Where do we go from here then?

[Cal's Spongebag]

Agree with Red Bear there. Without knowing the financial outlay we make in terms of coaches, our current set-up does seem potentially excessive.


We have just had four good/decent seasons at this level finishing 6th, 6th, 2nd and top 7. There are those who think we have a right to at least be in this position and anything other than promotion is "failure" and there are those, like me, who look at the last 125+ years and think we should chill out a little and enjoy our place as one of non-league's better clubs. Is that "living in the past" or showing a "lack of ambition"? A phrase so often heard about the Harriers (before and after our 5 yr stay in the league) is "the club do not want promotion" which I always translated as "the club have made a decision I don't agree with" or "why aren't the club spending money they don't have"? We are not a rich club - read Pershore's comments. If Ernie Lane stops (or has he already?) putting his hand in his pocket the club must run on a sustainable basis. Phrases such as "cutting our cloth accordingly" are not going to win many friends but the NUMBER ONE priority must be the survival of the club. I am not a fan of any board member (past, present or future) who wants to risk that.

Of course, having to reduce budgets doesn't mean we should accept poor football and relegation battles but surely our expectations and subsequent criticism needs to be tempered? I sit there at home games listening to the pure bile and venom being spouted about (and directly to) our own players and manager and think "has it always been like this?" They make mistakes and they make decisions we disagree with but the arrogance of some of the experts in the stands amuses and angers me at the same time. We pay our money so are entitled to our opinion but perhaps expectations are way too high? We currently have a squad that is not quite good enough for the play-offs. We endured a terrible spell under a poor manager and have lost some key players to injury and suspension at key times. We battered Nuneaton for twenty minutes on Monday and should have scored a couple of goals but we didn't. The rest wasn't that pretty but we seem to think we have a team that should be steam rolling Nuneaton. We don't, we have some mediocre conference players that have limitations. You could see the confidence drain from Mickey D as the usual East Stand muppets got stuck into him for not being Gareth Bale. We have a good group of supporters (and some amazing supporters) but I can't help thinking there are times when we don't do the team any favours. Okay, the "lap of honour" comment from the PA guy was misjudged but over half the crowd turned their backs and walked out at the end of the game - the last home game of the season and they couldn't be bothered to acknowledge the effort of the players.


As for the appointment of Whild - it may seem like a "cheap option" but this is a bloke who has stayed loyal and dignified during all the turmoil. That deserves respect. He deserves a chance and has already shown he is prepared to make difficult decisions (see Malbon and Johnson). He steadied the ship and the fact we were thinking about the play-offs is amazing considering the f__k up that was Thorn.
When people say "he's only a number 2" I'm not quite sure what they mean. He doesn't seem quite as media friendly as Burr and isn't so much "of a lad" but that doesn't matter. Mills, Brabin, Devonshire - who knows how they would have done. I expect if we lose the first game next season the line will be that one of those three would have got us promotion! As I say, deserves a chance, let's judge him next season and see what happens.

Amen.

[centreforeword]

To echo the sentiment, personally I would like to see us compete on a realistic budget and perhaps make the playoffs due to our skill, endeavour, heart and belief (a la Halifax / Braintree / Gateshead) rather than buy promotion (a la Luton)

[Maton]

To echo the sentiment, personally I would like to see us compete on a realistic budget and perhaps make the playoffs due to our skill, endeavour, heart and belief (a la Halifax / Braintree / Gateshead) rather than buy promotion (a la Luton)

Cant argue with that. I would rather watch a team full of local lads with a realistic budget than attempt to buy promotion and return to those dark days of three years ago. I also agree with Sheff Harrier that maybe we expect too much.

[Phil]

Pleased to see some honesty from Gary Whild in tonight's express and star.

[kiddy guy]

Apologies - I'm confused.

We've had 2 transfer fees which have brought in excess of 500k.

I do not for 1 second believe paying off 2 managers has cost that amount of money.

Yet the budget is apparently to be cut.

Could somebody clearly more understanding of the situation please enlighten me how we've suddenly got a shortage of cash?

[DownTheLine]

Apologies - I'm confused.

We've had 2 transfer fees which have brought in excess of 500k.

I do not for 1 second believe paying off 2 managers has cost that amount of money.

Yet the budget is apparently to be cut.

Could somebody clearly more understanding of the situation please enlighten me how we've suddenly got a shortage of cash?

Is that the only expense for a professional club then? Paying off managers?

I would guess that to get rid of Minty and Burr cost us around £100k, another £25-30k to get rid of Fowler....plus £25k towards policing at Sunderland.

How much do you think we have been paying for Gash and co? They don't come cheap.....neither do Flowers or Creighton.

[kiddy guy]

So that's 150k, probably offset considerably by the cup run. So where's the money gone.

[garthrockett]

We've had 2 transfer fees which have brought in excess of 500k.

No, strictly speaking we had a lump sum of 300K for Matt and agrred payments over an unspecified period of time that will accrue to around 250K for Lolley.

[kiddy guy]

2.5 year deal, so you'd assume no more than in probability.

However it's a relatively certain income, so again, where has the money gone.

If the cup run and transfers netted off against the losses, then we're square. And on that basis, why are we cutting a budget - if we'd sold nobody and had no cup run, then we'd not be in financial trouble would we?

[sleepytopcat]

How nice to come in tonight and read 2 pages of largely common sense, prompted by Sheffs really well thought out posting.
Have thought more and more in recent weeks that this Board was going to end up like the other one, with no readers, if the repetitive "we must move to the next level" drivel continued.

[pricey5]

We haven't spent all the Lolley money yet, Huddersfield are still paying us instalments until January for him. If they are equal instalments then that potentially is at least 125k left owed.

[kiddy guy]

So...why is the budget being cut...

[pricey5]

So...why is the budget being cut...

Ask the chairman. The only thing I've heard is that the budget will be 'competitive'. Whild obviously thinks its good enough for most of our key players to sign again so it can't be that bad.

[Tamworth Harrier]

Dont think anybody has actually confirmed that the budget has been cut its just heresay on here. It may well be less than last season but some of the figures being muted on here like 350K seem a bit low to say the least.

[garthrockett]

So...why is the budget being cut...

Maybe certain people are not prepared to donate large sums of their cash to fill the financial 'hole' yet again this year?

Does no one actually read Pershore's insightful and useful posts on here???