You are a legend Mr Clowes. Now, please plan for the next stage

[G STAR RAM]

9 hours ago, MadAmster said:

Last year's plan was based on 17K gates. We averaged >27K. I estimate that to mean we got around £6M more in than the plan budgeted on. 

Think you are miles out with this estimate.

In the last set of accounts we filed our total matchday revenue was only £9m.

[BramcoteRam84]

Sure we’re not going to be able to splash the cash but look at Luton. They’ve done it with a clear strategy and everyone in the club aligned to the goal. The best Derby side of the last 20 years had one of the lowest wage bills in the championship, Nigel Clough built it over 5 years supplemented by academy players. Looks like we’ve got some serious talent coming through again. The key will be that one or two season window we have an opportunity we have to take it, we didn’t in 2014 and it cost us dearly. 
 

The target needs to be putting ourselves in the frame for a premier league promotion push within the next 3-5 years

[kevinhectoring]

39 minutes ago, BramcoteRam84 said:

 

Sure we’re not going to be able to splash the cash but look at Luton. They’ve done it with a clear strategy and everyone in the club aligned to the goal

 

Every team seeks a clear and effective strategy and all the rest of it. The stars align for most (normal) clubs about once in a generation, then they sink back to their level. Luton won’t be there for long (hopefully long enough to force Forest down. )

If we have serious money behind us it transforms our chances of climbing back and staying there. And US institutions/individuals are likely to bring good governance (despite what we have seen at Chelsea and despite Birmingham’s struggles under Rooney )

[MadAmster]

13 hours ago, G STAR RAM said:

Not overly relevant to the point of the post, but the club did not owe MM £140m.

In that case, what was the £140M he wrote off when we exited Administration?

[CongletonRam]

20 hours ago, Foreveram said:

I see you’ve moved you negativity away from the match day and Warne out threads 😉

I was beginning to wonder where he was. Funny how you never hear from some posters when we're winning.

[Crewton]

15 hours ago, kevinhectoring said:

This below outlines the Ipswich ownership and recent developments. I agree with those (including you) who say good management and player recruitment is key. But you also need an owner who will splash the cash when the (strong) management team recommend it. Last summer Paul Warne told us DC was spending less that the EFL would allow because he wanted to contain operating losses. Fair enough. But not a recipe that will keep our fans happy    
 

A US pension fund would be a good owner for us, so would an existing owner of a US sports franchise. A billionaire from say China or India could be a much more difficult ride and might end in tears

………..,…,..,….,……………….

IPSWICH TOWN: The new owners have certainly put their money where their mouths are to date, spending a lot on the squad and the club’s infrastructure. However, this has been part of a well though-out plan, as they have made some astute recruitment choices. As well as McKenna, they brought in former Bristol City chief executive, Mark Ashton, to lead operations off the pitch.

Ashton spoke of the solid nature of Ipswich’s new investors, “In a period where people are questioning where money is coming from into clubs, we are so fortunate to have a financial institution, a US pension fund, that backs the football club.”

For their part, the new owners believe that Ipswich Town represents an excellent investment opportunity, as ORG CEO Ed Schwartz explained, “Our view is that we've bought, at a lower value, an asset that has potential and history. Ipswich really was the perfect scenario for us.”

Our old friends at OTIB have some very 'interesting' views of Mark Ashton's abilities!

[Ambitious]

To be successful, long-term, you need money to compete. We’re a bit of a unicorn at this level so we can more than compete with our revenue. The Championship is a different ball game, of course you can beat all the odds with excellent coaching and recruitment. Usually, though, it’s the teams who spend the most money and have the biggest wage bill at the top. I think under Clowes, with all due respect to him and us, we would only be treading water at the next level. 

[MackworthRamIsGod]

On 07/12/2023 at 14:57, kevinhectoring said:

He will always be our hero.  
 

But here we are: a 60% chance of staying in this godforsaken league for at least another season. And as each year goes by, our club’s stock falls lower. 
 

And even when we get back to the championship, is DC the man to lead us to the PL? Nope. Portsmouth, owned by a Disney billionaire, have a good chance of getting there. And they’ll be competing with other clubs owned by billionaires, some flying high on parachute payments. Truth is, Ryan Reynolds is more likely than us to see his team in the PL any time soon. (Or is it Netflix’s team?) 
 

DC needs NOW to employ a smart well-connected agent to prepare a detailed proposal for a sale and to quietly and selectively market it to football mad billionaires across the globe. With middling PL clubs now going for 100s of millions, many might fancy a roll of the dice with us. 
 

If he does that successfully,  he will go from hero to superhero. If he does not, many of us -  including him - might not see our team in the top flight ever again. 

Mike Ashley will take over, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but once promoted to the Championship Mike Ashley will buy us and lead us to being a mid table premier league club.

I said about 5 years ago, he will buy us one day...I always almost right 😆

[Returning ram]

1 hour ago, Ambitious said:

To be successful, long-term, you need money to compete. We’re a bit of a unicorn at this level so we can more than compete with our revenue. The Championship is a different ball game, of course you can beat all the odds with excellent coaching and recruitment. Usually, though, it’s the teams who spend the most money and have the biggest wage bill at the top. I think under Clowes, with all due respect to him and us, we would only be treading water at the next level. 

Palace, Bournemouth, Burnley, Fulham, Brighton, Luton. 6 teams that make up the PL that I'd be surprised if had spent the most money getting into the league (at the first attempt).

Of course money helps with that, but it can be achieved without doing that, the biggest disadvantage is PL teams that have been relegated, but rules stop you competing with them anyway.

[G STAR RAM]

6 hours ago, MadAmster said:

In that case, what was the £140M he wrote off when we exited Administration?

He didn't. The administrators reports are there in black and white and the club did not owe him £140m.

He may have been owed £140m from the company that he injected the funds into the club from but the majority, well at least up to 2018, was injected as equity not debt.

 

[CBX1985]

23 hours ago, Tyler Durden said:

I heard that Chris Kirchener is a pretty shrewd businessman 

He's the best type - an alchemist.    

[CBX1985]

7 hours ago, Ambitious said:

To be successful, long-term, you need money to compete. We’re a bit of a unicorn at this level so we can more than compete with our revenue. The Championship is a different ball game, of course you can beat all the odds with excellent coaching and recruitment. Usually, though, it’s the teams who spend the most money and have the biggest wage bill at the top. I think under Clowes, with all due respect to him and us, we would only be treading water at the next level. 

He would be looking at a long term push.  We would probably look for two or three years in Championship to solidify.  

This strategy is all or nothing; it is exactly Mel's thinking.  If you go up, it is inspired.  It would have been inspired had Mel succeeded.  But he didn't.  We are where we are because he didn't. 

The play off final: had we won that, Mel would probably be up their with Pickering as a great owner.  It is nicer having a club that will definitely exist to that lottery.    

[kevinhectoring]

15 hours ago, G STAR RAM said:

He didn't. The administrators reports are there in black and white and the club did not owe him £140m.

He may have been owed £140m from the company that he injected the funds into the club from but the majority, well at least up to 2018, was injected as equity not debt.

 

Correct. It was the holding company that owed him the debt 

[G STAR RAM]

1 hour ago, kevinhectoring said:

Correct. It was the holding company that owed him the debt 

And just to go one step further, he would have had no way of getting the funds from the club into the holding company to repay himself that debt.

(a) there were insufficient funds to pay a dividend 

(b) there weren't any funds available 

(c) insufficient assets as security to raise funds to take out of the club

[Ambitious]

22 hours ago, Returning ram said:

Palace, Bournemouth, Burnley, Fulham, Brighton, Luton. 6 teams that make up the PL that I'd be surprised if had spent the most money getting into the league (at the first attempt).

Of course money helps with that, but it can be achieved without doing that, the biggest disadvantage is PL teams that have been relegated, but rules stop you competing with them anyway.

Bournemouth, Fulham and Brighton spent a ton of money to get promoted. All of which is well documented. Palace were highly competitive in terms of finances too. Palace had a lower revenue than us the season they got promoted but spent 150% of our wage bill to put it into context. 

Burnley (first promotion) and Luton were Cinderella stories but then you’re considering two in almost 20 years, so 60 promotions. 

Money is no guarantee, of course, but not having it guarantees a ceiling to your success over time. It’s no surprise that Rotherham are in the bottom three, for example, whilst Leicester are top of the league. It might be that Leicester are a better run club or it could be due to their additional £100m in wages - difficult to say. 

[Big Trav]

I have heard that Clowes is looking for investment and in talks with 1 that I know of. A couple of American investors looking to get into football and turn Derby into the ‘next Wrexham’ with a certain Derby supporting global superstar as the face of the club. Clowes will not Sell unless he is involved in the running of the club still. 

[Caerphilly Ram]

2 minutes ago, Big Trav said:

I have heard that Clowes is looking for investment and in talks with 1 that I know of. A couple of American investors looking to get into football and turn Derby into the ‘next Wrexham’ with a certain Derby supporting global superstar as the face of the club. Clowes will not Sell unless he is involved in the running of the club still. 

Derby supporting global superstar you say?! 🤔…..

 

[RoyMac5]

28 minutes ago, Big Trav said:

I have heard that Clowes is looking for investment and in talks with 1 that I know of. A couple of American investors looking to get into football and turn Derby into the ‘next Wrexham’ with a certain Derby supporting global superstar as the face of the club. Clowes will not Sell unless he is involved in the running of the club still. 

Why?

[Comrade 86]

20 minutes ago, RoyMac5 said:

Why?

Because he wants to ensure that his principle aims of restoring the club's footing and delivering a sustainable future are both achieved.

Did that really require explaining?

[kevinhectoring]

20 minutes ago, RoyMac5 said:

Why?

So allegedly DC won’t sell unless he continues to be involved. I wonder whether he’d sell the club but not the stadium. It was the stadium he bought first and he got it for a song - in fact at one stage he even indicated he’d bought the club in order to protect the value of the stadium !