2014 League One Champions?

[mattbianco1]

Where's your money?

Top 10 based on odds....

I'm going Peterborough just because they know how to get out of this league and on their day last season were awesome.

Wolves - could go either way. Sink faster than the titanic or kick on with their reserves/youth players following the departure of all the big earners.

Bristol C - unkown for me. Decent manager. Do they have money? Are they going to sell/lose players? I really don't know.

Blades - Definately a top 6 finish again. Hopefully top 2. We'll see.

Brentford - See Blades (hopefully outside top 2).

Rotherham - Surprised they're 10th favourites. Hope they do well.

Dark horses - Crewe. Thought they were great last season. Young squad. Fast strong.

Stevenage - Randomly they have the longest odds of winning the league along with Shrewsbury. Does this mean we can buy Freeman? PLEASE

 

[Houso]

I've decided to part with my pessimism from recent years and actually say we'll win the league.

I think McCall will be appointed manager, he'll make some good cheap signings and clear out a bit of the rubbish. He may even get the best out of some players that I've long written off.

I need a lie down.

 

[blade too long]

wolves wont do it , finance will strangle them , theyll have players moaning over huge wage dependencies and every team will want to stuff them when they visit, and they arent very good anyway
they will be the bookies favourites as were preston and coventry

 

[axel smeets]

Wolves to get over 100 points for me. Despite the fact they are a shambles, it is easily obtainable for them. Using us as an example, 2 years ago we had an arguably worse team than Wolves, far less money and a manager that divided the fans. Yet we still got 90 points.

 

[Revolution]

wolves wont do it , finance will strangle them , theyll have players moaning over huge wage dependencies and every team will want to stuff them when they visit, and they arent very good anyway
they will be the bookies favourites as were preston and coventry

That's convinced me. Wolves will romp home.

Joking apart, I seem to recall a fair amount of opinion before 2009-10 that Newcastle would struggle in the 2nd tier, or even go down. Seems to me that unless Wolves are completely Portsmouth style broke - and they aren't - they will be a playoff team at the minimum

Houso - you are out of your tiny mind.

 

[blade too long]

newcastle held their resources together , wolves have dropped 2 divisions in 2 seasoins and have players on 20k a week , in a league one where they cant pay it from next season , somethings got to give .
We cant be expected to only pay 2 grand a week on average and wolves be allowed players on 20 its not going to happen
Wolves will be told to ammend their wage structure , force ably

 

[Darren]

newcastle held their resources together , wolves have dropped 2 divisions in 2 seasoins and have players on 20k a week , in a league one where they cant pay it from next season , somethings got to give .

They can pay 60% of their turnover which will be huge given that they are still getting parachute payments. Hence their resources will far outweigh anyone else's in the division.

 

[Revolution]

newcastle held their resources together , wolves have dropped 2 divisions in 2 seasoins and have players on 20k a week , in a league one where they cant pay it from next season , somethings got to give .
We cant be expected to only pay 2 grand a week on average and wolves be allowed players on 20 its not going to happen

Wolves' turnover is enormous. They will of course have to cut their cloth but they will be fine.

Edit- Darren beat me too it.

Anyway blt, what's your United prediction? 120 points and both cups? United to go up in 2013-4 because we went up in 1983-4?

 

[blade too long]

Wolves' turnover is enormous. They will of course have to cut their cloth but they will be fine.

so were we, we were fine with it, it didnt affect us one jot
or coventry they lapped it up

 

[axel smeets]

so were we, we were fine with it, it didnt affect us one jot
or coventry they lapped it up

Wolves have parachute payments, which has never been done at this level before. It is a game changer. Their parachute payment alone will be more than our turnover.

 

[blade too long]

parachute payments just .only just cover the massive wage bill against turnover
wolves 2 years ago had according to deloitte a wage bill of 38 million a season ,
dont think its dropped less than a quarter of that yet incomes probably 10m at best 2 years with a being kind 25 and 20 million short fall means 45 millions needed of the parachute and even if they get upo again they still only get championship income at best next season , its a massive downward tornado

 

[axel smeets]

Parachute payments for Wolves will run at £48m over 4 years: £16m in 2012/13, £16m in 2013/14, £8m in 2014/15 and £8m in 2015/2016. Their other income might be similar to ours next season, perhaps around the £10m mark.
There are also player sales that could be made, further increasing their income.

They ARE in a mess, no doubt about it, but this division is so shit and so poor, that anyone with a few quid to spend and even half decent players stands a chance of winning the thing.

 

[Darren]

Parachute payments for Wolves will run at £48m over 4 years: £16m in 2012/13, £16m in 2013/14, £8m in 2014/15 and £8m in 2015/2016. Their other income might be similar to ours next season, perhaps around the £10m mark.
There are also player sales that could be made, further increasing their income.

They ARE in a mess, no doubt about it, but this division is so shit and so poor, that anyone with a few quid to spend and even half decent players stands a chance of winning the thing.

The only thing that might give BTL a valid point is if Wolves have a handful of underperforming players on huge contracts and they can't get rid of the said players. Those contracts could then take up a huge part of their budget and mean they can't buy any decent players.

So the key for them could be getting rid of the underperformers (sounds familiar...)

 

[HoodedClaw]

newcastle held their resources together , wolves have dropped 2 divisions in 2 seasoins and have players on 20k a week , in a league one where they cant pay it from next season , somethings got to give .
We cant be expected to only pay 2 grand a week on average and wolves be allowed players on 20 its not going to happen
Wolves will be told to ammend their wage structure , force ably

I'm interested in how this could be done, given the players will have contracts and by the sounds of it they don't have relegation clauses included.

If there is a why I'd then want to know how come we didn't do it.

 

[Selly]

blades wont do it , finance will strangle them , theyll have players moaning over huge wage dependencies and every team will want to stuff them when they visit, and they arent very good anyway

fixed it for you...

 

[bladeinspaceandtime]

Bristol City are almost as big a basket case as us at the moment, I can see them struggling.

 

[bladeinspaceandtime]

I'm interested in how this could be done, given the players will have contracts and by the sounds of it they don't have relegation clauses included.

If there is a why I'd then want to know how come we didn't do it.

Exactly, its nonsense, why would Wolves be "forced" to reduce the wages they pay out because poor old Sheffield United can't afford to compete?

 

[Darren]

Exactly, its nonsense, why would Wolves be "forced" to reduce the wages they pay out because poor old Sheffield United can't afford to compete?

The problem is this:

Say Wolves turnover next season is £25m. That means that can spend £15m on wages.

Let's say they have players contracted on wages totalling £20m. That puts them in breach of the fair play rules and the only way out of that breach, as I understand it, would be by selling the said players. However, if nobody wants to buy them, they would seem little the League could do.

In any event, it seems that the only sanction for breaching the rule is a transfer embargo, so maybe Wolves will just breach it and not buy any new players

(another way round it may be to not play the expensive players. We didn't play Cresswell and Monty at the start of last season for hat reason as I understand it. If you don't play players, don't they "count"?)

 

[SouthEssexBlade]

Wolves - on the one hand they look as though they will be miles in front of everyone else in terms of income. On the other they look like a Portsmouth waiting to happen.

Wolves income is about the same as ours, but then they have £16m in parachute payments. However thay have a wage bill of about £30m a year. Doesn't need a degree in Maths to work out they need to seriously trim that wage bill. And if you're there as a player with 2 years left on a contract at £15k a week who is going to buy you after successive relegations?

A squad full of players you can't get rid of, who don't want to be there and think they're better than they actually are. Unable to sign anyone and having sanctions dangled over your head because you are still not complying with the 60% ruling, with a possible points deduction down the line after that.

Could be a tough season for them I reckon

 

[Zlatan]

Wolves will easily be up there. They still have their parachute payments and also flogged about £30m worth of players in the last season or so.

 

[Bradford Blade]

Yeah, agree with most here; I reckon Wolves will be hard to beat and should be in the top 2 at least, probably/possibly with Peterborough who did look like a good team whenever I saw 'em. Shame I have no confidence in my beloved Blades. Probably a top 6 finish, but we don't need anymore PO's do we???

UTB!

 

[Menjo]

I see everyone is arguing Wolves' case cos they will have so much money to play with. However, right now like us they have no manager. Let's see who we both appoint before deciding who will win League 1, probably a club which is free from turmoil and is currently preparing for an onslaught on the title. Maybe Peterborough!

 

[bladeinspaceandtime]

The problem is this:

Say Wolves turnover next season is £25m. That means that can spend £15m on wages.

Let's say they have players contracted on wages totalling £20m. That puts them in breach of the fair play rules and the only way out of that breach, as I understand it, would be by selling the said players. However, if nobody wants to buy them, they would seem little the League could do.

In any event, it seems that the only sanction for breaching the rule is a transfer embargo, so maybe Wolves will just breach it and not buy any new players

(another way round it may be to not play the expensive players. We didn't play Cresswell and Monty at the start of last season for hat reason as I understand it. If you don't play players, don't they "count"?)

Those rules govern all the clubs in the league. I agree with the principle because without some control being put on salaries I can't see how many League clubs have a future (and as it appears a lot of club's owners don't have a clue how to run a sustainable business then some for of external control was necessary). This issue is a bit of a special case as Wolves still have Premier League parachute payments coming in when they will be in the dog poo league which obviously skews their turnover. I don't know what Wolves' wage bill will be next season (who are the high earners, how much are they on, did they have relegation clauses built into their contracts, can they be moved on if not? etc.) but suffice to say they will be able to spend a damn sight more on wages than the established clubs in L1. With any luck the "excess" will be soaked up with their own versions of Horsfield or Hendrie. Perhaps there should be a maximum wage bill (but "bigger" clubs will moan about that) or salary cap or some other mechanism of control?

 

[dublin 10 blade]

Think Peterboro could be the dark horse's , there up and down more than a whore's knickers between these 2 league's, would like to think us and wolves to finish it off , but after being so sure about last year , depends who's in charge and who he can get { obviously } and who he fooks out , but feelin a bit low after that joke performance in the play-offs , Maybe when I get back from my holiday's I'll start to feel up for it again. only 3 weeks to go .

 

[JJ Sefton]

There are currently 9 people who must have been smoking crack when they answered this question.

 

[Latters]

There are currently 9 people who must have been smoking crack when they answered this question.

Seeing as you were one, shouldn't you have put "...8 other people who must have been smoking crack..."?

 

[JJ Sefton]

Seeing as you were one, shouldn't you have put "...8 other people who must have been smoking crack..."?

If I hadn't been smoking crack I might have.

 

[upton blade]

Wolves ! They have some quality players for league 1

 

[blade too long]

The problem is this:

Say Wolves turnover next season is £25m. That means that can spend £15m on wages.

Let's say they have players contracted on wages totalling £20m.

your lucky to get into double figures 10 m+ in league one in turnover , we dont with 18000 gates

 

[broomhillblade]

I'm positive about this one.

It's a definite "Don't Know".