Personally i see a very unhappy SC who when interviewed is clearly very unhappy with his lot. I see from his interview on the way back from Reading,we have nothing lined up to bolster the squad,now that is very very concerning. Clearly we do not have the quality to keep us up at our disposal. Priority has to be championship survival. Do the club want it,or do they wish to go back to the comfort zone of league one where they are a big fish.
You did not answer the questions regarding the boardroom or roles. Priority has to be the long term. Reckless short term over ending would risk transfer embargoes, or worse. The club is skint.
'short term over ending would risk transfer embargoes, or worse' I take your point, however aren't clubs like Bournemouth and Forest guilty ? They are currently in 'negotiations' with the authorities. How can Bournemouth sign a player from Italy on loan this week. And QPR, apparently they 'transgressed' the rules massively - have they been punished yet ? Are some getting away with breaking the rules ?
What is wrong in the boardroom? Which individuals are responsible and how do you think performance and roles should alter? We here nothing from the boardroom at all,the only communication has come from SL himself. We here Dawe appointed SC,however rumours are flying around regards the relationship between SC and SL not being great. The same rumours that were apparent when Sod was here,Clearly SL said they did not see eye to eye when they parted. Why did coppell go into the hills as quickly as he came. Is there a underlying issue within the boardroom regards managers of our club. Personally SC has issues that is clear for all to see,you have to assume the powers that be are behind those issues. I think it is time someone takes the bull by the horns, and lets us fans now what is actually happening to the club,there was talk last year at another promotion tilt by SL that fell by the wayside before a ball was kicked in anger with no signings.Clearly the feel good factor of last year has well and truly gone down the plughole. i fully appreciate the club need to run within a operating budget,but you now as well as me there are only a handful of clubs that run at a profit. Football clubs are a loss making business in the majority of instances.
It's is cleat that clubs have been punished for financial indiscretion. Like politicians and bankers some will escape. Bristol City once were found guilty of misappropriation ground improvement grants in Leslie Kews day ... I thought that was deplorable. Cheating, financial stupidity, spending massively past what you have .... That is no long term strategy.
No real answers. No specifics, no viable alternative articulated. There are more than a handful of clubs that run in the black. Top level examples are Arsenal and Swansea. Arsenal had a long term managed debt but this was an investment in the stadium. It is unclear what type of debts you think are bad, or good or completely mad e.g Bolton/ Portsmouth.
And all of the decades that we appeared to fiddle our home attendances, presumably for taxation purposes, by understating the actual amount of supporters on the day ?
I remember being crammed into the gate and crowds were 4/5/6 thousand on full attendance being spouted below the capacity.
You say more than a handful,we are talking uk based clubs. UEFA's latest report into club football finance in Europe revealed some interesting findings, among them the biggest operating profits. The top 20 includes 12 English clubs, thanks to what was the first year of another bumper Premier League TV contract. All of the top 20 clubs came from the 'big five' leagues, England, Germany, Spain, Italy and France. Read more at http://talksport.com/football/footb...ting-profits-151117174598#YLPkbwzJLc788tWf.99 Here they are 6 in the uk Premier League La Liga Ligue 1 Bundesliga Manchester United Manchester City Arsenal Chelsea Crystal Palace Liverpool Real Madrid FC Barcelona Bayern Munich Borussia Dortmund Monaco Paris Saint-Germain Read more at http://talksport.com/football/footb...ting-profits-151117174598#YLPkbwzJLc788tWf.99
As best as I can I try to understand the FFP and how that affects the running of Bristol City compared to others in the same position and I end up somewhat confused and bemused. Clearly without the financial statements from all clubs in front of me I can't even think of a starting point where I can unscramble the complexities of what is basically mumbo jumbo to most people. It would be a major understatement to say that I appear to see different rules for different people depending on the weather on that specific day and yet the next day the rules seem to morph in to another form which makes me wonder what the hell is going on. Incidences of players getting sold for multi pound deals and then loaned back to their parent club for the rest of the season (Zaha for instance) makes me wonder if I am wrong in suspecting that certain clubs don't get the same scrutiny as others and to protect the innocent (yeah right) I won't mention their names but you get the message I'm sure. The last thing I want here is to be accused of blaming the faultless but don't you think that if we were to fall afoul of the FFP that the hand of retribution would come down heavily on some outfit from down in the woods of the South West and nobody else would hear, or care about, the screams as they fall in the abyss? Until such time as the footballing authorities get a handle on the ever increasing gap between those that know and understand the rules and those that know how to spend beyond reality we have no chance of joining the elite clubs and in truth do we really want to be like them?
But that's life Mike, some people think it's ok to not pay the tax man and get away with it. Just because they do doesn't make it right. Bristol City choose to operate within the budget set by FFP it's the other clubs where it will catch up with and they will drop like a stone. As it's been mentioned on here we was caught for tax evasion by declaring attendances below what they actually were, and yet we took the piss when Swindon hence Swindle was caught as well. But in fact I think we got of lightly at that point didn't they get a points deduction? On a personal note I played things by the book with loan companies when I was young and foolish when I got into difficulties. It took me years and years to get my credit rating sorted, but yet I've got a handful of friends who in the same situation just didn't pay and got away with it. So yes based on that I'm the fool for being honest so sometimes being honest just ****s you up apart from a clear conscience
I wondered what that glowing light from the east was ROD and now I know that it's your halo. It makes you wonder who's right and whether doing things by the book earns you any more respect and I can empathise with you on the monetary front. In 1988 I was taken very ill and my employees (one in particular) took full advantage of my absence by robbing me blind and forcing me to declare bankruptcy and only the revenue man had compassion and told me it was just one of those things and not to take it personally but just get on with life. Life did return to normal and now the episode is buried in the long forgotten past. How nice it would be if City followed the path of enlightenment and fiscal fortitude to success. We'll know soon.
Did we actually get done for that...? I remember a particularly bad example at a Milk/Carling/whatever it was at the time Cup game one Tuesday night against West Ham years ago (finished 2-2). There was barely a space in the ground and the attendance was announced as 13,500-ish at which point, a large section of the enclosure turned round and basically told the assembled directors that they were taking the piss. After the game, it was announced that one of the turnstiles had "broken" and this was the reason for the "mis-statement"
