Like putting a Bentley gearknob on a Trabant, at the moment.
Hughes is well out of his depth here. How will he form a team full of those reprobates around a midfield like that? And why is he flogging Jo and Elano (ignoring the REAL reason that Ben Hiam needs to find another job) just because he can't get along with them? Can you imagine any of the really good managers doing that after six months of trying? If Ferguson managed to avoid dressing-room tension after the last World Cup, Hughes should be able to get these mini-egos into shape.
Defence wins games these days and we've got nothing like the class we need to compete at any level.
No wonder the current team can't win a game; they must feel like turkeys waiting for Christmas. Once (if) the expensive new signings come in, the old hands will be on the bench forever. They must feel completely demoralised, and it will get no better once they're playing alongside guys on ten times their wages. It seems to be working with Robinio, but I'm sure that will prove to be an exception.
And another thing...
If the authorities bring in rules about the wage bill being inside a certain percentage of the business' turnover, pumping money in will simply not be an option. As far as I know, the club still only gets the gate receipts up to the capacity of Maine Road, the rest goes to the landlords. TV revenues might be okay once some big names appear, we seem to be getting more than a fair share of fucking Sunday and midweek televised games already (which, in turn, fuck up the attendances), but there's bound to be a shortfall once a few £12 million per year wage bills start coming in. Selling a few more shirts to the Saudis won't make up the rest, we'll be entirely reliant on cup runs or be forced to shed our shiny new players to get the wages down.
And another thing...
No, that's it.
Do I win £40,000,000?