Let's take a big step back from speculation and look at the facts we do have.
From Roland's EFL statement:
"Part of the plan for ESI is to strengthen the team in January, using these weeks in December to put the building blocks in place for that..."
And this from Lee Bowyer:
"They want to stabilise us to stay in the league. There will be some help in Jan. That’s what we need to do as a football club. We need to become an established championship side and then you can build on that”
So there are the facts.
There will be money available if Bow and Gallen want to spend it. Bodies will come in. And we are aiming to stabilise, not go mad with marquee signings.
There has been no indication from anywhere that these guys are going to spend megabucks. That's been pure CL speculation based on the owner's family. I see nothing so far to suggest that's true.
Quite. As far as we know, the Sheik is not putting any money into this enterprise and none of us know how much The Excellent Tony is actually worth.
Nobody buys a clab to stabilise them in the Championship. They'll get the best players available in this window at sensible prices - players whose contracts are running out in June and the best of players from below- so the QPR centre half, Bradford central midfielder, Pompey winger and Blackpool forward make sense as signings.
I'd imagine they'll try for both Murray and Gayle but who knows if we will get either.
In the close season there'll be a lot of ins and outs and that's when I think Tony and top Champ players or out of favour Prem players will be targeted.
You don't spend £40m or so, plus prove funds for running costs for 2 years to just tread water.
Our ground holds 28k. We are an attractive London based club with potential.
They are going to give it a real go in making the Premiership.
In my humble opinion.
Bowyer has said the plan is to become an established Championship club first and then push on from there. That's the only statement of intent we have based on the new owners so while your view may not be wrong it's pure speculation.
Personally I find it worrying the way many of our fans expectations for players, signings, league position etc seem to have absolutely skyrocketed in a few days, whereas a few weeks ago we may all have been happy just to have our Charlton back. There is a real disturbing sense of entitlement creeping in.
Modern transfer deals drag on for days if not weeks, only the approaching deadline seems to streamline them. Nobody knows what the strategy is, maybe they are working on decent permanent signings and if they are they we probably won't know anything for a while.
Nobody can oversee a transfer window like Roland, so I don't get all the hysteria.
Personally i think we'll go about our business quietly in the next couple of weeks, we have a replacement in for Leko and we're obviously looking at a replacement for Kayal. A left back is a must as well.
See who comes back over the next couple of weeks (as we only have 2 league games in 4 weeks now), and then take a view on splashing some cash in the last week of the window.
As others have said, it's a bit tricky at the moment as once our players return from injury we have a decent side and a lot of competition, especially now some youngsters are more experienced.
It’s that ‘once our players return from injury’ line again....
Problem is it will be too late by then. There isn’t a hope in hell in my opinion that we can rely on Williams, Cullen, Oztumer, Field, Hemed, JFC et al being back, then the standard 2-3 months to be able to compete 90 mins. Then the setbacks in training which delay returns in the first place.
it would be a disaster to go down once we finally have new owners. We need to get the players in now to ensure we 100pc stay up. No risks. Then be more measured in the summer
I completely agree but i don't think it will come to this.
We only have 2 league games in the next 4 weeks, 2 games that we probably wouldn't expect to get much from anyway, so i don't think there's really much need to panic just yet.
Let's say (for example) Williams, Oztumer, JFC, Cullen and Aneke are all due back by the end of January, it's highly unlikely we'll go and make 3-4 new midfield signings and then have 3 of them sitting in the west stand when some of them return from injury.
Bowyer and Gallen will know who is returning soon, and whilst i fully accept it's unlikely we'll ever get everyone fit at the same time, they will know where we need additional signings.
Your point makes sense for a normal squad but i have absolutely no faith that Williams, JFC or Aneke will play more than a handful more games this season with their long running injury issues in the last few years, same with Page. 4 extremely injury prone players. Oztumer and Hemed seem to have had bad luck just this season so maybe will stay fit. Cullen IIRC also had an extended injury last season so is 50/50 to be prone to an injury in my book. We need players in badly.
We've actually got a pretty big squad, it's just presently crippled. Bowyer has already said he doesn't want to disrespect the players we currently have, and you don't need to go out and make four big midfield signings in January only to find that Williams, Field and Cullen are back and suddenly there's too many players around and no-one's happy. We needed to replace Leko, and we have. We may need to replace Taylor. We realistically need another LB as Page is busted, and based on our current performance levels we could do with an upgrade at centre half. Other than that, we're currently only desperate to fill holes caused by injuries, so Bowyer and Gallen will likely be looking at midfield loans. We need bodies in until our best midfielders are back, but once (if) they are we'll be looking ok. I would be very happy if we ended this window having signed a CH, LB and CF permanently and a couple of loanee midfielders.
We had, under the old regime, the lowest budget in the division.
We may not "splash the cash" Man City, or even Derby County, style this winter but I'm pretty sure we'll spend more in both wages and fees than if the takeover hadn't been confirmed on the OS.
We may already be paying more wages for Green than we did for Leko, for example.
Massive difference between splashing the cash and having a better budget than the so called one from Roland.
I don’t think it’s a terrible thing. We want the right players, not the ones who are here for the money.
I think some fans are expecting us to go big on one or two, but IMO they will be disappointed.
I don’t think we will splash any cash. We still have a chance of relegation, be surprised if they want to go mad. I expect us to have an overhaul in the summer. Expecting one perm and two more loans in this window.
We can’t go signing three or four players on perm deals just to make up the numbers for six months if they don’t fit into the long term vision.
Otherwise you are carrying them as dead weight for the following two or three seasons, contributing towards FFP numbers etc.
This is why the January transfer window is tricky and rarely do buying teams get a good deal. Lots of teams around us will be in a similar dilemma.
Take Alex Mowatt. He would help now but would we even look at him in the upcoming summer window? He is mid table Championship at best.
There is urgency to get something sorted but no need to panic, yet.
We want to establish ourselves in the Championship after hopefully staying up so a mid table championship player is exactly what we need now. Also if we prised him from Barnsley now it would be a statement of intent as opposed to letting Taylor go which also would be a statement, but not an encouraging one.
We can’t go signing three or four players on perm deals just to make up the numbers for six months if they don’t fit into the long term vision.
Otherwise you are carrying them as dead weight for the following two or three seasons, contributing towards FFP numbers etc.
This is why the January transfer window is tricky and rarely do buying teams get a good deal. Lots of teams around us will be in a similar dilemma.
Take Alex Mowatt. He would help now but would we even look at him in the upcoming summer window? He is mid table Championship at best.
There is urgency to get something sorted but no need to panic, yet.
We want to establish ourselves in the Championship after hopefully staying up so a mid table championship player is exactly what we need now. Also if we prised him from Barnsley now it would be a statement of intent as opposed to letting Taylor go which also would be a statement, but not an encouraging one.
Pinching one of the best players from a relegation rival is a useful benefit too. That's why I can see them being really reluctant to sell to us
Let's take a big step back from speculation and look at the facts we do have.
From Roland's EFL statement:
"Part of the plan for ESI is to strengthen the team in January, using these weeks in December to put the building blocks in place for that..."
And this from Lee Bowyer:
"They want to stabilise us to stay in the league. There will be some help in Jan. That’s what we need to do as a football club. We need to become an established championship side and then you can build on that”
So there are the facts.
There will be money available if Bow and Gallen want to spend it. Bodies will come in. And we are aiming to stabilise, not go mad with marquee signings.
There has been no indication from anywhere that these guys are going to spend megabucks. That's been pure CL speculation based on the owner's family. I see nothing so far to suggest that's true.
Quite. As far as we know, the Sheik is not putting any money into this enterprise and none of us know how much The Excellent Tony is actually worth.
Nobody buys a clab to stabilise them in the Championship. They'll get the best players available in this window at sensible prices - players whose contracts are running out in June and the best of players from below- so the QPR centre half, Bradford central midfielder, Pompey winger and Blackpool forward make sense as signings.
I'd imagine they'll try for both Murray and Gayle but who knows if we will get either.
In the close season there'll be a lot of ins and outs and that's when I think Tony and top Champ players or out of favour Prem players will be targeted.
You don't spend £40m or so, plus prove funds for running costs for 2 years to just tread water.
Our ground holds 28k. We are an attractive London based club with potential.
They are going to give it a real go in making the Premiership.
In my humble opinion.
Bowyer has said the plan is to become an established Championship club first and then push on from there. That's the only statement of intent we have based on the new owners so while your view may not be wrong it's pure speculation.
Personally I find it worrying the way many of our fans expectations for players, signings, league position etc seem to have absolutely skyrocketed in a few days, whereas a few weeks ago we may all have been happy just to have our Charlton back. There is a real disturbing sense of entitlement creeping in.
Again @Chunes you don't buy a club for 40-50m plus running costs for 2 years to tread water.
According to Ketts, (Dr Kish), we have 4 loan players (Field still with us?), so we can only have one more for the team squad and he thinks a forward is the priority.
According to Ketts, (Dr Kish), we have 4 loan players (Field still with us?), so we can only have one more for the team squad and he thinks a forward is the priority.
According to Ketts, (Dr Kish), we have 4 loan players (Field still with us?), so we can only have one more for the team squad and he thinks a forward is the priority.
Let's take a big step back from speculation and look at the facts we do have.
From Roland's EFL statement:
"Part of the plan for ESI is to strengthen the team in January, using these weeks in December to put the building blocks in place for that..."
And this from Lee Bowyer:
"They want to stabilise us to stay in the league. There will be some help in Jan. That’s what we need to do as a football club. We need to become an established championship side and then you can build on that”
So there are the facts.
There will be money available if Bow and Gallen want to spend it. Bodies will come in. And we are aiming to stabilise, not go mad with marquee signings.
There has been no indication from anywhere that these guys are going to spend megabucks. That's been pure CL speculation based on the owner's family. I see nothing so far to suggest that's true.
Quite. As far as we know, the Sheik is not putting any money into this enterprise and none of us know how much The Excellent Tony is actually worth.
Nobody buys a clab to stabilise them in the Championship. They'll get the best players available in this window at sensible prices - players whose contracts are running out in June and the best of players from below- so the QPR centre half, Bradford central midfielder, Pompey winger and Blackpool forward make sense as signings.
I'd imagine they'll try for both Murray and Gayle but who knows if we will get either.
In the close season there'll be a lot of ins and outs and that's when I think Tony and top Champ players or out of favour Prem players will be targeted.
You don't spend £40m or so, plus prove funds for running costs for 2 years to just tread water.
Our ground holds 28k. We are an attractive London based club with potential.
They are going to give it a real go in making the Premiership.
In my humble opinion.
Bowyer has said the plan is to become an established Championship club first and then push on from there. That's the only statement of intent we have based on the new owners so while your view may not be wrong it's pure speculation.
Personally I find it worrying the way many of our fans expectations for players, signings, league position etc seem to have absolutely skyrocketed in a few days, whereas a few weeks ago we may all have been happy just to have our Charlton back. There is a real disturbing sense of entitlement creeping in.
Again @Chunes you don't buy a club for 40-50m plus running costs for 2 years to tread water.
Whether we get promoted or not is another thing!
Sigh... As Bowyer said, the plan is to first become an established Championship side and then look to mount a promotion challenge. You're the only one talking about treading water.
Also, for reference, Dutchatelet bought the club for 16 mil, got it relegated, ripped out the team, failed in every way, got promoted back to where it was again, and sold the club on at a 40+ million pound profit with no progress whatsoever.
Let's take a big step back from speculation and look at the facts we do have.
From Roland's EFL statement:
"Part of the plan for ESI is to strengthen the team in January, using these weeks in December to put the building blocks in place for that..."
And this from Lee Bowyer:
"They want to stabilise us to stay in the league. There will be some help in Jan. That’s what we need to do as a football club. We need to become an established championship side and then you can build on that”
So there are the facts.
There will be money available if Bow and Gallen want to spend it. Bodies will come in. And we are aiming to stabilise, not go mad with marquee signings.
There has been no indication from anywhere that these guys are going to spend megabucks. That's been pure CL speculation based on the owner's family. I see nothing so far to suggest that's true.
Quite. As far as we know, the Sheik is not putting any money into this enterprise and none of us know how much The Excellent Tony is actually worth.
Nobody buys a clab to stabilise them in the Championship. They'll get the best players available in this window at sensible prices - players whose contracts are running out in June and the best of players from below- so the QPR centre half, Bradford central midfielder, Pompey winger and Blackpool forward make sense as signings.
I'd imagine they'll try for both Murray and Gayle but who knows if we will get either.
In the close season there'll be a lot of ins and outs and that's when I think Tony and top Champ players or out of favour Prem players will be targeted.
You don't spend £40m or so, plus prove funds for running costs for 2 years to just tread water.
Our ground holds 28k. We are an attractive London based club with potential.
They are going to give it a real go in making the Premiership.
In my humble opinion.
What about Sunderland.
New owners took them over, their ground holds 48k...............and they can't even get out of league one.
Let's take a big step back from speculation and look at the facts we do have.
From Roland's EFL statement:
"Part of the plan for ESI is to strengthen the team in January, using these weeks in December to put the building blocks in place for that..."
And this from Lee Bowyer:
"They want to stabilise us to stay in the league. There will be some help in Jan. That’s what we need to do as a football club. We need to become an established championship side and then you can build on that”
So there are the facts.
There will be money available if Bow and Gallen want to spend it. Bodies will come in. And we are aiming to stabilise, not go mad with marquee signings.
There has been no indication from anywhere that these guys are going to spend megabucks. That's been pure CL speculation based on the owner's family. I see nothing so far to suggest that's true.
Quite. As far as we know, the Sheik is not putting any money into this enterprise and none of us know how much The Excellent Tony is actually worth.
Nobody buys a clab to stabilise them in the Championship. They'll get the best players available in this window at sensible prices - players whose contracts are running out in June and the best of players from below- so the QPR centre half, Bradford central midfielder, Pompey winger and Blackpool forward make sense as signings.
I'd imagine they'll try for both Murray and Gayle but who knows if we will get either.
In the close season there'll be a lot of ins and outs and that's when I think Tony and top Champ players or out of favour Prem players will be targeted.
You don't spend £40m or so, plus prove funds for running costs for 2 years to just tread water.
Our ground holds 28k. We are an attractive London based club with potential.
They are going to give it a real go in making the Premiership.
In my humble opinion.
Bowyer has said the plan is to become an established Championship club first and then push on from there. That's the only statement of intent we have based on the new owners so while your view may not be wrong it's pure speculation.
Personally I find it worrying the way many of our fans expectations for players, signings, league position etc seem to have absolutely skyrocketed in a few days, whereas a few weeks ago we may all have been happy just to have our Charlton back. There is a real disturbing sense of entitlement creeping in.
Again @Chunes you don't buy a club for 40-50m plus running costs for 2 years to tread water.
Whether we get promoted or not is another thing!
Sigh... As Bowyer said, the plan is to first become an established Championship side and then look to mount a promotion challenge. You're the only one talking about treading water.
Also, for reference, Dutchatelet bought the club for 16 mil, got it relegated, ripped out the team, failed in every way, got promoted back to where it was again, and sold the club on at a 40+ million pound profit with no progress whatsoever.
Roland didn't make a 40m profit, the losses we made during the period would have offset that
Let's take a big step back from speculation and look at the facts we do have.
From Roland's EFL statement:
"Part of the plan for ESI is to strengthen the team in January, using these weeks in December to put the building blocks in place for that..."
And this from Lee Bowyer:
"They want to stabilise us to stay in the league. There will be some help in Jan. That’s what we need to do as a football club. We need to become an established championship side and then you can build on that”
So there are the facts.
There will be money available if Bow and Gallen want to spend it. Bodies will come in. And we are aiming to stabilise, not go mad with marquee signings.
There has been no indication from anywhere that these guys are going to spend megabucks. That's been pure CL speculation based on the owner's family. I see nothing so far to suggest that's true.
Quite. As far as we know, the Sheik is not putting any money into this enterprise and none of us know how much The Excellent Tony is actually worth.
Nobody buys a clab to stabilise them in the Championship. They'll get the best players available in this window at sensible prices - players whose contracts are running out in June and the best of players from below- so the QPR centre half, Bradford central midfielder, Pompey winger and Blackpool forward make sense as signings.
I'd imagine they'll try for both Murray and Gayle but who knows if we will get either.
In the close season there'll be a lot of ins and outs and that's when I think Tony and top Champ players or out of favour Prem players will be targeted.
You don't spend £40m or so, plus prove funds for running costs for 2 years to just tread water.
Our ground holds 28k. We are an attractive London based club with potential.
They are going to give it a real go in making the Premiership.
In my humble opinion.
Bowyer has said the plan is to become an established Championship club first and then push on from there. That's the only statement of intent we have based on the new owners so while your view may not be wrong it's pure speculation.
Personally I find it worrying the way many of our fans expectations for players, signings, league position etc seem to have absolutely skyrocketed in a few days, whereas a few weeks ago we may all have been happy just to have our Charlton back. There is a real disturbing sense of entitlement creeping in.
Again @Chunes you don't buy a club for 40-50m plus running costs for 2 years to tread water.
Whether we get promoted or not is another thing!
Sigh... As Bowyer said, the plan is to first become an established Championship side and then look to mount a promotion challenge. You're the only one talking about treading water.
Also, for reference, Dutchatelet bought the club for 16 mil, got it relegated, ripped out the team, failed in every way, got promoted back to where it was again, and sold the club on at a 40+ million pound profit with no progress whatsoever.
Let's take a big step back from speculation and look at the facts we do have.
From Roland's EFL statement:
"Part of the plan for ESI is to strengthen the team in January, using these weeks in December to put the building blocks in place for that..."
And this from Lee Bowyer:
"They want to stabilise us to stay in the league. There will be some help in Jan. That’s what we need to do as a football club. We need to become an established championship side and then you can build on that”
So there are the facts.
There will be money available if Bow and Gallen want to spend it. Bodies will come in. And we are aiming to stabilise, not go mad with marquee signings.
There has been no indication from anywhere that these guys are going to spend megabucks. That's been pure CL speculation based on the owner's family. I see nothing so far to suggest that's true.
Quite. As far as we know, the Sheik is not putting any money into this enterprise and none of us know how much The Excellent Tony is actually worth.
Nobody buys a clab to stabilise them in the Championship. They'll get the best players available in this window at sensible prices - players whose contracts are running out in June and the best of players from below- so the QPR centre half, Bradford central midfielder, Pompey winger and Blackpool forward make sense as signings.
I'd imagine they'll try for both Murray and Gayle but who knows if we will get either.
In the close season there'll be a lot of ins and outs and that's when I think Tony and top Champ players or out of favour Prem players will be targeted.
You don't spend £40m or so, plus prove funds for running costs for 2 years to just tread water.
Our ground holds 28k. We are an attractive London based club with potential.
They are going to give it a real go in making the Premiership.
In my humble opinion.
What about Sunderland.
New owners took them over, their ground holds 48k...............and they can't even get out of league one.
Well Sunderland are already up for sale. So clearly the owners never cared for the club anyway.
Let's take a big step back from speculation and look at the facts we do have.
From Roland's EFL statement:
"Part of the plan for ESI is to strengthen the team in January, using these weeks in December to put the building blocks in place for that..."
And this from Lee Bowyer:
"They want to stabilise us to stay in the league. There will be some help in Jan. That’s what we need to do as a football club. We need to become an established championship side and then you can build on that”
So there are the facts.
There will be money available if Bow and Gallen want to spend it. Bodies will come in. And we are aiming to stabilise, not go mad with marquee signings.
There has been no indication from anywhere that these guys are going to spend megabucks. That's been pure CL speculation based on the owner's family. I see nothing so far to suggest that's true.
Quite. As far as we know, the Sheik is not putting any money into this enterprise and none of us know how much The Excellent Tony is actually worth.
Nobody buys a clab to stabilise them in the Championship. They'll get the best players available in this window at sensible prices - players whose contracts are running out in June and the best of players from below- so the QPR centre half, Bradford central midfielder, Pompey winger and Blackpool forward make sense as signings.
I'd imagine they'll try for both Murray and Gayle but who knows if we will get either.
In the close season there'll be a lot of ins and outs and that's when I think Tony and top Champ players or out of favour Prem players will be targeted.
You don't spend £40m or so, plus prove funds for running costs for 2 years to just tread water.
Our ground holds 28k. We are an attractive London based club with potential.
They are going to give it a real go in making the Premiership.
In my humble opinion.
Bowyer has said the plan is to become an established Championship club first and then push on from there. That's the only statement of intent we have based on the new owners so while your view may not be wrong it's pure speculation.
Personally I find it worrying the way many of our fans expectations for players, signings, league position etc seem to have absolutely skyrocketed in a few days, whereas a few weeks ago we may all have been happy just to have our Charlton back. There is a real disturbing sense of entitlement creeping in.
Again @Chunes you don't buy a club for 40-50m plus running costs for 2 years to tread water.
Whether we get promoted or not is another thing!
Sigh... As Bowyer said, the plan is to first become an established Championship side and then look to mount a promotion challenge. You're the only one talking about treading water.
Also, for reference, Dutchatelet bought the club for 16 mil, got it relegated, ripped out the team, failed in every way, got promoted back to where it was again, and sold the club on at a 40+ million pound profit with no progress whatsoever.
NOBODY buys a club for 40-50m and wants to tread water. Their aim and goal is getting into the Premiership. That WILL be their aim.
Don't quote Sunderland. Their owners bought them to get back to the Premiership.
WHETHER it happens for us remains to be seen but Roland bought us to get us into the Prem and so have ESI !!
Let's take a big step back from speculation and look at the facts we do have.
From Roland's EFL statement:
"Part of the plan for ESI is to strengthen the team in January, using these weeks in December to put the building blocks in place for that..."
And this from Lee Bowyer:
"They want to stabilise us to stay in the league. There will be some help in Jan. That’s what we need to do as a football club. We need to become an established championship side and then you can build on that”
So there are the facts.
There will be money available if Bow and Gallen want to spend it. Bodies will come in. And we are aiming to stabilise, not go mad with marquee signings.
There has been no indication from anywhere that these guys are going to spend megabucks. That's been pure CL speculation based on the owner's family. I see nothing so far to suggest that's true.
Quite. As far as we know, the Sheik is not putting any money into this enterprise and none of us know how much The Excellent Tony is actually worth.
Nobody buys a clab to stabilise them in the Championship. They'll get the best players available in this window at sensible prices - players whose contracts are running out in June and the best of players from below- so the QPR centre half, Bradford central midfielder, Pompey winger and Blackpool forward make sense as signings.
I'd imagine they'll try for both Murray and Gayle but who knows if we will get either.
In the close season there'll be a lot of ins and outs and that's when I think Tony and top Champ players or out of favour Prem players will be targeted.
You don't spend £40m or so, plus prove funds for running costs for 2 years to just tread water.
Our ground holds 28k. We are an attractive London based club with potential.
They are going to give it a real go in making the Premiership.
In my humble opinion.
Bowyer has said the plan is to become an established Championship club first and then push on from there. That's the only statement of intent we have based on the new owners so while your view may not be wrong it's pure speculation.
Personally I find it worrying the way many of our fans expectations for players, signings, league position etc seem to have absolutely skyrocketed in a few days, whereas a few weeks ago we may all have been happy just to have our Charlton back. There is a real disturbing sense of entitlement creeping in.
Again @Chunes you don't buy a club for 40-50m plus running costs for 2 years to tread water.
Whether we get promoted or not is another thing!
Sigh... As Bowyer said, the plan is to first become an established Championship side and then look to mount a promotion challenge. You're the only one talking about treading water.
Also, for reference, Dutchatelet bought the club for 16 mil, got it relegated, ripped out the team, failed in every way, got promoted back to where it was again, and sold the club on at a 40+ million pound profit with no progress whatsoever.
You DO understand Roland lost money buying Charlton don't you???!!!!!
I trust the board will trust gallen and that gallen has a list of players he wanted & a list of desirables created following takeover announcements. Nothing to worry about!
Comments
Personally I find it worrying the way many of our fans expectations for players, signings, league position etc seem to have absolutely skyrocketed in a few days, whereas a few weeks ago we may all have been happy just to have our Charlton back. There is a real disturbing sense of entitlement creeping in.
Nobody can oversee a transfer window like Roland, so I don't get all the hysteria.
Alan Nixon Sun Journo on twitter. Nothing to say it's us but it's a rumour.
I think some fans are expecting us to go big on one or two, but IMO they will be disappointed.
We need a forward in and two if he goes and that's also hoping that Hemid (sic)actually turns up.
Whether we get promoted or not is another thing!
http://c.newsnow.co.uk/A/1014666838?-11197:833
Also, for reference, Dutchatelet bought the club for 16 mil, got it relegated, ripped out the team, failed in every way, got promoted back to where it was again, and sold the club on at a 40+ million pound profit with no progress whatsoever.
New owners took them over, their ground holds 48k...............and they can't even get out of league one.
I'd be shocked if he's made any profit at all.
Don't quote Sunderland. Their owners bought them to get back to the Premiership.
WHETHER it happens for us remains to be seen but Roland bought us to get us into the Prem and so have ESI !!
It doesn't mean it will happen though!!