Over the last couple of years our board has stumped up significant amounts of cash to fund the building of the stadium and the absorption of the club's debts. Before next season they'll be stumping up more to put up the cladding that everyone's been clamouring for. I suspect you'll see that once these extraordinary expenses are out of the way and the stadium is bringing in steady money that we'll start competing in the transfer market where fees are involved.
I'll also say that we shouldn't underestimate just how difficult the recruitment situation must have been after losing Eastmond and Graham at the same time, which left us needing to replace two of our best players. The problem was particularly tricky, as both players were British, but neither could realistically be replaced from within the British game. Given that we've been forced to fill up our non-fed quota by replacing those players from overseas, we've been sorely restricted in our options for strengthening the rest of the squad.
Having said all that, we clearly didn't manage this difficult situation terribly well. The Hohaia signing has been a real balls up, and I suspect that if Simmons had known how far Gaskell was going to come on in the months following the signing he may not have bothered with it. Laffranci is a good player, but one who probably isn't being used in the best possible way.
It's not ideal, but I think we need to acknowledge the rough luck the club has had. Everyone is crying out for a big rough prop and a halfback with a kicking game. If Kyle and Jammer hadn't have left (and by all accounts we did everything we could to keep them) we'd have both of those things and two free quota spaces to play with.
