Is our budget any bigger than last year?

[jono]

I believe the whole money situation across lower league football has changed dramatically. There will be few 7 figure fees outside the top of the championship.
I think wages on offer from all clubs have shrunk. Agents will be in a spin because their cut of smaller deals means a lot less money for them too. There’s a big reality check going on. Meanwhile the chance of free agents increases as high paying contracts will run down because extensions won’t be readily renewed. The cream will still be sought after but over priced mediocrity will be a thing of the past. Middle of the road players will be available at affordable prices. I think Derby can compete budget wise with top L1 and middle of the road Championship but are looking to balance the books at all times. We are a functioning business that needs to be profitable, rather than a gamblers ego trip.

[Sparkle]

2 hours ago, Curtains said:

Got to admit the signings so far haven’t really been Stella Artois 

Some good players gone and replaced by a few journeymen but it’s the third division so maybe ok 🤷‍♂️

[Simmo’s left foot]

4 minutes ago, Sparkle said:

Some good players gone and replaced by a few journeymen but it’s the third division so maybe ok 🤷‍♂️

Which is exactly what Arthur Cox did very successfully. People need to realise the club is not awash with cash. Any good performance financially last season v budget wont be sat in a bank account. It just means there was less of negative cash flow. I doubt the club is generating a profit currently, if we are lucky we will be just about covering our costs. selling Bielek and Knight will give us less outgoings and generate a little cash, but that will soon be burned up on other outgoings over the next few months. Lets get real!

[Sparkle]

1 hour ago, simmoram1995 said:

Part of me feels that although Clowes saved us I can’t see him being here longer than 2 years he won’t spend money to an extent probably wise considering the error of judgment of Mel. If we sign Rhodes Warne will have a lot of explaining to do as it would show either we have no ambition or quite frankly all the money we receive is going towards repairing other areas of our finances destroyed by Mel e.g. money for knight is actually going on the academy not the first team 

Rhodes is proven in league one and might be all that’s available 🤷‍♂️

Any finance arriving from transfers will probably be needed to pay the two clubs who we probably owe transfer fees to for the two Polish internationals not to mention signing on fees for new arrivals and loyalty payments to players leaving like Knight who didn’t ask for a transfer. Part of me thinks that the Academy staff might get a bonus for all those sold who came through their supervision would be another cost etc. Basically lots of reasons why football clubs lose loads of money every year just like we will be doing currently.

[MadAmster]

4 hours ago, sage said:

So we have a budget that we can't spend?

That's the size of it, as I read the situation. We could buy half a dozen players at 500K each but we can't pay the same £3M out for ONE player. 500k is my guess at what would be seen as a "moderate fee" in L1. The upshot of last season, plus this season, is that we are going to have a very healthy bank balance next summer. Next season we will be allowed to spend. However, David Clowes is adamant that DCFC is going to be a sustainable entity from here on in. There will be no 5 million pound+ signings. That's not the plan. The plan is to utilise what we have and no more than that. DC and PW are intent on building a TEAM and expensive signings on huge wages can be detrimental to a TEAM.

@Collo_DCFC11 Clarke-Harris hasn't been on the club's radar at all. Posh said they want £5M for him. Not going to happen. The £2M to £3M you mention might. Having said that, it won't be DCFC paying that money. The club is only allowed to spend moderate fees. In these times £3M, or even £2M, can't be viewed as moderate in L1

 

[sage]

25 minutes ago, MadAmster said:

That's the size of it, as I read the situation. We could buy half a dozen players at 500K each but we can't pay the same £3M out for ONE player. 500k is my guess at what would be seen as a "moderate fee" in L1. The upshot of last season, plus this season, is that we are going to have a very healthy bank balance next summer. Next season we will be allowed to spend. However, David Clowes is adamant that DCFC is going to be a sustainable entity from here on in. There will be no 5 million pound+ signings. That's not the plan. The plan is to utilise what we have and no more than that. DC and PW are intent on building a TEAM and expensive signings on huge wages can be detrimental to a TEAM.

@Collo_DCFC11 Clarke-Harris hasn't been on the club's radar at all. Posh said they want £5M for him. Not going to happen. The £2M to £3M you mention might. Having said that, it won't be DCFC paying that money. The club is only allowed to spend moderate fees. In these times £3M, or even £2M, can't be viewed as moderate in L1

 

These are artificial constraints and are a punishment still. I agree we need to be sustainable and not splash silly wages and fees, but spending £1.5m on a 24 yr old on 8k a week is more sustainable than buying three 31 year olds for £500k each on 10k a week. Especially if we have raised money through sales and sold 21k season tickets. 

Imagine if we had unearthed another Bellingham and sold him for £30m and could only spend £500k.  

Edited July 18, 2023 by sage

[RoyMac5]

1 hour ago, sage said:

These are artificial constraints and are a punishment still. I agree we need to be sustainable and not splash silly wages and fees, but spending £1.5m on a 24 yr old on 8k a week is more sustainable than buying three 31 year olds for £500k each on 10k a week. Especially if we have raised money through sales and sold 21k season tickets. 

Imagine if we had unearthed another Bellingham and sold him for £30m and could only spend £500k.  

Imagine if that 24 yr old is another Thorne/Bielik.

The x3 31 yr olds might take us up, that is the priority - spend more, if necessary, when we can attract better.

Edited July 18, 2023 by RoyMac5

[sage]

9 minutes ago, RoyMac5 said:

Imagine if that 24 yr old is another Thorne/Bielik.

The x3 31 yr olds might take us up, that is the priority - spend more, if necessary, when we can attract better.

We are talking about financial planning. 

[RoyMac5]

18 minutes ago, sage said:

We are talking about financial planning. 

Same applies 1 gamble at big money or x3 reasonable signings.

[Raich Carter]

18 minutes ago, sage said:

We are talking about financial planning. 

But there are no guarantees with investing in youth - we've seen that. 

It's also financial planning to have solid pros on short term contracts get us up, then with more funds (from being in the Champ) we can look at investing in the medium future and kick on from there. 

The chances of another Bellingham are very, very slim. That's Mel Morris type thinking! 😉

[sage]

14 minutes ago, RoyMac5 said:

Same applies 1 gamble at big money or x3 reasonable signings.

wow. We are talking about the imposed business plan. 

[RoyMac5]

1 minute ago, sage said:

wow. We are talking about the imposed business plan. 

Wow. If we have to stick to the budget then it makes more sense to spread the money across the squad not splurge on one player, geddit.

[sage]

2 minutes ago, RoyMac5 said:

Wow. If we have to stick to the budget then it makes more sense to spread the money across the squad not splurge on one player, geddit.

[RoyMac5]

Whatever.

Edited July 18, 2023 by RoyMac5

[sage]

1 minute ago, RoyMac5 said:

How can you be so annoying?

oh the irony

[RoyMac5]

Just now, sage said:

oh the irony

I'll lend you the thesaurus.

Edited July 18, 2023 by RoyMac5

[Carnero]

19 minutes ago, RoyMac5 said:

I'll lend you the thesaurus.

I think they're extinct now, same goes for the doyafinkesauraus.

[RadioactiveWaste]

Should the thread be retitled "do you have blue balls for a transfer fee?"

[duncanjwitham]

1 hour ago, RoyMac5 said:

Wow. If we have to stick to the budget then it makes more sense to spread the money across the squad not splurge on one player, geddit.

It depends on how much better those 3 players are, than the free transfers that are also available.  It might make more sense to e.g. pick up one player that really makes a difference for £750k and a couple of frees, than sign 3 average players for £250k each.  

[RoyMac5]

1 minute ago, duncanjwitham said:

It depends on how much better those 3 players are, than the free transfers that are also available.  It might make more sense to e.g. pick up one player that really makes a difference for £750k and a couple of frees, than sign 3 average players for £250k each.  

Yes but we have a very limited budget and if as I said that one player ends up a Thorne or Bielik we're in trouble.