It is not Bloom, Barber or even Burke...... It is FFP

[Insel affe]

Just a thought that is flying around in every thread to be honest, it seems to me it may not be Bloom, Barber or Burke at fault as they are all trying to work within FFP.

The trouble could be FFP is not a level playing field for the Albion or many clubs, maybe we have done extremely well to have achieved the play offs two seasons in a row.

With parachute payments we can not and never could compete with FFP ?

Now some may say look at Burnely this season and Crystal Palace last year as examples you can..... Can someone tell me are they or did they operate within FFP or did they take a hit ?

Thoughts ?

 

[KZNSeagull]

Just a thought that is flying around in every thread to be honest, it seems to me it may not be Bloom, Barber or Burke at fault as they are all trying to work within FFP.

The trouble could be FFP is not a level playing field for the Albion or many clubs, maybe we have done extremely well to have achieved the play offs two seasons in a row.

With parachute payments we can not and never could compete with FFP ?

Now some may say look at Burnely this season and Crystal Palace last year as examples you can..... Can someone tell me are they or did they operate within FFP or did they take a hit ?

Thoughts ?

My understanding is that neither Palace or Burnley broke FFP rules. Burnley did have parachute payments though.

We need a manager who will work within the constraints the club set and does not give up when transfers do not go his way. This is not to say that our recruitment cannot be improved. We have come mightily close to promotion working under these contraints (Oscar was more contrained than Gus it appears from the accounts), so our next manager must not give up at the first sign of trouble.

Agree with Burke etc. The board sets the budgets and places on them any limits they can work within. It appears to me that the Grabban deal did not fall into those limits otherwise the deal would have been done there and then.

So we can compete under these contraints and it surely does not mean a huge cash injection to take that final step.

 

[El Presidente]

Burnley had a wage bill of £15.6 million last year, Palace's was £12 million (before promotion bonuses) and Derby was about £14 million. The Albion's was £22 million.

 

[Hotchilidog]

I agree. This season was always going to feature a slash and burn attitude to costs getting losses down from £14m to £8m as well as streamlining the running of the business.

I am disappointed with Oscar as he has basically just quit when things got tough. I am also disappointed with the club for creating a situation in which our manager has become sufficiently hacked off to resign after he has done a pretty good job. I am sad that they could not work things out between them. Although it must be said even with these handicaps we still got to the playoffs so we were not that uncompetitive.

I can understand the club's financial restraint, but when hiring the next manager things will have to be different even if that means making it perfectly clear to the new man what he will be working with and making sure he understands that. The irony is now that we have done the hard work on the finance side I would expect things to improve on that front and that Oscar's successor may have more to work with. I certainly hope so.

The club have to learn the lessons of this debacle as it does

 

[Guinness Boy]

Burnley were in their last parachute payments season. Palace "refinanced" in 2010 much to the delight of local Croydon traders.

 

[somerset]

Burnley had a wage bill of £15.6 million last year, Palace's was £12 million (before promotion bonuses) and Derby was about £14 million. The Albion's was £22 million.

That takes us back round to recruitment choices and coaching style again then!...... is Warren Aspinall right? ( I cant believe I actually said that)..... did the lack of a plan b on the pitch give us more problems than we needed to carry?

 

[supaseagull]

Just a thought that is flying around in every thread to be honest, it seems to me it may not be Bloom, Barber or Burke at fault as they are all trying to work within FFP.

The trouble could be FFP is not a level playing field for the Albion or many clubs, maybe we have done extremely well to have achieved the play offs two seasons in a row.

With parachute payments we can not and never could compete with FFP ?

Now some may say look at Burnely this season and Crystal Palace last year as examples you can..... Can someone tell me are they or did they operate within FFP or did they take a hit ?

Thoughts ?

Smoke and mirrors.

Leicester are proof of this.

FFP doesn't mean you can't sign decent players look at Burnley and Derby. Neither does it mean you can't play attacking football.

 

[El Presidente]

It is not Bloom, Barber, Burke or FFP, it was Gary Dicker!

 

[El Presidente]

That takes us back round to recruitment choices and coaching style again then!...... is Warren Aspinall right? ( I cant believe I actually said that)..... did the lack of a plan b on the pitch give us more problems than we needed to carry?

With only one striker at the club for most of the season I think we were very restricted as to what we could do on the pitch.

 

[Stat Brother]

It's not Barber, it's not Burke, it's not FFP, as unpalatable as it is, at the end of the day it's:-

TONY BLOOM.

He's the chairman/owner.
Tony makes the decisions.
Tony calls the shots.
Tony sets out the blue print.
Tony, most importantly, pays the wages.

People can blame the staff all they want, but at the end of the day The Albion isn't a democracy, it's Tony Bloom's, to do with as he sees fit.

This isn't a dig at Tony, god I have a huge man-crush on the fella.
He's doing what he believes to be right for the Albion, and employing the people to carry out those wishes.

The bottom line is, although never acknowledged, 'if you don't like it, tough'.

 

[Dan Aitch]

I'm suspending all judgment until I see whether the FA have the b4lls to implement FFP fines. If they don't then the Albion are left looking foolish for not overspending, to some degree. If the FA DO institute fines, expect them to be suspended until a protracted legal appeal is over... and the club concerned have bought their way into the Premiership.

It's got the potential to be a huge mess, but also to be hugely beneficial to a club like ours. It just depends on the testes.

Like I said - judgment reserved for the moment.

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

With only one striker at the club for most of the season I think we were very restricted as to what we could do on the pitch.

And having just 3 central defenders for the second half of the season wasn't great as it turned out.

 

[Hillian1]

Burnley had a wage bill of £15.6 million last year, Palace's was £12 million (before promotion bonuses) and Derby was about £14 million. The Albion's was £22 million.

That is bloody scary to read El Pres.

How sure are you of that?

 

[father_and_son]

It's not Barber, it's not Burke, as unpalatable as it is, at the end of the day it's:-

TONY BLOOM.

He's the chairman/owner.
Tony makes the decisions.
Tony calls the shots.
Tony sets out the blue print.
Tony, most importantly, pays the wages.

People can blame the staff all they want, but at the end of the day The Albion isn't a democracy, it's Tony Bloom's, to do with as he sees fit.

This isn't a dig at Tony, god I have a huge man-crush on the fella.
He's doing what he believes to be right for the Albion, and employing the people to carry out those wishes.

The bottom line is, although never acknowledged, 'if you don't like it, tough'.

There aren't many people talking sense at the moment, but you are among them.

It seems the majority of posters have gone "full retard".

 

[Giraffe]

Burnley had a wage bill of £15.6 million last year, Palace's was £12 million (before promotion bonuses) and Derby was about £14 million. The Albion's was £22 million.

This, it's how you use it, not how much you have. If we are going to waste ours away on toot like Obika and Lita then that's our own fault. We need a manager that accepts the restraints and understands it's a building programme. Other clubs have shown it can be done, we need to do the same.

 

[AmexGold]

Burnley were in their last parachute payments season. Palace "refinanced" in 2010 much to the delight of local Croydon traders.

And we've been trying to do it right since - which EP's figures prove.

Bloom is just a richer Simon Jordan, don't forget that.

Good luck finding your latest manager, OG seemed to be doing a great job watching the game on Sunday.

 

[nwgull]

That is bloody scary to read El Pres.

How sure are you of that?

I can believe that. Someone posted a graphic showing championship clubs' income for 12/13 on here a few weeks back, which included parachute payments. Ours was higher than Burnley's, even with their 8m parachute payment, and certainly higher than Palace's.

 

[father_and_son]

I'm suspending all judgment until I see whether the FA have the b4lls to implement FFP fines. If they don't then the Albion are left looking foolish for not overspending, to some degree. If the FA DO institute fines, expect them to be suspended until a protracted legal appeal is over... and the club concerned have bought their way into the Premiership.

It's got the potential to be a huge mess, but also to be hugely beneficial to a club like ours. It just depends on the testes.

Like I said - judgment reserved for the moment.

Regardless of the whether FFP works for the league, Tony had already implemented his own FFP on us.

He is only willing to p*ss so much of his own money away on the club, the vast majority of which he wants solid assets in return (stadium, training ground, hotel). He is determined not to drive this club into debt and to the edge of extinction again.

I personally am very grateful for what he has given us, for the manner in which he has given it to us and for the reasons he won't give us any more than we absolutely need (whether FFP restricts him or not).

If the price we pay for his generosity and stewardship of the club is that a few fans go into complete melt down because :
A manager walked away because he had a hugely inflated opinion of his own abilities;
Another manager walked because, it seems, he has a hugely DEFLATED opinion of his abilities (to get a team to the play offs given the obstacles he has faced is a hell of an achievement);
We stay for an extended period in the second tier of English football;
...and the alternative is to gamble EVERYTHING on getting to this promised land called the PL, where most clubs are still losing money, then I'm with Tony, not Anton, Randy or Malcolm.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Burnley had a wage bill of £15.6 million last year, Palace's was £12 million (before promotion bonuses) and Derby was about £14 million. The Albion's was £22 million.

It seems that we've been wasting wages on players that the manager didn't want.

 

[Seasidesage]

With only one striker at the club for most of the season I think we were very restricted as to what we could do on the pitch.

Tricky question to answer El Pres I know but... Is that all playing staff or staff costs from the stadium too?