I would personally never expect any chairman to be open and upfront about budgets with fans and the outside public. This could impact our ability to sign players, negotiations when we sell players etc.
Its Clem's job to get bums on seats.
You are right that for business reasons there must be a degree of circumspection around the actual details of budgets. But no one has been questioning that.
Clem has taken over the club promising a new era of transparency, in conjunction with the Trust. Since then, without detail being required, he has not been open about paying down debt
and/or the ownership of the club and the claim as to the availability of a "competitive budget" has looked liked the trickiest of sales puff.
Anyone can "sell" something by claiming candour and then hiding the reality of their product or service.
Once.
If Clem's job is to get "bums on seats", then how would you read the trends and judge him to date?
Clem well knows that pitch performance is a factor there. As is budget. But you can motivate support in other ways too if there is a project, a story, a journey with which people want to get involved. If it is 100% genuine.
Fans at all levels are financially unrealistic. And so are many at STFC. That "surprise" is not a basis on which to defend Clem's stewardship. I will judge Clem, like all other owners, on where they leave us. Right now, we are
emerging from our 2nd (?) worst finish in over 60 years of the 4 tier game, gates are starting to fall and there is a growing lack of trust in Clem. Perhaps don't blame your customers?
