Transfer Gossip

[Johnnyrotten]

46 minutes ago, desperado said:

Well I suppose the truth is we don’t know.

2 players came from SPL last year. Both didn’t settle straight away and injuries & personal problems played a part too, so it’s a questionable comparison.

Dalby came good in the best possible way! Whereas Taylor may not pull on a white shirt again!

Then you’ve got folk like Arfield who just didn’t cut it in L1, never mind the championship, yet was banging in goals and well liked when he went back to the SPL.

So IMO I do think the Championship is a big step up from SPL, but it’s not an exact science and I hope he’s one of those who transitions really well.

To be fair on Arfield, he didn't go back to the SPL, it was the league below, and he basically didn't play when they got back in the Prem.  I also think he got a bad press from us and just got in a rut in an under performing team - same as Taylor.  They proved themselves as decent players before they came here, and literally half a dozen games for us and they're treated as being Greenidge and Maskell category - they aren't/weren't that bad.  If Dalby had also been restricted to half a dozen appearances he wouldn't be far above Dan in our affections!

I agree with you that championship is miles above anywhere below top 3 of Scottish.  Every team in the bottom half of the championship would finish top 6 IMO.  I don't think L1 teams would finish top 6 but I think we'd avoid relegation no problem.  Just opinions of course.

I'd be amazed if many bottom half Scots Prem players could cut it in the championship, another comparison of players that have done L1 and Scots Prem in recent times are Baccus who we wanted, Dan of course, Doidge (Champ for us but not good enough for that level), Vela, Taylor, Dalby.  L1 standard, got loads of games in the Scots Prem, not really championship standard (that's not meant to be a dig at Dalby, just talking about his career path to date).

[DirtySanchez]

9 minutes ago, Johnnyrotten said:

To be fair on Arfield, he didn't go back to the SPL, it was the league below, and he basically didn't play when they got back in the Prem.  I also think he got a bad press from us and just got in a rut in an under performing team - same as Taylor.  They proved themselves as decent players before they came here, and literally half a dozen games for us and they're treated as being Greenidge and Maskell category - they aren't/weren't that bad.  If Dalby had also been restricted to half a dozen appearances he wouldn't be far above Dan in our affections!

I agree with you that championship is miles above anywhere below top 3 of Scottish.  Every team in the bottom half of the championship would finish top 6 IMO.  I don't think L1 teams would finish top 6 but I think we'd avoid relegation no problem.  Just opinions of course.

I'd be amazed if many bottom half Scots Prem players could cut it in the championship, another comparison of players that have done L1 and Scots Prem in recent times are Baccus who we wanted, Dan of course, Doidge (Champ for us but not good enough for that level), Vela, Taylor, Dalby.  L1 standard, got loads of games in the Scots Prem, not really championship standard (that's not meant to be a dig at Dalby, just talking about his career path to date).

Arfield's time for us was summed up by his attempted clearance against Arsenal in the Carabao cup and they went and scored 

Edited 4 hours ago by DirtySanchez

[gonzo]

Arfield came slap bang in the middle of Ian Evatt completely losing his fucking mind and thinking we could play with wing backs and 3 up top. 

He was still shite like but a bit like that wanker Keith Andrews, he couldn't have landed at the club at a worst time.

[Johnnyrotten]

51 minutes ago, DirtySanchez said:

Arfield's time for us was summed up by his attempted clearance against Arsenal in the Carabao cup and they went and scored 

Yes, similarly Taylor's time was summed up by this attempted clearance v Port Vale that resulted in a goal (and being honest that wasn't his only blip).  But a bad clearance punished by a goal is how we remember players, we were playing Arsenal and he wasn't the only one out of his depth, if it wasn't a goal we forget it.

As with Taylor, they didn't get the chance to put things right.

We'd be remembering Dalby for missing that open goal from 5 yards in the autumn (before he'd scored any at home) or the cross into the crowd at Doncaster when we had a chance on the break, and everyone was getting pelters especially him.

And Cissoko would never have played after Burton away or that home game he got booed in.

[Sluffy]

1 hour ago, Johnnyrotten said:

I'll let SS and Fergal get on with it but my post was to suggest that I'd be surprised if a young player from Kilmarnock was going to be starting many in the first half of the season ahead of the players already here, and any experienced signings.

I think they are going to have to.

My logic goes something like this,

We, and every other club in the Championship are subject to the new Squad Cost 'pay cap' rule which includes the net cost of transfers - meaning that all clubs are limited to 85% of their clubs turnover (with owners being limited to putting in equity of no more than £15m per season).

(This would also seem to also rule out the recent rumour of the £30m American investment into the club?).

To put that into some context the FV had a trading loss of £14m and wages (note NOT wages and net transfer spend) was 98.8% of revenue in the last accounts for the completed 24/25 season.

The thing is though all the clubs who are already in the Championship have squads that have been good enough to stay there (ok several struggled but then again you only need to finish higher than three other teams).

Meaning they can look to strengthen their weakest areas, knowing that in other areas across the pitch they are (shall we say) good enough for now and thus we are starting very much at the back of the grid well behind them all.

We (and presumably Lincoln and Cardiff) have relatively few players that we know will be adequate at Championship level and will have a limited budget to recruit and retain several needed and known to be Championship level players (who wages wise won't come cheap) - especially if equity allowed into the club in a season is limited to £15m - meaning we will have to be extremely frugal how we spend what money we are allowed, to build an entire Championship level squad from virtually nothing (bar Dalby, Rodrigues, Sheehan give or take). 

Our revenue will go up around £20m with being in the Championship but or trading loss will take the lions share of that I would expect.

How then can Preston, Millwall and Wrexham spend millions on a player this season, because they must consider they are solid across the rest of their side for the Championship and can basically spend the bulk of their transfer budget on one or two players.

We can't.

I estimate that there is probably around £5m equity left in the club by the end of this season (30th June 2026) so it would make perfect sense to me if players are signed before that date, so any transfer fees paid won't be included in next seasons Squad Cost rules.

It would also help if FV can put as much equity into the club before that date also so as to allow themselves a bit of financial wriggle room for future seasons in advance of the £15m equity per season limit that comes in.

So I simply don't believe we haven't the luxury of building a Championship squad from almost nothing, whilst being subject to financial and capital constraints (that will have much reduced impact on existing Championship teams (because they have a head start on us by already having squads largely of Championship level players already - as we will be next season after staying up) and spending something like £1m between them on Watson and Stephenson simply not to play them for half a season.

They will be out of necessity (in my opinion) active squad players from the start unless they show they can't hack it at this level just yet.

That's my thinking anyway.

[desperado]

27 minutes ago, Sluffy said:

I think they are going to have to.

My logic goes something like this,

We, and every other club in the Championship are subject to the new Squad Cost 'pay cap' rule which includes the net cost of transfers - meaning that all clubs are limited to 85% of their clubs turnover (with owners being limited to putting in equity of no more than £15m per season).

(This would also seem to also rule out the recent rumour of the £30m American investment into the club?).

To put that into some context the FV had a trading loss of £14m and wages (note NOT wages and net transfer spend) was 98.8% of revenue in the last accounts for the completed 24/25 season.

The thing is though all the clubs who are already in the Championship have squads that have been good enough to stay there (ok several struggled but then again you only need to finish higher than three other teams).

Meaning they can look to strengthen their weakest areas, knowing that in other areas across the pitch they are (shall we say) good enough for now and thus we are starting very much at the back of the grid well behind them all.

We (and presumably Lincoln and Cardiff) have relatively few players that we know will be adequate at Championship level and will have a limited budget to recruit and retain several needed and known to be Championship level players (who wages wise won't come cheap) - especially if equity allowed into the club in a season is limited to £15m - meaning we will have to be extremely frugal how we spend what money we are allowed, to build an entire Championship level squad from virtually nothing (bar Dalby, Rodrigues, Sheehan give or take). 

Our revenue will go up around £20m with being in the Championship but or trading loss will take the lions share of that I would expect.

How then can Preston, Millwall and Wrexham spend millions on a player this season, because they must consider they are solid across the rest of their side for the Championship and can basically spend the bulk of their transfer budget on one or two players.

We can't.

I estimate that there is probably around £5m equity left in the club by the end of this season (30th June 2026) so it would make perfect sense to me if players are signed before that date, so any transfer fees paid won't be included in next seasons Squad Cost rules.

It would also help if FV can put as much equity into the club before that date also so as to allow themselves a bit of financial wriggle room for future seasons in advance of the £15m equity per season limit that comes in.

So I simply don't believe we haven't the luxury of building a Championship squad from almost nothing, whilst being subject to financial and capital constraints (that will have much reduced impact on existing Championship teams (because they have a head start on us by already having squads largely of Championship level players already - as we will be next season after staying up) and spending something like £1m between them on Watson and Stephenson simply not to play them for half a season.

They will be out of necessity (in my opinion) active squad players from the start unless they show they can't hack it at this level just yet.

That's my thinking anyway.

Well sometimes there’s a need for long posts and I consider that one of them. A complicated scenario explained pretty well.. 👍

.. maybe it’s the fentanyl 🤣

…but that’s on the trusted assumption that what you are saying is correct 😂

[Dr. Feelgood]

There's more to Taylor's failings that simply being shite. It may never be known but it sniffs a bit Mark Bosnich to me ... with absolutely no evidence whatsoever. He MAY actually, turn out to just be an awful player.

[Sluffy]

Just now, desperado said:

Well sometimes there’s a need for long posts and I consider that one of them. A complicated scenario explained pretty well.. 👍

.. maybe it’s the fentanyl 🤣

…but that’s on the trusted assumption that what you are saying is correct 😂

Thank you.

I don't know if I'm correct though, I can only go off what the EFL have put into the public domain in respect of the Squad Building Cost rule.

The £15m equity cap in a financial year is not fully defined by them yet but it seems to me that the intent is to try to stop club owners buying the league by plunging their club in debt then watching them financially implode a season or two later (think Chansiri at Sheffield Wednesday,  Mel Morris at Derby and maybe even our own Eddie Davies).

After that I only state the obvious, we've got a big build to get a squad to Championship level and the clubs already at that level are at least a season or more in front of us already.

Maybe FV have invested £1m to bring two youngsters effectively the B team (or whatever name our reserve team goes under these days), but I suspect whatever our budget for wages and transfers needed for recruitment in our season ahead allows us the luxury to do so (even allowing that the agree fees may not be required to be paid in full immediately on transfer).

I could of course have replied to JR in a sentence or two  - "Nah, I think you're wrong mate" or something similar but I prefer to show my reasoning (it is also respectful to who I am replying to, although I do understand that respect is not a prerequisite on social media).

If people don't want to read what I post because it is too long for their liking, then fine, just put me on ignore - live and let live eh?

Anyway hope your knee heels soon.

[CambridgeBWFC]

1 hour ago, Sluffy said:

I think they are going to have to.

My logic goes something like this,

We, and every other club in the Championship are subject to the new Squad Cost 'pay cap' rule which includes the net cost of transfers - meaning that all clubs are limited to 85% of their clubs turnover (with owners being limited to putting in equity of no more than £15m per season).

(This would also seem to also rule out the recent rumour of the £30m American investment into the club?).

To put that into some context the FV had a trading loss of £14m and wages (note NOT wages and net transfer spend) was 98.8% of revenue in the last accounts for the completed 24/25 season.

The thing is though all the clubs who are already in the Championship have squads that have been good enough to stay there (ok several struggled but then again you only need to finish higher than three other teams).

Meaning they can look to strengthen their weakest areas, knowing that in other areas across the pitch they are (shall we say) good enough for now and thus we are starting very much at the back of the grid well behind them all.

We (and presumably Lincoln and Cardiff) have relatively few players that we know will be adequate at Championship level and will have a limited budget to recruit and retain several needed and known to be Championship level players (who wages wise won't come cheap) - especially if equity allowed into the club in a season is limited to £15m - meaning we will have to be extremely frugal how we spend what money we are allowed, to build an entire Championship level squad from virtually nothing (bar Dalby, Rodrigues, Sheehan give or take). 

Our revenue will go up around £20m with being in the Championship but or trading loss will take the lions share of that I would expect.

How then can Preston, Millwall and Wrexham spend millions on a player this season, because they must consider they are solid across the rest of their side for the Championship and can basically spend the bulk of their transfer budget on one or two players.

We can't.

I estimate that there is probably around £5m equity left in the club by the end of this season (30th June 2026) so it would make perfect sense to me if players are signed before that date, so any transfer fees paid won't be included in next seasons Squad Cost rules.

It would also help if FV can put as much equity into the club before that date also so as to allow themselves a bit of financial wriggle room for future seasons in advance of the £15m equity per season limit that comes in.

So I simply don't believe we haven't the luxury of building a Championship squad from almost nothing, whilst being subject to financial and capital constraints (that will have much reduced impact on existing Championship teams (because they have a head start on us by already having squads largely of Championship level players already - as we will be next season after staying up) and spending something like £1m between them on Watson and Stephenson simply not to play them for half a season.

They will be out of necessity (in my opinion) active squad players from the start unless they show they can't hack it at this level just yet.

That's my thinking anyway.

So our budget could be somewhere in the region of £47 million, 85% of £20 million current turn over, assumed £20 million increase for being in the Championship and the maximum £15 million investment.

Not a huge amount to cover wages (already £20 million) and signing fees.

 

[paulhanley]

No new signing today? Come on Harkin, you are slacking 🙂

[TrickyTrotter]

1 hour ago, Sluffy said:

I estimate that there is probably around £5m equity left in the club by the end of this season (30th June 2026) so it would make perfect sense to me if players are signed before that date, so any transfer fees paid won't be included in next seasons Squad Cost rules.

It would also help if FV can put as much equity into the club before that date also so as to allow themselves a bit of financial wriggle room for future seasons in advance of the £15m equity per season limit that comes in.

 

22 minutes ago, paulhanley said:

No new signing today? Come on Harkin, you are slacking 🙂

In his interview Fergal this week made a couple of points about timing.   First that World Cup years we're historically very slow for the transfer market and secondly that he hoped we would have 4 or 5 in by the start of pre-season.

I'm guessing players are back in training early July.

[jmjhb]

15 minutes ago, TrickyTrotter said:

I'm guessing players are back in training early July.

It'll be a week later (at least) than last year - league starts 2 weeks later than this, but there is a Carabao Cup match the weekend before