Rich i e Posted January 22, 2010 Report Share Posted January 22, 2010 Paying too much for players, just like the bonus' in the banking industry, not keeping enough capital for a rainy day. We are lucky to have SL at the moment, paying the debts every year, but we and every other club are still paying too much for average players, with not enough income coming in. Why oh why do they do it, and continue to do it? Maybe it'll take a club like Portsmouth to go bust before clubs wake up and joins us in the real world, I'd bet their supporters would swap their FA Cup run now, especailly if they go bump, still no sympathy though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BCFC_Dan Posted January 22, 2010 Report Share Posted January 22, 2010 Because it only takes one club paying massively over the odds for players to force others to follow suit. Clubs spending money they don't have take a risk, but there's a good chance they'll succeed and if other clubs want to compete they end up having to match the spend. If City were to pay out only what they could cover from their income I think we'd be looking at a very uncompetitive squad that would in all probability be relegated, which would cut the budget further. There are exceptions, such as Blackpool who are currently doing very well on a small budget, but they're the exception rather than the rule. City could take a stand and hope Johnson has what it takes to find real bargains but I suspect the risk of relegation from going down that route is greater than the risk of failure through overspending. I think the only answers are either artificial capping, which is exceedingly difficult to work, or an acceptance that it's a harsh world and there will be casualties. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CotswoldRed Posted January 22, 2010 Report Share Posted January 22, 2010 I'm not sure much will change, even if Pompey go bust. Look at it this way - if they do go bust they will lose points, be relegated (this might happen anyway) and they'll have a relatively clean slate - i.e. a much better position than now. And that's the worst case scenario a la Southampton. Southampton have (just about) no debt, a lovely stadium, a reasonable fan base and a promising future. Not so bad for a club in such a bad crisis recently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
22A Posted January 22, 2010 Report Share Posted January 22, 2010 Football clubs were and some still are run by successful local businessmen. For some reason, they leave logical thinking at home when they turn up for board meetings at the club. In the mid 80s, after winning the League title Liverpool admitted they had spent more in wages than they received in gate receipts. For many years now many in the game reckon the stronger CCC teams pay similar wages to those in the Prem just to attract players who will hopefully get them into the Prem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chappers Posted January 22, 2010 Report Share Posted January 22, 2010 I think it is Lemming Syndrome, spending money to chase a dream that rarely materialises. And when you reach your goal and get promotion, you carry on spending recklessly so that you can try and stay in the dream, which in reality is not as good as imagined. Once the bubble bursts and relegation hits, it's a sudden firesale and a struggle for survival, and as can be seen in the CCC, many years of utter mediocrity trying to pay bills and pretend you are still a big club. The more you speculate, the bigger the fall. Cardiff have been lucky in having a good youth policy which has kept them just about solvent recently, and I suspect Ledley will be next out to pay the taxman. Having been around in '82, Citys finances scare me. We are spending ridiculous sums on complete mediocrities, have far too large a squad, and don't seem to know how to get the best out of our investments. We lost over £6 million last year, my guess is that we will be lucky if it does not increase this year. And how many saleable assets have we got? Maynard - We might get £5 million if he has another purple patch. Skuse - Maybe a million. Think we missed out on Elliott, and the rest are £500K or less. If we get into difficulties, just half those values as we will take what we can get, just to get them off the wage bill. Another thing to consider is that few Clubs are in a position to buy, as most Clubs are now in too much debt, and are trying to control the situation whilst paying a fortune on wages and servicing these debts. Enjoy the good times, I can see a spectacular crash coming in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eskay Posted January 22, 2010 Report Share Posted January 22, 2010 Enjoy the good times, I can see a spectacular crash coming in the future. Spot on, I was having a similar conversation at work today about Man Utd. This will be a bit like the internet stock market crash. People were saying for ages that it was all false money and companies should be valued on their true worth but the lemmings kept piling money in. The current football financial climate is the same. I understand you can pay a player 100K a week if he adds that much worth to the business but do they? The short answer is no. OK people want results but at what cost - 700m debt?? I think most business analysts would tell you that this is a car crash waiting to happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CotswoldRed Posted January 22, 2010 Report Share Posted January 22, 2010 Enjoy the good times, I can see a spectacular crash coming in the future. A crash may come and I think football deserves it, though I don't think it will be as spectacular as some people think. The worst affected with be the creditors, possibly with many players salaries going belly up too. Having been declared bankrupt (after failing to find a buyer in administration) clubs won't disappear, they'll be sold on to the highest bidder for next to nothing and the cycle will pretty much continue. The new owners will pick up the ground (or lease) for a song and will retain their position in their respective division, possibly the one below. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BCFC @ Herts Posted January 22, 2010 Report Share Posted January 22, 2010 Clubs spending money they don't have take a risk, but there's a good chance they'll succeed and if other clubs want to compete they end up having to match the spend. If City were to pay out only what they could cover from their income I think we'd be looking at a very uncompetitive squad that would in all probability be relegated, which would cut the budget further. There are exceptions, such as Blackpool who are currently doing very well on a small budget, but they're the exception rather than the rule. City could take a stand and hope Johnson has what it takes to find real bargains but I suspect the risk of relegation from going down that route is greater than the risk of failure through overspending. At the end of the day only three clubs are going to be promoted, so there are a lot of clubs overspending just to stay in the Championship. Do we have a realistic chance of being one of those three? If not maybe we should be reducing our costs now as I believe our losses are going to be greater than last season with lower crowds and a greater wage bill. Throwing money, that you don't have, at the possibility of promotion is just a gamble. I for one would like to see SL be meaner with the cash to ensure the long term security of the club. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CotswoldRed Posted January 22, 2010 Report Share Posted January 22, 2010 I for one would like to see SL be meaner with the cash to ensure the long term security of the club. Given the commitment to the stadium I wouldn't be surprised if SL thought a little bit of overspend at this time was worthwhile just to 'guarantee' that we stay well clear of the Championship relegation zone. Getting the stadium built coupled with a return to League 1 would be a disaster of the worst magnitude. Our losses are big, but I doubt is keeps SL up at night .... for the time being. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cityhead Posted January 22, 2010 Report Share Posted January 22, 2010 A crash may come and I think football deserves it, though I don't think it will be as spectacular as some people think. The worst affected with be the creditors, possibly with many players salaries going belly up too. Having been declared bankrupt (after failing to find a buyer in administration) clubs won't disappear, they'll be sold on to the highest bidder for next to nothing and the cycle will pretty much continue. The new owners will pick up the ground (or lease) for a song and will retain their position in their respective division, possibly the one below. How true - I believe many of them chase the dream is because the penalties are not sufficient. Go into administration and start again, ie Chelsea, hours from admin before Abramovich, Leeds, Southampton etc, West Ham very close, even Liverpool even closer ad Man U closer by the day, who helps out the creditors who themselves go bust with loss of jobs for people on minimum wages, repossessions etc just to keep footballers in a standard of living far exceeding thier worth. One of the reasons why I don't take football too seriously, it's pure fantasy, just like paying actors millions for afew hourswork etc. Rant over! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
22A Posted January 22, 2010 Report Share Posted January 22, 2010 Just been looking back through the history book and City sacked Fred Ford because of poor results. Fred had been urged to strengthen the team, but he was reluctant to pay transfer fees. At one AGM he stated "Sprinkling out huge fees like confetti is no guarantee of promotion". Interesting to read that Ford tried and failed to sign Robin Stubbs, Barry Dyson, Frank Large, Alan Hinton, Bobby Kellard and Alan Skirton. Not the last time, but the previous time WBA went into the Prem, their Board announced they only expected to stay up for one season, so they would not break the bank to buy two, maybe three top stars. Instead they would enjoy the atmosphere, take the money and run. With that one season of Prem income they could build a CCC team capable of staying up when they next won promotion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mindjuicer Posted January 22, 2010 Report Share Posted January 22, 2010 At the end of the day only three clubs are going to be promoted, so there are a lot of clubs overspending just to stay in the Championship. Do we have a realistic chance of being one of those three? If not maybe we should be reducing our costs now as I believe our losses are going to be greater than last season with lower crowds and a greater wage bill. Throwing money, that you don't have, at the possibility of promotion is just a gamble. I for one would like to see SL be meaner with the cash to ensure the long term security of the club. Inclined to agree. We have a small chance of promotion, maybe 1 in 6 I'd say. SL can afford it tho. I'm just hoping he's saving up for Sno. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.