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I've done a very rough estimate based on a lot of dubious information, and come up with a first team wage bill of around £20 million last season and about 12 million this season, which if we aren't much worse in the league is actually good progress.
once we get the remaining high earners off the books (or offer a new contract on a sensible wage) and if some of the youngsters start to make an impression then we won't be in a bad place.
at the moment too much if our operating budget has been chewed up by players who aren't delivering a proportional amount of impact. (Tomlin, Murphy, smithies etc etc).
that has meant we aren't competing with our full resources available - it's like fighting with one hand tied behind our backs.
in one or two seasons, if we bring the youth through, and are not wasting half our budget then we might be a much better bet for Tan to have another push (assuming we don't make too many losses in the meantime that ffp would preclude that)
I honestly think it's over with Tan and there won't ever be another push. I think we've had our chances and blown them. I'm completely at odds with current thinking and see us as a club in decline. This wasn't just about losing Murphy, this was about no buzz or excitement for the fans (or prospective fans) on the final day of the transfer season. I'm not embarrassed by this reaction as I think there's too much groupthink about our current situation and I'm very comfortable being at odds with the majority (that's never bothered me). I've said before, we're a spreadsheet now and not a living breathing club. There's money. There's just no will. What we're doing will never work out well. Football doesn't play by City's and the board's rules.
The board are always damned if they do and damned if they don't. They will never please everyone.
Its not exactly wonderful football with the current standard but good to see he's bringing in the youth who do look promising. Would like to think a 6th place may be achievable but won't be crying if we don't. Money is tight and I accept that, some of the mental contracts from Warnocks era are shocking so at least the club are trying to live within their means.
Just enjoying getting down there, have a beer or 4 and watch the game.
Excitement on the last day? We kept our star striker which is exciting in itself.
Clubs leaving business to last day is usually a sign of things going wrong earlier and for once that wasn't us.
If fans can only get up when seeing new players come in then football's gone wrong.
You could easily be right with Tan, but he obviously still has an interest in football, he now owns 3 clubs again.
There aren't too many times over the past few years when investing more in us would have been worthwhile. We could easily have spend an extra 20-30 million and still have been favourites to be relegated in the premier league, and spending 10-20 million more in the championship probably wouldn't have made us favourites to go up in any of our seasons here. Of course it could have worked but it's leaving a lot to chance and gambling isn't a good way to run a club in the long term.
IF and it is a big IF, we get rid of the big wages, and some of the youngsters fulfil their promise then we can use that as a basis to rebuild.
At the same time if we are buying players who's value is likely to increase then that makes it a easier investment for Tan even if we aren't promoted.
The current managed decline of the team is inevitable given the reduction of income - I think it shows good leadership by the board that they are taking steps to address it, rather than doing what fans would do and going for boom or bust re-promotion with a squad that clearly isn't good enough. How many big sides have we seen try that over the years and end up getting relegated to league one?
It takes a bit of readjustment in the mindset of fans, but I think I'll be able to enjoy this season and feel positive about the future.
I think he has zero interest in football and his interest lies in owning the clubs for completely different reasons. When his vanity project failed during the rebrand his acquisitions have become something else to him and the suits. But it’s not founded in a love of football in the same way that someone acquiring a stake in any other business is owning it purely for financial gain. And we did make a big investment in Sala which was the right thing to do to try and stay in the PL but it tragically ended the way it did. What does ‘a sister club to CCFC’ even mean?
Shame we didn't get Tomlin and Vassell out the door yesterday.
there seems to be more long term planning going on at the moment than at any time previously.
most recent seasons have been all about the current season with no regard to what problems we were building up longer term.
now we are stripping out the premier League wages, which are largely wasted on players who aren't good enough to get us back to the premier League or keep us there.
bringing youth prospects through which will hopefully reduce the number of players we need to sign to replace the players we are clearing out.
signing younger players in positions where we know we are going to lose players NEXT season i.e. McGuiness and Wintle - we potentially lose almost our entire defence and midfield next season, so we have at least tried to bring in players who hopefully will be upto speed by then.
all the while the homegrown players will be getting better with experience and the fewer players we have to sign the Bette rwe can make those players.
I feel much more comfortable with the longer term direction at the moment than Warnock giving sol Bamba an extra year at the age of 34 while recovering from a knee ligament injury.
it will be a real stretch to be able to compete with clubs who have more that twice as much to spend on their squads as we do, but that's the situation we are in now.
it isn't impossible, but it requires a different approach to the one we've been taking so far.
We've lost more players than we've signed and ended up only being short (in number) at LB and potentially 3rd CB.
Shows how bloated the squad was when starting back in the Championship - this has helped us manage covid seasons more effectively than others and if covid comes back in a big way then we might be the team suffering now - but two players for each position isn't bad.
Think it's time for fans to get behind what we've got, though conversations about future directions will definitely come up again towards end of the season.
An idiot is someone would provide a list of our Championship finishing positions since 2012/2013 and deliberately miss out three of our most successful seasons (1st, 2nd and 5th), presumably only because it doesn't fit his argument and beggars his figures up. Our average Championship finishing position in the last nine seasons has been 6.7 and the other two seasons we were in the Premier League. If that doesn’t make us a successful top six club, I don't know what does. Not by your definition though obviously, due to your blind hatred of anyone associated with Vincent Tan.
You claimed "Choo and Dalman have been running a successful top six championship side for a number of years."
Dalman became Chairman in July 2013. In his first season as Chairman, the club was relegated to the Championship, having finished rock bottom of the Premier League. The club's record with Dalman as Chairman is as follows:
2013/14 - 20th in the Premier League (relegated)
2014/15 - 11th in the Championship
2015/16 - 8th in the Championship
2016/17 - 12th in the Championship
2017/18 - 2nd in the Championship (promoted)
2018/19 - 18th in the Premier League (relegated)
2019/20 - 5th in the Championship
2020/21 - 8th in the Championship
Not quite as you described, is it? And let's not forget the club has been continually losing significant sums of money during that period. Successful? Do you really think so?