Would someone who’s been a regular in the Championship with Derby and a semi-regular player in Serie A settle for being 2nd or 3rd choice now with us?
He'd walk into our RWB slot with ease. He's not wanted there and we should be doing all we can to get him here, covers a range of positions, homegrown and an upgrade on what we already have.
Well you'd just bung Andrews on the bench, assuming Ebosele could earn his place by being more consistent and able to defend high balls at the back post.
Homegrown is barely relevant any more. What we now need a decent amount of in our starting XI is English Qualifying Players, so that we earn slots which enable us to also sign prospects like Doumbia who wouldn't usually qualify for a work permit. Ebosele is Irish and wouldn't count as an EQP. Andrews and Ngakia are both EQP. Ideally we need to average over 2.2 of our players being EQP across the season, even better if we can get over 2.75 - but if we took Andrews or Ngakia out the XI that would leave us with just Pollock and TDB as EQP starters (there's a slim chance Bachmann might count, but probably not). We will also probably have Jebbison coming in who should be EQP, but it still would leave us light considering we also have to factor in our used subs.
I like Louza so when he got injured last night, I was quite pleased, it looked like a muscle strain, so 2-3 weeks out and he's not being sold.
Our transfer business was always going to be about selling big and buying cheap. So far it’s looking good business and if we can get a striker and midfielder through the door I would say it’s been decent
We were supposedly debt free after Kone sale and end of June. Asprilla and Hoedt out for what £20m. We lose 300k per month. That covers 5 years worth. £4m in from the virtual begging bowl. And Pozzo has backed Cleverley to the tune of £2m maybe so far? Some signing may turn out well (Vata, Sissoko) but Pozzo is not backing Cleverley in any meaningful way. Next few days may change that.
Do we still lose £300k a month .... thought that was a figure from last year and we have now lowered our wage budget and other costs to manage this .... I thought Dux said we were no longer operating at a loss - I could be wrong and misinterpreted
Fair point in all fairness. We're very lucky that TC is getting a tune out of the players we already had. I'd add Larouci. He's had a decent start with us.
When we obtain a player on a free, such as Sissoko, his salary could be in excess of £1.5m per year. Which means we will likely have a reduced pot for transfer funds. It isn't always about how much we have spent on transfer fees. That's only taking into account player wages, you also have other operating costs.
I think it's less than £300k - but it's also disingenuous if Duxbury claims we are no longer operating at any loss at all month-to-month - because we definitely are.
To be honest I don’t think there’s a single club in the championship that doesn’t operate at a loss and I actually think we’re towards the lower end of the scale in terms of what we lose
Yup, remember seeing the amount Championship clubs spend on wages compared to their turnover a couple of years ago and pretty much half the league were spending more on wages alone than the entire clubs turnover.
If you have a mega-rich owner who is prepared to underwrite those losses, and the rules allow it, then no problem (from a club continuing to trade POV). We don't so I'm glad we seem to have sold our assets to clear down our prem days debts and seem to be operating on a more frugal basis now.
Isn't TC a victim of his own success? The old adage is you don't change a winning team and we've won 5 out of 5. Bearing in mind we have no chance of going up and now only need around 41 points from 43 games to stay up why spend money now. Promotion would be a disaster, as the current mainly young inexperienced squad would be annihilated in the Premier League. They need time to develop in the Championship.
Correct…. we are below the average championship loss. Which from wanting to own a club in the championship perspective isn’t good. This is why the championship needs this proposed new deal for football.
Promotion would be excellent though unachievable. We won't have the chance to develop a team in the championship as finances will dictate that we need to sell our best player every year or so like the pre Pozzo years. Take the unexpected promotion if it ever happens, and accept that we have a 5% chance of staying up. Use the cash to invest in infrastructure that will benefit us for the future plus a few prmising youngsters. Luton will at long last get their lovely new stadium as a result of an unexpected promotion and then not spewing it away on a bunch of uncommitted mercenaries.
Agree. The position however is so much better than it was. Many clubs in the championship are in our position and ours is indeed better than many although worse than some as we don’t have have Peter Coates who is prepared to keep issuing new shares and diluting himself. That is why we have to cut our cloth to fit where we are. It could be argued where has the premier league £ gone? That is another discussion entirely, however paying silly wages when we were in the PL will go a long way in answering them. The championship badly needs this new deal for football that SD spoke about last week and hopefully it will come. I know you know your stuff Burnsy that is clear to see and I respond in a conversational manner and non confrontationally. I hope we can we connect on Twitter.
Promotion is never and will never be a disaster. It's progression. Would you rather we stagnated and got relegated instead?
You're contradicting yourself. Promotion can't be 'unachievable' if there is a chance it can happen, even if it is 'unexpected'. I'd say Luton are an illustration of that. Did anyone really expect them to go up two seasons ago? Or are you talking about this season? In which case I would say it is unlikely but not 'unachievable' - after all, to have a chance we only need to be in the top 25% (or so) of teams - just as I don't think that it is 'ludicrous' to suggest we could also still be relegated.
This makes no sense. We could simply go up and bank the money and be in a better position. You think 2/3 more seasons in the championship would better prepare us to survive in the PL? Our best players will continue to be sold as and when they emerge, and we’ll continue to bring in youngsters and cheap loans every season, we won’t be any better prepared next season or the season after than we are now, so you take promotion when you can get it (we won’t get promoted anyway)
I get the debt free thing but actually I think we’ve done it the right way this time. We’ve looked at bargains like Vata and experience like Sissoko and Ogbonna. I don’t want us to go and spend money when we’ve got ourselves in a better position.
Money spent ≠ success of course you open yourself up to better talent but for where we are currently, (say it quietly) but the clubs done an ok job. Let’s hope the end to the window is good
