Charlie got loaned to Dutch side SC Telstar yesterday apart from the fantastic name can honestly say I’ve never heard of them but I’ll look out for them now.
I’m a Bolton fan and what has happened to the club in the last few years is very worrying. Bury seem to be in a worse position than Bolton - at least Bolton’s game with Coventry is going ahead tomorrow. I can certainly empathise with what fans of Portsmouth, Leeds United and Coventry City (and others) have gone through.
2 Likes
It’s a direct, albeit delayed, consequence of being promoted to the EPL under Allardyce when already in huge debt and assuming that spending non-existent money is the solution. In order to turn Bolton from relegation fodder to a team competing in Europe money was spent which didn’t exist in the sense that it was a case of speculating to accumulate. Sam saw the writing on the wall and when he couldn’t have any more to maintain the illusion he walked. A succession of poor decisions on managers and further overspending to avoid relegation then compound the issue.
Back in the Championship you have potential owners who have just enough money to throw at promotion but not enough to sustain the club if that fails. When it fails players and mangers leave and in order to trim the debt staff are recruited of an increasingly lower calibration. It’s a model that literally only works if you’re promoted and it’s increasingly why some clubs come up and decline to participate. A choice between sustainability/survival or suicide further down the line.
Coventry are in a very different position but Leeds and Portsmouth found themselves with a similar scenario for exactly the same reasons. Spending money you don’t have only works in a couple of scenarios and those are beyond the reach of most clubs.
Bury were always vulnerable for different reasons. Where your biggest asset is your ground rather than your players then property developers will always be sniffing around and it never ends well.
What’s truly depressing is that fans don’t want to know. For them it’s all about personalities. Is the owner a local? Does their heart seem in the right place? Do they have money to “invest”? That latter one is a big clue. If you need an investor then your not operating a sustainable model and alarm bells should be ringing.
Sadly, Wrexham fans found this out the hard way and you now won’t find any group of fans more knowledgeable about the real story of football finance. On my mind right now as it was 8 years ago today we raised £127,000 in 1 day to ensure we started the season. Bolton and Bury have had to raise no such bond, which says much about the EFL.
Great article from the estimable Swiss Ramble from 9 years ago just to illustrate this has been a long time coming.
Anyone paying attention will recognise similar issues over an equally long period at places like Tranmere, Grimsby, Cambridge, Mansfield and of course Notts County to name but a few. The problem is structural.
1 Like
I agree with a lot of what you say, Mike. Interesting article as well. A combination of bad decisions and some bad luck over recent years in all areas of the running of the club have taken their toll. Poor managerial appointments and signings have cost the club dearly. In the PL years, they were funded by a rich benefactor in Eddie Davies, but when a few years ago he decided he wanted to pull the plug on his funding that is when the problems started.
There is a pattern of allegedly rich benefactors being investors right up to the point there’s a risk of no return on investment. Then those investments become loans and they want them back. Fleetwood is a good example.
Well despite the evil and villianous presence of billionaire owners and the dark forces swirling around the Premier League not to mention the Schutzstaffel officials (personally I’ve always thought that John Moss had a dark side) I for one am happy it’s back.
VAR will always be controversial and things like Aguero’s penalty retake will always be unpopular with opposing fans but I’m sure at the business end of the season it will really come into it’s own.
Great win for Brighton and new manager Graham Potter and a great opening day draw for
Sheffield Wednesday, can’t wait for tommorow.
2 Likes
I ignored your comment on purpose the first time I read it but can we please just have one thread on this forum without the spelling and grammar checking I’m not great at spelling and my grammar leaves a lot to be desired I know this already thank you.
Great weekend so far.
Grabbed a win over a plucky Villa, when playing for an hour like dog-poo 
Wet Spam get a battering at home.
Now all we need is for our noisy neighbours to come a cropper 
I don’t know what you are talking about. I was expressing pleasure for you that your team have signed by all accounts a very decent player.
Went to Pompey’s first home game of the season this afternoon. 2-0 win over Tranmere was very welcome. Another cracking strike by young Ben Close. Difficult to judge the quality as both side struggled to cope with the very windy conditions but I thought newly promoted Tranmere looked a well-organised side with a neat passing game. They should survive ok in League One.
Should never have picked Mane for my FFL team so soon after return from Africa.
1 Like
We have now - if my calculations are correct - lost to Man City 22-1 on aggregate at the Dildodrome. Left Back remains a huge problem, especially against teams like Citeh, and Cresswell isn’t good enough (neither is Masuaku, come to that). Pellers should have addressed the ongoing LB problem in the transfer window.
I guess our season starts properly next week down in Brighton. One postive from yesterday’s farce was that Haller looks absolute class.
On the brightside, Sterling and Ederson did do wonders for week 1 FFL score!!!
Hard to judge the new-look Gunners this afternoon since they were up against an insipid and toothless Newcastle. Arsenal will be happy with a 1-0 but know there are much bigger tests to come. On this performance I think Magpie fans are in for a hard season.
2 Likes
The only difference between the two was Aubameyang, and the one thing he did well. Yes, Arsenal had some flickers from two or three players (Xhaka, Guendouzi, maybe Maitland-Niles) - but so did Newcastle (Joelinton, Almiron and, until he got hurt, Shelvey). Ridiculous to judge based on one disjointed and dull game, but it looked like a midtable clash to me. Anyway, lots of new players to bed in. But why do Arsenal persist with Mkhitaryan?
No boy in the Netherlands is dreaming to play for Telstar. Also, Leeds industry sites look like a holiday park compared to ijmuiden.
Dreadful start for Fat Frank’s Chelsea. The relegation zone in the EPL currently consists of Watford, Chelsea and – bottom of the heap – my mob.
Ouch
Funnily enough we didn’t look like we lacked a creative midfielder.
We did look like we lacked anything resembling a Central Defender however. Which makes the Luiz situation ever more bizarre, particularly as he didn’t play for Arsenal either!
The earliest of early days, but ManYoo certainly looked the textbook example of how to build a team: From the back. Great keeper, two outstanding full backs, and one magnificent central defender who makes his partner - and everyone else around him - raise their game (cf. Big Virge).
Enough with the positivity. I’m alarmed by the signs of resurgence at Castle Greyskull under Stevie G.
So, Chelsea get fined and banned from transfers across two windows for breaching rules relating to youth players. Man City get done for breaching the same set of rules yet ‘escape’ with a fine only!? Something fishy here…
2 Likes