Good morning my little munchkins, How are we? GFH have, in total sold off either 15 or 20% of Leeds Utd to would be investors, and that money has evaporated into the day to day running of the club. I'm not sure how much money that actually is, or how that money has been spend, but, for a club of our size you would think that if smaller clubs like Burnley, Blackpool or even Millwall can balance their books, then why do we need to sell off players before we can bring anyone in? David Haigh has told the Sun newspaper that he expects promotion within two seasons. He said : "Our ambition is to be back in the Premier League in two years and we think that's a realistic goal, it's what we are aiming for. "We have said we want to build a sustainable future for Leeds and bring the last sleeping giant in English football out of its slumber. "There's so much untapped energy at this club. I have been at Leeds when there has been 9,000 fans there and when it's been full to the brim. "The atmosphere can be supercharged. "We will need that in pursuit of our goals and we don't think it's unreasonable for us to aim for the Premier League in two years' time."
Morning Elland. So at last there's a plan - promotion within 2 yrs. Seems reasonable to me, but will Byram in particular wait 2 years to get to where he (& we) belong? Let's hope so. So long as we see significant progress this season, 2 yrs for promotion isn't too bad. If we don't finish in the top 6 and/or are a long way from top 6 in terms of points, the depression levels might return at some speed. I think they won't & I foresee promotion sooner rather than later. In Brown/BMD I trust. MOT
Morning Boggers, well done on seeing the positive side. Its easy to say 'I expect promotion within two years'. What he hasn't said is how he is going to do it. So, what is the plan?
Morning all. I'd have been far happier to read we were going to have a right go at promotion this season and mcd would be backed to the hilt in the transfer market. All they've done is lower fans expectations yet again. Haigh obviously thinks he can fill Leland road again fair play to him
Lets just assume for a minute that all in the financial garden is well and we were largely debt free in May when the season ended. The only debt remaining was as we already knew was Kens East Stand Folly and that was always going to suck up between 30% and 60% of season ticket sales revenue. So between May and August the only income was and is being generated by the remains of season ticket sales. Our fixed overheads were always going to eat that cash and more. So here we are approaching the start of the season casual ticket sales and regular matchday income is about to start rolling in, We are in a better position at this time of the year than for at least a decade. However it will all be undone in weeks if we dont improve finances further to allow us to comppete with the crisp chompers and QPR. If we start like a train the crowds will flock back, if we get rid of all the identikit Warnock squad players we will receive fees or at least reduce wage costs, if neither happen GFH will be actively selling all their remaining stake in the club to the highest bidder by December in a fire sale and we will have wasted another year. We are either going to be in a virtuous circle or going down the plug hole, there will be no middle way. I am feeling positive thouugh.
Morning all. As I'm only interested in the team side of things, I don't really care or believe what the directors say. They are like politicians, they say things that the people want to hear. My support for the club will always remain 100% though. I don't think at the moment we have a team good enough to get promoted automatically, maybe play-offs. I'm still hoping we can get in one or two more players and shift some as well. I'm trying to be positive, but after so many false dawns, can you blame me or any others from being optimistically cautious...still can't wait for kick-off though..
As has been said already, he's letting the fans down again gently. In other words we can't compete this season but should be able to next season. NOT GOOD ENOUGH, AS WE'VE HAD ENOUGH!!! No new faces means the best we can hope for is top 10, but the likeleyhood top 13 again. Shocking that for a club like ours we cannot compete with small village pub clubs. We have watched all our better players being sold off and now have a team much worse than the one we had in league 1 ffs. Thanks Bates GFH need to get this mess sorted or lose out on fans who have had enough
Morning Matt Take your point as ever but as well you know that aiming and showing ambition is one thing but when you question your club's inability to balance the books, by your own admission about having to sell before you can buy, how can you realistically hope to reach the Prem by 2015 when we're for example showing more ambition?
Smaller clubs don't have loss making side projects and massive unnecessary debts built up to pay for pointless stadium development that has benefited nobody.
Fair point Marko, so not owning your own ground or training ground is an issuing having to pay rent. Guess without knowing all the facts can only assume Coco's influence will live long after he's popped his clogs? We're on half the revenue too you but we've managed to put money aside, have prepared for FFP for longer cutting costs & getting rid of deadwood and tbf we're just a much generally better run ship than from the dark admin days of the 90's thank god but JB's money has gone a very long way to making that happen! On top of that we're preparing the finances for taking the club forward with the new Millwall Surrey Canal Road development which in time will involve filling in the corners of the Den taking our capacity up to 24,000 if we're promoted to the Prem. http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/9...Road_development_and_station_set_to_go_ahead/ http://www.newsatden.co.uk/4299-vid...acelift-as-part-of-1billion-regeneration.html Can't wait for the mosque! The future's blue don't you know?
Bromby gone (Retired) does this mean we can now bring someone in please? Any more Brian can convince to retire, leave ..... please
David Haigh has told the Sun newspaper that he expects promotion within two seasons. Actually he could be right and i for 1 believe thats possible
Is that a sneaky announcement of a new stadium name? Thought Leyland was in Lancashire, too, but then thats where Haigh comes from. This "promotion in 2 years" stuff all sounds reasonable, but then so did the "January is too soon to be spending, wait for the summer" line we had 6 months ago, and prior to that the "waiting for the takeover to happen" excuse. Good morning all, though. (even you, you sarf laarndn deluded souls - of course this will be your year, put a few grand on it, I would)
I don't mind aiming for promotion within 2 seasons. I think its more than reasonable given a relatively new manager at the helm, this one season wonder stuff doesn't work and I don't know why people continue to believe it does. Also note he said "within two seasons" and not in two seasons which tends to mean we are aiming for it this season but if it doesn't happen we'll have another go next season before we consider it being a true failure. Just calm down guys
GFH are doing things right tbh they are getting rid of Bates legacy but they have no money so they can only take us so far
I'm surprised Stevo that there's any money left set aside, considering all the seats you'se have ripped up...
To be fair to GFH, I'd be reluctant to sign more players if I wasn't sure we could get any out the door. The squad is already big, and I imagine the wage bill will be pretty hefty as well. We all want new players, but if we sign another 3/4 on decent wages and can't shift any of the dead weight, we're not doing ourselves any favours. Getting rid of Warnock/Grayson's dross will take a while unfortunately. I'm happy to wait a year or two for those we can't shift to run down their contracts and add a bit more of the jigsaw each year. It's not a perfect solution but short of a huge investment or paying off their contracts I can't see any other viable option
Afternoon. If we are aiming to be very competitive within 2 years after being weaned off a parasitic form of life support that we've been hooked up to for 8 years - that seems more than reasonable enough to me. I just hope it's with a comprehensive plan (with plenty of contingencies - for best and worst cases) in mind and not just a figure plucked out of the air. Lets face it, as long we show decent progress on the pitch year on year and stay stable off it, it'll be a vast improvement on the last decade. Promotion would be nice but even if we brought in a few more players in of quality I'd not expect it. I'd just fancy our chances of reaching the playoffs a little more.
You've bought in a couple of half decent league 1 players,and is probably the right level for Hunt, If McDermott stays and you keep some of your best players, I can see you coming straight back up again
