KenH wrote:I don't really believe that a new owner will give a significant increase in player's budget to enable us to be properly competitive in any league unfortunately. I think that we'll always be a low budget club punching above our weight. Our stadium size and local population numbers simply don't support a "big" club and without a massive increase in attendances (which isn't going to happen), a new owner isn't just going to pump money in year after year to cover ever increasing losses by us paying more wages than our attendances/income warrant. (In fact aren't there league affordability rules limiting players wages to income?).
Yes, I'm sure the manager will get an increase in budget, like we all know Robbo and Derek have a bigger budget than in League 2 and that the budget was increased slightly when the current owners took over (the budget having been at it's lowest possible during the "troubled" years of PMG and ownership fiasco). But I'm not convinced it will enable the manager to bring in a much higher calibre of player.
The reality is that the current situation in terms of attendances and wages budget is what "sustainability" looks like, and it's not particularly pretty. If we increase wages budget, that puts us back into loss making territory, and we all saw how that worked out during the PMG years!
Gone_Shrimping wrote:Yes +2.
I see we are advertising for a Head of Finance which will be the 2nd in just a few months.
Whatever the playing budget there are some projects that would improve the club if someone with money buys the club.
1. A designated training facility of our own. Even Accrington have managed that.
2. The away end needs altering to enable larger away followings. Move that wall and put the bottom tier of terracing in to increase the capacity to the same as the home end. This would increase revenues when the big clubs visit.
3. Purchase the 3G pitches and Gym back from Tyson Fury. If run properly the Gym could generate money and the pitches could be used by the youth of the area as intended.
4. Put a proper stand with a roof over the Open side. Just like Burton Albion have done.
Gone_Shrimping wrote:It would depend where they look for some land. The club came very close a few years ago to buying that land from the Lancaster and Morecambe Agricultural Society that the Westgate and Bare Cricket Clubs use just by the Crematorium.
There's quite a lot of Land near the By-pass between Ovangle Road and Heysham. Also quite a lot of land just off the Bay Gateway. Just needs someone with money and some creative thinking.
KenH wrote:I don't really believe that a new owner will give a significant increase in player's budget to enable us to be properly competitive in any league unfortunately. I think that we'll always be a low budget club punching above our weight. Our stadium size and local population numbers simply don't support a "big" club and without a massive increase in attendances (which isn't going to happen), a new owner isn't just going to pump money in year after year to cover ever increasing losses by us paying more wages than our attendances/income warrant. (In fact aren't there league affordability rules limiting players wages to income?).
Yes, I'm sure the manager will get an increase in budget, like we all know Robbo and Derek have a bigger budget than in League 2 and that the budget was increased slightly when the current owners took over (the budget having been at it's lowest possible during the "troubled" years of PMG and ownership fiasco). But I'm not convinced it will enable the manager to bring in a much higher calibre of player.
The reality is that the current situation in terms of attendances and wages budget is what "sustainability" looks like, and it's not particularly pretty. If we increase wages budget, that puts us back into loss making territory, and we all saw how that worked out during the PMG years!
redrobo wrote:Gone_Shrimping wrote:It would depend where they look for some land. The club came very close a few years ago to buying that land from the Lancaster and Morecambe Agricultural Society that the Westgate and Bare Cricket Clubs use just by the Crematorium.
There's quite a lot of Land near the By-pass between Ovangle Road and Heysham. Also quite a lot of land just off the Bay Gateway. Just needs someone with money and some creative thinking.
I seem to recall that the land between Ovangle Road and Heysham presented some major problems about drainage being just below sea level. It would cost a huge amount just to create suitable drainage which could be a financial drawback for monies to be spent elsewhere.
Ideally the land near the Crematorium would be ideal but would the current users be prepared to release a suitable area There is land available between Torrisholme and Hest Bank / Slyne but would the current land owners be prepared to make it available BUT with farming now becoming an expensive occupation maybe releasing some land for sale would be a financial attraction to the current owners.
Gone_Shrimping wrote:Possibly a minority view here but I will be quite happy to continue with DA in charge next season whichever division we are in.
If we are still in EFL1 then no question he will have done well.
If the worst happens and it's EFL2 then I can't think of anyone with a better CV to have us competing at the top end of that division again. Any players left from the Robinson era will have been released and he can recruit the players he wants to be here and more importantly players who want to be here.
Little Shrimp wrote:Gone_Shrimping wrote:Possibly a minority view here but I will be quite happy to continue with DA in charge next season whichever division we are in.
If we are still in EFL1 then no question he will have done well.
If the worst happens and it's EFL2 then I can't think of anyone with a better CV to have us competing at the top end of that division again. Any players left from the Robinson era will have been released and he can recruit the players he wants to be here and more importantly players who want to be here.
The first bit of sense I've read on here/Facebook for a while.
This season we haven't been good enough, and I do think we are ultimately deserving of the position we're in. It's easy to stick this all on the manager, as many people across all football clubs do, but it completely misses the wider point.
If everything was stable, staying up would be a big task. However, things have not been stable at all. The managerial upheaval has caused a right mess. I don't have any big frustrations with Derek over his selections this season - the thing that actually bugs me is his initial departure which set off this farce of events! But moving on from that, he's been attempting to build a squad around the remains of Robbo's squad, with people tied onto two year contracts with built-in wage increases etc. That's already a tricky task, then made even harder by the lack of financial flexibility we have due to the ownership situation.
Which brings us to another point! People are vastly underestimating how much more difficult this whole off field saga will have made things for both Derek and the players. It's embarrassing to see all this blame directed at Derek when our 'friends' at Bond Group are far more deserving of any frustrations for this situation.
Yes, there are things Derek and the players could have done better. There always will be in any team. But take one of the smallest budgets in the division, a squad overhanging with two year contracts from a previous manager, ownership issues making it even harder to move in the transfer market, ownership issues just generally making things more stressful etc, and the likely outcome is relegation. Oh, and not to mention your star striker having a sulk all season, and then your loanee striker who quickly becomes your best striker getting a season ending injury in January just when you're hitting form!
Cursed season. Derek not faultless but to put any large portion of blame on him is hugely unfair and pretty blinkered thinking, just look at the wider situation!
As GS has said, there are few with a better L2 record than Derek. And with the money tied up in Robbo contracts now finished with, I'd look forward to seeing what he'd be able to build once again in L2.
Little Shrimp wrote:Gone_Shrimping wrote:Possibly a minority view here but I will be quite happy to continue with DA in charge next season whichever division we are in.
If we are still in EFL1 then no question he will have done well.
If the worst happens and it's EFL2 then I can't think of anyone with a better CV to have us competing at the top end of that division again. Any players left from the Robinson era will have been released and he can recruit the players he wants to be here and more importantly players who want to be here.
The first bit of sense I've read on here/Facebook for a while.
This season we haven't been good enough, and I do think we are ultimately deserving of the position we're in. It's easy to stick this all on the manager, as many people across all football clubs do, but it completely misses the wider point.
If everything was stable, staying up would be a big task. However, things have not been stable at all. The managerial upheaval has caused a right mess. I don't have any big frustrations with Derek over his selections this season - the thing that actually bugs me is his initial departure which set off this farce of events! But moving on from that, he's been attempting to build a squad around the remains of Robbo's squad, with people tied onto two year contracts with built-in wage increases etc. That's already a tricky task, then made even harder by the lack of financial flexibility we have due to the ownership situation.
Which brings us to another point! People are vastly underestimating how much more difficult this whole off field saga will have made things for both Derek and the players. It's embarrassing to see all this blame directed at Derek when our 'friends' at Bond Group are far more deserving of any frustrations for this situation.
Yes, there are things Derek and the players could have done better. There always will be in any team. But take one of the smallest budgets in the division, a squad overhanging with two year contracts from a previous manager, ownership issues making it even harder to move in the transfer market, ownership issues just generally making things more stressful etc, and the likely outcome is relegation. Oh, and not to mention your star striker having a sulk all season, and then your loanee striker who quickly becomes your best striker getting a season ending injury in January just when you're hitting form!
Cursed season. Derek not faultless but to put any large portion of blame on him is hugely unfair and pretty blinkered thinking, just look at the wider situation!
As GS has said, there are few with a better L2 record than Derek. And with the money tied up in Robbo contracts now finished with, I'd look forward to seeing what he'd be able to build once again in L2.
Little Shrimp wrote:Yes, there are things Derek and the players could have done better. There always will be in any team. But take one of the smallest budgets in the division, a squad overhanging with two year contracts from a previous manager, ownership issues making it even harder to move in the transfer market, ownership issues just generally making things more stressful etc, and the likely outcome is relegation. Oh, and not to mention your star striker having a sulk all season, and then your loanee striker who quickly becomes your best striker getting a season ending injury in January just when you're hitting form!
Cursed season. Derek not faultless but to put any large portion of blame on him is hugely unfair and pretty blinkered thinking, just look at the wider situation!
mrpotatohead wrote:Loving the idea about the multi million pound super stand with a tunnel under it ..just the tonic....hilarious!!
Keith wrote:I agree with what you are saying, but, in games like yesterday, where it really was a 'must win', to continue with a style that hasn't been working, and wasn't working yesterday, is 100% his stubborn fault. Every substitution was like for like. We ended the game with five defenders on the pitch and unable to create any clear chances. Derek's post match interview, in effect says we are where we should be and, basically, given up.
Obviously, we're not good enough for a top half of the table, but we're not competing with other relegation rivals. Derek said we dominated the game yesterday. Really? Because the game I saw, Milton Keynes could have [should have] scored three while we didn't create a single decent chance. He also said, something along the lines of, 'few teams would go to Milton Keynes, and dominate like we did', but MK had the joint worst points return from home games all season (along with FGR), so almost every team dominate there... except us.
His negative football, especially against other weak teams, is why we will be relegated.
Little Shrimp wrote:Honestly, I think Derek has tried to give the talented players we have a bit of freedom to play, but hasn't really found a way to coach them to get the best out of them all. We've been starting with midfields of Shaw, Weir and Crowley - that's incredibly attacking! But unfortunately it lacks balance, and that's due to personnel.
Derek's not been perfect, but if you want to label him as the main factor for our position then I'm afraid to say that you're quite simply massively wrong.
Keith wrote:Why I think we need two up front is because we're not getting in to the penalty area enough.
Little Shrimp wrote:But the interplay between our players in these moments just isn't good enough. Not enough players are making dangerous movements, everything is a bit ponderous, and some of the use of the ball is quite frankly sloppy.
KenH wrote:Little Shrimp wrote:But the interplay between our players in these moments just isn't good enough. Not enough players are making dangerous movements, everything is a bit ponderous, and some of the use of the ball is quite frankly sloppy.
I agree. We're also nowhere near quick enough. Sadly, Crowley slows us down with his pirouettes (similar re Arthur really), and wanting to keep possession of the ball completely ignoring players around him waiting for the pass, meanwhile the opposition players have time to get into better defending positions for when he finally makes a pass or tries to take the ball forward himself. Both Crowley and Arthur are clearly gifted & talented players but don't actually get anywhere for their efforts. That's not to blame them as such, because other players around them aren't experienced enough and don't have the foresight to see the intent, hence I agree with other posters mentioning the lack of experience of our loanee youngsters such as Weir and Shaw. In fact I think Weir and Shaw's performances have nose dived since Crowley joined us and they're really the 3 players who should be controlling the midfield and feeding the ball into the striker and wingers, but they'd not doing that job at all at the moment.
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