Not that I'm aware of and looking at the actions of the spending since Clough left its clear that we're now not spending the sums we did under Clough. That said I think some are over-panicking here! I heard the interview and all Adkins said was that next season those players that are still under contract will still be taking up some of the budget because of their wages. I don't get why that has caused some to think that its panic stations. I think its realistic to think we'll spend money on maybe one or two transfer fees of moderate cost and the rest will be frees. We still have a decent team for next season and its basically the same as when Clough left in that we just need two maybe three quality players. We didn't manage it last season, partly because Adkins was hamstrung with the bloated squad from Clough's reign and half the squad has got pissed off not playing regularly.
Teams like Gillingham and Walsall have done well under smaller budgets than ours and they haven't been backed more than we have, far from it, its just that they have some decent talent and they don't have the pressure we have, or having to face teams raising from their normal level playing against us, and that is a negative factor for us. The teams coming down look stronger too, but as we know teams don't often bounce straight back from getting relegated into League One.
Good post.
When Adkins estimated that we were about the 6th highest budget at the start of last season he explained that certain clubs take a gamble which either works or fails and if it doesn't the funding reverts to normal levels. Last season he thought Scunthorpe were doing exactly that, putting extra money in, having a real go and seeing where it took them - they are level with us and have to decide if they can double dose the injection.
Clough spent our big injection of cash on so many average players rather than just signing players who would make a difference in a promotion season. In fairness though, having said all that, I honestly think Clough thought he was with us for years and years and he made a lot of signings of players who he thought had upside in their development over a couple of years or so. It didn't work out for most of them, it didn't work out for him and the net effect was that all the money had achieved was to leave us with a bloated squad of players nobody wants and a new manager who didn't like what he saw in all but a couple of the Clough signings.
The result is we have spent our big cash injection and to be sensible we are not just going to throw money at the squad to bloat it again. There will be a wage budget and it will be a very big one for this league but the wages of the likes of Scougall, McNulty, Freeman, etc cannot just be ignored, they are part of the budget and Adkins is simply saying for every one he gets rid of he can sign a player in their place. Don't take it I mean that literally but I have said for a while that under these circumstances we might lose players we fans would keep because the leeway to spend needs to be created in the budget. Such as Freeman and McNulty can't command first team places in a League 2 team so clubs will not be queuing up for them. I sense Brayford will depart and maybe even Done and we all know the list of other players on offer. I also think if we were for some reason to get a say £700k bid for Long we would take it. Brayford might not be saleable due to his injury record, we'll need to accept a huge loss but it was just a stupid signing and only worked if we gained promotion. Done's goals record isn't that great anymore.
Adkins has to manage his resources and he should have the capability to do that. Looking at the comments above United have a big, big job to explain the reasoning and the realities to fans at the forthcoming Fans Forums as they will have an unsympathetic audience, many of whom will not accept that there is no sense in not throwing another big tranche of 'game changing investment' at the problem. The prince or his representatives need to be ready to explain why not. Indeed why not?
Good question for the Fans Forum, which I asked at the Manager's Welcome Meeting last season is: Is the manager satisfied that the wage budget for the coming season is absolutely sufficient to ensure a serious challenge for automatic promotion. Adkins answered 'yes' last July but did qualify it with some of the above if's and but's and a mention that the squad at that time was not fit enough or good enough.
I would hope the manager is part of the assessment process to determine the level of the budget required. Adkins probably fully agrees with the need to get rid of players before he spends on new ones. He is actually saying that in his interview but he needs to say it with knobs on to convince fans that he's not just saying what he has to say without conviction. My personal view is that managers should resign if they are not provided with a budget which matches the public objectives of promotion, otherwise their reputations can soon be destroyed. Adkins should get another good job if he leaves but he won't because he knows United are in a deep slumber and can wake up and go on to great things if he can just get things on a roll.
Any manager wants a 23/24 man squad and is weakened if 4 or 5 of those are players he doesn't want and who don't want to be there themselves. If they can go on a season long loan with all their wages paid then they are out of the equation but I'm afraid League 2 clubs don't pay that sort of money. Losses on contract settlements just to get rid have to come off the wage budget too as do subsidised wages on long term loans.
