Again, agree with you both, and hopefully this summer we can strike the balance between cracking open the war chest and doing it on the cheap.
We must continue to be astute and smart in what we do, but we do also need to acknowledge that we played our best football with players who are no longer at the club: Colclough, Newby, Conn-Clarke, Jennings, Oyedele, Mullarkey specifically. Mooney, Senior and Hancock last season, three players who are still yet to be replaced permanently.
Serious money needs to be spent this summer if we want to replace them and progress - not in every signing, and we've shown we can really pick a player with the superb acquisitions of Marriott, Senior, Mullarkey, Linney, Lundstram etc - but we can't spend the first few months of the season looking at the likes of Sami and Kaja on a free again. Not at this level.
For every Conn-Clarke there's a Cashman, every Newby a Gyasi, and if we end up in that situation next season we can't guarantee that it's going to click as it did this time around. We got away with it this season because we got 5 months out of Ryan and were lucky to put together that RC-CCC-Newby-Jennings side for a good run. If Maxi Oyedele wasn't up to it in the second half of the season, we may well have been dragged into the scrap.
It's evident at Southampton, who have rebuilt numerous times in the Premier League after losing their better players (Van Dijk, Shaw, Mane, Wanyama, Forster, Clyne, Alderweireld, Lallana, Schneirderlin, Lovren...) that time finally runs out on clubs that aren't able to retain and attract.
There are similarities there in who we've lost in the past couple of seasons and we simply have to replace the quality like-for-like (Colclough aside, that's pretty much impossible) or we could be in serious trouble next season. We're walking a tightrope.
It sounds more negative than it is, I'm excited, and I know we're progressing. It's a huge summer ahead and I've full confidence in what we're doing but it really is a mammoth task and our most important window since 2017/18. I know Rob, Phil, Neil, Cathal and others will be working tirelessly.
Sorry this has turned into an overdue end-of-season retrospective (wasn't the plan when I started my dinner break!) but that's just where I think we're at!
Up the Alty.