How much will we spend in the summer? (1 Viewer)

[shmmeee]

Money and squad places aren’t infinite, even in the Premier League. I want to maximise our chances after promotion.

Offloading your dross is easier when you’re a PL team tho. I think most of those who have played would get a loan or permanent move back to the championship. Basically everyone in contract next season bar Bidwell, Brau and Bassette. And Brau might change that. If we wanted to we could loan out a KKH or a similar signing at LB/wing. Simms, Eccles, Latibeadiere, Woolf would all go for a few million as a PL team if needed. Dovin would get a loan.

Who would we actually be stuck with? Maybe we lose some cash but in the grand scheme it’s not likely to be huge amounts.

Ideal signings would be top class loans or experienced pros dropping down on a short deal. But even just decent champ level players won’t necessarily be dead weight. What’s important is we get over the line.

 

---

[skyblue025]

Ipswich spent 120 million and never got close too staying up.
Sunderland close to 150 million this season and look like they will stay up comfortably, though they will struggle during AFCON having lost 6 or 7 players too it.

 

[Lamps]

We are a skint club. We lose millions a year. Obviously we need to spend well and not hang ourselves with stupid contracts but that doesn’t mean you don’t go for it.

You may be happy to jeopardise our future and spend 100m plus to have a chance of staying up. I'd prefer to keep our best players and strengthen from there. Why isn't that going for it? They keep improving under the guidance of Lampard & co.

 

[Lamps]

Ideal signings would be top class loans or experienced pros dropping down on a short deal. But even just decent champ level players won’t necessarily be dead weight. What’s important is we get over the line.

The only Championship players we should be looking at should be these amongst the best of them. Someone to offer us something and not just taking up a place in the squad.

 

[clint van damme]

Because we lose millions a year on the hope of promotion. Because the financials work in the PL but not the championship due to the disparity in TV money.

3-4 “savvy” signings you may as well save your cash. I really don’t think people get quite how big the gap is. Much bigger IMO than L1 to champ. We have a 32k stadium to pay for. We have the 15th largest home attendance. We are set up to be a PL club. I’m not sure if it’s Stockholm syndrome or something but this is what we’ve been working for decades towards.

It's not Stockholm syndrome, its common sense.
Again, I'll repeat, it's like you've learned nothing from the last 20 odd years.

Get relegated with the sort of wage bill you're on about accruing and we're 2 seasons away from being right back in the shit if we dont bounce back.

 

[Sky Blue Pete]

Think the main question is if we go up what does Doug do, keep funding losses or sell up for a very tidy profit,

My head says he allows some investment for a small something of the club
I wonder if he can continue to get the majority of decisions right

 

[TomRad85]

My head says he allows some investment for a small something of the club
I wonder if he can continue to get the majority of decisions right

I think he'd sell a percentage. I don't agree with what many seem to think about him walking away altogether, my opinion is he actually enjoys it.

 

[Sky Blue Pete]

I think he'd sell a percentage. I don't agree with what many seem to think about him walking away altogether, my opinion is he actually enjoys it.

Who wouldn’t enjoy getting so much right and getting some success

 

[TomRad85]

Who wouldn’t enjoy getting so much right and getting some success

I think there's things you can't put a price on in life sometimes. If he's enjoying himself why would he leave. Could easily see someone joining him though.

 

[clint van damme]

I think there's things you can't put a price on in life sometimes. If he's enjoying himself why would he leave. Could easily see someone joining him though.

He's also a businessman with an ego, flipping the club for a fortune and telling people about it would also appeal to him I'd imagine.

Though that's just a counter view, none of us know his real intentions.

 

[quinn1971]

My head says he allows some investment for a small something of the club
I wonder if he can continue to get the majority of decisions right

I hope he stays, we’re in good hands

 

[Lamps]

I think there's things you can't put a price on in life sometimes. If he's enjoying himself why would he leave. Could easily see someone joining him though.

Someone else might have joined him already as there's been a lot of investment.

 

[JSL]

Who actually owns the stadium? From losing approx £6m a year, I cant see the club actually owning it which means investment from somewhere. Doug personally or someone else?

 

[Speedie's Head]

Who actually owns the stadium? From losing approx £6m a year, I cant see the club actually owning it which means investment from somewhere. Doug personally or someone else?

The club essentially owns the ground but has a loan to pay. Almost certainly, in my view a few months ago, that is to Frasers.

 

[JSL]

The club essentially owns the ground but has a loan to pay. Almost certainly, in my view a few months ago, that is to Frasers.

Given how the club is now a tight ship and no ITKs able to get info, maybe we will never know. Just enjoy it for what it is. We are on the crest of wave and still standing up

 

[Cally Fedora]

Because we lose millions a year on the hope of promotion. Because the financials work in the PL but not the championship due to the disparity in TV money.

3-4 “savvy” signings you may as well save your cash. I really don’t think people get quite how big the gap is. Much bigger IMO than L1 to champ. We have a 32k stadium to pay for. We have the 15th largest home attendance. We are set up to be a PL club. I’m not sure if it’s Stockholm syndrome or something but this is what we’ve been working for decades towards.

Sorry but that’s just ridiculous. We haven’t been working towards that for decades. We’ve spent most of that time on the edge of survival and in the lower reaches of the league system. We lose millions a year. Yes. That’s precisely why we can’t just cut loose IF we go up. Can you not see that the very course of action you are advocating is why we spent decades in real trouble. Of course we’ll spend. But putting the club on a stable footing has to be the main consideration

 

[Legia Sky Blue]

If we make it up I would expect at least half the current team to be regulars next season, and the remainder retained as squad players still likely to play their part. We are in a different situation than Sunderland and Forest who had to spend loads to have any chance of survival. Sunderland were not particularly good and were fortunate to make it up, while the Forest team that went up were heavily reliant on loan players. Both made it up through the play offs, whereas we hopefully go up automatically, therefore with a better team and a strong bond which we would be stupid to throw away.

Whatever we do and however much we spend, the odds will be against us staying up. Even with the PL money we will still not be able to compete financially with current PL clubs for players and who will have much deeper pockets, so the importance of retaining a united team ethic will be paramount, and provide a quality that might help us bridge the gap in the 1st season in the PL at least, but also give us the best opportunity of staying up.

 

[Grendel]

Someone else might have joined him already as there's been a lot of investment.

It’s funded through his hedge fund

 

[blunted]

The key is the spirit in the club and the background checks on the players we buy. That is why we have done so much better since we invested in players who are for the team and not just themselves. Obviously, gets much harder from here onwards as ability sometimes comes with ego.
Expect us to spend big in the future if we get promoted, but also sensibly looking at resale value if the worst happens. Contracts that mean if relegated the wages drop to a sustainable level.
For the first time in as long as I can remember, we seem to have people in charge at every level in the club who know what they are doing. The potential problem is if King sells up which he has made clear is his intention. Unless he has changed his mind, as he is enjoying himself so much. Better sing his song on Boxing Day.

 

[CovRes]

Someone else might have joined him already as there's been a lot of investment.

Didn't he make a comment about having to move money about? I can't remember his actual words, but I took it to mean the new money was his own and was taken from elsewhere.

Besides, unless he's got an astronomical valuation on the club, he'd have to declare anyone with the sort of significant share holding that you'd expect that money to warrant. 15% and above of the company shares is the threshold, IIRC.

 

[shmmeee]

You may be happy to jeopardise our future and spend 100m plus to have a chance of staying up. I'd prefer to keep our best players and strengthen from there. Why isn't that going for it? They keep improving under the guidance of Lampard & co.

Our future has only been close to threatened by scurrilous owners and L2 football. This is just chicken little nonsense. Clubs our size at this level don’t go out of existence.