Let us not forget it was not only Mr Carter but also Mr Bretherton. The latter was around during what could be considered our best period under the new regime. When he left we began to decline, the squad was slowly reduced and the quality diluted. We now appear to be regressing on a season by season basis on the field. I regret that some appear to believe our invincibility with regards relegation. The timing could not be worse, with us finally developing the ground only to gamble on a smaller weaker squad than we had last season thereby increasing our likelihood of relegation.
We have had 25 uninterrupted seasons in SL but appear that we are now in a worse position than when we first gained promotion. We can stay fiscally stable but how many actually believe if we are relegated this will allow us to retain a full time squad. It is better to fight for your status whilst in SL than trying to do so from the Championship. I remember our time in the wilderness and with the new structure coming in we could experience it all over again and it’s only benefit was smaller crowds making parking easier.

If our directors are unable to match the other SL clubs spend by a long margin, there is no chance of them spending in the Championsnip either. They will just go part time.
Looks like Fev will go up in our place this year and by the squad they have assembled , plus coaching staff on champipnship money ,looks like their directors have really got behind their club. Their squad is a match for ours and they have done that without well over £1m in SL funding, plus smaller crowds.

Their squad isn’t a match for ours at all. With the new partnership from WAFC, the pitch (once it’s sorted) and the new facilities I’m sure revenue will increase considerably by end of this season. That’s when we will likely be able to start closing the gap in terms of salary cap. If we get relegated that extra revenue should allow for a mostly full time squad or certainly one capable of finishing top. I suspect we would also have higher crowds than fev. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that though.

I’m not sure we would get smaller crowds. I think we are pretty close to baseline already. If anything the prospect of winning most weeks and challenging top I think we would actually see crowds increase over the course of a season in championship.

Although it will obviously be a major set back I don’t think it would be the end due to the stadium redevelopment whereas before it was always “They’ll never let us back in SL because of our ground”. The ground is our future and say what you want regarding our owners but they’ve done a brilliant job with ground and other off field developments with the foundation etc. Although the full ins and outs of the grading system haven’t been announced from what I’ve seen it may be quite good for us. Hope it doesn’t happen but don’t think it would be as devastating as it would have been a couple of years ago.

Up to Trin

Fev Owner has recently come out and admitted that Fev make a loss each match day and that the fans aren't turning out in their numbers, sounds like he's getting frustrated. Wonder how long that could be sustainable for.... https://twitter.com/TheGameCaller/statu ... 88961?s=20

Fev Owner has recently come out and admitted that Fev make a loss each match day and that the fans aren't turning out in their numbers, sounds like he's getting frustrated. Wonder how long that could be sustainable for.... https://twitter.com/TheGameCaller/statu ... 88961?s=20

Good post but do not think Mr Bretherton was the reason for the decline of the club The board had wiped out a load of det, we had some cash for players so what did Mr Chester do when it came to rebuilding the team ,started looking for old players on the cheep, from relegation clubs or championship players ,not young and upand coming players that a good Coach could have made better We still have some players here who are way past there best but still on the contracts they were given by Mr Chester .We now have taken a gamble on two coaches , with no experience of coaching in S L and it is showing big time.and as you say very old, slow weaker squad

The club is in an impossible position.

Firstly, we are not an attractive proposition for players, so we have to pay a surplus. They're not going to win anything, had previously played in sub-standard conditions, and still train in them, and are likely to be in a relegation dogfight, which must be draining. I'm not surprised Miller fancies some mid-table mediocrity for a while.

So, do we gamble a million on the basis we will stay up? We won't get the corporate goodies from the new stand this year, so it is literally a million gambled, so we end up a million in the red. That is not sustainable.

Or, do we gamble on being financially sustainable, so if we do go down, we are in good shape to rebuild? If we go down in debt, and to make it worth the investment in the squad it would have to be a substantial debt, we are in serious trouble.

The mess we are in is not through lack of investment, because there isn't any to be had. No big money people have come forward, so without them "investment" really just means spending money we don't have in the hope it will be balanced by bigger crowds. That is not investment. That is gambling. No, we are in the situation we are in because it has taken us too long to get where we are, and that is due to things beyond the control of the club.

We want better players. Which would come to us? The ones we have. There is no queue, I can wager, that is desperate to get into our squad.

The problem is has someone reminded me we have a loan to repay and relegation will mean the loss of the Sky revenue and reduced home and away support. I wonder how much our player budget for this season compares with last. It’s a gamble the club have taken even more so than their first season when we released a large number of players because we had the play offs which allowed us to bring in several players late. If they are incorrect then it is the supporters who suffer.

Think we got to released 8 or 9 of these players ,to make us a good championship team .Might have to wait a season

If relegated all players become free agents.

Over the last few year we have S L players that could get into any S L team Think now a few of our best players are squad players at the best

Exactly this, those who were able to get into any other SL squad over the past few years now are in other squads, and we're left with a starting lineup of players who would spend most of their time out on dual reg in most other clubs

I'm not saying this season was predictable, but it has been pretty obvious from the start that it was only heading in one direction