We don't have a pot...

To piss in. I'm now resigned to the fact we're unlikely to bring the required reinforcements in by the end of this transfer window. We already have a bloated squad, we can't trim the fat and off-load any of the players because simply put a number of them aren't very good and no one else would else would touch them with a barge pole. Sam Cosgrove may be playing non league next season he's that bad.
Mladen will be taking directions from above so his hands are tied. FWIW I don't think we should sack Clarke but he has to start doing more and demonstrate that he's learning but admittedly the last 2 games it's been poor. This is a medium term project, it's going to take this summer and possibly summer 2026 to sort this squad out because it's ******* horrendous. The problem is the fans don't have the patience...

 

Just look where we recruited from last season in Jan.
free transfer in pines
Conor grant from mk dons in league 2 who rarely played and Josh Earl from fleetwood. I wouldn’t hold your breath on us getting any decent additions this season either.

 

My biggest concern is the number of ***** players under contract until June 26 / 27. We're in a real mess and I suspect won't be signing anyone until players have gone out the door the other way but I don't think that's going to happen either! We need to accept that it's very likely we will be going with what we've got until the end of the season and hope Clarke can start to get a tune out of some of them.

 

Wheres this supposed 8 million pounds a year that we are losing going?

It's not on the stadium or players is it?

Can't help feel we are being lied to and taken for mugs!

It's going backwards not forwards they keep talking about how hard it is and how much they are putting in then continue to make the same mistakes time and time again!

People are struggling enough to keep afloat without the expense of following a football team and way it's going things are going to get far worse unless these lot wake up or sell up.

 

The £8 million goes on financing the stream mistakes the clowns owning and running the club keep making.

 

We don’t have a pot to pee in due to poor transfer negotiations. We buy cheap and sell well under value with daft instalments and clauses added on instead of demanding the full or 75% of fee upfront. It’s a stupid business model what’s costing us.

 

It's the same model that virtually every transfer is conducted on these days and has been for years. No club pays the full value or anywhere near it in one go. Fees are typically paid over 3 or 4 years.

 

Works both ways to be fair, when we sell, the transfer fee will be paid to BFC In installments, however, so will any new signings we make i.e. DKD's fee to Mansfield may be paid over 3 summers.
Also we've not done as bad recently with transfer fees, we really couldn't turn down the £4m+ for Kitching. The biggest issue is the recent recruitment has been horrendous, stockpiling players in a bloated squad and hoping there will be a few gems amongst them. No wonder we don't have any money.

 

We dont have a pot to pee in because the pot was sold to a team in the Championship and replaced with a cheap thimble from the bottom of L2.

 

Asking for more up front actually lowers the fee.

 

That’s if you don’t put your foot down. Like a club in our situation should be doing.

 

No it's not. That's how transfers work. It's the same for players we sign, fees in installments.

The more you ask for upfront as a one off payment, typically the lower the overall value of the transfer. So, for example, the £4m we're set to get for Kitching over three years would probably have dropped by 25% if we'd dug our heels in and demanded it paying over a shorter period.

We can't change his football transfers work just because you think it's a dumb model. It's how ALL clubs work, not just ours.

 

we're soft when it comes to negotiating how many times have we sold players with certain clauses in that’s paid off? Just take more money in upfront for us to be able to reinvest. I get the future percentage clause’s like the one’s in the Stones deal. We can’t keep going on how we are it’s just not sustainable hence why the board say they have to put £6m a year in

 

I don't understand how you don't get it?

We sold Kitching for £4m in installments. There is therefore potentially £4m to spend at other clubs. Also payable in installments.

Had we demanded more up front we would probably only have got £2.5m to £3m - some of which would still have been payable in installments. That would only have given us £2.5m to £3m to spend at other clubs.

Selling for less gives us less to spend. Period. Whether it's paid in installments or up front. It's the nature of the transfer process.

Would you be any better off if you asked your employer to pay your wage in one lump sum rather than monthly? No. Especially if they followed the transfer methodology and reduced your wage by 20-25%! The same principle applies in effect.

Where you have a point is that having sold Kitching for £4m the board clearly haven't gone out and spent £4m on other players to strengthen the squad. Whether that's good business or not remains to be seen (and it's not looking good at the moment).

 

Can I buy your house with 25% upfront and the rest coming in instalments? If I get a promotion at work I’ll pay an additional fee, I’ll also give you a percentage of the house once I sell it on? If I get made redundant you lose all above apart from the 25%

 

No, because that's not how the housing market works. But it is how the football transfer market works. I'm not saying it's right but there's no way a club in League 1 bucks the system that is the norm. If we want to trade players we have to follow the system that's in use.

Although, you've presumably got/had a mortgage and paid in installments...

 

So your refusing to sell something with terms you aren’t happy with?

 

My house won't leave for free in 18 months time.

 

If I buy it for 25% upfront with future instalments and other clauses and everything goes wrong you aren’t going to get what you want for it either.