Our wage bill...

All advertisments are hidden for logged in members, why not log in/register?




Seanshoreham said:
56 years a Blade. never seen as many high-paid pieces of dead wood on the wage bill, talk about money for old-rope - these (talentless) guys must be laughing all the way to the bank
Click to expand...
How much did all our brilliant signings cost?
Brewster,McBurnie,Berge,Mousset,the only one with any credit Mousset
That's why there will be no signings in January imo
 
derekacorah said:
Yet still some people convince themselves that we’ll be fine because of parachute payments.

If we don’t go up this season we either need major backing from Abdullah or major cost cutting.

Anyone convincing themselves otherwise needs to give their head a shake.
Click to expand...

Exactly - the parachute payments are spoken for already to cover costs already spent.

The fact we cannot make permanent signings when we are just out of the Prem should be a major alarm bell.

Berge will be sold at a hugely reduced price as we need funds to claw back and he is the only saleable asset left - maybe Ndiaye.

It worries me that out situation is very Sunderland like when they came down with an ageing squad on big wages and were stuck with them.

As you say end of this season we will be massively trying to recoup what we can and many of our high earners will be moved on even for nominal fees to get them off our books - problem is someone taking likes of Brewster, McBurnie, Fleck, Norwood, Stevens, Baldock, Egan - not sure anyone would be that interested in any of them at the moment.

We will lose Mousset, McGoldrick, Sharp, Freeman and Basham which will free up wages but stuck with many of the above sadly. The loan lads will be long gone before next season too.

It is worrying that if you started a team for next season now who would you say you'd want to start and after Ndiaye I am struggling. Building a whole new team of 9-10 players is going to be nigh on impossible with no funds and you can only have 5 loan players playing. So we will have to play 4 or 5 of the above players sadly. Players who have no shown no sign of improving and are regressing month by month.

Going to be a bumpy ride folks and my concern is us being in League One before any return to the Prem. That may seem negative but the recruitment has been so poor recently that I have no confidence we can change half the side and get this thing moving in the right direction and having so many high earners that cost so much stuck here will be a major lead weight on arresting the slide as we simply will not be able to bring more in of a decent quality due to paying the flops we already have - mostly to sit in the stands.
 
Sad but true that DB.

Though in the last 30 years we have only had 7 in the top flight. So we should be used to it.
 
Deadbat said:
Exactly - the parachute payments are spoken for already to cover costs already spent.

The fact we cannot make permanent signings when we are just out of the Prem should be a major alarm bell.

Berge will be sold at a hugely reduced price as we need funds to claw back and he is the only saleable asset left - maybe Ndiaye.

It worries me that out situation is very Sunderland like when they came down with an ageing squad on big wages and were stuck with them.

As you say end of this season we will be massively trying to recoup what we can and many of our high earners will be moved on even for nominal fees to get them off our books - problem is someone taking likes of Brewster, McBurnie, Fleck, Norwood, Stevens, Baldock, Egan - not sure anyone would be that interested in any of them at the moment.

We will lose Mousset, McGoldrick, Sharp, Freeman and Basham which will free up wages but stuck with many of the above sadly. The loan lads will be long gone before next season too.

It is worrying that if you started a team for next season now who would you say you'd want to start and after Ndiaye I am struggling. Building a whole new team of 9-10 players is going to be nigh on impossible with no funds and you can only have 5 loan players playing. So we will have to play 4 or 5 of the above players sadly. Players who have no shown no sign of improving and are regressing month by month.

Going to be a bumpy ride folks and my concern is us being in League One before any return to the Prem. That may seem negative but the recruitment has been so poor recently that I have no confidence we can change half the side and get this thing moving in the right direction and having so many high earners that cost so much stuck here will be a major lead weight on arresting the slide as we simply will not be able to bring more in of a decent quality due to paying the flops we already have - mostly to sit in the stands.
Click to expand...
Completely agree, when Wilder went last season and we seemed to have no plan on who to replace him with I said that League 1 was a distinct possibility for us.

Our wage bill is very high for a club of our means, the amortisation on the dross we've bought is sky high. We won't get out of this without what looks like a very lucky return to the PL anytime soon.
 
Our transfer strategy (ins and outs) has been complete lunacy. Ins have been high end, unimaginative loans with no rhyme or reason behind any of them. Davies was targeted for Wilder's back three; Hourihane was gash last season and has non of the combative box to box qualities we lack. Neither do any of the other midfielders. The others are high cost short term fixes. It was obvious that at the end of this season that we'd be screwed if promotion wasn't achieved, and we'd be punished for this boom and bust approach. We should've been targeting carefully selected younger players that would fit into a post parachute wage structure.

Outs : Any senior player over the age of 25 that we could get off the wage bill and hopefully get a fee for should have been gone. Celtic want Baldock for 5 million. Ok, bye.
 
A nightmare. Other non-Big Six clubs that have seen this kind of money frittered away on transfers and (what I assume is) a big wage bill end up in League Two. Some harsh decisions need to be made.
 
jt64 said:
Is it really though?
Click to expand...
Yes, particularly when you add the amortisation to it we'll be in a loss making position for the season/year. We don't have rich backer so will be living beyond our means.

Not a good place to be.
 
Deadbat said:
Exactly - the parachute payments are spoken for already to cover costs already spent.

The fact we cannot make permanent signings when we are just out of the Prem should be a major alarm bell.

Berge will be sold at a hugely reduced price as we need funds to claw back and he is the only saleable asset left - maybe Ndiaye.

It worries me that out situation is very Sunderland like when they came down with an ageing squad on big wages and were stuck with them.

As you say end of this season we will be massively trying to recoup what we can and many of our high earners will be moved on even for nominal fees to get them off our books - problem is someone taking likes of Brewster, McBurnie, Fleck, Norwood, Stevens, Baldock, Egan - not sure anyone would be that interested in any of them at the moment.

We will lose Mousset, McGoldrick, Sharp, Freeman and Basham which will free up wages but stuck with many of the above sadly. The loan lads will be long gone before next season too.

It is worrying that if you started a team for next season now who would you say you'd want to start and after Ndiaye I am struggling. Building a whole new team of 9-10 players is going to be nigh on impossible with no funds and you can only have 5 loan players playing. So we will have to play 4 or 5 of the above players sadly. Players who have no shown no sign of improving and are regressing month by month.

Going to be a bumpy ride folks and my concern is us being in League One before any return to the Prem. That may seem negative but the recruitment has been so poor recently that I have no confidence we can change half the side and get this thing moving in the right direction and having so many high earners that cost so much stuck here will be a major lead weight on arresting the slide as we simply will not be able to bring more in of a decent quality due to paying the flops we already have - mostly to sit in the stands.
Click to expand...



“Exactly - the parachute payments are spoken for already to cover costs already spent.”

On that basis, with only match day income and sponsorship relevant, you must be expecting a loss in excess of £40m for the current year. That being the case, Wilders poor signings will haunt us for at least another two years.

How far are you going back with “recent recruitment”?
 
nopigfansintown said:
Our transfer strategy (ins and outs) has been complete lunacy. Ins have been high end, unimaginative loans with no rhyme or reason behind any of them. Davies was targeted for Wilder's back three; Hourihane was gash last season and has non of the combative box to box qualities we lack. Neither do any of the other midfielders. The others are high cost short term fixes. It was obvious that at the end of this season that we'd be screwed if promotion wasn't achieved, and we'd be punished for this boom and bust approach. We should've been targeting carefully selected younger players that would fit into a post parachute wage structure.

Outs : Any senior player over the age of 25 that we could get off the wage bill and hopefully get a fee for should have been gone. Celtic want Baldock for 5 million. Ok, bye.
Click to expand...
Us rejecting bids from Celtic may be an example of the club failing to properly assess current players, our financial situation and squad requirements.

Not sure who's responsible. Things may have been complicated by the managerial change, the alleged change from a manager with all power to one who is more of a coach. The board is now going to have their say, but how good are they at making football decisions? We don't have a director of football, and who knows how the recruitment team is working at the moment.
 
We won’t be turning down many bids next season, that’s for sure. IMO, the big issue with that is it will be the players that we need to most getting heads turned and so we have to be careful because the other 50% of the squad is getting close to retirement or have peaked a couple of seasons ago.

If you are someone that believes we are desperate for money to balance the books, you also need to think about how the above works it’s self out, you can’t balance the books by selling talent and then be left to buy what will be 50% of a new squad unless the prince finds the money.
 
Deadbat said:
Exactly - the parachute payments are spoken for already to cover costs already spent.

The fact we cannot make permanent signings when we are just out of the Prem should be a major alarm bell.

Berge will be sold at a hugely reduced price as we need funds to claw back and he is the only saleable asset left - maybe Ndiaye.

It worries me that out situation is very Sunderland like when they came down with an ageing squad on big wages and were stuck with them.

As you say end of this season we will be massively trying to recoup what we can and many of our high earners will be moved on even for nominal fees to get them off our books - problem is someone taking likes of Brewster, McBurnie, Fleck, Norwood, Stevens, Baldock, Egan - not sure anyone would be that interested in any of them at the moment.

We will lose Mousset, McGoldrick, Sharp, Freeman and Basham which will free up wages but stuck with many of the above sadly. The loan lads will be long gone before next season too.

It is worrying that if you started a team for next season now who would you say you'd want to start and after Ndiaye I am struggling. Building a whole new team of 9-10 players is going to be nigh on impossible with no funds and you can only have 5 loan players playing. So we will have to play 4 or 5 of the above players sadly. Players who have no shown no sign of improving and are regressing month by month.

Going to be a bumpy ride folks and my concern is us being in League One before any return to the Prem. That may seem negative but the recruitment has been so poor recently that I have no confidence we can change half the side and get this thing moving in the right direction and having so many high earners that cost so much stuck here will be a major lead weight on arresting the slide as we simply will not be able to bring more in of a decent quality due to paying the flops we already have - mostly to sit in the stands.
Click to expand...
Nailed in there mate 👍👍 100% agree
 



derekacorah said:
Yet still some people convince themselves that we’ll be fine because of parachute payments.

If we don’t go up this season we either need major backing from Abdullah or major cost cutting.

Anyone convincing themselves otherwise needs to give their head a shake.
Click to expand...
Have shaken head and still think that it is possible and achievable to build a good Championship side without spending huge sums.
There are good players around the EFL and possibly from our academy.
I don’t see many signings in January as the players we need are unlikely to be available, but there may be a couple to improve the squad.
If we can move up to the top third by May then the summer signings will be crucial and can lead to a promotion side.
This league is poor but the step up is huge.
 
Deadbat said:
Exactly - the parachute payments are spoken for already to cover costs already spent.

The fact we cannot make permanent signings when we are just out of the Prem should be a major alarm bell.

Berge will be sold at a hugely reduced price as we need funds to claw back and he is the only saleable asset left - maybe Ndiaye.

It worries me that out situation is very Sunderland like when they came down with an ageing squad on big wages and were stuck with them.

As you say end of this season we will be massively trying to recoup what we can and many of our high earners will be moved on even for nominal fees to get them off our books - problem is someone taking likes of Brewster, McBurnie, Fleck, Norwood, Stevens, Baldock, Egan - not sure anyone would be that interested in any of them at the moment.

We will lose Mousset, McGoldrick, Sharp, Freeman and Basham which will free up wages but stuck with many of the above sadly. The loan lads will be long gone before next season too.

It is worrying that if you started a team for next season now who would you say you'd want to start and after Ndiaye I am struggling. Building a whole new team of 9-10 players is going to be nigh on impossible with no funds and you can only have 5 loan players playing. So we will have to play 4 or 5 of the above players sadly. Players who have no shown no sign of improving and are regressing month by month.

Going to be a bumpy ride folks and my concern is us being in League One before any return to the Prem. That may seem negative but the recruitment has been so poor recently that I have no confidence we can change half the side and get this thing moving in the right direction and having so many high earners that cost so much stuck here will be a major lead weight on arresting the slide as we simply will not be able to bring more in of a decent quality due to paying the flops we already have - mostly to sit in the stands.
Click to expand...
Just to add to the gloom and despondency, I think we've recruited the wrong manager.
I don't reckon Slav and his seemingly bloated back room staff know enough about the leagues we need to be shopping in over the next few years.
I can see us paying them all off at season end at a considerable cost.
 
To fans who question the Prince's commitment to spending - if you (say) lent a relative £100k (yes I know few of us could do this in reality!) and they blew it buying crap, would you trust them with a further £100k?
OK we know Wilder's part in this but what a about the 'Head of Recruitment?
 
personally dont rate either mcburnie or brewster but with all the chances we keep missing would it be such a bad thing to give both of them a run of games dont think weve owt to lose were not going anywhere how were playing just now
 
ancientblade said:
personally dont rate either mcburnie or brewster but with all the chances we keep missing would it be such a bad thing to give both of them a run of games dont think weve owt to lose were not going anywhere how were playing just now
Click to expand...
Everything to lose if we're relegated - look at Sunderland and yes The Pigs
 
Snowflake said:
Have shaken head and still think that it is possible and achievable to build a good Championship side without spending huge sums.
There are good players around the EFL and possibly from our academy.
I don’t see many signings in January as the players we need are unlikely to be available, but there may be a couple to improve the squad.
If we can move up to the top third by May then the summer signings will be crucial and can lead to a promotion side.
This league is poor but the step up is huge.
Click to expand...
That would need a competent recruitment team. We have proved beyond any reasonable doubt that we haven’t got one.
 
It would be a big surprise to see a major overhaul of the squad as some seem confident of.

There will inevitably be players out of contract that won’t be offered new ones. But not all of the (currently) out of contract players will leave. A lot will depend on where we are playing next season. Assuming Championship, would it really be a surprise if the club offered contracts to any one of Dids / Sharp / Moose / Bash ?

Consider the outlay on transfer fees & wages for new players to replace against the cost of new contracts ?

The REAL wheeling and dealing will be done in transfer fees received. Which will, by necessity it would appear, HAVE to exceed transfer fees to be paid by a wide margin.

So who are our saleable assets with contracts that run beyond 2022 ?

Sander is the obvious one and will leave soon. Sadly. £10-£15 mill does it.

Jebbo / Ilman ? Maybe someone takes a punt on potential for a few Mill.

Fleck commands a fee. Won’t be £20m though !
So does Egan / Stevens / Baldock / Bogle / Lowe / RND.

Which leaves the terrible twosome up top. Our young dynamic duo where so much was expected and so little has been delivered.

One league goal between them in a season and a half (nearly). Precious little else by way of assists etc. to otherwise consider as positive contributions as well. Appalling, no other word for it.

If any club is stupid enough to pay 25% of what we paid to offload, we should seriously consider it as neither appear to be centric to Slavs plans and we can not afford for market valuations to deteriorate further. Enough is enough in that regard.

I strongly believe that Slav and his team have an eye for a footballer. Especially ones that can fit better in to his style / system better than the ones we presently have.

As such, I have more confidence in the direction of travel than most of y’all.
But.

It will take time. Several windows in fact.

It will be fuckin frustrating as hell for fans to see as we are not the most patient of bunches.

Are we ??

Hang in there 😀.

UTB
 
Everyone here has a degree in hindsight….

When we were 6/7th in the Prem and new bumper contracts were been dished out to Norwood, Fleck, Bash, Baldock etc we were all happy as it would fend off the likes of Arsenal who were flirting with Fleck (yes that really happened!)

The problem is no one was big enough to stand up to Wilder when he came stomping his feet.

His purchases of McB, Brewster, Berge, Mousse cost around £65m and a few decent games aside have been poor

He also bought in C. Robinson & Freeman and bombed them out without really giving them a chance

We are now lumbered with an unbalanced squad, ageing, over paid, underperforming bunch that no one will take due to their wage and form.

If this was football manager you’d sell them all for £1m each and start again

Unfortunately this is the real world, and we can’t afford to do it

So we are stuck, tried the ‘new manager bounce’ that went well.
Tried loan signings - not improved the team MGW aside

Scary thing is we could feasibly have a starting line up of Stevens, Egan, Bash, Baldock, Norwood, Fleck, Osborn, McG, Sharp

Along with 2 loans of Olsen (average) and MGW

9 of 11 from the good old days, yet £100m lighter …. un-fucking-believable.
 
derekacorah said:
That would need a competent recruitment team. We have proved beyond any reasonable doubt that we haven’t got one.
Click to expand...
We didn’t appear to have one, but we don’t know how recruitment works now, nor how much pressure Wilder imposed to get what he wanted.
 
Bergen Blade said:
Us rejecting bids from Celtic may be an example of the club failing to properly assess current players, our financial situation and squad requirements.

Not sure who's responsible. Things may have been complicated by the managerial change, the alleged change from a manager with all power to one who is more of a coach. The board is now going to have their say, but how good are they at making football decisions? We don't have a director of football, and who knows how the recruitment team is working at the moment.
Click to expand...

The worrying thing is that there appears to be a pattern of ineptitude that runs through "United World" re transfers. I've seen fans throughout the group claiming that Van Winkel is essentially DOF or Sporting Director. The Prince when asked claimed that Slav would get a say on recruitment - only for some decidedly pissed off interviews from Slav to surface. The annoying thing about the whole scenario is that the Prince was slagging Wilder's recruitment off re recruitment as far back as the Jan window in the first Champ season, whilst they appear to have had no real plan to improve it. It appeared unplanned, unimaginative, and unnecessarily expensive, whilst being laced with short termism.
 
Last season we trashed Wilder for sticking stubbornly to his 5/3/2 which was repeatedly being (narrowly) beaten. Seems to me that Slav is doing the same this season with his system/formation. And now we're losing to teams nowhere near as good.
 
Deadbat said:
Exactly - the parachute payments are spoken for already to cover costs already spent.

The fact we cannot make permanent signings when we are just out of the Prem should be a major alarm bell.

Berge will be sold at a hugely reduced price as we need funds to claw back and he is the only saleable asset left - maybe Ndiaye.

It worries me that out situation is very Sunderland like when they came down with an ageing squad on big wages and were stuck with them.

As you say end of this season we will be massively trying to recoup what we can and many of our high earners will be moved on even for nominal fees to get them off our books - problem is someone taking likes of Brewster, McBurnie, Fleck, Norwood, Stevens, Baldock, Egan - not sure anyone would be that interested in any of them at the moment.

We will lose Mousset, McGoldrick, Sharp, Freeman and Basham which will free up wages but stuck with many of the above sadly. The loan lads will be long gone before next season too.

It is worrying that if you started a team for next season now who would you say you'd want to start and after Ndiaye I am struggling. Building a whole new team of 9-10 players is going to be nigh on impossible with no funds and you can only have 5 loan players playing. So we will have to play 4 or 5 of the above players sadly. Players who have no shown no sign of improving and are regressing month by month.

Going to be a bumpy ride folks and my concern is us being in League One before any return to the Prem. That may seem negative but the recruitment has been so poor recently that I have no confidence we can change half the side and get this thing moving in the right direction and having so many high earners that cost so much stuck here will be a major lead weight on arresting the slide as we simply will not be able to bring more in of a decent quality due to paying the flops we already have - mostly to sit in the stands.
Click to expand...
Are you certain about this or just guesswork?
 



derekacorah said:
That would need a competent recruitment team. We have proved beyond any reasonable doubt that we haven’t got one.
Click to expand...

Our recruitment team have shown previously that when there isn’t a lot to spend they’re capable of putting together a team that are able to get out of this division and finish 9th in the next.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Iffy Onuora's Shiny Head
Statistics 6 Years of SUFC Transfers
Replies
22
Views
1K
steve26272
steve26272
Deadbat
2025/26 SUFC SEASON REVIEW / SCHOOL REPORT - Part 6: Attack
Replies
7
Views
747
Shawy24
S
Pilley-Blade
Our identity and what we want that to be.
Replies
22
Views
2K
Champagneblade
Champagneblade
Coolblade
A few observations from the stats (Charlton)
Replies
2
Views
752
coolasanidiot
coolasanidiot
Deadbat
2025/26 SUFC SEASON REVIEW / SCHOOL REPORT - Part 3: Goalkeepers
Replies
2
Views
638
Addison
A

All advertisments are hidden for logged in members, why not log in/register?

All advertisments are hidden for logged in members, why not log in/register?

Back
Top Bottom