We need to win a cup or challenge to get into the top 4 with the money that our 2 owners are currently ploughing into the clubNext season Dean will need to ensure that we start to challenge for honours otherwise I think a few of the squad will start to look for moves away to other teams
Being top of that chart is probably something our owners hate but it was always going to be something that happened for a few years before the academy started paying off and we started selling off players that are in demand. I suspect the long term plan is to have a net loss on transfers of no more than about £20m a season they've spoke about the club being sustainable a lot and if you look on that list clubs like Dortmund are probably the closest to how I think they want to go.
I was today years old when I realised NSWE stood for the initials of the owners. FFS just remove me from this forum or something, I deserve it!
Quote from: Dave P on February 12, 2021, 08:39:15 AMI was today years old when I realised NSWE stood for the initials of the owners. FFS just remove me from this forum or something, I deserve it! I always think its the Not Safe For Work acronym and when I browsed in the office I would always glance both ways to make sure nothing dodgy was on the next click.
Quote from: pauliewalnuts on February 09, 2021, 10:57:28 AMLerner's biggest failing wasn't to do with not putting enough money in, certainly not in the early days. It was that, having put said money in, he utterly failed at any point to build up a decent management team to get the most out of his investment.Even the Man City owners, who are way, way richer, made a point of doing that.Lerner by comparison put in General Krulak, who had no experience in the game, and then Faulkner, who was someone who ran credit card call centres for him. Even when he finally did appoint someone with a football background, it was Tom Fox, who combined said background with being a fucking idiot.When you run a company like that, it's going to drift big-time. Relegation was pretty much inevitable on the basis of the previous 5 seasons. I was surprised it took so long, if anything.Yes, crazy way to go about things. He started off with the right ideas I think, when he brought blokes like that Kain in, but then very quickly decided life would be easier with his mates around him so just relied on Krulak and Faulkner instead. They were undoubtedly well-intentioned, just completely unqualified for the job at hand.Tom Fox though, I don't even know where to start with him. He was the boardroom equivalent of Ross McCormack. You look at his record and think he should do a decent job, but he was an utter, utter disaster at every single facet of the job. I can't think of a single thing he got right, and in fact just about everything the bloke said or did was an absolute shitshow.
Lerner's biggest failing wasn't to do with not putting enough money in, certainly not in the early days. It was that, having put said money in, he utterly failed at any point to build up a decent management team to get the most out of his investment.Even the Man City owners, who are way, way richer, made a point of doing that.Lerner by comparison put in General Krulak, who had no experience in the game, and then Faulkner, who was someone who ran credit card call centres for him. Even when he finally did appoint someone with a football background, it was Tom Fox, who combined said background with being a fucking idiot.When you run a company like that, it's going to drift big-time. Relegation was pretty much inevitable on the basis of the previous 5 seasons. I was surprised it took so long, if anything.
That's why I'm so critical of Bruce, the only significant asset he left us with (of his signings) is McGinn. Smith has done things so much better because we're probably looking at a squad value of about half a billion now considering Watkins, Jack, Luiz and Konsa would get us about halfway there right now and most of other starters are in the £20-40m bracket.
However, the 41 players out for a grand total of £5m income is absolutely shocking and says everything about the absolute mess of a squad the previous regime left us with.
Quote from: SheffieldVillain on February 12, 2021, 12:11:08 AMHowever, the 41 players out for a grand total of £5m income is absolutely shocking and says everything about the absolute mess of a squad the previous regime left us with. That is what jumped out at me. Benteke is the only player I can think of that we’ve cashed in since the MON era. That’s shocking (even if I have missed a few) and also highlights the benefit of, occasionally, selling the odd player at their peak value to generate cash and refresh the squad.