Brian is staying according JM on BBCRB

[Cypry]

What? Even if those players aren't right for the team? Next thing you know, AZ will be picking the team. We know he's already been in the dressing room and spoken to the players.

EDIT: That was to Bendy

For crying out loud, why does everything have to be black and white, and why do you always jump on the slightest out of context comment to try to beat the club up?

SJM, by his own admission, knows nothing about football (or at least the playing side of football). Ergo, why in the World would he get involved in deep discussions about players? His approach was to give the team management a budget, and trust them to use their knowledge of the game to make buying decisions....

Anton, on the other hand has been described as having an "encyclopaedic" knowledge of the game - of course he's going to want to sit down and discuss the options open to us....
I suspect that Brian and Hammond have put together a wish list, with a "business case" for each player on that list, and that will be what Hammond and Anton will have been discussing.....which players we want, why we want them, and how much they might cost....

If I were a business owner who knew nothing about IT, and my CIO came to me and told me that we needed a new IT system costing millions of pounds, I'd probably ask to see an overview of the business case and if the figures stacked up, then I'd trust my CIOs judgement and say "yes"....
However, if I was a business owner who had an in depth understanding of IT systems, I might want a little more detail, and be a little more questioning about whether the system is specified correctly, and whether it will deliver...

Anton is completely within his rights to want a little more detailed engagement around player acquisitions, it is, after all, his money being spent....as for picking the team, do you really think Brian would put up with that? He indicated in the Summer in no uncertain terms that he would never stand for that level of interference...

Talking to the players? Lots of owners do that, in fact, if you look hard enough you'll find plenty of video footage on the web of SJM doing exactly that....

[Hoop Blah]

:roll: clearly stated on numerous occasions that he had a budget and spent it all.

be that 5 million plus wages

or ten million.


if you dont believe that that is fine.


but i do.

He's said he spent his budget yes, which you can believe or not as the case may be, I was just surprised you knew so accurately the ins and outs of how much that was and so obviously know a lot more than you let on about the wages and budgets the club is being run on.

[melonhead]

dont really think you need to be a maths whizz/ITK to add up the fees we spent this summer.


or to make a good guess on wages based on what we know about our set up, and the rumoured fees/wages for pog.


the point isnt that its 5, or 10
its that its the lowest in the league,not enough, and it was all spent

[Hoop Blah]

Oh right, so even without knowing how much we spent, or could've spent, you're sure it's the lowest in the league?

Not more than Swansea, Norwich, West Brom or Fulham spent? Let alone clubs like Villa, Everton or Stoke who didn't spend massive amounts. I'm not our budget wasn't spent or that it wasn't in the lower tier (it obviously was) but you're just guilty of making the kind of unfounded assumptions you have a pop at others for.

[Thou Voice]

JM will be clearly on the salts if he things that Balding Guy V2 is still staying after this shower of welsh rabbit poo...

Do You See?

[LUX]

welsh rabbit?

clearly an intellectual

[Once were Biscuitmen]

JM will be clearly on the salts if he things that Balding Guy V2 is still staying after this shower of welsh rabbit poo...

Do You See?

Lulz - what does dodger think?

[Thou Voice]

welsh rabbit?

clearly an intellectual

Thank you - my mistake. The dish is actually called Welsh Rarebit...

...I have always hated thatt dish.

Do You See?

[Einstein agogo]

Welsh Rabbit is the true name , poor people used to eat rabbit , the joke was that the welsh we're soooo poor that they could only afford cheese

[Millsy]

Thing is, Anton is the owner, and therefore he is accountable to nobody other than himself....

We were told all along that the club would continue to be "prudent", and that is indeed the case, so in that respect he is, in fact, delivering on his promises. A target of being a top ten club in five years? Not out of the question, even if we are relegated this year...

I've said this before, but I believe the club are looking at the big picture, much bigger than throwing the kitchen sink at staying up this year....

Consider EPPP for a moment.....how many of you have looked at what is actually involved with achieving CAT 1 status?
The upgrades that we are putting in place is costing the club multi millions - I was lucky enough to have some insight into this at the weekend, and the requirements, and associated costs are astronomical.....18 full time coaching staff....floodlit pitches.....parent facilities....it's a huge task and very expensive....

Our youth teams are some of the best in the country at the moment.....it's vital that we get CAT1.....

Why?

Well, consider the scenario that we forgo the academy upgrades, and use the cash to try to stay up this year......

1) We could still go down......disaster.....we'd be sat in the Championship, with our best youth players able to walk away to "big" clubs, with next to no compensation. Our youth structure would be decimated.....

2) We could stay up......on the face of it, crack open the champagne....but......we'd be sat in the Premiership, with our best youth players able to walk away to "big" clubs, with next to no compensation. Our youth structure would be decimated.....


Alternatively...we spend the money on the academy and accept that we have a very limited budget for players this year....

3) We get relegated......booooooooo.......but......we've got a CAT1 academy, which means we can plunder the non-CAT1 academy's for their better players.....our youth structure is actually strengthened, and we should be in a very strong position to challenge for promotion back to the Premier League (certainly in a stronger position than most of the other non-CAT1 Championship clubs).....if we can bounce straight up then our long term goals will be set back by just a year...

4) We stay up, by the skin of our teeth, but with a strong academy, and can start to pull in the better youth players to further strengthen and build....this is the Nirvana and truly could deliver the "top ten" aspirations....

If you look at the history of EPPP, it's concept is largely to give the Premier League clubs a competitive advantage over their rivals (in much the same way as parachute payments) - it's history is rooted in the failure of the Premier League to do away with relegation full stop....

So where would you spend the money? Now? On short-term fixes to give us "one more year" in the Premier League?
Or on a longer term strategy, which will allow us to have one of the better youth setups in the country (certainly in the top 10-15 clubs) and thereby cement our position in the upper echelons for years to come?

I believe that Anton has chosen the latter....good news in that, not only does it show that he has his head screwed on, but it would also seem to indicate that he's in it for the long haul, rather than with any aim of making a quick buck....

If this in the case, then I strongly suspect that McD will be safe, even in the event that we are relegated this year....

POST OF THE YEAR

You've certainly helped folk like me see things in a different light.

Absolutely brilliant.

I give even less of a toss what happens this season.

Mods, make this a sticky.

(I wish I knew what EPPP and CAT1 were though!)

[savage 4 england]

Thing is, Anton is the owner, and therefore he is accountable to nobody other than himself....

We were told all along that the club would continue to be "prudent", and that is indeed the case, so in that respect he is, in fact, delivering on his promises. A target of being a top ten club in five years? Not out of the question, even if we are relegated this year...

I've said this before, but I believe the club are looking at the big picture, much bigger than throwing the kitchen sink at staying up this year....

Consider EPPP for a moment.....how many of you have looked at what is actually involved with achieving CAT 1 status?
The upgrades that we are putting in place is costing the club multi millions - I was lucky enough to have some insight into this at the weekend, and the requirements, and associated costs are astronomical.....18 full time coaching staff....floodlit pitches.....parent facilities....it's a huge task and very expensive....

Our youth teams are some of the best in the country at the moment.....it's vital that we get CAT1.....

Why?

Well, consider the scenario that we forgo the academy upgrades, and use the cash to try to stay up this year......

1) We could still go down......disaster.....we'd be sat in the Championship, with our best youth players able to walk away to "big" clubs, with next to no compensation. Our youth structure would be decimated.....

2) We could stay up......on the face of it, crack open the champagne....but......we'd be sat in the Premiership, with our best youth players able to walk away to "big" clubs, with next to no compensation. Our youth structure would be decimated.....


Alternatively...we spend the money on the academy and accept that we have a very limited budget for players this year....

3) We get relegated......booooooooo.......but......we've got a CAT1 academy, which means we can plunder the non-CAT1 academy's for their better players.....our youth structure is actually strengthened, and we should be in a very strong position to challenge for promotion back to the Premier League (certainly in a stronger position than most of the other non-CAT1 Championship clubs).....if we can bounce straight up then our long term goals will be set back by just a year...

4) We stay up, by the skin of our teeth, but with a strong academy, and can start to pull in the better youth players to further strengthen and build....this is the Nirvana and truly could deliver the "top ten" aspirations....

If you look at the history of EPPP, it's concept is largely to give the Premier League clubs a competitive advantage over their rivals (in much the same way as parachute payments) - it's history is rooted in the failure of the Premier League to do away with relegation full stop....

So where would you spend the money? Now? On short-term fixes to give us "one more year" in the Premier League?
Or on a longer term strategy, which will allow us to have one of the better youth setups in the country (certainly in the top 10-15 clubs) and thereby cement our position in the upper echelons for years to come?

I believe that Anton has chosen the latter....good news in that, not only does it show that he has his head screwed on, but it would also seem to indicate that he's in it for the long haul, rather than with any aim of making a quick buck....

If this in the case, then I strongly suspect that McD will be safe, even in the event that we are relegated this year....

POST OF THE YEAR

You've certainly helped folk like me see things in a different light.

Absolutely brilliant.

I give even less of a toss what happens this season.

Mods, make this a sticky.

(I wish I knew what EPPP and CAT1 were though!)

Only problem is there seems to be a lack of investment to get category 1. I fear we have not been up to the standards the auditors were looking for. So we will get relegated and lose all our best young players. Can't wait.

Even if we do get category 1, our skillful passing footballers will probably be sold by McDermott for not hoofing it.

[Alan Partridge]

McDermott is a championship manager managing a Championship team in the Premier League. He isn't good enough but neither are nearly all of the players, he's just easy to get rid of. You look at QPR's squad and say they are underachieving, changing the manager might do something there. Would changing the manager at Reading with this squad make any difference? That would be my only reservation. I don't see this squad performing any better under anyone else. As a group they just aint good enough.