AGM - Protest

[saunders_heroes]

The 2-0 up against Leicester is turning in to the 3-1 when we beat Liverpool before going on that horrendous run a few seasons ago. The exception, rather than the norm.

I think Remi is just trying to keep spirits up anyway, he knows very few new recruits will be joining of any substance, if any. He has got what he has got and has to work the miracle with Westwood, Richardson, Bacuna et al. It's better than him doing a Tim and announcing we are facked. He said this morning he Is thinking hard on how to maximise what we have.

Yeah that 3-1 at Liverpool was flogged to death wasn't it. They also went on a PR spree trying to get Westwood into the England squad right after that as well. I remember scratching my head thinking they were on another planet with that one.

[Percy McCarthy]

As regards being the biggest club in the second city, to most outside Brum it’s not the second city, it’s third or perhaps even fourth.

I think he's hinting at the size of the club by saying that. If people outside Brum are not aware of it doesn't make it untrue.

[aj2k77]

As regards being the biggest club in the second city, to most outside Brum it’s not the second city, it’s third or perhaps even fourth.

I think he's hinting at the size of the club by saying that. If people outside Brum are not aware of it doesn't make it untrue.

Yes, huge catchment area, well known, virtually no competition. The ground, by and large looks fantastic. We have a youngish fan base. Training ground is fine. There's nothing old and tired about the club. It's just been very unprofessional, naïve, careless.

[saunders_heroes]

As regards being the biggest club in the second city, to most outside Brum it’s not the second city, it’s third or perhaps even fourth.

I think he's hinting at the size of the club by saying that. If people outside Brum are not aware of it doesn't make it untrue.

Yes, huge catchment area, well known, virtually no competition. The ground, by and large looks fantastic. We have a youngish fan base. Training ground is fine. There's nothing old and tired about the club. It's just been very unprofessional, naïve, careless.

Yep, just been mismanaged, neglected, suffered from a criminal lack of investment and dare I say it, asset stripped.

[NeilH]

As regards being the biggest club in the second city, to most outside Brum it’s not the second city, it’s third or perhaps even fourth.

I think he's hinting at the size of the club by saying that. If people outside Brum are not aware of it doesn't make it untrue.

I’m in no way denying the heritage of the club and we are held in very good esteem over here for instance. In fact most Dutch football fans I have spoken to are shocked that a club of such heritage can be in such a dire position. However, I’ve heard this statement made before that we have some right to be better as we are the biggest club in the 2nd City, I find this a false narrative for a variety of reasons.

[brian green]

What VID might also be entitled to include in his request for clarification from the buy-more-players massive is the impending sharp falls in the wealth of those who have bankrolled the bloated post-Sky game.
Chelsea is underpinned by Abramovich whose wealth is gas and oil generated. Oil is 60% lower than it was last year.
Ditto Man City and the Mansoors. Chinese investors anuses puckering at what the Chinese stock market is doing.
Ditto Man U and the Glazers looking at Wall St.
Arsenal Ditto.
Tottenham Ditto.

The world economy is entering a Bear market and Saunders Heroes and all the other throw-more-money-at-the-problem protesters are going to have their rage blown away by the gathering financial storm.

[Villa in Denmark]

As regards being the biggest club in the second city, to most outside Brum it’s not the second city, it’s third or perhaps even fourth.

I think he's hinting at the size of the club by saying that. If people outside Brum are not aware of it doesn't make it untrue.

Yes, huge catchment area, well known, virtually no competition. The ground, by and large looks fantastic. We have a youngish fan base. Training ground is fine. There's nothing old and tired about the club. It's just been very unprofessional, naïve, careless.

Yep, just been mismanaged, neglected, suffered from a criminal lack of investment and dare I say it, asset stripped.

Go on then, explain that one, if you won't answer the other question.

[aj2k77]

It's not about heritage Neil. I deliberately avoided brining up the past as it really does have little to do with this generation. Being the biggest club in such a huge catchment areas offers us a lot of benefits over other clubs that we should be exploiting. We haven't. In their own words the growth of the club has been one of the poorest in the Premier League since it's inception. First we had Mr Cornershop running us like his own small time little fiefdom and now we have Randy, who came in and tossed a bit of moolah around with absolutely nothing to hold it all up. We have a lot going for us, we need clever people, indeed clever business men to exploit it. We haven't as of yet.

[tomd2103]

Of course we are not already relegated, but there is no-one who can't admit that the situation RIGHT NOW is that it it more than likely that we will be. We could sign Messi and he probably couldn't save us.

Spending the kind of money it will take to get anyone who might improve us to come right now, would be suicidal, and far more likely to end up with a Bolton situation. It is not 'throwing in the towel' to say that whether we end up in The Championship, or survive, we become a more attractive destination for the type of players we will need in the summer than we are now.

Do we have the baliffs knocking on the door looking to take away the furniture or something?
The reason we're not spending isn't because of the reasons the sly Fox comes out with, it's because the owner has washed his hands of the club. They're not protecting is for next season at all in my opinion and I don't trust them to invest sufficiently to get us back up next year either (if we go down).
What makes you so confident they're trying to secure our future?

The books are open at companies house.

We continue to be a loss making club, and Lerner has had to continue to put his own money in to prop us up.

If we go down, we will lose a lot of revenue, we cannot afford to be giving out more daft contracts. That is not to say we will not spend, but that it is foolish at this stage to start waving mega bucks under the noses of the average mercenaries looking for a last big payday. We have just nearly got to the end of clearing those kind of dickheads out.

If we can get the right players at the right price, I believe we will.

As for buying Championship players now - what if the miracle does happen? I think they are dead right to believe that the summer is a better time for us to spend. We will know what we are buying for, & how much money we have, as well as being more attractive to our potential targets.

I'm sure there are plenty on here who have far more knowledge than me of how finances work, so could someone please explain how we are still a loss making club?  The wage bill must have reduced dramatically over the past few years, so where is the rest of the money going?  What level of losses are we talking about?

[john e]

I think we are gong down and I wouldn't spend a penny in this window, unless a striker was available at a value for money price or loan

We don't even know if Remi will still be here in the close season so I'd wait and take stock try and rebuild with a manager to take us forward next season hopefully Remi

still don't think we should throw on the towel mind, try and win every game obviously and see if things change, but it's very unlikely

[Dave]

However, I’ve heard this statement made before that we have some right to be better as we are the biggest club in the 2nd City, I find this a false narrative for a variety of reasons.

You can dispute about what we have a 'right' to quite easily, as I don't really see we have a right to anything.

But the second point isn't really something to have an opinion on or a dispute about. Somebody might think that the capital of Australia is Sydney, it doesn't mean that it is.

[aj2k77]

Tom, I believe that for the 2013/14 season we lost £3.9m. The wage bill has continued to drop since then and the turnover has continued to rise so i'd expect that we currently run at a profit not a loss, albeit a small one.

[tomd2103]

What VID might also be entitled to include in his request for clarification from the buy-more-players massive is the impending sharp falls in the wealth of those who have bankrolled the bloated post-Sky game.
Chelsea is underpinned by Abramovich whose wealth is gas and oil generated. Oil is 60% lower than it was last year.
Ditto Man City and the Mansoors. Chinese investors anuses puckering at what the Chinese stock market is doing.
Ditto Man U and the Glazers looking at Wall St.
Arsenal Ditto.
Tottenham Ditto.

The world economy is entering a Bear market and Saunders Heroes and all the other throw-more-money-at-the-problem protesters are going to have their rage blown away by the gathering financial storm.

You only have to look at who has won the Premier League to see that Brian.  Manchester United, Arsenal and then three who have simply bought the title - Blackburn, Chelsea and Manchester City.

[NeilH]

It's not about heritage Neil. I deliberately avoided brining up the past as it really does have little to do with this generation. Being the biggest club in such a huge catchment areas offers us a lot of benefits over other clubs that we should be exploiting. We haven't. In their own words the growth of the club has been one of the poorest in the Premier League since it's inception. First we had Mr Cornershop running us like his own small time little fiefdom and now we have Randy, who came in and tossed a bit of moolah around with absolutely nothing to hold it all up. We have a lot going for us, we need clever people, indeed clever business men to exploit it. We haven't as of yet.

Europe is littered with clubs who should be bigger than they are; Hertha Berlin, Eintracht Frankfurt, SV Hamburg and Napoli, to name but a few. Should we be in better shape than we are right now, damn right we should be? Do we have the right people to address the mistakes that have led us to where we are; in some cases no, but in Hollis we are going to have to give him the benefit of the doubt.

[tomd2103]

I think we are gong down and I wouldn't spend a penny in this window, unless a striker was available at a value for money price or loan

We don't even know if Remi will still be here in the close season so I'd wait and take stock try and rebuild with a manager to take us forward next season hopefully Remi

still don't think we should throw on the towel mind, try and win every game obviously and see if things change, but it's very unlikely

My plan for the window would have been to buy a goalkeeper and then get the best midfielder and striker we could possibly get on loan.  I fully accept that the latter two would have probably depended on Agbonlahor and N'Zogbia in particular moving on. 

I still have hope for the window though.  It might be that some targets are weighing up their options and will be brought in just before the window "slams shut" (Jim White, Sky Sports).