Doug O'Kane transfer update

I think you need to take a look at our financial accounts up to May 2020 and see how much cash had dwindled. I think we showed something like £770k in the bank at that point, down from around £5/6m I think 2 years earlier. Thats not far off being 2 years out of date now.

We've then had the pandemic. Things like the £1m+ compensation from the MacDonald fiasco. Very nominal player sales in that time to try and plug sizeable operating losses which have to be subsidised by player trading.

We can only guess what sort of mess we're in, but given the penny pinching seen from the Kane loan out and the West Stand debacle, I suspect we're in a very big mess unless we can offload some high earners and bring some transfer fees in.

 

Overspending this window is an incredibly dangerous game...

I'd rather get relegated than be stuck trying to plug a gap of a few million next season... It would be hard to manage even if we stayed up, if we get relegated it would be nigh impossible.

 

I suspect, like his immediate predecessor, that he realises he has made a mistake. His way out may be more difficult though, given we can hardly sack another manager. Can we?

 

These are our issues this season. It's not an Schopp thing, or an Asbaghi thing.

1) Average of 1 through ball per game.

2) Not enough shots in and around the penalty box.

3) Clarke Oduor has our second highest number of assists with 2. (Brittain has 3)

We're just not creating anything.

 

I wouldn't worry on the overspending front if I were you!

 

The truth is through their total incompetent and inept running of the club the board have put it in a very precarious position. They meddled in the tactical side of things in the summer by ordering a style change instead of leaving decisions on footballing matters to people with the qualifications and experience to make decisions like that and that as led to a catastrophic change in on field performances and results. The recruitment in the summer was terrible both on the field, in the dugout and in the most senior management role at the club. To top it all off they've also managed to further piss off just about every supporter with a series of PR disasters. It seems everytime they manage to look like they know what they are doing and have the fan base on side and things are going well on the field they find new ways to completely ******** things up. They may not be deliberately trying to run the club into the ground but they are making a bloody good job of making it look like they are.

 

I don't doubt that there may be a decline in the club's finances currently but if so that belies some further spectacular mismanagement and unfulfilled promises/untruths imho.

The club has removed roughly around £2.5m a year in wages with the players that have departed on transfers, contract expiry (inc Mowatt), loans and been released by my estimation (which will be precisely wrong but broadly right). Around £3m was brought in from the fees for Val, Murray, Craplin etc and the additional season ticket sales must have brought in at least another £1m which was unbudgeted. Add to that the fact that we had a number of (too)-well paid vacancies for a good while. Therefore, without even mentioning the other £750k, if we are struggling financially that's some pretty hopeless mismanagement.

We were also clearly told at the time of the Val and co and Conor C departures that the proceeds would be fully re-invested into playing strength. This has palpably not happened (Oulare, Hondermarck and Cole were frees, I can't believe we are paying any more, hopefully less, in loan fees for Gomes and Vita than we are receiving for the c. 10 who we have out on loan and that just leaves Benson and Iseka, the latter whose fee was again reduced by our negotiation/acceptance of a big sell on clause).

So for me, this is the right attitude and giving it at least a right good go should be both the priority and ought to have been manageable with any degree of competency.

From next Wednesday we have 5 games in 18 days (covid permitting) and any decent management of the club would have been moving heaven and earth to ensure that we have, at the very least, some midfield strength and experience and some pace and strength up front in place before then. These are not new issues, they have been evident since the early months of the season and should have been being worked on for weeks.

The fact that we are nowhere near bringing anyone in to give us a fighting chance is hopefully the final act of inaction of these incompetent charlatans in charge. I'm convinced that if change does not come before next season then the remnants of this squad will go straight through division 3 and out the other end and into a fight for survival in the bottom league.

 

I'm not, I don't think we'll do any spending, it was more of a cautionary tale to the folk on here that think we should spend our way to survival.

 

Given the number of people who are insistent they will not renew for next season, the wage bill will surely have to be reduced by an incredible amount if we are to stay afloat. I accept that some players will have a relegation clause built into their contracts, but still.

 

I suspect you're right, that relegation clauses are in most if not all contracts. But there's probably only so far they can be cut. If we keep our better players in the hope we stay up but then end up going down, we have the double bind of a lesser length player contracts while also giving them a pay cut.

We had such clauses when we last got relegated and still made a huge operating loss keeping the squad together. This time, we don't have the luxury of the Cryne cash buffer.

 

Good that lol.

 

Lol

 

Yeah I think Ritzmare was on a good wage. If he was on £2.50 a week it would have been too much.

 

Surely Poya had all the position of strength before he was recruited?
He seemed to be under no pressure to leave Sweden, was doing a half decent job for the U21, so would have thought he would be able to say he wouldn’t take the job without reinforcements promised.

 

Doubt there's a relegation clause from the way he's talking. How long a contract does he have?

 

I don't know, he was part of the group that kept us up against all the odds. I wasn't particularly sorry to see him go, but if he'd scored the goal Oduor did against Brentford all would have been forgiven.

 

"final act of inaction"?

 

Is said well before xmas that we should be looking at january as an opportunity to shape the squad for a promotion challenge from division one back to the championship , we should try to trim the squad & try to obtain the talent now for next seasons challenge , by doing this it could give us an advantage over our division one rivals & steel a march , I accepted that we were down two months ago & I am sure our owners have , so lets not dally into the summer lets lay the foundations for next season now .

 

That's an interesting comparison, particularly for next year.

Accrington Stanley: The Club that have the finest 'fan experience' of any team in the entire football league.
Barnsley: As above but replace 'best' with 'worst'.

Still, gives us something to aim for.

 

Yes, irony, ironically