New poster here. Not previously been a member on other City boards but have read them with interest. With hindsight knowing what we now know about the Duffen / Brown excesses and the subsequent Allam takeover. Was it a good thing that City were relegated last season?? If we had stayed up would we now be further in debt even allowing for the Premier League millions having signed more players on ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâãstupid contracts? Would the Allams have come forward if we were still in the Prem?? If we had stayed up could we have become a permanent fixture in the PL making it easier to sign players and having the benefit of a steady flow of income? For what it's worth I think relegation was a godsend and ultimately the club will benefit in the long run. Something to think about other than transfer speculation!!
I'm much happier with how the club is being ran now, and how the team is coming together. We are going for younger lads with more quality this year opposed to the journey men of the past couple of seasons.
The Allams came in when they heard we were in debt, so they might have taken over anyway. Even with richer owners, the wage bill needed to be sorted out so yes, in the long run, I think relegation has actually been a godsend.
We can see the takeover has been a good thing. I guess you have to think, would the takeover still have gone ahead, had we stayed up. We would have had a lot more money floating about, which could have helped Bartlett consolidate his position. Plus I doubt there would have been the ruthless cutbacks on players which took place in the off season, therefore, we would have still had a lot of those journeymen hanging on, on fairly substantial wages. Would we then have been able to bring in the quality to compete for a third season in the PL? Personally, I doubt it. Sometimes you have to go back to go forward, and while I would rather we were still a PL side, I think it probably was better for us, but only with the hindsight of knowing the Allams were coming in. Like Jayc89 says, the club is being run much better now.
No I don't think it was because those responsible for the excesses had been replaced before we were relegated. If we'd stayed up we'd have been able to hold onto the likes of Hunt and Mouyokolo (or at least got bigger fees). We could still have addressed the wage bill in the way we have but again would have had more control over who we released when and would have been able to sign better replacements. The additional money in the PL this year compared to last would have allowed us to largely clear the debts on our own over 2 or 3 years even iif we'd got relegated this season. Admittedly part of this thinking is that I would have preferred the Allams to loan the club the money as a soft loan rather than giving it to us as a gift/investment.
No, failure can never be a good thing. As somebody who doesn't actually have shares in the club, I only care about what happens on the pitch, and all relelgation has done is made us play in a lower league with a lower standard (both the league and our team). I'm sure the Allam's would have come in anyway, but that's presuming we'd have been in such a "financial crisis" as we apparently were, AP himself stated we needed to stay up to be financially secure, so if that was the case then we can't say relegation was a good thing. This whole "glad to be relegated" or "glad to be out the PL" just strikes as bitter to me, we should and could have still been in the Premiership, we should have tried our damned hardest to stay there and we should be trying our damned hardest to get back there. There is no point in having a football club if you're not aiming to win every game and aiming to finish at the top of the league.
in some respects yes. I still think with adam pearson in charge of finances we'd have done ok, but if we stayed up i presume we would have dowie as manager and that would have been terrible for the club.
It's a good point Ricardo, but I just can't shake my distrust of Bartlett. Even though the people who spent the money were gone, I'm still not convinced his motives were the best for the club, and not the best for him to get as much money back as he could before things went pop. Allowing the Allams in was worth the relegation IMHO...
Don't think 'Godsend' is the right way to feel about our relegation. Been with City in much worse times & nearly going out the league put things in context in where we are now, still in a good position. But the Premiership is where we need to be. Clearly a massive 'wake up call' for fans when we heard the horror stories of mismanagement come out. Not sure how long financially we would have lasted in the premiership anyway with Bartlett as he did not have the money (or wisdom) Premiership owners need to survive (ie Stoke etc). I think our transfer activity in the second year of the Top tier was the biggest failure.... we did not invest in players worth any 'asset value'... basically giving them away on paid off contacts is sad & hard to take as a fan. With the new owners on board in the Premiership, I think we'd have moved up to the next level..... now we have to start the dream again... which won't be easy to realise. At least the Club is now better run. Hope & think we have learned the lessons in getting the right players for a promotion push.
TWF. I certainly wasn't glad we were relegated and didn't say that. However, I do think it expose the clubs financial plight. Granted it might not have been so bad had we stayed up but the club was living way beyond its means. I'd say we are now doing our damndest to get back up in a more sensible way. It may not happen this year but I believe it will happen.
I'm happier at the state of the club then i ever was under Bartlett, even when we got promoted. If Dowie had stayed on as manager we'd have got relegated the nest season anyway and who knows what state we'd be in then?! I'm obviously not glad we got relegated but as long as we get promoted within the next 2 full seasons, it will have been a blessing in disguise IMHO.
I would have much prefered to stay up, Pearson said himself we would be ok if we stayed up, a season of cost cutting in the premiership, most likeley relegation and start the next season debt free in the championship, then maybe the allans come in buy the club from bartlett for his ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã10 million, and then the Allams could have spent ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã30 million on transfers getting and establishing us in the premiership. O well onwards and upwards anyway.
