THAT Rickie Lambert Interview

But we weren't throwing every penny of Katharina's money at it. When the '13/'14 books are published, it's likely that the two years spent in the PL will come in very close to breakeven.

Every team wants to finish as high as possible, sure. But if we indicated, just as an example, that our policy going forward would be sell-to-buy, with transfers out funding transfers in, that'd tell a bit of a tale about where we're likely to find ourselves. It would also be more than sustainable...it'd be highly lucrative, so long as the club remains in the top flight.

 

I think Rickie is so busy being careful not to offend anybody, he's tripping over his own versions of events!

 

interviewer should have asked him to describe what happened in reverse.

 

Spurs are hardly splashing the cash, are they?

 

Yeah but I imagine their wage bill is at least 3x the size of ours

 

We'll see a large increase in the wage bill, and given the transfer policy we had, that trend probably wouldn't be changing anytime soon.

 

half the team got new contracts last summer.

 

True. I don't see Spurs as a good move for him, while it is possible for him to succeed there (top 4) it is highly improbable that he will especially with their squad this season which they're showing few signs of majorly investing in. I guess he must see them as better stepping stone than us,

 

Plus Wanyama, Lovesmen and Captain Jack surely got offered serious cash.

 

Also known as the Rupert Lowe plan.

 

A significant increase, no doubt, but that was an increase beyond what was (going from memory, though I can find it if need be) the second smallest wage bill in '12/'13.

 

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/may/01/premier-league-accounts-club-by-club-david-conn

Which in turn, was a significant increase over the year before. See where this is going?

 

Of course it was a significant increase over the year before...we were in the Championship then. Rather hard to determine a trend from three data points, one of which came before our revenues more than doubled overnight, the latter of which came after another large boost in cashflow owing to the new TV deal.

 

Do you honestly think the wage bill increases were going to change, given the way Cortese was operating things?

 

But this is a bit tautological...Cortese was a profligate spender because the wage bill (which was still rational at the time he left) was going to keep growing by leaps and bounds, and the wage bill was going to keep growing by leaps and bounds because Cortese was a profligate spender.

 

The single biggest thing to come out of Rickie's interview for me is the line that said MP leaving told them all they needed to know about the boards ambition. Sorry gents, but you just didn't wait to see and were already half out the door.

I really hope you will be casting an envious eye in our direction this season and wondering what if.

 

Not a bad plan, but the balance has to be right. Markus ploughed the money in to hopefully produce quality players regularly...keep some, sell some. The problem for Lowe is that we had to sell and then later we had to cash in the sell on clauses for Bale and Walcott. Now, we are not desperate and can get better deals.

 

Yep, agree with that FLT. The grass may not be as green as first thought for some.

 

Wait and see? The board had been in place for nearly six months. They should already have communicated their plans and ambitions to their staff.

 

Wait and see for what? Not sure what you mean.