If we want to emulate Luton I'd be happy with that -Especially as their popular young manager had his head turned by a bigger club and it all went tits up in a few months and he returned to Luton to continue progressing them.
The Paulwarinigal Son
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Luton Town is a remarkable story, from playing in the old first division against teams like Manchester United to dropping down the leagues and a club being in turmoil when they had the big points deduction that eventually saw them out of the football league.
They got back to the championship doing it the hard way They have a sustainable financial mode of operating.
It's only this past few seasons they've spent big (by big I mean between £1m to £2m on players) helped along the way by selling two young players for over £10m.
It can be done the hard way.
Smaller clubs like ours can make it big,there are other examples, but...they usually spend big to do it.
In the last 20 years or so,the likes of Barnsley Blackpool, Reading, Wigan, Portsmouth, Bolton, etc,have all managed it.
I honestly think that with a good manager,some astute signings, and a chunk of luck we could make the top 6.
Sadly our best chance of this is now working elsewhere.
Re: Luton
Unless they keep developing a £5m player every year, I'm not so sure it is sustainable.
They have a wage bill that exceeds turnover in 2020 and 2021. Their next set of accounts will reflect what they did last season and will be a better gauge. They did bring a lot of experience in so it will be interesting to see if the wage bill was higher than the previous 2 seasons which was circa £14m a season.
It's a risky strategy but it nearly got them to the premier league last season. That brings them exposure which puts their playing assets in the shop window. So it's not a completely crazy approach like we've seen at the piggies, Derby, Reading etc.
What do folks think our average wage is at present? I would say it's about 5.5 k .I might be way out but what do others think?
Yes indeed it us a risky strategy and it's a race that only pays out for 1,2 and 3 no matter how many runners there are. As more clubs take the " risk it" route the more difficult it becomes for the others who then feel obligated to spend even more.
Like chasing losses at a casino