Are we in danger of falling further behind financially...?

Not a knee jerk thread for the Saints.... have thought this over the last couple of years every time a transfer window ticks over.

We had things very good financially with Markus in charge and that got us to the EPL.

However, since the Gao takeover, the Chinese political pressure to keep money in China and not get spent, it’s obvious that the only way it was ever going to work was to spend only what we earn.

Im not necessarily criticising that way forward, the opposite extreme is being owned by someone like the Glazers and we can see how that works or not.

However, what has seemed more and more apparent is that at least half the clubs in the Prem are upping considerably their spending.

The top 6/8 which is our realistic and best target have upped their spending with Everton who we finished one place above last season purchasing ex Real Madrid players and having a Champions League winning manager in charge. They have Moshiri in charge who has financed the financial disaster of 2 of the last 3 years but they appear to be coming good with the new stadium to come too.

Should we now be pinning our hopes on a takeover from a wealthy individual who is actually willing to spend?

Should we abandon the principal of being financially prudent before the whole EPL decides to outspend us or will the EPL bubble burst?

Or should we be happy with Gao/financial prudence?

 

It's not so much hoping for someone who will spend, spend, spend. For me it's about having an owner at the club who can allow us some movement. We have to scrimp and scrape to see what we can sell before we can even finance a loan. It's a disgusting state of affairs for a PL club and all fingers point at the owner and his lack of interest in us.

There's being financially prudent and then there's being financially non-existent. We have to raise every inch of cash before we renew contracts, sign loans, sign players. It's not sustainable.

So yeah, we are being left behind financially and eventually that will lead to relegation. A bit of ambition and a little bit of flexibility financially to allow us to bring in one or two without having to scrip around to see what we can sell first, will help bring us back into the game a bit.

Gao has done nothing other than hinder us and take away any competitiveness we ever had in the transfer market or on the pitch. He needs to go otherwise we will be heading to a dark future.

 

It's not solely Gao's fault. He didn't give out all the contracts that have crippled us.

 

It's Gao's fault that we have no flexibility to move forward, and mistakes from years ago still cripple us. Let's be honest, the contracts we handed out are decent PL contracts but we're not talking mega, mega money.

Owners of football clubs need to accept some loss, they need to take gambles here and there for the longer term benefit. Relying on a model of selling before you do absolutely anything with a squad is not sustainable and it will lead to the implosion of our football club.

We were told his 'investment' would take us to a new level, it hasn't. He needs to go before he does further damage. Hopefully the wheels are in motion for that to happen...and we can put this sorry charade behind us and move forward.

 

I blame Kat more than Gao. She was so keen to get shot, the correct due diligence was ignored.

 

We have £70 million+ worth of players out on loan at the moment. The current board are paying for the previous boards mistakes.

 

I'm no fan of Gao as I've made clear before and it was painfully obvious that he was never going to invest any money in. Just pointing out that a lot of the issues predate him too.

You don't think wages as 80% of turnover is high for a PL club?

 

I think the whole recruitment side of things needed looking at.... and I suspect this has been overhauled... but our record signings have all largely either fallen flat, flattered to deceive or are undecided currently.

I get that in trying to break the glass ceiling that is set for us by the established EPL clubs you have a huge increase in wages, but it just strikes me that two signings with experience and age in their side could make the difference.

For example (and only an example) if we signed a player like Chris Smalling, we would be adding so so much experience to our ranks. Yes, he would demand more in weekly wages and a net result would be the first 11 looking for a pay raise, etc, but as pointed out, the previous regime financed £70 million ish of wasted signings.

Either we want a seat at the big boys table and will pay accordingly or we’ll fall into obscurity.

 

Hughes spent 70m in one transfer window. Ralph has spent 49m across four.

 

It’s why survival at all costs has to be the goal (from the boards perspective) this year and probably next. We need to get the Hoedts/Lemina/Forster/Carrillo etc off the wages before we can do anything that benefits the actual team that plays week in week out.

It’s already been shown that we can’t just get rid of them as we have been trying for like 4 windows now and haven’t got rid of anyone, only way is for their contracts to completely run down.

At this point seems pretty nailed on that what we have spent so far is what we have received from Reed and Hojbjerg, so it does seem like we don’t have any more money for others unless we can shift more players.

 

Due diligence with the sale, and also there were noted problems with the running of the team (and academy) that pre-dated Gao's entrance. He is the symptom rather than the cause.

 

Wages at 80% of turnover is dodgy ground for any business, but I’m not sure it’s unusual for a football club.

 

I wonder how much in wages we have shifted Since last summer.

 

Median in the PL last year would have been around 61%. We were definitely among the highest spenders relative to turnover last year, though a contributing factor was our declining turnover rather than our rising wages.

 

Most of the higher ones had owners who put money iirc, Everton for example.

Worrying though considering how much we would have lost this year.

 

Definitely; Everton and Bournemouth were two of the teams above us, and in both cases the overspend was intentional (if ineffective). That we were right there with them while being the PL's foremost evangelists of financial restraint did not speak terribly well of our approach.