[Salopbaggie]

While probably like everyone I am AGAIN totally left flat by yet another window, but it is what it is and we have get on with it, as will TP and the current squad.

The question I asked is, "are we looking in the right places and for the right players?"

TP seems to only be interested in players with proven Premiership quality and in a way that is understandable, however in the "real world", do the Premiership quality players, who would greatly improve our squad, fit our budget and would be willing to move to Bilston (sorry Bilston) even exist?

Of course we can pick up the occasional Darren Fletcher, but even that type of player is only going to last a year or two, so while they would bridge a gap they are not exactly the foundation for a sustainable, solid squad which you need before starting to create the masterpiece which is going to even get close to challenging the top 6.

Hence my question are we looking in the right places and for the right player?

Is our position really that different to the late 70's? We assembled a title challenging (almost winning) team, which comparatively in today market would not have cost that much when it was assembled.  A more recent comparison would be the signings of Dan Ashworth, when a lot of his signings where accompanied by a chorus from the fans of WHO???

Remember, Mulumbu, Yacob, Olsson, GMac and others,  Ok I had heard of Forster and yes there was the odd player who did not work out or was just useless.
Back then it was a case of "lets get out and look", these days it seems more a case of just two categories of player that are even being looked at,  those getting close to retirement or those that can't even get on the bench at their current club and it appears that we can't even get to much joy from those categories either.

Before people say "We are making offers for good players" yes we are, but if I offer you 60% of the value of something and you know you can get 95 to 100% of your price (unless the offer is from China when you may get 300% of the real value) you are going to tell me where to go.  

Morgan Schneiderlin is a prime example, as if we were even going to come close to getting him for £12 million, even if we had doubled our bid, we would only just be matching the sale price, then we have to convince the player that they would be better off in West Bromwich than Liverpool (towns).

So my conclusion from this is that if we retain the current recruitment method, nothing can change regardless of who is in charge.

Bottom line is, if you can't pay the money then you can't have the goods.

That is not a moan that the club will not spend money, it is a moan that the clubs budget and expectations of the "name" of the player they want, do not match!!

I deliberately use the word "name" because it appears to me that this is what the club is looking at these days, rather than getting out and looking far and wide to find the players who have the ability and the quality, but maybe do not have the name.

Ashworth proved that this model works, indeed it was held up as an example of the way to do things in the modern era and although we may not like it, China is showing that the money is no longer in getting people through the turnstiles. Their entire business model is geared to tv and mass audience, so the size of your ground is getting more and more irrelevant year on year.  

The money these days comes from tv and if your business model does not fit this programme, you will not survive. You will have one of two choices, either you go out and spend the big bucks and bring in the names which demand tv viewer figures or you build a dam good team of unknowns, who can get there on merit and the consequences are extra revenue which means you can then attract the names.  

While a blend of the two is desirable, to my eyes we are concentrating to hard on the names instead of firstly building a solid squad which has a little longevity to it and work from there.

So my number one transfer target and I could justify speeding whatever the asking price is: Dan Ashworth - speciality bringing them in from the left field. (Just a touch tongue in cheek)

In my mind, it is only a matter of time until the world super league is set up, which will of course take the vast majority of the money and tv rights with it and we will either get back to real football or just maybe, be one of those clubs invited to participate in the super league, well let's face it, it would not be very "super" without the Baggies.

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Well said stairs ..... a lot of players just want the big bucks and don't care if they play or not. We often forget that footballers are human too and have families and issues that can effect their work. I have been to work when outside stresses have effected my performance and I wasn't being watched by thousands (hundreds at the custard bowl) of people.

Yeh 4eva, but the consequences of you ******* up at work, would be far more serious then one of these guys messing up on the pitch...... and don't think you are not being watched by millions, no pressure there then .