Wonderboys manager insists long term strategy is best for club
Billy Whizz's Wonderboys manager Billy Whizz has strongly defended his minimalist transfer approach for this season's update. As was exclusively revealed on the Wonderboys official blog yesterday, Whizz has opted against mass change in pursuit of star players, instead insisting that the Wonderboys strategy was decided 'seasons ago', and the club must stick to it, however attractive the short term benefits may appear.
"The chairman and I decided that considerable investment in the development of youths was the best way forward for the club. In the long term, many assets will be produced, and that is the difficulty at the minute, we have very few sellable assets, and therefore we are spending very large amounts of money, with what seems to be no payback. However, when you look at it, we've got some smashing players coming through, and will be pushing for first team places in a couple of seasons. That's the benefits in what we're doing"
After finishing 8th in the 5.10 table, the Whizzers will receive a 41m payout from their sponsors, after the season update on Monday, which Whizz says will be used to buy 'one, possibly two players'. A keeper will be a number one priority, following the proposed sale of Khalid Shehata, however new signings are thought to be unlikely at this stage, and one source told the blog that any arrivals would be seen as 'bonuses', and would be likely to be funded through player sales.
This has left critics to suggest that progress for the Wonderboys would be 'painfully slow, if at all', and the source admitted that promotion next season would be 'doubtful', and explained Whizz's dilemma:
"He knows that we need a new defender, and a new striker, but he's not prepared to sell 4 or 5 players, at slashed prices, just to achieve this. It's difficult, because the club just doesn't have the funds. All the money is being pumped into YD, and we will see no players from that for a couple of seasons, at least, so there is no surplus cash floating around"
The Wonderboys finished the season on a bum note, losing to 13th placed Wensley Wanderers 2-1, despite an early Luke Groves goal. Slack finishing and defending saw the Wanderers run out deserved winners, as the Wonderboys sorely missed Inchingolo, Meredith, and Hawthorn, who was injured after just 15 minutes.