striker Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 They've been a cohesive unit for a couple of years now who have evolved the squad by adding quality, they also have a decent stadium and a very good, often underrated manager. I think we are following the Brighton model of squad development and probably a year behind them as we stand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N0rtherner Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 2 hours ago, OurDan said: Best CB in the league (we got best def CM) Best winger in the league (we got best keeper) Striker who can score goals (we got, oh...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichieB Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 A brand new state of the art football ground that doesn't require 9,000 empty seats for a sell out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristmace Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 (edited) Simple... a team who have improved on last season. We might have more points than this time last year, but we've spent £12m+ in the summer and haven't seen the benefit from that. Edited January 4, 2017 by kristmace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kameron Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 Consistency Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stonegold Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 Pies with meat in them . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hodgyowl Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 Clap Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ante's Bubbly Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 53 minutes ago, BIG D said: I thought that but checked up and they finished way behind us 2 years ago. Yes, but Brighton have spent pretty consistently on players and their ground over the last few seasons and apart from that one blip have finished inished higher than us. They have stuck to their plan and lived within their means. Hull and Bournemouth are two other good examples of teams that have had consistent business management with steady investment over the years with a gradual increase in quality. Our beloved Owls were on the decline for 15 or 16 years and it took a lot of investment behind the scenes to get us back to where we are now, with just two summer recruitment drives. We have had to buy a lot of players in a short space of time which has apparently taken us close to FFP limits. Increased wages and transfer fees have accounted for a large part of our budget, with very little coming the other way apart from the Antonio money. We are getting to the stage now where we could possibly take a risk in signing two or three players that may make enough difference to take us that final step and into the top two and with 22 games left to play, you could say that it is a fair gamble, but it is still a big risk if we do not succeed. If we overspent and did not get promoted we could end up having a transfer ban imposed on us and being fined, which would set us back another season, so whatever we do now we need to be very careful. If there is any loophole which enables Chansiri to put more money into the coffers then some say that he will take it. The feedback from the forums seems to be that he is determined to get us promoted this season. If that is true then we may see another stand or two with his name on it before too long, which could possibly bring more money in to counteract spending on players. We could also see players sold or taken off the wage bill to at least give a little leeway and if we are very lucky we may be able to get one of our targets on loan until the end of the season. Our recruitment generally has been pretty good since Chansiri came along, with a lot of much higher quality players coming into the club, but at the same time we have also signed a lot of players who are work in progress, hugely injury prone or that have simply not adapted to the English game or Carlos's style of play at all since they came to Hillsborough. I personally feel that our recruitment this year has not been as effective as it could have been and that just three or four top quality players in key positions would have been better than the wholesale approach that seems to have been taken, particularly in midfield. I believe that the main difference between us and Brighton is that they are able to pay a larger bulk of their budget on wages, because they spent way below us again on transfer fees. The main difference between players who can play every match of the season and those who cannot is their general fitness and a smaller squad of fitter & more talented players could perhaps give us more consistent team performance levels for a similar budget if we do not have to keep spending money on multiple transfers or too many wages that are not contributing towards game time and points earned. We have several players like McGugan (who we paid good money for), Dielna, & Bus who are not wanted by Carlos, but are still being paid wages. We also have players like Emanuelson, Mattias and Melo who have been unavailable for whatever reasons for a long time now, but cost money in transfer fees and wages 23 different players have started for us in just 24 games so far this season, compared with 20 for Brighton, but the main difference is goalscoring and that is where we should have concentrated our efforts last summer and where we should concentrate our efforts this January. we must have a proven goalscorer. Brighton's thrid highest goalscorer has scored 6 goals which is the same as our top 2 goalscorers, but their second highest goalscorer has 8 and their top scorer has 15 goals. If we could swap our top four goalscorers for Brighton's we would have 12 more goals than we have now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
well endowed owl Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 Always wanted to take part in these conversations, always felt happy reading all the comments from all the different sides, the banter has always amused me, thank you guys and gals.Can't beat wednesday fans, have have been one for many moons. As per the thread so many fans have it spot on, but for me it's Brighton's Manager his knowledge of the Division, good transfer buys. Sorry for all the fans who think CC is what we need, bad transfers, wasting money, strange team selections and playing players out of position, i could go on but not. in my opinion his days are numbered Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captain jack Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 A manager who's already won a promotion from the championship Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i used to be sc_owl Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 Balance as well as sensible recruitment and team selection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Belfast Owl 2 Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 (edited) Fair play to Brighton. Last season was heartbreak for them but they have bounced back in style. They deserve to win the league Edited January 4, 2017 by Belfast Owl 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichieB Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 10 minutes ago, well endowed owl said: Always wanted to take part in these conversations, always felt happy reading all the comments from all the different sides, the banter has always amused me, thank you guys and gals.Can't beat wednesday fans, have have been one for many moons. As per the thread so many fans have it spot on, but for me it's Brighton's Manager his knowledge of the Division, good transfer buys. Sorry for all the fans who think CC is what we need, bad transfers, wasting money, strange team selections and playing players out of position, i could go on but not. in my opinion his days are numbered Yeah but how well endowed are you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simster Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 (edited) Consistency is a great shout. So too is the power of the mighty blue and white stripes. The other thing is we now have an incredibly competitive squad with no big transfer fee players. Well actually, Duffy was £4.5m so that's quite high, but everyone else we've bought has been £2m or less. Knockaert was £1-2m and jumped at the chance to put a nightmare spell in Liege behind him, but I suspect he'd have gone to one of several Championship clubs if they'd come calling. Beram Kayal was £300k from Celtic and was our POTS last time, Stephens arrived for £1m. In terms of transfer fees, I reckon we probably paid around £15m for our squad, although we did sell Ulloa for £10m to Leicester. Obviously none of us have a clue how much our players are actually paid. But regardless, the sustained success of the team over most of the last 6 years suggests that throwing around large sums for transfer fees doesn't seem to be a sensible plan. Looking at a player from the point fof view of team fit, hunger, personality and a generally more money-ball orientated approach is the way forward. One thing I will say is that we were exceptionally lucky with Murray - he is on loan from Bournemouth (they signed him for £3m from the Nigels) and never wanted to leave Brighton for the Nigels in the first place. We have Poyet to thank for that - he binned off 27 goal in league one Murray by refusing to meet his salary demands, and replaced him with the labrador - Craig McKail Smith was an expensive, clueless footballer who ran around a lot and had the touch of a rapist. And how the Nigels would love Murray back now - absolute karma. They can't have him - we're signing him permanently this month. Edited January 4, 2017 by simster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StudentOwl Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 2 hours ago, Skyline said: Really? I'm surprised at that, everytime I watch Brighton they seem to score or come very close from most set pieces. They still managet to get very good balls into a dangerous area from out wide something I think we lack. Agree 100%... I don't want my post to come across as a "Actually Brighton aren't that dangerous at set-pieces", it's just more a highlight that we're a lot better at them than I think people think we are! But yeah, if you compare the Brighton set-piece/consistent aerial threat to ours, there really only is one winner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
well endowed owl Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 14 minutes ago, RichieB said: Yeah but how well endowed are you? Richie B - i have very long tail feathers, hasn't every owl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichieB Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 12 minutes ago, well endowed owl said: Richie B - i have very long tail feathers, hasn't every owl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SallyCinnamon Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 4 hours ago, Stainless1983 said: Dunk & Knockaert. Take them away & they wouldn't be where they are. It's that simple. Im a big fan of Loovens because of his leadership & organisation but Dunk with Lees would be amazing. Knockaert is type of player we've been missing on the wing. Don't personally like the arrogant idiot but they do say the best players have arrogance. Callum McManaman could be our Knockaert, if Carlos lets him play his game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dadams2k11 Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 3 hours ago, SiJ said: Still crying about that one then. Nah not at all funnily enough. Like I said before, I believe everything happens for a reason. 3 hours ago, full fathom five said: NUMBER OF GAMES not one game. Though it does prove the point I'm making that any team missing key players at the same time makes it hard for any team to perform to their best. Them injuries crippled us and I do honestly believe if we didn't have them injuries we would of got, at least, the draw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 Brighton are several years ahead in their development compared to us. We'll get there, it's just going to take some more time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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