"Telegraph Sport can also disclose that, during their Championship-winning season under Neil Warnock last year, QPR’s £29.7 million wage bill amounted to 183 per cent of their £16.2 million turnover." This worried me. They spent quite a lot in transfer fees during Warnock's first summer also.
I think there's just too much to do in one season. We need around five premiership quality players as the spine of the team because we currently have no-one that is Prem quality. Snoddy is a good CH level player and he's the best of what's left. This season we've just been papering over the cracks. The defence, midfield and attack are all not good enough to win promotion so there need to be signings across the board. I can't see Bates authorising that kind of investment. And on top of that, we need to move on 5-6 players as well.
The massive thorn in the paw (or rather, massive, HIV infected, smack filled hypodermic) is that bates probably won't let Warnock sign players until he frees up wages. The deadweight will have to be moved on before he's allowed to get players in, because the other option is taking the risk that we won't be able to move on players that we don't want and will have them stuck on the wage bill on top of the new signings. I am not expecting anything more than the crap we've had to endure.
Marko, do you not think the 9 or so players that are out of contract/end of loans will not free up anything? Given Bates' statements about reducing the squad size, the reduction of those whose contracts are up maybe just gets us to the starting point of "ok, if you now want to bring any in, you need to transfer others out."
But it worked! it was only around 4M which wasn't horrendous given the pay outs of promotion, say what you like about him, Colin knows how to get a team promoted, i don't think there's many better for you, although if you do go up, ye might as well sack him straight away
It is only a worry if you spend and fail, if we spend heavy and fail then the worse case scenario is Bates might **** off and sell the club.
QPR were promoted because they played some of the best football in the division and deserved it. Warnock hardly spent any cash but got a team together anyhow. When they went up he wasn't given any cash because the old billionaire owners were selling to a new millionaire owner. 2 weeks before the season started he was given cash and had to do a supermarket sweep to get a squad together. They did ok, but not pulling up trees, so the new owner decided to get rid of Warnock and bring in Hughes. QPR would not be in relegation zone if Warnock was still in charge, so I'm really glad they look like dropping as well as Blackburn who also got rid of a decent manager and so too Wolves who left poor Terry Connor carrying the can. Leeds next season under Warnock will have a much better chance providing Bates lets him compete for decent players. We cannot afford another missed opportunity like like season and a complete waste this season. The fans deserve more and think the penny is finally dropping with bates as he's seen crowds vanish this year, and because he's already borrowed against future ticket sales, he'd be fooked if nobody renewed because of a lack of activity in the summer again.
Of course it will, but the stumbling block will be when he's making the finishing touches to his squad, those few extra players that are going to provide the strength in depth, and we can't get them because the dead weight still under contract isn't getting shifted.
Doc underlines the falling gates perfectly. Bates knows that Leeds will struggle going forward if attendances continue to decline as they have this season. Leeds have lost a lot on the gate this season, I did a calculation using the programme match info and we average 23k this season in the League, against around 27k last season. So if we take a 4k difference at around a conservative £25 per ticket we are down £2.3m this season, a huge chunk of cash that really stings!! Bates will know that Leeds need a positive Summer in the transfer market, and Colin must be allowed to get as close to his desired squad as is possible. A promising transfer market will re-ignite belief amongst the fans, and this will help to generate a positive buzz and swell the gates at Elland Road. Then if the start on the pitch is good as well, attendances will improve and Leeds will generate much needed extra cash. Bates has to help Warnock as much as he can, and commit to the manager's demands. If anything, this is going to be a very interesting relationship off the field that will either be a massive success or spectacular explosion if two stubborn buggers don't agree.
