What is the long-term plan?

[FMBlade1]

Hoping not to jinx it but we are probably going to stay-up this year and barring extraordinary set of circumstances we won't be in the Premier League next year either.

We are approaching the January transfer window which is a challenging one to trade in but we can expect a couple of deals and departures.

The owners in the summer tried to move on from Wilder going to an AI model and recruiting more foreign players. Whilst it didn't work and they quickly corrected course, I hope that we don't go from one extreme to the other and think carefully about where we are/need to be.

Ultimately after the second year of parachute payments we'll have to accept that we won't be able to keep as many players as we have so will have to cut our cloth accordingly.

Asides from that, would be interested in what people think the longer term plan should be. Academy players? Rely on loans? International scouting? Domestic scouting? Off-the-pitch improvements?

Appreciate we've been fire-fighting over the past few months scrambling out of the bottom three but would hope the powers that be have some plans with Wilder about where we are/should be over the next few years as we move into the next decade of football.

 

[Darren William]

Hoping not to jinx it but we are probably going to stay-up this year and barring extraordinary set of circumstances we won't be in the Premier League next year either.

We are approaching the January transfer window which is a challenging one to trade in but we can expect a couple of deals and departures.

The owners in the summer tried to move on from Wilder going to an AI model and recruiting more foreign players. Whilst it didn't work and they quickly corrected course, I hope that we don't go from one extreme to the other and think carefully about where we are/need to be.

Ultimately after the second year of parachute payments we'll have to accept that we won't be able to keep as many players as we have so will have to cut our cloth accordingly.

Asides from that, would be interested in what people think the longer term plan should be. Academy players? Rely on loans? International scouting? Domestic scouting? Off-the-pitch improvements?

Appreciate we've been fire-fighting over the past few months scrambling out of the bottom three but would hope the powers that be have some plans with Wilder about where we are/should be over the next few years as we move into the next decade of football.

After reading about whats been on sky sports! The new owners just paying for the club to the former owner is short terms plans !!!.

 

[Rodley]

We currently look like blowing most Champ sides out of the water, but I think the question on everyone’s lips is whether this fine run of form can continue and propel us into potential glory…

 

[Sheffsteel]

Hoping not to jinx it but we are probably going to stay-up this year and barring extraordinary set of circumstances we won't be in the Premier League next year either.

We are approaching the January transfer window which is a challenging one to trade in but we can expect a couple of deals and departures.

The owners in the summer tried to move on from Wilder going to an AI model and recruiting more foreign players. Whilst it didn't work and they quickly corrected course, I hope that we don't go from one extreme to the other and think carefully about where we are/need to be.

Ultimately after the second year of parachute payments we'll have to accept that we won't be able to keep as many players as we have so will have to cut our cloth accordingly.

Asides from that, would be interested in what people think the longer term plan should be. Academy players? Rely on loans? International scouting? Domestic scouting? Off-the-pitch improvements?

Appreciate we've been fire-fighting over the past few months scrambling out of the bottom three but would hope the powers that be have some plans with Wilder about where we are/should be over the next few years as we move into the next decade of football.

I’m expecting our owners to be professional business men and set the transfer and salary budget as per FFP restrictions.
So in order to bring in players we’ll be for forced to sell our best player most seasons but only if we receive a big offer.

Suspect we’ll become (at best) like Middlesborough, showing fair ambition but we won’t be able to compete financially with any of the parachute clubs

So think from next year think we’ll finish 6th to 12th ….unfortunately this season will be our best chance for promotion.

Our fanbase seem to be a little self entitled these days….don't think many realise we’ve started the season with one of the highest budgets in the EFL.
This is only due to receiving large Sky (£35 million and £45 million a season) payments…..this could reduce to the standard £7 million next season.

 

[Berkshire Blade]

Hire a manager with a track record of building a side in the championship with not much money... Good job we have one

If we don't go up there will be painful decisions in the summer but I think we have the best guy for that job already

 

[jt64]

Hoping not to jinx it but we are probably going to stay-up this year and barring extraordinary set of circumstances we won't be in the Premier League next year either.

We are approaching the January transfer window which is a challenging one to trade in but we can expect a couple of deals and departures.

The owners in the summer tried to move on from Wilder going to an AI model and recruiting more foreign players. Whilst it didn't work

Way too soon to say that.

 

[ckpe147]

Rely on loans?

I think you've answered your own question. 7 last season, 5 already this season with 2 going back...

 

[Sky Blues]

Suspect we’ll become (at best) like Middlesborough, showing fair ambition but we won’t be able to compete financially with any of the parachute clubs

You don't have to compete financially with the parachute clubs. You just have to be wiser with the money.

Middlesbrough are doing OK so far this season. There's only 1 parachute side in the top 10 and there's a decent chance it will 3 sides without any parachute payments going up this season.

 

[Carlton Blade]

 

[Tarqs]

I’m expecting our owners to be professional business men and set the transfer and salary budget as per FFP restrictions.
So in order to bring in players we’ll be for forced to sell our best player most seasons but only if we receive a big offer.

Suspect we’ll become (at best) like Middlesborough, showing fair ambition but we won’t be able to compete financially with any of the parachute clubs

So think from next year think we’ll finish 6th to 12th ….unfortunately this season will be our best chance for promotion.

Our fanbase seem to be a little self entitled these days….don't think many realise we’ve started the season with one of the highest budgets in the EFL.
This is only due to receiving large Sky (£35 million and £45 million a season) payments…..this could reduce to the standard £7 million next season.

If entitled is expecting to be challenging top half of championship, having spent half of the last 6 years in the premier league..... then call me entitled.

I call it ambition.

 

[Brian Deane]

If entitled is expecting to be challenging top half of championship, having spent half of the last 6 years in the premier league..... then call me entitled.

I call it ambition.

We don't really do "ambition" the intent is there but it's as far as it gets unless things do really change.....

 

[Pollingtonblade]

Become Palace would do for me, established Prem team occasionally win a cup and get into Europe

 

[Carlton Blade]

I’m expecting our owners to be professional business men and set the transfer and salary budget as per FFP restrictions.
So in order to bring in players we’ll be for forced to sell our best player most seasons but only if we receive a big offer.

Suspect we’ll become (at best) like Middlesborough, showing fair ambition but we won’t be able to compete financially with any of the parachute clubs

So think from next year think we’ll finish 6th to 12th ….unfortunately this season will be our best chance for promotion.

Our fanbase seem to be a little self entitled these days….don't think many realise we’ve started the season with one of the highest budgets in the EFL.
This is only due to receiving large Sky (£35 million and £45 million a season) payments…..this could reduce to the standard £7 million next season.

The narrative that wanting your team to do well, and compete at a level consumate with the money the club spends on it's 1st team is being "entitled", is almost as bad as the people telling fans not to celebrate.

At no time in history has football Fandom been anything other than aspirational. There has been no point when United have been in the Championship and the fans have said "that's enough for me. I'm just glad we didn't lose 3-0 today".

 

[FriethBlade]

Wilder has talked positively in interviews about having presented his plan to the board and them being supportive. Getting rid of Godfrey alone must free up a big sum per month. If we assume another 3 will go back then you'd think 4 players will come in a replacements.

The wild card is whether we lose one of our saleable assets and how much of thst is reinvested. I wouldn't be at all surprised if one of Hamer or Peck is poached away in January.

 

[Houston_Blade]

You don't have to compete financially with the parachute clubs. You just have to be wiser with the money.

Middlesbrough are doing OK so far this season. There's only 1 parachute side in the top 10 and there's a decent chance it will 3 sides without any parachute payments going up this season.

1 good season out of the last 25 and suddenly you’re the experts

 

[Rodley]

Become Palace would do for me, established Prem team occasionally win a cup and get into Europe

Would be our most successful spell in 50 years. And I’d love every bastard minute.

 

[bakeblade]

You don't have to compete financially with the parachute clubs. You just have to be wiser with the money.

Middlesbrough are doing OK so far this season. There's only 1 parachute side in the top 10 and there's a decent chance it will 3 sides without any parachute payments going up this season.

Coventry are showing how to do it and they havent been in the premier league for 25 years

 

[YES Blade]

I think we need a better strategy than just getting Premier League money, spending it on players and hoping for the best.

There is a high chance it won’t happen but it would be a better long term plan to invest in the club infrastructure. We’d stand a much better chance of establishing ourselves at the highest level with top class training facilities, academy and stadium.

 

[Ned the Donkey]

The narrative that wanting your team to do well, and compete at a level consumate with the money the club spends on it's 1st team is being "entitled"

This confuses ambition with entitlement.

 

[Champagneblade]

Hoping not to jinx it but we are probably going to stay-up this year and barring extraordinary set of circumstances we won't be in the Premier League next year either.

We are approaching the January transfer window which is a challenging one to trade in but we can expect a couple of deals and departures.

The owners in the summer tried to move on from Wilder going to an AI model and recruiting more foreign players. Whilst it didn't work and they quickly corrected course, I hope that we don't go from one extreme to the other and think carefully about where we are/need to be.

Ultimately after the second year of parachute payments we'll have to accept that we won't be able to keep as many players as we have so will have to cut our cloth accordingly.

Asides from that, would be interested in what people think the longer term plan should be. Academy players? Rely on loans? International scouting? Domestic scouting? Off-the-pitch improvements?

Appreciate we've been fire-fighting over the past few months scrambling out of the bottom three but would hope the powers that be have some plans with Wilder about where we are/should be over the next few years as we move into the next decade of football.

Unless you have billionaire investors I’m not sure you can fully nail a long term plan.

It has to simply be improvement.

So much of what you can and can’t do depends on the fortune of those on the pitch.

You’d like to improve your training complex to attract and retain better player and the Academy to ensure you can attract and retain top talent.

But is this going to be made at the expense of the first team build?

A wider ranging scouting network that uncovers gems before others. Again, what priority will that take? It’s another prong but what should it be at the expense of if things are tight? I’ve no idea what we spend ok. The lads from the Bulgarian league and the Peruvian lad. But what if that money had all been sent up to Dore? How far would that have been by now?

If you get promoted you can attack on many angles. If not then you need to prioritise. With the potential riches on offer that promotion provides I’d be surprised if your top three priorities were not First Team, First Team and First Team.

Who would accept three years of scaled back investment in the team for Academy A status? I’d like to think I would, but I wouldn’t!

 

[Carlton Blade]

This confuses ambition with entitlement.

No it doesn't. Happy to accept there's an element of both in there but expecting your team to be competitive in the division it's in isn't ambition

 

[Yewsman]

We currently have 4 academy players who seem to be regulars in first team. Blaster, Peck, Sericki, Brooks. They all seem to be getting better every game. If we can keep them for next season that’s an exciting prospect for next season (assuming we don’t get promotion this season). With some clever recruitment (Coventry can do it why can’t we?) and use of loan market plus maybe other academy players making the breakthrough e.g. One) we could have a very good team for next season.

 

[dexter101]

We will need to drive our academy forward with a focus on selling players as well supporting first team.

Our current 5 in the first team give us a strong base for a squad.

We might have to let some players go earlier and try and get money for them, at the same time, if players are showing potential, we need to make a judgement call on selling them for good money, which would allow us to spend in the transfer market.

If we could sell an Osula every summer (£10m?) this would give us revenue for transfers without any additional funding needed.

I think we might be a bit too sentimental about our academy products (myself included, my football manager squad always focusses on our academy players).

Marsh is a good example of should we just move him on and get some money out of him. It feels like he has fallen way down the pecking order and with players like Beattie to then come through, it feels like we have missed out on his timing. Hoping we might see him in 3rd round of FA cup.

 

[Harrisblade]

1 good season out of the last 25 and suddenly you’re the experts

And has this 1 good season come about because of ambition (spending!) or by patiently assembling a good team ( as we did ourselves a few seasons ago)

 

[Ned the Donkey]

No it doesn't. Happy to accept there's an element of both in there but expecting your team to be competitive in the division it's in isn't ambition

Fair point. I missed the part about competing commensurate with finances.

 

[Need4speed]

FFP limits the extent the owners can finance player transfers and wages, it does not limit their investment in facilities or the Academy, therefore it would seem a logical long term plan to spend money here. Plan to blood one Academy player into the first team every year, now that is ambitious, and accept that we are going to have to sell one of our better players or prospects every year However sell from a strong position and get good deals with add ons if the player is a prospect. I think we have to manage contracts better to help this. I am not a fan of loans unless it is for a position we simply cannot fill otherwise. I think this season has shown there will be good, experienced players out of contract, offering these short term contracts has worked to an extent with Riedawald and Bamford but not with Ings yet. This helps bring in some experience but we have to be careful that we aren't seens as a pension provider

 

[LurkerBlade]

We will need to drive our academy forward with a focus on selling players as well supporting first team.

Our current 5 in the first team give us a strong base for a squad.

We might have to let some players go earlier and try and get money for them, at the same time, if players are showing potential, we need to make a judgement call on selling them for good money, which would allow us to spend in the transfer market.

If we could sell an Osula every summer (£10m?) this would give us revenue for transfers without any additional funding needed.

I think we might be a bit too sentimental about our academy products (myself included, my football manager squad always focusses on our academy players).

Marsh is a good example of should we just move him on and get some money out of him. It feels like he has fallen way down the pecking order and with players like Beattie to then come through, it feels like we have missed out on his timing. Hoping we might see him in 3rd round of FA cup.

THIS!

If we can get the new site sorted and improve our academy standing it will be huge for the region and for us as a club.

Hopefully the AI can work towards that younger end and we can actually have some of them playing now and again.