Poyet hits back at claims Albion are big spenders (From The Argus)

Poyet hits back at claims Albion are big spenders

5:00pm Friday 27th April 2012 in Sport By Andy Naylor

Gus Poyet has revealed the extent of the financial odds he has been fighting against to steer Albion into the top ten of the Championship.

The Seagulls will finish between eighth and 11th, depending on tomorrow’s last match of the season at Barnsley and other results.

They are guaranteed to be above much bigger spenders such as Ipswich, whose fans mocked Albion’s supposed financial muscle with a banner when they visited The Amex in February.

Poyet told The Argus: “People talk and think we’ve got more money than we have really got. There are for sure 15 teams better than us in budget and a few of them, or even most of them, even double.

“Ipswich had a player who played in the back four that played against us twice who is earning more than my whole back four but they (fans) came here with a big banner saying it’s not all about money.

“Well Ipswich fans I can tell you now if you didn’t know you have got double the budget of ours, confirmed, proven, so I think people are taking Brighton the wrong way which means if we finish in the top ten it’s an unbelievable season.

“If somebody wants to read it in a different way then you are not being realistic, very naive, and you don’t have a clue how it works.

“Even if you put transfers on top we are still 15th or 16th. I am not crying, I accept it, I just want people to know where we are standing.”

Poyet is hoping for a “nice surprise” when he sits down with chairman Tony Bloom next week to discuss the budget for next season and summer recruitment.

He said: “Our list is not massive because I want players with specific qualities in a salary range which is not the highest in the division and are a certain age and not too expensive (fee).

“To get one of your top two choices is very difficult. Most of the time you don’t, so you got for the third or fourth choice, so it’s not easy to be the head of football operations for my team because it’s not just about filling a position.

“We buy players with certain qualities and the better we do that job the better the team we’ll have, so we’ll see if we can achieve that. It’s not going to be easy.

“Normally you are going to try to buy a player, if he is British, that is proven in this division who is playing well.

“That costs money and we can compete with six or eight teams and we are not able to compete with the other 14 or 15. That’s the reality.”