... I've no idea, so I'll just post random things as I see them. First is St Gibson of Boro v Evil KLD https://www.mfc.co.uk/news/2024/february/12/early-bird-season-tickets-now-on-sale/
NO Smug it's not that bad, it in my opinion, it's just got a plastic coat over the bad parts, ie, BCB brushed under the carpet, the good bits are we are not in massive debt, ( cos we dont spend owt). but as the song goes, Things will only get better.
I just don't understand why some folks continue to use the BBC fiasco as a stick to beat the club. For goodness sake, it's history just like Donald and his cohorts, just put it to bed and move on. Or perhaps a public beheading of the individual responsible before the next home game would be a satisfactory response from the club?
It's possible that the club would love to name and shame the guilty party, or even sack them. Modern employment law makes either, of those things, incredibly difficult. Supporters have absolutely no right to demand a club does what they're demanding.
No. We have so much to be optimistic about. We are a club on the up, with an owner who genuinely wants to bring success to the Stadium of Light. We're in a far better place financially. We have a team of young rising stars that we can be proud of and a new Head Coach who appears to be getting things right, despite the initial backlash from some of our fan base. Sure, there are things that could be improved on, but it will take time and money to achieve, so patience is required. We are in such a good place now, compared to where we were just a couple of years ago and we have so much to look forward to, so let's enjoy the ride and keep the faith.
To be fair to KLD he said from day 1 that season tickets would always be good value and never more than the championship average. You cannot fault the kids prices at all, it's probably the best things about our season card prices
I don't get this that we don't spend anything. We are the 7th highest spenders on transfers, yet probably one of the only clubs in the league to not be spending above our means. That is also just on transfers, no one on here knows how much KLD has invested in the infrastructure. I know everyone has different options but to get where we are know from where we were surely has to show we are probably being ran better than anyone could have expected from when SD was here
Those prices are absolutely disgraceful, would be about £150 a season more for my seat equivalent! Fans are going off it on social media, and I’m not surprised. Anyone under 18 pays the same too, no matter if you’re 17 or 3. Shocking
7th highest spenders in the league https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/championship/transfers/wettbewerb/GB2 The 6 higher spenders are: Leicester with parachute payments and over 100m worth of player sales. Southampton with parachute payments and over 180m worth of player sales. Leeds with parachute payments and over 30m worth of player sales. Coventry with around 40m worth of player sales. Boro with over 25m worth of player sales, we have spent just about the same as them. Stoke who have no plan and are in relegation trouble. We have spent what we have earned, the promise to reinvest the Stewart sale money was kept, we have signed new players on long contracts, we have signed our own players to new deals, we have sacked and then employed a new head coach, we have hired numerous people to work in the academy, we have upgraded the facilities at the AoL, the SoL has had upgrades, new people have been employed in off the field positions such as Bruce and someone to run the ticket office. Someone who wants us to spend more please explain to me how you want us to spend and how it is financially feasible using clubs within our league as precedent please.
One of the issues we will be facing in the short to medium term is the big sum of money the roof will need spending on it. Its 27 years old and has had at best basic maintenance ovet the years and now is having only essential repairs. That's not going to be a cheap fix
This is one of the challenges clubs up and down the country seem to be facing. Cost of infrastructure maintenance seems hard to keep up with. Man Utd fans claim there stadium and training ground are in poor order for example. It is a tricky one I think. The way costs are if you keep wages at 70% of turnover is 30% enough to cover all other operating coats. Probably not. I think this is where we look to owners to invest. The ground and training facilities are an asset and need investment to maintain value. Hard to sell a club if the stadium needs a load of money spent on it. I would like to see how much we are investing in the infrastructure tbh. Just out of curiosity. I know when players are moving clubs the training facilities are what they want to see, after all it is their place of work. I think our academy always looks smart and tidy. I know KLD talks about sustainability, rightly so. I wonder if that means infrastructure spend as well, or whether he sees it as an asset he will invest personally into. I suspect he has already spent some of his own money on it and I wonder if that will continue?
At this stage I'd rather money was spent on the player's facilities rather than ours tbh. As you say it's a key attraction to potential signings, and loanees, and they'll never see the concourse or listen to the tannoy. The stadium looks good on TV, and I don't hear away supporters complaining, so I'll live with it. I suspect the plan is to use PL money to refurbish and hopefully that won't be far away. I also suspect that, if money was being spent on the stadium now there'd be a fair few fans who'd say we're using the Stewart money or simply that the club should concentrate on the squad rather than improving serving times for half time beers.
Its a hell of a balancing act for the owners, the academy has had some really good investment in the past 2 years, but you would expect it to be a continuous programme as technology develops and players needs change. The stadium is another no win situation, as @Smug in Boots rightly points out spend money on the ground and some would kick off that it's not on players. Maybe that's part of the problem? I and several others i talk to accept that it's not and shouldn't be a bottomless pit and infrastructure improvements will probably have to use some of the money that players sales could generate, that goes against what others feel it should be spent solely on improving the team / squad. Which then leads us back round into expectations and aspirations and how messed up football finances really are. I have a scenario in my head that most fans would disagree with, in that through our clever recruitment and development plans our owner or ANY owner could have a fully sustainable club, but that club might not challenge the top of the premier league. In my head it's a lovely scenario that keeps the football affordable for everyone, the club safe and secure financially, playing good football but probably becoming an "average" results wise team with the odd good cup run.
It was around that figure, no idea how Murray managed it and he should be rightly applauded for it in my opinion
