Naylor is right...aim is promotion or not promotion?

[drew]

No but weren't the club on about building a hotel at the Amex, is that really nessecary ??

We are not going to attract young players without the ambition of becoming a Premier League club. If you believe that parents from across the country will bring their kids to play for the Albion just because of a traning facility, then think again. People are fickle.

What a load of rubbish. We know that the club want to get into the premiership, it's the only way TB will recoup any of his outlay! However, just because he isn't splashing the cash with no regard now doesn't mean that ambition has gone. As for saying young players wouldn't be attracted to the club what a load of cock. In that case, how come clubs like Crewe are able to attract top youngsters. Facilities and opportunities are what would attract most. You only have to look at how many youngsters come through the ranks to the first team at the likes of the top clubs to know that it is very few. Many have to go elsewhere.


As for ambition, I thought it was always suggested at the start of the campaign that TB's remit to OG was a top 6 finish.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

My thoughts exactly. To constantly blame the lack of investment in the team on FFP is wearing thin too. Are we slavishly complying with FFP or is Tony Bloom taking most of the match day revenue back for the outlay on the stadium? If he is no problem, but can the club just be honest about it.

Arsenal rightly pointed out to their fans that the reason they couldn't compete for a while with their rivals was the repayments on the Emirates coupled with short sighted sponsorship deals that undervalued their stadium naming rights and kit deal. I would like this kind of clarity from The Albion rather than blaming FFP over and over.

We as fans can't do any more. We are top of the average gate league in our division selling out the ground, buy more pints/pies than any other club, sell countless shirts etc, so I ask you this: Where is the money going?

Assuming @Seagulls1984 refers to his birth year then I can understand him / her not remembering what happened last time we just brought players for promotion and paid top wages but given the date you registered on here I would hope you might understand why sticking to FFP and reducing the £8m per season loss is vital .... actually not even vital ..... ABSOLUTELY vital.

 

[Notters]

My thoughts exactly. To constantly blame the lack of investment in the team on FFP is wearing thin too. Are we slavishly complying with FFP or is Tony Bloom taking most of the match day revenue back for the outlay on the stadium? If he is no problem, but can the club just be honest about it.

Arsenal rightly pointed out to their fans that the reason they couldn't compete for a while with their rivals was the repayments on the Emirates coupled with short sighted sponsorship deals that undervalued their stadium naming rights and kit deal. I would like this kind of clarity from The Albion rather than blaming FFP over and over.

We as fans can't do any more. We are top of the average gate league in our division selling out the ground, buy more pints/pies than any other club, sell countless shirts etc, so I ask you this: Where is the money going?

Just to be clear, in case you've missed it in previous discussions. Bloom has made it clear that he's not taking back any of the matchday revenue for the stadium costs. I think most people just vastly over-estimate how much income there is coming in from the stadium. A very rough calculation of income/costs (completely made up by me, but a best-guess):

INCOME
Season Ticket sales (taking into account concessions) = £400 x 23,000 = £9.2m, less VAT = £7.7m
matchday ticket sales = 23 x £25 x 3,500 = £2m, less VAT = £1.7m
Cup games (I believe these make a slight loss, but I'll ignore them here.
Sponsorship = £2 million
Merchandising = £3 million
Other stadium events = £2 million (all before VAT)
TV income = £2 million

Total income = (not including other taxes such as business rates) circa £17m

Expenditure

Player wage bill = £14 million (I believe this was the figure quoted for last year)
Other wages ?
Energy bills etc. ?
Other staff costs ?
League Fees ?

Perhaps someone could fill in the more detail to the above, but to me it isn't hard to see how the club makes a loss.

For a really great bloke, you don't half come up with some patronising comments at times!

Is he not allowed an opinion?

Sorry if it sounded that way Dave, and I don't think I've ever been called "great" before so thanks for that... But what I meant was, I don't understand how anyone can criticize someone who has already sunk £150m of their hard-earned cash into the club and continues to subsidise it to the tune of circa £8million per year, for not spending more money. Admittedly we don't know what proportion of Tony's "disposable income" is put into the club, but I bet it's a damned site more than most on here! So yes, of course he is allowed an opinion, but only if is backed up with such knowledge.

 

[BBassic]

With regards to investing in the squad I fall firmly in the camp of studied purchases over getting someone in to appease the restless masses.

To temper that though my biggest worry is that without investment in the squad we're going to "languish" in the Championship for another couple of seasons. Personally speaking I'm more than happy with that but for a lot of people who have only ever known upwards mobility during their time supporting the Albion I'd imagine it will be a factor in a potential downturn in season ticket sales.

I'd hate for the Amex to become one of those grounds you see half-empty every week; there's fewer depressing sights than an empty terrace.

 

[B.W.]

We have to invest this window to maintain our push for promotion (probably via the playoffs). It (the investment) will happen. The target (as last season) is top 6. The budget (as last season) is sufficient to hit the target. There is ABSOLUTELY NO NEED for Tony or anyone else at the club to re-state the target.

 

[supaseagull]

What a load of rubbish. We know that the club want to get into the premiership, it's the only way TB will recoup any of his outlay! However, just because he isn't splashing the cash with no regard now doesn't mean that ambition has gone. As for saying young players wouldn't be attracted to the club what a load of cock. In that case, how come clubs like Crewe are able to attract top youngsters. Facilities and opportunities are what would attract most. You only have to look at how many youngsters come through the ranks to the first team at the likes of the top clubs to know that it is very few. Many have to go elsewhere.


As for ambition, I thought it was always suggested at the start of the campaign that TB's remit to OG was a top 6 finish.

Ahh the Crewe myth..fantastic in bringing in youth players during the late 80's / 90's but now? not many come through and look at the benefit they've seen whilst they yo-yo between League 1 & 2...What has the £20 million or so that they bought in over that period done? Have they been able to attract the same calibre of youth players? No and that is because down the road, Liverpool, Man U & other teams decided that rather than usea club like Crewe as a feeder club as they'd done in the past, they thought - "We can do this ourselves" and so those players (Scholes, Neville, Gerrard, etc, etc) go through the youth system with Premier League clubs.

 

[Pavilionaire]

The problem is that most of our promotion / play-off competitors are ignoring FFP and paying wages to players that we can't compete with because we choose to adhere to FFP.

Nobody is asking Bloom to splash more of his own personal cash in the window - sound business with the Barnes and Bridcutt money should enhance the squad without any net outlay of cash.

I hope that Bloom doesn't lose sight of what has put these 28,000 bums on seats - flair signings like Vicente, Buckley, Ulloa, CMS, Bruno, Bridge. I get the strategy of signing proven players that have already achieved promotion out of this division, or had a taste of Prem action, but's it doesn't compare with the 'X' Factor of a Vicente signing.

The fact Oscar is ex-Barcelona further raises expectation that yet more Latin talent will be signed up, and I fancy if the window closes without an exciting signing or two then many fans will think long and hard about the situation.

 

[gripper stebson]

We are one point worse off than after 26 games last season, but also one place higher in the table

Guess who's been looking at NSC this morning?

Andy Naylor ‏@AndyNaylorArgus 5m
Came across this in El-Abd research. #bhafc point worse but place higher + point closer to top 6 than after beating Derby same stage 2013.

 

[El Presidente]

What a load of rubbish. We know that the club want to get into the premiership, it's the only way TB will recoup any of his outlay!

What makes you think he wants to recoup hit outlay? I have seen nothing on the club website, in interviews or the accounts that suggests that this is the case.

 

[marshy68]

That will earn money in the long run. That's why it's being built.

You might be right I know nothing about the hotel industry - but who the hell will stay their? Absolutely nothing in the local are to do? 3 miles from the town centre? I would never book there much prefer a central location

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Just to be clear, in case you've missed it in previous discussions. Bloom has made it clear that he's not taking back any of the matchday revenue for the stadium costs. I think most people just vastly over-estimate how much income there is coming in from the stadium. A very rough calculation of income/costs (completely made up by me, but a best-guess):

INCOME
Season Ticket sales (taking into account concessions) = £400 x 23,000 = £9.2m, less VAT = £7.7m
matchday ticket sales = 23 x £25 x 3,500 = £2m, less VAT = £1.7m
Cup games (I believe these make a slight loss, but I'll ignore them here.
Sponsorship = £2 million
Merchandising = £3 million
Other stadium events = £2 million (all before VAT)
TV income = £2 million

Total income = (not including other taxes such as business rates) circa £17m

Expenditure

Player wage bill = £14 million (I believe this was the figure quoted for last year)
Other wages ?
Energy bills etc. ?
Other staff costs ?
League Fees ?

Perhaps someone could fill in the more detail to the above, but to me it isn't hard to see how the club makes a loss.

As I understood it, £14million was for the club wages not just players.

 

[HenryC]

It's the January window and tranfers will go to the wire. I reckon Bridcutt will go and we will gain Conway, a midfielder and a good striker. Not til month end though...

 

[Notters]

You might be right I know nothing about the hotel industry - but who the hell will stay their? Absolutely nothing in the local are to do? 3 miles from the town centre? I would never book there much prefer a central location

Parents visiting their kids at the uni, people coming for conferences at the stadium (which this will enable there to be a lot more of), home and away fans from across the country. As well as this there will be plenty of people who can't get in a hotel anywhere else nearby. I'm getting married at the end of June and people are already finding it hard to find a room in Brighton.

 

[Cowfold Seagull]

Don't really get the club at the mo, doing everything off the pitch to be a prem club but not spending money on the squad to actually get there.

Yes, this is a serious concern for me too. The club constantly bang on about the importance of FFP (and no doubt it is important), but other clubs, in some cases clubs with less 'cash in the pot' than us, seem willing to spend millions of pounds on players to add quality to their squads.

There is also a school of though that with this being the first season that FFP takes affect at our level, that the FA/Football League won't impose fines point deductions etc. for would be offenders.

Many people may disagree with me on this, but at the end of the day l just wan't to see my club play in the Premier League, and with that l mean sooner rather than later, even if it is just for one season, FFP or no FFP.

 

[deletebeepbeepbeep]

You might be right I know nothing about the hotel industry - but who the hell will stay their? Absolutely nothing in the local are to do? 3 miles from the town centre? I would never book there much prefer a central location

Bloom is a property man, if its not going to make money then he wont progress it any further.

 

[DarrenFreemansPerm]

For all the talk of new strikers, CMS returning, Obika being rubbish, Barnes leaving, etc, etc the absolute KEY to how the rest of the season goes, in my mind, is whether the real LEONARDO ULLOA is going to re-appear some time soon.

If he carries on as he has since his return from injury, we are going nowhere.

I think his cause could be helped if, at anytime, there was a player within 20 yards of him

 

[B.W.]

The problem is that most of our promotion / play-off competitors are ignoring FFP and paying wages to players that we can't compete with because we choose to adhere to FFP.

Nobody is asking Bloom to splash more of his own personal cash in the window - sound business with the Barnes and Bridcutt money should enhance the squad without any net outlay of cash.

I hope that Bloom doesn't lose sight of what has put these 28,000 bums on seats - flair signings like Vicente, Buckley, Ulloa, CMS, Bruno, Bridge. I get the strategy of signing proven players that have already achieved promotion out of this division, or had a taste of Prem action, but's it doesn't compare with the 'X' Factor of a Vicente signing.

The fact Oscar is ex-Barcelona further raises expectation that yet more Latin talent will be signed up, and I fancy if the window closes without an exciting signing or two then many fans will think long and hard about the situation.

I agree. There is a big difference between signing Ward and Andrews, great pros tho' they are, and signing Bridge and Vicente.

 

[DarrenFreemansPerm]

Bloom is a property man, if its not going to make money then he wont progress it any further.

Is that exclusive to the hotel? Or does it include his portfolio containing the Amex, Monks Farm and the hotel....

 

[Wellesley]

Every game I'm chucking pints of Harvey's and pies down my throat. Do the club think I am doing this for my own benefit? Well of course I am not. Get some bloody decent players in and quick, or I will carry out my threat and come armed with a couple of Ginsters in future.

 

[glasfryn]

Bloom is a property man, if its not going to make money then he wont progress it any further.

the fact that he is a property and money should always be remembered

Is that exclusive to the hotel? Or does it include his portfolio containing the Amex, Monks Farm and the hotel....

I have had this thought deep in mind for some time that when the times right he will sell hence keep the FFP correct and things on an even keel and the club would be ripe to buy for the right person/company

I have no inside info or have no contacts with anyone at the club ..........just my own thoughts, you heard it here first