Conor Hourihane - Signed 2 year deal

[Jimbo Ram]

25 minutes ago, Ghost of Clough said:

Nothing to do with us having the highest revenue in the league? Even in L1, our revenue will be higher than half of the Championship: Reading, Millwall, QPR, Blackburn, Luton, Cardiff, Huddersfield, Rotherham, Preston Cardiff, Wigan, Blackpool and Hull

Is that the case, even with tv revenue ?

[Animal is a Ram]

54 minutes ago, Brailsford Ram said:

Is our wages budget not an overall cap against revenue? Would losing Lawrence on £37k a week to be replaced by Hourihane on say £12k a week not be permissible, providing we remain within the overall wages:revenue limit?

I would expect this to be the case, yes, and as @Ghost of Clough points out, our revenue, even on decrease attendances will still be one of the highest in the league.

Even if we only drag 20k in on home games, this would be 3rd highest in the league against last season's figures.

[JuanFloEvraTheCocu'sNesta]

Has he been spotted looking for patio furniture yet?

[Curtains]

4 minutes ago, Jimbo Ram said:

Unbelievable, we sign or are about to sign a quality player, within the salary limits set, and some still moan ?

We are Derby fans and hardly have enough players to compete and the club is working to a business plan .

We  have to get some players into the club .

 

[Ghost of Clough]

11 minutes ago, Jimbo Ram said:

Is that the case, even with tv revenue ?

With just gate receipts and no other income we're only £2-3m behind the likes of Wigan, Blackpool, Coventry and Preston. Then we have TV, sponsorship, commercial, other income on top of that.

[Leicester Ram]

Dealing exclusively with free agents is actually suiting us down to the ground here, there’s lots of players around 28-32 that are looking for a bit of glory.

Sign with the biggest club in league one and potentially get promoted after the clubs just come out of administration/relegation, resulting in you never buying a pint in Derby again.

Players will know what the atmosphere was like last season, we’re such an attractive prospect for any free agent that’s reaching the end of their prime. Likely made their money already, not too bothered about a pay cut to potentially win something in front of a big home crowd.

I think that has to be what Rooney was selling him originally and it’s a great sign for the rest of our window that it’s clearly still an attractive option even without the Wayne factor.

Here’s hoping we have an entertaining team to watch fight at the right end of the table ? 

[Tamworthram]

8 minutes ago, Ghost of Clough said:

With just gate receipts and no other income we're only £2-3m behind the likes of Wigan, Blackpool, Coventry and Preston. Then we have TV, sponsorship, commercial, other income on top of that.

Behind Wigan, Blackpool and Preston purely based on gate receipts? How can that be when their average attendances last year were 10k, 12k and 12k respectively?

[Sparkle]

2 minutes ago, Tamworthram said:

Behind Wigan, Blackpool and Preston purely based on gate receipts? How can that be when their average attendances last year were 10k, 12k and 12k respectively?

Championship money vs league one money I suspect

[Jimbo Ram]

3 minutes ago, Tamworthram said:

Behind Wigan, Blackpool and Preston purely based on gate receipts? How can that be when their average attendances last year were 10k, 12k and 12k respectively?

I think he has factored what they will be getting in tv revenue in to that ?

[Tamworthram]

1 minute ago, Sparkle said:

Championship money vs league one money I suspect

So we’re assuming a significant drop in ticket prices and therefore season ticket prices?

[ImARam2]

Although all of the new signings have been out-of-contract players, with no transfer fees, which in my opinion, Derby have agreed ridiculous fees in the past 6 years, without seeing the rewards, the EFL will be watching the budget, and, at some point, Derby will have to ensure they balance the books, in accordance with the set business plan, which is in place for two seasons.

So don't be surprised if several of the "assets", i.e. players such as Knight, Bird & Bryne are sold, which, these three players, alone, should bring in up to £6 million in revenue, as well as Beilik being loaned out to save some of his salary.

This is similar to what Arthur Cox & Jim Smith did, by selling some "favourite" players for a fee, to allow them to bring in their own players, who where experienced and wanted to play for a decent club, as well as a knowledgeable manager/coach. The players they brought in were the bed-rock for several promotions back to Division 1 / Premier league.

[Ghost of Clough]

7 minutes ago, Tamworthram said:

Behind Wigan, Blackpool and Preston purely based on gate receipts? How can that be when their average attendances last year were 10k, 12k and 12k respectively?

Derby match tickets vs their total revenue

[Tamworthram]

2 minutes ago, Jimbo Ram said:

I think he has factored what they will be getting in tv revenue in to that ?

Oh I get it now. Our gate receipts only v their total income. Silly me.

[Tamworthram]

1 minute ago, Ghost of Clough said:

Derby match tickets vs their total revenue

Yep. I realise now that’s what you meant. It’s been a long day (waiting for more transfer news ?).

[hintonsboots]

Derby: Irish Duo imminent. Musical ability doubtful but one will pull the strings in midfield the other hitting the right notes up front. More on the way after my dog walk and in paper tomorrow.

#reluctantnicko 

[BaaLocks]

1 hour ago, Curtains said:

Blimey talk above depression post of the season 

Possibly - I get the point made by @Animal is a Ram and maybe there is a little more caution to it. Just feels strange, that's all I'm saying.

[BaaLocks]

1 hour ago, JuanFloEvraTheCocu'sNesta said:

If it fits within the business plan (and it has to otherwise the EFL will not sign off on it) then what is the problem?

Our squad is bare bones and we cannot rely solely on finding lower league gems for pennies, getting loans from mates and playing the kids. We have to bring in some form of quality, Hourihane could be that quality if we get a deal done.

I guess the problem is that this time last week we nearly went bust. But I get the point, only a small handful know if this is prudent and sensible and I agree that the likes of the EFL will be watching this with a lot of interest. That said, if I was the local catering company who'd just lost a chunk of cash not sure I'd be whooping this up as the rise of the phoenix.

[Jimbo Ram]

4 minutes ago, BaaLocks said:

Possibly - I get the point made by @Animal is a Ram and maybe there is a little more caution to it. Just feels strange, that's all I'm saying.

Think on this occasion you were living up to your forum name............

[BaaLocks]

2 hours ago, Ram@Lincoln said:

This time is different. 

Course it is.....

[duncanjwitham]

1 hour ago, Brailsford Ram said:

Is our wages budget not an overall cap against revenue? Would losing Lawrence on £37k a week to be replaced by Hourihane on say £12k a week not be permissible, providing we remain within the overall wages:revenue limit?

There's 2 different aspects going on here. There's the EFL League 1 FFP restrictions, which basically limit us to spending 75% of our revenue on player wages (then 60% in subsequent years, if we're still in league 1).  As far as I know, there's no cap on individual player wages here, so we could spend it all on Ronaldo if we wanted, or on 25 average players.

But we also have an agreed business plan with the EFL for the next 2 years.  We haven't seen the exact details yet, but it's reasonable to assume it's modelled on the one we agreed last year as part of the points deduction (and is similar to ones agreed with Reading etc, so seems fairly standard).  That plan had both a cap on total wages (~£15m per season) and a cap on individual player wages (undisclosed to the public, presumably for commercial sensitivity reasons).  Plus other restrictions on transfer and agents fees etc.  It's reasonable to assume those restrictions all carry on for the next 2 seasons, but the amounts will probably be scaled down for League 1.