Derby County...

[Hoppie]

It certainly puts our ‘I hate this league’ and ‘are we too soft’ discussions in context. I wouldn’t swap this league or our leaky defence for Derby’s or the other lots position. I’m inclined to agree with those that say we are very lucky to have our current owners and manger and players (even if it’s not quite perfect). COYP!

[crazyfists]

It certainly puts our ‘I hate this league’ and ‘are we too soft’ discussions in context. I wouldn’t swap this league or our leaky defence for Derby’s or the other lots position. I’m inclined to agree with those that say we are very lucky to have our current owners and manger and players (even if it’s not quite perfect). COYP!

Agreed. I might not like this league much but as Elite says, a win and a goal is celebrated the same in this league as any other and as Hoppie says it's nice not worrying about the manager or owners for once. I don't think we're in a bad position really especially for the future. It's match day, the sun is shining, what could be better, all we need now is a win!

[The_Don_ORiordan]

It certainly puts our ‘I hate this league’ and ‘are we too soft’ discussions in context. I wouldn’t swap this league or our leaky defence for Derby’s or the other lots position. I’m inclined to agree with those that say we are very lucky to have our current owners and manger and players (even if it’s not quite perfect). COYP!

Thing is, and I’m not suggesting it is the case. But how do we know we’re in a much better position? Financially at least.

There’s always an element of trust required.

I certainly do have a fair amount of trust in the Reedtz, mostly based on how they have gone about their business thus far.

But with football and owners you just never know.

If we have another year in this league, things may change.

Does anyone seriously think we are balancing the books at present?

[SwalePie]

I'd say with the loss of the parachute payments the Reedtz brothers have sensibly cut their cloth according to reality this season. We have a 'competitive' budget but we're not risking the whole club's future. I'm very happy with that after the decades of boom and bust, or rather bust followed by another bust... [repeat to fade].

I think a lot of the free-spending clubs of this season's NL are gambling heavily on getting out before any wage cap is applied. I also have a suspicion that with only one automatic promotion place there will be financial tears before bedtime for at least one of them at season's end.

I'd much rather have sensible, even boring, ownership with a steady hand on the tiller as football is in the midst of a transition post-Covid-19. Better to have a well-run club in the 5th tier than no club at all. Having said that, if the Reedtz Bros. decided to splash the cash I reckon they'd have done some very sensible sums first and it would be a much more calculated gamble than many others in this division.

[laddo]

Of course we aren't balancing the books not even close. But importantly nor are we paying (reported) transfer fees of £150K and £250K, nor do I believe we are paying wages far greater than our standing. Dare I even say that our squad is looking relatively slimline and not bloated.

All whilst retaining a fantastic average home attendance.

I agree there is always a large element of the unknown and mystery with any ownership as we can't see their bank accounts and financial records nor read their minds.

All in all a far healthier position than before.

[Hoppie]

Thing is, and I’m not suggesting it is the case. But how do we know we’re in a much better position? Financially at least.

There’s always an element of trust required.

I certainly do have a fair amount of trust in the Reedtz, mostly based on how they have gone about their business thus far.

But with football and owners you just never know.

If we have another year in this league, things may change.

Does anyone seriously think we are balancing the books at present?

It’s a fair question and one I’ve considered myself. I’d like to know how much better (or worse) it is compared to the reported £1.6m loss hardy inherited. I’d like to think costs are down, crowds are stronger and non-footballing revenues are improved (dislike him as we may, I do think hardy did some good work in this area). Might be one for the the upcoming fans forum? Would they give a straight answer or dodge it?

[cher1]

It’s a fair question and one I’ve considered myself. I’d like to know how much better (or worse) it is compared to the reported £1.6m loss hardy inherited. I’d like to think costs are down, crowds are stronger and non-footballing revenues are improved (dislike him as we may, I do think hardy did some good work in this area). Might be one for the the upcoming fans forum? Would they give a straight answer or dodge it?

There's been minimal income match day and commercial income for so long thanks to covid that I don't suppose were in a great position at the moment. Now crowds are back, advertising and C &B income will be up, hopefully that'll rapidly change.

[laddo]

That was a reported £400K plus anticipated high wages for both players, that's a huge saving right there and shouldn't be downplayed.

The rest all makes sense to me. If the owners walked away some point soon, would a new owner come out of the woodwork to buy the club? History tells us yes. I certainly don't want that to happen any time soon.

[cher1]

That was a reported £400K plus anticipated high wages for both players, that's a huge saving right there and shouldn't be downplayed.

The rest all makes sense to me. If the owners walked away some point soon, would a new owner come out of the woodwork to buy the club? History tells us yes. I certainly don't want that to happen any time soon.

What was a huge saving? If you're talking about transfer fees, that wasn't a 'saving', that's money we never spent in the first place so there's not really anything to downplay. We did pay transfer fees for Taylor and Mitchell iirc.

[laddo]

When we ran into big financial trouble under Hardy not too long after he spent £400K on two players and both would have likely been one of the top earners at the club. Combine that with the bloated squad we assembled as Hardy backed the managers.

Same with the former owner paying Crawley compensation to take Kewell from them, and then two sackings that season would have again cost additional funds other clubs in L2 that season just weren't paying.

Any owner that doesn't follow suit is making a huge saving, chopping and changing managers costs money and too often is forgotten or downplayed IMO.

Any owner who doesn't do the above is reducing the chance of overspending and running into tenure ending financial difficulties.

We have paid I believe undisclosed fees for Taylor and Mitchell, I'd hazard a guess both were a fraction of the transfer fees paid for Dennis and Enzio. That's not a fact, it's just my opinion, my guess/estimate. I'm very comfortable with that guesstimate.