The Off the Field Amnesty Thread

[Bob's Orange]

Out of interest, when does the transfer window close?

[Reg Smeeton]

Maybe I'm in the minority or being thick, but I'm not sure I see the value in leaving them at home? They might be on high wages, but we are still having to pay them whether they're playing or sitting on the sidelines.  Surely we're better off at least making them work for their wages and isn't it more likely to generate interest if they're involved?

Who has made the decision to leave them, would it be Power?[/]

More likely to have been Sherwood...

[sonicyouth]

My maths is terrible but with a stated budget of £2.4m and a presumed squad size of 22 then the average weekly wage would be around the £2k mark, correct?

My gripes about the board are pretty much all down to communication.

- The treatment of local media.
- The chairman running his mouth off on Twitter (the recent Caddis tweets were cringeworthy).
- Delay of nearly six months to sit down and talk openly about the direction the club is heading in.
- The lack of official comment from Power despite his role being announced yet we get a token statement from Sangita Shah.
- No official acknowledgement of or subsequent clarification of the Spurs link and what it entails.

I have no real issue with taking half a dozen Spurs youngsters on loan and believe that it gives us a bit of an advantage over the rest of the league. My concern, like many others, is whether there are clauses that mean these players will have to play x amount of games across the season and whether they will be chosen (or have been chosen) for the right reasons.

The sale of players is an inevitability and in the case of Caddis and Collins we are moving on two individuals on high wages who don't want to be here - it's the sensible and logical thing to do IMO. We've unfortunately been left with a couple of well paid ageing crocks who will prove difficult to shift, as well as a journeyman striker at the twilight of his career who will almost certainly prefer to sit out his contract rather than take a pay cut to move elsewhere. Likewise, L Rooney knows he won't get a better contract at another club and I think both could probably offer something this season yet clearly aren't fancied.

Meanwhile, we're also lumbered with long term injured TAH and Cox. TAH may recover fully from his injury but we may not be able to afford to play him - the tribunal determining we owe Exeter £20k for every 15 appearances - and 10 months after his last appearance, can we accommodate him? Cox hasn't been mentioned in the course of pre-season and I have no idea what the situation is with him aside from that he's long term injured. Last but not least, still no news on A Rooney. If we are stuck with him then the squad will have to be reduced even further, yet we have only Foderingham and Ward left as realistic options to move on.

Although many are blaming JedCo for these events, the reality is that they've been left with a small group of expensive, overpaid, underperforming and injured individuals who we are contractually obliged to and cannot shift off the wage bill. The previous model of underwriting large losses was never going to last forever yet some fans have difficulty grasping the reality we find ourselves in for now. I think we're in for a dull, average season on the pitch with a little bit of excitement - double over City, big away trip to Molineux, a little cup run.

I don't think JedCo are here to rip us off. I don't think we'll get relegated and left in the shit. I don't think they're taking this lightly and playing at running a football club, at least no more than Fitton ever did. I do think they're amateur, out of their depth, reliant on the club to become self-sustaining as they have no real money behind them and they seem to be showing a willingness, albeit reluctantly, to improve on issues such as communication.

The single biggest failure over the past 24 months? Our complacency as fans. January 2013 was probably the greatest opportunity for a fan-led takeover but after years of constant doom under Diamandis we all just wanted to focus on the football instead.

[sonicyouth]

Maybe I'm in the minority or being thick, but I'm not sure I see the value in leaving them at home? They might be on high wages, but we are still having to pay them whether they're playing or sitting on the sidelines.  Surely we're better off at least making them work for their wages and isn't it more likely to generate interest if they're involved?

Who has made the decision to leave them, would it be Power?

I guess it would be so that they're immediately available for contract discussions with other clubs and to save on costs of flights, accommodation etc.

I'd hope they're training with the youth team instead of sitting around at home!

[Peter Venkman]

You can pretty much guarentee that every player brought in by Paolo was on a massive wage probably ranging from 3k to 5k per week easily, Rooney, Benson & Cox probably at the lower end of that bracket but JMac, Navarro and Collins will all be well up there nearer the 5k bracket making their wages alone in excess of £1mill.

TAH and Williams will both be on pretty high wages too of around £4k per week and Ward is also on about £5k a week, Foders must be on about £4k a week too which probably accounts for around £900k per year in wages and thats before you take into account the young pros in both Thompsons, Nathan having just signed a much better deal than he was on, Storey, Waldron, Ferguson, Oakley, Bedwell and Francis.

Then we have the couple of players signed from Premier League clubs in Smith and Barthram who won't have signed too cheaply as probably Tijane too. Add to that Agombar and Jackson too.

Then we don't know what percentage of the Spurs loan players we are paying (if any of course) but that soon adds up to about £3mill a year, so it is easy to see where the wage budget has gone.

If we get rid of the ones that are not wanted....all those not travelling it would appear, then we will be at a much more managable level so we can get some better players in.

But a fair few of these players have turned down offers from other clubs because they cannot match the wages we are paying them so it may even come down to us loaning some of them out with the loaning club covering most of their wages then that may happen too, Rooney, Cox(when he is fit again) and Benson being the most likely with Caddis and Collins hopefully moving on this week for a fee.

[Nemo]

Sam suggesting that the new signings are generally on about 1/4-1/3 of what the existing players are, which is terrifying.

[Ardiles]

Sam suggesting that the new signings are generally on about 1/4-1/3 of what the existing players are, which is terrifying.

I think we all simply have to recalibrate our expectations and start thinking of League 1 survival as the aim for next season.

[Nemo]

I think we all simply have to recalibrate our expectations and start thinking of League 1 survival as the aim for next season.

Would take that now if offered. The word "transition" could have been invented for this pre-season

[sonicyouth]

Would take that now if offered. The word "transition" could have been invented for this pre-season

see also: clusterfuck

[Bob's Orange]

Sam suggesting that the new signings are generally on about 1/4-1/3 of what the existing players are, which is terrifying.

Wonder how Paolo would get on with our current budget? I see he's bringing in a lot of new players at Sunderland, i'll be looking on with interest at how they do this season.

[Nemo]

see also: clusterfuck

I was applying the benefit of the doubt!

[sonicyouth]

Wonder how Paolo would get on with our current budget?

I honestly can't imagine he'd hang around for two minutes.

[Bob's Orange]

I honestly can't imagine he'd hang around for two minutes.

120 seconds is pretty generous!

[Flashheart]

I think we all simply have to recalibrate our expectations and start thinking of League 1 survival as the aim for next season.

Somebody help me out here, perhaps I have missed something.

Our budget, even when slashed, will still be among the top 10 or so largest budgets in the league. Now I'm not trying to suggest that means we'll finish in the top 10 as there are other factors in play but why would our budget, and what we can now afford to pay players, mean that we are in for a relegation battle?

[Nemo]

Somebody help me out here, perhaps I have missed something.

Our budget, even when slashed, will still be among the top 10 or so largest budgets in the league. Now I'm not trying to suggest that means we'll finish in the top 10 as there are other factors in play but why would our budget, and what we can now afford to pay players, mean that we are in for a relegation battle?

In the top 10 in terms of amount being spent perhaps (I don't know the numbers but what you're saying sounds reasonable) but it's clearly not going to be well allocated in that first year- we might have a much more sensible total wage bill, but there are going to be certain players who are eating up huge chunks of that and who we can't get rid of (or have to get rid of on loan) who don't contribute their value. I don't think we'll get relegated for what it's worth, but 14th-15th seems like a relatively successful season considering everything that's going on at the moment.

I believe Plymouth had a very high wage budget while they were bombing through the leagues as they were paying Damien Johnson something like 12k. It didn't help them much, it's about how you allocate the money