Midsblue

If it means 2 or 3 players instead then superb

Hope the players get a result for Pete Wild. Not only sounds like a genuine bloke who’s been given this opportunity but he’s an Oldham fan too. Adds a little when someone who supports the club is involved.

Happy Christmas all. Before I log off for festivities, do you think in just over 7 days time Uncle Abdallah will find a few quid to strengthen the team? Looks increasingly likely Surridge will be gone so a new striker needed unless we unleash Duffus. Winger too?

Isn’t it ironic that our team are dominating from midfield and the three players are all AL players?!

Probably the debts were much deeper than the due diligence unearthed? Lets give the bloke some time eh? I was pushing for an interview and we got one. Ok it didn’t confirm everything around the future at this stage but let’s see in January what materialises in terms of squad additions or not. Also remember in the interview Mike did say that certain things couldn’t be discussed because of legal reasons. As said earlier; Corney misleading the DD perhaps, player releases and possibly Wellens. On the topic of Wellens, if I blew a fortune outside my budget to support a manager to avoid relegation and we went down without a fight then I’d be reluctant to pay off his contract especially if there are clauses around performance.

Can you give examples? I thought he explained himself on why payments were late. The more I think of the snipers, it’s boiled down into three camps - 1. Ex-players who weren’t used to having their performance criticised or bitter when informed that there were not needed and needed to go. 2. An ex-owner who had to be forced from the board and the club 3. Journos who wrote articles based on information from those ex-players and the ex-owner

£2.8m per annum equates to just under £54k per week or average £2.2k per player based on squad of 24. Realistically a squad is nearer 30 so reduce that to £1.8k per week. Some of our players will be on less that £1.8k but if you consider Maouche on £4k and the likes of Clarke, Hunt, Baxter and Dummigan on similar then that’s 5 who have taken the wage of 10, thus reducing down squad to 25. This is why Gerrard, Byrne etc were let go and we couldn’t retain Doyle, Bryan etc. I’d say our budget from Jan 2018 to May 2018 was significantly more than £54k per week and therefore unsustainable when we were relegated. We’ve had to reduce down to £54k for this season to be sustainable and most likely remain in our cap. It wouldn’t surprise me if ongoing payments to Gerrard and Byrne remain in the £54k as we’ve most likely paid them off but drawing from the budget. AL has said money is available in January - but not clarified if that’s subject to players leaving. Time will tell.

I think the posters referring to our playing budget being £2.8m per annum (as opposed to his outlay) AL implied he doubled the wage budget from Corney’s regime

Trump, Green, Musk, Zuckerberg, Ashley ... just five examples from many more who are extremely rich individuals who you assume are rich from being shrewd businessmen but equally are fuckwits making really stupid decisions that also cost them millions too. Simon Jordan is a good listen but read his autobiography - classic millionaire who was out his depth believing he could succeed owning a football club. Closer to home, I worked for a “self-made” multi-millionaire who made his wealth through others hard work. He soon believed his own hype that it was all down to him, believed he was Midas then spunked away a huge portion of his wealth through stupid investments and relying on others who he soon realised weren’t reliable. Also as his business grew he didn’t have a clue on all the legalities, pension obligations etc and expected others knew it when they didn’t.

This is what I thought. It’s all click bait and journo bravado implying they have great sources, in the know and know more than us. If they genuinely feel for the club (I exclude Keegan from this because he’s a fan) then why not release it to fellow fans. Obviously they’re not that confident of what they’ve heard enough to comfortably quote without fear of a lawsuit against them

“We are set to see some more changes at the club which will be announced in due course. These changes will involve the day-to-day running of the club and admin side of things, again the club’s best intentions are always at heart when it comes to these decisions and changes.” If this was simply a new CEO then why not state it now? It sounds like added investment or new investment. I’m still very dubious about this bloke and whether he has the money to run this club let alone to the tune of £200k a month. Just strange though that he’s publicly stating an exact figure he’s spending each month. If he wasn’t then he could easily mask the mess by saying “I’ve invested money in and continue to do so”... no need to quote a figure. Upon reflection, the non-payment of pension payments could simply be down to his naivety coming into the UK with limited knowledge of running a business and employer obligations in the UK. He’s sacked a CEO and the discovery of “other commitments coming to light” could be the insurer informing Lemsagam that his obligation is to pay pension contributions. Just too much smoke for me to ignore no fire. However it also wouldn’t surprise me if Lemsagam is loaded but he’s also a hot-headed, trigger-happy foreigner (and I mean foreigner in respect of not knowing UK employer or company practices) who’s been sold a club, been fucked over on this due diligence, sacked everyone due to his temperament, out his depth and drowning.

I’d always have him back - as he’s the only manager who gets us fighting - but I doubt he would come back. Admit it it that our club is now toxic and we’re stuck with Bunn. Our owner ain’t got money to fire & hire the manager. I reckon he’s totally disinterested now after we were relegated and he realised just how much is needed to get us back in League One let alone the Championship. I’m 46 and if I’m lucky to live until my 90s, I doubt I’ll see Championship football again in my lifetime. In fact I’m seriously concerned that I’ll never see a promotion for our club again.

I’d play him more advanced rather than CM. Doesn’t have to cover miles but link up play, 1-2s and a quick feed onto Surridge, Lang or wide-men to cross back in. Like Sheridan when his knees meant he was stationary and he just got the ball and played blinding passes to other players.

This is what’s worrying.

So if Simon had a plan that Blitz was listening to, why has AL fired the bloke? Doesn’t make sense and concerns me more that AL isn’t that open minded to others views and opinions

How much is paid into playershare each week? If the fan base can’t afford (or unwilling to pay) £10 a week that goes directly to squad strengthening, do you honestly think they’d part that to pay for running costs, tax bills, maintenance etc etc? Granted if if the club HAD to be fan-funded to survive then those numbers would increase but I’m afraid a large majority still wouldn’t. They pay their season-ticket, buy a shirt, a programme etc and that’s their obligation. If the club folded then they’d be sadness, a huge hole on Saturdays and occasional Tuesdays for nine months of the year but within a short time, something else would occupy your weekends. Only way a fan-funded club works is if that fan has millions to blow - Hardy at Notts County, Hoyle at Huddersfield etc. Im still bemused that ALs true wealth or financial means haven’t been identified or disclosed somewhere. Surely it had to be evidenced to the EFL? Surely Barry has an inkling? It’s just gone very quiet and the promised openness, transparency and regular communication hasn’t materialised. Does AL still attend matches and is he based regularly at BP or even in the country?

This is where the openness is crucial via a statement / interview. Clearly state on record the following - 1. Funds are available and will be ring-fenced to not only pay wages on time but remain on time for the remainder of this season 2. Budget - yes we’ve cut our cloth but will FB be supported financially in January to strengthen further & is the target promotion? 3. Will we be safeguarding Surridge beyond January 31st? 4. May 2019 and beyond - what are ALs plans; buy the stadium back, develop commercial areas, secure additional investment or sell the club if he cannot singlehandedly fund the club himself Appreciate Point 4 probably won’t be answered but I’m hoping this is what the Trust is asking at each and every meeting. Perception is AL has no money, gambled whatever funds he had on staying in League 1, that’s backfired and now we’re skint and cannot compete in League 2!

We haven’t got a right to be title contenders and we deservedly find ourselves where we are today. However surely we should be in the top 10, possibly 5, in terms of budget? This is based purely on our gates in comparison to others. The lack of fire up front will see us start to slide sooner rather than later from our present top 10. Obviously opportunity wasted in terms of strengthening. We’ve signed ineffective carthorses up front leaving us relying on two kids - one injured but proving a brilliant signing & the other farmed out on the wing. We’ve released our best - but most disruptive - midfielder and our ‘prodigal son’ can only last 45 mins if that. Only shining light is defence and keeper, which reflects us drawing to mid table mediocrity. I fully support we’re now having to cut our cloth under the new owner. However whilst the balance sheet may be improving, the product on the pitch is withering on the vine. Future strengthening through match day income will be seriously affected if our style of play doesn’t attract addition to that gate. Its been a while since we’ve heard from our owner. Do we have funds for January now we’ve reduced our budget by £000s?!

See Nixon suggesting Preston looking to secure Surridge in January despite us having him on loan for season. Hopefully AL with all the money he’s saved not only allows FB to keep the team but strengthen where needed

Why would we pay up his contract? We had him on a disciplinary so I’m suspecting mutual means he’s walked away as a free agent in return for us not receiving a fee.

Spoke to a few Villa fans - Cracking signing if we experience Lyden pre injuries. Box to box midfielder; predominantly a defensive midfielder breaking up opposition play but also loves taking ball forward creating chances. Normally plays through middle but comfortable on the wing creating crosses and assists. Scores goals too from midfield as well as free kicks. In the mould of Steven Gerrard or Jack Wilshere but sounds like Jack Byrne during his loan albeit he tracks back to support defence and a leader on the pitch. The lad is one of their best development squad players and captains the U23s. Had it not been for his injuries and the likes of Grealish, Lansbury etc in midfield, Lyden would be in the first team by now. Fans love him and the player that they want to progress into the first team. Fortunately for us, the takeover at Villa and eyeing Prem football means the opportunities for Lyden will diminish so we may extend his loan beyond a January. Hopefully remains fit as he’ll be brilliant fir us in midfield allowing Baxter and Gardner to go forward.

Nothing new. Just our club releasing Byrne so we no longer have to pay his wages. Oldham Times state that Bunn wants to add one or two more following yesterday’s win. Hopefully it’s a midfielder to replace Byrne plus the elusive Cotterill

The one questionable thing from this statement is Byrne. AL states that the selection of players rests with the manager yet FB wants to play him but can’t due to internal matters. If Byrne is one of these players lacking discipline, causing unrest etc then loan him out for whatever pittance you can get. Having the lad sitting there drawing a massive wage and not playing is madness - we already have Maouche doing similar. If Byrne is not being paid and doesn’t know why he’s not playing then he’d have called in the PFA. Still don’t understand this debt issue too. If Corney’s hoodwinked him then sue Corney. As one poster put, if the debt was £500k then reduce the offer by £500k. Sounds like he paid what he did based on his due dilligence but then other debts come out the woodwork so his due diligence was commercially very poor.

Jeez, that was meant tongue in cheek

Nice statement but what about Byrne? Also this FFP is a smokescreen. When you spend 5x the average wage on Menig, don’t come bleating about FFP as an excuse of dumping Davies and Holloway for O’Grady and Miller. Load of bollocks I’m afraid and smacks of a carefully worded “I’ve realised relegation is a sack of shite so I’m now penalising us via cutting budget, which translates to picking up my ball and fucking off home”. If you’re that passionate about our success then allow Byrne to play. This petty stand off is harming only us fans and one club. In answer to those questioning Byrne last season; let him play this season and if he’s still whinging then we’ll agree to bin him. However I’d rather test that out first!