Their Niang-Pagis attack which led them to the UEFA Cup is now gone. Niang was sold to Marseille for a lousy 7 million Euros. Strasbourg has no ambition. Pathetic. I feel sorry for their fans. Me think their UEFA Cup run will be short. If that club had any ambition that duo would not have been broken up. Sold for 7 million to a team thats not even in the Champions League ? Sad.
7 million euros.... Hard life ain't it? Jesus christ. They cashed in. Just like they did for Ljubo et al. They will never be able to muster large sums of money all the time and they got a good price for Niang. They sold when the iron was hot and interest was high. A year ago, they could have gotten 4m tops. 7m is hardly a pathetic sum of money - given the context of the move. Whether or not Marseille are in the CL or not is totally irrelevant. It's Marseille. The majority of players in France will not want to turn down the chance to play in front of 55,000 people in the Velodrome. Good luck to him, that's all I can say. Strasbourg can continue to buy some players with the incoming cash.
Two seasons ago, Niang was hired for 600 000 €. That's a 6 400 000 € positive deal for us (plus the two excellent seasons he made with us). I hardly call this "pathetic". You seem to forget that soccer is also a business. If you'd give me 6 400 000 €, you'd have the right to call me "pathetic" all the way you want . Strasbourg is not a rich team, and it has a relatively small fan-base. In short : we take the cash were we can find it. Ismael in Bremen, Luyindula in Lyon, Ljuboja in Paris, Niang in Marseille... nothing personal, just business. And, as Ganu said, Niang WANTED to play in Marseille. You can't make a player play against his own will. Forced labor is not legal in France : if the guy wants to leave, he has the right to do so. After this, it's only a matter of big numbers.
Great points. Business is business and for a club like Strasbourg that cash has to be vital. It appears Marc Keller is doing a great job with the club as well, says the West Ham supporter.
Marc Keller is a real business shark. Recently, he fired his own boss* and should take the job as full-time chairman/manager. Ambitious chap. Let's hope it's for the good of the team. * More precisely, he convinced the owners to fire the guy (Philippe Ginestet). See, in french : http://fr.sports.yahoo.com/050604/1/7ndg.html No need to watch thrillers on TV, when your team is run like that.
I think that Strasbourg is exactly like 96% of all football clubs in the world, just trying to stay afloat. Compare France to Holland. If a good player is on a team outside the big three (PSV, Ajax and Feyenoord) usually he is sold for a nice profit for the club. Very few teams have the ability to simple throw money at players and not be deeply concerned with profits made from transfers. Just good business. Plus if Niang really wanted out, the last thing a team wants is a disgruntled player whose price will decrease while he plays poorly.
Well, I doubt you'll like what you see... They are going to struggle to stay in L1 next year. They just don't have the economics to be a player... yet.... maybe ever. When blockbuster potential deals are Sonny Anderson coming at 35 years old, you can see the problem. The fans in Nancy love their soccer, and it is the cheapest ticket in France. There will be 20,000 at every home game next year, because the club has whored out its season ticket prices. There need to be teams like this in France or anywhere. I just hope they can mimick what a team like Bolton in England did over a five year period.
Hey look Toulouse and Rennes are showing a lot more ambition than Strasbourg is. I dont see those 2 teams selling their best players to league rivals. Its all about ownership and Strasbourg dont have a commited owner.
"Ambition" does not mean holding on to your best player even when he doesn't want to be there (can you imagine how he would perform if he's not happy where he is? His price would probably drop, and it would be bad business). A smaller club like Strasbourg is capable of doing alot with 7 mil.