Summer window

Pretty much everyone’s who covered this recently has our wage bill around £7m. I can’t be bothered to argue the case anymore because obvious people will be obnoxious and say there’s no concrete evidence so for all we know we’re paying Jack Clarke £50k a week. Those analysts look at football data for a living so I’m inclined to believe they’ll be fairly accurate or thereabouts over people claiming we aren’t running the club on a shoestring budget through tinted glasses.

As I’ve said it’s just a gripe, maybe I’m being ignorant to it and someone can explain to me like I’m stupid but I just don’t see how the owner of a club which brings in more revenue than most of the league should have a tiny wage bill in comparison to those clubs when he’s said he wants PL football within 5 years.

So out of curiosity, people seem to be happy with mid table this season which is obviously going backwards in terms of league position so what are we happy with the season after because we’ll be pushing that 5 year deadline..

 

That's unlike Sky to go for the big headline

 

As a club though we are not standing still
We’ve got an owner who inherited a **** show of a football club. Not just on the pitch but infrastructure on it knees They have a plan and are rebuilding this is not going to happen overnight but progress has been remarkable considering the starting point. The strategy is to develop talent and grow the quality of the team The wage structure will evolve as we hopefully progress. The problem as I see it is we are ahead of schedule Raising expectations. I couldn’t care less if Birmingham are spending more than us now As a club I feel we are getting stronger We need to stick to our guns and build a solid foundation Fully expect us to go up in the next 2-3 years and when we do we will stay there

 

As I've said, I don't think wages are the issue, it does feel like we are maybe a bit to rigid in the model and our valuations.

That in no way shape or form means I want them to over spend, I just feel that we may be being a tad unrealistic with what they want to pay and on who.

Its asking a huge amount for the recruitment team to continually unearth gems for silly low fees

 

A winner for what

 

Definitely, and speakman is getting **** from certain sections of the fanbase but what’s he to do if he’s expected to continually pull quality players for dirt cheap out of his arse? We’ve already picked up enough young potential for a few seasons imo, would be nice to get some real quality in alongside them to help them grow as footballers.

 

OK, now I'm really confused. This is a you tube video of the Ukrainian lad and I've seen it described as one of the worst highlight reels ever and full of scuffed shots.

Would someone watch it and point out what I missing as the lad looks a talent

 

I can’t actually see the shots (the foot hitting the ball) but I see speed, movement and (most importantly) the ball in the net. What I can tell you is one of the best centre forwards we’ve had this century is Darren Bent and he scuffed loss of goals.

 

Cheers for that. Dodgy music and some ify goalkeeping but the lad looks sharp and certainly has an eye for a goal. As someone said earlier looks similar to Broadhead

 

I'm really struggling with how people can watch that and say he looks terrible

 

Suspect you’ve been looking at RTG Alternative universe at times that place

 

M8 a bloke in the pub last night said we were better off under Donald and his side kick

 

One of those times when you rue the demise of the old Victorian sanitorium!

 

Thick as mince. Literally nothing was better

 

I would have loved to hear his rationale for that statement

 

That just seems to be his technique. It's clearly working.

 

I was incredulous never heard so much waffle in me life

 

https://x.com/alexsafc17/status/1691206326935072770?s=46&t=bFwez-5oi7CdxUG56_1QKg

We didn’t know how good we had it…

 

don't think we have a limit but i do believe that we are looking for value for money which almost every club does. I find it weird that the club hierarchy make references and statements that a lot of our fans ignore, then the same fans spin that to make it sound negative and other fans then spiral with them down some weird rabbit hole. All i think I have heard from the club is that they are trying to build a successful team whilst maintaining a viable and sensible financial path. I like that we are doing this but the club needs to grow to be competitive which is why I think the new additions of the guy from the MLS are significant as he has obviously been brought in to secure more lucrative sponsors and other financial deals. securing our financial stability this way is more important than just player sales as it gives us the leverage of not having to sell prized assets to enable growth. Whilst Brentford, Brighton and other clubs sell players for millions that helps to sustain their PL status the real contenders Man City, Liverpool, Man Utd Chelsea, among others generate huge amounts through their online and social media activities along with huge sponsorship deals and advertising revenues. They are not just clubs they are Brand.

 

That's the point though - finishing 8th this season (for example) wouldn't be, in my opinion evidence of us standing still, or even regressing. It's a tough league, and there are going to be 6/8 teams with whom we cannot compete financially. Either the recruitment team are going to have to pull some unbelievable out of the bag, or we get lucky with injuries etc OR we accept that it might not be as successful a season this year.

Southampton will have over £100m in the bank after player sales
Leicester close to £80m
Coventry £40m
Boro £15m+
Watford £20m+
Leeds haven't sold anyone, but have £35m in parachute payments

It's going to be extremely hard competing with these teams - not to say it can't be done, but we might need to temper expectations.....