... and do they have any players we should buy. "Football finance expert Kieran Maguire believes Bristol City may have resigned themselves to a points deduction for next season as the Robins continue to be in discussions with the EFL over Profit & Sustainability obligations." https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/bristol-city-points-deduction-finance-7219960 We're so lucky to have KLD in my opinion ... ... setting the club up to be sustainable and avoid putting us in the shyte again. It may not be the 'sign sign sign' excitement of the Roy Keane era but other clubs are in serious trouble and I'd rather not join them.
I'm sure the owner had this mad idea about creating a huge sporting club with the football and rugby team at the head of it. He spent millions on a new training ground, the stadium etc they would be shagged without his money propping them up
How many clubs are going to start next season on the naughty step? At this rate we could be top half when the season kicks off
Its pretty much common knowledge that a good number of clubs in the Championship overstretched their finances in an attempt to get to the Premier League...I bet a few of them will be tightening their collective belts now
They do. It is a mad, and often self defeating chase down a rabbit hole. We've done it, most teams have done it. Even if you get there without going mental, which we did a few times, the wages spiral takes over, and the longer you are in that league, the more expensive contracts you gather up, and the fall is harder. It's a real paradox, as we all obviously want to win every game, which would end up with us going up if we do so often enough, and then find ourselves in the Premier League, which is a spirit free zone. It's basically a waiting room to go down for well over half the teams in it. The Championship is the best League, but then when you win it you go up into a " better" one! No solutions from me mind, but football has got itself wrapped around the finger of a cabal of six clubs.
I really don't know how to feel about getting promoted to PL if we do well in the championship. Let's face it, last time we were in PL it was ****ing awful, watching us getting beat week in week out, the atmosphere was doom and gloom, and in the end I hated it. I'll be quite happy to settle into the Championship and establish the status of the club, academy and the 'roadmap' for the club's future. KLD has stated that he wants a sustainable operation, and if we can get the academy producing good young prospects regularly, then that's the way to go. You need absolute Megabucks to make any impression on the PL these days, and it's only going to get harder to crack the top 6, everyone else is just making up the numbers, as I think the mags will find out. SAFC don't need that kind of scenario, let's just become a good, well run club with a top class academy, and build for the long term future, that'll do me.
Aye, as an armchair supporter, the majority of our Premier League was perhaps the most depressing era for me. Not just due to the fact that we got humped most weeks but also due to the fear that relegation could cause the club to crumble (which it did, but not to the extent that it could have, we were lucky really). The continuous firefighting every season was soul destroying and unsustainable. How we lasted so long in there was a miracle. Lower mid table was our ceiling, bottom 6 was our norm. And my hope is that we get back there? Madness!? I'm getting enjoyment out of supporting the club since our back to back relegations. If we get back to the Premier League, trying to keep up with the Jones'? Any point? I'm in no rush to get back there, entertainment, enjoyment and a regular top half finish/flirt with the playoffs will do me for the next 5 years. If we sneak into the Premier League in the process?..........GET IN!!!!!
I just hope that, if we do get back to the Premier League, we dont make the same mistakes again where relegation risks the future of our club. The Norwich/Fulham model should suffice in the short term.
Totally agree with this. A Norwich director said a few years ago that their aim was to be in the top 24 clubs in the country. I think an aim over the next 6-8 years to be in the Top 26, would be both sensible and achievable. Some years we'll lose in the playoffs, some years we'll go up, some years we'll stay up and some years we'll go down. But we run the club well, we build entertaining teams, we don't sacrifice our future. That probably means we sell some players we'd rather keep as well, but we stick to the plan and we keep buying and developing players that fit a model. In time, if done right, that aim can change to be a top 12 club.
I'd agree with all of that plus really going for the cups. It's a shortcut to a trophy and Europe. It's way more exciting than the league and you get two more weekends in Trafalgar Square
Really good thread this. Yeah, top half is a reasonable aim this season. Good crowds, great family days out, and an expectation of building a massive club back to the elite again. Small steps will do me fine, that's for sure.
