next season?

[the boss]

with the court ruling against SISU, now up to owing maybe over a million in outstanding payments and with no hope of the Ricoh do you think there will still be a club to start the season?


I can see them cutting their losses and liquidating the club to advoid paying anything.

[billythefish]

Yes and god knows where this will end. They can drag paying on for a bit yet and see how things go

[the boss]

I fear the worst. They have no interest in running a 3rd division football club, I doubt they ever had it for any league apart from the premier. The ground was the prize and now even they must know it will never belong to them. They will not keep pouring cash into a loss maker and I would not be in the least surprised (reap!) if they liquidate the club before a ball is kicked.

The football league will have a lot to answer for.

[billythefish]

Trying to put yourself in SISU's shoes you have a couple of choices. You liquidate as you say and lose everything or you try and make the club more attractive to a potential buyer. Why anyone (with the exception of a fan) would want to buy any football club is beyond me.

I think the football league are one of a very long list of people that have a lot to answer for - I dont think you can blame one party for this mess. There is certainly more they should have done but at the end of the day they dont have a lot of clout.

[AD]

Apart from having the final (only?) say on whether you can even take part I think the football league have a lot of clout. Seeing as they have consistently managed to stick two fingers up to the law of the land with the football creditors rule they obviously believe they can punch when they want to.

As for where to go from here, how would SISU now make the club more attractive to a new owner? Very few assets, a team that is more likely to continue going down rather than up with the huge amount of revenue they've lost from moving and alienating fans, little chance of getting the club back in Coventry or getting fans back even if they do, unless the club is under new ownership.

The only thing they could do to make it attractive is to practically give it away, and we've seen in the past they're unwilling to do that. They want their money back but it's blatantly obvious they're not going to get it - you'd have to be made to given them even a tiny percentage of their investment given how badly they've run it. The buyer has all the power - either give us the club and stop shitting money or keep it and carry on losing a fortune - your choice. A bit like the barrel SISU had everyone over when they took over and demanded the shares.

There isn't much advantage to them liquidating either, but if it stops this constant outflow of cash it might make it worthwhile.

[billythefish]

I disagree about the FL. Perhaps a better way of putting it is that they have the clout but never use it. Struggling to think of anything thay have stopped. Move Wimbledon to MK - yes no problem, questionable foreign owners - yes no problem, move a club - yes no problem. Basically you can pretty much do what you want and the FL are either powerless or spineless.

[AD]

That is exactly the point - they have the power and consistently refuse to assert it. That is why so many people get away with so much. And like parenting if you never assert your authority you just end up raising a load of horrible little shits.

Football has a huge amount of money coming in and the people at the FL/FA/PL are doing far too well off that to rock the boat. They don't care if they ultimately leave the game in a mess. As long as they can get money from it and then walk away that's what they'll do.

They don't care if people are unsuitable to run a club - it gives them the chance to network with rich and influential people which may help them further themselves later on. That is why the only way you could ever fail the fit and proper person test is to not have enough money, because then you can be of no use to them personally.

[skyblue025]

They can make it more attractive to a potential buyer by getting back to the Ricoh. Then doing a deal on season tickets. Will be easier to sell if an agreement is in place with the council and 10-15k turning up every week.

They will have to accept they are going to take a big hit on the investment though. No one is going to fork out between 40-60 million to buy the club which are the numbers allegededly put in depending who you believe. They will struggle to get 5 million for it.

[billythefish]

I dont think anyone will seriously buy the club unless the deal is for the club including the stadium. The one thing SISU is right about is that for the club to be sustainable it needs to own all the revenue streams.

I seem to remember someone (Ranson perhaps) saying that the breakeven figure was between 22 and 25k paying fans week in week out. The only way we would do that would be to be back in the prem. Whilst the numbers will have changed due to relegation the club is still losing money hand over fist. And for that reason I am out.

[AD]

But that leaves us in Catch 22 doesn't it.

SISU won't sell without the stadium because their investment is worth nowt, ACL are almost certainly never going to sell it to SISU.

Even then IF SISU were sold the stadium would they then want to sell anyway? Or at least sell the club and stadium as a single package, which would be no good to a potential buyer?

Which brings us back to new build, but the figures for that just don't add up - like spending £10 to get a fiver back.

Of course we'd only hope to get those crowds in the Prem, but then with the TV money gate receipts aren't a major issue anyway. Although as always the more money you make the more of it goes out in wages - you could have turnover of a billion and still be walking a financial tightrope because most of it would go out almost immediately.

[adge]

Yawn! With the season less than a week away the reality is that 80% of the goals from last season (Moussa,Wilson,Clark and possibly Baker) have gone from the team. Add that to one of the best keepers in the division departing and it certainly spells trouble. Rewind 2 0r 3 years to when King, Westwood etc left............

[Timbo]

Clarke left back in January. Moussa's last goal was in Feb. Baker only scored once from open play after New Years Day. Ok, this contributed to our poor second half of the season but it also highlights the need for change. Wilson and Murphy are big losses but we have brought players in. Its too soon to be all doom and gloom - we had low expectations this time last year. Before last season Wilson had only scored once.

[AD]

So who would people put out on Saturday?

GK Allsop
RB Clarke
LB Pugh
CB Johnson
CB Webster
LM Swanson
RM O'Brien (Baker)
CM Thomas
CM Fleck
FW Tudgay
FW Miller

[The Englander]

Decent signings, more solid looking team. Quite a decent division now, so we'll do well if the players performance to their capabilities, and fail if they don't. The doom-mongers can fuck right off till they've got a reason to whine like old women....

[dog rout 21]

So who would people put out on Saturday?

GK Allsop
RB Clarke
LB Pugh
CB Johnson
CB Webster
LM Swanson
RM O'Brien (Baker)
CM Thomas
CM Fleck
FW Tudgay
FW Miller

Isn't he going 3-5-2? Although after buying two wide players I'm not sure why, think there was a case for it last season when Christie and Adams were very attacking but this season the squad looks a lot more 4-4-2. Would be surprised if McQuoid doesn't start.

Be interesting to see how the starting XI pans out after a few games, Sid could be right, although we've lost a few stand out players I think we could be stronger over all and a bit more balanced, especially if you looked at this time last year and what we were saying. Having said that, I know next to fuck all about some of them so they could well end up shit (Cov).

[AD]

That was more the team I'd play. SP may well go 3-5-2 and play McQuoid. I'd just go with Miller as he's had a bit more time to settle in and train.

My predicted SP line-up (my alternatives in brackets)

GK Allsop
RWB Clarke
LWB Pugh
CB Willis (Seaborne)
CB Johnson
CB Webster
CM Thomas
CM Fleck
CM Swanson
FW Tudgay
FW McQuoid (Miller)

[dog rout 21]

Think Clarke is going to be more of a centre back this season (like last) and Willis will go out wide, although not convinced about this to be honest. Guess he might even bring through Phillips. I reckon they put Clarke on some serious weight training schedule as he seems to have doubled in size since SP took over.

[billythefish]

I agree that the squad looks better at this point this season than last. The big difference is obviously going to be the strikers. Last season we had two strikers firing for the first time in years. But at this time last year did we really think Wilson would score the goals he did?

The 3 forwards we have all look good players at this level but dont seem to be prolific scorers. I think we will be ok this year and have a decent season. SP has made some hard decisions with the squad and the budget he has and seems to have put together a decent squad with good experience and some talented kids.

[dog rout 21]

I keep reading some great stuff about James Maddison and George Thomas, might be a bit too soon for them this season but who knows, maybe they could do what Wilson did last season.

Quite optimistic about the kids coming through and this season, must be that eve of a new season feeling, sure it will have worn off by Christmas and we'll have sacked SP, must be about time for a change.

[billythefish]

Against Newport and Bristol Rovers the young kids put in better performances than the older more established players. Probably a season too early for them both - personally would get them out on loan at a lower level and see how they do. Seemed to work ok for Wilson at Kettering.