One of the greatest things about being a part of the SB Nation community is the ability to "borrow" ideas from other blogs without ruffling too many feathers. With that in mind, I'm going to borrow one of my favorite contests that Amazin' Avenue runs every year, and put a very WAGNH spin on it.
So here's the deal. We've all seen plenty of Chelsea games this season, and we're all well aware by this point that the Blues are still a work in progress. The squad could use some more depth and quality, and this summer we'll certainly see Michael Emenalo and Jose Mourinho attempt to add both.
We're going to ask you to ignore that pair though, and tell us what you would do if Roman Abramovich handed you the keys to his yacht. We've got this fantastic fanpost section at WAGNH, and today we're asking you to use it. So here are the rules:
- All entries will be due by midnight Graham-time (12 AM PST) on June 10, 2013. That will give you a full two weeks to think about your plan, write it out, proofread, edit, proofread again, and make sure you're fully satisfied with your work. We're giving you a lot of time here, so don't rush.
- We're going to call this the "WAGNH Summer Shopping Spree", so make sure your title starts with the contest name. If that's really too much typing for you, I suppose you can shorten it to WAGNHSSS. One or the other needs to be there though, or you won't be counting towards the contest.
- We need to establish a budget, and we're going to let the outgoing Rafa Benitez do that for us. He hinted a week or so ago that the new manager would have about £100 million in reinforcements coming, so you're going to have £100 million to spend.
- We're not going to worry about wages too much here, we're just going to assume that if we have £100 million to spend on transfers, we'll have the appropriate amount available to pay those players' wages. With that in mind, if you decide to sign a player available on a free transfer, they'd eat a bit into you're available wage budget without impacting your transfer budget. To close that loophole, if you decide to sign an out of contract player, take £5 million off of your available transfer budget because of the higher than normal wages that player will likely command. Also remember that out of contract players from England or Wales under the age of 23 will still have a fee set by tribunal.
- You can increase your budget by selling players we currently have on the books. Try to be realistic here, and don't suggest silly things like getting £30 million for Fernando Torres or £10 million for a guy like Jeffrey Bruma. If you'd throw things at your laptop if Chelsea made the move, odds are it's a ridiculous suggestion.
- As with selling, try to be realistic when coming up with figures to buy new players. Don't suggest paying £30 million to buy Gareth Bale, as there is clearly no chance that Spurs would sell us their best player for anything short of ridiculous money. Nobody is going to quibble about a few million here and there, but try to be realistic here. As a rule of thumb, I'd suggest being a bit conservative with your estimates. The comments section will likely be much kinder to you by doing so.
- You don't need to spend £100 million if you don't feel we need to. You aren't allowed to spend more than that figure though.
- There is no minimum or maximum length for your post, but I'd recommend more than a paragraph or two. Flesh things out, explain why you're targeting the player you're looking at, and don't be afraid to take a little extra time with this. The more effort you put into writing out your plan, the better the discussion of it will likely be.
- Whether or not Chelsea are likely to even consider the move you are proposing doesn't matter at all here. You're in charge. That said, whether or not the other club involved would even consider your proposal is very important here. We're only putting you in charge of Chelsea, other clubs will still be doing what's best for them.
- Be aware or the roster regulations for both the Champions League and the Premier League. Your final squad needs to be something that would actually comply with the regulations set forth by both governing bodies.
- You're also in charge of player development now, so where you're loaning players (and who you're keeping at Chelsea) is entirely up to you. If you want to keep Thibaut Courtois and Romelu Lukaku here while sending Kevin De Bruyne out on loan, more power to you.
- Players you buy for the academy or to send on loan count against your budget. If you finish off our purchase of Ronan from Fluminense, whatever you spend on him has to be subtracted from your £100 million.
- Ignore the manager. We're going to assume for this that Jose Mourinho is coming, and he's only here to coach the squad. Don't worry what he thinks about players, and don't worry about the manager in your budget.
- Any moves that seem all but finished but haven't been completed as of right now (Lazar Markovic and Andre Schurrle spring to mind) shouldn't be counted as Chelsea players (unless you want to make that signing and count it against your budget). Any players that Chelsea happen to sign before 12 AM on June 10 should be treated the same way. If they weren't a Chelsea player when I hit post on the rules of this contest, they don't factor into the contest unless you choose to buy them. The same goes for anyone Chelsea sells...if they are a Chelsea player when I hit post, they are your player to do as you choose with.
- Proofread. Spellcheck. Add images, videos, graphs, charts, and gifs. Your post will look better, generate more discussion, and be far more likely to win.
After the contest ends, we're going to have to pick a winner. Here's how that is going to work. The writers here at WAGNH are going to read every single one of these submissions, and we're going to select the five we feel are the best. We're then going to present those five to the community for a vote, and let you guys select the winner. All of the top five submissions will be featured on the front page of WAGNH, so take your time and make it look good.
As an added incentive, we're working on coming up with some sort of prize for this thing. I have no idea what we'll come up with (if anything), but we're working on it. With that in mind, please take your time with these and make them something you'd be proud to put your name to. Rec the ones you like. Be civil in the comments sections. Most of all though, just have fun with this.