I think the club gave up

After Wembley. On the day it was pretty obvious the cards were stacked against BFC. They wanted money in the Championship as that new "massive" TV deal was negotiated, and SWFC provided that potential. The smoking gun for me was the promotion of Tim Robinson to referee Premier League matches for the following season, it screamed "well done lad, mission accomplished" from the FA.

It would've been the same result had we played Bolton or some other "more illustrious" club. Money talks, unfortunately we don't have much. And the club know we aren't welcome above midtable League 1

 

Did the FA give Luca a "well done lad, mission accomplished" for missing his sitter right at the end? Surprised he's still at the club, let alone captain if he's been taking back handers from the FA.

 

Money does talk. That is why we are where we are. The club does not generate enough of it without having to sell the better players.

 

He got a well done after taking that winning penalty kick in the FA cup.....

 

Well that is a take…

Robinson was abysmal at Wembley but his promotion had already been announced prior.

The decisions favoured Wednesday yes and I suppose it did suit the narrative to promote them but I don’t for a second think it was intentional bias against us.

Just incompetence.

And everything that has followed is also incompetence - from those running the club - not them giving up. They continue to pour in their own money. They’re just not very good at running a football club.

 

I'm just trying to find some semblence of rhyme or reason to how our club has just fallen so much. It just seems intentional sometimes

 

There is a counter argument to that.
6th Highest wage bill in the league and higher than Oxford's, much higher than Wycombe.

Only Birmingham, Huddersfield, Charlton and Bolton have higher average attendances.

It's all very much attainable it's how we operate and how we recruit that see us where we are at present.

 

No it's just incompetence on a massive scale

 

I wonder how many doom and gloom merchants exeperienced the delights of the "Iley Out" days or John McSeveney

 

If we counted people actually attending games I think there’d be a few other clubs with better average gates than just those four. There’s rarely more than 7k at games (often less than that) these days and yesterday even had a cheap ticket offer on. The fanbase is disappearing fast.

 

But from a financial view that money is in the pot, the point being there are clubs at this level with far less resource making a much better job of it, but yes you are right the physical attendance is fast dissapering

 

Problem is we are still spending. The owners are putting money in to the tune of a few million every year, they're just doing it incredibly poorly. The money on wages to bang average signings is preposterous. Not only contracts, but the length of them. The scouting/spreadsheet is broken beyond belief.

We've tried to be too clever over this last 10 years and now its hurting us badly.

I don't know how much Hourihane is on but it won't be buttons. Absolute waste of a wage with an already inflated coaching staff. If the intention was to have him as a coach, then why bring in Stead.

The decision making has been about a 1 out of 10, and that includes the selection of the manager.

I'd have rather given Nicky Eaden a go than take on someone recently relegated who has only managed small clubs in League 2.

 

1) Agree, owners have put a fair bit in, and as equity. So fair play.

2) Agree, most signings haven’t quite worked yet. Although some still have potential.

3) No idea who else we could have realistically signed, and who wanted to come, that would have made a big difference, guaranteed.

4) Hourihane wages will be based on coaching wages now, not player wages. Players and coaches are two different contract types. The delay in official announcement was probably based on ironing out the details of a new solo coach contract.

5) Coaching numbers are correct for a L1 club - we’ve just been run very lean for years. Also coaching wages are not massive either unless head coach. A good sparky, Bricky or Gas lad who puts the hours in will probably earn similar if not more. Only at upper Champ Level and PL is where more coaches get a higher wage. The money in football is firmly with the players. Make no mistake.

I think the issue lies inbetween getting the squad right, and Clarke getting the best out of what he’s got. He needs another summer window to nail the squad. We can’t keep swapping managers all the time, as the squad never gets nailed and balanced for what a coach wants.

 

I think you are being very kind with most of your responses.

When money is at a premium and particularly in this division spunking money left, right and centre on Set piece coaches, Stead, Hourihane and Devaney is retarded.

I know times have moved on but my old man did all that stuff on his own, and had far better results, including scouting (I know cos I went with him most weeks).

It doesn't seem like the decisions are made anymore by football people. The recruitment isn't at least. Its made by people checking Football Manager Stats and its failing miserably.

 

I think based on the fact he’s now an assistant head coach like Devaney he must be on the 2nd highest wage amount at the club in the coaching staff pool. Still more than we should be spending and surely between what we have paid him as a coach/player etc it could have paid for a half decent left wing back.

 

Even loans are poor - for me if you’re loaning players from other teams they’ve GOT to be better than what you have at your disposal already and be starters - they should be clearly improving the team every week. We used to get those kind of loans - now we don’t - just what is the point of loaning players who can’t get in the team, are sat on the bench and taking money out of the club.

 

Still non the wiser about Jon Flatmans explanation at the last get together

17m to keep the lights on
11m of that on the playing side
Wage bill of 5.6m
Are we really spending 5m+ on an academy?