BBC News: Swindon Town to halve playing budget for next season

[Simon Pieman]

Cuts maybe,halved when the chairman has stated funds will be similar though is gonna prompt a negative reaction from fans. Half isn't similar, not even close.

Similar to something Bob "more money than you can shake a stick at" Holt would have said. Quite a few parallels in this:

http://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/archive/2001/08/29/Wiltshire+Archive/7372541.Big_firms_are_on_our_side/

Despite being nervous about Jed and his consortium I've stuck to facts and given them a lot of leeway. I'm not going to trust anything they do at all now, they're either utter bullshitters, don't really know what they're doing or both.

We do need to spend within our means but we also need people who can run the club properly without saying a load of guff to appease the fans (when they haven't ignored them completely).

It's not for me, but I can see the Trust membership soaring again this year.

[Dozno9]

And on that I agree with you too. But in relation to this discussion, I don't think there is a longer term strategy, there's a short-term holding strategy to spend very little and hope they don't burn thru all the season ticket money before they can off-load the club. Which, hopefully, they should be able to do in pretty short order as currently it's actually in quite good nick. I worry whether that will still be the case in 6 months time if we don't get more long-term owners by then

If we had made the championship I am in no doubt that the "For Sale" sign would be in the window by now and my view is that this board are in for what they can get and by reducing the playing budget means they make the club a better proposition when wishing to sell, it's got fuck all do to with 'community' and the 'football family'.

[Swindon Please Win]

Will ticket prices decrease as well then?

[Dozno9]

Will ticket prices decrease as well then?

No, because that money will go into investing in the future...

[url width=460 height=276]http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/1/10/1357822010164/a-pile-of-money-in-a-back-008.jpg[/url]

[manc_red]

Would be interesting to get Jed to explain what will happen to any additional income above budget.

 

Good luck with that.

[DiV]

But and this is a bloody great big but, what if tou take up the option and then discover that no one wants to buy him, for all we know they could have been listening for interest and concluded the risk isn't worth it.

When you look at the number of players still under contract and the budget it was never close to adding us so high profile departures were inevitable.

Then we'd be left with Simon Ferry as a Town player.

How terrible.

[sonicyouth]

Then we'd be left with Simon Ferry as a Town player.

How terrible.

Don't worry, we've still got Lee Cox.

[Trashbat?]

Don't worry, we've still got Lee Cox.

Who is out for 6 months due to his shoulder injury

[Posh Red]

I presume we are all talking about the same Simon Ferry that was on the verge of being run out of Town by Di Canio for being a piss head.

Maybe, just maybe, MacDonald has only seen that side of him and didn't think (bearing in mind the budget he is going to have), that he was worth being one of the highest paid players at the club.

[bigbobjoylove]

If we're going with an experienced first 11 with a reserve 11 of cheap/young players then Kmac might have been given a choice between Ferry and McCormack. If he's going to play a 4-5-1 then Navarro and Cox are already under contract leaving a choice about the third senior central midfielder.

[DiV]

I presume we are all talking about the same Simon Ferry that was on the verge of being run out of Town by Di Canio for being a piss head.

Maybe, just maybe, MacDonald has only seen that side of him and didn't think (bearing in mind the budget he is going to have), that he was worth being one of the highest paid players at the club.

On the flip side to that Ferry is just about the only player to change Di Canio's opinion of him which must count for something!

[Simon Pieman]

And on that I agree with you too. But in relation to this discussion, I don't think there is a longer term strategy, there's a short-term holding strategy to spend very little and hope they don't burn thru all the season ticket money before they can off-load the club. Which, hopefully, they should be able to do in pretty short order as currently it's actually in quite good nick. I worry whether that will still be the case in 6 months time if we don't get more long-term owners by then

I think they'll hang on to the club for at least a year if they can, it'll save them a lot of tax potentially.

[joteddyred]

Unless last year's budget included Di Canio and his crew's wages and the fees to Phil Spencer there's going to be a fair way still to go to halve the budget. 

I imagine there are still a number of players left at the club who earn more than the majority of the 5 who've been let go and are certainly not worth what they're being paid.  It's a shame some of them aren't out of contract and can be let go.  Instead we're stuck with them because nobody else wants them or they've been sitting on the sidelines for months injured.   

I suppose one advantage of running a more sustainable model is that we won't attract this type of player in the future as we won't be paying enough.

[horlock07]

Then we'd be left with Simon Ferry as a Town player.

How terrible.

I assume you are being deliberately obtuse in that it is well known that the cuts are mainly due to budget constraints and thus the point I was making was that if you play a game with a players contract that you cannot afford to keep you may likley get your fingers burnt.

[horlock07]

If we're going with an experienced first 11 with a reserve 11 of cheap/young players then Kmac might have been given a choice between Ferry and McCormack. If he's going to play a 4-5-1 then Navarro and Cox are already under contract leaving a choice about the third senior central midfielder.

Nail head, this is the point that seems to be being missed we have a lot of players under contract and thus cuts have to be made in areas where they are out of contract in the first instance.

Ferry seems to rival Paolo in the mythical status he holds for some.