Do you think the club are ...

Planning strictly for the long term and fully expecting to go back down this season?

Everything points to this being their strategy.

1. The players we have bought will all be retainable and will either make us a force in the championship next year or will command a decent fee if sold to a top tier side.

2. Neil Warnock is noticeably laid back. Speaking like a man who knows he won’t get sacked any time soon.

3. The lack of urgency to sign a striker in August. Almost as if his brief was “no panic buys, we want players who can help the team improve in the long term or one who’d command a decent fee were we to sell him. Don’t worry, if you can’t get anyone who fits this criteria and it affects the team adversely, this won’t affect your position”


This is obviously something that couldn’t be made public either. You can’t say “ we just want to invest in the squad for long term and are expecting to be in the championship next year.”

I know this is a suspicion a lot of people have but do you think THIS was literally the plan they had in the boardroom pre-season ? No real aspirations to stay up this year.

It seems like the most logical explanation to me. It also makes me feel a little more Warnocky about the campaign. As in, no stress, staying up would be a bonus. The real victories this season won’t be on the field.

A thought that has crossed many a mind I'm sure.

From what I'm led to believe, the club didn't plan on getting promotion last season, so the foundations that Warnock wants to lay haven't been given long enough to set and be built on.

There's been a lesson learned here from when Malky was here. He was given 3 years to get us to the Premier League. After a more than successful first season, the board and Tan decided to abandon that plan and get promotion the following year, which we did. We hadn't laid enough foundations, particularly. Most of the good work Dave Jones did was undone when we were left with such a threadbare squad on his departure. Had we managed to win promotion under Jones, I feel we would have stayed up and had a chance of getting established. However, new owners, new manager etc.

A few points in response -

1. It's a dangerous game for us to think if we go back down, we'll have a squad that'll get us back up. I appreciate that's a different angle from being a force in the division. Our defence is ageing (during next season Bamba will be 35, Peltier 33, Connolly 32, Manga 31, Etheridge and Bennett 30) and will need freshening up (on the same note I can't believe Paterson is only 24). What will Warnock's future be? He'll be 71 during next season and his contract is due to expire then.

2. I don't think he's under any danger of being sacked. He's also said he's not bothered if he was, either. He's got a free run at this. It's probably his last chance at Premier League level. If he leaves, would he want another job?

3. That's probably right. We had some money to spend and Warnock used it where he thought it was most needed. I think the hope was for Zohore to make the step up and show his quality. Sadly he hasn't and it's affected us big time.

Personally warnock is not a long term manager and has been said before by gringo if our long term plan is for someone like Bellamy to take over the clubs restructure on and off the field would be massive, I think we got lucky last season in promotion from what was actually expected so unfortunately there was no plan in place for promotion and honestly I don’t think this squad would be good enough for another promotion, the championship is getting littered with good teams and it’s just going to get harder to finish in that top 6

It's not so much about the wishes of 'the club' but as to what Tan's plans are - and he obviously didn't think it was worth splashing significant cash in order for us to have a decent stab of staying up. Maybe he is either content for us to be a Championship club under his continued tenure and/or trying to recoup some of his losses during our season in the sun (and that if the latter is at all possible).

It certainly seems that way.

I don't really understand the strategy though, because my understanding is that despite parachute payments, every year spent out of the EPL is a huge loss in revenue. And should the team get promoted again next year, we'd still have to spend significantly to stay up.

I think the strategy was 'this squad will need completely overhauling in order to have a chance of Prem. survival and that will cost £100m, so let's spend a third and keep our fingers crossed' ....

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Originally Posted by A Quiet Monkfish

I think the strategy was 'this squad will need completely overhauling in order to have a chance of Prem. survival and that will cost £100m, so let's spend a third and keep our fingers crossed' ....

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Don’t think the acquisitions will even be stand out assets in the Championship. Murphy probably, but others, Reid, Cunningham, Smithies et al???

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Originally Posted by A Quiet Monkfish

I think the strategy was 'this squad will need completely overhauling in order to have a chance of Prem. survival and that will cost £100m, so let's spend a third and keep our fingers crossed' ....

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That seems like the most likely conversation...

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Originally Posted by NYCBlue

It certainly seems that way.

I don't really understand the strategy though, because my understanding is that despite parachute payments, every year spent out of the EPL is a huge loss in revenue. And should the team get promoted again next year, we'd still have to spend significantly to stay up.

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Balanced by a huge reduction in expenditure. I don't think many Premiership clubs actually make a profit

Isn’t the strategy to make the club debt-free by 2021?

The answer to the original question is no. The whole premise of the OP's comment is flawed. It is well publicised that we were trying to buy a striker in the summer window but were badly let down at the last minute with no time to go elsewhere. This thread has brought out all the usual 'doom merchants', which was probably the aim of the OP, who is well known for his anti Warnock and anti Tan bias.

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Originally Posted by Rees E Carty

Don’t think the acquisitions will even be stand out assets in the Championship. Murphy probably, but others, Reid, Cunningham, Smithies et al???

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The players that you mention were all established and successful Championship players last season, so your comment is nothing short of ridiculous.

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Originally Posted by dml1954

The players that you mention were all established and successful Championship players last season, so your comment is nothing short of ridiculous.

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I think you’ll find Canaries fans v much undecided about Murphy, heaping far more praise on Jacob. As far as Cunningham and Smithies concerned, their teams hardly pulled up any trees last year did they😀

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Originally Posted by dml1954

The players that you mention were all established and successful Championship players last season, so your comment is nothing short of ridiculous.

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Apart from Reid Was they really? Murphy has been a revelation for us and I think we might struggle to keep hold of him but smithies and Cunningham are no better than what we had, we dropped a bollock not buying a striker and a RB, I know what warnock has said but why leave it so late what he said about Chelsea and Tammy was diabolical if they hadn’t answered in a timely manner he should’ve told them where to go but it all sounded like a smoke screen imo, what I don’t agree with is the tan didn’t give warnock money how do we actually know he didn’t offer warnock more than he spent

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Originally Posted by Penarth Blues

Balanced by a huge reduction in expenditure. I don't think many Premiership clubs actually make a profit

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https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soc...own-1.3522585t.

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Originally Posted by dml1954

It is well publicised that we were trying to buy a striker in the summer window but were badly let down at the last minute with no time to go elsewhere.

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Really? So which striker were City trying to buy?

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Originally Posted by NYCBlue

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soc...own-1.3522585t.

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Link is broken?

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soc...down-1.3522585

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Originally Posted by NYCBlue

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soc...down-1.3522585

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Very interesting - thank you. Seems 2017 was a turning point for most teams in terms of now making a profit. I stand corrected.

Looking at revenues and outgoings though I still don’t see how we could compete

As a general response regarding the financing of the yo-yo approach I suppose it's a lower risk, long-term growth.

The way I see it is, if you are able to pick up two or three young players with great potential year upon year on long contracts, you are ultimately going to build either in terms of transfer fees or squad development. I suppose the advantage is that you are not so limited and hamstrung by transfer windows if you see the growth happening over 6 or 8 windows.

The type of panic buying that can happen when you are desperate to stay in a league is probably the worst way to go about recruiting and probably ends up with the board wasting a lot of money and a lack of team spirit.

Regarding Warnocks future, I suppose the plan would see him going into a director of football role eventually. If the plan is long term then he would still be in a position to manage the plan despite not coaching the first team.

The "what shall we do now that we are in the premiership.....nothing" theory is also a totally believeable one !

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Originally Posted by Taunton Blue Genie

It's not so much about the wishes of 'the club' but as to what Tan's plans are - and he obviously didn't think it was worth splashing significant cash in order for us to have a decent stab of staying up. Maybe he is either content for us to be a Championship club under his continued tenure and/or trying to recoup some of his losses during our season in the sun (and that if the latter is at all possible).

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Spend like Fulham have or the jacks did last season? We are in the mix with about 6 teams

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Originally Posted by goats

Spend like Fulham have or the jacks did last season? We are in the mix with about 6 teams

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This is definitely the biggest positive of the current season. Southampton, Fulham and Huddersfield are looking as bad as us , if not worse. I feel that Newcastle, Palace and Burnley will start to pull away and it'll be left to the four of us to slog it out .

That said, if there were some long term thinking , I'd feel happy to see this season as a shot to nothing.

The idea that we were just underprepared and are unwilling to invest is a bit more "depressing".

Regardless of whether of not there is actual management and planning going on at boardroom level, at least they have a whole season now to think about how best we can transition were we to go down.

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Originally Posted by Divine Wright

Regardless of whether of not there is actual management and planning going on at boardroom level, at least they have a whole season now to think about how best we can transition were we to go down.

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There's a question that needs answering. Is there actual management and planning in the boardroom or is Warnock running a certain amount of that as well?

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Originally Posted by NYCBlue

It certainly seems that way.

I don't really understand the strategy though, because my understanding is that despite parachute payments, every year spent out of the EPL is a huge loss in revenue. And should the team get promoted again next year, we'd still have to spend significantly to stay up.

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It's a shit strategy. We have a limited time living, grab the bull by the horns at least.

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Originally Posted by goats

Spend like Fulham have or the jacks did last season? We are in the mix with about 6 teams

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There are never any guarantees either way - and Fulham have obviously not spent well. However, our lack of a striker will almost certainly see us going down.

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Originally Posted by jamieccfc

Personally warnock is not a long term manager and has been said before by gringo if our long term plan is for someone like Bellamy to take over the clubs restructure on and off the field would be massive, I think we got lucky last season in promotion from what was actually expected so unfortunately there was no plan in place for promotion and honestly I don’t think this squad would be good enough for another promotion, the championship is getting littered with good teams and it’s just going to get harder to finish in that top 6

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If this is right, then they are not very good business men. There should always be a contingency plan in case things don't go the way you have planned.

It'll all go tits up if we stay in the Prem..... What a time to be alive.

#WATTBA