My respect for TB keeps on growing

[Seagull over Canaryland]

I really hope that FFP will be a watershed in terms of leading to more realistic transfer deals among those Clubs in the Football League that don't benefit from parachute money.

I guess agents may just be having a final indulgent fling before they have doors shut in their face, but at some point players and their agents will have to accept more realistic pay deals. Clubs like ours have to draw a line in the sand so agents know exactly where they stand if they come touting their players around hoping for premium deals. Don't f**k with Tony Bloom, you will lose.

It looks like Grabban's agent has taken a punt in negotiating a deal with us and is now playing us against any higher bidders who are mainly on parachute money or just willing to break the bank to get to the Prem.

I know players have a short-ish career in which to optimise their earnings but equally each player has a fair price that a reasonable Club will be happy to pay. I imagine Bournemouth aren't overly impressed, if the agent is scuppering their part in the negotiations for their employee. OK they might just get a bigger fee in the end but equally Grabban might get priced out of other deals before the window closes and they are then lumbered with a player whose had has been turned..

Yes Barnes was sold and (hopefully) we only have a temporary shortage of strikers but doesn't mean we need to panic buy at any cost. We can look elsewhere. No wonder Tony Bloom isn't a fan of the transfer window.

 

[Mackenzie]

I understand that players and agents should try and get the best deal but there comes a point when the media are all over it, and that's where we are now. The player looks greedy, Bloom looks in control and the agent looks like a kvnt.

They were all of those things before the media got involved.

 

[Mellotron]

It sounds like the Grabban deal has stalled for now because TB is refusing to be played by the agent. Seems we want to buy players to improve this team but not at any cost. If that's the case I couldn't agree with his approach more. It's a sign - along with his investment in infrastructure, commitment to FFP etc - that we're determined to build a club with a healthy, long term, sustainable future. If that means we win the race a little more slowly, but with a damn site more integrity, then I'm all for it. I really do love this football club.

Just as importantly it also means that when we get there, we have everything in our power to stay "there" for many years.

 

[Jim in the West]

If the FL don't punish them and FFP breaks down, then we could come to see that our compliance with FFP is not simply to stick within the rules, but also marks the limit of loss that TB is prepared to make (which is something I've always suspected).

Isn't this the point....it's all well and good gnashing teeth that we seem to be one of the few clubs adhering to FFP, but who is supposed to put up all the cash in the first place? I have 100% sympathy with TB if he simply does't want to lose more than circa £8m a year.

 

[Sloe Joe]

Imagine sitting in the AmEx boardroom and negotiating with TB and Paul Barber - you'd poo in your pantelones before you ever reached the boardroom table and taken your first sip of BHA coffee. An intimidating thought even though TB is over in Oz.

 

[Dave the OAP]

Just as importantly it also means that when we get there, we have everything in our power to stay "there" for many years.

Where are we supposed to be getting?

This string of players are not a team that would survive in the prem, therefore and Ernest is right, to survive we would have to spend money on players...at that time it will be interesting if blooms attitude to agents change when we need expensive players.

That is why I think it is great all the time we are in this position...nice as it would be remain up the top, I personally wouldn't be that fussed if we stayed in this division for " many years"

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Imagine sitting in the AmEx boardroom and negotiating with TB and Paul Barber - you'd poo in your pantelones before you ever reached the boardroom table and taken your first sip of BHA coffee. An intimidating thought even though TB is over in Oz.

Quite. I also love this club.

 

[deletebeepbeepbeep]

If we can't buy players of Grabben's pedigree (lets face it, not great) whilst having the highest attendance in the league and being the most expensive team to watch then we may well be in this league for a very long time. Lets hope the new fans are up for the long haul.

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

Isn't this the point....it's all well and good gnashing teeth that we seem to be one of the few clubs adhering to FFP, but who is supposed to put up all the cash in the first place? I have 100% sympathy with TB if he simply does't want to lose more than circa £8m a year.

My take on FFP is that it is designed to protect the long term health of clubs and bring some stability to football - which shows signs of descending into widespread chaos in the not too distant future. If we stick to the principles of FFP it won't matter what other clubs do in the medium term. We'll be in a healthy position when other clubs are reaping what they sow.

As teams we now see as free spending competitors fail - and they will in due course - we'll have a long and sustained golden period in our history. Our own stadium, a training facility to develop young players, no debts, good crowds and a stable club. I can't wait .... But I will, happily.

 

[deletebeepbeepbeep]

Imagine sitting in the AmEx boardroom and negotiating with TB and Paul Barber - you'd poo in your pantelones before you ever reached the boardroom table and taken your first sip of BHA coffee. An intimidating thought even though TB is over in Oz.

I'd tell them to **** off then go sign for another team that is willing to give me a Championship wage.

 

[BadFish]

I think there's a lot of truth in this sentiment. The only ways it won't work like that is if a player is so taken with the club's vision of the future they come to us even though they could get more money somewhere else. That's a big ask for a late teens/20s young man.

If, and it's a HUGE if, the FL do actively punish clubs breaking FFP then the playing field could level out in the next 3 or so years. If the FL don't punish them and FFP breaks down, then we could come to see that our compliance with FFP is not simply to stick within the rules, but also marks the limit of loss that TB is prepared to make (which is something I've always suspected).

Winning promotion with a materially lower budget than many other clubs in the league would mark an enormous achievement, and should not be taken as read by anyone.

Regardless of ffp and regardless of what other clubs are doing, I for one am happy that we are trying to operate within our means. We see doing the right thing and given our brush with extinction and others consequences of overspending I am prepared to forego the perceived riches of the premier league and see where running a club properly can take us.worth any luck we can provide a sustainable model for other clubs to follow.

 

[Dave the OAP]

Is anyone willing to put their house on clubs being fined or punished for breaking this FFP nonsense?

I can hear the russle of lawyers wigs being combed and their pencils being sharpened

 

[Pavilionaire]

This is all so predictable. Some clubs stick to the rules and some don't give a ****. I look forward to the day when some of these chairman are brought to book.

 

[Seagull over Canaryland]

Isn't this the point....it's all well and good gnashing teeth that we seem to be one of the few clubs adhering to FFP, but who is supposed to put up all the cash in the first place? I have 100% sympathy with TB if he simply does't want to lose more than circa £8m a year.

That is very pertinent - if we are already constrained now, having incurred an £8m operating loss - then how tight would things be if we actually manage to break even, and then try to survive within our own means rather than any further cash injections from TB? What would our transfer budget look like? Probably less than now.

I suspect the future transfer budgets will be miniscule and highly dependent upon selling home grown talent. Hence the priority being given by TB to the training complex and young player development, which all makes sense. If we can start to churn out top young players like Southampton and occasionally sell one on then maybe in time we will have a better transfer budget. But the transitional period could be very tight unless we somehow get to the Prem, which would be a heck of an achievement by anyone complying with FFP.

This also makes Tony Bloom's appointment of Oscar Garcia with his experience of working with young players seem visionary - we have already seen Oscar's willingness to give them a chance really contrasts with Gus, who bemoaned his transfer budget. The days of big budgets are gone but replaced by an era where youngsters like Ince are at the core of our team for years to come.

 

[Hugo Rune]

It sounds like the Grabban deal has stalled for now because TB is refusing to be played by the agent. Seems we want to buy players to improve this team but not at any cost. If that's the case I couldn't agree with his approach more. It's a sign - along with his investment in infrastructure, commitment to FFP etc - that we're determined to build a club with a healthy, long term, sustainable future. If that means we win the race a little more slowly, but with a damn site more integrity, then I'm all for it. I really do love this football club.

Insightful and intelligent post. Agents have no concerns about the long term stability of the football clubs their clients are going to or coming from. They only care about their short term commissions on deals. Football agents are normally gifted communicators, they know how to strike a deal and have the gift of the gab but visually they are obese beached whales who rely on their fat mouths, blagging soul and profound lust for money to bring in the dollar. I don't care if we don't sign Grabban, if his agent has tried to push it and change the deal, I'm all behind our poker playing genius of a chairman in telling the f***ing little c*** of an agent to f*** right off. How dare they tour the Amex, the new training ground and potentially meet Oscar Garcia who is respected across the world as a player and coach and then start trying to milk us off for a better deal? I am proud that we're staying within the FFP and if that means Grabban and his agent FO then so be it. Sick of the parasites in this game.

 

[Screaming J]

I'm glad we are staying strong on this. I know we don't know whether the FFP rules will eventually be implemented the way they should be, but GRABBER (his reel name , as any fule kno) and his agent need their bluff called.

 

[mune ni kamome]

Is anyone willing to put their house on clubs being fined or punished for breaking this FFP nonsense?

I can hear the russle of lawyers wigs being combed and their pencils being sharpened

Unfortunately this is a distinct possibility. I have heard that there are battalions of lawyers being lined up to challenge FFP including the successful "Bosman Ruling" lawyer.

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

Is anyone willing to put their house on clubs being fined or punished for breaking this FFP nonsense?

I can hear the russle of lawyers wigs being combed and their pencils being sharpened

That's not the point. They may not be punished in the short term, but in the medium to long term they will fail badly because they are trying to run their clubs in a model that has been proven to be ruinous (see Portsmouth for example). They flaunt the FFP rules and their clubs will suffer. Not from fines from the FA (who I have no doubt will fold at the first resistance) but because you can't run clubs in the way they do without almost inevitably imploding.

That's why TB is backing FFP so much and building a debt free future for our club. He's managing to do that and still we are competing near the top if the Championship.

 

[Seagull over Canaryland]

This is all so predictable. Some clubs stick to the rules and some don't give a ****. I look forward to the day when some of these chairman are brought to book.

That's the worry - The Albion and maybe a small minority of other Clubs diligently adhere to FFP - but when other Clubs are found to have transgressed the Football League then bottle it and The Premiership close ranks so Clubs that get promoted having splashed the cash get immunity from sanction or just get a petty fine that isn't any deterrent to financial profligacy.

Then there's the parachute money. How are clubs within FFP expected to compete with that clout?

There has been too much willingness by the football authorities to indulge the Prem clubs. If the Premiership could it would ignore the FA and England too and just do its own thing.

Finally there are the agents who bleed money out of footie.

You have to admire Tony Bloom for getting himself in so deep into a business that has such an uneven playing field. I guess his heart has been behind much of his initial generosity but now his head is ruling how he takes us forward.

 

[The Merry Prankster]

If we can't buy players of Grabben's pedigree (lets face it, not great) whilst having the highest attendance in the league and being the most expensive team to watch then we may well be in this league for a very long time. Lets hope the new fans are up for the long haul.

Very much this and I doubt if they will be if we don't push on. If we can't do it now with a full house what chance in a couple of years with 12 000 crowds.