by JBG » Tue Dec 07, 2004 9:00 pm
I accept Mick's point about our current inability to sign top drawer players for big bucks: we just cannot do it.
However, what we can do is sign a guy for a mid range type of transfer fee and pay him decent wages. Our club is still a massive name and if we are still in the CL, we could attract a reasonable type of player.
However, money is tight and we have to do our homework on who we buy and make sure its money well spent. There are surely a few potentially top drawer players knocking around the leagues of Europe who we should try to pick up without breaking the bank. However, Beattie is DEFINITELY not one of these.
I said it last season and I'll say it again: Beattie had an absolutely brilliant year or so at Southampton, but ultimately I see him in the same category as Marcus Stewart and Kevin Phillips: reasonable players but not really genuine quality.
I'm also unimpressed by his attitude, and the club has wasted too much money in the past on big time Charlies like McAteer, Babb, Kennedy, Ince, Collymore and Julian Dicks.
Jolly Bob Grumbine.