http://fourfourtwo.com/news/england/87230/default.aspx Great Manager, great team, great Chairman, great owners, great club. Amongst the happiest times I've enjoyed as a Saints fan!
You look at the owners around the top 20 and I would safely say that Saints are going about it the right way. Some of those owners spend for the hell of it and some refuse to put a penny in, we are in very capable hands. Still, Sheikh Mansour worth 20 billion!! WOW!!
Means nothing really, don't get any extra points for it and has the possibility of giving some fans over the top expectations. I still expect the Man City owners to one day come out with a statement saying they are going to play some of Man City's home games in Dubai or Abu Dabi. Abramovich was desperate to get his cash out of Russia at the time he bought Chelsea. Not sure all the owners are motivated by a love of the game like Markus hopefully was. It's still not crystal clear what Saints ownership position is. I think we just assume the estate of Markus are now owners, which is probably the case, but it's a bit murky.
I like the idea of playing games in foreign countries i'm in vegas on the 28th april and with that being saints last game of the season i think playing it sin city is a great idea.
*Ugh* the "39th" game - clearly a flawed proposal. If they want to play a game abroad to highlight English football, they could play the FA Chairty Shield aborad.
Indeed. Or if anyone wants to see a game of football in their particular area then they should go and watch a local team, if there is one. We can't have everything we want and we shouldn't expect football clubs to play anywhere other than where there is a proper competition, unless it's an exhibition or tour match.
what people seem to forget is that it doesn't matter how rich our owners or the trust is. The plan was to set an amount aside while become self sustaining wasn't it? That amount is in an account for NC to use when needed but I would not assume any more is going to be added. As far as I see it that pot is for the 5 year plan and at the end of the 5 year plan we should be self sustaining or at least living closely within our means so as not to need any very heft financial help. small overdraft or similar if a couple more years are needed until self sustainment is achieved. And I do not see self sustaining meaning that we have a squad purely from our own academy. That would be nice of course. I see it purely as taking the profit from revenue and not spending more than that whether that be half a team of home grown and half a team of transferred in. Can be done I think. we only need 1 or 2 players to ensure we are challenging in this league and I see the same if we were in the PL. I think the current crop could hold mid table in the prem so just another couple of additions to jump up to top half etc. If we do go up this year (fingers crossed) Adkins will not bring in a multitude of new faces, he will just use his magical silvery motivational tongue to push the current players to even higher levels.
I thought the plan was to get to the Prem in 5 years then becomoe self sufficient in the Prem? It is very hard to be self sufficient in the Championship as the revenue just simply isnt there. We were fortunate in some ways that we sold AOC as it was a big plus to our income and we should break even for the year now, or maybe make a profit, with that added revenue. The simple fact is though that very few teams have gone up to the Premier League and survived without bringing in 4/5/6 new players as the gap between Champ and Prem is massive and is only widening as time goes on. The fact that we have the fifth richest owners is good if they decide to make an initial investment once we get to the Prem to ensure we stay there, then over time become self sufficient.
i always thought the increase in tv revenue from league 1 to the championship was quite a lot? or at least enough to make sure we break even.
True, but Adkins' way working its best is as much to do with team chemistry and players forming partnerships/units as it is about the sheer quality of individuals. Even in the PL, we have a few players already who will still deserve to be part of the team and we'll want to keep hold of because of their influence. A lot of us doubted whether some of our players would step up to the Chyampionship, but theyt certainly managed that.
It is quite a lot but still pittance in comparison to the Premiership, plus we will have spent more this year in terms of wages and transfer fees, which may or may not be covered by the extra tv revenue, which is why it was good that we got such a high figure for AOC.
I agree with you and I'm not suggesting we go out and buy a whole new first team if/when we get to the Prem. We need options and the players do deserve their chance like they did this year, but we need that extra bit of quality in the Premiership just in case some of the current team are unable to make the step up. And unless we are lucky players who are good enough to play in the Premiership don't come cheap, which is why I was saying that I thought the plan was to get to the Prem and stay there first, then become sustainable.
I wouldn't hold out on the 'pot' being topped up by the family. I suspect that pot is it and NC will have to chase other avenues of revenue / investment once it is gone if we needs more. I think many have become blinded by how rich the person/family is rather than the fact that Markus ensured that we were catered for with the pot of gold and the family have simply honoured the commitment.
But that point of view doesn't sit very well with our Saintly Chairman's recent announcement that he wouldn't pay £200,000 pounds a week to a player in the Premiership, with a 32,000 seater stadium, but he might if we were in the Champions League, housed inside a 50,000 seat stadium. The pot might be bigger than we think.
we shall se when/if we get to that stage however I don't think so. I would say that pot is the £35m spoken of and that is it. any stadium expansion/building is more likely to be financed by credit from one of NCs mates However I am pretty confident that under NC we would know that it was all well planned for and not the club floated to pay for the stadium then realising that falls about 99% short of whats needed like our former chairman's big plans. lol Never did work out how the debt was so large on the stadium when I thought the flotation was supposed to fund it. Maybe I got the wrong end of the stick. Either way the family aren't going to be frorking out that kind of cash for the stadium unless it is a real loan to be paid back and not the pretend interest free loan we currently have (i.e. a gift that is called a loan then written off bit by bit) Maybe we are getting one of Qatar's 'lego' stadiums at a discount after their world cup. Bet NC knows those guys. lol
