It's a difficult one. 5 years ago we seemed to follow The Spreadsheet, but it was filtered to League One/Two and Scotland - and we had so much success (this isn't a tek our country back Britain First post). We signed Hourihane, Winnall, Bradshaw, Watkins, Mawson, Roberts, Pinnock, Lindsay, Yiadom, Malan, Davies, Roberts, Scowen plus more I've forgot from this avenue. Is our change in policy simply because more and more clubs are doing this and so prices are inflated? I don't know. But most of those players hit the ground running and didn't have to get used to a different language/culture etc and so we're available straight away. No lies about visas or fitness either. Maybe this is easier to do when you're in League One? I dunno. I don't even know my point really.
Wasn't sure if it had already been done... No worries, I've got a free evening tomorrow, I'll watch it from start to finish and see if there's any mention of the owners definitely not being willing to put their own money into the club to prevent their investment going bust.
I think the fact that we were in League 1 had a lot to do with it, giving them a chance to establish themselves in a lower level. As Mowatt also did. That said, I think we're still trying to spread what little we have too thinly in some areas, while having little cover in others. Look at the forwards we had at the start of the season. There was Thompson, Bremang and Marsh in the u23s, probably hoping to have the occiaisional chance off the bench this season. But ahead of them we had Woodrow, Morris, Frieser, Oulare, Iseka, Cole, Adeboyejo, Miller and it turned out Odour, ahead of them fighting for 5 or 6 spots in the matchday squad. As well as Thomas, Schmidt and Aitchison out on loan. Also, I think we only have 6 players in the squad aged 25 or over. 5 are forwards.
This is exactly my position. Along with the £750K debacle, which Gally inferred had been agreed as part of the sale, and was simply a way of paying back loans that Patrick had made to the football club. This being the case, I still don't understand why it was necessary to do this via a loan from the football club to the HK company, which was subsequently written off. As things stand, the futility of the 'business model', in combination with still having no formal explanation from the club for the above transaction, has put me in a position where I see no future financial relationship between the club and myself unless and until there are significant changes (of a positive nature).
If our last two sets of accounts have highlighted anything about our financial position in the Championship, it's how small our numbers are (turnover, wages, transfers, etc) relative to the vast majority of the division. They also highlight how significant an amount of £750k is to our overall financial state, where it would be a trivial amount for many other clubs, relative to their overall debt levels. Ultimately, given this significance, this is why I'm unlikely to ever accept that it was a reasonable or justifiable decision on any of the owners' part to allow that sum of money to be removed from the football club for non-footballing reasons. Additionally, no-one from within the club has yet made any statement to confirm that the residual £2.75m balance owing to the Cryne family will not be paid via the same route. Consequently, like you, I'm not prepared to invest a further penny into the club as a customer while that situation exists.
They have also made good money out of Val , Hecky & Struber which cannot be left out of any equation .
For me the issue is that everyone is trying to buy these players now. So the price has gone up and we can’t compete. So we have to look elsewhere. I could be wrong but I think the days of nicking the top players with decent game time from lower league teams is over as teams bigger than us are picking them up. Or even just that owners of these teams are realising the potential in players and asking daft money. Where that leaves us I’m not sure?
It brings us to where we are.. higher league academy cast offs joining our academy and hope they make the grade.. Even tho Palmer Moon and Odour may not be championship standard, they must really go down as a success, for at least they made it through to first team. Too many to mention have fallen by the way side. And also higher league loans whether Conway likes it or not. Both these models work better in L1, which I think everyone realises if their honest.. Not that I hope we go down because I don't. But in the 2020s with finances in the championship as they are, we are a L1 club.
All in the accounts apart from VI compensation. Somewhat offset by Schopp compensation and payoff, plus Asbaghi compensation. So likely circa £1m contribution to a £7-8m cash deficit.
This question has been asked before, to Dane Murphy though. That interview isn’t online anymore, but paraphrasing the answer he didn’t rule out the owners putting their own money in - but that they would only ever do it as a last resort when all other investment avenues had been explored.
Agree. Again paraphrasing. Chien Lee told of the owners looking over their whole portfolio of clubs and highlighting the areas in need of investment and drive in certain areas. Funds are invested where needed. However, the aim is the clubs to fund themselves.