Another reduced budget next season according to the Chron

[vendman]

The main problem we have is that whenever we get extra income in, cup run, players sold,eventual return on Micah Richards etc, the spectre that is Simon Blitz will appear with his hand out(and I can't blame him) for the money owed to him.

Until his bill is paid, its going to be more of the same,

[oafcprozac]

The main problem we have is that whenever we get extra income in, cup run, players sold,eventual return on Micah Richards etc, the spectre that is Simon Blitz will appear with his hand out(and I can't blame him) for the money owed to him.

Until his bill is paid, its going to be more of the same,

 

This, this and this 1000 times…..

[rudemedic]

It's time that Corney sort investment from others if he really needs to prune down yet again. Pruning as got as exactly where?

 

Another season like last will see crowds of sub 3000 week in week out. After last season we'll struggle to get 3500 as it is with many having seen the season out will call it a day. Until things out on the pitch improve.

I made this point a few months back, but it needs repeating.

 

Corney and the landlords are said to be looking for investment. But the day after we made a fortune from one game he was on national telly conducting a PR exercise after it leaked that Dickov was on his last chance. He then went on to say that we didn't make all that much money because of the extra costs, like player's bonuses, extra policing etc. What sensible business person looking for investment plays down their profits in such a way? It's tantamount to a Rattner.

 

Also can someone please explain to us what the Ian Hill does at the club to get him a seat on the board. I don't see adverts for his company anywhere, I don't see us as being successful in the property market (Heck Lee Johnson does about as well as he does). If Corney wants investment try the estate agent on the board, after all he gets some significant benefits from his position but it is far far from clear what he contributes to deserve them. It's not like he is Corney's hatchet man and is wheeled out for bad news PR, as we all know that when Corney doesn't do it, the "fans" representative does.

[opinions4u]

The main problem we have is that whenever we get extra income in, cup run, players sold,eventual return on Micah Richards etc, the spectre that is Simon Blitz will appear with his hand out(and I can't blame him) for the money owed to him.

Until his bill is paid, its going to be more of the same,

 

It's almost certain that the deal is "make a profit - pay me off, lose money - take it out of your own pocket".

 

Until we can get a buyer who can pay him a lump sum that gets rid of him that's not going to change. Unless Micah goes for £30m.

[deyres42]

League is going to be much tougher next season, teams coming down will be spending to bounce straight back, progressive clubs coming up, and that's without mentioning the likes of Coventry and Preston.

 

If anything we need to be spending more just to avoid standing still.

[Monty Burns]

 

If anything we need to be spending more just to avoid standing still.

 

That was true a few years ago, now we need to spend more just to slow down how quickly we are moving backwards.

[rudemedic]

League is going to be much tougher next season, teams coming down will be spending to bounce straight back, progressive clubs coming up, and that's without mentioning the likes of Coventry and Preston.

 

If anything we need to be spending more just to avoid standing still.

Michael Laudrup said to stand still you need to spend more in the Prem. At this level the same applies doubly because of the increased change of clubs.

 

If Coventry can get out of their financial hole they will do alright. It doesn't look guaranteed that they will though. If Wolves come down then the fact they are still getting parachute payments will put them at the top of the budget league straight away. That is without their significantly larger gate receipts either. They've still got a lot of their Premiership players though, most of whom will be off I reckon, so I wouldn't be surprised if they struggle at first.

 

You are right about Preston they look a good bet to do something next season.

[Microcuts]

I'm not too put off by this. After all, Johnson has made it clear that he will be using the young players. As a result we should expect to see fewer short term loan deals and a large saving in the budget compared with this season where we have had a number of players on the wage bill who we never see kicking a ball. Bring in good players in key positions, and build around them with the youth we already have and one or two of players who will be begging for a contracts by September 1st.

Edited April 26, 2013 by Microcuts

[oafcprozac]

I'm glad that many share my fears.

 

After 11 home defeats I was probably 80/20 against a ST, then we somehow managed to stay up with relative ease meaning I was probably 55/45 in favour of renewing, but I wanted to hang fire and see what noises were coming from the club.

 

I honestly don't think I can stomach another year of austerity, revolving door transfer policy (not so much the guys out of contract, but loanee after loanee, short deal after short term deal) and Oldham Nil home performances...

Edited April 26, 2013 by oafcprozac

[Frankly Mr Shankly]

Looking at how the division is going to be next season I can see it being quite a bit stronger. The teams coming up are already putting a reasonable budget in to compete; Gillingham and Port Vale. There are no sides coming down who I think are going to end up in a financial mess like Pompey. And lets be honest, it's been these type of sides that have kept us up in seasons gone by.

 

Another cut of the budget is the last things the fans need. The usual crap has been spouted by the manager (and how else can he play it, really?) "I'm excited by the challenge. I'll have to wheel and deal but we can do it". The usual PR lip service, the same PR lip service that Dickov trawled out. Again, we're being strangled by the inside.

 

I really fail to believe that we can't find ourselves on the same kind of level as Brentford, Crewe, Tranmere and Yeovil - building a team for 2, 3 or 4 seasons rather than the wholesale sweeping changes we're seeing every:censored:ingseason. QWhy the :censored: can we not achieve that when we always get fed the line at how we're such a well-run club? Are we really that well-run?

[JohnnyPimp]

 

Also can someone please explain to us what the Ian Hill does at the club to get him a seat on the board. I don't see adverts for his company anywhere, I don't see us as being successful in the property market (Heck Lee Johnson does about as well as he does). If Corney wants investment try the estate agent on the board, after all he gets some significant benefits from his position but it is far far from clear what he contributes to deserve them. It's not like he is Corney's hatchet man and is wheeled out for bad news PR, as we all know that when Corney doesn't do it, the "fans" representative does.

 

Simon Blitz used to own a number of houses on Broadway that back on to the training ground, which would have made way for a through road had the BP development gone ahead. They were sold via Ryder & Dutton who are also marketing the residential development where the Clayton Arms used to be.

 

I'm not sure how either of the above could possibly warrant a place on the board and even if he possesses expertise in commercial land, the club does not own any.

[deyres42]

The teams that are coming up, Gillingham, Port Vale, Rotherham, maybe Bradford - all capable of attracting 8-9000k people through the gates regularly.

 

Corney and co can moan all they like about our attendances, the only way to fix that is put a winning team on the pitch which means spending a few quid.

 

[lancy lad]

I don't blame Corney for reducing the budget. The amount of people stumping up the cash to go and watch the team/buy crap in the shop is shrinking, vicious circle but the one who pays the piper calls the tune. Until things get better, 365 a year income or a miracle happens we have to cut our cloth according to our means. I'd rather watch us being :censored: than not watch us at all.

In theory I understand your point beag, but it has to be a downboat for the following reason.

 

If businesses constantly water down the product, especially after just having your biggest profit returns you have seen in 10 years, then you are going to turn away existing and potential new bums on seats.

 

Let me put it like this, if your local pub made a decent living out of serving :censored: beer and still had a much more succesful year (profit wise). Yet then turned the beer really pissy and wanted you to keep drinking in there, many would start to say no.

 

What the pub should be doing is re-decorating, and getting nicer beer and food in.

 

I haven't got a clue how these 3 clowns have built up a multi million pound business empire.

 

The main rule in business "Speculate to accumulate"!

[lancy lad]

The teams that are coming up, Gillingham, Port Vale, Rotherham, maybe Bradford - all capable of attracting 8-9000k people through the gates regularly.

 

Corney and co can moan all they like about our attendances, the only way to fix that is put a winning team on the pitch which means spending a few quid.

Rotherham were getting less than 3,000 through the gates a few years ago and now they have tripled their gates.

 

All down to the club investing in a new stadium and throwing a bit of money at the team.

 

If Corney carries on the way he is running thing's we will have a lovely brand new stand (if it ever gets built?) which is totally empty.

[vendman]

This is the most depressing thread ever, basically more of the same as this season!! 40+ years and I'm getting tired, the board don't deserve my support or upfront money, think I'll just see how it goes, and get to more away games, but think my season ticket days are over.

[Simoncorneyisgod]

It took you less than a week to go from 'cant wait' to 'not really hungry' lol! All as I can say is that if LJ is happy with the budget given to him by SC then hang on to the bit of faith that is there and let's see who he brings in and which players are going to stay. There isn't much else to hang onto I know...

 

This just about sums it up.......LJ is happy with the budget and whilst he is maybe a little naive about what agents will ask for lets bear with him

 

what is more worrying is that LJ has intimated in the chron that he is willing to wait until July to get the right players in which if he misses out on his targets will leave us severely depleted

[beag_teeets]

In theory I understand your point beag, but it has to be a downboat for the following reason.

 

If businesses constantly water down the product, especially after just having your biggest profit returns you have seen in 10 years, then you are going to turn away existing and potential new bums on seats.

 

Let me put it like this, if your local pub made a decent living out of serving :censored: beer and still had a much more succesful year (profit wise). Yet then turned the beer really pissy and wanted you to keep drinking in there, many would start to say no.

 

What the pub should be doing is re-decorating, and getting nicer beer and food in.

 

I haven't got a clue how these 3 clowns have built up a multi million pound business empire.

 

The main rule in business "Speculate to accumulate"!

 

I too get what you're saying but I would argue the analogy is moot as anybody can go into another pub and get the same product. For me, the thing that differentiates football from other businesses is that the brand loyalty is so high, apart from a certain person who has his own thread on here it is rare for a supporter of a club to switch allegiances to another supplier, they simply stop buying after a while. We are unlikely to get "passing trade", we'll get them for a game like Liverpool but most normal people aren't bothered about a game with Colchester, we didn't even sell out the Latics sections of the £2 games. If I was TTA, I would have just turned the lights out, walked away and put Closed until further notice at that point, they can't even give this :censored: away. £2/free, difference is marginal before the Grimsby 6-0 pedants appear.

 

Unless TTA or some other fool is willing to write off several million pounds next season on a :censored: or bust mission then we have to have a reduced budget, I'm not sure if there aren't even financial regulations that would outlaw the :censored: or bust approach either? Gazing into my crystal ball, the number of people who are willing to go and see whatever team Is in place by August will be less than even this season, pains me to say it but I think I'm right. Even if Corney said that he was going to up the budget significantly it wouldn't translate into bums on seats until at least October if we were flying high.

 

I don't see his incentive to speculate, what is there to even speculate about? We need to get about 3000 people more each game into the ground for the club to really move forward, the only way we'd get near that is to be near the top of the Championship and that is a really, really, really long way away from where we are.

[Lags]

You see this is the trouble here. Fans are seeing more of the same, but it's been the same/less (aka a Slow downhill motion) for 12+ seasons. It's the number of seasons that's creating the reaction. A fan asked at the LJ meet the manager the same old tired question, how does the moaning at home affect the players.....jesus like they are gonna be eating out on it! everyone knows a pat on the back feels better than a kick in the bollocks. I don't Boo I never have, It doesn't stop me feeling that way though. Again it's the number of season's that's racking up that creates the low threashold of patience.

 

Then we get this statement again....lower budget again! what the :censored: does the board expect? A number of seasons ago Corney said to me I'd gone to the dark side.........Well Simon I am still here, still putting money into the club, it's my club and I can say what I like. Go out and get some more investors in with you to help out. This club is crying out for a bloody good season.

[deyres42]

Hugely important few weeks coming up, the retained list should be out along with ST details - I think anything other than a price reduction will see a drop in takeup.

 

 

 

[oafcprozac]

Spot on Lags

 

All you ever get from Corney is excuses, agents this, players that, fans moaning blah, blah :censored:ing blah - time to bring some money to the table Simon and move this club forward.

 

Yes, I and others have criticised you Simon, and with a lot of justification BUT like the silly twats we are we come back year after year - putting our money where our mouths are, we put up with pisspoor football, a revolving door transfer policy that never sees us get anywhere or build any continuity, we have to put up with regularly hearing how :censored: our fanbase is to anyone who will listen, we swallow the crap facilities, the pisspoor catering, the flooded toilets, we buy the error strewn programme, buy the online subscription that only delivers the bare mimimum and then breaks down for fun, we log onto the Website that looks like it's been compiled by an 8 year old, we buy shirts that fall apart after a couple of washes, we buy DVDs without commentary etc, etc….

 

I and others have stuck by the club, despite the sideshow we have become - others have seen sense and walked, it's time to reveal your master plan for moving this club forward….

Edited April 26, 2013 by oafcprozac

[oafcprozac]

The club was in the spotlight all over the world after our FA Cup exploits, there must have been interest somewhere along the line...

[slystallone]

I'd imagine most other clubs are trimming budgets as well so it's all relative. Also, given we are about to start negotiations with players and agents, I'm not sure how wise it would be to announce that we'll be looking to increase our wage bill next season. As long as LJ is optimistic that he'll be able to get together the type of squad he'd like and it includes a sprinkling of players that we've developed ourselves, I'm happy.

 

As always Twis - speaking sense.

LJ said at the intital meet the fans gig i was at, that Corney had already told him next seasons budget and he was actually really pleased as he expected it to be lower.

He said it would see us competitve and he felt we could over-achieve on it.

 

He also mentioned that players would have to be more realistic in their wage expectations.

He used an example of a currentl Championship player coming to the end of a 2/3 deal on £6-£8K a week, now having to massively lower his wage demands to £1.5-£3K a week bracket to stay in the game.....most clubs are cutting back on budgets and players & agents will have to quickly cotton on to that.

 

I'm not worried. At all. Having met the man, I am fully confident he has the metal to back up his words. I expect LJ to pull a few rabbits out of the hat, and TBH - even if i do go "who" at one or 2 of his signings, for a change - i actually will have total confidence that all relevant research will have been done; and he'll sign players to fit the bill. If he said due dilegance once; he said it 20 times.

 

A mix of young and seasoned, hungry, fit and motivated players is on the way - bring it on!!!

[welshgaz]

He says he carries out a SWOT on every player too. Pretty impressive.

[Lukers1]

Spot on Lags

 

All you ever get from Corney is excuses, agents this, players that, fans moaning blah, blah :censored:ing blah - time to bring some money to the table Simon and move this club forward.

 

Yes, I and others have criticised you Simon, and with a lot of justification BUT like the silly twats we are we come back year after year - putting our money where our mouths are, we put up with pisspoor football, a revolving door transfer policy that never sees us get anywhere or build any continuity, we have to put up with regularly hearing how :censored: our fanbase is to anyone who will listen, we swallow the crap facilities, the pisspoor catering, the flooded toilets, we buy the error strewn programme, buy the online subscription that only delivers the bare mimimum and then breaks down for fun, we log onto the Website that looks like it's been compiled by an 8 year old, we buy shirts that fall apart after a couple of washes, we buy DVDs without commentary etc, etc….

 

I and others have stuck by the club, despite the sideshow we have become - others have seen sense and walked, it's time to reveal your master plan for moving this club forward….

Your right. Just before you entered the room when the 12 of us met Lee Johnson I politely asked if letting furman go was Lee's decision. :censored: me, anyone would have thought Id asked a horrific question the way Simon started on a right old rant. It was :censored:ing emabarrassing. Ive held back from the fans meeting but the way Simon went off on one was pretty sad to watch.

[oafcprozac]

As always Twis - speaking sense.

LJ said at the intital meet the fans gig i was at, that Corney had already told him next seasons budget and he was actually really pleased as he expected it to be lower.

He said it would see us competitve and he felt we could over-achieve on it.

 

He also mentioned that players would have to be more realistic in their wage expectations.

He used an example of a currentl Championship player coming to the end of a 2/3 deal on £6-£8K a week, now having to massively lower his wage demands to £1.5-£3K a week bracket to stay in the game.....most clubs are cutting back on budgets and players & agents will have to quickly cotton on to that.

 

I'm not worried. At all. Having met the man, I am fully confident he has the metal to back up his words. I expect LJ to pull a few rabbits out of the hat, and TBH - even if i do go "who" at one or 2 of his signings, for a change - i actually will have total confidence that all relevant research will have been done; and he'll sign players to fit the bill. If he said due dilegance once; he said it 20 times.

 

A mix of young and seasoned, hungry, fit and motivated players is on the way - bring it on!!!

 

I accept that, but to do the above you are not going to have your squad together to start pre-season together, ok a lot of other clubs won't either BUT this is us every year, fighting over the scraps at the death of the window. A few extra quid here and there could make all the difference. I have faith in LJ but the club's ambition to tread water will see him trying to do his job with the rug pulled from under him.

 

I know it seems like i'm being negative, but after a positive couple of weeks the club shoots itself in the foot. Those pondering Season Tickets don't want to hear about further reduced budgets, they want to hear about having a go. I'm not for one minute suggesting spending beyond our means, but surely there's a few quid from the FAC run knocking about, we'll get a pay out for Furman etc so why not stick it into the budget for next season?