It seems almost impossible to stay in the Premiership now without investment, and almost as difficult to get promoted. Languishing in the Championship will ultimately to relegation to League One, as Leicester, Forest, Sheffield Utd, Charlton, Southampton, Norwich, Preston and, after this season, Coventry and maybe Bristol City can attest to.
You have to aim for the Prem for all it's faults because there is no staying still in football - you're either climbing or falling. But there's no doubt that the Championship is a much better league because it's so competitive. When the highest position you can target in the Prem is say 12th it does lose something by comparison.
It's not just investment you need - you have to do it in the right way. Plenty of clubs have rich owners who can't stay in the league - unless you talk about chelsea/man city kinds of sums. It is very easy to spend 50 or 60 m on getting to the prem and getting relegated or struggling in return. You have to invest in the right way. I hate stoke but hats off to them, they haven't been flash but invested year on year and established themselves from a solid (rather than bought) foundation. WBA have yo-yo'd but appear tobe consolidating. You have to match investment with stability. It takes a lot for a board with cash to spend to hold off until the right deals for the club come along in the face of fan expectation. It also has to be sustainable as the likes of Portsmouth will attest. You can;t simply convert bank balance into on-field success. Something fans of all clubs, especially this would benefit from bearing in mind. We spunked 40m on the premiership dream - that's nearly 40% of your chairman's personal fortune according to media sources. 115m without experienced and cautious management will just lead to league 1 via the premiership in the modern game. Ask Leeds - that was a club with the 4th highest turnover in the country not so long ago. Which brings me to my point. Your Vichai Raksriaksorn is reportedly worth £115m. Our Assem Allam is reportedly worth £285m If you look at the at best mid-premiership Sunderland, their Elliss Short is reportedly worth 1.3bn - until recently a premiership struggler. If you want to know why other NPC clubs treat you with increduluty then it is because your owners wealth really doesn't amount to much in the greater scheme of things. The more they put in now then the quicker the cash runs out. headline wealth means nothing. Swansea play a higher tier then both of us and have an owner worth 20m Stoke, 400m - Wigan 200m etc.... Really, whilst you may be in better shape than you have been for a long time, you ain't that loaded. We got promoted with 12m investment from a guy reportedly worth 10m and came down with 40m losses. Ken Bates, 30m.... you think you're loaded but another interpretation of the cash you seem to be prepared to spend would be reckless. Seriously, from what I can see you're not as rich as you think you are and if I were a fan of your club alarm bells would be ringing. That is from someone with no real axe to grind with LCFC. I have my issues with Pearson, but again I recognise he did well for us. Just feel Barmby has got more out of them since he left.
It's not a matter of how rich you are but the willingness of your board to spend. To be honest, we only need two or three (maybe four at a stretch) players to make us the complete package, and you don't have to necessarily break the bank to do that. I think Sven splashed the cash more than he should, and ultimately it cost him his job. I don't think Pearson will do it to the same degree, we've seen from his initial bids he has an idea of what players are worth and won't go too far beyond this. This whole "we're not doing things the right way" rubbish is starting to annoy me from rival fans. Like Hull or Leeds wouldn't spend the money if their owners were willing to invest it. If you're owners are richer than ours but not willing to spend when you are in a good position, then it's Hull fans that should be concerned, not us. See how the Leeds fans are starting to react to Ken Bates for an example.
I agree completely. I'd prefer to play Championship football any day against teams I consider rivals rather than being Prem whipping boys, but like you say, you have to move in one direction or the other. Staying stagnant in the Championship will ultimately lead to relegation battles, unless you get yourself into the Prem for a while and re-enter the footballing conscientiousness. The Championship is fun, but it ultimately the footballing wilderness.
Personal fortune has very little to do with it except at the beginning of a tenure where money may be pumped in to kick start a club, whether this is personal monies or monies transferred from a larger Mother company is also to be considered. What our owners did very quickly was get brand recognition for LCFC in their own country and this already brings in revenue on a monthly basis through the sale of merchandise and screening our games. This is also the major reason why their desire to reach the premier league is so great, further interest and further brand recognition with a higher return on their income. All that is happening is the original business plan and budget from the beginning of the season will be changed to reflect the possibility of another year in the championship. Banks lend based upon the reputation, credit rating and risk within a business plan that is where football clubs get there money from NOT the owners.
The way leeds fans react to bates imo is not because of lack of investment. Its because of ticket prices mainly but also because he is chelsea. The lack of investment is an excuse to dislike him Personally, I think the club is more than going the right way and i put a lot of this down to Bates in truth. He is building a club as well as a team so these 3m profits (bearing in mind that doesnt include transfer money from players sold) that we are averaging over the last couple years is going into more than just the team. It gets frustrating for fans because 3m could get a decent couple players in (and trust me, we are not spending that) but we are building and i have full confidence we will be in the prem in the not so distant future and we will be in a fantastic position when we get there. Put that up against the leicester frame of mind of spend, spend, spend to get to the prem as quick as possible and your not really getting there any quicker than we are and your also gonna have aftershocks if the owners get annoyed that your still not in the prem and leave.
The Stoke model is a myth, Coates has written off £50m in loans in the past three years to keep them where they are.
if you are discussing finances, then you are wrong to assume the wealth of our owners to be £100 million. their assets are worth a reported 4 billion, and because we now have the king power stadium name, any monies spent on lcfc will no doubt be written off against profits from king power. to spend £15 million on players for us is just peanuts
Last time NP was here we had Tom Cleverley,Jay Spearing,Kerrea Gilbert and Hobbs on Loan so He has the trust of the country's top managers to bring there players forward.
Arsenal fullback I doubt hes herd of you? My point was about the Managers or have you not herd of Arsene Wenger?
I took your point, it was just on odd example to use, as he's a complete nobody(currently without a club, having been released by Yeovil Town) I would quite enjoy seeing Wenger being herded, anyone got any sheep dogs we can use?
After that goal his loan to you let in last week I am not surprised? Gilberts problems seem more off the pitch than off it.
Vichai's personal wealth is around $120M He owns King Power which is worth around $3B So the Raksriaksorns are mega rich
Odd that Giilbert's dropped off the edge of the planet, he was really promising when with us and I'd certainly have signed him but Wenger wanted him back. I saw him playing for Arsenal in the Champion's League (how many Hull players have done that?) a couple of times, but then he just disappeared. Strange.
