Don't forget that Mr Conway said no main players would leave.

Or have I got that wrong?

 

He lied Miller has gone main player IMO

 

I wish him well.
If you think about it football players are chucked all over the place to suit someone's ends.
Chattels.

 

you haven't.
he did.
5 words not 21.
Conway out!

 

I don’t think it’s worth putting any store by Conway’s words. He’s not nasty or vindictive- just poor. Of more interest is what the Coach now thinks.

I’m sure we’ll find out - when he leaves.

 

Are you for real?

 

They haven't, have they?

 

Man of his word as we haven't sold any key players.

 

Club have done very well. Kept Styles, Helik and Woodrow.

 

Which championship clubs have seen their star players leave out of interest?

 

Blackburn & Swansea are definitely weaker.

 

The market in the championship is clearly suppressed. Or, we could say its returning to a more sensible place after years/decades of over inflation craziness.

I see Swansea sold a couple of players for what seem very low fees. Jamal Lowe and Connor Roberts for supposedly £4m for the pair seems well below par. But as clubs parachute payments run out, the ones who want to cut their cloth aren't going to get big bids from championship clubs in the main.

Players going to the Premier League is another matter altogether. But what will happen to our alleged "strategy" if we haven't anyone fancied by a PL side? Progression is supposedly centred around selling for more and upgrading. We may have upgraded (none of us know until the team have had a dozen games or so playing together and the coach getting his ideology over and ingrained) but we haven't got fees in. Our departures are loans to lower based teams meaning we are likely subsidising those players. Granted, it's about the best we can do, and its cheaper than fully paying off contracts, but we have to be aware of the financial consequences.

I'm extremely concerned about our cash position.

 

Surely our cash position must be improving now fans are back in the ground?

 

There is more income than covid. But if you look at our accounts for last year (not last season), the cash position has dropped significantly than what was inherited from Patricks tenure. That was pre the full fall out of covid.

We got £2m from Ismaels sale, some will likely have been paid for Schopp. We also have the losses/compensation for MacDonald which are over £1m plus legal fees. We also got something in for Chaplin which will be spread over his new contract, and also Sollbauer for likely a nominal amount less than what we paid.

We have saved some in wages, but we will still be paying amounts to those out on loan, plus the 5 new signings.

It's perhaps also worth considering that our grounds capacity is greatly reduced so the potential to seemingly get a bumper 20k gate every now and then is reduced, at least in the short term.

We won't see the cash position as at end of June for nearly another year. But it does seem there are more cash outgoings than incomings. And unless the championship market returns, I'm not sure how we make significant profits to offset. If one of our players can attract the attention of say a Norwich, then that would certainly alleviate pressures, but I thought we needed to sell a player this window to avert any risk of having to borrow.

 

Hopefully the record number of season tickets will help tide us over with the cash up front. I can't see us managing to not sell anyone next summer, if not in January, but if we go to 4 at the back and have to sell Helik, I'm hoping Kitching and Andersen can keep improving and we can bring in another young talent.

 

That's the plan .

 

I'd say its the pay on the day that give the biggest boost as they are paying full price. Yes, ST's are good as they give you advance prepaid income, but they are also heavily discounted tickets.

I think come January, it might be critical to generate a sale. but it's also going to be critical for the market we say is unfair and ridiculous to return. The irony!

Without sales, I don't see how we can continue to pay fees for players if we can't get good fees in. Not to mention some cases where we have to pay players to leave, subsidising some wages to shift them on loan or where players just run down their contracts and leave on a free.

It's not easy and this isn't criticism, is just outlining a possible future if the market doesn't return in some form.

 

If:
We got 2 million for Ismael
We got 500k for Chaplin
We've sold 11,500 season tickets at on average £250 each allowing for a percentage being kids/concessions tickets.

Then we've got £5.375M in.

If
We've paid minimal fees for manager and players in (we are led to believe Oulare was free)
We pay a squad of 23 players £4500 a week on average (not sure who the high earners are now other than Woodrow)

Then we're paying out £5.382M

Hopefully anything else is a bonus, and with the current legal dispute between club owners and ground owners, I imagine not a lot of rent is being paid whilst we cannot use the ground to it's full capacity. Rightly or wrongly.

Obviously it's a very simplified model and doesn't take into account any other revenue or expenditure streams, but hopefully it means we're not tanking money.

 

You're omitting fees out and the £1m+ compensation for MacDonald.

So you've kind of highlighted net cash outgoings.

 

I've also omitted any pay on the day money/away fans, TV money, Championship money, loan fees received from Esbjerg, anything we may have received for Simoes. Like I say it was just one man's punt in the dark, but I don't get the feel that we're financially in trouble from the business we are or aren't doing. But I do expect us to have to cash in next summer, or possibly in January if a team wants to panic buy one of our players.