Swift to... Southampton

[WestYorksRoyal]

There is a reason to get excited here, with those offloaded already, loans coming to an end and those out of contract, coupled with the likely departures of swift and Moore the club will save in excess of 150,000 a week with those wages off the book. If fees recouped stretch up to £12 million plus, the club will have saved a hell of a lot of the shortfall.

The names touted to come in will not cost anywhere near those leaving in wages. If Bowen and the team have identified their targets plus those to be promoted from the youth ranks it may look brighter ahead.

Good post Mikey, agree with this. On the whole the likes of McCleary, Gunter, Moore etc are associated to some of the most mediocre years of my time as a supporter, some of it has been proper dross. We need a fresh start, investment in new players who want to make a name for themselves.

There's a big "if" in the middle of that. Forward thinking and planning used to be great in the SJM era. More recently, not so. Shrewd dealings this summer and it'll be clear evidence the club is on a better path

[WoodleyRoyal]

There is a reason to get excited here, with those offloaded already, loans coming to an end and those out of contract, coupled with the likely departures of swift and Moore the club will save in excess of 150,000 a week with those wages off the book. If fees recouped stretch up to £12 million plus, the club will have saved a hell of a lot of the shortfall.

The names touted to come in will not cost anywhere near those leaving in wages. If Bowen and the team have identified their targets plus those to be promoted from the youth ranks it may look brighter ahead.

Good post Mikey, agree with this. On the whole the likes of McCleary, Gunter, Moore etc are associated to some of the most mediocre years of my time as a supporter, some of it has been proper dross. We need a fresh start, investment in new players who want to make a name for themselves.

There's a big "if" in the middle of that. Forward thinking and planning used to be great in the SJM era. More recently, not so. Shrewd dealings this summer and it'll be clear evidence the club is on a better path

im still not convinced this is the path we will take sadly. It appears the owners like their 'hollywood' signings

[Old Man Andrews]

Good post Mikey, agree with this. On the whole the likes of McCleary, Gunter, Moore etc are associated to some of the most mediocre years of my time as a supporter, some of it has been proper dross. We need a fresh start, investment in new players who want to make a name for themselves.

There's a big "if" in the middle of that. Forward thinking and planning used to be great in the SJM era. More recently, not so. Shrewd dealings this summer and it'll be clear evidence the club is on a better path

im still not convinced this is the path we will take sadly. It appears the owners like their 'hollywood' signings

They are more Pinewood Studio signings when it comes to us.....

[tidus_mi2]

There's nothing wrong with a few big signings but our scouting needs to improve substantially if they were approving big money to be spent on the likes of Aluko and Puscas.

I look at a club like Brentford in what we should aspire to be like, they have made some shrewd signings which they sold on for big money, in some cases in excess of £10m which then allowed them to make more ambitious signings but at the same time respectable, the £4.5m-£5.5m range.

Contrast to us who haven't been selling players too often and certainly not for big money then we sign Aluko for £7.5m and Puscas for £10m.

I'd very much welcome a more sensible transfer policy and several teams have shown you can spend wisely and still compete at the top, even earn promotion.

[WestYorksRoyal]

To an extent I agree. Brentford spent big on Jansson and he's been a very good signing, but they had £20m in the bank from Maupay. Even with the sales of Barrow and Swift (+possibly Moore), I don't see where the funds for a big transfer are coming from. We need to be shrifty, and its a market that will suit that.

[Hound]

We can strengthen without spending much at all with the correct scouting

I do hope from his time as DoF and in charge with a huge overpaid squad, Bowen will have a good understanding of what we need to do to move forward. Certainly some of the names we've been linked with such as Josh Laurent do seem to be more where I think the majority would like to see the club go

[tidus_mi2]

To an extent I agree. Brentford spent big on Jansson and he's been a very good signing, but they had £20m in the bank from Maupay. Even with the sales of Barrow and Swift (+possibly Moore), I don't see where the funds for a big transfer are coming from. We need to be shrifty, and its a market that will suit that.

Yep and they bought Maupay for a rumoured £1.6m, those are the sort of punts we should be making, not spending Premier League prices for end product players, not yet anyway. As a club in the transfer market we have been acting recklessly, we have the financial backing to look at £1-3m players and hope they turn out to be a star we can sell for £10m+ but the only reason Brentford could command such a hefty fee for their best assets was because they weren't in a position of needing the balance the books.

As has been said, I hope we're moving to a more sustainable model but we'll find out in the Summer window.

[Old Man Andrews]

We can strengthen without spending much at all with the correct scouting

I do hope from his time as DoF and in charge with a huge overpaid squad, Bowen will have a good understanding of what we need to do to move forward. Certainly some of the names we've been linked with such as Josh Laurent do seem to be more where I think the majority would like to see the club go

Do we have actual scouts? Genuinely don't know the answer. Assumed all we had was Kia Joorabchian's mobile phone contacts.

[One87One]

£3.5m is a joke, but it underlines how desperate we are for money. Swift is replaceable. I'd rather lose him than Olise.

[Snowflake Royal]

Let's look at it in annual cost.

Our wage bill has been knocking around £30m and needs to be more like £15m - £18m.

Let's call that a reduction of £10m

That's basically £200k in wages a week. Without allowing for any new signings or contract improvements.

If we release all the ooc players and sell Swift AND Moore on top of Barrow, plus loan out Aluko we should probably make that £200k figure.

And then immediately cut that reduction by at least third in new signings.

[Hound]

Should be getting a few million to throw into that pot in sales though Ian

£5m for Swift and Barrow, hopefully another couple if we can offload a few more fringe players/Moore

The wage bill seems to be heading in the right direction at pace - that’s the main thing

[Notts Royal]

Should be getting a few million to throw into that pot in sales though Ian

£5m for Swift and Barrow, hopefully another couple if we can offload a few more fringe players/Moore

The wage bill seems to be heading in the right direction at pace - that’s the main thing

Just wait for the influx of overpaid foreign signings on transfer deadline day!

[Snowflake Royal]

Should be getting a few million to throw into that pot in sales though Ian

£5m for Swift and Barrow, hopefully another couple if we can offload a few more fringe players/Moore

The wage bill seems to be heading in the right direction at pace - that’s the main thing

Just wait for the influx of overpaid foreign signings on transfer deadline day!

Fees are rarely upfront, we've already got some committed to Ejaria and they're one offs. The wages are the problem, so got to focus on that.

[One87One]

Let's look at it in annual cost.

Our wage bill has been knocking around £30m and needs to be more like £15m - £18m.

Let's call that a reduction of £10m

That's basically £200k in wages a week. Without allowing for any new signings or contract improvements.

If we release all the ooc players and sell Swift AND Moore on top of Barrow, plus loan out Aluko we should probably make that £200k figure.

And then immediately cut that reduction by at least third in new signings.

Swift and Barrow leaving free's up around £40k a week (£2m a year).
Gunter and McCleary leaving saves us another £30k a week (£1.5m a year).

It's a good start.

[WoodleyRoyal]

Let's look at it in annual cost.

Our wage bill has been knocking around £30m and needs to be more like £15m - £18m.

Let's call that a reduction of £10m

That's basically £200k in wages a week. Without allowing for any new signings or contract improvements.

If we release all the ooc players and sell Swift AND Moore on top of Barrow, plus loan out Aluko we should probably make that £200k figure.

And then immediately cut that reduction by at least third in new signings.

Swift and Barrow leaving free's up around £40k a week (£2m a year).
Gunter and McCleary leaving saves us another £30k a week (£1.5m a year).

It's a good start.

+ manone & popa... manone being te 2nd highest earner at the club and popa being on a decent wedge too.

Manone 30K pw and popa 15 -20K

[Snowflake Royal]

Which is just about half way

[Hound]

Should be getting a few million to throw into that pot in sales though Ian

£5m for Swift and Barrow, hopefully another couple if we can offload a few more fringe players/Moore

The wage bill seems to be heading in the right direction at pace - that’s the main thing

Just wait for the influx of overpaid foreign signings on transfer deadline day!

Fees are rarely upfront, we've already got some committed to Ejaria and they're one offs. The wages are the problem, so got to focus on that.

Interesting we've not heard anything about Ejaria signing permanently - it was meant to be official on 1st July wasn't it?

Wonder if we're trying to negotiate that fee in light of Covid

[Old Man Andrews]

Just wait for the influx of overpaid foreign signings on transfer deadline day!

Fees are rarely upfront, we've already got some committed to Ejaria and they're one offs. The wages are the problem, so got to focus on that.

Interesting we've not heard anything about Ejaria signing permanently - it was meant to be official on 1st July wasn't it?

Wonder if we're trying to negotiate that fee in light of Covid

Doubt we can, I think that deal would have already been signed, sealed and delivered. Only thing I can think of is that we have some kind of break clause in the arrangement but I'd find it unlikely Liverpool would have agreed to it. If the Ejaria signing falls through then it will tell us for sure we are up shit creek.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Just wait for the influx of overpaid foreign signings on transfer deadline day!

Fees are rarely upfront, we've already got some committed to Ejaria and they're one offs. The wages are the problem, so got to focus on that.

Interesting we've not heard anything about Ejaria signing permanently - it was meant to be official on 1st July wasn't it?

Wonder if we're trying to negotiate that fee in light of Covid

Guessing it's just been pushed back to 27 July when the transfer window opens.

[WestYorksRoyal]

Should be getting a few million to throw into that pot in sales though Ian

£5m for Swift and Barrow, hopefully another couple if we can offload a few more fringe players/Moore

The wage bill seems to be heading in the right direction at pace - that’s the main thing

Just wait for the influx of overpaid foreign signings on transfer deadline day!

Fees are rarely upfront, we've already got some committed to Ejaria and they're one offs. The wages are the problem, so got to focus on that.

But for FFP, fees are amortised and make up part of your expenses. So an initial £5m fee on Puscas, with a 5 year contract, means £1m a year or £20k a week. Similarly, Rafael was on a free, so an extra £5k a week in wages for 3 years or so offsets the £1.5m+ he is probably worth (arguably more).

As far as I understand, our issues are currently with FFP and not cash flow and solvency. I agree that for clubs struggling with those, wages and associated taxes are usually the killer (it's always HMRC who bring the winding up order)