Grape vine

Don't see too many clubs in the championship who need a forward that's got Circa 5m for an unproven championship player aged nearly 28.
Player is happy here and I genuinely believe DKD will be here post transfer window.

 

I wouldn't argue with that but I understand we've already made cash offers for players.
As a supporter I concentrate on supporting the club and team, as for finances I leave that to the people in suits.
In an ideal world I would like to see us adding to the squad while keeping the players the club need for a promotion push.The next couple of weeks will show which direction we're taking.

 

The problem with selling Russell is he's only got one year left on his contract and teams know we need money from a sale. Both those factors reduce his asking price.

I don't think we'll sell Phillips or DKD this window, both of them will retain their value into January (barring catastrophic injuries) when prices are at a premium. If they both perform well and we're well placed then Neerav will have to decide if we keep them for a promotion push or not.

My guess is Russell goes to top up the coffers and we'll see loans incoming if anything.

 

I don't understand how we've still got people who don't understand we're haemorrhaging money and our owners have had enough throwing away millions every season.

For context, a salary of £5k a week base, is £260,000 a year. Let's be really generous and say with bonuses and other costs, an average player costs £350k a year.

Our execs suggest we're losing £8-10m a year. If you take the lower figure, you'd have to get rid of 23 players, WITHOUT replacing them, to break even (not inc sales fees).

So whoever we get a bid for that's in the realm of reasonable, it's probably wise that we consider it.

 

I agree what you are saying.Seems then unless we get very lucky with a few players all at once we are destined to be in this league a very long time.

 

didn’t he fail his medical at Luton?

 

Russell was our most productive midfielder last season had a really good season but he can't get a kick this season. Not sure if that's because he played for Jamaica in the off season or because we're trying to off load him. But I wouldn't be surprised to see him move before the window ends we have vimal and Kelly who can take his place.

 

If we sell someone, I'd expect it to be Russell, as we can't offer him the money we'd need to to extend his contract, as he can walk at the end of the season. He's a very good player. It would depend on the offer. I'd be surprised if we sell anyone else, unless the offer were too good to refuse. That would apply to any team in L1 TBH, not just us. We've batted away fairly large offers for Connell.

 

That was the rumour but official line was failure to agree structure of the deal. Which might’ve been linked to a problem with his medical I suppose…..

 

I understand what you are saying, but nearly all other clubs are also haemorrhaging money. That's just the way football operates at the moment. Lots of fans, me included, would like to see us keeping our best players and making a realistic attempt at getting back in the Championship. Early performances suggest that we have a fair chance of doing that, if major damage is not inflicted on the squad before the transfer window closes.

 

Many clubs are haemorrhaging money you're right. We'll all go bust if we carry on. Obviously we want to keep our better players. But when you're losing so much money, there will come a point when you've no choice but to sell whatever you can for whatever you can. We went into admin once before. If our board are unwilling to carry on spinning the roulette wheel and we don't control our cost base, there will be a day when it happens again.

 

It's probably not going to be happening in the near future, but the only sensible solution is the imposition of a salary cap for each division. When I started watching football, all players, even at the top level, had to find a new job when their playing days were over. The average professional footballer earned a bit more than a skilled tradesman. These days even Championship players, if they are sensible with the way they manage their money, can retire as multi-millionaires who will never need to work again. Many League One players, too, can become very rich, in comparison to most of the people who watch them play. Very high wages are constantly being driven up by the antics of the players' agents, who become rich on the back of the talents of others.

 

100 % spot on

 

Yeah remember seeing a article on Ray Kennedy a top player for Arsenal and Liverpool who had a decent long career who ran a pub when he finished.

 

Quite a lot of ex-players ran pubs, as does Nicky Eaden now. Others opened sports shops. Stewart Barrowclough had a greengrocery, in Cudworth, I think. Les Lea, who had a good career with Blackpool and us, became a Barnsley Council gardener.

 

I’d forgotten all about him

 

Youre right on lots of things here. However, at the end if the day the funding is dependant on the owners' appetite for risk in the medium term. They are already pumping in money every year. If they sell a player, they'll recoup some of that, and, say, if they sell DKD, Phillips and Russell they may just about break even. But, in the longer term selling too many good assets will be counter-productive, the club won't progress and they'll end up pumping in even more money to keep things stable. Its a tough choice for the board but, if I was in charge and was bailing the club out with my money I'd keep my nerve at the moment and see if we can get stronger/promoted. Then, maybe when we've got several good players I'd start accepting bids for one or two... Obviously its not my money though

 

I hear what you’re saying and in the face of it, there’s plenty of logic to that… though football doesn’t tend to be logical.

The irony is, you spend all this money in the hope of success and to stem future losses. If you get promoted to the championship, your reward is to have to make even bigger losses to stay there.

The whole thing is broken and there’s only two conclusions. Existential threat and likely collapse to large parts of the structure, or sufficient numbers of owners see the folly of it all and agree to reset and put football on a truly sustainable footing.

We don’t know when they may occur, but every year we get closer.