We're setting ourselves up very well for a good season under FFP next next season. By the looks of numerous club books, many will be in a right old pickle next season......!
Now that's a good point Westy. Whilst it may seem like we are suffering and being tight on funds others are spending well beyond their means and may find themselves in the ****. Trouble is, if the worst they can expect is a transfer embargo but they assemble a strong squad they might not even care. You only get hit with a fine if you're promoted, so which is the best plan? Hopefully getting our house in order early will help us leap frog some other clubs. I guess we'll find out what the best strategy is over the next couple of years.
We will. It will be very interesting how it pans out. I also expect other clubs at some point to enter administration. We're very lucky while being in huge debt it's offset to Evans, and not elsewhere. Bolton/ Birmingham and others could find themselves in a right old mess before long. Also, if you are banned from signing players for a period of time, and can only sell it does nothing for morale of the side. Plenty of players will be a right old pain for coaches/management in training etc, and trying to engineer a way from the club they play for. Although a transfer embargo may appear at surface level a very minimal penalty, I would say in reality it will cause absolute chaos at many sides. I hope we meet the FFP regulations!
It would force clubs to use their academy more. Look out for the clubs who are bringing in a lot of youngsters as well as spending big, there could be a strategy behind it. I also hope we find ourselves within FFP boundaries.
Football in it's current state is absolutely unsustainable - here's my views ( sorry all for boring you to tears here! ) Jimmy Hill and co abolished the maximum wage whenever it was. I think this was a good move, however, clearly the end of the working mans game. Wages skyrocketed quickly, along with transfer fees etc, ticket prices, and the like. Then, 1992. Sky tv pumping big money into the top league. Again, wages up etc etc etc.... Then early 2000s, massive wealthy owners coming into the game ( Abramovic etc ) wages again skyrocketing to now absurd figures. I remember Roy Keane signing a deal on £60,000 p/w, with people thinking this was ridiculous! Now, wages of the top earners are £300,000 plus. Fast forward another 10 years, what are the big players going to be on? £1million a week etc? I don't have a massive gripe with the big boys earning top dollar, I do get annoyed with the likes of Chopra etc earning £15,000 p/w plus. The premiership clubs can still all chuck £30,000 / £50,000 p/w sadly as standard due to the massive tv deal in place resulting in shed loads of prize money. However, clubs further down the pyramid are rightly not able to offer wages anywhere near this. However, I have a feeling this bubble is going to burst VERY rapidly in the next 5/10 years. I am going to compare football with the music industry. Think back to the mid 90s. Back then, people were buying cds happily. Enter Napster, Morpheus, Kazaa and co. Then, people started to download music left right and centre, for nothing. As a result, overtime, I-Tunes became a very successful business. However, the music industry was never quite the same again. Also due to Youtube etc.... technology. The music industry is in tatters as a result. Now, I'm of the belief internet speed / technology will finally cause chaos for Sky/BBC/ other companies long term with the English game. Tonnes of people are streaming football illegally, with Sky not getting the fee for this. Over time, this is simply only going to increase with technology improving. Download speeds are already from 33k, to 28mb per minute in the space of 15 years. I honestly feel they are going to receive less subscriptions over time, and have to lower the cost. People in foreign countries, I'm in Thailand can simply watch any 3pm Premier League game. This WILL ultimately happen in the UK one day, it's a case of when. Games WILL be available for a price per game. Lower league clubs are already being much more sensible with basic wages, contract lengths etc.... this will continue to get better me thinks. I cannot wait for the bubble to burst. Lets get football back to normality.
Reality check, Blackburn lost,,,, we lost,,,,,, Forrest lost,,,,,, Reading and Brighton drew,,,,,,,,,,, 2 points lost to rivals ( 1 a piece to 2! ) C'mon Man City, please cock up Wigan's confidence a treat !
Wigan winning, c'mon please let me wake up this morning with this game being a 1-1 draw and a replay. I am going to continue to believe COME ON YOU BLUES!
Playoffs as they have been all season are unlikely but still possible, you never know we might slip in there, especially now Wigan have got the distraction of the F.A cup. Also this time of season is often when the lower teams pick up points and the ones at the top start to run out of steam. Tbh a midtable finish this season with everything considered is a good season but we've actually been in and around the playoffs so that's exceeded not what I expected but what is seens a reasonable progress tbh. I also agree with others, I hope we do meet FFP regulations. We've been complaining for years that we want our finances in check and more investment to go into the academy and now we're doing that, it's a sensible and sustainable approach particularly given the manager we've got.
Lets face facts, no McGoldrick = no goals, no goals = no wins, no wins = no points, and with the quality of opposition we still have to face the playoffs are light years away. If Taylor, Nouble, and the entire midfield dont start pitching in and scoring a few we may even finish the season lower than we did last year, now that really would be depressing.
While I agree with what you're saying in part, although I think Taylor is more than an able deputy for McGoldrick. Also, SEB is getting more and more game time, so will start to get a lot of sharpness back and hopefully be an asset for the remaining games. Any idea how he did v Boro anyone? What I do know, is Wigan now have one hell of a fixture backlog. We're playing them at the perfect time, they have a game with Sheffield Wednesday first, then five midweek fixtures in a row. Make that six, Birmingham away will now be midweek also. I'm staying very much glass half full for now, COYB, three points tomorrow at Yeovil and I will definitely believe this is game very much on.
As has been said, a disappointing defeat given the circumstances.. i.e. everyone around us dropping points and Wigan were the big winners this weekend, even without their FA cup win In terms of this season, I simply can't see us going on a winning run against those around us (Wigan, Brighton, Derby, Forest, Blackburn) that we need too, we might not lose many of those matches, but ultimately we need to win them to make up the ground needed ..and next season, I am very intrigued as to how FFP pans out.. If there are a handful of clubs that are slapped with a transfer embargo they will likely be needing to offload players as well as not being in the market for new ones... making the market a lot less congested... and fewer fish to fight against, which in the long run may well turn out to be a very positive factor for us
I really hope youre right Westy, nothing would please me more than to see us banging in goals without McG and winning matches, but with the scoring exploits of the other team members so far this season being very poor at best all that comes to mind is a phrase involving a cows arse and a banjo.
With regards to next season I can say in all certainty that without any serious investment in bringing a few quality players we will be relegation fodder next season! Its time for Evans to step up to the plate and deliver some funds so that Mick can compete.
Sometimes I don't understand you, JWM. On one hand you claim Mick is almost infallible but there you just suggested you don't trust him to manage without a (sizeable) transfer budget. I agree that we need good, targeted investment but I think at minimum this season Mick has proved he can put a competitive squad together on a budget of "nothing". While Micks at the helm I dont think relegation from the championship is a realistic worry.
Mick has performed wonders with what he has got but he needs quality reinforcements to be able to compete! I have never said that we should be going on a big spending spree but we do need some level of investment! Why is this so hard for you to understand! We can not afford to stand still with the same players Other teams will be investing money and will buy quality so we just have to compete to some degree or we face slipping back into a relegation dog fight!
This is exactly true- but it also means we will never "win" anything. We will be guaranteed 10-15th position every year - and we will always play a very negative, un-exciting game. If Mick doesn't think he can take us any further forward with the cards he's dealt with (ie, limited budget) - then he needs to go and give someone else the chance to try their luck.
Warky - i think what people are trying to say, is that a lot of managers can perform wonders if they had a budget to spend. I totally agree that Mick has exceeded my expectation this year with the players he's got - but at the end of the day, these are the players that he himself has brought in. With the FFP rules, it looks like we are going to be spendoing close to zero again next year, so, as i said in the post above, if he's not the man to take us forward, then i'd like to see someone else have a go. I also think, on a different subject, that Cresswell will be sold this summer, possibly to fund a couple of transfers for next year.
