Llambias ”talar ut” – Del 3: Januarifönstret
Idag spinner vår artikelserie vidare med Derek Llambias intervju med två lokala tidningar. Denna gång kommer det främst att beröra det nyss avslutade januarifönstret som lämnade många frågetecken efter sig.
När januarifönstret för spelarövergångar stängde för en dryg vecka sedan var det många fans som undrade vad klubbens ambition var denna säsong. Facit från övergångarna var att Peter Lövenkrands, Ryan Taylor och Kevin Nolan hade anslutit samtidigt som Charles N’Zogbia och Shay Given hade lämnat. Medierna rapporterade om en £7,6 miljoners vinst under januaris spelaraffärer och många frågade sig vad för signaler det sänder ut när vi är indragna i en bottenstrid.
Det har medfört att klubbens ledning fått utstå kritik av så väl medier som klubbens egna supportrar men nu har Llambias försökt förklara varför det blev som det blev. Så här uppges han ha sagt enligt dagens upplaga av The Journal:
“Relegation is a major fear for us too, but we did try to get the players the manager wanted in the transfer window,
“We aren’t a selling club, we’re a buying club. We are out there in the market. We never said no to any requests. We tried to get Michael Johnson in all sorts of different ways. We tried cash and we tried players. We tried for Nedum Onuoha and we tried for Elano.
“But none of those combinations came off. It’s a terrible window that upsets everybody, so for us, we couldn’t actually spend the money we had.
“We tried as hard as possible to get players in a short period of time. Whatever players the manager has asked for, he’s had, or at least we’ve made an offer and tried to get a deal done.
“Are we disappointed we didn’t get another midfielder? Yes. Are we disappointed we didn’t get another right-back? Yes. But that window is so awkward, although we will be going back in the summer for certain individuals that we went for in the summer.
“We started working (on possible transfers) on day one, from way before the window opened. We did try for another midfielder – Kieran Richardson – and we tried for Ebondo at Toulouse.
“When we were about to sign the papers (on the Ebondo deal), they (Toulouse) doubled the price to £6m, it was obscene. Absolutely obscene – it was because they thought we were so desperate we’d pay it. Because of what happened in the window we have money to spend on transfers. It’s money we’d have spent anyway, but we have money to spend in the summer.
“You have to understand it from Mike’s point of view. Mike inherited players who were bought under the condition of instalments and we’ve had to pay for them. Our net spend is £38m over the last four windows.”
Han fortsatte sedan att prata om den kommande sommaren och vad som kommer att ske om vi nu klarar oss kvar:
“There is £8m there (from January transfers) and it will be spent in the summer, as will the next instalment (£4m) for James Milner. Mike isn’t afraid to spend money out of his own pocket either. "
Till sist så klargjorde han också varför ledningen gjorde en snabbvisit i Dubai under de månader som klubben var till salu.
“The Dubai story? Dear, oh dear. We were drinking in a bar and that was it – there was no meeting, we weren’t supposed to be in a meeting.”
Håll utkik efter del fyra som publiceras senare idag.
