Jeez these Torquay fans are a bitter lot, I had a lot of respect for them until I went having a read about Bodin on their forum, admittedly Mr Flashheart has done his best to wind them up a little but thats a given, they are biting and biting massively.
I don't doubt that they (Swindon) have a lot more resources than most (all?) sides that this level, but the manner they are spending it is frivolous and wasteful. You can get out of this division spending a lot less than £500k on transfer fees alone, and there's no way a L2 side needs 6 better strikers than Billy Bodin. If a player like Bodin comes through your own youth setup with the talent he's got then he should definitely be in your plans, not reliant on whether or not the manager can bring in 6 better players and if he can offload Billy. Di Canio doesn't care for the club's long term future, he just wants as much money as possible in his budget so he can buy promotion, but someone at the club should be controlling the money going out. No club in L2 needs SIX strikers ahead of Bodin in their squad, so to let the youth striker go just to spend big money on a replacement is pointless and a waste of £150K up front and then probably £2k every week for the next few years.
These clubs will soon learn, it came to Plymouth, it's come to innumerate clubs in the past, it's even come to Premier League Portsmouth. They will spend like there is no tomorrow and end up hovering over the precipice. To justify that sort of money, they need to be in the Championship (and doing well there too) within three years and that is VERY unlikely to happen. Even if it does, they'll get a reputation as a rich club willing to pay big money and bigger wages and have a book of 30 players. Unless they go on to be a real force in the Championship for a number of years, it will all come crashing down around them.
Don't believe me? Think clubs reach 'critical mass' where they are simply too big to go under? I refer you to our 'friends' in green not 40 miles distant.
The post above is just about as spot on as any post gets. Swindon do not need 7 strikers. Manchester United don't even need 7 strikers. If you have seven of every position, you need a minimum of (obviously) 77 players. Each on an average of £500/week (a low estimate, I'll venture), that's £38,500/week in player wages alone. You're talking over £100,000/week to run the club. That's £5,200,000/year in net profit required just to break even!
Enjoy it while it lasts Swindon, because 6 or 7 years from now, you'll be battling Plymouth and Crawley, and all the other clubs presently being run by idiots, for promotion from the Blue Square South.*
Matt.
*Meanwhile, 'little' Torquay United will be happily plodding along, probably somewhere in the middle of L1, three divisions above these 'giants' of the game and making a small, but neat, profit each year.
Spending 6 figures on Alan Connell was not a wise investment, you certainly won't be getting a return on that.
If Swindon don't get promoted this year it will be ridiculous with the number of signings they've made - big money signings too. Connell was circa £150k, Constable is going to be that again at least, Rooney is also 6 figures, and with the others it must be over half a million. To have a cracking youngster like Billy, who's future at the club is entirely out of his own hands and controlled by how many big money strikers are brought in ahead of him, is a crazy (and unhealthy) way for a L2 side to operate.
He tried to get Constable off Oxford (play-off contenders)
He has got Rooney off Gills (play-off contenders)
He won't let us have Bodin (play-off contenders)
My guess would be that Di Canio will go after a Shrewsbury player next or, if he sets his sights a bit higher, one from either Southend or Cheltenham.
Connell never is or was worth the money you paid for him. Constable himself is a pretty limited footballer as well. If you are offering 150K I'm suprised Oxford won't rip both your arms off to grab it. Ask yourself why Constable has spent most of his career at League 2 and below?
