Pompey refused the temptation to ‘pay over the odd’ last summer when it came to recruiting players, which we clearly had in the past, and this is the intention to be followed again this month.
Which is how it should be!
Ok, maybe it is just as well we did not pay over the odds as a number of the summer recruits simply do not warrant paying anything, let alone more than is ‘realistically’ due them for players of their so-called ‘stature’ but I am glad to hear Mark Catlin today reassure us that we will not be tempted down this avenue this month regardless of our needs…
Clearly arrivals are needed, we need to make sure that we get enough in to stave of the threat of relegation, but we cannot do this at literally ‘any costs’.
Previous has shown us that ‘paying for the best’ was not always getting that best, and if those players are under contract then they will, quite rightly as they are entitled to, continue to take that money unless they move on or agree a payoff.
There is no assurance that relegation will be avoided again, I do not think that any of us are naïve enough to feel that Pompey have some divine right to avoid this – we did not manage this previously did we, so to think that we are ‘too good’ or ‘too big’ to go out of the football league would be completely wrong.
I of course hope we do avoid this, but the last thing we could afford to do, if the worst case happened, would be to go out of it having given contracts to players this month that are beyond our means and beyond their ability…
Catlin is also right that Pompey have no ‘god given right’ to get players because of our stature, and whilst I do agree in the main with him that players will go where the money is I do retain my thoughts that Portsmouth football club is still a good attraction to players and some will come here due to who we are and not what we pay.
Patience, and the standing of our ground on our payment stance is the way to go this month – but lets not forget it is not the end of the world if we do not manage to attract players this month, the loan window reopens in February anyway.
What is imperative is that whatever we do bring in this month is going to be the right players, on the right contracts on the right money…
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