There were going to have to be big changes within the squad and with 7 players having already left, there were going to be more transfers. We let striker Mark Cullen go to Ipswich for £250,000 and defender Ethan Ebanks-Landell leave on a free transfer. We needed to strengthen up all positions except maybe up front as I was confident we had the strike power ready to smash in the goals. I also set up loan deals for several of your youngsters at the club as our facilities just weren’t good enough to keep them here and develop well and this allows them to get the game time they need.
Finances were tight and we bad a negative balance of almost £10 million at the end of the season in the Championship. With promotion we needed a new stadium and the board had decided a loan was needed to build this. £28 million was the figure and that meant we had repayments due of £156,000 a month until 2031!!
The chairman saw a need to inject some funds into the club and pumped in a decent figure of £4 million. The great thing was the money that came in from winning the title pushed up our balance from negative to positive because of the TV rights, giving us a massive £58 million. With a new season in the BPL, we needed some transfer funds to be competitive and I was given a transfer budget of £34 million.
Having sold some players and asking for the percentage of transfer revenue to be increased, I was then allowed up to £40 million to operate in the market. This was fantastic news and I immediately sent my scouts out to Brazil. My scouting range had been upgraded and I knew there was a wealth of talent to exploit and automatically found 3 players to bring in.
Winger
Gustavo Acosta, defensive midfielder
Fernando Gomes
and right back
Choco joined for a combined fee of £20 million. This provided us with some much-needed strength in positions that were very weak until now.
Miguel Angel Sarabia was available on a free transfer from Real Madrid and we needed some stronger centre backs. I had to offer him some very high wages but he signed without hesitation, giving me confidence we would be able to have a strong and successful season in the BPL. We also splashed out on central midfielder
Andrea Romano from Torino, signing him for £7 million. Most of these signings are youngsters that will hopefully improve with the game time they are pretty much guaranteed this season.
Ryan McLaughlin joined for £625,000 from Liverpool and
Kenny Tete on loan from Ajax. 3 more players joined us on loan –
Fabian Delph, Daryl Cooper from Manchester United and
Kenneth Lodovica from Ajax. The final signing to complete my preseason transfers was South African centre back
Eric Mathoho. I felt ready with this team and only had to find a back up goalkeeper to provide cover for Krups Jr.