message to the board

[GrayBlade]

Wilders throwing his toys out of the cot TBH , he did the same at Northhamton , Money doesn't always guarantee u successes , Wilders signings so far for the club haven't been the best. What gets me is that really we haven't played right since November when you know who got injured. A lot of football is about moral , confidence and momentum , once you lose this your in trouble , this same set of players were ripping teams apart before November , now they couldn't rip a paper bag apart !

I think there’s a big difference between throwing toys out and saying it as it is. It seems that the off field sideshow has been going on for quite a while and probably affected recruitment in January, we heard at the time there had been a fall out over the level of his backing and as things have unfolded, it seems that the rumours stories were true.

Whose to say how this has affected morale? At the very least it’s meant that some players have been flogged like horses because there wasn’t the quality brought in to rest them, and the reason we didn’t get that quality wasn’t down to Wilder, it was down to his budget.

[GrayBlade]

all right - sorry for being a bit naive/stupid, but doesn't the Board have to balance the books somehow - or did they pocket this money?

Good question Aya.

It’s the duty of any board of directors or owners to ensure that their business it stable and profitable, but there are certain times that they will plan ahead to take a risk and push the boat out so that it can compete with the competition. They may even have to do it at shorter notice to react into a change in the market or business opportunity. This could be investment in staff, technology or property for example, and could result in lower profits or even losses for the financial year, but the negative effect of not improving is usually stagnation, loss of business to competitors and decline.

Now I know some might say that football is in its own little (or big) cash bubble far away from the real world, but I was a senior exec at a FTSE 100 company up to 1999 with a 7 figure departmental budget, and since then I’ve run by own small business so I’ve both ends of the spectrum so to speak, and I think the general principle is the same in football away from clubs with megabucks owners.

There are times to consolidate and balance the books (or reduce losses) but every club with an ounce of ambition needs to speculate and grasp an opportunity to move forward when it presents itself. What better opportunity was there for a club to go for gold than to receive a substantial unexpected sell-on windfall when the team is near the top of the Championship and Premiere League football is the reward for success? When will we ever go for it if not this January when we’ve got the safest pair of hands running the team in decades, and how do they expect him to comptete unless the bottom 3 budget is improved?

I know everything is not black and white in football, look at Sunderland but I really think we’ve messed up again big time, and to read people on here and other forums now starting to turn missing out on promotion back to Wilder’s own performance is way off the mark and unfair IMO. If it hadn’t been for Chris we’d have been scrapping to stay up, not go up, in fact we wouldn’t even be up here to go up.

[FatherKnowsBest]

I too have a bit of experience in these matter Gray (!), so here is my take on it.

Once you get the fixed costs and wages paid, then everything else is a judgement on risk. Any penny that you spend, is a penny that you could have kept in the kitty to pay a bill another time, especially if you are loss making already.

The whole thing hinges on the Coutts injury for me. Flying before it, our form suddenly evaporated and the prediction of all football, that we'd start well and fade away, is looming large. I understand that Wilder's January budget was agreed in the Autumn when we were doing well and frankly £3-4m on the right two players would have had us in play-offs. But here we are in December, 1 win in 9, needing to replace Coutts, AND get the extra quality out of the same budget.

So, we've lost our key player (and Freeman, and Brooks), our form is terrible, Wolves are already away in the top spot, so we are playing for one automatic slot, which it looks like Cardiff, Fulham or Villa will be in, and then there's the play-offs, which we're likely to be coming into at the end of a long season, without a lot of form, against deeper and better squads. Is it impossible? Of course not. But where does it lie on the risk scale? We have a straight choice between increasing the budget in the hope that we can find the players to regain our form, or accept that this is probably not our time and to stop chasing something that, on the balance of probability, isn't going to happen.

Now, if I own the club, do I want to stick another £3m in if my opinion is that it is not likely that it will result in our promotion? Its not a 'no-brainer' that we should, because we're close and the prize is huge. If Coutts is still on two legs, Freeman and Brooks are fit and playing well, and we're still picking up 2 points a game then its a different decision entirely, but it isn't. That's where we were. So should we hold back for the summer and mount a better campaign next year? (Although I have no evidence I wonder if this is the source of the 'Kev wanted to stick cash in, HRH didn't' rumour..?).

The biggest lesson I have from business is 'you can only spend money once', and you have to be really, really honest with yourself about risks. I understand the argument about ambition. I can see the prize. Everyone can see the prize, that's why there are ten teams in the league who have spent £30m plus, and seven of them are going home with nowt for all the cash they spent. But as I think I said recently, I'm much more risk-averse when its my money.

[tomytony]

It's difficult to disagree with both Gray & FKB, both lucid, balanced and accurate statements of life in the real world and how business works.

I suppose it all comes down to your attitude to risk, the risk v reward equation, the money available (or not) and the personalities involved.

When there is joint ownership then the issues and way forward become doubly complex. It seems to me that is what has held SUFC back this time.

One fancied a punt and the other wouldn't match the outlay? Possibly.

One didn't fancy it and the other did but was bound by an agreement that cash input would be equal? Again possible.

Obviously we don't know the stance of either of the owners and possibly never will.

What we do know is that we've missed out on our biggest opportunity in years ,caused , maybe, by the joint ownership .

What we also know is that, alone, neither of the owners,singly or jointly, going forward, have the personal wherewithal to take the next step.

My cynicism just wonders why the ownership battle raised it's ugly head at the time it did. Who saw the opportunity and decided to try to make a home run to the PL on their own?

[FatherKnowsBest]

What we do know is that we've missed out on our biggest opportunity in years ,caused , maybe, by the joint ownership .

As much as anyone is free to think that, for me, the answer was that we had a very good first 11, but no depth when we got beyond that. Plenty good enough for L1, yes, but not at this level.

Therefore our failure was caused by having a squad not good enough for 46 games in the Championship. And I contend that the 'opportunity' of promotion was more likely a mirage that got us all excited, but which seemed to fool no-one else. Just 7 wins since November would tend to say that we really weren't that close.

[shorehamoldboy]

still find it hard to believe that mr mcabe would put 6 million at the managers disposal in the jtw hope hes hanging on to it for the stw

[tomytony]

As much as anyone is free to think that, for me, the answer was that we had a very good first 11, but no depth when we got beyond that. Plenty good enough for L1, yes, but not at this level.

Therefore our failure was caused by having a squad not good enough for 46 games in the Championship. And I contend that the 'opportunity' of promotion was more likely a mirage that got us all excited, but which seemed to fool no-one else. Just 7 wins since November would tend to say that we really weren't that close.

I can see what you are saying FKB but the fact remains that, on 4nd Jan, we were 7th with 42 points just one point behind Leeds in 6th.

Millwall were 15th on 30 points, Fulham 10th on 39.and Boro 8th on 41, Two of those 3 are now play off ciontenders, one with a chance of auto. BTW Derby were 2nd on 49 but they always fall away.

That's why I say it's the biggest opportunity we've had in years regardless of the squad which, of course , we had the opportunity to strengthen meaningfully had someone taken the risk- which is where the roundabout starts again!

[Carpe_diem]

still find it hard to believe that mr mcabe would put 6 million at the managers disposal in the jtw hope hes hanging on to it for the stw

I can't for the life of me imagine that McCabe would offer to put that amount of money in, full stop. There was a time when he would (when Robson was in charge), but those days are long gone. I find it very hard to believe that McCabe was the one wanting to put money in and the Prince refusing to match it.

Think about it logically. The Prince has nothing at all to gain by owning a second-rate, shoestring-budget team. He didn't grow up supporting the team, and he's not in his ideal position now by co-owning it. For it to be worth his while as an investor, we need to actually achieve something - and we're never going to get there without a cash injection.

If the Prince was the one who was dragging his heels, why would he even get involved in the first place? And if he didn't have the wedge (either his own or that of other people), why would he not just walk away? He's not got the club in his veins like McCabe. It's a purely business decision for him, surely?

[rodcurrie]

As much as anyone is free to think that, for me, the answer was that we had a very good first 11, but no depth when we got beyond that. Plenty good enough for L1, yes, but not at this level.

Therefore our failure was caused by having a squad not good enough for 46 games in the Championship. And I contend that the 'opportunity' of promotion was more likely a mirage that got us all excited, but which seemed to fool no-one else. Just 7 wins since November would tend to say that we really weren't that close.

I agree Pops we've been 2or3 good squad(start) players short but i do think most of the lads have proved good enuff to ply their trade in't Championship but whether that's at the top of the Championship is another matter.I predicted we'd fall short of the play offs around Xmas time but i dint expect us to fall away quite so badly,but it's been a good season overall in my view but it's still leaves me disapointed we're not still in wi a chance of the top 6 goin into the Brizzle game.UTCB

[tomytony]

I agree Pops we've been 2or3 good squad(start) players short but i do think most of the lads have proved good enuff to ply their trade in't Championship but whether that's at the top of the Championship is another matter.I predicted we'd fall short of the play offs around Xmas time but i dint expect us to fall away quite so badly,but it's been a good season overall in my view but it's still leaves me disapointed we're not still in wi a chance of the top 6 goin into the Brizzle game.UTCB

The fall away has been tantalisingly close though eg Barnsley, Hull, Cardiff , Millwall , Brentford are recent results that could, with just a bit more strength, have seen us nailed into the play offs.

Ifs and buts of course but ultimately disappointing FROM WHERE WE WERE and who knows what a meaningful kitty might have produced.