of the "debt" they supposedly took on wss reflected in a cut rate sale price of the club. Man u is leveraged to the gills, don't have champions league, and have a slightly larger stadium. Yet their transfer budget is five times what we spend.

And I'm not suggesting we try to match them or spend unnecessarily but we have not addressed known needs. A striker was our most glaring need and rather than get one we brought in three wingers. After shedding emenike and sakho going off his lid we are weaker and thinner at a position that needed strengthening. Keeping Valencia is a similar lack of ambition. By all accounts, we could have had Bacca but we were fed some bullshit about wage structure and the failed transfer of sakho. and even if it's true then why waste a month and a half on him. Just get one competent, proper striker, not some winger who can play as a makeshift one. And for god's sake fuck off Valencia so there is no temptation to ever suit him up again.

flyingV 3:12 Tue Aug 16
Re: Sullivan & Gold

If we are left with Carroll to lead the line this season we are bang in trouble.

"Unplayable" about twice a season and only effective one way.

The owners acknowledged this, didn't buy Batshuayi soon enough and fucked about with Lacazette and Bacca.

Now they've spunked that money on Ayew and are trying to claim he can play through the middle.

I think there will be more signings before the window shuts, lets hope one of them is a quick centre forward.

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