Is it really getting harder to compete financiallly?

[kevan]

It seems to be conventional wisdom that it is getting harder to compete financially in the Premiership, but outside the top 4 or 5 is that true?

The TV money is now such a big proportion of a club's income (and growing) that a slightly larger ground capacity and a few more shirt sales do not make the same % difference between the others that it used to.

In fact the funds are now open to everyone based on performance, it should be easier to mount a challenge on the top half of the division than it used to be.

A big spending Chairman (or at least one with a lax attitude to debt) can make a difference to signings but also increases risk.

Have I got my sums wrong or what?

[jm_cooper]

what sums?

[kevan]

These ones here in my head

[Royalwaster]

A big spending Chairman (or at least one with a lax attitude to debt) can make a difference to signings but also increases risk.

There's a big difference between a big spending chairman (who invests his own money) and one with a lax attitude about debt .... i.e. spending the clubs money.

[kevan]

As I understand it most of them pay funds for transfers into the club then show this as a debt to the club. Makes no differnce as long as they service the debt but if they lose interest or cock up (like at Leeds) the club is left with the debt.

[RG1 Export]

But the disparity still occurs in TV too. Top flight clubs are getting a lot more TV revenue because their games are shown week in week out as well as cup matches. The clubs outside the big four aren't getting as large payouts.

The new TV licencing deal should improve all prem clubs' finances in seasons to come but the difference will still be there and will always be there.

And mid to low league clubs need to be cautious of this as the disparity between the Prem and Championship is going to be increased dramatically. Yes they can risk it and buy a load of expensive players with high wages, go into major debt and pray you break into the top tier and win cups but as Leeds have shown us, it can go wrong and if it does, it really is a disaster.

[Wycombe Royal]

The top 4 also get the huge revenues from the Champions League.

[brendywendy]

the noises from coppell and hammond are quite worrying, are they trying to soften th eblow of another difficult summer in terms of transfers.
we may well be looking at last minute stop gap buys ala sodje again
or will madejski stretch the old wallet? doubt it

[Wycombe Royal]

the noises from coppell and hammond are quite worrying, are they trying to soften th eblow of another difficult summer in terms of transfers.
we may well be looking at last minute stop gap buys ala sodje again
or will madejski stretch the old wallet? doubt it

I don't think the transfer fees are the entire problem. What we seem to have trouble with is attracting the players, and even with big offers the more higher profile players would still be reluctant to join us. THe only way around that is to take the Wigan approach and offer wages way over the going rate to tempt them, but as we all know, that is just not the Reading way of doing things.

[Stranded]

the noises from coppell and hammond are quite worrying, are they trying to soften th eblow of another difficult summer in terms of transfers.
we may well be looking at last minute stop gap buys ala sodje again
or will madejski stretch the old wallet? doubt it

I wondered how long a post such as this would take.

Coppell and Hammond will make the same comments they've made this summer until the end of time. The public face they put out is always far removed from what is going on behind the scenes. Take Coppell's UEFA comments all season followed by his admission after Blackburn that he would have quite enjoyed qualifiying.

The club love to keep transfer dealing close to their chest, this is just there way of deflecting attention away so they can get on with their business quietly and efficiently as we've always done.

[Behindu]

Did anyone expect us to suddenly be ought there competing for Eto'o and Henry ?

Luckily we don't need major surgery on the team - unlike the likes of Derby, Wigan, Fulham etc.

One more signing would see us OK (although ideally another 3 would be nice !) and we know the money is there (as ever).

It's down to the combined talents of the management squad to find the next Doyle / Sonko / Shorey or to make sure we sell the club to a bigger name.

If we don't bring in a hatful of internationals then I have a fair bit of confidence that our squad well have developed and we will see many of them step up another level next season.

[papereyes]

The top 4 also get the huge revenues from the Champions League.

That's where the main difference comes in.

Top 4 have thier games shown weekly, if not twice weekly. We had 12 games (?) over the whole season. Also, you get additional prize money simply for being involved.

They've changed the TV money so there's a bigger share, shared equally., but there'll be the same large gap between 4th/CL qualifying and 5th.

[brendywendy]

the noises from coppell and hammond are quite worrying, are they trying to soften th eblow of another difficult summer in terms of transfers.
we may well be looking at last minute stop gap buys ala sodje again
or will madejski stretch the old wallet? doubt it

I wondered how long a post such as this would take.

Coppell and Hammond will make the same comments they've made this summer until the end of time. The public face they put out is always far removed from what is going on behind the scenes. Take Coppell's UEFA comments all season followed by his admission after Blackburn that he would have quite enjoyed qualifiying.

The club love to keep transfer dealing close to their chest, this is just there way of deflecting attention away so they can get on with their business quietly and efficiently as we've always done.

i wasnt having a go though

ive just noticed the marked change in what they are saying from a couple of weeks ago
its gone from "expect to see alot of movement"
"we will try to get players in early to avoid the problems of last year"
to
"we are being held to ransom"
"we may struggle to attract the type of player we are interested in" etc

i was impressed with what they were saying before, now worried about the change.

im not saying that i want us to change our safety first policy.

[.:BigDaveInTheDungeon:.]

the gap between the top and bottom teams is alawys going to get bigger because of the way the money is dished out, in a few years the premiure league will just be like a large version of the scottish league where a few no-one has a chance of winning the league execept for a couple of teams. in fact its already like that, the only way to stop this would be to go back to sharing the money equally, even then teams like man united will still have a big advantage with the huge crowds they get.
it'll never happen though because there is no one left who can stand up against the larger teams, they're all to busy fighting over the scraps they leave for the rest of us.

[kevan]

Forget about the top few, you need decades of glory to compete at that level or a billionaire plus a good manager.

My point is our ability to compete fiancially with the middle of the pack and the teams we would expect to be in the bottom half.

I still think that the financial playing field for these clubs is much closer than it was with the new TV deal.

It may take a while for the perceptions of existing players to catch up
with the reality

[Franchise FC]

Forget about the top few, you need decades of glory to compete at that level or a billionaire plus a good manager.

My point is our ability to compete fiancially with the middle of the pack and the teams we would expect to be in the bottom half.

I still think that the financial playing field for these clubs is much closer than it was with the new TV deal.

It may take a while for the perceptions of existing players to catch up
with the reality

I don't think it's the financial muscle that puts our transfer targets off. It's simply that, despite a good first season, they are cautious of us continuing to 'do a Wigan'. We may not like it, but Scott Brown had a point (one which he should have kept to himself).

Maybe we should blame Wigan for Henry and E'Too not responding to our calls.

[brendywendy]

Forget about the top few, you need decades of glory to compete at that level or a billionaire plus a good manager.

My point is our ability to compete fiancially with the middle of the pack and the teams we would expect to be in the bottom half.

I still think that the financial playing field for these clubs is much closer than it was with the new TV deal.

It may take a while for the perceptions of existing players to catch up
with the reality

i think thats rubbish
we are not competing with the middle of th epack

teams such as villa, newcastle, spurs, mancity,wetsham are not in our bracket at all, in fact we are miles away from that

we compete with the likes of fulham, wigan and the promoted teams
that is until the ground expansion, and new foreign billionaire owner

[Franchise FC]

Forget about the top few, you need decades of glory to compete at that level or a billionaire plus a good manager.

My point is our ability to compete fiancially with the middle of the pack and the teams we would expect to be in the bottom half.

I still think that the financial playing field for these clubs is much closer than it was with the new TV deal.

It may take a while for the perceptions of existing players to catch up
with the reality

i think thats rubbish
we are not competing with the middle of th epack

teams such as villa, newcastle, spurs, mancity,wetsham are not in our bracket at all, in fact we are miles away from that

we compete with the likes of fulham, wigan and the promoted teams
that is until the ground expansion, and new foreign billionaire owner

Should I be concerned that I'm agreeing with brendy ?

[brendywendy]

Forget about the top few, you need decades of glory to compete at that level or a billionaire plus a good manager.

My point is our ability to compete fiancially with the middle of the pack and the teams we would expect to be in the bottom half.

I still think that the financial playing field for these clubs is much closer than it was with the new TV deal.

It may take a while for the perceptions of existing players to catch up
with the reality

i think thats rubbish
we are not competing with the middle of th epack

teams such as villa, newcastle, spurs, mancity,wetsham are not in our bracket at all, in fact we are miles away from that

we compete with the likes of fulham, wigan and the promoted teams
that is until the ground expansion, and new foreign billionaire owner

Should I be concerned that I'm agreeing with brendy ?

definately

[.:BigDaveInTheDungeon:.]

Forget about the top few, you need decades of glory to compete at that level or a billionaire plus a good manager.

hardly, blackburn and newcastle were both in with a shout before the gap got to wide. beofre the premiure league came about every team had at least a chance of a season of glory. now there are only two teams you would realistically consider able of winning the league. its meant to be a competition, instead the pundits now even take more notice of who is going to be getting relegated as at least there is still a competition of sorts to see who is the least shit.