StarterForTen

If we are going a grade or two up on the Vicar in goal then surely we’re in for Nick Pope?

On 07/06/2024 at 13:40, Anag Ram said:

He don’t need no education 

He don’t need no ball control 

No dark arts needed, he’ll smash you up soon

Bosun you’d better leave them kids alone

Hey! Bosun! Leave them kids alone!

All in all it's just another kick from Lawal

All in all you’ll get a kick from Lawal

 

So he’s a bit Floyd then…. Floyd Streete maybe?!

Talking of investment I see that Watford have today put 10% of their shares up for sale to raise £17.5m; ergo the club is valued at £175m.  That is for a Championship club with no more parachute payments and making losses (before playing trading) of over £20m per season.

Makes you wonder what DCFC is now worth?

3 hours ago, Rich3478 said:

I don’t think anyone is waiting for July 1st, means nothing unless out of contravr

Other than Kylian Mbappe… Spanish window opens on July 1st!!

EFL window opens June 14th

He signed his last Arsenal contract in 2021 when he’d turned 20, so I would guess he’s used to being quite well paid; maybe £10k a week?( A complete guess).

Who is going to pay him anything close to that now? All signings are risks but I think I would be reluctant to ‘gamble’ half that on him. 

7 hours ago, G STAR RAM said:

around £150m of losses over his time in charge.

And your argument is that Lionel’ tenure lost similar figures, adjusted for inflation?

1 hour ago, Ghost of Clough said:

£0 because we supposedly haven't matched (or bettered) his current contract.

Has that been reported? Not seen that.

What if his wages have been matched?

9 hours ago, Ghost of Clough said:

Burrows is under contract for another season. Even if he was 'free' this summer, he would have cost a significant compensation fee.

GOC, what’s your understanding of a compensation fee for Sibley should he go to another English club?

I will preemptively apologise if this turns out to be utter bollards but an old journalist colleague has messaged me to say Sibley is on Sheffield United’s radar.

His opening line was: “Is Sibley better than Lowe?” so perhaps they are thinking of him as an attacking left back option.

8 hours ago, G STAR RAM said:

One third of the total debts, meaning you believe the club were £110m in debt when Morris put us into administration?

You're a million miles off with your estimate there.

Without looking at the administrators report again, our debts were something in the region of:-

£26m HMRC

£20m MSD loan

£8m football creditors

£8m other creditors 

From memory, about £62m. There were inter-company loans but obviously these were not external creditors that had to be paid.

So actually when taking inflation into account, very little difference between the debt that our owners had us in at the time.

There are of course differences in that LP was forced out whereas MM jumped ship, but both got themselves into their respective position through reckless spending and financial mismanagement. 

 

 

 

You’ve overlooked the £151million total loans owed by the club to Morris himself. 

2 hours ago, G STAR RAM said:

I'll take that as a 'no, I have no idea what sort of financial mess we were in' then.

Just dug out my notebooks from the time - I worked for Raymonds Press Agency back then and provided background on this for national newspaper reporters, including David Conn.

When the Coop Bank pushed Pickering’s DCFC holding company into receivership in 2003 they were owed around £30m, about half of that can be attributed to the then balance on the stadium mortgage and more on other asset developments. The club’s day to day overdraft accounted for around £8m, which - to put it into perspective - is around £15m in today’s money.

Club directors were owed about £7.5m in unsecured loans, the vast majority of that figure being Pickering’s loans.

All told, about £37.5m in debt. Even allowing for inflation since then, that’s still around one third of the total debts under Morris.

33 minutes ago, G STAR RAM said:

Do you know the size of our debts when the club got taken off Pickering? Pretty much the same as when Morris put us in administration. 

Pickerings legacy is of course Pride Park and Moor Farm both built on borrowed money which in a round about kind of way has been paid for by Clowes.

As previously mentioned, the good times on the football pitch that Pickering gave us are the things I try to remember. 

To think the financial situation he put is in is not comparable to how Morris though, I'm afraid, is nothing short of laughable. 

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

20 hours ago, G STAR RAM said:

Not disingenuous in the slightest, just factual. 

He made numerous bad financial decisions which put the club in jeopardy and some that we were still paying for years later.

I'm grateful for the good times he gave but you can't just pretend that he didn't leave us in a mess.

In financial terms he was akin to Mel Morris eventually, the only difference being that we had a period of success on the pitch.

 

You are a million miles off on this one. Lionel was certainly not infallible but to put him alongside Mel Morris is nothing short of laughable. 

Swap the Austria badge for a Ram and we’re not far off, I believe…

15 minutes ago, G STAR RAM said:

 

I think the fact that he took us to the brink of ruin which led to the 3 Amigos taking over us, probably led to his legacy being slightly tainted.

 

I feel that is somewhat disingenuous.  Lionel had the rug pulled from underneath him by the club’s bankers who got twitchy about the £15m mortgage they held on Pride Park Stadium.  I worked for LVP at that time and while he was a little susceptible to whispers in his ear at the Yew Tree, he did try to do the right things.

And you have to remember he wasn’t as wealthy as Clowes is. Even in an era for era comparison he would not be able to run DCFC these days.  Very successful with his media businesses - and well off no doubt - his pockets weren’t that deep.

i do think he is well deserving of permanent tribute. 

11 minutes ago, MadAmster said:

Pre contracts signed, possibly contracts signed too. It only requires registering at the EFL on July 1st. Transfer fee agreed. Wages agreed. Bonuses agreed. signed sealed and delivered.

Unfortunately this topic seems to be getting drawn into pedantics of what actually constitutes a deal when it all started out as the point being made that we don't have to wait until July 1st to talk to players and clubs, to agree transfer/loan fees and wages and bonuses. We, and every other club, can... as the Johannson transfer to Stoke proves. 

Contracts can be SIGNED at any time. Players can only be REGISTERED during prescribed transfer windows (unless they are free agents and the date of registration is not after the transfer deadline of the applicable season). It is the contracts that are binding.

Once again, it is going to be a summer of transition in the first team squad as - how things stand - we only have 17 players contracted from July 1st.

Inevitably there is going to be a lot of transfer activity over the next three months and, in a way of tracking that progression, I thought it would be good to see how our 'current best XI' evolves between now and the end of the transfer window.

So, as things stand, I'm picking a 3-1-4-2 formation (a la Bolton last season), and have assumed all players will be fit!:

• GK: Vickers
• DF: Nyambe - Nelson - Cashin
• DM: Rooney
• MD: NML - Fornah - Thompson - CBT
• ST: Washington - Barkhuizen

Subs: Elder, Bradley, Robinson, Forsyth, Wilson, Ward (plus the first three fans who turn up at the stadium on matchday!)

10 hours ago, Rich3478 said:

Actually think being objective a move is way sibley needs

Totally agree. Many believe there is a footballer in him but after 173 first team appearances under numerous different managers, I don’t think it will be as a Derby County player.

He showed his most consistent form last season but I’m convinced he’s only been offered a new contract to protect development fee rights. 

Linked to the Brighton job by the Sun this morning. That's quite a leap!

Just watching the L1 play off final and I reckon Ian Evatt is going to give Steve Evans a run for his money in the largest trousers award.

Well, I say run… more a sweaty walk!

6 hours ago, The_Sheriff said:

Unpopular opinion but I wouldn't mind seeing him go.  I think he's a good league one keeper but not sure about championship.    

Very good shot stopper but useless past his own 6 yard box and distribution questionable 

I agree with you. He’s very good in many aspects but his penalty area management isn’t quite good enough. 

40 minutes ago, Ghost of Clough said:

I dont see Iverson as a number 1. He was rather average when at Preston a couple of years back

Though he was voted their Player of the Year

57 minutes ago, MadAmster said:

Rotherham can match the wages we'd pay? 

Which is precisely £0 if no contract has been offered. 

Iverson to Derby

Johansson to Stoke

Wildsmith to Rotherham 

makes sense. 

51 minutes ago, jimtastic56 said:

Wildsmith not even offered a contract is surprising , but there must be a cracking goalie lined up .

Makes sense if a new first choice has been earmarked. Vickers is perfectly good enough back up, and he’s under contract. I would pick Wildsmith over Vickers but don’t think either are quite good enough to take us forward.