Whats wrong with football?

[pauld]

Didn't Readings new owners fail to meet the PL test when trying to buy Hull and then shortly after pass the FL test to buy Hull....

Its nonsense...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39944390

Yes, that's because the Prem and Football League have slightly different tests. But given:
a) They're both shit
b) They don't actually bother to enforce them anyway
it really doesn't much matter. The only reason they have the tests is so when yet another Blackpool, Portsmouth, Orient, Hartlepool etc etc gets taken to the cleaners by people you clearly wouldn't trust with the teas money from a church fete the Leagues can wash their hands of it and say "Well, we did our best". Fucking useless

[chalkies_shorts]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/43387013
So the police send the driver of the other car to do a driving improvement course which is fair enough. I would have thought that being so wound up you want to spit at another person and taking your eyes off the road for a period of time would warrant the same.
He is a despicable piece of shit. Also remember the time he threw a coin in the crowd and hit someone. His excuses all sound very familiar.
http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11669/2229335/carragher-apologises-for-coin-hurl

[RedRag]

Nothing should detract from the fact, regardless of circumstances, that a young girl was on the receiving end of a face full of gob. Unpleasant in the extreme plus the associated health risk.

Sky have got rid of people before, just for comments made on air.
A quiet word and a slap on the wrist is not the answer in this case.

Agree that Carragher should've been sacked, especially given that he had previous.  His "employment" puts not only him but also his employer in the public eye.  The so-called parent who filmed it is not Carragher's issue.   

Comments made on air are just as much a sacking issue, imo.  They are directly related to the employment role.  Albeit not on Sky, who can forget Ron Atkinson's use of the "lazy, thick nigger" epithet for Marcel Desailly.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Audrey]

That’s some scary figures for a club hovering above the drop

http://www.readingchronicle.co.uk/sport/readingfc/16080812.Reading_FC__Club_s_debt_tumbles_by_almost___20m_according_to_latest_financial_figures/

[BambooToTheFuture]

That’s some scary figures for a club hovering above the drop

http://www.readingchronicle.co.uk/sport/readingfc/16080812.Reading_FC__Club_s_debt_tumbles_by_almost___20m_according_to_latest_financial_figures/

Tis an interesting set of figures.

Considering every club in the Championship gets around £7mil regardless of position (not including parachute money). I think it's about £2.5m from the EFL basic payment and £4.5m "donation" from the Prem as some kind of bridging token. Don't shoot me down but I find it interesting that, it could be in some boards operating strategy to finish in the relegation places knowing full well they'd receive the same £7m as a team just staying up. A prime example would be Burton Albion. A small club who, while have done so well they can't sustain Championship levels on a consistent basis. I have heard that their chairman accepted earlier this season that it made more financial sense, to leave the Championship. Of course they'll lose some revenue from less sky games/sponsorship etc but Burton know they aren't a fashionable club. Not like nearby neighbours Leicester, Derby & Brum, of which their town falls kind of in the middle of those three and many support those teams instead.  They'll receive £7m to be in L1 and have a lot lower wage bill (obviously some will depend on contracts), bigger earners or those that believe they're good enough for the FLC will leave.

So with that in mind, looking at it as a business strategy, in football is it better financially to become a yo-yo club? Take ourselves, many are of opinion that Town should be a top end L1/Lower end Champ club and we've been very close in recent years to slipping up into the Championship. So would it benefit us (if we were to get into that position), well Lee Power, to be in that "great L1 team, not so good FLC team" scenario?

*I'm not for once suggesting that players, management and other club staff would necessarily support this ideal.

[Reg Smeeton]

 We lost our second tier status at the turn of the 20th Century and have never been back, despite several flirtations through the PO's.

We have, however, had 3 relegations to Div 4 in that period. Therefore it could be argued during that time we became a Div3/4 yo-yo club.  Now much of that period was characterised by excessive spending and debt.  It has been to Power's credit that he has stabilised the finances, on a more sustainable level, however it may mean we have to accept an alteration in our status.  Being sustainable at Div 4 level ought to be achievable, if we maintain roughly similar gates over the next years, but I really don't want to flirt with the Conference.

[pauld]

Tis an interesting set of figures.

Considering every club in the Championship gets around £7mil regardless of position (not including parachute money). I think it's about £2.5m from the EFL basic payment and £4.5m "donation" from the Prem as some kind of bridging token. Don't shoot me down but I find it interesting that, it could be in some boards operating strategy to finish in the relegation places knowing full well they'd receive the same £7m as a team just staying up. A prime example would be Burton Albion. A small club who, while have done so well they can't sustain Championship levels on a consistent basis. I have heard that their chairman accepted earlier this season that it made more financial sense, to leave the Championship. Of course they'll lose some revenue from less sky games/sponsorship etc but Burton know they aren't a fashionable club. Not like nearby neighbours Leicester, Derby & Brum, of which their town falls kind of in the middle of those three and many support those teams instead.  They'll receive £7m to be in L1 and have a lot lower wage bill (obviously some will depend on contracts), bigger earners or those that believe they're good enough for the FLC will leave.

So with that in mind, looking at it as a business strategy, in football is it better financially to become a yo-yo club? Take ourselves, many are of opinion that Town should be a top end L1/Lower end Champ club and we've been very close in recent years to slipping up into the Championship. So would it benefit us (if we were to get into that position), well Lee Power, to be in that "great L1 team, not so good FLC team" scenario?

*I'm not for once suggesting that players, management and other club staff would necessarily support this ideal.

But that only works if you stay in the Championship, if you get relegated you lose the money and run the risk of not "bouncing back up". Maybe there's something I'm missing but I'm not sure this theory holds together

[The Artist Formerly Known as Audrey]

Yeovil being a prime example. Their brief stint in the Championship has really messed them up.

[Exiled Bob]

Like our brief spell in the Premier did to us.

[Peter Venkman]

Yeovil being a prime example. Their brief stint in the Championship has really messed them up.

No, having an owner who would not invest in the team fucked them up and creaming off the profits for his pocket to pay back his massive loans in getting them promoted cost them.

[Legends-Lounge]

Like our brief spell in the Premier did to us.

👍

[RobertT]

But that only works if you stay in the Championship, if you get relegated you lose the money and run the risk of not "bouncing back up". Maybe there's something I'm missing but I'm not sure this theory holds together

Similar to the West Brom approach a few years back with the Prem.  They didn't get dragged into the spend to stay up rush and bobbed for a couple of years pocketing the money, or at least gradually building up their squad.  It has then set them up for a good run until this season.  With Burton it will all depend on what happened to their playing budget.  If they just spent all the money it makes no difference, however, if they've invested in the club it might set them up for a few years to out perform still.

Basically, the opposite of Bristol City/Bournemouth who decided to go all in on the gamble.  One because they have a man willing to spunk the cash, and to be fair he has also invested in the infrastructure, the other was a proper gamble, as shown by the fact the stadium is still the same.

I'd imagine though that 20-22 out of the 24 in the Championship run a huge loss.

[pauld]

Similar to the West Brom approach a few years back with the Prem. 

Not really. Parachute payments when getting relegated from the Prem are much bigger proportionate to the div you're dropping into and last for 4 years. So you have a much bigger distorting effect and a much longer period to gamble on getting back up. Whereas the parachute payment when dropping into L1 from the Championship is just 11% and lasts for 1 year.

[RobertT]

Which is why I think it's only valid for a Burton, maybe a Barnsley for a bit.  The rest lose money hand over fist.  Burton could, could, have continued only spending about 2-3 million on wages, and then banked or invested the rest int he ground, training facilities, gradual increase in talent etc.  One season doing that would almost wipe our debt for example, not that it would be much fun I guess.  The risk with the lack of a parachute payment is you come down and become mediocre.

[Wobbly Bob]

Which is why I think it's only valid for a Burton, maybe a Barnsley for a bit.  The rest lose money hand over fist.  Burton could, could, have continued only spending about 2-3 million on wages, and then banked or invested the rest int he ground, training facilities, gradual increase in talent etc.  One season doing that would almost wipe our debt for example, not that it would be much fun I guess.  The risk with the lack of a parachute payment is you come down and become mediocre.

I'd say that Burton are atypical, in that they have a state of the art training facility in St George's Park which has probably given them an advantage (in getting where they are) to start with.
That, plus stability with management and, by all accounts, a sensible chairman should see them ok if relegated.
Don't know what the scale of their debt is, but would be surprised if it's anywhere near the level of similar sized clubs where the owners have splashed the cash.