Much has been written in recent threads about BCFCs reluctance to spend money and this frustrates fans. So who is to blame for this situation? Quite simply I believe it is greedy players and their agents. The Bosman ruling has meant that the best players can now hold clubs to ransom. This has led as I understand it to almost half of the clubs in the Championship spending beyond their means to get to the promised land of the Premiership. Financial Fair play has had some effect but many clubs are severely in debt. This becomes even worse in the Premiership where I believe Chelsea own half of that league’s debt. Quite simply football in its present form is unsustainable. The only way out is to decrease costs or increase revenue. While we as supporters might pillory SL for being mean I believe the only way BCFC will move forward is on a last man standing basis i.e. we will be one of the few financially solvent clubs around able to afford any players. Marketing needs to be improved and I put forward one revenue suggestion which needs to be considered at that is the issue of legacies. One in seven wills now contains a charitable donation so is there some way money from this source could be captured? My understanding is that the business of football is also failing to attract young supporters and this will gradually flow through to smaller crowds. So whose fault do you think the current mess is down to and what can be done to correct it and do we when push comes to shove agree or disagree that SL's approach is the right one?. Discuss.
IMHO the wages paid in the EPL especially, but Championship as well are so high, especially amongst the ex EPL teams like QPR, Burnley etc that players at those clubs don't even need 1st Team football to become millionaires, and in a very short space of time, The excessive wage demands for the most average of players have been the result of the total domination of English football by Sky TV over the past 2 decades or more. There are still relative bargains around. Kodjia looks to be a total steal at £2m. We'll get a good return on him hopefully. Let's just hope it's not anytime soon... In terms of City, the advent of Bristol Sports has put the money that supporters bring to the football club into the background. It seems to me that Lansdown is much more interested in building the corporate base and the other associated revenue streams such as leisure and hotel etc for the stadium and surroundings, rather than try to get BCFC upwardly mobile as his main priority. It's his money, and therefore his choice how he spends it, but if he allows us to drop back into L1 without at least trying to make a fight of it, then other people might see it for what it is too.
Nice but sadly true comments both of you. The hope of football ever returning to sanity has gone forever and when greed and selfishness come in to the mix the chances of the sport coming back to reality no longer exists. The worst part of it all that at some definitive point there was a chance of redemption but the people who mattered sat back and looked the other way hoping that what they feared would never happen. Sounds extremely like many of the other problems that plague our world today and when it all goes wrong we want to know why and who was to blame, not that the answers will ever be found in self pity and placing the blame. As humans we tend to sit by and let the others make all our decisions and when our world crashes around us we have some solace in that it wasn't our fault. Just look around at the things that are so wrong in these times that you would want to change and ask yourself where were you when the choice was made to make things different but worse. Truthfully we as individuals have little hope of changing the growing greed and corruption that pervades not just football but the entire global economies that have taken us down the road to war and fear. How sad it is that we consider ourselves lucky to be able to vote for our government and yet we still sit on the sidelines expecting them to make all the right decisions on our behalf and when it all goes up in smoke we turn around and ask how the hell it happened. My message to the board at this festive time of year is, you can't always get what you want but if you aren't even prepared to give it a try then you will fail. Let's hope the Boxing Day sales live up to their usual overhyped expectations.
Its not their fault they are only providing a service which you and I buy. That's supply and demand . It's what the clubs do with Sky's money that's the problem
The Sky Organisation is global. Whether I or others cancel their subscription won't make any difference. It will not stop me believing the way they dish out money to the Premiership as scandalous. Don't start me on the parachute payments that over half of our competitors receive in the Championship. Or the £300k a week Rooney and the like get while decent lower league clubs and fans go to the wall. 'It's what the clubs do with Sky's money that's the problem' - No it's not, it's the money that less fortunate others don't get. Football belongs to all, not the bloody Premiership. Sky stinks.
A word of warning - the January transfer window is a seller's market (apart from players whose contract runs out at the end of the season)
We have 2 very simple options 1) Continue to struggle until the end of the season, with relegation back to L1 a distinct possibility in May. 2) Try and bring in a few loan or permanent signings in January which may or may not work, but for me it's the only choice rather than surrender without a fight. Our squad have already proved beyond all reasonable doubt that collectively they are just not good enough at this level with the exception of 2-3 permanent players.
I can almost predict that we will take the loan player route. Due to our financial restrictions it would be nice to 4 or 5 seasoned veterans who have played at a more senior level to strengthen the core of the squad and act as mentors to the younger less experienced players who need a boost, or kick up the ass, once in awhile. Who knows what will happen but at least I hope our leaders do just that and lead by example.
I have posted on here before that the Sky money needs to be more evenly distributed between the Premier League and the Championship (and indeed the rest of the football league). There are clubs in the Championship this season who are spending money they don't have in order to get to the PL - someone big could go belly-up
I don't know a lot about parachute payments but I guess they exist so as to be able to fund previously Premiership contracts. is that right ?
Like many other things in life there are people that receive and them that don't and we are in the second tier in more ways than one. The entire Football League has become smoke and mirrors with some even looking the other way rather than in the face. Until the monies injected reach all levels in some kind of equal manner, rather than the chosen few, there is no hope of reaching a place where survival is possible for one and all. The vanishing face of reality has long since left the building and how on earth failure is rewarded by millions of pounds shakes my belief as to whether I can be bothered anymore, and the constant reasons why we at Bristol City can never be part of success bothers me even more.
'Its not their fault they are only providing a service which you and I buy. That's supply and demand' . 'I don't know a lot' Say no more.
You fail to consider why Sky pay so much. Its not because they love football. Its because they see a product which enables them to sell on services. I see nothing wrong with that just a Heineken advertise at the Gate. Its called sponsorship. Now I assume it is the Premier League who ultimately decide who gets what or is the FA ? I don't know although I have no doubt Sky has some input but what would you sooner have no Sky money. It is has many advantages to those who benefit the most, it is just unfortunate that we are not one of them. What I would like to know for sure is who is ultimately in charge of the "divvying up". Certainly in the Premier League they all get the same which is equitable
'would you sooner have no Sky money' - Correct. Before you were born we, and many other smaller clubs, made it to the 1st Division - that's the Premiership to you. Now, Bournemouth and the like are a rarity. ManUtd/City, Arsenal, Chelsea and maybe Liverpool and Spurs will dominate till I'm kicking up daisies. And worse, there will be clubs and fans who will go to the wall. Don't you worry though 'Its because they see a product which enables them to sell on services'. And screw everyone outside the Premiership.
I am sorry but I don't understand your logic that market forces aren't allowed to play a part in football just like any other sport. Is it right for instance that our rich billionaire owner can write off millions pounds of debt while other clubs would simply go to the wall (not forgetting 1982 as well). The facts are that be it in life or in football there will be the have and have nots. It is not necessarily fair but you cant change it. Recent years have shown that we have got things wrong on and off the pitch so now we are now trying another way. I don't blame Sky for where we are at the moment , we have a certain situation and its up to us how we deal with it. Its no good bleating and blaming some one else that's the easy way out and it changes nothing. Have you ever considered blaming Bosman ?
I think in hindsight the Bosman deal has given too much player power. Before this the clubs held the power and even though wages are now out of control, I think if player power didn't come into it perhaps the wage could of been kept slightly better and clubs could then get a fee to survive better.
