Don't know, but it's not that important because we are where we are today and last season has gone and will not be coming back. What ever the plan is and when ever the plan was hatched is immaterial now but perhaps the turnaround in fortunes this season was part of it ?
I don't agree, that performance post lockdown was disgusting. I've seen a lot of relegations, never one as gutless as that. McCann just kept referring to the plan. I was that disappointed, I gave up my membership. It wasn't the relegation, it was the lack of bottle, the not offering extensions to your captain and vice captain when in crisis, etc,
There wasn’t a problem with selling Bowen, it was the players left behind. The plan always has been for the football club to stand on its own two feet without the owners investing more. The money in non PL football has to be in selling players for a profit.
The captain and vice captain should have set the example and both rolled their sleeves up and played beyond their contracts. Both quickly forgot the club and their team mates had stood by them through lengthy spells out with injury. Call me old fashioned but I always thought that a captain and his next in command were always the last to leave a sinking ship, not the first off in the lifeboat ?
Which when you look at the list of players we have let leave for nothing as we haven’t been savvy enough to sort out contracts surely make a mockery of the plan?
Giving players extension or renewed contracts may be a financial gamble with no real overall value. One or two might bring a return on the risk, but there are two sides on the contract and I feel that we could have been saddled with players who signed for the money, don’t want to play for us and who no one else will come in for. It is better in my opinion when relegated to get rid of high earners and replace with lower paid players, when faced with possible promotion get rid off and bring in better on possibly the same or more money. I simply don’t blame the owners for letting players go.
When I said extensions, I was referring to those until the end of the delayed season. We didn't offer extensions to half a dozen (including the captain and vice captain) and paid a very heavy price
I'm of the same opinion. I've really enjoyed most games this season, not just because of a winning run, I'm expecting at least a top six finish. Not wanting to spoil things but the big problem would be rebuilding if they make it to the Championship. This team is built to get out of this division, fair enough, this is their level - but competing at the top of the Championship would take a major investment from new owners. Buying cheap, selling big is an easy way to make money when you have absolutely no interest in football. New owners - where are you? - give us a sign?
I know we are far from it, but one of my problems is that I don't see the reward for success, which is playing in the Prem, as one I would choose, as I really don't like all the guff that goes with it.
I wouldn't worry about competing at the top of the championship in the short term. That surely has to be more of a longer term strategy perhaps funded by A.N.Other. As for this team not being good enough should they be promoted is way way too early to say. We are a quarter of a way through a season. I think the armchairs here (myself included) think we no where we are weak and yet there is seemingly depth to a very young squad.
Sorry I should have made myself clearer - all players even in the PL era we have failed to capitalise on either a transfer fee or a fee relative to their actual market value. This is largely down to poor contract management by the owners. Of course those deemed surplus wouldn’t have applied to this.
There's certainly depth and I can't recall a time when we were producing so many Football League ready youngsters. I know we poached a few (like Bonds, Berry and Jones), but to have two local lads in your starting 11, another at LB breaking through and a keeper making the bench in cup games is just fantastic.
I agree, though not on Clucas. I thought that represented very good value. We got him from League One for relative peanuts and sold him on for a ridiculous profit.
He is probably the one exception. I forget the figure exactly but we have let approximately £50m worth of signings leave for £0. We may not have got all the money back, but getting something back would have been a good start.
Yes, I get that, but we are all browbeaten by owners with no ambition other than making money to boost their ego. Should new owners ever come along perhaps your opinion would change. Getting promoted with this lot would not excite me in the way it should. The six year old problem remains.
That's who we lost post relegation under Slutsky. I can't remember what date the Supermarket closed. But yeah, Hernandez, Dawson, Clark, Dio, McGregor, Tymon and Meyler all left when we probably could have squeezed a bit out of them. Did we ever find out what the insurance payment was on Ryan Mason? Because we spunked £13m there. Unforeseen circumstances of course, but hopefully we got some of that back.
Look at the clubs propping up the PL Teams who have gone up from the Championship with ease. To what? Getting dumped on each week and cheated by the refs/VAR
we have three ex players who are presently team captains in the Prem - Cooper - given away - Cairney, given away and Maguire. as good as given away
