Summer ££££'s

[burnley007]

Another step closer to safety...which got me thinking...

How much will we spend on signings in the summer??
Do we have any other planned expenses? Ground/training/debt?

I can see us spending a fair wedge this year... £20-30m+. Plus whatever we get in from sales.

What does anyone else reckon?

[HelloHiGoodbye]

A maximum of £25m on transfers. Wages - who knows?

[mikeS]

Just think, they'll be able to re-paint all the seats again in the BL and CFS.

[minnieclaret]

The £100m plus anything from sales, puts us in a strong position. The priority has to be replacing any valuable players sold with quality. Then an upgrade in the odd position or two.
I would park £50m in the bank

[MiltonKeynesClaret93]

Be nice to tidy up the ground a bit more.
Get rid of the gunk on the Jimmy Mac and James Hargreaves stands

[burnley007]

Do we have any ground improvements planned?

[Cleveleys_claret]

Possible/likely sales:

Keane 25 +
Gray 15
Defour 8

Reckon selling them guys will see us spend that money and not even have to dig into our money

[Cleveleys_claret]

The Keane money will virtually fund our summer spending....coupled with Gray who we will be looking at selling in my opinion if a contract isn't looking like being signed.

Also Brady and Westwood will be like new signing after a full summer. Fingers crossed we pick up a few shrewd signings....possibly Stephens on a free, Taylor at Leeds who is being made to sit on the bench seeing out his contract.

[Guitargeorge]

What happened to the plans to upgrade the dressing rooms and move them to a new block? I also think that a capacity increase could be on the cards if we are successful in retaining our place in the PL

[Cleveleys_claret]

Why upgrade the changing rooms? Clubs hate them, imagine being on megabucks, rocking up and seeing our facilities. Sometimes the games are won before a ball has been kicked with superstars not feeling it.

I think at the moment And for the next season or two we need the extra edge these little things may give us

[Spijed]

What happened to the plans to upgrade the dressing rooms and move them to a new block? I also think that a capacity increase could be on the cards if we are successful in retaining our place in the PL

We only fill the ground for the top 6 clubs. The rest we don't come close.

[Cleveleys_claret]

I would say virtually every game we are within 2k of capacity. Now not all teams use their full quota which would knock that down. Also the lost seats from splitting the CFS.

Then there is the issue of families possibly not being able to get seats together from what is remaining so not bothering. If we have the money an extra 4/5k would be worth looking at in my opinion. Possibly update/ expand the Bob Lord. Not saying they will be filled immediately but while we have it and in a preseason where i believe we will break even on transfer outgoings/incomings why not.

[burnley007]

Is there still talk of rebuilding the CFS? Hotel/bar etc. Plus parking after relocation the Cricket Club?

How much has our foreign scouting improved?

[Roosterbooster]

I've been wondering about whether or not increasing ground capacity is a good idea. Against some clubs we could undoubtedly sell more tickets, but this would leave a much higher proportion of empty seats in other fixtures. Nobody likes an empty ground. I think we would be much better leaving the capacity as is, and increasing the demand, to a point where we are sold out (or close to it) every game. Once this was established then I think the time to consider expansion would also present itself, but not before.

[martin_p]

I would say virtually every game we are within 2k of capacity. Now not all teams use their full quota which would knock that down. Also the lost seats from splitting the CFS.

Then there is the issue of families possibly not being able to get seats together from what is remaining so not bothering. If we have the money an extra 4/5k would be worth looking at in my opinion. Possibly update/ expand the Bob Lord. Not saying they will be filled immediately but while we have it and in a preseason where i believe we will break even on transfer outgoings/incomings why not.

You've got to go back to the 62/63 season to find an average attendance which wouldn't fit into our current ground (although clearly there are individual matches that don't). The capacity is fine. If anything a continued stay in the prem is likely to lead to a slight reduction in attendances as the novelty wears off.

[Cleveleys_claret]

Talking of scouting I would be trying to headhunt somebody like Elias at Fulham. The talent they have coming through is awesome. Also lots of shrewd young buys. Steve Walsh at Leicester shows what a massive influence these guys can have if they are good at their jobs

[hampsteadclaret]

You'd better have a word first with Burnley Cricket Club, about 'relocation'...before any other plans are made.

[fatboy47]

Possible/likely sales:

Keane 25 +
Gray 15
Defour 8

Reckon selling them guys will see us spend that money and not even have to dig into our money

Keane 15 (some of which will make it's way to Old Trafford...1 year on contract)

Gray.. 0 will stay.. Don't think he will want to drop to champ...Prem clubs with that kind of loot will want better...Top 6 won't be interested in the slightest...if he does go we will probably recoup slightly more than we paid ...Maybe 8/9m

Defour..Not easy to shift him on with his injury record...may even go without a fee as we cut our losses on him.

[minnieclaret]

Keane 15 (some of which will make it's way to Old Trafford...1 year on contract)

Gray.. 0 will stay.. Don't think he will want to drop to champ...Prem clubs with that kind of loot will want better...Top 6 won't be interested in the slightest...if he does go we will probably recoup slightly more than we paid ...Maybe 8/9m

Defour..Not easy to shift him on with his injury record...may even go without a fee as we cut our losses on him.

Keane. £30m, after his two excellent England appearances.
Gray. £20m, Hogan has just gone to Villa for £15m ffs.
Defour. Who knows but certainly not what we paid for him.

[Cleveleys_claret]

My take on detour is that we will get our money back at least. Even with his ìnjury record a middle East club or Chinese team will have him. They will pay what we want. We aren't in the business of giving players away any more. We do seem to get good value for players as shown with Jones last summer

[Sutton-Claret]

There's also been other rumours about player sales - Arfield to Newcastle was one. We could have a fair amount of rebuilding to do.

[FactualFrank]

For increasing capacity, how many season tickets did we sell this season and is there a limit to how many we can sell with regards to % of capacity?

[CnBtruntru]

Doubt we will get much for Defour, probably more for the massage treatment table he spends most of his time on.

[TopCat]

Defour just needs a Dyche pre-season.

[Royboyclaret]

"For increasing capacity, how many season tickets did we sell this season and is there a limit to how many we can sell with regards to % of capacity?"


The club seem reluctant to divulge such information for some reason (similar to witholding information on away ticket allocations and sales) but we do know that in our first season back in the PL in '09/'10 we unexpectedly hit the maximum figure of 16,500 very quickly. That left a further 2,500 for walk-ons for a total of 19,000 home fans.

Suggestions are that we have not quite reached that figure after subsequent promotions and, for the current season, there are probably some 3,000 tickets available for walk-ons.

As regards the OP all the finance for the training ground upgrade was ringfenced after the previous promotion and there should be no need for further debt for the forseeable future. Wages is easier to estimate, at around £38m/£40m for the current season, than potential spend levels on incoming transfers. If Keane leaves us then it's possible that the net spend will be around zero.

[The Enclosure]

Defour just needs a Dyche pre-season.

That would probably the last nail in his coffin.

[bfcmik]

We have spent £38m+ this season so I would expect at least that, if not a little more, to be spent next season. Much depends on who is available tat fits the Dyche mould and, more importantly, who is willing to come.

[Spijed]

"For increasing capacity, how many season tickets did we sell this season and is there a limit to how many we can sell with regards to % of capacity?"


The club seem reluctant to divulge such information for some reason (similar to witholding information on away ticket allocations and sales) but we do know that in our first season back in the PL in '09/'10 we unexpectedly hit the maximum figure of 16,500 very quickly. That left a further 2,500 for walk-ons for a total of 19,000 home fans.

Suggestions are that we have not quite reached that figure after subsequent promotions and, for the current season, there are probably some 3,000 tickets available for walk-ons.

As regards the OP all the finance for the training ground upgrade was ringfenced after the previous promotion and there should be no need for further debt for the forseeable future. Wages is easier to estimate, at around £38m/£40m for the current season, than potential spend levels on incoming transfers. If Keane leaves us then it's possible that the net spend will be around zero.

And don't forget the extra £2 million per place we'll get from 17th upwards if we survive.

[Chester Perry]

And don't forget the extra £2 million per place we'll get from 17th upwards if we survive.

suspect a sizable chunk of that will go in bonuses for keeping us in the league - fully expect with bonuses our wage bill to be at least £55m this year and quite possibly a chunk more

[Royboyclaret]

" fully expect with bonuses our wage bill to be at least £55m this year and quite possibly a chunk more"


Not a chance, that's far too high.

You're assuming there'll be bonuses for avoiding relegation which maybe the case, maybe not. If so they certainly won't match the £11.2m paid last year for promotion. Wages to Jun'16 were £27.1m.

[Chester Perry]

Hope you are right Royboy - I really do - but staying up is worth more than last years promotion because it guarantees that extra year of parachute payments - the bonuses will be significant not to mention the bonuses to transfer fees to clubs for staying up (not wages I know- but still bonuses) - certainly for Gray and probably Hendrick, JBG and Pope, even Defour - not sure about Westwood and Brady. Do Utd get extra for Keane playing for England?. it all adds up

Always scares me how quickly money disappears from a clubs grasp in this game