We're a selling club

[Rip Van We Go Again]

Over on the General's thread on VT, someone has posted something referrign to this:

I think you will be hearing quite a bit from the Club in the next couple of weeks...from the Manager and from the Board. More importantly, you will see "action" which is the way Randy has always operated...words mean very little but actions speak loudly.

which the General posted on June 19th.

Yet another stunning own goal from the board.

[TimTheVillain]

Over on the General's thread on VT, someone has posted something referrign to this:

I think you will be hearing quite a bit from the Club in the next couple of weeks...from the Manager and from the Board. More importantly, you will see "action" which is the way Randy has always operated...words mean very little but actions speak loudly.

which the General posted on June 19th.

Yet another stunning own goal from the board.

Actions sure do Gen., sure do Sir.

We've certainly been witness to a lot of action - I bet Reforms bank loves Randy.

[Meanwood Villa]

We all need to calm down here. The board have clearly seen McLeish's record in the Championship and decided he's the man to lead us in our upcoming role as a yo-yo club. In your face Blues and Albion, we're going to do it better than you! 

[NeilH]

Over on the General's thread on VT, someone has posted something referrign to this:

I think you will be hearing quite a bit from the Club in the next couple of weeks...from the Manager and from the Board. More importantly, you will see "action" which is the way Randy has always operated...words mean very little but actions speak loudly.

which the General posted on June 19th.

Yet another stunning own goal from the board.

To be fair it is indeed action, if by action they mean flogging off our two best players and making pleading phone calls to fans to renew.

[TimTheVillain]

We all need to calm down here. The board have clearly seen McLeish's record in the Championship and decided he's the man to lead us in our upcoming role as a yo-yo club. In your face Blues and Albion, we're going to do it better than you! 

Aha, the 5 year plan is almost reached.

'We're going up, we're going down' ..... yep, that's the song the players may be running out to next season :-)

[garyfouroaks]

The Dream is over,MONRandy, Cahill, Barry,Milner, Young, Downing.

I actually don't have a problem with players being sold off at a profit, it happens everywhere. What i do have a problem with is how that money is used. if we were buying up the next raft of upcoming England internationals, great. But we are  notFootball moves in cylce - ours is down.

[stuart r]

What does "Boke" mean?

Should be boak: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/boak

[russon]

What does "Boke" mean?

Should be boak: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/boak

nice one Stu, have approached Wiktionary so I can now be mentioned in the same breath as Welsh and Rankin...

Quotations
1996, Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting [1]
— God sake... god sake... Mr Houston repeated as Mrs Houston boaked and I made a pathetic effort to mop some of the mess back into the sheets.
1997, Alan Warner, Movern Callar [2]
I was going to boak: I made the window and opened it but most of the sickness hit the window-sill in a heap.
1999, Ian Rankin, Black and Blue [3]
He’d skipped breakfast—didn’t like the idea of boaking it back up on the flight
2011, Alex Russon, Heroes & Villains [4]
This is Aston Villa and it makes me boak having us used as a stepping stone to bigger things

[Rudy Can't Fail]

We can't compete with the top clubs on a financial level (stupid high wages) so will have to look at developing younger players (ie Ashley Young) and eventually they move on.
Your balancing the books comment is right and until we get rid of the mediocre players MON purchased on long contracts/£40,000+ per week this will hold us back. Once those players have gone I hope we get some fresh homegrown or purchased youngsters in and build a team.

I think we can expect better than just "fresh homegrown or purchased youngsters" but only when the wage bill has been put in order. Since Lerner took over we've been wreckless instead of ruthless with some of our signings. The problem is now we're stuck with players that earn a fortune and we can't move on, so we have to keep paying them which is draining the club financially.

I posted this elsewhere but take a look at this list and ask yourself what the hell were we thinking..

Habib Beye, 31 years old, fee £2.5m, 3 year contract, £40k wages

Emile Heskey, 31 years old, fee £3.5m, 3 and a half year contract, £65k wages

Stiliyan Petrov, 29 year old, contract extension, 4 year contract, £55k wages

Richard Dunne, 29 years old, fee £6m, 4 year contract, £50k wages

The age refers to the age of signing, sadly not their current age.

Now who is going to take them off our hands and why the hell would they want to leave for less money?

[Concrete John]

We can't compete with the top clubs on a financial level (stupid high wages) so will have to look at developing younger players (ie Ashley Young) and eventually they move on.
Your balancing the books comment is right and until we get rid of the mediocre players MON purchased on long contracts/£40,000+ per week this will hold us back. Once those players have gone I hope we get some fresh homegrown or purchased youngsters in and build a team.

I think we can expect better than just "fresh homegrown or purchased youngsters" but only when the wage bill has been put in order. Since Lerner took over we've been wreckless instead of ruthless with some of our signings. The problem is now we're stuck with players that earn a fortune and we can't move on, so we have to keep paying them which is draining the club financially.

I posted this elsewhere but take a look at this list and ask yourself what the hell were we thinking..

Habib Beye, 31 years old, fee £2.5m, 3 year contract, £40k wages

Emile Heskey, 31 years old, fee £3.5m, 3 and a half year contract, £65k wages

Stiliyan Petrov, 29 year old, contract extension, 4 year contract, £55k wages

Richard Dunne, 29 years old, fee £6m, 4 year contract, £50k wages

The age refers to the age of signing, sadly not their current age.

Now who is going to take them off our hands and why the hell would they want to leave for less money?

I think we also need to be taking into accoubnt what they contribute.  This time last year we weren't concerned what Dunne cost as he was producing on the pitch and should he get back to that it's not 'wasted money'.  The likes of beye are, but then we've moved quite a few on to start the process already.

Should Heskey and Beye go (and aren't they both out of contract in summer 2012?) then we'll hopefully be in a position of everyone earning their keep.  That of course is under the presumption that McLeish utilises Warnock and Ireland.

[Villa'Zawg]

We can't compete with the top clubs on a financial level (stupid high wages) so will have to look at developing younger players (ie Ashley Young) and eventually they move on.
Your balancing the books comment is right and until we get rid of the mediocre players MON purchased on long contracts/£40,000+ per week this will hold us back. Once those players have gone I hope we get some fresh homegrown or purchased youngsters in and build a team.

I think we can expect better than just "fresh homegrown or purchased youngsters" but only when the wage bill has been put in order. Since Lerner took over we've been wreckless instead of ruthless with some of our signings. The problem is now we're stuck with players that earn a fortune and we can't move on, so we have to keep paying them which is draining the club financially.

I posted this elsewhere but take a look at this list and ask yourself what the hell were we thinking..

Habib Beye, 31 years old, fee £2.5m, 3 year contract, £40k wages

Emile Heskey, 31 years old, fee £3.5m, 3 and a half year contract, £65k wages

Stiliyan Petrov, 29 year old, contract extension, 4 year contract, £55k wages

Richard Dunne, 29 years old, fee £6m, 4 year contract, £50k wages

The age refers to the age of signing, sadly not their current age.

Now who is going to take them off our hands and why the hell would they want to leave for less money?

Which clubs don't have players aged 30+ on PL wages?

[Rudy Can't Fail]

John, it's not what they cost but the ridiculous length of the contracts and the wages we put them on.

As I mentioned yesterday, Spurs captain Michael Dawson has been on £30k and they've just offered him a £5k increase and he's only 27. We seemed to have thrown money and lengthy contracts around to players with zero sell on value, like it was going out of fashion. The way I see it, the last 5 years have been a complete and utter waste of time and money. Now we are paying the price.

[Toronto Villa]

John, it's not what they cost but the ridiculous length of the contracts and the wages we put them on.

As I mentioned yesterday, Spurs captain Michael Dawson has been on £30k and they've just offered him a £5k increase and he's only 27. We seemed to have thrown money and lengthy contracts around to players with zero sell on value, like it was going out of fashion. The way I see it, the last 5 years have been a complete and utter waste of time and money. Now we are paying the price.

It might take a year or so more to get rid of much of that crap as possible. I don't think it will stop us from buying though. It will just dictate the kind of buying we do. Wages and signing bonuses hurt a club far more than transfer fees do.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

We can't compete with the top clubs on a financial level (stupid high wages) so will have to look at developing younger players (ie Ashley Young) and eventually they move on.
Your balancing the books comment is right and until we get rid of the mediocre players MON purchased on long contracts/£40,000+ per week this will hold us back. Once those players have gone I hope we get some fresh homegrown or purchased youngsters in and build a team.

I think we can expect better than just "fresh homegrown or purchased youngsters" but only when the wage bill has been put in order. Since Lerner took over we've been wreckless instead of ruthless with some of our signings. The problem is now we're stuck with players that earn a fortune and we can't move on, so we have to keep paying them which is draining the club financially.

I posted this elsewhere but take a look at this list and ask yourself what the hell were we thinking..

Habib Beye, 31 years old, fee £2.5m, 3 year contract, £40k wages

Emile Heskey, 31 years old, fee £3.5m, 3 and a half year contract, £65k wages

Stiliyan Petrov, 29 year old, contract extension, 4 year contract, £55k wages

Richard Dunne, 29 years old, fee £6m, 4 year contract, £50k wages

The age refers to the age of signing, sadly not their current age.

Now who is going to take them off our hands and why the hell would they want to leave for less money?

Which clubs don't have players aged 30+ on PL wages?

At least get the question right: Which clubs don't sign players aged 30+ on PL wages and 4 year contracts?

[Concrete John]

John, it's not what they cost but the ridiculous length of the contracts and the wages we put them on.

As I mentioned yesterday, Spurs captain Michael Dawson has been on £30k and they've just offered him a £5k increase and he's only 27. We seemed to have thrown money and lengthy contracts around to players with zero sell on value, like it was going out of fashion. The way I see it, the last 5 years have been a complete and utter waste of time and money. Now we are paying the price.

If Spurs are only willing to pay Dawson £35k a week he'll be off!

My point was that these wages are not out of line with the going rate for a top 6 club.  And a player in their late 20s (Petrov and Dunne) would not be signing unless it was at least a 3 year deal.  I fully agree with Beye and Heskey as they are a bit older, but the biggest issue with them is being shit at football.

We have a wages/turnover issue as we all know, but I've always felt that is as much a matter of the turnover being low for a top 6 club as it is the wages being high.  If a players is in and playing well then we're utilising our resources well, but once they're out of the first team picture they are a drain as we're working on quite tight margins.  If we are to get back to where we were, or even higher, then players in the late 20s/early 30s on that sort of money should be a given.  What we need to do is re-balance it so that anyone earning that sort of money is worth it, or at least as close as you get with a modern footballer.  And that means no more Beyes, Sidwells or Harewoods and instead untilising our youth players to flesh out the squad.