Ed Williams

[garthrockett]

The bottom line is any player too good for this league (in any team) will go up the pyramid until they reach a standard where they are deemed capable.
Those that are not good enough for this league (in any team) will drop down the pyramid in much the same way.

The important thing is we capitalize financially on the former and minimize the damage caused by the latter.

Thus we end up with players of an ability we deserve -and hope that on occasion we have a better 'average' than all the others teams in the division. A sort of Football Darwinism......

[Lovejoy]

His profile is going to get even higher after a call up to the England 'C' squad today.
http://www.harriers.co.uk/news/2018/09/25/williams-lands-england-call/

[Medieval]

If only it was so simple as: keep best players = promotion; football just isn`t like that.

CG has stated what % player transfer income will go on playing budget, can`t remember the figure though.

So far under CG i would say we have had better than average, hope we can keep it that way. Added to full time, gives us a shot at promotion.

[Mystic]

I am with Zorro on this surely its best in the Medium / Long term to retain our best players and get promoted more money bigger gates etc. If we get a substantial fee will it go into the players budget or disappear as per Joe Lolly.

Well I hope it isn't going to disappear under the current regime. And its a lot of extra bums on seats to make up for missing out in a £100k transfer fee! Unfortunately we are operating in an environment where costs > income therefore transfer fees are needed. If not then we are gambling our futures on getting promotion which in all likelihood might require the lottery of the play offs.

[Jonkers]

Mystic

I take your point but if and its a big if we get £100k fair enough but its still not clear what if any of the money will be used to replace him. Surely we are gambling on the future of the club if we continue to sell our best players and not replace them with similar quality, if we stay in this league much longer I fear for the future existence of this club and this from a supporter of 30+ years through thick and thin.

[pershoreharrier]

CG has spelt out his plan enough times.

If a player is worth more to another club than to us, then we take the money. Simple.

If you want to support a club which doesn't sell its best players, you will have a pretty limited range of clubs to go for.

Reminds me a bit of the joke about the man who asks a woman if she'll have sex with him for £1m. She says yes. He then asks her if
she will have sex with him for £10. She says NO! What sort of a girl do you think I am! The man says we have already established that.

Someone offers £1m for Williams, we take the cash. Someone offers £10k we tell him to clear off.
Every one of our players has got a price.

Its very naive to think otherwise.

Sadly Cal's Spongebag is absolutely right - however, I do recall CG previously saying that 30% of any transfer money the club received would be re-invested in the playing squad. Whether that still applies is a moot point as only a few weeks ago CG was looking to recover £500K of loans his company had put into KHFC so the transfer cash may be used to pay off some of that debt and the shares currently securing that debt sold back to the Club.

I note with some relief that the interest in Horsfall and Ironside of recent times seems to have evaporated.

I am also of the view that the longer we sit here in NLN will only lead to diminishing interest in the football club from football supporters and slowly but surely the fan base will be eroded and together with that all others who contribute to the club in some form or another.

[PaulM]

I’m not sure where this figure of 100K comes from, I would suggest any possible fee will be more likely 50K with him being out of contract at the end of the season

[HarrierN2]

A £50k fee is exactly the kind of business that I think would be terrible business. What's the point of losing out on a potential promotion for £50k?

Ed Williams is scoring almost a goal a game at the moment, from midfield. On that basis I'd set his value closer to £200k. Minimum. If I was CG I'd be looking for £250k or more.

[redandwhitemike]

A £50k fee is exactly the kind of business that I think would be terrible business. What's the point of losing out on a potential promotion for £50k?

Ed Williams is scoring almost a goal a game at the moment, from midfield. On that basis I'd set his value closer to £200k. Minimum. If I was CG I'd be looking for £250k or more.

Maybe it's a question of losing £50k or losing the viability of the club ??

It does seem to me (I could be wrong) that survival is uppermost in the mind of CG rather than getting promoted?

IIRC it was said a couple of years back that Harriers would be operating on a playing budget of £1M when the club was back in the Conference.

That seems a long way from where the club is just now.

I fear KHFC is destined to remain in NN for the foreseeable future.

[Zorro]

It's quite apparent to me that it's time the 'owner' (50%+ of the shares acquired through capitalising loans etc) put his cards on the table:

a) Is he in business with KHFC to maximise his return on selling players and maxismise revenue from the academy for his and his family's benefit;
or
b) does he want to retain the good players the best he can for he long term success and benefit of KHFC ??

Given this is the best season we seem to be having for many a year, and with such a great opportunity, the outcome of the Ed Williams situation will show his true colours surely? We now have the monies coming in from the academy, so presumably we should have gone beyond having to sell our best players to keep the club afloat? What is the aim here? Staging post for wannabees or long term ambitious successful football club?

[pershoreharrier]

It's quite apparent to me that it's time the 'owner' (50%+ of the shares acquired through capitalising loans etc) put his cards on the table:

a) Is he in business with KHFC to maximise his return on selling players and maxismise revenue from the academy for his and his family's benefit;
or
b) does he want to retain the good players the best he can for he long term success and benefit of KHFC ??

Given this is the best season we seem to be having for many a year, and with such a great opportunity, the outcome of the Ed Williams situation will show his true colours surely?

We now have the monies coming in from the academy, so presumably we should have gone beyond having to sell our best players to keep the club afloat?

Please correct me if I am wrong on this BUT on the basis that the league does not permit loans to be made to clubs CG either had to pull out £500K in cash from the Club which it did not have or convert his loans into more shares in the club - hence the new issue of shares. Existing shareholders were asked to buy more shares from the new issue but it appears that few if any did - if they had then it might have enabled CG to repay his loans with some cash from the new share issue.

If the Club hits a financial wall and cannot pay its bills or debts then a new owner can acquire the Club for £3 which is what CG paid to acquire the majority of the shares from the three principal shareholders.

I believe CG has made it clear he will not put any more money in (that he cannot get out in cash - I presume). Success is therefore defined by the Vision Document as having a financially sustainable club at League 2 level with a new Stadium Complex and Educational Business integrated with and supporting the local community who will in turn support the business. The Vision Document sought to achieve this within 5 years we have just entered year 3 and it seems to me we have one heck of a way to go before we do not have to rely on beer sales, pie sales and programme sales.

Putting cards on the table the answer to the question can only at this time be (a) to achieve financial sustainability and if that can be achieved then perhaps just perhaps we can move to option (b).

I think the task is proving far harder than first thought and whilst progress has been made it has taken an input of £500K from CG to make those small steps. One can only hope that from small steps giant strides can be eventually taken.

[HarrierN2]

As per the many valid points made across this thread, selling Ed Williams will definitely not prove that CG doesn't want promotion. I'd just hope that Ed will only be let go for a substantial amount of money. If he has several serious suitors then that should surely drive his value up way higher than 50k.

[redandwhitemike]

As per the many valid points made across this thread, selling Ed Williams will definitely not prove that CG doesn't want promotion. I'd just hope that Ed will only be let go for a substantial amount of money. If he has several serious suitors then that should surely drive his value up way higher than 50k.

With respect to the point made regarding promotion, it is one thing to 'want' something, it is something on a completely different level to go all out to achieve that aim. At the moment the impression is one of a duck swimming serenely along the river against the current with his poor old legs paddling madly but making no headway - that is what it looks like to me.

Just what happens (to the business plan) if Harriers don't get promoted in the allotted time frame?

[PaulM]

A £50k fee is exactly the kind of business that I think would be terrible business. What's the point of losing out on a potential promotion for £50k?

Ed Williams is scoring almost a goal a game at the moment, from midfield. On that basis I'd set his value closer to £200k. Minimum. If I was CG I'd be looking for £250k or more.

There is absolutely no chance of him going for 250K not a chance at all, I’m sorry I think Ed Is doing fantastic for us, a talented player but no way will anyone pay 250K for the lad especially when he’s out of contract in 8 months time

[lancaster71]

His profile is going to get even higher after a call up to the England 'C' squad today.
http://www.harriers.co.uk/news/2018/09/25/williams-lands-england-call/

See ex Harrier Captain Ryan Croasdale is also in the England "C" squad