Hello Dave

34 minutes ago, Sir Geoff said:

Blooding a 17 year old in a pre season friendly against a Premier League team and watching said teenager run the game. Then giving that same teenager 96 first team games over the next couple of years might have helped generate a sale.

My point is, he didn’t want to sell, the decision was taken out of his hands by those above him. So they generated the money, not him. Bit pedantic maybe I know.

5 minutes ago, Glen hump said:

Isn’t it basically the same thing, 

Not really. He didn’t generate the money from Semenyo and Scott, as he didn’t want to sell them.

Also, he didn’t set the wage budget, why would he, when it would be detrimental to what he’s trying to do?

8 minutes ago, Ian M said:

Particularly given Nige has:

• reduced the wage bill by approaching £10m per annum,
• reduced amortisation cost by around £9m per annum,
• generated sales of around £35m,
• still kept us competitive on the pitch with a tiny injury hit squad.

And yet he appears to have no supporters in the club’s hierarchy.

Has Pearson done all this though? It was only last week that people were saying he’s only involved on the playing side, and not to be asked questions on financial matters!

He personally, obviously hasn’t generated money from sales, as he didn’t want any of them to go. He also hasn’t reduced the wage bill, as I’m sure as shit he’d want a decent budget so he could attract better players.

Apart from your last statement, everything else would’ve been decided above him.

17 minutes ago, Numero Uno said:

That's not a reason to spend £800K on a player who then has no re-sale value is it? I understand the logic of The Few - he is likely to bang in 20 goals, get them to the play-offs and if they did go up worry about the issues that come with JCH at that point. Still a high risk strategy but a far lower risk one than us signing him particularly when the fact of the matter is we NEED BETTER than Jonson Clarke Harris rather than make do and mend like we always ******* do under this Owner's tenure.

But, with our new wage structure, are we gonna get better than him?

31 minutes ago, Numero Uno said:

We don't sign players for £800K with no re-sale value any more............because the Owner finally realised the bit highlighted (it won't be his fault mind). This was literally a shit or bust signing by Rovers albeit his scoring record at the level gives any buyer a very high degree of confidence he will score 20+ goals (far better than his record at the level above btw so it would have been a pretty shite "punt" had we gone for him imo).

Would he score less than what we’ve got up front at the moment?

7 minutes ago, Selred said:

Ah didn’t realise Famara won the Championship golden boot twice when we signed him! 

Kalas as I later clarified could be agreed as a top proven championship player. Still was 4 years ago. 

I tend to agree with a lot you posted last night. It would’ve been a great signing for them, and I wouldn’t have been diss appointed if we’d took a punt on him. Some of the players mentioned that we’ve signed in the past, just goes to show how much we’ve ******* wasted!!

Can anyone send me a link or quotes from Lansdown, where he’s actually said , that whatever we get from the Scott deal would be invested in the team? I’ve never heard him say it , or read any quotes. That’s not to say he didn’t mind!

4 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

It makes no difference what the payment terms are, the sale is added to the books immediately.

If SL genuinely wants total sustainability, ie to run the club as profit or break even, then he should communicate that to the fans, and why he’s changed his strategy.  The best tightening by Nige has been huge.  We are back to playing budgets in the first year or so back in the Championship!  Expecting us to challenge in the top half of the Championship on a budget of 7 years ago is ridiculous.

I totally agree we can’t challenge on a minimal budget, but, playing devils advocate, perhaps Lansdown is pissed off with losing money every year and  getting slagged off for it, hence the belt tightening.

I also agree that, if it is his intention is to try and break even, he should stop putting unrealistic expectations on the manager(s).

3 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Expected loss?  My guess c£10m profit

Operational loss (no Scott money)?  My guess? c£13m loss

(Very crude guesses)

I actually think football revenue vs football wages might be quite similar for once.

Do you think the Scott money would be paid up front or over a period of a few seasons? We’re still losing money, even if it is less than previous years. We’ve made a profit once in the last 20 years( think it was when we sold Webster and others), surely people can see that there needs to be some belt tightening?

2 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Our revenue is more than season ticket sales.  It’s no longer more than our incomings.  There are two other cost buckets - amortisation (down from £12m peak to circa £2m this season) and the wonderfully named “other costs” which is everything else.

Obviously season ticket sales aren’t the only income, but does it cover the wage bill? If so, what do you think the expected loss will be this year?

3 hours ago, ChippenhamRed said:

I just don't get our club or it's finances at the moment.

Correct me if I'm wrong but: -

- We've just received £25m for one player who cost us nothing, in addition to £10m in January for another player who cost us nothing

- As demonstrated above, we have substantially reduced the wage bill over the last few years

- We have obvious weaknesses in the team that need addressing, and a squad that is currently very unlikely to challenge for the top six.

 

....so if we can't or won't spend money in these circumstances in order to give ourselves a proper chance of progression and promotion - when can we?

And if we needed that money just to cover losses - what the hell would we have done without that massive cash injection that wasn't guaranteed? And why aren't we are competitive as other Championship sides who haven't had the benefit of £35m in transfer receipts in the last 8 months?

What's going on? Can anyone explain it?

You say the wage bill has been slashed, but it’s still more than our incomings. Let’s say we have 15000 season ticket holders at an average of £500. That’s only £7.5m. Where does the shortfall come from? Those figures are only wages, what about the upkeep of the stadium etc?

It’s no secret that we have been losing about £20 m per season, sometimes more. These transfer fees are just plugging a gap. As much as I want us to sign a striker, creative midfielder and a keeper, we’ve got to be realistic. It’s simple housekeeping.

1 hour ago, BCFCAL said:

People are also seeing Lansdown's self imposed wage bill as FFP constraints - it's not, City are fine FFP wise right now, it's Lansdown not wanting to spend.

That’s one of the reasons we’re ok as far as FFP is concerned, we’ve slashed the wage bill. Can’t have it all ways.

If JCH has any chance of going back to Rovers, I think we’re missing a trick. He’s scored goals wherever he’s been, surely he could do a job for us?

22 minutes ago, Merrick's Marvels said:

I find it hard to believe Pelling got involved with deals set up by the manager/chief scout, unless instructed to. 

And that instruction can only come from above. 

He was the CEO, he would’ve got involved in the deals. Do you think Mark Ashton didn’t?

6 hours ago, Riaz said:

Lansdown got involved in some of the deals - thats all i'm saying on here.

If you’re talking about the Maguire and Gray deals, my information( I hate the word source) , is that Pelling messed both deals up, hence the sacking. If Lansdown messed with them, why hasn’t Pelling ever said anything? I’m not saying my information is right and yours is wrong, but it seems like another stick to beat Lansdown with.

22 hours ago, eardun said:

Brilliant! 

Up the airport? Away again?

Do people not realise that pre season is all geared for the start of the season?

The players would’ve been beasted in Austria, now it’s about getting minutes into the players. They are probably told not to play at full capacity, due to risk of injury.

I couldn’t give a **** about the result, as long as they’re ready for August 5th!

That goal!!!

Haven’t gone through the whole thread, so I apologise if it’s been done. But, has anyone got a photo of that headed goal against Rivers, in the Anglo Scottish Vup? I’ve searched , but can’t find it.

1 minute ago, frenchred said:

If you didn't drink so much before every game you wouldn't have to piss so much, just saying!

Have you tried watching City sober?

On 10/07/2023 at 08:36, frenchred said:

Why would anyone choose to do this?

Seems very childish to me

I refuse every week. They want to see it every time I go for a piss.  Showing my ticket 10 times a game is a bit much!!

In all fairness, if the goals were before 3.10 or after 4.30,  I would probably have missed them!

Got this one up already.

4 minutes ago, 1960maaan said:

@Hello Dave might be worth asking if anyone has the first programme from the following season.  25 Aug 1984 we played Wigan Athletic at the Gate, might be some photos in that. 

One last shot and something I've been meaning to do, is go down the Central Library and check their records. Apparently they have all the old Evening Posts , not sure about WDP or Green Un , but might be worth a look. 

**** that! I’ve still got some books out that haven’t taken back from 1977!