Ambitious

Hull are braced for bids? 

I'd imagine that counts us out. 

3 hours ago, SamUltraRam said:

Just to put things into perspective, last season Leeds won automatic promotion without parachute payments and the season before Sheffield United did it.

I agree that promotion is often the relegated clubs to lose but sometimes when they stick with their old manager, or sack their manager and make a bad appointment , it gives other clubs a chance

Leeds also made a £64m loss the season they went up, with Bielsa as one of the highest paid managers in the country. Sheffield United did it really well and managed to stay up for a season, but they were always on borrowed time because they were never committed to remaining in the Premier League. They never spent money like a Premier League team and now they will probably look to pocket a lot of their money whereas Fulham will happily throw some cash around (and I would imagine WBA would too). 

I'd not be surprised to see Fulham and WBA win automatic promotion again next season. 

Good move for Waghorn. 

Wish him all the best! 

2 hours ago, GboroRam said:

That would be a recipe for clubs spending beyond their means. In fact it would guarantee it, as the only way to keep up would be to bet the farm each season, and hope by maxing your credit out you can stay competitive.

It would be incredibly boring too. It just becomes a game of who can spend the most money. 

In fact it sounds like exactly the opposite of what I want football to be. Nothing about the fans, entirely about the depth of pockets of the owners. Like we have now, on steroids. And crack cocaine.

What is it now? 

The whole point of the original post was that the money some teams get and the financial parameters they need to spend their money means that the disparity in the league is insane. 

In order to stop the disparity you either need to give the teams without the tools to compete OR you bring in salary caps and other financial restrictions to level the playing field. I'd be ok with either, but the latter is almost impossible to implement. 

Football is irreversibly broken in this country. I wish it was easy to remedy, but it really isn't because of the popularity of the Premier League OR should I say the Premier League 'big' 6. I also want to redirect the thinking: Sheffield United earned their money in the Premier League. They deserve that £125m. We shouldn't be looking to take money from them, which I think a lot of fans of football league clubs automatically jump too. 

The steps that make sense to me: 

1) scrap ANY financial restrictions that are governed by turnover to increase competition. Financial restrictions governed by a club's turnover significantly hinders any organic growth for that club, because you're working to ceilings that others don't have. Chelsea and City put down the capital early doors and eventually benefited from being successful which reflected in their sponsorship interest and deals. Arsenal, Man Utd and Liverpool have been the countries most successful clubs historically and benefited from being successful at key points in history, i.e. Liverpool 80s when football was being televised regularly, Man Utd and Arsenal 90s/00s as football was televised worldwide. 

2) create a hard wage cap, but this will be extremely high. It just gives teams something to work too, without being restricted. I think United's wage bill is roughly £250m a year so if you say from 2022-23 the wage bill for all teams will be £280m. It gives the guys who own Everton and others the opportunity to get up to that point and genuinely contend on a level playing field. 

3) this is covered by the top 2 points, but I just want to emphasis the point: ABSOLUTELY NO RESTRICTIONS ON TRANSFER FEES. I mean, when you consider who FFP actually benefits then it's only the big clubs. If you have a player contracted to your club who Man Utd want and there is absolutely NO financial restrictions then you are going to receive much higher fees. It actually benefits the smaller clubs not having restrictions on transfer fees. It helps them benefit from selling assets. It trickles down the football league. If Man Utd sign someone from Crystal Palace for £80m then Palace can sign someone from Derby for £30m and then Derby can sign someone from Peterborough for £10m.... 

If you achieve the above then you have overnight made Football League clubs more attractive to investors looking to get into the Premier League. The more money, competition and interest in the Football League then the better the product they get to sell to television networks and the more money to go around. It also gives teams the ability for an investor to quickly take a seat at the top table. If Bezos buys Everton (for example) spends 1bn in his first couple years and maxes the wage bill. It creates a much more competitive environment and competition breeds interest. If we get to the point where the same teams are going up and going down, at least a carousel of the same teams then the lack of competition is going to cause disinterest. The same goes for League One to the Championship too. We are in danger of that becoming a similar situation, considering two of the promoted teams last year went straight back down. Its going to take a lot of work, but ultimately I think you help the situation by stopping the restrictions.

Just now, Van der MoodHoover said:

We're almost shot of all Frank's dross...... ?

Unfortunately, I think the way the club has been run it's the recruitment team that highlight these players present their case and then the club move on it (obviously with the managers blessing) but I highly doubt any of our managers highlight players they want. 

As far as I can tell, it's not changed since we made these signings so I wouldn't expect it to get any better going forward. 

I was thinking after Sunderland lost 2-0 to Lincoln that relegating Derby wouldn't make much commercial sense with regards to the Championship. Hypothetically, you keep Wycombe up over Derby - it would leave just two teams in the Championship capable of bringing in big viewing figures: Forest and WBA. 

It weakens the EFL's pull going into the final 24 months of their contract with Sky. I mean, obviously, a lot can change but that must play on the mind. The EFL really need Sunderland, Ipswich and Sheff Wed to get it together next season. A big casuality from the Premier League would help too. They really did well out of Leeds being stuck in the league for so long. 

I think it's a difficult one, because no one bar Mel and a few very close to him really know his financial situation. It's all good having a high net worth, but typically it doesn't translate well at all into cash. 

I think Mel, like most, was perhaps very cash rich when he came into the club and didn't really think too much about the long-term effects. I would suggest by his actions of managing his cash flow that he's now not very cash rich and hence why he wants out so badly because the club is becoming an anchor around his neck. You can't blame him for the pandemic, obviously, but it's accelerated his need to get out before he physically can't fund us. We will be back to a low wage bill this coming season (circa £10-12m) which should be manageable for us. 

If not, we simply need to get Wayne Rooney to fight one of the Paul brothers in order to raise the capital to keep us going. 

I wouldn't say I was happy to see the back of Russell, but I felt at the time we needed a lot better for where we wanted to be (at that time). I think the opportunity to be a bit of a flat-track bully has helped him get a bit of his confidence back, but ultimately he's still operating with the same hardware so I wouldn't want him back at this point - on inflated wages. 

It would be good to see him back in England - or even Scotland. I'd like to see what he could do in the SPL. 

I like listening to Jordan on TalkSport. I think he's able to argue his point of view very well and he's able to emphasis the factors that many overlook in almost every argument. I don't think he says much at all where I disagree, whereas others I find myself very rarely in agreement - certainly on TalkSport.

Reading between the lines on the statement: Mel Morris will continue to fund the club going forward and will continue to put the emphasis on the academy. I'd expect us to utilise the loan market to its full potential and free / low value signings. I would assume a lot of free transfers end up earning more because they don't need a transfer fee. 

We look set for more negotiations with 'credible' parties, however the other two would've been classed as credible at one point. I'd suspect Mel is very much planning on funding us through to the start of the season. 

Without Bielik, we would've been dead and buried bottom of the league for the last 2 months of the season. He's the sole reason we are still a Championship club. No other player: Byrne, Shinnie, whoever never did anything more than 'ok'. 

I get that he didn't play enough games to be voted by some, but do those same people realise that most of our wins came in the games he played? Any vote for any other player than Bielik is a vote for a player who was subsequently influential in our demise. 

1 hour ago, BucksRam said:

Quote of the day......sod it, quote of the month. ?

6 minutes ago, Tamworthram said:

Why is it pitiful?
 

As others have mentioned they’re probably having to wait for more clarity/clearer indication on likely maximum attendances next season not to mention the outcome of the EFL appeal (although, based on previous experiences, it could be several weeks before we hear anything).

Also, I browsed a few other Championship club sites the other day and I don’t think we’re alone in delaying.

2 minutes ago, SunnyRam said:

Not sure what else you want them to say really until they know exactly what they are aloud to do. 

They could explain why tickets aren't on sale, rather than 'we currently don't have any information regarding 2021-22 season tickets'. I'm not saying the club not putting the tickets on sale is pitiful - but the communication towards the fans is rotten. 

It doesn't help that 90% of clubs have had no issues putting theirs up for sale whilst we're (apparently) waiting for the government to give the go ahead? It just seems strange to me. We're only guessing that we're waiting for the government to give the go ahead because the club haven't said anything at all. 

Do we assume we're waiting until June 21st before putting them on sale - maybe longer? I don't think it's asking for much to just have a little bit of an outline. It's easy to see why fans are getting pissed off. 

2 hours ago, uttoxram75 said:

This is the official response from the Club atm.....

 

Thank you for your email.

 

We currently don't have any information regarding the 2021/22 Season Ticket renewals. Please keep checking our website for any latest updates or alternatively contact us at a later date.

 

Kind regards,

It's actually pitiful. 

It's good to just get him off the books. All the best to him - seems to have found a new lease on life in Bermondsey. 

1 hour ago, Curtains said:

Disclaimer    More clickbait 

Seems Rooney is liked by the players  

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-9593397/Derby-players-fear-chaos-club-impact-future-boss-Wayne-Rooney.html

I did like the last sentence:

Quote

The Rams supporters have indicated they will refuse to buy season tickets if they are kept in the dark.

I think the reason most supporters aren't buying season tickets is down to the fact that we... y'know... can't! 

3 minutes ago, Jram said:

Oh god, I just really hope we get lucky and someone like Watson or Stretton have a mad breakthrough season with loads of goals and/or assists 

At the moment, it does look really bad on the investment front so another relegation scrap seems likely 

Only positives: maybe Jozwiak/Sibley will be much improved, Lawrence not missing three months might make a big difference... and now for the coup de grace of clutching at straws... IBE? 

I would honestly be surprised if we are scrapping for survival if things stay as they are. I'd be more concerned about it being a dead rubber, not quite as similar to our Premier League season but something remarkably close considering we're in the second division. 

12 hours ago, Anag Ram said:

I see Ellis Simms scored again for Blackpool.

Young (20) quick and just the type we need.

The annoying thing is that me and a couple of others on here were vocal about him after his performance against our U23 side. He's gone to Blackpool and done really well. The fact he went to Blackpool, too, shows that he would've been an option in January. 

3 minutes ago, Anag Ram said:

Of the loanees I would retain Roberts as a first priority. 

I wasn't impressed with Mengi. He's quick but isn't good enough in the air for the championship and gets out of position too often. 

Edmundson has shown glimpses but would need a good and experienced CB alongside him. 

I would prefer Clarke plus a new signing. 

Beni just hasn't shown us anything and would be a risk. 

Gregory is a good pro but we need pace and youth. 

New keeper, experienced CB/ captain, attacking mid, two new young strikers. 

Let's build on a strong defence with pace on the break. 

It's worth noting that Mengi is playing well above his age range - you don't get many (if any) 18 year old centre backs in the Champiohship. He's just turned 19 and could just develop siginificantly overnight. 

Tomori was catastrophic at times early on in his loan spell, before developing into something special. We saw Michael Keane come here as a young lad and absolute stink it up. I wouldn't mind taking a chance on Mengi considering the low outlay and potential high upside. 

I can't imagine any of the out of contract players will be here next season. The likelihood is that they will find a much more stable option in the months before our takeover comes to light. 

In all honesty, I won't lose any sleep. Wisdom and Waghorn are ok Championship players on great Championship level money. We are in no position to be signing players even on 'ok' Championship player money - I'd imagine they will find clubs in the league, i.e. Bristol, Barnsley, Stoke...etc. 

1 hour ago, drgoodspeak said:

I'm getting a bit tired of hearing the confidence line. You might well be really confident Wayne, but what is the impact of that?

"Confidence is the food of the wise man but the liquor of a fool"

Love that.. 

I think the 'double points penalty' presumably relates to: FFP breach and possible administration. I can't imagine they would need to take more than 21 points off us, which is the maximum applicable for a club breaching FFP - if we have, actually, breached FFP. I guess we're under the assumption we have, but we're still non-the-wiser as some people have calculated we haven't. 

I guess they're waiting to see whether there will be a team to watch next season, before they begin promoting season tickets. We don't know how bad things are, exactly, but considering a few sources have hinted at liquidation and season tickets AREN'T on sale - nor any explanation to why they're not on sale could be because they're not sure whether there will be anything for us to watch. 

For any other reason, I would expect an explanation. 

8 minutes ago, RoyMac5 said:

Daily Mail:

”We understand the EFL found no grounds to deny Alonso as part of their owners and directors test, had he produced the money to do the deal. They asked him to deposit £35million in a holding account three weeks ago but have heard nothing since.

There were also concerns within the EFL about Alonso’s business plan and there were doubts over the credibility of the takeover, especially as the League were unable to determine if he even had a lawyer.”

I think that sums up the EFL fit and proper persons test. Awful.