[Archived] Big Fat Sam's Shopping List

[Hughesy]

How about a return to right back for Lucas Neill? He's another on a free in the summer.

[Mr. E]

looks like Bentley is out the door at Spurs.

One would hope he would come crawling back humbled to our doorsteps, but he'll probably get snapped up by West Ham or ManCity or any other club willing to pay him the big money he wants.

[Guest benmaxwell]

looks like Bentley is out the door at Spurs.

One would hope he would come crawling back humbled to our doorsteps, but he'll probably get snapped up by West Ham or ManCity or any other club willing to pay him the big money he wants.

Maybe we could wave Roque under their nose and request a combination of the following players to make the deal; Bent, Huddlestone and Bentley would all improve our squad dramatically im willing to bet...

[RevidgeBlue]

How about a return to right back for Lucas Neill? He's another on a free in the summer.

(Abbey mode on:)

YOU MUST BE ******* JOKING!!!!!!

Apart from which according to today's papers he is reluctant to take a drop on his 60k p.w. wages. And also the fact Emerton is an infinitely better right back.

[RevidgeBlue]

I'll take nicko's revelations about having to chop 5m off the wage bill with a pinch of salt until I hear corroboration from another source, but in any event it really shouldn't be that difficult.

Ball park figures, Mokoena, Tugay and Ooijer must be on about 4m p.a. alone. Derbyshire and Gallagher are probably on their way out along with Simpson, Carlos and Rigters and hopefully we made a bit of a saving by axing Vogel.

Roque is almost certainly our top wage earner on at least 2m p.a. and he'll probably be off and much as I like them both, we can't continue to pay Dunn and Reid indefinitely for being permanently injured.

From the Trustees perspective, very dangerous business model but extremely nice work if Sam can do that AND keep us up.

55m income, 35m wages, 20 m in the back sack. Luvvly jubbly.

Two years or so of that and they'll recoup the 40m they've put in since Jack's death and will be able to sell the Club for a tenner like Sir Jack Hayward did at Wolves. (Not that I'm holding my breath)

[Hughesy]

Isnt our wage bill now up at £46m? Therefore approx £41m if we reduce it by £5m.

[RevidgeBlue]

Isnt our wage bill now up at £46m? Therefore approx £41m if we reduce it by £5m.

Is it?

Quite a few players have been earning more money for steadily deteriorating performances if that's the case.

Would still produce a very handsome profit for the owners though.

[philipl]

If we finish 14th, our turnover will be below £50m.

[dingles staying down 4ever]

The LET said the other night in an article that the wage bill had risen to £46mill this season. the £5 million cut would return the wages to around the figure recorded when we made the operating profit last year. Willaims has said on many occassions in the past that Rovers cannot continue to survive with the wages taking over 80% of turnover.

[TimmyJimmy]

... nicko's revelations about having to chop 5m off the wage bill ... from the Trustees perspective, very dangerous business model but extremely nice work if Sam can do that AND keep us up ...

It's no kind of a business model is it. I kind of get the impression your post was tongue in cheek but this topic really gets to me so I'll not pass up the opportunity for a whinge ...

if Sam saves 5m then its only a saving if it stays saved. When we dump the players you mention, and their wages, what's left to pay the new guys with? Nothing, the square root of sweet f..k all. JW said on previous occasions that it's wage bill versus wage bill these days that determines league places. Doesn't sound much of a plan to start chopping our only competitive advantage then! It's a no-brainer to say success in the EPL is all about money, if we don't find our share then we end up playing somewhere else where money doesn't matter, BRFC in the conference anybody?

You are totally right to refer to the concept of 'a business model' - if only the Trustees had one.

[neekoy]

looks like Bentley is out the door at Spurs.

Read that as well, funniest thing all summer.

Anyone want to pick the eyes out of borough or newcasltle?

[neekoy]

Wasn't that Ben Thatcher?

Apologies I stand corrected.

Still, I stand by my comments on the level of violence he appears to have when picking up his cards and his behaviour, especially with team mates OFF the feild is not welcome.

[gumboots]

Read that as well, funniest thing all summer.

Anyone want to pick the eyes out of borough or newcasltle?

If you mean which players do we want from them, very few and most of those will go to clubs who are prepared to pay them more than we will be.

[iamarover]

uote name='Bazzanotsogreat' date='May 17 2009, 16:07 ' post='760917']

All of which are extremley small- staff wages are included in the club's wage bill.

Bazza. I have the accounts in front of me and these are the key indicators for the 07/08 season.

Turnover 56.4

Wages 39.7

Other exp 10.1

GROSS profit £6.6m....

Interest on debt £1.6m

Player trading loss £2.0m

NET profit. £3.0m

And the debt is £16.9m The cost of servicing that debt will have risen massively from £1.6m this season and next, and it is likely that the banks have told the Trustees it has to come down. So, bearing in mind that 08/09 the £56.4m comes down - Philip reckons to £50m, Rovers would have to find that £6.4m plus the cost of the loan (and possibly to pay some of it off) just to stand still, and come in at a profit of around £3m. I presume this is where the Bentley money is going. The debt will probably have to halve.

Nicko's £5m wage bill reduction looks spot on against these figures and the projected £10m worsening of Rovers' finances in 08/09 (turnover down £6m and wages up £4m). Sam will therefore have around £2m net again, plus the money from Santa Cruz. But that will be money in wages and fees. So expect Sam to have a net fund of around £8m.

In all probability this will not be a bad fund. Pompey, West Ham, Wigan, Bolton plus the 3 promoted clubs will have around the same or a lot less.

Given these figures it is not clear what else they Trustees can do. We owe £17m quid and our revenue is in decline. The only route is to find a buye.... STOP....and there is a dreary thread elsewhere for the discussion of this non event.

[LeChuck]

A bit of wild speculation in the absence of any real rumours...but I wonder what people who follow Scottish football more than I think of Andrew Driver? I've only seen him a few times but I've always thought he looks a very promising left winger. Seems to be getting linked quite frequently to English clubs, but none that I wouldn't be confident of beating to his signature.

He's quick and a very good dribbler, seems to have a decent cross on him. Fees of around £1-£2 million have been mentioned in all the rumours I've seen, which seems very cheap for a 21 year old with his talents. Like I said though I've only seen him a handful of times.

[T4E]

Very very good player is Driver. I've been concerned for sometime that he was going to end up turning Scotland down to play for England, and then sign for Burnley. Both are distinct possibilities and would put him well and truly in my bad books. Coyle has been after him for a while.

[Lathund]

. Doesn't sound much of a plan to start chopping our only competitive advantage then!

... but it's only an advantage as long as that high wage bill is a result of having superior players. Paying mediocre players massive wages is no recipe for success. Cutting some deadwood is needed.

Now where do we pay any new signings from? Remains to be seen; either from reducing the wage bill by more than £5m (RSC, Mokoena, Ooijer, Gallagher, Tugay and Vogel would account for £7.8m per year if they averaged £25k p/w), or from using some money from sales to fund wages for bosmans, rather than spending it on transfer fees.

Noone likes cutbacks, but having wages amount to 85% of our turnover isn't at all healthy. Something needed to be done.

[LeChuck]

Very very good player is Driver. I've been concerned for sometime that he was going to end up turning Scotland down to play for England, and then sign for Burnley. Both are distinct possibilities and would put him well and truly in my bad books. Coyle has been after him for a while.

Cheers, that it interesting. I expected I'd just watched him on his better days and that someone was going to tell me there was a huge flaw in his game or something. He does seem like the sort of winger we're crying out for.

Sorry to link you to the bad news by the way...that story just reminded me about him.

[unluckymorton]

If you mean which players do we want from them, very few and most of those will go to clubs who are prepared to pay them more than we will be.

Tuncay Sanli would be a good buy for the Rovers, Boro also have a great young defender in David Wheater. I can't see anyone I'd really go for at Newcastle.

[Hughesy]

Like someone said earlier - we have too many championship players on premiership wages. Thats what needs sorting out! Sort them out and there wont be an issue with the wage cuts Sam has to make.

Its the equivelant to RSC, Derbyshire & Gallagher. Them 3 alone would save us £4.95m a year (and thats based on RSC 60K, Derbs 15k, Gally 20k).

So yes we need to replace them players, but we can then also safely say that Tugay, Ooijer, Mokoena will also all be going (Approx wages = 80k or £4.15m a year).

Now if we clear Villanueva, Rigters, Brown (Ave of say £10k wage = £1.56m). Id say that getting shut of Simpson & Vogel we have probably covered most of Givets wages there.

So getting rid of the above would probably clear £10.5m approx in wages and bring in around £20m in transfer fees.

Its then up to Sam to spend that money wisely whilst keeping within our wage structure.

[LeChuck]

Its the equivelant to RSC, Derbyshire & Gallagher. Them 3 alone would save us £4.95m a year (and thats based on RSC 60K, Derbs 15k, Gally 20k).

You keep mentioning Gallagher a lot, but if we sell him we're not saving on wages. He's been constantly on loan for a while now, those clubs would have been paying most (if not all) of his wages. If he returns then that makes the situation worse, if we sell him permanently then it stays the same.

Where have you got this £20,000 figure from by the way? It sounds very excessive for someone who has never been a first team regular.

Edit: Just realised exactly the same applies for Derbyshire. As the budget currently stands we haven't been paying his wages.

[LeftWinger]

Where have you got this £20,000 figure from by the way? It sounds very excessive for someone who has never been a first team regular.

I'm sure someone on here claims that Gally is on 20k - and they know that for a fact. I think we're still paying about half of that while he's out on loan - though I can't be certain of that.

[Inta Beaver]

I would take Rory Delap in a swap deal for Pederson, at least he would bring something to the side!

[Hughesy]

I dont believe Plymouth, Stoke (when in Championship) and Preston could afford the full 20k of Gallys. I think we have sent him out with the hope we would improve and shine, so we probably still pay most of it. (Although I could be wrong)

Gally's wage I knew for a fact prior to the Genclerbiligi game (03/04 season). He had to play 1 more game prior to that to get his wage rise, which would take him to £16k. Then he got a new contract after that.

Derbs - if a loan fee was paid upfront (which it was reported as being) then again I doubt we would of paid all his wages.

[LeChuck]

So Gally is on 16k? Can't believe we paid him that much to be honest, but I will take your word for it as you seem sure. We still wouldn't send him out for free, I'd imagine other clubs were paying around half of that. We're not in a position to be charitable. We wouldn't have been paying a penny to Derbs in Greece. A loan fee isn't a substitute for paying wages.

I still don't it should be too difficult to get the wage bill down with Mokoena, Ooijer, Tugay, at least one of the goalkeepers and Roque all moving on too. I can't see both Dunn and Reid being here next season either, we can't afford two injury prone players in a trimmed down squad.