What's the new standard and are we falling behind?

[Paris_Blade]

We've been lucky to have our time in the prem when we did, we earned well and bounced back giving us a big advantage in the championship, but that's now gone. Whoever comes down from the Prem this season will have a lot of talent behind them, meanwhile teams around us in the championship are now splashing the cash in a way that's raising the bar.

At the end of last season, I saw a lot of talk that this year would be easier. Instead, a lot of teams have stepped up. Not kicking on after last January, despite getting in much needed signings, already feels like a major mistake. This summer was a chance to put it right, but instead we’ve slipped even further behind the pace needed to compete.

It's all pointing in a dodgy direction, am I over reacting??

 

[Flumps]

I think it will be interesting next season. Alot of teams look to be taking the Forrest approach. Find a way to throw every bit of cash you can at the players and see if it doesn’t go tits up. Sunderland are giving it a go in the Prem with that tactic and it seems to me thats the idea Wrexham and Birmingham have got too but it can go very wrong.

We rarely seem to splash cash and it is looking to be our down fall but it might also leave us less open to being even more fucked than we can be. The mentality of this club always seems to be "plucky underdog" it feels like over recent seasons we've been seen as more than that and the club just looks lost at the minute although we seem to be slipping back in to our preferred underdog status.

 

[Paris_Blade]

I think it will be interesting next season. Alot of teams look to be taking the Forrest approach. Find a way to throw every bit of cash you can at the players and see if it doesn’t go tits up. Sunderland are giving it a go in the Prem with that tactic and it seems to me thats the idea Wrexham and Birmingham have got too but it can go very wrong.

We rarely seem to splash cash and it is looking to be our down fall but it might also leave us less open to being even more fucked than we can be. The mentality of this club always seems to be "plucky underdog" it feels like over recent seasons we've been seen as more than that and the club just looks lost at the minute although we seem to be slipping back in to our preferred underdog status.

I love being an underdog, but that only works if you’ve got some kind of edge to lean on. We had it in that first season back in the prem when the league was a bit more open, and then we had it in the champ thanks to parachute money. Meanwhile I don't think these big gambles for promoted teams are like they once were, these days they can get the money back because they buy wisely so can sell high after relegation. We've lost out edge, and we're the team that pundits love to make sword puns about

 

[SufcBilly]

We've been lucky to have our time in the prem when we did, we earned well and bounced back giving us a big advantage in the championship, but that's now gone. Whoever comes down from the Prem this season will have a lot of talent behind them, meanwhile teams around us in the championship are now splashing the cash in a way that's raising the bar.

At the end of last season, I saw a lot of talk that this year would be easier. Instead, a lot of teams have stepped up. Not kicking on after last January, despite getting in much needed signings, already feels like a major mistake. This summer was a chance to put it right, but instead we’ve slipped even further behind the pace needed to compete.

It's all pointing in a dodgy direction, am I over reacting??

I agree with everything till the final line, what dodgy direction? Us being a championship club for a while which is our level?

 

[Godbeblade]

Someone said that as a club we were "Norwich but a year behind" or something similar.

I think that wasn't too far wide of the mark. Both had a bit of an up/down relationship with the Premier league then Norwich seem to have settled in the championship after the parachute money has been spent.

I thought we'd be odds on for this (after a more reserved approach from the prince in recent years) but the new owners made me not too sure.

I'm not exactly sure what their strategy is on spending/recruiting but it does seem that there are 2nd tier teams willing to throw a bit of cash around and if we don't either do the same, keep as many good players as we can, or develop a style of play that means we don't necessarily have buy the top top names then we could very well end up in mid table fodder territory.

Is that the worst thing in the world? probably not these days, but it feels a bit like a missed opportunity after time spent in the top division.

 

[Working Class Hero]

You always get those fans that say we need a year to rebuild or stabilise. Or those that say we'd be better off in the Championship than the Premier League.

All of that is obviously complete nonsense, as has been shown time and time again. You need to be in the Premier League just to have any sort of future, and if you do drop you needs to bounce straight back or things get really difficult.

 

[Snowflake]

We've been lucky to have our time in the prem when we did, we earned well and bounced back giving us a big advantage in the championship, but that's now gone. Whoever comes down from the Prem this season will have a lot of talent behind them, meanwhile teams around us in the championship are now splashing the cash in a way that's raising the bar.

At the end of last season, I saw a lot of talk that this year would be easier. Instead, a lot of teams have stepped up. Not kicking on after last January, despite getting in much needed signings, already feels like a major mistake. This summer was a chance to put it right, but instead we’ve slipped even further behind the pace needed to compete.

It's all pointing in a dodgy direction, am I over reacting??

Just because Championship clubs are bringing in new players doesn’t mean that they are all being strengthened. We are assuming that new players are better than what they have or have got rid of, but we know from our own signings that isn’t always the case.
Let’s see which clubs are doing well at the end of October.

 

[TJ blade]

I think it will be interesting next season. Alot of teams look to be taking the Forrest approach. Find a way to throw every bit of cash you can at the players and see if it doesn’t go tits up. Sunderland are giving it a go in the Prem with that tactic and it seems to me thats the idea Wrexham and Birmingham have got too but it can go very wrong.

We rarely seem to splash cash and it is looking to be our down fall but it might also leave us less open to being even more fucked than we can be. The mentality of this club always seems to be "plucky underdog" it feels like over recent seasons we've been seen as more than that and the club just looks lost at the minute although we seem to be slipping back in to our preferred underdog status.

If the owners dont get a grip! We'll be slipping back to league one mate!

 

[Paris_Blade]

Someone said that as a club we were "Norwich but a year behind" or something similar.

I think that wasn't too far wide of the mark. Both had a bit of an up/down relationship with the Premier league then Norwich seem to have settled in the championship after the parachute money has been spent.

I thought we'd be odds on for this (after a more reserved approach from the prince in recent years) but the new owners made me not too sure.

I'm not exactly sure what their strategy is on spending/recruiting but it does seem that there are 2nd tier teams willing to throw a bit of cash around and if we don't either do the same, keep as many good players as we can, or develop a style of play that means we don't necessarily have buy the top top names then we could very well end up in mid table fodder territory.

Is that the worst thing in the world? probably not these days, but it feels a bit like a missed opportunity after time spent in the top division.

I'm happy in the championship, can't lie! But the club needs the prem, we make a loss each year we're not in the top league, in the short term a season or two more in the championship would at least be good entertainment, but behind the scenes I think we'd be in deep trouble

 

[Paris_Blade]

Just because Championship clubs are bringing in new players doesn’t mean that they are all being strengthened. We are assuming that new players are better than what they have or have got rid of, but we know from our own signings that isn’t always the case.
Let’s see which clubs are doing well at the end of October.

That's a solid point, a good remedy to my doom and gloom atm!

 

[Menage a petit pois]

We've been lucky to have our time in the prem when we did, we earned well and bounced back giving us a big advantage in the championship, but that's now gone. Whoever comes down from the Prem this season will have a lot of talent behind them, meanwhile teams around us in the championship are now splashing the cash in a way that's raising the bar.

At the end of last season, I saw a lot of talk that this year would be easier. Instead, a lot of teams have stepped up. Not kicking on after last January, despite getting in much needed signings, already feels like a major mistake. This summer was a chance to put it right, but instead we’ve slipped even further behind the pace needed to compete.

It's all pointing in a dodgy direction, am I over reacting??

From what ive witnessed so far I would say you're not reacting enough!!

 

[Youngand70]

I think it will be interesting next season. Alot of teams look to be taking the Forrest approach. Find a way to throw every bit of cash you can at the players and see if it doesn’t go tits up. Sunderland are giving it a go in the Prem with that tactic and it seems to me thats the idea Wrexham and Birmingham have got too but it can go very wrong.

We rarely seem to splash cash and it is looking to be our down fall but it might also leave us less open to being even more fucked than we can be. The mentality of this club always seems to be "plucky underdog" it feels like over recent seasons we've been seen as more than that and the club just looks lost at the minute although we seem to be slipping back in to our preferred underdog stat

Yes Birmingham and Wrexham are splashing the cash but they like lot of other well run, forward thinking clubs are also seriously upgrading their commercial activities in order to increase revenue and club value. Wrexham have engaged numerous quality sponsorship deals and also have plans for developing the Racecourse ground to 15,000 with long term plans for 55,000. Their 2 Yanks have lots of connections in addition to lots of money.

Birmingham Ciy are involved in a 20 year plan for transforming a great deal of the city overall in conjunction with the city Council and the Government. Tom Wagner CEO and his group have already purchased 60 acres of land and they are in the process of purchasing more. Part of that plan is a Sports Quarter that will include a 62,000 seat stadium, and creating an entertainment destination along with commercial space. All this will contribute money to BCFC for years to come instead of the boom and bust by some clubs in the past. The stadium is designed to be a community destination with sports science facilities, retail and entertainment options.

Villa have set a commercial target of £400M commercial revenue a year by 2027 and are already at about the £300M mark. Villa park has plans to increase capacity to 50,000 also with increased commercial oportunities including the largest "beer hall" in the Premier League. They have also employed a guy as President of Business Operations who has previously worked at Barcelona, Juventus and Roma. They have a prime sponsorship deal including front of shirt with Betano worth £40M.

Some posters on here have stated in defence of COH and their piss poor communication strategy and Premier League "dream" that "American owners" don't tend to make their plans known to supporters. Well BCFC and Wrexham have engaged with their supporters supporters and 12 Premier League clubs most with full/part American ownership have made it public knowledge that they intend to develop their stadiums or build new ones as part of increasing their match day revenue and commercial activities.

Our mega projects announced to date are a refurbished score board, new LED advertising hoardings, and a shiny resurfaced carpark that only those with lots of money can park in and maybe some safe standing on the Kop that's facilities compared to many clubs are shite. Oh and eventually new training facilities and Cat 1 academy - well over due.

The major club projects are basically the way forward and we are sadly lagging behind as usual. One would ask who is advising COH and do they need a reality check?

 

[SUFCScorecard]

I agree, we're are falling behind, and its going to take a lot from Selles, and the club through the rest of this window to put us in position to make a playoff challenge. As it stands I can't see us making the playoffs. Our squad is too thin to manage the schedule, and it doesn't look like the club are in a position to get the players in we need. Turning their noses up at McBurnie/Dunne was criminal (I know we made a half-hearted last minute attempt for McB). We were in a position to attract the best free transfers available in the league, its such a privalege. Even if they aren't your no.1 target, they bolster your squad so you can allocate your budget to other areas of need. Now we need to spread that budget a lot thinner. As we are we would probably need to spend 30-40m to challenge for top 2, and 20m to make a playoff run. I'd be surprised if we even did the latter.

This is our last year as a parachute team, and we aren't behaving like one. We haven't created momentum whereby the best players want to come to us, signing players is a lot easier when there is a perception you'll be challenging at the top. Our lukewarm window so far, along with the early results means that bringing anyone in who can improve the first team is going to be a tough sell, because they are also wanted by the teams who have created momentum this summer. We are now probably behind Wrexham in terms of pull for top end talent.

And if you think this summer we have weakened, wait until next year when we have to slash our budget by 50%+. Unless we strike gold with investment from a new owner/investor, our future is going to be like Boro/Norwich/Stoke/WBA where in a good year we may be able to challenge for 6th, and if we do a really good job with it we look like Coventry who are great at identiying talent and selling it for a profit.

 

[TJ blade]

I agree, we're are falling behind, and its going to take a lot from Selles, and the club through the rest of this window to put us in position to make a playoff challenge. As it stands I can't see us making the playoffs. Our squad is too thin to manage the schedule, and it doesn't look like the club are in a position to get the players in we need. Turning their noses up at McBurnie/Dunne was criminal (I know we made a half-hearted last minute attempt for McB). We were in a position to attract the best free transfers available in the league, its such a privalege. Even if they aren't your no.1 target, they bolster your squad so you can allocate your budget to other areas of need. Now we need to spread that budget a lot thinner. As we are we would probably need to spend 30-40m to challenge for top 2, and 20m to make a playoff run. I'd be surprised if we even did the latter.

This is our last year as a parachute team, and we aren't behaving like one. We haven't created momentum whereby the best players want to come to us, signing players is a lot easier when there is a perception you'll be challenging at the top. Our lukewarm window so far, along with the early results means that bringing anyone in who can improve the first team is going to be a tough sell, because they are also wanted by the teams who have created momentum this summer. We are now probably behind Wrexham in terms of pull for top end talent.

And if you think this summer we have weakened, wait until next year when we have to slash our budget by 50%+. Unless we strike gold with investment from a new owner/investor, our future is going to be like Boro/Norwich/Stoke/WBA where in a good year we may be able to challenge for 6th, and if we do a really good job with it we look like Coventry who are great at identiying talent and selling it for a profit.

As high as that! Think you better hold onto your hat mate, were in for a bumpy ride this season if these so called owners dont get there arses into gear!!

 

[Pandev]

Yes we are falling behind. Was hoping it would be something new ownership would change. Sadly doesn’t seem to be the case. At the least I expected a director of football.

We’ve heard nothing on the new training facilities and seen next to no investment in the first team…

Early signs do not look good. I can’t see these owners staying long. Can’t see us getting back into the premier league any time soon and lack of communication I don’t feel like they are very committed.

 

[Rodley]

I thought we’d look to improve areas of the club previously deficient, but apart from the surfacing of the car park, areas like transfer business have got worse.

I think this is shaping up to be a worse summer than the Anis Slimane Premier League season.

 

[nopigfansintown]

We never had the money to compete on the way up, in the yoyo period or on the way down (if this is what this period is). We've never acted like a financially confident/stable club. The closest we came was the second prem window under Wilder and the summer window following.

League 1 Promotion: worst squad since the 80s more or less turned into Champions in one summer window - largely with funds from selling off all best young talent (Adams, Ramsdale, DCL) Some acquisitions go on to make big Champ impact.

Champ season 1: After a phenomenal start little money to push on in Jan. Manager in tears at the end of the final game after "we've reached our max" interviews

Champ season 2. Brooks sale and Walker add on give United a fighting chance. Despite that being promoted automatically with a bottom six budget is beyond all expectations.

Prem 1: United spend a lot of the Prem money on fees - especially when adding Berge when almost safe in Jan. It becomes clear we won't compete on wages.

Prem season 2: Relegated despite spending decent money again on fees in Summer. No Jan permanents

Champ under Slav/Hecky: Some big loan wages/fees paid but the second and third windows without a permanent signing transpire. Ramsdale sold for big money as United fail to offload others for big fees (Berge constantly linked).

Champ season 2: United make 1 permanent addition (Anel) in five windows. Far from an ideal way to build a club. Contract extensions of players including young players are neglected (Ndiaye, Osula, Jebbison). It's revealed that we owe clubs money, eventually cumulating in a points deduction. A run to the FA Cup semi helps. The two biggest playing assets the club owns are kept in a huge gamble on promotion which thankfully bears fruit.

Prem. Money is spent, the bulk seemingly coming from the Ndiaye and Berge sales. Relegated in abject fashion. Arblaster emerges from academy.

Champ: Summer window dominated by takeover talk as well as talk of two transfer lists. A large amount of worry and inaction on incomings until deep into the window. In the end United make a sizeable net profit and bring in Burrows, Cooper, Campbell, Moore. and O'Hare on permanents. The first time, imo, we seriously bolster the squad with permanents since the league one promotion season. This is underlined by further use of loans and the lack of squad numbers until January loan reinforcements (and Cannon) arrive. The emergence of Peck and Seriki help.

At the end of Jan and the end of last season it's clear: a sizeable number of permanent additions are needed. I think 95+% of the fanbase would have picked a number between five and ten permanent . So far we've engaged in understandable housekeeping on outs with the ins sadly lacking. The outs have of course exacerbated the need for more ins.

I think the common theme seems to be lack of financial power even at this level.

 

[TJ blade]

We never had the money to compete on the way up, in the yoyo period or on the way down (if this is what this period is). We've never acted like a financially confident/stable club. The closest we came was the second prem window under Wilder and the summer window following.

League 1 Promotion: worst squad since the 80s more or less turned into Champions in one summer window - largely with funds from selling off all best young talent (Adams, Ramsdale, DCL) Some acquisitions go on to make big Champ impact.

Champ season 1: After a phenomenal start little money to push on in Jan. Manager in tears at the end of the final game after "we've reached our max" interviews

Champ season 2. Brooks sale and Walker add on give United a fighting chance. Despite that being promoted automatically with a bottom six budget is beyond all expectations.

Prem 1: United spend a lot of the Prem money on fees - especially when adding Berge when almost safe in Jan. It becomes clear we won't compete on wages.

Prem season 2: Relegated despite spending decent money again on fees in Summer. No Jan permanents

Champ under Slav/Hecky: Some big loan wages/fees paid but the second and third windows without a permanent signing transpire. Ramsdale sold for big money as United fail to offload others for big fees (Berge constantly linked).

Champ season 2: United make 1 permanent addition (Anel) in five windows. Far from an ideal way to build a club. Contract extensions of players including young players are neglected (Ndiaye, Osula, Jebbison). It's revealed that we owe clubs money, eventually cumulating in a points deduction. A run to the FA Cup semi helps. The two biggest playing assets the club owns are kept in a huge gamble on promotion which thankfully bears fruit.

Prem. Money is spent, the bulk seemingly coming from the Ndiaye and Berge sales. Relegated in abject fashion. Arblaster emerges from academy.

Champ: Summer window dominated by takeover talk as well as talk of two transfer lists. A large amount of worry and inaction on incomings until deep into the window. In the end United make a sizeable net profit and bring in Burrows, Cooper, Campbell, Moore. and O'Hare on permanents. The first time, imo, we seriously bolster the squad with permanents since the league one promotion season. This is underlined by further use of loans and the lack of squad numbers until January loan reinforcements (and Cannon) arrive. The emergence of Peck and Seriki help.

At the end of Jan and the end of last season it's clear: a sizeable number of permanent additions are needed. I think 95+% of the fanbase would have picked a number between five and ten permanent . So far we've engaged in understandable housekeeping on outs with the ins sadly lacking. The outs have of course exacerbated the need for more ins.

I think the common theme seems to be lack of financial power even at this level.

We been skint since 1889

 

[SB_90]

Maybe we are falling behind off the pitch. Maybe there are untapped revenue streams that other teams are finding or higher paying sponsors, & we aren’t.

It’s fine if people aren’t interested in the financial side of the sport, but there’s often this feeling that football is in a very healthy, profitable state, so why can’t we just throw money at players we need?. i would live to spend 20m on hughes & 8m on thomas. The reality is the opposite. Football finances are like a house of cards. The vast majority of Championship teams spend more on wages than they bring in. In the last two sets of published figures, the league collectively lost £456m and £319m. If you predict in to last season, the 2nd tier will likely have lost well over a billion pounds across last 3 years.

Take Leeds, for example. Just to exist outside the Premier League for two years before transfers or infrastructure. cost them around £85m. Or Leicester: similar to our last promotion, they broke the bank to go up, recorded £90m losses, then found themselves skint in the Premier League. They sold their best player, came back down, & I don’t think they’ve bought anyone this summer transfer window.

Aside from owners with deep pockets who are happy to throw money away, I honestly don’t know how clubs sustain this level of expenditure. other than piling up debt. If the gamble pays off, great, but if it doesn’t, at some point you have to stay within your financial means.

this article was a good read for me

EFL Championship Clubs: Financially Susceptible - SBI Barcelona

Football Governance Bill received the Royal Assent in July 2025 thereby converting it into an Act which possibly can be described as a watershed moment for

www.sbibarcelona.com