With this whole getting young players in and selling them on. The thing is Peterborough received 5,000,000 for Assombolonga, 4,500,000 for Gayle to name a few. Despite this they haven't really progressed as a club. They've continued to go for the non-league gems and promising football league youngsters like Vassell & Angol which is all well and good but its not taking them very far. They are still in the same position where they were when Assombolonga & Gayle got sold for huge fees. So say in a few years we've got a huge amount of profit from Stones and Holgate sell on clauses and the likes of Bree, Mawson and Hourihane being sold on. Do we then use the money to bring in good or even quality championship players that can at the very least establish the club in the Championship or do we continue the process of developing young players and selling them on? I know there's a new stand at London Road but what's the point in these massive profits from developing and selling on players if you're not going to use them to progress the club up the football ladder? I just hope we don't make the same mistake.
Because it's self-sustainable. It keeps the club alive without the need for a wealthy investor. It also makes us an attractive home for players of that ilk, they know we're a great platform for them and their careers. We probably do require more academy lads to break through though, as it's not run on buttons. I'm assuming that might explain Branson's departure? I do always understand this point that you're raising but unfortunately I'm yet to come up with myself a better plan of action for the club. We aren't ever going to be taken over by billionaires for obvious reasons I would have thought. I'm not even sure I'd see that as a positive anyway. I'm sure we'll find out how good these sort of owners are in the next few years. The Wednesday bloke for instance. If they don't go up this year, then what? Or next year. Then what? They aren't locals. They have no affinity to the cause, they're not real fans. How much are they prepared to piss away? True, Patrick Cryne's a wealthy man. And BFC as it stands is not in dire financial straits. But would you really prefer him to spend more freely, be more risque in his strategy? Some would be really buzzing were we to break our £1.5m transfer record. Me? I'd be saddened. I get a real buzz out of doing what we do within our means. Is it going to be a prosperous strategy in this division and in general moving forward? I've no idea, but perhaps not. But we'll forever be competitive in the division below, probably more often than not, too 'good' for that level. And yes we were massively successful for us, in the 90's, but for the majority of my near 30 years watching the reds, on an average, I'd suggest we're a bottom end second tier club. We are where, what and who we are. I love us. Can't wait to watch the next chapter unfold.
I can't see a different sustainable model for us. Living within our means. Signing players who actually want to play for us and play with pride and yes eventually selling them on/letting them go. We needed to move forwards on a different basis and this is it. I can see the pitfalls. Look where the poster boys for this sort of recruitment Crewe are but there isn't another way forward. It's constant reinvention hich is never easy. You gave the example of Peterboring. Yes they are now back in League 1 but using this model in their own terms they have been 'successful' spending more time in the Championship than is the norm for them. As Whitey says the academy has to start producing not Stones or Holgate necessarily but good solid professionals who either play lots of games for us or who we sell down the pyramid for a bit of cash. I'd say we need to make stronger business decisions around players. Be more confident in our ability to spot talent and more ruthless in retaining it. Peterborough don't let players get into the last year of their contract and wouldn't have let a saleable asset like George Williams walk away for free ( noble as that might be) Onwards and Upwards.
Next season is bound to be a difficult season. We should remember that, whilst we had a top 6 budget in League 1, we will have a bottom 4 budget in the Championship. This does not mean that we are bound to be relegated, but it does mean that we will be expected to struggle. The last time we came down, we lost £2.7 and Patrick Cryne had to dip into his pocket to find it. Because of SCMP, we were forced to get rid of/sell on our higher earning players. That is what SCMP does. It forces austerity on clubs. It forces realism on to clubs. It makes clubs adopt budgets that are all pretty similar, and because of that, competition in League 1 is more intense, and clubs are pretty much of a muchness. But promotion means that we have left behind that comfortable environment. We have joined a league where parachute payments from the Premier League are a huge factor, not just for one year, but over a period that should make a difference. We see rich owners who are willing to invest big money, again, over a long period. We have joined a league that we will have problems competing in, and that is not me with my glass half empty again, it is an honest attempt to get my fellow fans to accept the magnitude of our task next season. It is an attempt to quantify the achievement if we were to stay up, an attempt to get others to accept whatever comes with a degree of understanding of the difficulties that the people who run our club will face this coming season. They will be building our team for the coming season with an eye to the future. They will know how hard it will be for us to survive, and with knowledge of what the consequences of failure will be. The biggest thing in their minds will be the long term future of the football club, at whatever level that future might be. They will not want to engage in anything rash that might endanger that future, and in terms of rash commitments, committing to a long term future expenditure for player wages that are not affordable is the rashest. Fans see a clubs major expenditure as a transfer fee, but that is not ever half of it. If we sign a player for a fee of £500k and he wants £10k per week for 3 years, then our total expenditure on that player is £2m over 3 years, and that is a figure that is simply beyond our means if we are relegated. It means that we must be very, very cautious in our investments. I know that many regard the potential as a big money John Stones transfer as our way out, but is it. Even the sum of £5m did arrive in one lump, is it wise to invest it all in players. As I have pointed out, the transfer fee is only a small fraction of our total expenditure over 3 years. Assuming we paid the lot out for players, how do we finance the wages that these players would want on their 3 year contracts, and that assumes no relegation. As fans, we have to accept that we do not know what is happening for the majority of the time. We exist on hope and expectations, and most of the time, we are disappointed. Nevertheless, we keep hoping and we keep going, and every now and again, we have a season like the last one. But for us, they do not come around very often, so savour it, remember it and hope for the best. But remember who you are when times are not quite so good, and do not turn on the hand that fed you want you wanted.
But what that money DID buy Peterborough was the world's biggest ever chip for their fans' shoulders. Those things are HUGE, I'm telling you.
I'm not saying our current strategy is not a good one. I'm just interested to see what the next step is and what we plan to do with the huge profits that we are bound to inherit.
