We lose something like £6 million in TV revenue if relegated so surely that cancels out any player sales when challenging at the top of League One?
We also have contracts with all players that reduce dramatically should we be relegated so our outgoings are much lower too. As I said, I believe the potential for profit is greater at the top of league 1. That doesn't mean I believe the board are deliberately trying to engineer a relegation. I don't. But I'm much more inclined to believe they don't care all that much if we are.
The fact staring us in the face is. DESPITE WINNING ONLY TWO GAMES OUT OF 24 AND BEING BY FAR THE WORST PERFORMING TEAM IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP THE ONLY CHANGE THAT HAS BEEN MADE IS TO REPLACE ONE YES MAN COACH WITH ANOTHER. THE PLAYING STYLE HASNT CHANGED THE FORMATION HASNT CHANGED. WE STILL HAD THE SAME ISSUES LEADING TO THE SAME RESULTS IN GAME 24 AS IN GAME 1. Now surely if the board cared one iota about our league position CHANGES WOULD HAVE BEEN MADE IN STYLE AND FORMATION BY NOW IN ORDER TO CHANGE THE OUTCOMES.
Potentially. But then I think in normal times without Covid players like Helik, Anderson and Styles are worth far more after proving their Championship quality than just being successful in League One. There’s a ceiling to what you can get for players on the back of one promotion. What has let us down this season is a Summer overseen by Calamity Conway where we signed players without adopting our normal approach, lost way too many back room staff at one time, and yet again refused to sign any kind of experience.
That’s the Head Coach though and not the ownership. I don’t believe he’s been forced to play a specific formation, so it’s on him to change it.
How do we increase funding though? Surely that just runs the risk of not having a club at all if the owner loses interest and the gamble doesn’t pay off?
They reduce but not dramatically. I think in League One you need to have wages at 60% of turnover to be in line with FFP. I remember we had to fight to have that changed to 75% for relegated clubs for one season, as it was virtually impossible for us to get down to that number without selling a host of players.
Are people saying that because we had a good 2/3 of a season playing Vals hit and hope style of football that is now how we should play going forward any new coach must play like Val or he cant have the job. It makes perfect sense that a footballer will have more resale value than a hoof baller. Honestly
I think the fact we moved away from the high press was the biggest concern, rather than the tactics in possession. That plus losing all the staff at the club and leaving the players completely out of shape going into the season... We're now in a position where I couldn't think of a style of play that would suit us. Counter attack - No pace, no quality on the ball, not enough discipline to hold the shape. Pressing - not fit enough. Possession based - no comment required.
Not at all, but a sudden and jarring switch in styles was way too much to ask of the players especially when we lost most of out backroom team too. It was a suicidal approach and so it's proving to be. We are very unlikely to have success in the championship playing that way as we don't have the finances to sign the required level of player. Charlton when Curbishley left, Bolton when Allardyce left, Stoke when Pulis left are obvious examples I can think of. Now thats not to say we have to play Vals way, but indont know why we moved away from the high press. We were told this was the way the club wanted to play as linked in well with our young squad.
Sorry but i would like to reply, Injuries, Marcus Schopp and trying to pick up the pieces Val left behind are the reasons for this shocking season.
I don't think they are stupid. I think their business model is fatally flawed. It's not the first time that people have got themselves involved in a sector they know little or nothing about and have come a cropper. In fact, the renowned business guru, Tom Peters, coined the phrase 'stick to the knitting' to express exactly this idea. In other words, stick to what you know. The fact is that their experiment with a model that, to my knowledge, no other club in the football league pursues, could well lead us into a very bad place, with seemingly little or no risk to themselves. I obviously hope I'm wrong, but this doesn't feel good to me.
I agree that there is the potential to command a higher fee if you perform in the Championship. Problem with that is a lot of players don't. They perform at a high level in league 1 and command a fee where as they don't when struggling in the Championship.
But I put that down to some extremely poor decision making and planning at board level rather than thinking the plan can’t be a success at a higher level. The idea that this works better in League One is reliant on promotion each time to make up for the lost revenue. What happens if we don’t make it?
Expenditure is dramatically lower in League 1 and the accounts will testify to this. That's why the oft repeated amount we lose to TV revenue is not as significant as the owners, whoever they are at the time, make it out to be. Yes, turnover is lower, but so is outgoings, that's why profit, for a board attempting to make one, is much more relevant than turnover which is the only metric ever mentioned on here. I believe profit is easier in League 1 using the buy cheap and young model than in the Championship which is why I don't believe our owners are too concerned if we're relegated. I don't claim they're striving for it, but nor do I believe it's an issue for them. They know if we're doing well in that league other clubs will want to buy our players and ultimately that is the end goal.
It doesn't rely on promotion. It relies on being towards the top of division with sought-after players you're willing to sell.
Not sure I can agree to this one mate. We’re going to have to sell every player that can command any sort of decent fee this time around because we’re not sitting on any kind of balance sheet to allow us to keep players. This will be a dramatically different relegation/promotion fight than last time out. The players will only be worth something in League One if they achieve something. I think we manage to shave around £3m off the wage bill through player trading and contract clauses, but not enough to be a sustainable League One club. Don’t forget too that the ultimate goal for the owners is to trade the whole club at a profit. They bought us as a Championship club and would need us stable in that division to unlock a sizeable return.
I don’t think you have any sought after players that anybody is willing to give you good money for without promotion.
We're not sitting on a balance sheet because we've been in the Championship where it's very difficult to make a profit.