The Plan and the future

Did anyone on this thread read the report via Twitter on BFC’s financial viability? We don’t sell players, we go under. Simple.

 

That's absolutely not what I've said, you've picked up on one part of the post and used it to make a non point. How refreshing.

Why not tell me what you expect and what changes you'd like to see, you know.... discuss like an adult?

 

Reality is that there isn’t actually much of a middle ground in modern football.

 

I reckon we were all quite pleased with regard to how the team played last season - there were 22 other teams with what appeared to be the same objective at the start - to get promoted.

We were one of the best.

We are now in the division we realistically can best expect to be.

We all know that we have a certain business model. If we perpetually see dosh disappearing out of the coffers then you may be right, but it's too early to discern an outright policy of plunder and rape on the part of our owners.

Let's give it a bit more time to see whether they think they can speculate to even further accumulate.

 

I would suggest that although selling players at a profit is the main crux of the plan, it could be argued that that will lead to natural progression and improvement of the team. We sell for profit, use the profits to buy slightly more expensive prospects then we previously were, eventually sell them for more profit, rinse, repeat while we experience slow and steady improvement to the team in the long term.

I admit that the evidence isn't there yet to prove my suggestion, but we're what 2 years into the new ownership? The evidence isn't there either to prove that there is no plan other than profit.


Edit- I should say that I do think the ultimate plan for the owners is profit..there not here because of the weather. Although ultimate profit for them and us being in a better situation than when they arrived are not mutually exclusive.

 

We got "lucky" a few times in this post.. I'd suggest it's not luck, they know what they're doing.

 

I'm not accusing them of taking money from the club.

 

Didn't we just enjoy a record breaking season winning lots of games and ultimately promotion?
Have we not signed lots of players this summer intending to win games?
Have I slipped into a coma since the opening day and missed 30 games of which many were defeats and we have won no more?
It's August the 22nd and you're on a real old downer here lad.

 

Well if they aren't taking owt out, it must be still there for the benefit of our club then?

 

It's a nice thought. Unfortunately, I think the team is now significantly weaker than the one that got us promoted. Which is exactly the same position as the last time we were promoted to this division when we severely weakened the side that won us promotion,

 

I don't know. I don't know what the end game is. But I have no evidence at all that they're plundering money from the club and I'm not accusing them of that.

 

Fly in the ointment. We sold Kieffer for 3-4m and spent 1m on Schmidt! Profit is all the owners are here for. Exactly why Nice fans jumped all over our owners whoever they tweeted stuff.

 

The above completely ignores the very real possibility that the players referred to wanted out.
I disagree with many of your points above also.
It reads very cynically which is why I agree that yes you do lean towards Jay in terms of thinking.

 

Yes, and we've let the heart of that team go. For profit.

No, we really, really haven't. We've signed lots of players with potential resale value. If they win games this season, it's a bonus, but it's not why they were signed.

 

Maybe they'll go wild in January. With the money from the Woodrow sale.

 

It's like when a financial advisor asks if you want to invest for growth or for income. The owners are investing for growth.
And the stocks (players) you pick for your fund - some will go up and some down. It'll be a rocky path, with peaks and troughs. Etc. There's a slight dip at the moment, because we have a lot new players, which causes the usual emotional reactions on here, but the overall trend is upwards.

You could say they're like venture capitalists, acquiring a stake in firms (players) with high growth potential.
Venture capitalism is risky, but by taking the risk these players acquire experience at Championship level and that itself should make them more valuable. In theory, as all the money is re-invested, so no operating profit is made, there should be an upward trend in the quality of the 21 year olds we are willing to play.

 

Not really as explained in the examples.

We left ourselves short in the Woodrow / Bradshaw example. The head injury Moore got in the New Year or any kind of muscle or impact injury can come at anytime, that comes in September & we’re up **** creek.

There was no plan for Brown to take over from Potts, he only got a game on the right wing because Hedges was really poor when he took Potts spot. If Hedges would’ve been even OK then I’m pretty certain it’d have been him & Green who joined a couple of weeks later competing for the right wing spot & Brown would’ve never got a game there.

Just because you get lucky doesn’t mean you are always making the right calls.

I don’t think there’s been too much to judge the owners on up to now with the majority of the squad signed under Patrick Cryne until this summer, it’ll be interesting to look back next summer & see how the signings have got on.

 

I don’t think securing second place over the course of a 46 game season and going unbeaten at home has anything to do with luck. Everything last season was earned on merit alone.

 

All our players want to leave for more money. I don’t think that’s up for debate. I’m not ignoring it I just don’t mention that because I think everyone knows that already. I just see it as irrelevant whether they want out or not when they’re under contract for 2 or more years like Potts & Moore were.

It’s still a strange one to grasp for me & many others when several foreign millionaires & billionaires want to take over a small town English club that they have no connection to & seemingly want to run it sensibly & make a small (very small by their standards) profit each year through player sales.

We’re 18 months on & it still doesn’t make much sense. I don’t think any of us expected them to throw money around stupidly but things like gambling a £6m+ increase in revenue through promotion by selling Brad Potts in January for roughly a third of that seems bizarre when you consider their wealth.

I’m not accusing them of been crooks or having ulterior motives I just don’t understand it.

You would think that if all they are after is to make money that they wouldn’t even bother with football & would continue to make much more money through however they’ve built their wealth.

Chien Lee’s the main man in terms of wealth & the percentage of the club he owns but I think he’s been to Oakwell twice? And very rarely mentions us on Twitter yet would comment on the Nice result every time they won.

In most cases there’s a clear goal / reason, Mike Ashley wants to rake the prem money in & get free advertising, Delia’s a Norwich fan, Sheik Mansour wanted to build the best club in the world at City, Brentford & Bournemouth’s owners want to spend big & be in the prem etc.

 

Of course we earned promotion & deserved it but luck’s involved in everything.

If we sell our first choice winger & the back ups poor so our back up striker plays there & surprises everyone then there’s an element of luck in that.

I’m not trying to diminish our achievement, it makes it more impressive that we went up despite the board flogging one of our best players & us ending up with a back up striker playing there