I would be delighted if those 2 extra players do appear in January but a little concerned about the comments League postion deciding if they arrive or not, that seem a little bizarre to me, if we can budget for it then surely they come in no matter what postion we find ourselves in 2 months time.
Sure I see that but if we are mid-table why not wait for the summer when certain players leave. Personally I would argue the entertainment and cash associated with the fa cup but I think this is actually all about a complex analysis of the value added by Meire and Peeters. There are six clubs in the network and they can all make a case for players in January?
My worry is that despite it sounding good , the system of a small but quality squad backed up by our youth players, just wont bring a next step to the club.
As first it relies on a steady supply of youth players good enough for this level, which can't be gauranteed no matter how good an academy you have.
The stars like Vetokele & Gudmundsson will not stick around season after season for midtable in the second tier, so unless the plan is to sell them for a big profit and reinvest all of the money on multiple versions of the next them(which i have not seen mentioned) how are we ever going to take the next step unless we stumble onto the type of player or Head Coach that is so good at what they do that they get us promoted on their own.
Crowds will continue to drop or they certainly won't grow on a strategy of aiming to finish midtable every season surely.
Don't mistake this as moaning about this season though, im delighted for midtable after worrying about relegation for the much of the previous two but it does not shake that im getting a little worried that the idealogy that our current owner has will not bring the success us fans want over the next few seasons.
This We are without any doubt in a better place than 12 months ago and strategy (not tactics) is all about where CAFC is in October 2015. We need excitement like a cup run or a chase for the play-offs to galvanise the club. We need continuous improvement in play and results - very simple now but what about when we get to April and we are comparing against a much higher bar? We need higher crowds, not for the cash but the atmosphere and helping the team. And we don't need to sell top players to balance the books because that slows progress to the top six - Brighton did that and look at them!
We are not mid-table just yet but even if we do miss 75 points this season we will have an older and wiser squad for 2015-16 with additions needed to make the next step forwards. The trouble is the better we do, the more offers will come in for top players - not something we've had much trouble with over the last seven years!
I would be delighted if those 2 extra players do appear in January but a little concerned about the comments League postion deciding if they arrive or not, that seem a little bizarre to me, if we can budget for it then surely they come in no matter what postion we find ourselves in 2 months time.
Sure I see that but if we are mid-table why not wait for the summer when certain players leave. Personally I would argue the entertainment and cash associated with the fa cup but I think this is actually all about a complex analysis of the value added by Meire and Peeters. There are six clubs in the network and they can all make a case for players in January?
I don't have an issue with waiting till next summer for more quality signings if we can get more for our money, as is usual in the summer, i just don't really like the idea, especially if it becomes a long term tactic that we only get the extra budgeted money for players if Big Bob can get the current team to continue to over perform month after month.
Either we have spent the budget or not but to decide it on if we are 14th or 4th come Transfer Window time still seems strange to me if they are trying to build us towards getting more fans back & a go at promotion in the future.
If Duchatelet isn't a able to bring results - by which I mean outperform his spending - does that not mean the whole thing is a failure, in other words his method brings no return of much value?
This might be different if he was at least breaking even at CAFC or even across the group - then the impact of spending with little return would be less. But I suspect that isn't the case. Of course we are only just at the end of year one in what might be a 2.5-3.5 yr project.
I am also interested to know how people know what our actual wage bill is, I heard that part of the 'formula' is high wage low purchase. Attracting quality free transfers, etc
It would be interesting to know Staprix turnover and profits/losses but that's another thread... I tend to agree that sitting around mid-table counting the losses that are £1m less than last time is a waste of everybody's time! But I think results on the pitch and the enhanced value of Vetokele, Gudmundsson and the other signings over and above the €3m paid is success in the second phase (first phase was staying up). I think the value of CAFC is already up in 12 months.
And you may well be right that the contracts offered to our top players were good deals - they all signed didn't they?! But the point is we are running a much, much thinner squad and the playing budget can be seen on the pitch.
We all know the prize for promotion dwarfs any other prize and it therefore makes sense to keep coaching and developing the current best 20 players while adding two or three each and every window.(with twovor three departing)
When you look at the top ten clubs in the Championship this is exactly what they have been doing for the last three years...Derby, Forest, Watford all have core players and new players - in fact eight if Derby's first team have been there for three years or more.
So perhaps the strategy should be continuous improvement until we get to walk up Wembley Way?!
Comments
We are without any doubt in a better place than 12 months ago and strategy (not tactics) is all about where CAFC is in October 2015.
We need excitement like a cup run or a chase for the play-offs to galvanise the club.
We need continuous improvement in play and results - very simple now but what about when we get to April and we are comparing against a much higher bar?
We need higher crowds, not for the cash but the atmosphere and helping the team.
And we don't need to sell top players to balance the books because that slows progress to the top six - Brighton did that and look at them!
We are not mid-table just yet but even if we do miss 75 points this season we will have an older and wiser squad for 2015-16 with additions needed to make the next step forwards. The trouble is the better we do, the more offers will come in for top players - not something we've had much trouble with over the last seven years!
Either we have spent the budget or not but to decide it on if we are 14th or 4th come Transfer Window time still seems strange to me if they are trying to build us towards getting more fans back & a go at promotion in the future.
I tend to agree that sitting around mid-table counting the losses that are £1m less than last time is a waste of everybody's time!
But I think results on the pitch and the enhanced value of Vetokele, Gudmundsson and the other signings over and above the €3m paid is success in the second phase (first phase was staying up). I think the value of CAFC is already up in 12 months.
And you may well be right that the contracts offered to our top players were good deals - they all signed didn't they?! But the point is we are running a much, much thinner squad and the playing budget can be seen on the pitch.
We all know the prize for promotion dwarfs any other prize and it therefore makes sense to keep coaching and developing the current best 20 players while adding two or three each and every window.(with twovor three departing)
When you look at the top ten clubs in the Championship this is exactly what they have been doing for the last three years...Derby, Forest, Watford all have core players and new players - in fact eight if Derby's first team have been there for three years or more.
So perhaps the strategy should be continuous improvement until we get to walk up Wembley Way?!