[Archived] Sam's January Targets

[TimmyJimmy]

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/5009721.Blackburn_Rovers_summer_budget_in_Sam_s_hands/?ref=rss

Interesting article.

Sometimes I think it's just best to look away, but this article just hammers it home that the Trustees demand we trade on a break even basis, and that's a desperate state to be in if you are an EPL club.

The logic seems to be that a high finish gives us transfer money, but a high finish needs better players, better players require transfer money - which we can't get until we have a high finish - ad nauseum until we disappear up our own tailpipe.

Not sure how many managers would put up with that. Fortunately Sam is just getting on with it, how we are in 11th place on our investment I have no idea.

If anyone reads any of my posts you will know I only have one real ongoing grip concerning the club and that's about the backing of the Trustees. Everything else I can live with. Everybody from the staff to the fans are going balls out to generate a good season and all the Trustees seem to do is either pat us on the head and give us a wowwy pop if we do well or we get grounded and sent off to bed if we don't.

Please, there must be somebody out there with a few quids to invest. Yes I know we have to be greatful we're not Portsmouth (yawn) but we are proper club with a proper pedigree - what the heck do investors not like about us?

[brian_gallagher85]

Sometimes I think it's just best to look away, but this article just hammers it home that the Trustees demand we trade on a break even basis, and that's a desperate state to be in if you are an EPL club.

Would you rather be like this?

[FourLaneBlue]

If the trustees just started giving the club the 3million a year that they used to that would be a big boost for us. It would be the equivalent of...what...finishing an extra five places in the league?

Having that money each year would really help us in our battles to not have to sell players.

[TimmyJimmy]

Would you rather be like this?

I refer the honourable gentleman to the reply I gave some moments ago !

namely :

"Please, there must be somebody out there with a few quids to invest. Yes I know we have to be greatful we're not Portsmouth (yawn) but we are proper club with a proper pedigree - what the heck do investors not like about us?"

[LeChuck]

Would you rather be like this?

Comparisons with Portsmouth aren't really fair. Our owners do have money if they wish to put it into the club. Portsmouth had owners who were borrowing cash to finance deals...that's where the problem came in (like Leeds also).

I can understand why our owners choose not to put their money in...but even so, if they did choose to put money in then they could do so without putting us at risk.

[FourLaneBlue]

It is sad how we have fallen. Hopefully we will finish higher up the league than budgeted for - and release some money for transfers. There is always the outside chance that the trust will fund an "investment" purchase - as was inferred in the last window.

I don't think this had that much substance to it. If so...why was Adam Johnson the only player targeted? Why not invest in Moses from Palace? There are plenty of other players.

Seems to me an inference with no basis in reality that suggests the board are more willing to pay out than they really are in an attempt to placate the fans. Oh...we didn't spend a penny but we WOULD have bought Adam Johnson. No doubt if Johnson would have accepted 30k a week and Boro 2million paid with a bones for Champs League qualification and it being over seven years or so...

I don't think we will see one of these "investments". I will wait (and wait and wait...) to be proved wrong in the summer...

[brian_gallagher85]

I refer the honourable gentleman to the reply I gave some moments ago !

namely :

"Please, there must be somebody out there with a few quids to invest. Yes I know we have to be greatful we're not Portsmouth (yawn) but we are proper club with a proper pedigree - what the heck do investors not like about us?"

Damn you and your quick editing

[Hughesy]

If the trustees just started giving the club the 3million a year that they used to that would be a big boost for us. It would be the equivalent of...what...finishing an extra five places in the league?

Having that money each year would really help us in our battles to not have to sell players.

I agree totally with that - it would be a massive boost to our spare cash to spend or help us keep our players.

[Gav]

I think things like this only need a vote of 14 out of the 20 clubs to pass.

The remotest chance of making the champions league would be a decent carrot for us, so I hope you're right LeChuck.

As for the trustees and the 3 million, I thought they'd reinstated the gift?

[LeChuck]

The remotest chance of making the champions league would be a decent carrot for us, so I hope you're right LeChuck.

Says this in the BBC article on the subject:

"Any change would need the agreement of at least 14 of the 20 top flight clubs, but there will be no changes for three years as the next TV deal is in place."

I'm still not confident 14 would agree though. David Moyes didn't sound entirely convinced when asked, and you'd think a team like Everton would potentially be one of the biggest winners.

[bluebruce]

The remotest chance of making the champions league would be a decent carrot for us, so I hope you're right LeChuck.

As for the trustees and the 3 million, I thought they'd reinstated the gift?

Think that was for one season, to combat relegation. And I have also read it was never a gift, just a loan. Perhaps an interest-free one though.

[modes98]

Is everyone forgetting we will obviously sell Samba in the summer?, i'd put my house on it. We'll get 15 million from him so thats another 3 million to go into the transfer kitty

If Hughes had been in a job I would have agreed with you but I don't think Samba would attract that kind of fee at the moment.

[Guest Kamy100]

My reading of the telegraph article is that JW is saying that if we maintained our current position then Sam would have the £2 million that was raised from the Benni sale to spend in addition to whatever he would get if the club achieved what they budgeted for, therefore the club can sign the players they want and no need to sell any of our players. However if we fall few places that would cost the club a couple of millions, therefore we won't have made our budget targets and therefore the set amount of money that Sam would have got at the start of the season (regardless of the Benni sale) will be reduced in-line with performance targets not being met.

To me it seems a sensible way of not over-extending ourselves in terms of financial burden. Of course it increases the risks of getting relegated but then it also helps to ensure that the we don't get into the troubles that clubs like Portsmouth and West Ham have got into. People need to get used to this financial reality, the trustees and the board have a set strategy, they won't put the long term future of the club in doubt by spending what we don't have. If it means relegation so be it. The ideal would be a new owner, but again the club have a very specific type of person/group that they want to takeover, they will not sell to any old "Tom, Dick or Harry" (ala Portsmouth and West Ham prior to the Porn Brothers taking over).

[Darth Paul]

The guy behind the Blackburn based company Promethean is due to net around £250m according to the LT. Not exactly Sheik money but I wonder if he is a Rovers fan? Even a couple of quid towards a decent signing would be nice, if not a full takeover bid.

(Does anyone have any idea what sort of cash an investor would need to buy and sustain the club? Obviously the cost of just buying the club itself would not be enough).

[Hughesy]

How longs a piece of string.

Probably about £40m to buy the club....then whatever it is you want to spend each year.

Im gutted I didnt win the £56m Euro Mills though, id of given the club the £6m in exchange for a box!

[broadsword]

£40 mill sounds about right, but then you'd be running at a loss every year.

So, unless you had other investments which returned a profit to offset the inevitable loss, or you had incredibly deep pockets, you'd eventually end up penniless.

[martonrover]

I'm sure they must be doing something but I'd really like to know what Rothschilds are actually doing to try to find a buyer.

I agree with those who say relegation is only a matter of time if someone suitable doesn't step forward in the next year or two.

[John]

I don't think this had that much substance to it. If so...why was Adam Johnson the only player targeted? Why not invest in Moses from Palace? There are plenty of other players. I don't think we will see one of these "investments". I will wait (and wait and wait...) to be proved wrong in the summer...

Same, I could not quite see why the owners would, all of a sudden, want to make an investment for the club. Would be a rather drastic change of policy.

However, regardless of who it is, it must be incredibly difficult for any BRFC manager as our squad is drastically lacking quality and we have to hope/pray our younger players improve sufficiently over the next couple of years. Personally, I have got used to and accept/understand, the sensible financial policy at the club. That said, I am concerned how we are going to maintain a decent enough team to stay in the Premier League.

Referring to earlier comments, a club may pay well over the odds, but would be surprised to receive more than £8-10 million for Samba (our only saleable asset seemingly). If you take into account his recent form, we could be lucky to get that.

[thenodrog]

Is everyone forgetting we will obviously sell Samba in the summer?, i'd put my house on it. We'll get 15 million from him so thats another 3 million to go into the transfer kitty

5-7m max.

The guy behind the Blackburn based company Promethean is due to net around £250m according to the LT. Not exactly Sheik money but I wonder if he is a Rovers fan? Even a couple of quid towards a decent signing would be nice, if not a full takeover bid.

(Does anyone have any idea what sort of cash an investor would need to buy and sustain the club? Obviously the cost of just buying the club itself would not be enough).

If it's the chap that owned TDS in the 80's isn't he from over Burnley way somewhere?

[Exiled in Toronto]

I am surprised how comfortable people seem with the fact that we pay above average salaries for a club outside the top 10 for a denuded squad constantly condemned as being relegation material. Nicko has mentioned several times that we will sometimes pay top dollar, offering Bentley and Bellamy more than they ended up getting after their 'dream' moves. I bet Samba and Nelsen will be on substantially more than the 2 first-choice centre-halves at the clubs around us.

The Trust don't mandate we do this; it's a management policy to spend virtually all of our income on wages. I don't see why the Trust should then stump up for tranfers when they feel the overall levels of income are sufficient to keep us in the Prem (debatable I know, but that's obviously what they think)

I know there is a lag effect due to contract lengths but I have thought for a long time that we should have a tighter wage bill and budget a few million for net transfers each season from the same income we get now. We have too many players on money they cannot get anywhere else and are thus more difficult to sell, whereas I think the last player we lost against our will because we wouldn't pay him enough was Sherwood. The balance is wrong.

It needs an integrated strategy of a more productive academy, buying more young prospects like Olsson (and MGP to be fair) and, when we sell, sell at the top of a player's value. A lower-mid table Arsenal in effect.

What we are doing at the moment is clearly doomed to failure, but, for once, I don't really blame the Trustees. We can't keep crying poverty when we're paying 4 million a year for Diouf and Salgado.

[modes98]

Im gutted I didnt win the £56m Euro Mills though, id of given the club the £6m in exchange for a box!

God your tight. I was thinking of putting £20m into the club in exchange for a decent share of the club, making sure some was available for transfers and not just paying debts.

[47er]

Re that 18 year old Southport lad who is at Ewood for a 2 week trial--anyone heard how he's getting on? Is a deal likely?

[Stuart]

Someone at work today told me we'd signed him. I think maybe he was being a bit previous.

[Stuart]

The guy behind the Blackburn based company Promethean is due to net around £250m according to the LT. Not exactly Sheik money but I wonder if he is a Rovers fan? Even a couple of quid towards a decent signing would be nice, if not a full takeover bid.

(Does anyone have any idea what sort of cash an investor would need to buy and sustain the club? Obviously the cost of just buying the club itself would not be enough).

He's only getting half...

"Founder Tony Cann's 50% stake in the business - valued at around £250 million by the float - is likely to be reduced but he will remain the largest shareholder."

...and "only" £75m according to the mail

Not really PL owner standard of riches. Maybe he could front some money for some new alloys for one of Diouf motors?

[philipl]

He's only getting half...

"Founder Tony Cann's 50% stake in the business - valued at around £250 million by the float - is likely to be reduced but he will remain the largest shareholder."

...and "only" £75m according to the mail

Not really PL owner standard of riches. Maybe he could front some money for some new alloys for one of Diouf motors?

...and it is not all cash either.