January Transfers & Rumours

[kill_the_drum]

He doesn't partner anyone, he is just a show boater.. And he was crap on Saturday....

Just a showboater that is on course to score 20 goals not even as a central striker.
Here’s hoping he carries on ‘showboating.’

[durhampie]

Just a showboater that is on course to score 20 goals not even as a central striker.
Here’s hoping he carries on ‘showboating.’

His glory days are long gone, and so are his legs..

[durhampie]

If Macca gets injured it will be an enormous blow, obviously. I’d love us to sign another striker but what ‘quality’ striker is going to come and compete with Langstaff for one position.
As I said, it’s much more probable we’d sign someone to compete with Didsy and Crowley and move Didsy up top if Langstaff got injured.

That would be like asking a donkey to keep up with a race horse....

[kill_the_drum]

His glory days are long gone, and so are his legs..

How many goals do you think he’ll score this season?

[slack_pie]

It does not matter what it means to you but even DownUnder the defintion surely remains the same "able to be maintained at a certain rate or level". If they'd meant profitable they would have said "profitable".

Most clubs as I understand it, outside of the top two divisions, are not profitable and rely on owners with deep pockets. If you've got information to the contrary I'd be please to see it.

Your last sentence is however correct.

Are any clubs in L2 profitable? And if so, how do they manage to make it work? Perhaps Wrexham are, but they benefit from huge revenue streams that simply don't exist for any other football club at this level.

I mean, is it even possible for a football club to be profitable at this level? In our case, being profitable would mean drastically reducing the wage bill to the point that we'd probably end up battling relegation. Crowds would then dwindle, meaning we'd have to reduce the wage bill further. It's a death spiral.

[Notts78]

Are any clubs in L2 profitable? And if so, how do they manage to make it work? Perhaps Wrexham are, but they benefit from huge revenue streams that simply don't exist for any other football club at this level.

I mean, is it even possible for a football club to be profitable at this level? In our case, being profitable would mean drastically reducing the wage bill to the point that we'd probably end up battling relegation. Crowds would then dwindle, meaning we'd have to reduce the wage bill further. It's a death spiral.

I’m not sure Wrexham are profitable. Like any successful club at our level they have owners with deeps pockets. Like Stockport and Mansfield.
If we are referring to the Docuseries… that will soon disappear. It’s a great story of a famous actor taking a non league team in to the EFL - made even better by the disappointment of the play off loss which whet the appetite and our battle for top spot last season.

[Evesham Pie]

Crewe seem to be able to make a profit on lower crowds than ours. Peterborough seem to be able to do it in League 1 consistently on crowds of 9,000 or so. The key seems to be to keep losses on "normal" footballing activities manageable and then make money on your net transfer business.

I feel confident under the Reedtz that we have a decent chance of making good money on transfers, but was a bit surprised at the scale of the overall loss last year. This year should see revenues grow significantly with League 2 EFL money, academy support and the healthy increase in crowds. I would hope that this, with the LW compensation and potential player sales, should see losses reduce significantly this year, even with average player salaries up.

[slack_pie]

Crewe seem to be able to make a profit on lower crowds than ours. Peterborough seem to be able to do it in League 1 consistently on crowds of 9,000 or so. The key seems to be to keep losses on "normal" footballing activities manageable and then make money on your net transfer business.

I feel confident under the Reedtz that we have a decent chance of making good money on transfers, but was a bit surprised at the scale of the overall loss last year. This year should see revenues grow significantly with League 2 EFL money, academy support and the healthy increase in crowds. I would hope that this, with the LW compensation and potential player sales, should see losses reduce significantly this year, even with average player salaries up.

Crewe have always been amazing at developing young players and selling them on, but because they use the proceeds of those sales to keep the business running rather than reinvesting everything in replacements, they tend to tread water rather than kicking on up the leagues.

Perhaps being profitable means forever selling your best players and staying where you are now. Not sure that's what the bros would want.

[Evesham Pie]

Apart from a small number of the elite clubs, every club ultimately hits a glass ceiling where it treads water. I don't think Notts have hit ours in League 2, but if we get to consistently mid / upper league 1 then we'll start to feel the pressure of competing with the likes of Portsmouth, Bolton, Derby plus Oxford etc that are backed by deeper pocket owners than ours have.

[slack_pie]

Apart from a small number of the elite clubs, every club ultimately hits a glass ceiling where it treads water. I don't think Notts have hit ours in League 2, but if we get to consistently mid / upper league 1 then we'll start to feel the pressure of competing with the likes of Portsmouth, Bolton, Derby plus Oxford etc that are backed by deeper pocket owners than ours have.

Yeah, times have changed since we were last an established L1 club. You need serious money and/or quality to compete at the top end of that league. I'd be happy if we became a Peterborough-type club - challenging most years for the playoffs, with the odd year here and there in the Championship. I can't really comprehend anything beyond that.