When do you think a deal will be done

I'll be happy enough to have an end to it, whether that's Deanos bid or not. Even being able to loan a few players again would be nice. At this point I'm willing to give them a chance. It has to be better than what's gone recently surely?

But the "funds are in place." Just not the right place I guess.

More time to check down the back of the sofa, empty the swear box and see if there's a bob or two in the glove compartment to scrape together enough dosh to keep us afloat long enough to slash the wage bill in summer.

Very, very sad but at least we still exist - sort of.

looking at that list of wages that was on here last week we would have to let all of them go, what kind of team are we left with next season? Even Holding who would be an automatic is out of contract and can leave.

And then throw into the mix the fact that "letting them go" isn't a straightforward exercise, as proven by the fact that Mark Davies is still getting paid thousands of pounds every week to do cock all.

That's why I was half hoping for Admin - You can't slash your wage bill if nobody else is daft enough to take your high earners off your hands.

I really can't see how this is going to work next season.

It all keeps coming back to the question regarding why would a company which exists solely to make money for its investment partners (Sports Shield) be so desperate to take on a football club which is (effectively) trading whilst insolvent?

Where's the return in that?

Unless of course they've made a mistake on their website's blurb and missed the word "disappear" off the end when they say "We make money make money".

All very odd.

Norpig wrote:looking at that list of wages that was on here last week we would have to let all of them go, what kind of team are we left with next season? Even Holding who would be an automatic is out of contract and can leave.

The real problem are the ones who are still in contract. I can't see anyone wanting to buy them or pay their exorbitant wages so we'll be stuck in League 1 with Mavies, Spearing, Trotter, Derik, Dervite, Moxey, Madine, Pratley and Amos on a combined wage of £5.85 million p.a. and an average of over £ 650 thousand p.a. each.


Whereas the average annual wage for a League 1 player is £78k p.a. - so we'll still not be competing financially with the clubs around us - we'll be paying NINE times the wages for our players and there's no guarantee they'll even get us back up.

It has gotten to the point where it would be in the club's interest if certain players accidentally had career-ending injuries that got them off the wage bill and triggered a big insurance claim or two. Over to you Nat....

We could always invite Johnny Evans over to train with us for a week. That would probably do it.

we would have to give the high earners a free transfer just to get them off the wage bill. That then gives them at least a chance of finding someone daft enough to take them on and they may be able to negotiate a better deal for themselves but none of them will see wages like they get now again that's for sure

wanderlust wrote:

Norpig wrote:looking at that list of wages that was on here last week we would have to let all of them go, what kind of team are we left with next season? Even Holding who would be an automatic is out of contract and can leave.

The real problem are the ones who are still in contract. I can't see anyone wanting to buy them or pay their exorbitant wages so we'll be stuck in League 1 with Mavies, Spearing, Trotter, Derik, Dervite, Moxey, Madine, Pratley and Amos on a combined wage of £5.85 million p.a. and an average of over £ 650 thousand p.a. each.


Whereas the average annual wage for a League 1 player is £78k p.a. - so we'll still not be competing financially with the clubs around us - we'll be paying NINE times the wages for our players and there's no guarantee they'll even get us back up.

It has gotten to the point where it would be in the club's interest if certain players accidentally had career-ending injuries that got them off the wage bill and triggered a big insurance claim or two. Over to you Nat....

You are unfortunately so correct.  But the "real problem" was the fact that their were no relegation clauses put in their contracts, and that previous managers signed inflated long-term contracts to keep underachieving players on our payroll, while not remembering we were not in the first tier any longer.

if they are on contract, why would they take a free transfer Piggers? You are right, they would not get the wages elsewhere so it is in their interest to stay put. Financial interest that is, which is unfortunately what seems to take precedence.

I have a bit more sympathy on the lack of relegation clauses. Its a gamble, for sure, but if a player would sign for £10k a week less with no relegation clause, or an additional £10k if there were one from championship to league 1, and you felt you had a squad to be at worst mid table obscurity, what would you do?

Norpig wrote:we would have to give the high earners a free transfer just to get them off the wage bill. That then gives them at least a chance of finding someone daft enough to take them on and they may be able to negotiate a better deal for themselves but none of them will see wages like they get now again that's for sure

You are also correct on this and I wonder if the club made any attempt to negotiate a lower fee so we could survive.  If a player or any person in a union job somewhere, was told they needed to take a 25% cut to keep that job, most people would take it if they couldn't find employment elsewhere.  It's a real puzzle how the geniuses failed to put in relegation clauses if we dropped down.  The real villains are the Mark Davies, who refused to move on, even knowing their salaries were jeopardizing the survival of this club.  To top it off, they haven't put in a good shift all season, and in previous years, the club has paid them this money when they were on the injury list for months.  But the blatant stupidity of top management is apparent, and we need some luck to survive the inevitable drop and have a  payroll that is in line with the league we are in.  Hopefully Deano has a good business acumen and people who can scout raw talent.  I hope we keep our youngsters, and dump the dead wood.

It will be interesting to see who would take a free Manda but i suspect you are spot on. Silly of me to think that the players would have the clubs best interests at heart.

You never know some may still think they can play at a higher league than league 1 and put in a transfer request  but they haven't shown us that they can with their performances this season have they?

Chairmanda wrote:I have a bit more sympathy on the lack of relegation clauses. Its a gamble, for sure, but if a player would sign for £10k a week less with no relegation clause, or an additional £10k if there were one from championship to league 1, and you felt you had a squad to be at worst mid table obscurity, what would you do?

This is an excellent observation, but when you are in debt (and our management knew the real score which we don't), you are gambling the future of the club with iron-clad contracts. Is it worth it... well yes, if they keep you up or get you to the first tier with the television money.  Unfortunately, they gambled and lost... hence, the position we are facing. On the other hand, what's £10k a week more or less to the top players???  It's poker or beer money for them each week.  Being a general manager is not easy (as you well know)... and you are being scrutinized by the players, the agents, the press, the fans, and team ownership.  To take the gamble or not... that is the question!

just been on the BN website and they have no coverage at all and Breaders best mate is apparently on holiday today, what a joke paper that is 

david pye on duty apparently......or not as the case may be

They've just woken up and posted one now.

There's cock all in it apart from "Bolton are in court today because they haven't paid some taxi or something. More to follow."

Absolute fucking joke.

LoV Doing a live update from court today.

I think the adjournment until 2-00pm is for the judge to get his nose in the oat-bag. It's twitchy time here this after but I have two days off so quantity of alcoholic consumption dependent on later decisions. Hope they have the coin otherwise the legal team'll have a scrap on their hands.

I'm having an interesting three way chat with Nixon and that A N Other chap that 74 put us on to on Twitter (and he appears to know his shit) and he reckons that once Sports Shield's majority financial backer (singular with a 50% holding) stumps up the cash to pay the tax bill later today, there's going to be nowt left in the SS pot.

Nada....nish....all gone.

We are well and truly fucked here......