Devastating again today, feel for the lads..... I have been a stanch supporter of our owner to date however having started this campaign with a squad which was exactly in line with the long term plan i.e. young (mostly) and hungry and assembled to win League One at a canter, it cannot possibly have escaped the owners notice that our LEAGUE ONE SQUAD is getting dicked, week in, week out IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP I would therefore like to hear Mr Lansdown publicly explain how it is that he feels that signing more of the same hungry young players from Leagues 1 and 2 is going to make a blind bit of difference. The policy has been ruthlessly exposed to be flawed, experience at this level is what is required, nothing less....
It all maybe flawed but who in the championship would come to us without us getting into the financial ruin we wete when we flopped down last time
I suspect that this fact will mean that for the rest of this season at least, we will probably have to rely mainly on loanees who are not getting a game for their own clubs as they will not be under threat of a pay cut if we go down. This however does NOT mean the likes of Cox, etc but proven and experienced pro's at this level who are ready to go. I am sure that SL will not be very happy about paying the sort of fees that clubs charge at this time of the year but it is probably this or go down so the choice is pretty stark and we absolutely CANNOT go backwards again...
i agree i think the only way to get decent players in till the end of the season is going to be, players who aren't playing regularly at their own club, sorry for saying it again but maybe Smith from Fulham??
But he won't. He'll hide behind others. I thought last season we'd finally got our act together as a club and the foundations had been well and truly laid. But we are predictably unpredictable and the absolute shambles of a Summer sums up the whole club. I truly wish Lansdown would sell up and piss off. He hasn't got a clue from start to finish.
I think the big problem is our fans think because SL is a very rich man,we need him. However would we be any worse of if he was not the owner of BCFC. I have said many a time, the money that has been spent and wasted over the years,has not brought the rewards that it should have. Remember Dawe brought in SC,not SL. It was never offered elsewhere so how do we know who would have wanted the position. Personally apart from financing a new shiny stadium,which will be half filled in the first division,the money spent elsewhere had been very poor. So to sum it up,no i don't think we would have been worse of under different ownership.
Please explain where all the money that you spout on about spending every transfer window will come from if we do not have a wealthy owner to spend that money on your behalf? Its only months ago you were singing the praises of SL and thanking him for everything he does for us. Put a credible alternative to what you are saying! You only have to look at the other side of the river to see what becomes of a side without financial backing
Would you like a Tan or a Venky to own us? You really have a downer on SL like he's pissed on your cornflakes with Beckham helping him But do you seriously think that without him at the helm we would be any better off? A small chance we would off maybe but an even bigger chance that we would be worse off. Granted he don't know much about football but whilst he's learning we are in either championship or league one unlike the other club in this great big city catchment that last year played in the conference.
In the previous relegation year and the season after it, we lost £30m so who do you know with that in their back pocket to write off plus the losses since then. Mr Dawe, I am guessing not... It is true that money has been wasted but it is money that the club DOESN'T HAVE TO DEAL WITH and before Cliftonville tells us that this is all being diverted into this company and that, this is fine because at this point I am going to take SL at his word that when he does finally walk away (as he will eventually), he will leave the club on a stable footing with no big losses round it's neck and mostly importantly, with the means to be self sustaining in the future i.e. the stadium. Therefore constant talk of our owner selling up and being replaced with us being no worse off is, at the moment at least, totally ridiculous and unrealistic. We may have wasted money but SL (in various guises) is taking it on the chin and we are struggling with the money that he has spent so where would we be without it...? At the end of the day, he is not the one making the signings, the manager asks for the players he wants and he decides. Interestingly, he said that he has never said no but SC seemed to be suggesting otherwise in his post match interview yesterday. I can understand the desire not to spunk away another £30m but this goes back to what I have said before about whether the owner trusts the manager and indeed, who is actually recommending which player(s) we sign, SC or Burt...? In any event, if he was unsure before, SL has learnt the cost of being competitive in the Championship the hard way so, if he wants to back up the 5 years in the Prem plan, then he has to at least spend enough money to keep us in the Championship this year. The choice, as the saying goes...
No but as I've said on numerous previous occasions, I don't think we'd be any worse off with another owner. I don't think he has a Plan A let alone a Plan B.
Again I'm with you angelic and it almost seems we don't have a viable plan despite all the platitudes sent our way from the top brass. I understand our need for a benefactor who is prepared to ante up when required, but unless that money is well spent it is wasted. The Steve Lansdowne's of this world are an asset, and we are fortunate to have him in our corner, but some of the decisions, or lack thereof, make me wonder sometimes. What plan will come out of the woodwork over the next 3 to 4 weeks is anybody's guess, and the moves made will seal our season and our fate, so let's hope sensible heads prevail.
Of course there is a plan, he has stated it quite publicly over the last couple of years since writing off the remnants of the expensive contracts handed out in the Johnson era. The plan IS to develop players through the academy mixing this with hungry young players from the lower leagues. This is Plan A and has been for some time now and it worked well last year.... The point of this this thread is that Plan A has clearly been shown to be flawed this season and the only way I think it would work is to have someone like Dario Gradi in charge of our recruitment philosophy because his record is second to none in this respect. Other than that, it is time to formulate Plan B and that starts with, and is SOLELY staying up this season so that we can recruit experienced championship quality in the summer using the extra season ticket sales that this would encourage.... I am usually in accord with you AN on most things but your beef with SL does almost seem personal and frankly, I think that you are wrong on this anyway as without hm, we would probably be playing at the same level as the Blue few as we wouldn't be able to afford much more in the way of wages than them...
I don't see it as personal. I see it as believing that SL really doesn't appear to be in control of the club, or up to speed with other important stuff whenever he's asked. When he's talking about us being a Premiership outfit inside 5 years, when we've got the worst defensive and one of the worst win rates in the division, then there is clearly a massive gulf between the two scenarios and in my humble opinion he has set an unrealistic target. I just hope that he's included going back to L1, and for possibly many seasons into his equations and thinking, because that's where we are headed right now at a rate of knots. There is no guarantee that we will come straight back up either. Look at Sheffield United as evidence. Plenty of clubs don't have billionaire owners but do more than ok in their respective leagues because they are run properly with a hands-on Chairman/owner. If you want comparisons, there is the shambles at QPR with mega rich owners and massive underachievement this season after relegation, and there is Chelsea's relative fall from grace with Roman's billions. At the other end there are the likes of Stoke, Norwich, Bournemouth, Swansea and others who are doing more than ok. As always, it's all about opinions.
