The future is difficult to fathom out

[kenyon6923]

We had SD he had small budgets but used a squad of players to their best attributes to try and get results - he never had the budgets required in his last 2 years to rebuilt a very aging squad particularly playing in the Prem. The football in his last season was dire and the style of football became predictable and dire.

We then changed to VK who coupled with a rejunevated board had a clear out and brought in numerous players and achieved in reducing the average age and a change of playing style. Last season was unbelievable there's no other word really.
This season probably throughout the club we have shown naivety and vast inexperience of the massive task ahead - that's from recruitment, playing style, best 11, use of subs, coaching, repetitive mistakes, etc etc etc.

We were head and shoulders the best team last year in the championship and in fairness Sheffield United were head and shoulders the 2nd best team in the championship and we are both routed to the bottom 2 this season. After saying that Leicester, Leeds and Southampton were pretty dire last season could hardly win a game and now there 1st, 2nd and 3rd is it just the gulf ?

The future is ?? we have gone from " Big Sam's love child" in SD to "Peps love child" in VK - both completely different playing styles and both capable of playing absolute dire football in the same league so ??

For me the rest of this season is for VK to prove he is capable of learning from mistakes and plenty of them and to try and get a idea of what our best 11 actually is. Do the board trust him and his recruitment for summer ? What if he buys more square pegs for round holes and he gone by end of November - I think they have to decide right after this seasons last game if we are to preserve or not.

[Vegas Claret]

a couple of tweaks and we will be ok next season I think. Leicester have already lost two more games than we did all last season and we didn't really get going for the first 3rd of it (at least)

[steve1264b]

From a purely "Who can we sell to raise money" perspective Muric is the most interesting.

He will want away in the summer, Trafford did nothing wrong yesterday, but its time to put Music in the shop window and protect his value.

[Royboyclaret]

From a purely "Who can we sell to raise money" perspective Muric is the most interesting.

He will want away in the summer, Trafford did nothing wrong yesterday, but its time to put Music in the shop window and protect his value.

Muric is our top keeper.....most people recognise that, except the person that matters most.

But keepers aside, this eleven that Kompany picks is simply nowhere near what Harry Potts would choose from the players that are available.

Enough said.

[Pearcey]

It will be hard to motivate the players that have been frozen out next season. Muric, Benson, Zaroury, Cullen and Roberts will want off I’d imagine. Do some of the others think they’re too good for the championship? Berge certainly is. It’s going to be an interesting summer.

[getbennyon]

It's worth remembering that Leicester went down with 34 points, Leeds 31 and Southampton 25. At the moment we are a million miles away from picking up the same number of points. Our team is much much poorer than the 3 that went down last year.

Watford and Norwich went down with 23/22 points the last time we were relegated and haven't come back.

The season previously saw Sheffield United pick up 23 points, promoted 2 seasons later and West Brom on 26 who haven't come back.

Everything is pointed to a sustained spell in the Championship with debts of approx £200million.

[LincsWoldsClaret]

Everything is going really well - off the field. Huge upgrades in facilities and lounges etc - all to drive investment. That has been Pace’s focus . We will definitely have the best corporate dining in the Championship.

[Newcastleclaret93]

It's worth remembering that Leicester went down with 34 points, Leeds 31 and Southampton 25. At the moment we are a million miles away from picking up the same number of points. Our team is much much poorer than the 3 that went down last year.

Watford and Norwich went down with 23/22 points the last time we were relegated and haven't come back.

The season previously saw Sheffield United pick up 23 points, promoted 2 seasons later and West Brom on 26 who haven't come back.

Everything is pointed to a sustained spell in the Championship with debts of approx £200million.

From what I can tell any club that hasn’t achieved at least 20 points in a premier league season has spent at least 4-5 seasons in the championship

[CoolClaret]

Sheff United lost their two best players to start the season, (one of which to us btw) and are sat on the same amount of points as we are at the foot of the table.

Summer was an absolute madness - I have no idea wtf the team is meant to be in terms of identity/playstyle, I have no idea why some players are picked every week despite performances whilst others haven't had a kick.

It's the strangest season that I can remember and has been weird since the summer. You just don't do what we did and have any type of success - we really are embarrassingly bad. Wish people would just accept that now instead of sugarcoating it and making excuses.

[Woodleyclaret]

VK and Pace need to sit down with the management team and discuss communication breakdown between players and them
Personally I thought the decision to leave out Jay , Annas,Benny ,Jack Cork and Muric bewildering.
Players in the team are performing poorly giving half arsed effort Brownhill was dire yesterday and needs talking to by VK
These players are talented we just need to sort out these issues with VK .

[RVclaret]

We will finish on 28 points.
Forest will finish on 34 and be deduced 5 points.
We will go down.
We will get 138 points next season.
Europa League the season after.
Not sure about the one after, my crystal ball ran out of battery.

[blatherwickstattoos]

We ain’t coming back up with this squad

[Cooclaret]

VK and Pace need to sit down with the management team and discuss communication breakdown between players and them
Personally I thought the decision to leave out Jay , Annas,Benny ,Jack Cork and Muric bewildering.
Players in the team are performing poorly giving half arsed effort Brownhill was dire yesterday and needs talking to by VK
These players are talented we just need to sort out these issues with VK .

How do you know there is a communication break down? Christ on a bike but that’s a ridiculous thing to state as fact.

[Cooclaret]

We ain’t coming back up with this squad

I think exactly the opposite. The squad isn’t the issue. The lack of in game management after the pre game plan goes to the wall is the issue in my opinion.

The Premier League is a step too far (atm) for Kompany and his team. I think he should be answering with his job. If he doesn’t, I expect the team to win the Championship next year.

How you motivate a squad of players who have been spanked week in week out is a difficult question to answer. I’d suggest it should be right at the top of the pile when the Chairman meets with his management team.

I think we’ve seen that there will be further player churn over the summer. I can’t see Cork, JRod, etc staying. I would like Brownhill to go, Taylor to go.

[bfcjg]

If we don't get up first time we are well and truly screwed.

[CoolClaret]

We will finish on 28 points.
Forest will finish on 34 and be deduced 5 points.
We will go down.
We will get 138 points next season.
Europa League the season after.
Not sure about the one after, my crystal ball ran out of battery.

This is verbatim exactly what I/others were saying happy clappers would post as the season unfolded.

The narrative has gone from:

- "Well you can't judge us at home against City/Villa/Spurs"
- "You can't judge us until we've played 10 games and properly gelled"
- "Our season starts with our run of games starting away at Bournemouth"
- "Our season starts at home to Palace"
- "We played well at Wolves and Villa, our season starts when we get reinforcements in, in January"

Now we're at the "we'll win the league again next season without a problem, trust the 5 year project" - I'm really not sure how you do that after going down in the manner that we are. Catastrophic seasons have hangovers.

[Neil]

The best case scenario for next season is a repeat of last season which I believe is highly unlikely though a hard fought promotion is not impossible.

I don't think I'll enjoy it as much as last time round though as we now know what's waiting for us.

I keep reading that Kompany will learn from his mistakes but to me, he shouldn't be making them in the first place or he should have learned from them already.

What's going through your mind buying winger after winger in the summer? If, and it's still an if, your plan is to buy young players and sell them at a profit, why not spread that around the team? Buy a young left back, buy a young centre forward etc.

If you're getting pumped every week, why not set up differently? A blind man could tell after 6 weeks (by which time we'd played teams "more on our level") that we could not go toe to toe with the vast majority of prem teams.

As a defender with a statue outside the Etihad, why do corners against us feel like penalties?

You expect a four year old to wander onto a busy road but not a fully grown man.

[RVclaret]

This is verbatim exactly what I/others were saying happy clappers would post as the season unfolded.

The narrative has gone from:

- "Well you can't judge us at home against City/Villa/Spurs"
- "You can't judge us until we've played 10 games and properly gelled"
- "Our season starts with our run of games starting away at Bournemouth"
- "Our season starts at home to Palace"
- "We played well at Wolves and Villa, our season starts when we get reinforcements in, in January"

Now we're at the "we'll win the league again next season without a problem, trust the 5 year project" - I'm really not sure how you do that after going down in the manner that we are. Catastrophic seasons have hangovers.

My crystal ball is not a happy clapper. It’s a crystal ball.

[claretspice]

OK let's have a go at an optimistic, but not wholly implausible scenario.

We sell a few players this season to rationalise the squad and raise some cash, but keep a core that includes O'Shea, Esteve, Bayer, Cullen, Ramsey, Foster, Koleosho, Zaroury, Redmond and perhaps Amdouni, and bring in an experienced central midfielder. Let's imagine too that VK has managed those players who have been marginalised this season by talking to them so they understand what VK wants from them and so do not want away.

That team realises its potential and gets promoted.

The team needs less turnover next time and us better equipped for this season's experience. It survives, comfortably, and those callow players we see now and still young, but are also saleable assets who realise over a couple of seasons significant cash for reinvestment.

I'm not saying that will happen, but it's at least as plausibly the ambition as looking to flip every player for a quick buck.

Noone has a clue what our finances are to know what relegation means, although I'd be surprised if with a couple of exceptions, we are paying the sortnof weekly wages we were to the team that came down last time and how we need to trade may reflect that.

[claretspice]

Catastrophic seasons have hangovers.

Sometimes. But it's midnight and it's up to us whether to stop drinking and have a few pints if water to make sure we're feeling a bit better in the morning. That's a choice for VK and his staff, the players, but also fans.

2019/20 Norwich managed 21 points. They kept their heads, had their water and won the Championship with 97 points the year after. It isnt a foregone conclusion we struggle to bounce back, however bad this season has undoubtedly been.

[alwaysaclaret]

VK and Pace need to sit down with the management team and discuss communication breakdown between players and them
Personally I thought the decision to leave out Jay , Annas,Benny ,Jack Cork and Muric bewildering.
Players in the team are performing poorly giving half arsed effort Brownhill was dire yesterday and needs talking to by VK
These players are talented we just need to sort out these issues with VK .

If anyone gave effort yesterday it was Brownhill imo, problem was it was just chasing round like a headless chicken most of the time, but as captain he needs to show some leadership, problem is though, there's no other leaders working with him, in esteve's first game at the turf I was extremely impressed as soon as he came on the pitch he wanted to organise the back four and was very eager for players to put some effort in, strangely it was totally missing from he's game yesterday, who's ripped that from him. And I also think the idea of outcasting the player's you've mentioned was bewildering, and will more than likely be the thing that cost's us, especially muric imo.

[warksclaret]

My fear is that VK has been badly beaten up, and he does not know when the next beating is coming, but its imminent. He was the "can do no wrong of the Championship", with Spurs and Chelsea supposedly interested in him. He thought he could be rubbing shoulders this season with some of the finest coaches in the PL with his brand of football-not winning all games but giving the media something to write about with his sexy football

My fear is that he has been too badly damaged now which is affecting his confused style of play, tactics, team selection, and his interviews. I feel for him as he brought so much joy to fans last season, however I cannot help but feel his naievity has led to this horrible situation for club and fanspwas

[warksclaret]

My fear is that VK has been badly beaten up, and he does not know when the next beating is coming, but its imminent. He was the "can do no wrong of the Championship", with Spurs and Chelsea supposedly interested in him. He thought he could be rubbing shoulders this season with some of the finest coaches in the PL with his brand of football-not winning all games but giving the media something to write about with his sexy football

My fear is that he has been too badly damaged now which is affecting his confused style of play, tactics, team selection, and his interviews. I feel for him as he brought so much joy to fans last season, however I cannot help but feel his naievity has led to this horrible situation for club and fan

[helmclaret]

Sometimes. But it's midnight and it's up to us whether to stop drinking and have a few pints if water to make sure we're feeling a bit better in the morning. That's a choice for VK and his staff, the players, but also fans.

2019/20 Norwich managed 21 points. They kept their heads, had their water and won the Championship with 97 points the year after. It isnt a foregone conclusion we struggle to bounce back, however bad this season has undoubtedly been.

The fans will continue to turn up every week. We’ve been very patient this season and it feels like a long, slow death.

Yes, next season might be great again, but we are in Feb and the fans are totally deflated. That’s not good.

[Ric_C]

It's been the worst season I can remember, an absolute car crash. The fact the crowd hasn't become more hostile is testament to our over-arching belief that this will all work out somehow.

What went through my mind yesterday is this. In the second half I was getting behind JBG, Jay Rod and Fofana. The first two is because they had much credit in the bank from past seasons, and that they care about the club. Fofana because he was showing genuine effort. I truly believe we would have much more of a connect with this team if more of past seasons group were playing along with THB and Tella.

It boggles the mind that we are meant to get behind a team who currently we only have seen lose time and time again. There are no good times with these players, which makes the decision to rip up last seasons team even more baffling. Watching players like Amdouni and Ramsey jogging round the pitch week in week out is getting on my nerves.

I think VK should stay, but we really need to get a grip on what to do in the summer. His style WILL NOT WORK in the prem for a club the size of ours. It's ok buying good ball players in the championship and having 65% possession most games, but he needs a plan B & C, because the players he needs to start buying from now on if possible need to have some kind of physicality, heart and power, because if he doesn't the same thing will happen next season if we go up again.

Look at Luton, the only way to compete in this league for a club our size, is to have a mix of youth and experience, a few brawlers, hard men, mixed with some decent ball playing options. How the powers that be didn't see this in the summer was puzzling.

Yesterday felt like back to square one. He has shown he is not learning, and if he was sacked tomorrow I'm sure we could move on. He is extremely lucky to still be a premier league manager.

[CoolClaret]

***Ric_C's content***

Agreed with a lot of this - good post, just this point:

I think VK should stay, but we really need to get a grip on what to do in the summer. His style WILL NOT WORK in the prem for a club the size of ours. It's ok buying good ball players in the championship and having 65% possession most games, but he needs a plan B & C, because the players he needs to start buying from now on if possible need to have some kind of physicality, heart and power, because if he doesn't the same thing will happen next season if we go up again.

I don't think we've attempted to play that style at all in the PL. Muric was instrumental in our passing out from the back and Traff doesn't have it in his locker.

We're like a mishmash of styles rn with 0 identity. Like Brighton but an awful version of them, 'drawing the press' but unable to beat in and faffing around with the ball at the back at a tepid pace.

It's a far cry from our passing football that we grew to love.

[alwaysaclaret]

It's been the worst season I can remember, an absolute car crash. The fact the crowd hasn't become more hostile is testament to our over-arching belief that this will all work out somehow.

What went through my mind yesterday is this. In the second half I was getting behind JBG, Jay Rod and Fofana. The first two is because they had much credit in the bank from past seasons, and that they care about the club. Fofana because he was showing genuine effort. I truly believe we would have much more of a connect with this team if more of past seasons group were playing along with THB and Tella.

It boggles the mind that we are meant to get behind a team who currently we only have seen lose time and time again. There are no good times with these players, which makes the decision to rip up last seasons team even more baffling. Watching players like Amdouni and Ramsey jogging round the pitch week in week out is getting on my nerves.

I think VK should stay, but we really need to get a grip on what to do in the summer. His style WILL NOT WORK in the prem for a club the size of ours. It's ok buying good ball players in the championship and having 65% possession most games, but he needs a plan B & C, because the players he needs to start buying from now on if possible need to have some kind of physicality, heart and power, because if he doesn't the same thing will happen next season if we go up again.

Look at Luton, the only way to compete in this league for a club our size, is to have a mix of youth and experience, a few brawlers, hard men, mixed with some decent ball playing options. How the powers that be didn't see this in the summer was puzzling.

Yesterday felt like back to square one. He has shown he is not learning, and if he was sacked tomorrow I'm sure we could move on. He is extremely lucky to still be a premier league manager.

Think he'll need to sell a few before he can buy, and he may have a bit of a problem with that, cos he'll be selling at a loss after a season like this, but I agree with the points you making.

[getbennyon]

Sometimes. But it's midnight and it's up to us whether to stop drinking and have a few pints if water to make sure we're feeling a bit better in the morning. That's a choice for VK and his staff, the players, but also fans.

2019/20 Norwich managed 21 points. They kept their heads, had their water and won the Championship with 97 points the year after. It isnt a foregone conclusion we struggle to bounce back, however bad this season has undoubtedly been.

You've given one example.

There are already a lot more examples of what's likely to happen without going back 4 years to find one.

[bumba]

a couple of tweaks and we will be ok next season I think. Leicester have already lost two more games than we did all last season and we didn't really get going for the first 3rd of it (at least)

Leicester would hammer us 3/4-0 they've got a much team than we have now in my opinion

[Terry Cochrane]

Preparing for the championship can begin in earnest in May. Sell the ones who don’t want to drop a League, cut the wage bill on those who aren’t worth PL wages if we can by letting them go too. Then buy good young players hungry and keen as we did 18 months ago.

[spt_claret]

From a purely "Who can we sell to raise money" perspective Muric is the most interesting.

He will want away in the summer, Trafford did nothing wrong yesterday, but its time to put Music in the shop window and protect his value.

Everyone will say I'm just saying this because I'm in the Muric camp but Trafford was weak for 3 of the 5 goals yesterday. Entirely at fault for any? No. Main culprit? No. There were bigger mistakes by other players (or the ref). But he was weak for the first 3.

1st- you get beaten by a long shot a couple times in a season, it's a good strike. You get beaten by them as often as he is- it's a pattern. He can't sight the ball or position himself to give himself the best chance of stopping it. He's beaten from distance more than any PL keeper I recall for us.

2nd- Shouldn't have been a penalty, but it's not struck all that hard, he goes the right way, but just goes to his knee then makes a 2nd go of it. Didn't commit properly or correctly, more an experience issue than anything but still could have done better.

3rd- Defence completely wide open and offers nothing, but he does his trademark stylish dive at nothing, beaten at the near post. Commentary even said that youd say he should do better at the near post like that, but that the defence gave that away.

Not the primary fault for any but he's still poor on those 3. No chance with number 4, 5 it's right under his armpit but a 1-on-1 is always unfavoured for the keeper so can't expect much there.

Catastrophic seasons have hangovers.

I think a lot of people really underestimate mentality's role in sport. Past a certain level of fitness and technical skill it's all about mentality.
Look at Coyle/Laws. Laws gets maligned because he was a very limited tactician who wasn't inspiring either, but then look at the context:
Coyle had taken this team to a cup semifinal and promotion, players have gone on record saying his trick was to make you believe you're as good or better than whoever the opposition is. At home, until late November or so it was working, our lads played like they were kings of the world. Away, the story didn't stick, and reality began to sink in. Then Coyle leaves, and the manner of it matters to players as much as fans- this guy who's sold you the story that you're as good as Rooney, Gerrard, Drogba etc. disappears in the night to a rival, taking every single staffer down to the kitman, takes all the new players you thought would be joining your lads, says a team below you in the league is 10 years ahead. In comes a new guy with 2 weeks to sign people while you're still reeling from this betrayal of trust & confidence, very early on you're up against him and he clearly sets out to hobble you- Alexander, McCann and Duff got kicked to hell that game and Coyle had said previously we were thin in the centre and couldnt afford injuries at the back.
That's going to devastate morale which will ruin performances. Add in the new guy having a different way of working which doesn't inspire you to believe you're world beaters, it's a major ego whiplash. Some of them will crater, some of them will get bigger egos out of defensiveness.

Currently we have a team of youngsters with potential, getting run ragged, not always showing a ton of grit of togetherness as if they've been sold a shop window story as a reason to be here, they know they're on a hiding to nothing most games, several standouts from last year are benched or absent and never getting a try no matter what's happening while the manager tells the press everyones' had a fair chance and the basics are all there. Those comments by Kompany worry me more than anything because that is just not true. And that's when I worry about man management and the ability to brush this season off and go again fresh, because that's ALL about mentality.

If Kompany can shake this malaise for next season with himself and these players that's honestly a man-management wonder job on par with his summer 2022 dealings. We're not in a personnel crisis, but we are in a mentality/identity crisis. It's genuinely basic sports psychology.

[CoolClaret]

I think a lot of people really underestimate mentality's role in sport. Past a certain level of fitness and technical skill it's all about mentality.

It's huge mate, you can't quantify it either with stats and data.

Not only in football but in combat sports - how many fighters run through everyone then get one loss and lose multiple on the spin?

Conor McGregor was the King of the world, couldn't be beaten, then Nate Diaz tapped him and he couldn't buy a win.

Discarding the team in the manner which he has done is criminal.

[spt_claret]

It's huge mate, you can't quantify it either with stats and data.

Not only in football but in combat sports - how many fighters run through everyone then get one loss and lose multiple on the spin?

Conor McGregor was the King of the world, couldn't be beaten, then Nate Diaz tapped him and he couldn't buy a win.

Discarding the team in the manner which he has done is criminal.

I'd say it's a tough 1:1 that as it's even more evident in combat sports- both as a big fan of watching boxing/MMA and from my own amateur experience years ago- but I agree.
It's one thing Dyche was excellent at, recruiting character & mentality. Granted it's a lot easier to do that if you mainly shop in leagues you know and have a lot of contacts in, but it's also why I never got the 'Dinosaur Dyche' stuff. Look at everyone who's worked with him, they say how forward thinking he is, he's way ahead of the game on a lot of mental health management of players. Treacy loves him and says Dyche extended his career. Barton was only sane under Dyche. Defour, elite elite player, loves him. Trippier same. Dele Alli's spoke highly of him.

I sometimes wonder if the elite players struggle to manage this aspect for the simple fact that it comes naturally to them. Both on a skill level, and a mental focus level. Take someone like Ronaldo or Messi. Brilliant players, obsessively focused and driven to the point they forget almost everything else, it verges on spectrum behaviour which isn't super conducive to understanding and managing players who either aren't as good, or have a different way of thinking/feeling. Whereas less successful players have often had to learn how to graft or figure things out in other ways and be mentally adaptable. It's not a 1:1 rule of course, Ancelotti was a top player in his prime and probably the most adaptable manager in history, Zidane & Pep both elite players who know how to coach elite players, but it's a consideration I have sometimes. Elite player/journeyman as a manager/assistant would seem the ideal combo to me for a wider understanding not just of the tactical side but of understanding a player's mindset and their physical/mental limitations. Dyche/Kompany would be a hell of a team on paper.

[Belgianclaret]

I for one am looking forward to 6 points against the barstewards.
Except of course if they would get relegated themselves

[FCBurnley]

From a purely "Who can we sell to raise money" perspective Muric is the most interesting.

He will want away in the summer, Trafford did nothing wrong yesterday, but its time to put Music in the shop window and protect his value.

His distribution was awful and I can’t recall him making a save of note

[kentonclaret]

At least we can’t blame woeful finishing since we couldn’t muster a single shot on target for the entire 90+ minutes.

Trafford to blame for the defeat for sure.

[BobSykes]

It's worth remembering that Leicester went down with 34 points, Leeds 31 and Southampton 25. At the moment we are a million miles away from picking up the same number of points. Our team is much much poorer than the 3 that went down last year.

Watford and Norwich went down with 23/22 points the last time we were relegated and haven't come back.

The season previously saw Sheffield United pick up 23 points, promoted 2 seasons later and West Brom on 26 who haven't come back.

Everything is pointed to a sustained spell in the Championship with debts of approx £200million.

A chilling post.

But i agree with every word of it.

I truly think we're in the biggest mess for years and all we've achieved in the past 30 stands in peril.

[helmclaret]

I don't know how anyone can say that. The squad might be totally different again in the summer.

[mdd2]

SD aging squad has Tarks Mee Collins Wood Pope McNeil still playing in the Prem league. I wonder how many of this squad will be in the Prem League next season. Might add Cornet but he doesnt seem to be doing much.
Have we ever had a worse home record P13 W1 D2 L10 F13 A 32 Pts 5 or 4 in the old days

[ClaretPete001]

The future is a mystery but one thing is certain we will not have a sustained spell in the Championship with debts of £200 million.

[Chester Perry]

The future is a mystery but one thing is certain we will not have a sustained spell in the Championship with debts of £200 million.

even if we include the outstanding transfer fees, and there are some around the game who think we should, it won't be £200m,

The more pressing financial concerns are in relation to the presumed refinancing with MGG - we do not know what that sum is, or if there are relegation enforced repayments like we saw with MSD. Financiers may see that as an offset of staying up bonuses and associated conditional transfer fee payments - a levelling out of cost one way or another. Of course one is the harbinger of substantially less income going forward and of a much less settled squad.

[Jamesy]

Preparing for the championship can begin in earnest in May. Sell the ones who don’t want to drop a League, cut the wage bill on those who aren’t worth PL wages if we can by letting them go too. Then buy good young players hungry and keen as we did 18 months ago.

I agree with this but it is a rather simplistic view on it. I really hope the club have factored relegation clauses into all of these players we have signed with potential. Otherwise we will be stuck with them, or struggling to move them out on loan.

[ClaretPete001]

even if we include the outstanding transfer fees, and there are some around the game who think we should, it won't be £200m,

The more pressing financial concerns are in relation to the presumed refinancing with MGG - we do not know what that sum is, or if there are relegation enforced repayments like we saw with MSD. Financiers may see that as an offset of staying up bonuses and associated conditional transfer fee payments - a levelling out of cost one way or another. Of course one is the harbinger of substantially less income going forward and of a much less settled squad.

'Everything is pointed to a sustained spell in the Championship with debts of approx £200million

Indeed I was quoting the poster above and just saying that can't happen....!

I don't think anyone knows what the debt is but we are very unlikely to be in the Championship either way because the debt is too high to sustain financially or we will have to sell so many assets it will be untenable from a playing perspective.

My personal view is that we are already in a position where a sustained period in the Championship is very unlikely.

[NewClaret]

A chilling post.

But i agree with every word of it.

I truly think we're in the biggest mess for years and all we've achieved in the past 30 stands in peril.

You agree we’re in £200m of debt?

On what basis?

[bfcjg]

My real worry for next season is on the pitch. What player will want to sign for us knowing that if we go up they won't get a chance in the Premier league.

[boatshed bill]

SD aging squad has Tarks Mee Collins Wood Pope McNeil still playing in the Prem league. I wonder how many of this squad will be in the Prem League next season. Might add Cornet but he doesnt seem to be doing much.
Have we ever had a worse home record P13 W1 D2 L10 F13 A 32 Pts 5 or 4 in the old days

Did you see the Brentford highlights?
Collins!!!!