BFTG - Coventry (A)

[Hound]

Most of which Gourlay wasn't here.

The contracts that he committed us to were not just for the duration of his tenure! What can you do to fix 2-3 year contracts? Yes, sell but only if someone is prepared to pay/take on those contracts.

True to an extent especially Moore. However that doesn't really explain the £40 million loss for the 2019/20 season. The sheer extent of that loss is only partly down to Gourlay's work and mostly driven by our signings in 2019 at a time when we knew we were sailing close to the wind.

those signings didn't cost 40m though Zip or anything close to it

19/20 still had Obita, Blackett, McCleary and co on the books didn't it? As well as the lot let go this year. Can you remember how insanely big our squad was that year?

obviously some was driven by bringing in Rafael, Puscas, Joao and the loanees but as mentioned before I think they were necessary purchases who have proved their worth to a large extent.

[Snowflake Royal]

Yep and the problem of the wage bill isn’t now so much, it’s been the last three years

Most of which Gourlay wasn't here.

The contracts that he committed us to were not just for the duration of his tenure! What can you do to fix 2-3 year contracts? Yes, sell but only if someone is prepared to pay/take on those contracts.

We had multi million enquiries about Swift and Loader which we declined. We spent a combined ~£13m on Ejaria, Joao and Puscas. Bowen was going to do his utmost to offload Moore

How's that for easy places to start based on things that actually happened.

Combined difference, pushing about £20m
.

[Hound]

Most of which Gourlay wasn't here.

The contracts that he committed us to were not just for the duration of his tenure! What can you do to fix 2-3 year contracts? Yes, sell but only if someone is prepared to pay/take on those contracts.

We had multi million enquiries about Swift and Loader which we declined. We spent a combined ~£13m on Ejaria, Joao and Puscas. Bowen was going to do his utmost to offload Moore

How's that for easy places to start based on things that actually happened.

Combined difference, pushing about £20m
.

But you'd still have actually needed someone to buy Moore. Don't think there were ever any offers - expect we'd take one now for him if there was. Gomes 'did his best' to get rid of Baldock, McCleary and co, and look how that one turned out

Swift at 3.5m was a joke considering the season he'd just had. We'd have sold for anywhere near his market value (7m was suggested). Loader, yes a screw up but doubt it was multimillion. Wages off the books 6 months later.

We'd have been considerably worse without the other 3, who combined are worth more than that now I'd expect. I'd consider them all good investments. And tbh, we were miles over FFP anyway, so even if we didn't buy them, we'd prob still be in the financial shite, just without 3 good to very good players.

We'd quite possibly gone down without Rafael, Ejaria, Puscas and Joao in Gomes/Bowen season, and certainly wouldnt have had a 'successful' season last year. Which brought in some money in itself in the sale of Olise and a lot of TV exposure.

[Snowflake Royal]

Yeah, heard it all before. But the point remains we had options to spend less / save more and we didn't take them, which as a direct consequence has led to this position. And our flagrant disregard for our financial position by signing Puscas and Joao for example, almost certainly leads to a less lenient and cooperative position from the FL.

All since Gourlay, who was working for and with the owners. He's just being made an easy excuse for all the oxf*rd by them and the club.

[Hound]

yes, of course we had options to spend less, but there is a considerable difference between purchasing players who end up on the periphery for 2m+ on long expensive contracts (Aluko, Baldock, Mannone, Illori) and just handing out hugely inflated long contracts to others for very little return (Popa, Joey, Meyler, Yann, Moore, Gunter etc) than buying good young players for a fee which represents their ability - Ejaria, Rafael, Joao and Puscas.

There is an argument that we shouldn't have done that of course - which is where you are, and I disagree - and thats fine, but tarring it as 'the same mistakes' or even saying it was bad business isn't really the case.

We'd had to have had some pretty amazing scouting, and prob spent some money anyway to buy alternatives to those on the cheap, or to Swift and even Moore if we'd sold them. Yes there are players out there (ie Laurent), but generally the decent ones cost

[Brum Royal]

I didn't go to the game, but having read through the thread, it's disappointing to see many HNA veterans missing the long standing meme of Groundhog Day here.

1-0 up at Coventry at ht
Lose 2-1

[paultheroyal]

I didn't go to the game, but having read through the thread, it's disappointing to see many HNA veterans missing the long standing meme of Groundhog Day here.

1-0 up at Coventry at ht
Lose 2-1

Good shout.

[Snowflake Royal]

I didn't go to the game, but having read through the thread, it's disappointing to see many HNA veterans missing the long standing meme of Groundhog Day here.

1-0 up at Coventry at ht
Lose 2-1

Good shout.

I tried, but no one joined in.

[Horsham Royal]

I didn't go to the game, but having read through the thread, it's disappointing to see many HNA veterans missing the long standing meme of Groundhog Day here.

1-0 up at Coventry at ht
Lose 2-1

Good shout.

I tried, but no one joined in.

Idiots

[Brum Royal]

Good shout.

I tried, but no one joined in.

Idiots

[Westwood52]

I do wonder (and hope) ,that Puscas will get better the more game time he gets ?Watch out on Saturday;he might actually score.

[Donny Ironside]

I do wonder (and hope) ,that Puscas will get better the more game time he gets ?Watch out on Saturday;he might actually score.

He is a professional footballer. He should not need more time to get better.

[Coppells Lost Coat]

I do wonder (and hope) ,that Puscas will get better the more game time he gets ?Watch out on Saturday;he might actually score.

He is a professional footballer. He should not need more time to get better.

So are you saying players dont / cant get better with more playing time?

Very bizarre statement.

[Hound]

I do wonder (and hope) ,that Puscas will get better the more game time he gets ?Watch out on Saturday;he might actually score.

He is a professional footballer. He should not need more time to get better.

So are you saying players dont / cant get better with more playing time?

Very bizarre statement.

esp when he has barely played a full game for a year until the last week or two

[Donny Ironside]

I do wonder (and hope) ,that Puscas will get better the more game time he gets ?Watch out on Saturday;he might actually score.

He is a professional footballer. He should not need more time to get better.

So are you saying players dont / cant get better with more playing time?

Very bizarre statement.

If returning from injury or a young player yes. Not a player who should be in their prime years and should be scoring goals for fun.

[Jagermesiter1871]

Thought the away support was pretty poor in terms of noise. I reckon the room temperature £5 Heineken served fresh from a can was the reason but it could have been the shit play.

[Jagermesiter1871]

He is a professional footballer. He should not need more time to get better.

So are you saying players dont / cant get better with more playing time?

Very bizarre statement.

If returning from injury or a young player yes. Not a player who should be in their prime years and should be scoring goals for fun.

Correct me if I'm wrong...but he is both returning from injury and still fairly young.

[Snowflake Royal]

He is a professional footballer. He should not need more time to get better.

So are you saying players dont / cant get better with more playing time?

Very bizarre statement.

esp when he has barely played a full game for a year until the last week or two

Yep, bonkers position.

Think he was fine on Saturday personally. And probably would have scored the other day when Azeez did if Bristow hadn't tackled him.

[Zip]

Yeah, heard it all before. But the point remains we had options to spend less / save more and we didn't take them, which as a direct consequence has led to this position. And our flagrant disregard for our financial position by signing Puscas and Joao for example, almost certainly leads to a less lenient and cooperative position from the FL.

All since Gourlay, who was working for and with the owners. He's just being made an easy excuse for all the oxf*rd by them and the club.

Yep very much this and even more so when it was clear our financial position was a concern to the EFL in 2019 so I know lets smash our transfer record and lash out £12 million on two strikers and God knows how much more on wages and loan signings.

[oldebiscuit]

To be fair to the ref though, players should be playing to his whistle and not giving up as they think it’s all over. There were, apparently, 3 bookings handed out in stoppage time so presume that’s where the overrun came from. Having VP go on about it after the game was I thought embarrassing and just trying to cover up Reading’s general ineptitude during the game.

Totally agree with this.