Hughton making slow progress in the transfer market.

Posted on June 8th, 2010 | 52 Comments |

Hughton - Maintains there will be signings.
Hughton - Maintains there will be signings.
Chris Hughton has admitted that he is finding life tough in the transfer market as he sets about trying to strengthen the squad for the new Premier League season.

It’s very much a case of nothing new here, as Hughton repeated that the late June or early July time would see us most likely to make our moves in the transfer market, something that he has maintained for some time now. Nobody really knows, apart from those in the know, just what Hughton has to work with in terms of a transfer budget, although Luke Edwards of The Journal seems to think that transfer fees will be sanctioned if they represent a good deal for the club. Having said that, the lack of new faces is something that is becoming alarming for some fans who fear that this window will see us not strengthen at all. Although there is no need to worry, according to Hughton anyway.

“It’s slow at the moment and that is to be expected,” Hughton told The Journal today. “We don’t want to leave things until the last minute, and I don’t think that will happen, but we are also mindful of the fact everybody is waiting at the moment and assessing what they need. I don’t expect anything to happen in the next couple of weeks.”

And Hughton bemoaned the World Cup, by laying claim that the tournament wil be a sticking point in the transfer market in general this close season:

“The fact this is a World Cup year has not helped things move quickly because everybody is waiting to see what happens there as well. The situation is constantly changing though. It’s slow, but things are moving the whole time.”

“There are players out there who are available who we never expected to be available, so that changes your thinking as well.”

So nothing has really changed and the mantra remains the same, end of the month for signings etc etc. So I guess ultimately we are forced into playing a waiting game, however frustrating that may be for fans who want to see some early intention in the transfer market.

Although in fairness, the transfer market in general is pretty slack at the the minute and only a handful of deals have been done. It doesn’t make the wait any easier though as fans want to see just how the team will be equipped for next season. All the signs from Hughton point to arrivals, so with that in mind I guess we just have to play the waiting game that bit longer.

At least we have the World Cup to talk about though eh?

NUFCBlog Author: toonsy toonsy has written 643 articles on this blog.

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Comment on this post

52 Responses

  1. Make of it what you will, but I remember him saying we could steal a march on our rivals in the transfer market due to our early promotion.

    Not case it seems.

  3. Carroll satying at Newcastle, Hughton says there is “no chance” of him leaving, just on SSN a minute ago.

  4. Them comments he has made are heading into puppet territory…just spit it out CH – Mike is not backing you and no decent transfers are in the pipeline.

  6. The 21-year-old striker, who hit 17 league goals in the Magpies’ promotion-winning season, has recently been linked in reports with Chelsea.

    However, Hughton insists he has had no contact from the Premier League champions, telling The Chronicle: “I can say 100% that I have not heard anything from Chelsea, to me that is just speculation.

    Reminds me of the Keegan interview after the Cov Game talking about James Milner before he was sold later that evening :)

  8. Same thing for the last three seasons. Its like the managers are getting told what to say.

    “Market is slow”

    “Taking our time”

    “Finding the right players, doing our homework”

    All that happens is all the best players and bargains get signed up by clubs who got an early start on us and we end up making a couple panic buys and desperate loans in the final hours.
    I honestly think he get the managers to believe this too, then at the end of the season, they realise they got screwed. Hence Keegan walking…

    And some people fall for it every time!

    Shame on you fool me once… Shame on me feel me twice…

    Or you could use the George Bush verion ;)

  11. everyone’s missing the obvious, which CH pointed out:

    “The fact this is a World Cup year has not helped things move quickly because everybody is waiting to see what happens there as well.”

    any potential targets we have that may be playing there (probably few, if any) have their teams waiting to see how well they do in hopes they get inflated values. and any players who aren’t playing are being held for the moment as their clubs decide who they will/won’t pursue.

    I’m honestly not worried at all by the seeming lack of movement. i’m sure we’ll have some movement as we roll into july and the wheels everywhere start rolling.

  12. eastcoastmag says:
    June 8, 2010 at 3:22 pm

    Surely we’ve scouted these players before the WC, though?

    If we have an eye on a player, he should have been scouted and a decision should have been made.

    The WC shouldn’t come into to.

  13. i thought it was was interesting the CH jumped out straight away to say we are keeping carroll but he has not said a single word about taylor with all the huge speculation about him recently.

  14. @ Stu-

    I’m sure we did/are continuing to scout them, but if we’re trying to get a guy playing in the WC, wouldn’t it make sense for the club who has him to wait and see how he does?
    say we’re going after some 4M rated striker from slovakia (just an example) and the guy bangs 8 goals. he just went up in value as others’ heads get turned and interest kicks up.
    that’s the problem with the WC happening.

  15. I can see what Eastcoast is saying. Say we have identified a player that is going to the World Cup, would it make sense for the selling club to sell him now? Or would it make sense for them to hang on to him in the hope his price goes up a bit from his performances at the World Cup?

    If Ashley sold Jonas now, and he had a stormer of a World Cup and his value went up 50% after we sold him, Ashley would get hammered for it. It is the same as the potential selling clubs may be doing.

  16. Craig – Taylor will be offered a new contract, I will get that one out in a bit.

  19. Toon Chicken

    Ye, I’m worse than George Bush… haha.

    That wouldve been a corker!

  20. toonsy says:
    June 8, 2010 at 3:31 pm

    It works both ways so I would imagine the two clubs would come to an agreement pre WC.

  21. Stu – But why would the selling club do that? Why would they limit an increase that they could have?

    I mean, it’s fine saying we will pay x amount if he has a good World Cup, but what if AN other team come along that are so impressed with they player they want to pay x amount and some more?

    Think about our own Jonas, with a current sale value of around £7 million. Would it be good if we accepted £9 million from a club now, if he has a good World Cup, when he could be worth £12 million plus after it?

    Granted the figures may be different, but the theory is that same.

  24. Question for you toonsy , if you were CH n Jonas has a good world cup would you sell him to get extra transfer funds?

  25. Just one question,the transfer rumor of Newcastle targeting Gignac,has it been denied yet by CH????

  26. some of the optimism that was evident post season,now seems to be evaporating by the day.
    if mike ashley lets this fester again like last time,he’s in for a world of hurt.
    is it just me or can people start to feel the ill wind approaching.
    the storm clouds are gathering,you can feel the underlying tension starting to sweep this blog.

  27. will chris hughton have to put out more fires than red adair,before this window closes?.

  29. Aw come on Trojan… the market’s as flat as a witch’s t*t at the moment.

    Remember how heads were down at Christmas gone? Then in January…. in they came and suddenly, doom changed to boom!

    Could Sirjason and Stuart, those ever-cheery optimists, be gettin to ya?

  31. lesh,i’m not really elaborating on the market as such,it’s just the air of tension that is cranking up.
    even jj who’s been one of the more optimistic bloggers has started to waver.
    i’m just playing devil’s advocate to gauge peoples mood.

  35. I think spending will be low-loans and freebies cobbled together with a kid from a top club we can train and send back and fingers crossed hope for survival.

    I don’t see any proper planning being put in place,expect little financial clout to get good players, if that is the case then CH may as well PI55 in the wind.

  36. theres been a lot on SSN today how the prem is going from strenght to strenght,puts a hole in the claim of a few on here that the bubble is gouing to burst

  37. The player can score goals although he is used as more of a second striker come playmaker in the traditonal number 10 role.
    Sounds just what we need…..errrrrrrrrrrrr Next :lol:

    Can’t see that happening AOD.

  38. That’s all I have been hearing Hitman-Seeing Stoke linked with 12M spurs players while we are in battle with Blackpool for a loan player WTF is GOING ON !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  39. Hitman – Really? All I am seeing is how the Bundesliga has overtook the Premier League in terms of profitability?

    Wooden spoon? ;)

  40. nar try and find it out toonsy,i was a bit baffled but the prem is still on the up

  42. deloitte quote..
    Jones added: “The Premier League is fairly even in that sense and that should get even more so in relative terms because the next big increase in television money is in overseas TV rights and that is split evenly between the 20.

    wonder how much money the club will get,any chance you can find out toonsy

  44. Aye, incomes have risen again but profits are the lowest they have been for (10?) years – i’d hardly call that going from strength to strength, hitman.

  46. Hitman – TV money is strange mate, it is very much dependant in how well we perform and how many games are shown.

    You get a flat fee of around £16 million, which is the same for every team, plus around a million pound per live game shown, of which there are 10 guaranteed

    So that is £26 million.

    Then there is the overseas money which is split evenly between all teams, which is around an extra £10 million a year I think? I’m sure I read that somewhere.

    That is £36 million.

    Then you have the performance money, which is extra money for whatever position you finish. Take West Ham, they finished 17th and got £4 million in prize money, which is what we are aiming for as a minimum apparently.

    That makes £40 million in rough figures, and also ties in with what the papers reckon Blackpool will get for promotion this season, so my rough workings have some credit (ish) or at least others seem to think the same as me :D

    The TV money will be going up again at the start of the 2011/2012 season as this new TV deal kicks in. Well it’s in effect now, but the increases in money are being held back for a year for some reason.

  47. The problem with the Prem, and it is only going to get worse until we see more Portsmouths, is that wage inflation is outstripping the income growth.

    When we went down we had 3rd highest wage bill in Prem – ironically finishing 3rd from bottom and having 3rd highest attendances (or 4th cos of MCity?). Think our wage/turnover ratio was unbelievably upwards of 80%. This year we might be able to actually get below last year’s Prem average of 67%. Incredibly Prem operating profits plummeted by half last year, there WILL be more Portsmouths.

  48. TBH I didn’t really think the WC would make much difference to us as I dont expect we will be signing any players that will be taking part in it, But maybe we are in for a big shock in the transfer window ;)

  49. Yeah alright Dave ;)

    I think it means that other clubs will be signing World Cup players, which leave us free to swoop for the unwanted ones that they will be replacing :D

  50. How about this with today’s news in mind:
    Get rid of both Smith and Barton, and bring in Martin Petrov.

  51. Sure things are slow, who the f**k wants to sign for a team with a stated policy of austerity.
    Whoever the dumbass was that laid out the fact we have both a wage and age cap and aint gonna spend shit on transfer fees, unbelievable !
    Let them find out in negotiations, that`s the very reason for negotiations.
    See where that big club Stoke City, have put in a bid of 11m for Pavlyuchenko and are bidding on defender Mouyokolo who IMO is an excellent player.
    11m ? we can only dream of spending that amount in total, never mind on one player.
    Aaaaaarrrrggghhh !

  52. toonsy says:
    June 8, 2010 at 6:33 pm
    Yeah alright Dave

    I think it means that other clubs will be signing World Cup players, which leave us free to swoop for the unwanted ones that they will be replacing

    Well that’s something to look forward too.