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[Albion] Number of seasons in the Premier League - is our expectation simply unrealistic?







RexCathedra

Aurea Mediocritas
Jan 14, 2005
3,509
Vacationland
Last edited:




nwgull

Well-known member
Jul 25, 2003
14,533
Manchester
Player sales raised £70m but were receivable up to 4 years from the transaction dates, £41m was spent in new fees in summer 2016, but Ashley upped player wages from £75m by £37m to £112m in 2016/17 (benchmark that against our £40m).

After transfer activity and everything else they made a loss £47m.

Partly met by £15m from Ashley and £10m from their bank.

I think he invested incredibly heavily to get them back immediately. Is £112m the highest Championship wages bill in history?

Summer 2016 signings of Atsu, Clark, Diame, Gayle, Hayden, Ritchie and Yedlin improved an already quality Championship squad.

Well that is eye watering in terms of wages, and I wasn't aware how much they were paying that year. I don't however think it's the only way to get back. Afterall, we went from near relegation one season to getting promoted two seasons later (almost one season) with losses within FFP limits and no parachute payments.

If my estimates of FFP loss for last season and for this current season, I reckon that if we were to get relegated, we'd be able to make a loss of over 50m in the Championship and remain within FFP rules. Not that I would endorse that path.
 


Uh_huh_him

Well-known member
Sep 28, 2011
12,139
Because TB is an Albion fan, I don't think he treats the Albion with the same level of hard-nosed objectivity that he probably treats his core business activities. Nothing wrong with being a nice guy but it was naive in the extreme to give Potter - and probably his entire entourage also - a FIVE YEAR contract extension when he'd not been here more than a couple of months. That's not the actions of a hard-nosed businessman, that's the actions of a fan reacting to a couple of very decent early season performances :shrug:

To be honest I don't think his being an Albion fan is the problem.
Tony has spent millions on building a club which is capable of developing their own talent.
It is the only way a team our size can be successful and sustainable.

Palace have got to where they are primarily from the talents that came through their academy.
However their academy has not been invested in so they have spunked all the Prem money on trying to stay there.

Tony has no interest in staying in the Prem and losing money whilst we are there.
If it was just about being a fan, he could have spunked all his money on wages and enjoyed a few years of glory.
 






gripper stebson

Well-known member
Jul 27, 2004
6,690
Given our long history in the bottom two divisions, I would suggest we are a Championship club at the moment flirting with the Premier League rather than a Premier League club that's too big for the Championship.

Derby, for instance, are they a Premier League club? No probably not. Are they a bigger club than us? I'd say probably yes.
 






Thunder Bolt

Silly old bat
Ray Bloom is a very successful and wealthy guy. Is he TB's father or uncle?

His uncle.
https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/13585554.bumper-year-for-albion-director-rays-imex/

Is he the one who was around when the Three Bar stewards ran the club? If so I always thought of him as Nero
Yes, and the only one that Dick Knight kept on the board.

Born 1946, so in his 40's then. Ray was appointed to the Board by DK.

Wasn't the Bloom on the Board in 80's and early 90's an older guy? Could be wrong.

1946 makes him 73/74 now.
Ray Bloom was the one on the board in the 90s

Harry Bloom died on the team coach in 1980. He became vice chairman in 1973.

Tony Bloom is nearly 50.
 


Pavilionaire

Well-known member
Jul 7, 2003
31,274
Given our long history in the bottom two divisions, I would suggest we are a Championship club at the moment flirting with the Premier League rather than a Premier League club that's too big for the Championship.

Derby, for instance, are they a Premier League club? No probably not. Are they a bigger club than us? I'd say probably yes.

I think that does the club a disservice. Everything about this club is now Premier League standard - the stadium, the training facilities, the academy, the backroom staff. The likes of Nottingham Forest, Sunderland, Massive might be bigger clubs but they're a long way off having what we've got.

Being 18th in the wages department usually means you survive because the teams that come up normally struggle and there's usually a bigger club imploding on the way down. The problem for us is that none of the big clubs are in complete meltdown while Sheff Utd have had a stellar season - this leaves us, Norwich and Villa in the shit, and even Villa wouldn't be where they are if they'd had McGinn and Wesley fit.

What we haven't done yet is show we can recruit attacking players of sufficient quality to keep you in the Prem with a number of significant binner signings.

I'd put us in that yo-yo category with West Brom, Fulham, Burnley, Norwich - neither Prem nor Championship.
 


maltaseagull

Well-known member
Feb 25, 2009
13,365
Zabbar- Malta
My concern about relegation is the number of relegated clubs from the last 3 seasons who are struggling in the championship or in Sunderland's case are just coming back up from L2
Relegated 2016-17
Sunderland 5th L1, Hull 18th Boro 22nd

Relegated 2017-18
Stoke 21st, WBA 1st!! Swansea 9th

Relegated 2018-2019
Cardiff 11th, Fulham 3rd!! Huddersfield 17th

Only 2 "bouncing back" the rest are mostly bottom half of the table or worse.

It's a very tough division to get out of the right end.
 




Bold Seagull

strong and stable with me, or...
Mar 18, 2010
30,465
Hove
Disagree, Tony does not come from a rich family , he comes from a hard working family who have done ok but lots of children come from a family who might have made two or three million but to go from 2 to 3 million to high hundreds of millions possibly a billion plus takes a very special person with an exceptional mind and ability.

Lots of people do well for themselves, 1.5 million pound house, flash car, several 5 star holidays a year, kids in top private schools etc but that is a million miles away from the success Tony has achieved. Tony is in the top 1% in the world.....Brighton are extremely lucky to have him. He is also a very down to earth nice guy:

I don't think anyone is belittling TB's achievements by disputing he is 'self made'. Going from the top say 3% to the top 1% is excellent, but saying a kid that went to a wealthy Sussex boarding school from a wealthy family is 'self made' is stretching that term a bit.
 


nwgull

Well-known member
Jul 25, 2003
14,533
Manchester
I don't think anyone is belittling TB's achievements by disputing he is 'self made'. Going from the top say 3% to the top 1% is excellent, but saying a kid that went to a wealthy Sussex boarding school from a wealthy family is 'self made' is stretching that term a bit.

Well he didn't inherit a reported 500m - 1 billion, did he?
 


Bold Seagull

strong and stable with me, or...
Mar 18, 2010
30,465
Hove
Well he didn't inherit a reported 500m - 1 billion, did he?

Okay, we'll have to disagree on what the term 'self made' means. A bit like Trump saying he is self made when he allegedly said "all I started with was just $1m in my trust fund"
 




Silverhatch

Well-known member
Feb 23, 2009
4,697
Preston Park
My concern about relegation is the number of relegated clubs from the last 3 seasons who are struggling in the championship or in Sunderland's case are just coming back up from L2
Relegated 2016-17
Sunderland 5th L1, Hull 18th Boro 22nd

Relegated 2017-18
Stoke 21st, WBA 1st!! Swansea 9th

Relegated 2018-2019
Cardiff 11th, Fulham 3rd!! Huddersfield 17th

Only 2 "bouncing back" the rest are mostly bottom half of the table or worse.

It's a very tough division to get out of the right end.

A team that finishes 10th, 4th, 6th, TWENTIETH, 3rd and then promoted knows just how competitive and perilous the Championship is. As someone said on another thread this is now a 10-game league featuring six or seven clubs. It'll probably take 10 points to survive. We failed to do this last year with a renowned PL survivor in CH. This is the defining moment of Potter's career and he must be under huge pressure. That's the only real expectation flying around this club at the moment.
 


Weststander

Well-known member
Aug 25, 2011
69,339
Withdean area
Dunk aside which PL clubs would want our players? Remember they are all below par, NSC has been drumming this into me since we got here :wink:

I do think that we will lose a shedload of ST holders and can’t see there being a waiting list if we do go down though

That ST shake out would have to be in a year’s time. Very shortly, all ST’s will be legally committed for 2020/21.
 


Lifelong Supporter

Well-known member
Aug 4, 2009
2,104
Burgess Hill
That ST shake out would have to be in a year’s time. Very shortly, all ST’s will be legally committed for 2020/21.

Yes I think the supporters would be largely understanding and supportive for a season in the Championship but they would be expecting home wins and a comfortable top 6 position. Anything less and there would likely be meltdown.
 


Lifelong Supporter

Well-known member
Aug 4, 2009
2,104
Burgess Hill
A team that finishes 10th, 4th, 6th, TWENTIETH, 3rd and then promoted knows just how competitive and perilous the Championship is. As someone said on another thread this is now a 10-game league featuring six or seven clubs. It'll probably take 10 points to survive. We failed to do this last year with a renowned PL survivor in CH. This is the defining moment of Potter's career and he must be under huge pressure. That's the only real expectation flying around this club at the moment.

Yes, whatever the outcome I expect TB to be looking for full team commitment and common sense game management.
 




Giraffe

VERY part time moderator
Helpful Moderator
NSC Patron
Aug 8, 2005
27,242
Our restrictive wage structure is always going to leave us struggling every year to stay in the Premier.

You can only increase the wage structure with more money which will only come with more seasons in the Premier League. It is no coincidence that our reported 18th place in wages is similar to our position based on number of seasons in the Premier League.
 




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