Thank you SO much for what you have done for our Club Gus!

[Albion Dan]

Anyone who includes vile in an comment fails to make their point.

I've read that post 4 times and it still isn't making any sense.

 

[One4the.road]

This is football grow up and move on please stop chucking toys out prams . Stop this sentimental nonsense please no more thank you Gus poyet I'm finding this very childish .

 

[AZ Gull]

You're mixing up two things here and I think you know it, given your coy use of the word imply. Tip for the future, if I believe in something, I'll state it plainly, not "imply" it. I'm not making the case for extra spending, I'm saying that was the case that Poyet presented to Bloom. How right he was to do that depends for me on the targets he was set - if the target was to get to the Premiership as soon as poss, he can legitimately say to Blloom you're not giving me the tools for the target you set me. If the target was consolidation in top half of Championship for a few years with an outside shot now and then at going up through play-offs, then Poyet's case for extra spending appears very weak. What was the target that Poyet understood he received from Bloom? That's what I'd like to know to make some kind of sense of their dispute.

Now separately to that, you say it's not "serious" to run budget deficits in pursuit of Premier League status. Sadly given the huge mismatch between Prem and Champ revenues, that's not the case, it might be wrong/right but it's an arguable thing worth debating - a credible business case can be made for calculated gambles to reach these obscene figures of £120m on offer to Prem clubs just for turning up to games, which would totally transform our current budget realities. Now as a fan I would never make that case because it's not my money to lose, as season ticket sales can't fund this strategy - but if the board wanted to suck up a few more years of extra losses in a calculated gamble, then that's their choice and I would back them, and if they didn't and preferred a much more conservative strategy, I would back them by the same token as it's their call to make. But if we are pursuing a very prudent financial strategy, realistic targets must be set for Albion managers and communicated to fans, and here we come back to the Poyet issue.

On September 30 2011, Poyet and Taricco signed extended contracts with the Albion to 2016 (essentially, new 5 year contracts). Two weeks later, Tony Bloom appeared on the "Albion Roar" programme of Radio Reverb. He was asked where he saw the club in 5 years' time. He replied that he hoped the club would be in the Premier League. He went on to say "Before the start of each season we want to be in with a realistic chance of being in the top six in the Championship. If we can do that, then hopefully one of those seasons we'll get to the Premiership." On Thursday at the fans forum, Bloom repeated this target for season 2013-14 of a top-six finish.

In the programme for the home Palace play-off game, Bloom described 2012-13 as a "superb" season (when Albion finished fourth).

I think the targets that have been set by Tony Bloom have been clear, consistent and communicated for all to see.

Over the last six months or so, the club has made numerous, consistent and repeated statements about it's intent to comply with the requirements of Financial Fair Play (including a multi-page spread in the Derby County programme). FFP defines exactly what those requirements are. I don't think Albion could have been any clearer in it's pursuit of "a very prudent financial strategy".

If the "Poyet issue" was down to his demands for additional funds, I'm really struggling to see his case, especially as Palace achieved promotion with almost certainly a smaller budget (financial reports for 2012-13 have not yet been released, and so we cannot be sure, but they certainly had a smaller budget in 2011-12).