The issue is we're not as good a team as we, (the fanbase overall) think.
The owners see thousands of fans go to Man Utd in the cup and don't understand if we have rubbish results, recruit poorly and don't look like making the play offs the attendances will rapidly decline and their business plan will be £Millions off.
We have a very impressive line up of potentially good young players but I doubt, if two years on, if the club has sold many of them and we are not anywhere near promotion, will the investors be happy their £12m investment has sold a lot of the family silver and stood still, if not regressed.
CM had to sell a dream to get the investors on board. With luck it could work. I'm not sure we look like getting lucky at the moment.
Maybe Leaburn becomes a major force and him and May get 40 goals between them.
The number of players used by us per season offers an insight of the instability on the playing side that has plagued us for years, never mind the owners who come and go and the fact that we don't own the ground. Never recovered from Roland offering short term contracts and new owners longer ones to the wrong players. As @supaclive says, we've regressed whilst others have passed us by.
Edit. We've managed to succeed under some crap owners before now, so there is hope.
The issue is we're not as good a team as we, (the fanbase overall) think.
The owners see thousands of fans go to Man Utd in the cup and don't understand if we have rubbish results, recruit poorly and don't look like making the play offs the attendances will rapidly decline and their business plan will be £Millions off.
We have a very impressive line up of potentially good young players but I doubt, if two years on, if the club has sold many of them and we are not anywhere near promotion, will the investors be happy their £12m investment has sold a lot of the family silver and stood still, if not regressed.
CM had to sell a dream to get the investors on board. With luck it could work. I'm not sure we look like getting lucky at the moment.
Maybe Leaburn becomes a major force and him and May get 40 goals between them.
I really hope Appleton and this team prove you wrong like I think they can, You don’t give it a rest.
As long as Appleton starts May and Leaburn together in a 2 then I don’t really care how the rest of the team lines up.
When everyone is fit, whichever system we play we will have to leave out at least one of CBT, Chem Campbell, Fraser, Camara, Leaburn and May as you can’t fit them all in.
History tells us Appleton plays a 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 so it is probably going to be May or Leaburn that misses out. Hopefully he doesn’t do this as I do agree we should be starting those 2 up front as much as possible whether it’s 4-4-2, diamond or 3-5-2
I still think a diamond works best when everyone is fit. CBT misses out but I think he is good as an an impact player anyway
Great stadium that we don’t own, that we perhaps can’t afford, and certainly can’t fill right now. A succession of owners with a succession of plans for the club that don’t seem to add up.
Serious potential owners put off by the financial black hole, and the separation of the club from the freeholds.
A fan base that has run out a patience with League One status, the owners, the management (soon probably), and to some extent the players. Our nearby rivals are flying, while we are struggling.
BUT: We have DLM; Dobbo, Leaburn & May.
We have various promising young players breaking through, and more potential in the academy.
Our new manager might improve things, who knows. We have a more successful history than our nearby rivals. History doesn’t win matches, but it at least winds them up. We have fans that set up parties and win elections to protect the club’s future.
And we have a game on Saturday where our allocation has sold out. Is there a glimmer of hope?
New owners have already said they intend to speak to RD about the valley and TG .. there’s no panic over it at the moment there intentions is to purchase both
As long as Appleton starts May and Leaburn together in a 2 then I don’t really care how the rest of the team lines up.
When everyone is fit, whichever system we play we will have to leave out at least one of CBT, Chem Campbell, Fraser, Camara, Leaburn and May as you can’t fit them all in.
History tells us Appleton plays a 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 so it is probably going to be May or Leaburn that misses out. Hopefully he doesn’t do this as I do agree we should be starting those 2 up front as much as possible whether it’s 4-4-2, diamond or 3-5-2
I still think a diamond works best when everyone is fit. CBT misses out but I think he is good as an an impact player anyway
Would be more than happy with a diamond of Dobbo, Camara , Fraser and Chem Campbell when all fit. CBT off the bench at tiring legs would work for me.
Great stadium that we don’t own, that we perhaps can’t afford, and certainly can’t fill right now. A succession of owners with a succession of plans for the club that don’t seem to add up.
Serious potential owners put off by the financial black hole, and the separation of the club from the freeholds.
A fan base that has run out a patience with League One status, the owners, the management (soon probably), and to some extent the players. Our nearby rivals are flying, while we are struggling.
BUT: We have DLM; Dobbo, Leaburn & May.
We have various promising young players breaking through, and more potential in the academy.
Our new manager might improve things, who knows. We have a more successful history than our nearby rivals. History doesn’t win matches, but it at least winds them up. We have fans that set up parties and win elections to protect the club’s future.
And we have a game on Saturday where our allocation has sold out. Is there a glimmer of hope?
New owners have already said they intend to speak to RD about the valley and TG .. there’s no panic over it at the moment there intentions is to purchase both
May and Leaburn are two of our best players. Leaving either out when both fit would be a mistake.
Expecting 3-5-2/5-3-2 or the much maligned 4-4-2.
We might even see a variation of 4-3-3.
I could see a bit of a hybrid 4-4-2/4-3-3 with Leaburn playing as a ST/RW and then someone like Campbell, Camara or Anderson playing CM/RM so it’s a bit of both. If Tenai Watson is good going forward this will help as he can also give us some threat down the right while Leaburn is moving more central
Great stadium that we don’t own, that we perhaps can’t afford, and certainly can’t fill right now. A succession of owners with a succession of plans for the club that don’t seem to add up.
Serious potential owners put off by the financial black hole, and the separation of the club from the freeholds.
A fan base that has run out a patience with League One status, the owners, the management (soon probably), and to some extent the players. Our nearby rivals are flying, while we are struggling.
BUT: We have DLM; Dobbo, Leaburn & May.
We have various promising young players breaking through, and more potential in the academy.
Our new manager might improve things, who knows. We have a more successful history than our nearby rivals. History doesn’t win matches, but it at least winds them up. We have fans that set up parties and win elections to protect the club’s future.
And we have a game on Saturday where our allocation has sold out. Is there a glimmer of hope?
New owners have already said they intend to speak to RD about the valley and TG .. there’s no panic over it at the moment there intentions is to purchase both
Anyway - Haven't been on here too much lately - but this proved to be as reliable as Ketts @Richard J You certainly proved that @AFKABartram for Lolling you.
Anyway - Haven't been on here too much lately - but this proved to be as reliable as Ketts @Richard J You certainly proved that @AFKABartram for Lolling you.
So how did Coventry return to the Championship and nearly the Premiership after the off field problems they have had. From League 2 to a Wembley play off. Can't just be down to Mark Robins 🤔
And Luton obviously but I believe they did it differently from Coventry and they have gone from the Conference to the Premier(for 1 season only)
Great stadium that we don’t own, that we perhaps can’t afford, and certainly can’t fill right now. A succession of owners with a succession of plans for the club that don’t seem to add up.
Serious potential owners put off by the financial black hole, and the separation of the club from the freeholds.
A fan base that has run out a patience with League One status, the owners, the management (soon probably), and to some extent the players. Our nearby rivals are flying, while we are struggling.
BUT: We have DLM; Dobbo, Leaburn & May.
We have various promising young players breaking through, and more potential in the academy.
Our new manager might improve things, who knows. We have a more successful history than our nearby rivals. History doesn’t win matches, but it at least winds them up. We have fans that set up parties and win elections to protect the club’s future.
And we have a game on Saturday where our allocation has sold out. Is there a glimmer of hope?
New owners have already said they intend to speak to RD about the valley and TG .. there’s no panic over it at the moment there intentions is to purchase both
Slightly off topic, but I saw the group of American investers are looking to buy Everton, with a £430m debt. WTF is going on in club ownership. And still they are perennial relegation contenders. They might be Prem league, but the owner losses just get bigger the higher up the ladder you go.
Slightly off topic, but I saw the group of American investers are looking to buy Everton, with a £430m debt. WTF is going on in club ownership. And still they are perennial relegation contenders. They might be Prem league, but the owner losses just get bigger the higher up the ladder you go.
And this is why we need to let go of finding the dream owners! We are not in as much shit as some of the teams higher up than us are, regardless of their rank.
Slightly off topic, but I saw the group of American investers are looking to buy Everton, with a £430m debt. WTF is going on in club ownership. And still they are perennial relegation contenders. They might be Prem league, but the owner losses just get bigger the higher up the ladder you go.
And this is why we need to let go of finding the dream owners! We are not in as much shit as some of the teams higher up than us are, regardless of their rank.
We are still in a lot of the brown stuff.
To think we were classed as a model club not too long ago.
Slightly off topic, but I saw the group of American investers are looking to buy Everton, with a £430m debt. WTF is going on in club ownership. And still they are perennial relegation contenders. They might be Prem league, but the owner losses just get bigger the higher up the ladder you go.
I believe people did mention on here this 777 group that want Everton did look at buying us maybe 18 months ago and were put off by TS.
Slightly off topic, but I saw the group of American investers are looking to buy Everton, with a £430m debt. WTF is going on in club ownership. And still they are perennial relegation contenders. They might be Prem league, but the owner losses just get bigger the higher up the ladder you go.
I believe people did mention on here this 777 group that want Everton did look at buying us maybe 18 months ago and were put off by TS.
Yes, that is what I was told although he might have, inadvertently, done us a favour as a lot of evidence that 777 are dodgy as ****
I think the latest episode of his Where's the money gone?podcast, published yesterday, shows that Charlie thinks he's cracked it by planning on the financial restructuring brought about by impending regulatory reform, including Premier League payments to EFL clubs plugging a lot of the gaps. Even in League One, provided you play the game.
That involves new rules that will bestow a competitive advantage on clubs that bring academy players through (hence the amount of academy players in our squad), allowing more budget (albeit a smaller budget) to be spent on fewer players. One would assume, key players.
Essentially, that all, he seems to be suggesting, protects our investors from the financial risks that plagued all our owners to date (bar the fake sheik and the hair plugs guy, or were just there for the free bitches and bread).
A sensible gamble? He doesn't say it, but with more showcasing of competent academy graduates in the squad (ie the proverbial shop window), it's likely that any issues to the plan will be further offset by player sales... thus it always was for a club like ours. Another insurance policy, at least as long as the conveyor belt keeps turning. The investors seem to think they've sussed it without having to spunk huge sums (in fact, Charlie says the rules won't let them).
Yes, I gathered that’s what he thinks but it’s just a hypothesis and I still think he hasn’t a clue about the club. He just thinks it’s a set of numbers.
Not entirely sure about that. Yes he's a bit of a flannel but he has been around English football for a while. No idea if it's true but wasn't he part of the supporters trust at Oxford? He must have slightly more than a fleeting interest of what we are about surely? I'm going to avoid painting him as a city boy that knows nothing about football but decided to get into it a few months ago as I think thst would be wide if the mark.
I am pretty indifferent to Appleton - which will have no bearing on whether he succeeds or not. He’s here; he’ll either win games or he won’t.
The “project”, however, can only fail. It involves I understand a two-year fixed funding agreement, which will inevitably be based on over-optimistic revenue projections in order to sell it to investors. This in turn will force early player sales, which are not consistent with getting into / staying in the Championship.
Charlie has already given the game away - the stated aim is to reduce the operating loss to £1m-£2m and then sell sufficient players to generate an overall profit. Player trading is variable year on year, but operating costs and revenue cannot deliver their bit in this business - barring a major change in the financial structure of the EFL.
Appleton won’t be the reason it fails whatever he does.
but If that was the case, why didn't we accept the reported 4m in offers we had for some of our players?
Source?
Cawley in the SLP. think that was from the club directly.
Did that say £4m offers?
No it didn't, there was no mention on how much the bids were at all, just that there was interest
The £4m number (£4.25m to be precise) came from Methven in a LinkedIn message posted on here the other day.
Not saying I don’t believe it because that seems like a realistic sort of number for CBT, Dobson, Leaburn to be knocked back but take with a decent pinch of salt.
Slightly off topic, but I saw the group of American investers are looking to buy Everton, with a £430m debt. WTF is going on in club ownership. And still they are perennial relegation contenders. They might be Prem league, but the owner losses just get bigger the higher up the ladder you go.
I believe people did mention on here this 777 group that want Everton did look at buying us maybe 18 months ago and were put off by TS.
Yes, that is what I was told although he might have, inadvertently, done us a favour as a lot of evidence that 777 are dodgy as ****
Oh absolutely, the stories I've read about their background is very very dodgy sounding.
I think the latest episode of his Where's the money gone?podcast, published yesterday, shows that Charlie thinks he's cracked it by planning on the financial restructuring brought about by impending regulatory reform, including Premier League payments to EFL clubs plugging a lot of the gaps. Even in League One, provided you play the game.
That involves new rules that will bestow a competitive advantage on clubs that bring academy players through (hence the amount of academy players in our squad), allowing more budget (albeit a smaller budget) to be spent on fewer players. One would assume, key players.
Essentially, that all, he seems to be suggesting, protects our investors from the financial risks that plagued all our owners to date (bar the fake sheik and the hair plugs guy, or were just there for the free bitches and bread).
A sensible gamble? He doesn't say it, but with more showcasing of competent academy graduates in the squad (ie the proverbial shop window), it's likely that any issues to the plan will be further offset by player sales... thus it always was for a club like ours. Another insurance policy, at least as long as the conveyor belt keeps turning. The investors seem to think they've sussed it without having to spunk huge sums (in fact, Charlie says the rules won't let them).
Yes, I gathered that’s what he thinks but it’s just a hypothesis and I still think he hasn’t a clue about the club. He just thinks it’s a set of numbers.
Not entirely sure about that. Yes he's a bit of a flannel but he has been around English football for a while. No idea if it's true but wasn't he part of the supporters trust at Oxford? He must have slightly more than a fleeting interest of what we are about surely? I'm going to avoid painting him as a city boy that knows nothing about football but decided to get into it a few months ago as I think thst would be wide if the mark.
It’s not so much that as that knowing about Oxford isn’t knowing about Charlton, or Sunderland. Clubs are not widget producers, they have very specific local contexts. I’m not seeing him as someone likely to be tuned into that. Their comms, for example, are weak and superficial. That won’t wash here.
Comments
The owners see thousands of fans go to Man Utd in the cup and don't understand if we have rubbish results, recruit poorly and don't look like making the play offs the attendances will rapidly decline and their business plan will be £Millions off.
We have a very impressive line up of potentially good young players but I doubt, if two years on, if the club has sold many of them and we are not anywhere near promotion, will the investors be happy their £12m investment has sold a lot of the family silver and stood still, if not regressed.
CM had to sell a dream to get the investors on board. With luck it could work. I'm not sure we look like getting lucky at the moment.
Maybe Leaburn becomes a major force and him and May get 40 goals between them.
Edit. We've managed to succeed under some crap owners before now, so there is hope.
This is the key point for me. Got to be building around that strike partnership.
History tells us Appleton plays a 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 so it is probably going to be May or Leaburn that misses out. Hopefully he doesn’t do this as I do agree we should be starting those 2 up front as much as possible whether it’s 4-4-2, diamond or 3-5-2
I still think a diamond works best when everyone is fit. CBT misses out but I think he is good as an an impact player anyway
Would be more than happy with a diamond of Dobbo, Camara , Fraser and Chem Campbell when all fit. CBT off the bench at tiring legs would work for me.
for Lolling you.
I am honoured.
To think we were classed as a model club not too long ago.
I believe people did mention on here this 777 group that want Everton did look at buying us maybe 18 months ago and were put off by TS.
The reason I named my source was that it was so unlikely and random. It probably was worth a LOL.
I'm going to avoid painting him as a city boy that knows nothing about football but decided to get into it a few months ago as I think thst would be wide if the mark.
Oh absolutely, the stories I've read about their background is very very dodgy sounding.