Ian RoyalRG7FanRoyalBlue The owners must be wondering what the hell is going on. Unlike his predecessor(s), Clarke has been given plenty of financial backing and a free hand to choose both his backroom staff and playing squad.
You say that, and I thought that way initially but if you look at it further I'm not sure how much has been put in.
[*] £3m has been saved on Pog.
[*] Feds / Pearce / Karacan / Kelly / Guthrie wages all saved. Assume £750k / year each (even as an average)?
[*] Akpan and a load of lower level players gone + Drenthe (lets not forget).
Then there were the loanees - Mackie / Ake / Chalobah. We don't know what they were costing us, if anything.
Conservatively that could be £7-8m a year. And then there is £4m for Hector - lets assume £2m upfront. So we're at £9m+ immediate cash in / saved.
I bet the new boys haven't cost that much in total (fees + year 1 wages) - so, has there really been a huge investment? I know that is mixing fees and wages which is why I only took year 1, but for a quick and dirty calculation I think it proves a point.
Clearly they have been Clarke's decisions - clever work. He's on the hook, but I dont think we should get too carried away thinking £m's have come flooding in. The big money will come from the Prem - £100m TV money for starters ...
Bare in mind we were making big losses, so just maintaining similar spending is in of itself a significant investment.
And regardless of how it's financed, bringing in a dozen new players in one transfer window, many of a high caliber, is certainly significant backing.
Yeah thats true - and of course the parachute payment will be more of a hanky payment now. Certainly I think they have given Clarke a lot of backing, but maybe now so much in £ terms as people would like to think. Either way - I hope he gets it back on track soon. Ipswich seems a long time ago.