You know sometimes you read these soundbites from the owner and quotes from various sources claiming certain things surrounding the finances of the club.
One thing that keeps bubbling to the outer surfaces of my now ageing and perhaps slightly decrepit memory are the claims regarding our budget in league one.
So The owner (God bless him, but I wish he'd put a sock in it regarding tactics) has said more than once that our budget in league one was in the top three....
The first time it sounded like a "boast" to me earlier in the season.
Well I cant for some reason come to terms with that claim.....we have been told that Ipswich and Wigan blew us out of the water on wages....so, are we saying then that our wage/budget was larger than the likes of Sunderland and Sheffield Wednesday (both with a huge infrastructure to maintain as well as championship wages for the latter) and recently relegated Rotherham and Wycombe who's players must have been on similar terms to other Championship clubs.
Therefore, what on earth were we paying our underperforming rabble? Our recruitment was and remains suspect due to the nature of forming a decision based upon a committee......Steve Gallen, according to the owner is an awesome negotiator. However, that begs the question of why weren't we in for players of the ilk of if not Ipswich and Wigan, but certainly those who played for the other top 6-8 clubs, seeing as we had so much money to fling around?
Furthermore, today we hear that the likes of some of our out of contract players are expected to re-sign....Matthews, Purrington, Washington, Inniss and JFC are all mentioned in this category by the owner in a Cawley interview. Questions then springs to mind, whos making that decision, Thomas?
It certainly doesnt take into account what a new manager or coach would want within his squad, and then how do we attract new players and who decides without the input of a coach or manager? Its been said that Adkins didnt want certain players we signed, Dobson being one.
Lastly you have to wonder if Jacksons outright reluctance to play the lads from Spurs and Chelsea was because these players were forced upon him? I seem to recall Bowyer refusing to play some of the signings although I cant remember who.
Am I the only person to think that all this is beginning to sound just a little bit bonkers?
Over to you lot to set me right....
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we could definitely be top 3 transfers budgets, but be leasing willing to spend much on wages
Sorry but that is proper naive and is the main reason we are where we are under Sandgaard.
Considering they had just been taken over and like him they had new owners who had bought a club. Did he expect them to not spend anything? That's what people bar crooks like ESI do when they buy a football club as they want to put a marker down.
Question is where was the problem with this? Was it issues inherited from Roland/ESI, was it a poor choice of Ged Roddy (why else was he let go?) or was it the longer serving backroom staff?
This may explain why TS has been so bold at the end of the season - he knows that the money is there to theoretically do well, just needs the right people?
Regardless of our individual circumstances now I've always been curious as to how clubs can make such claims about where their budgets sit in a league table of spending power. Do all chairman get together on Whatsapp in August and share this info with their rivals. Do owners tell agents exactly how much they have to spend and get the info from 23 other clubs?
Of course not (you'd hope not!) so I think it's all speculation and guesswork with very little substance or real knowledge.
Also not sure why you would declare it publicly and show the market and agents your hand beyond a show of bravado because surely it just hikes up prices in negotiations a'la the Peter Ridsdale school of player deals.
If we had the 3rd highest budget last season and ended up with the inadequate and pathetic squad of players that got Jackson booted then serious questions need to be asked about the piss poor recruitment strategy and execution.
Still we're in safe hands now with his son and Gallen running things on the recruitment front so I expect it to all magically turn around this next few weeks despite being manager less and having a potential exodus of contractless players and returning loanees.
Of course, big clubs coming down to a given league could upset the figures at the very top, but TS would still have had a very good idea where his budget places us in the league overall.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we don’t spend as much money on their replacements and we drop further down the spending table. Hopefully cutting the wage bill will open up more money for transfer fees.
Not saying we haven’t spent money because we have. But to get promoted, it’s going to take more…
Whilst I can understand Sandy wanting to know what's always going on at CAFC (is that why his son is in a powerful position?), after all it's his cash being spent.
The fact is that when it comes to English professional football he is really is a naif. He'd do well to appoint quality football professionals to run the playing side of things, and to concentrate on the CAFC finances, running his American company and playing his geetar
“So you’ll see a third strategy. I’m going to try and, as soon as possible, of a level of break even while I continue to invest in the club.
“I’m not losing as much money as I did last season. But I’m losing £8m this season, investing, and that obviously can’t continue for a whole lot longer.