Icecream Snow

Assuming we go down it certainly would be a big rebuilding exercise, dependent on how big the budget was and the quality of players we could attract. Normann, Kazak, Williams and Gilmour return to their parent clubs, I can't see the likes of Rashica, Giannoulis and Tzolis wanting to play in the Championship, and Cantwell, Aarons (and maybe Krul) would arguably feel they'd outgrown the club. I see Rupp leaving at the end of the season, and Hernandez and Zimmerman's deals expire in 2023. So definitely lacking a core nucleus of players to build a team around.

Problem is that the bigger clubs keep becoming more ruthless and efficient, meaning it's very hard for the smaller clubs to find smart ways to make money. Lewis Baker at Chelsea will be 27 at the end of the season, has never played for Chelsea, and his contract is due to expire at the end of the season. Historically players would be released or would look for another club at 20/21 if they weren't going to be a first team player. We aren't going to see a repeat of Danny Drinkwater, leaving a big club and getting a huge transfer fee a few years later. Huddersfield and Brentford got rid of their academies. Brexit has closed the door on cheap foreign imports, and the emphasis on data driven recruitment means it's much harder to find a clever bargain. People can talk about investment or rich owners, but clubs that get themselves into a mess, and keep losing money have no easy avenues to turn their fortunes around.

Weirdly, even if they're only picking from 2003 onwards, why Dublin is ahead of Pukki? 😝 Dion Dublin signed for us at 37 and scored 12 goals in two seasons.

It's from a song by the Smashing Pumpkins

From the BBC - But God knows how Reading spent so much According to figures at Companies House Reading posted losses of £42m in the year to 30 June, 2020, £30.1m in the previous year and £21m in the 12 months to 30 June, 2018 - a total of £93.1m The EFL has averaged the club's losses for 2019-20 and 2020-21 to give the lower figure of £57.8m, but that still triggered a sanction.

Confirmed by the BBC https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/59320479

Found an alternative Athletic article on Derby's debts "Mel Morris, the former owner, has just decided enough is enough after injecting over £200 million into Derby since 2014. The club owes almost £30 million to the tax man, £20 million to a US investment firm, £10 million to other clubs, former staff and other individuals who come under the “football creditors” bracket, who must be paid in full, and a similar sum to the usual cast of hundreds who have provided food, office supplies or their time to the club. And even after drastic cuts to the playing budget over the last 18 months, the club is still losing about £15 million a year."

Derby sounds like a huge mess. Insolvency specialists Quantuma are running the club, but they are borrowing money to do it, and there's £50m debt on the books that can't be written off. (I don't know why exactly it can't be written off, the article doesn't go into any further detail than that).

Think they'll want to see what's at the club first, no harm in having a look at what's there, trying a few coaches out for a few sessions and seeing if they can cut it. Dean Smith and Craig Shakespeare have enough contacts in the game, so I'd imagine they're looking for a young coach with some energy to supplement them.

From today's Athletic, which has a breakdown of the state of each Championship club https://theathletic.com/2956329/2021/11/17/the-championship-is-for-sale/ According to Kieron O’Connor, the football finance expert behind the Swiss Ramble Twitter feed, Championship clubs have lost a combined £2.5 billion over the last decade, which is what happens when you spend £1.16 on wages for every £1 you earn, as the clubs did in 2019-20. So, they are all “for sale”, to one degree or another, as nobody can afford this level of attrition forever — their accountants, families or investment committees won’t let them — but, clearly, some are a lot more for sale than others.

Might start a separate thread on it, but Matt Slater in the Athletic wrote a piece "The Championship is for Sale" detailing the fairly dire state of the finances of the Championship clubs.

I doubt Smith will do anything radical for Saturday, would have thought that it would be close to the starting lineup at Brentford, with maybe one change or two. Whilst it's a clean slate for everyone, he doesn't have much time to work with them.

Feel sorry for Zimmermann though, he always came across in his interviews as a very level headed and down to earth guy who was living his dream as being a footballer. Always seemed like a really great guy. Playing at the semi-pro level for Dortmund reserves in the fourth tier, he was on the verge of quitting to become a teacher, before the Norwich move came up. Never the same after that Haller tackle and it was downhill from there.

I can see the headlines now : "Cantwell 23, refuses to play for Norwich again, just a day after declaring his undying love for Billy Gilmour"

Could end up being a weird trivia question, if Dean Smith loses, he'll have lost to Southampton is successful league games in the same season, guessing that's never happened in the premier league before?

19/20 season Villa conceded 67 goals finishing in 17th and only Norwich with 75 had a worse record. So far in the 21/22 season, Villa conceded 20 goals in 11 games, with only Newcastle 24 and Norwich 26 doing worse. Did well in the 20/21 season though and only conceded 46 goals.

Can't see him getting a work permit though, whilst it's the Bundesliga he only has seven months in management.

sexybennett on twitter is saying that Knudsen is first choice but won't come before January

I believe that in Webber's two managerial appointments so far, he's always presented two options to the owners, a foreign option and a domestic one. David Wagner or Dean Smith at Huddersfield, and Daniel Farke or Gary Monk at Norwich. So I can well believe that Lampard is one of the two, but not the preferred option.

I wish TNC could have wound their collective neck in. Literally the day after Farke gets sacked, which they'd campaigned for, and they're moaning about people criticising them. [edit] this appeared in my Twitter feed second hand

I believe he was Webber's second choice for the Huddersfield job after David Wagner, though I can't believe Webber would want him now.

Yeah, but in recent months various in the know accounts attributed the source for this article as Russel Martin. https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/football-league/norwich-latest-daniel-farke-next-manager-news-a8122101.html

Pulis, Warnock, Bruce, Hughton, Big Sam, Lampard

Hughton to return? 😝

Doubt it. The situation is that Todd hasn't signed a deal since 2019, so assuming he isn't interested in signing a new one, the club would end up triggering his extension and selling him at the end of this season regardless. But that side of things is down to Webber.