BigEars

Wow, I hadn't realised it was actually our tactic to gift them a goal…..

I feel I need a break from the slow transfer window….so for something a little different: It will show my age but my first game at CR was a classic from 1980. NCFC 3-5 Liverpool. It had everything including the iconic Fash goal, and to this day I’m sure that at least one of Fairclough’s hattrick was offside (although i was down the other end!). A great Liverpool team to be fair - Hansen, Dalglish, McDermott, Souness, Clemence etc. Yes it was a loss, but I don’t think there could ever be a more exciting game, at least in my mind. 1980s football seemed so much more honest than the game today. Was anybody else there, or if not, what was your first game and how would you describe it?

Ah yes, dont get me wrong, i think he is excited to stay and I suspect he will stay. My point was that I think its wrong to say there hasn't been a conversation, possibly an ongoing one. It’s a stressful one for him because my guess is that he is excited by both options and you probably would have seen very similar responses if a Rangers interviewer was asking similar questions and making similar comments.

Hmmm, watching that interview and the body language I’m not so sure and rather suspect there has been serious contact, perhaps even a decision still to be made.

I didn't get to see any of the game but I’m worried by the Sara reports - is he beginning to look like a player who doesn't want to be here or just someone working their way back into the new season?

Saddens me to say, I think he will develop into a good player at this level and will probably be great for them. Its the most frustrating part of our “refreshing” to see a young player with potential being let go for free. I wish i was reading that Duffy had signed for Sheff Utd….

I think our friendly finance guy has already confirmed that while demand is greater than supply, he feels the high price is fully justifiable. But I havent seen waiting list numbers recently, does anybody know if we still have one or maybe its in name only?

No, the parachute money was secured against the loans to the bank, not MA.

Yes, the model requires us to sell more developed players to invest in the academy and other young players who should develop. It has worked well with a seam of good young players coming through and the ability to attract other young players from elsewhere. It fell apart last summer when thinking became short term, with a sense that our best chance of promotion was now. But this is why the new partnership of BK and JHT fits us much better - but we do need patience. Such a model will take time to bear fruit.

I dont disagree, but a lot of people were hoping that the arrival of MA marked a change that would allow a little more ambition and a bit less focus on survival. Hearing this, I can’t be confident we have such a change. It feels like MA will invest in individual players who show promise of increasing value like Sara, Nunez, even Cordoba (some say). I assume he doesn’t maintain any rights to profits made on them. Otherwise he seems happy to tide over a shortfall but he does seem to want decent terms on those loans - which probably includes pay back in a set time frame.

Becoming increasingly desperate for an actual transfer rumour just to cheer this thread up

I hope you are right, but i suspect the debt will be about £50m in these coming accounts. But the bigger deal is the wage bill - last year £56m (plus non wage costs of £20m) against total income of about £35-40m ex parachute. I just dont think we have dealt with that anywhere near enough yet, which is why i suspect that the debt will have increased again after the amounts paid back. As I say, I hope you are right….

There may be mixed messages coming out of the club, but I dont think this is unexpected given that we are probably messaging to more than one group, not just us fans. This isn't so unusual, most companies want to tell their customers that their product is great value but also tell investors that they are making super profits. This year the Club is in a different place from previous years because while the accounts show we have big debts and an unsustainable wage bill, nobody knows the extent to which MA is willing to fund them. So surely we want to give any agents or Clubs interested in our players the impression that we have the financial side covered, MA is stepping up - it gives us the best chance in any negotiation. Equally, the Club might want to hint to the fans that some of the higher valued players will go, so as not to lose goodwill, because in reality MA is never going to fund a £20 m shortfall in wages every year. One answer is to say we don’t need the money but our better players want moves to the prem, which we can’t prevent, but we will get top dollar for them. That is my read of where we are. We probably do need to sell at least 2 of our bigger players but we want to give the best impression of where we are financially for the negotiation.

Yes, just had a look. Not very convincing with the ball, but hopefully he will keep growing. Seems to be good at getting in the way when defending……

I could see one of the teams coming down showing interest. I’m not confident he will be here come next season - I think the club will want to cash in on two of Sara, Sarge and Rowe.