The NSWE Board

[The Fun Factory]

1 minute ago, VillaParkAvenue said:

It’s probably not likely for a very long time. Running a Premier League club mostly seems to be an exciting way of spending lots of money.

Look I can be exciting if a bored business person wants to waste money.

[nick76]

3 minutes ago, The Fun Factory said:

Look I can be exciting if a bored business person wants to waste money.

I bet you could

 

[VillaJ100]

49 minutes ago, VillaParkAvenue said:

It’s probably not likely for a very long time. Running a Premier League club mostly seems to be an exciting way of spending lots of money.

The value of the club is probably 10 times what they paid so they're probably breaking even at worst

[VillaParkAvenue]

1 hour ago, VillaJ100 said:

The value of the club is probably 10 times what they paid so they're probably breaking even at worst

Yeah many investors wanting in drives up the value of clubs. But actual revenue enough to make a profit still isn’t there for the vast majority of clubs. It really looks like a super league with salary caps is what owners are hoping for and calculating with.

[Tayls]

I reckon these guys have had enough and are already thinking about selling up. 

[sidcow]

2 hours ago, Tayls said:

I reckon these guys have had enough and are already thinking about selling up. 

Yeah,  it's the only logical conclusion. 

[Pinebro]

Very much going the way of Everton.

They spent lots in the early years as well but if you don't capitalize on that money and recruit poorly, ultimately FFP will eventually limit to what you can do.

And compared to the bigger clubs with massive fanbases and revenue we don't generate a lot of money organically. We are very much dependent on external financial help in order to spend big. 

To be brutally honest I feel like we've wasted a big opportunity. So much money been wasted just for it to take us to bottom half.

Where I would blame the owners is their pick of managers and CEO.

Christian is well liked by many on here, and I don't dislike him as a business man and I think he is good at that job but he is way too hands on with footballing decisions imo.

Edited August 17, 2022 by Pinebro

[VillaFaninLondon]

2 hours ago, villa4europe said:

if we were going the way of everton wouldn't that mean that we spend £200m on man utd cast offs this summer?

if Lange thought mctominay is the answer to our midfield problem then id be worried

I don't think that's the point he's making. Everton have spent money badly, as have we. We haven't got full value out of players like Bailey, Ings, even Coutinho for his wages is underperforming and not done much of note since March, Buendia is on the bench most of the time so we aren't getting full value out of him, Carlos now injured so that's another 26m potentially down the drain. 

 

But we also have a stupidly imbalanced team, the bulk of the money we have spent is on the attacking side of the team and that's the reason we aren't getting the best out of those players. We haven't invested enough in CM for instance and we think Ramsey and McGinn are the answer. We haven't spent big on a CM for God knows how long, the last time we spent anything on CM was Sanson in January 2021 and before that it was summer 2019 on Luiz. Neither of those players are even getting in the team now. Other teams have invested loads in this part of their team like Newcastle and Leicester and Wolves and yet we keep spending absolutely nothing on it and accepting what we have. 

 

Everton's owners are now not spending. Our owners are not not spending either. Net spend has been zero the last 2 summers. No tangible links to anyone suggests they either don't care about strengthening the squad further or they can't because of FFP or maybe a bit of both. 

 

Our aim is supposedly to push for Europe this season, finishing between 7th and 10th. How on Earth do they expect to achieve that without any further investment? The best we can hope for is to be around where we were last season which is atrocious. The reason for this is the league is insanely good now (just look at who Wolves are signing and they finished 10th last season). There are also teams like Brighton and Leicester not spending but they both finished a fair few places above us last season and are managed and coached far better than we are.

 

We're a real mess, we really are. But keep pretending we're not if it makes you feel better.

[blandy]

Stay on topic please

[The Fun Factory]

The club is massively investing in the infrastructure. We have already redone Bodymoor, the inner city academy work has started and we are redeveloping the stadium. This will increase revenues in the long term- as well as our hefty ticket price increases.

We have raised £120 million in the last 2 summers for selling 2 home grown players which will help FFP.  The board was never going to keep spending huge net deficits year on year, that is not sustainable. We have significantly improved the quality of the team in 3 years. I looked at the line up when we beat Everton at home in 2019 and we are miles better than that now, and Everton have gone  completely the other way.

NWSE are doing things right and I have confidence in them. I don't  know how high we can go because modern football is basically rigged  for the same teams to dominate everything, but we are going to have a good go in shaking it up. We had easer chances to join the elite in the 90s and 00s but we failed to do so but I don't want to talk about that all over again.

[paul514]

16 minutes ago, VillaFaninLondon said:

I don't think that's the point he's making. Everton have spent money badly, as have we. We haven't got full value out of players like Bailey, Ings, even Coutinho for his wages is underperforming and not done much of note since March, Buendia is on the bench most of the time so we aren't getting full value out of him, Carlos now injured so that's another 26m potentially down the drain. 

 

But we also have a stupidly imbalanced team, the bulk of the money we have spent is on the attacking side of the team and that's the reason we aren't getting the best out of those players. We haven't invested enough in CM for instance and we think Ramsey and McGinn are the answer. We haven't spent big on a CM for God knows how long, the last time we spent anything on CM was Sanson in January 2021 and before that it was summer 2019 on Luiz. Neither of those players are even getting in the team now. Other teams have invested loads in this part of their team like Newcastle and Leicester and Wolves and yet we keep spending absolutely nothing on it and accepting what we have. 

 

Everton's owners are now not spending. Our owners are not not spending either. Net spend has been zero the last 2 summers. No tangible links to anyone suggests they either don't care about strengthening the squad further or they can't because of FFP or maybe a bit of both. 

 

Our aim is supposedly to push for Europe this season, finishing between 7th and 10th. How on Earth do they expect to achieve that without any further investment? The best we can hope for is to be around where we were last season which is atrocious. The reason for this is the league is insanely good now (just look at who Wolves are signing and they finished 10th last season). There are also teams like Brighton and Leicester not spending but they both finished a fair few places above us last season and are managed and coached far better than we are.

 

We're a real mess, we really are. But keep pretending we're not if it makes you feel better.

I read that and just think this is the manager not the board.

[VillaFaninLondon]

2 minutes ago, paul514 said:

I read that and just think this is the manager not the board.

I don't rate Gerrard but he hasn't actually been backed this summer in fairness. We were led to believe in April/May when Gerrard said the fans will be excited by the summer targets but it's been far from an exciting window.

 

The investment in the stadium etc is all well and good if the first team is performing, but we haven't even finished in the top half for 11 years now. Three seasons back in the top flight and our highest finish is 11th. You can't imagine a 50,000+ stadium will sell out if we are languishing in the bottom half every season, although to be fair to the fans they have showed incredible backing even last season when the stadium was selling out every other week.

 

Every else is pretty much immaterial aside from investment in the first team, that is what will bring success on the pitch. Academy investment is great but takes time and it seems we always sell our best Academy players anyway (Grealish, Carney).

[villa89]

Christ people are impatient. Its a long term project to try to get the club into the top 6. Something that could take a decade to complete. The youth system, the stadium, facilities all need to be upgraded and we have to go from a team full of mid table championship players ( + Grealish) to one with a 23 man squad of top quality players. 

[paul514]

1 minute ago, VillaFaninLondon said:

I don't rate Gerrard but he hasn't actually been backed this summer in fairness. We were led to believe in April/May when Gerrard said the fans will be excited by the summer targets but it's been far from an exciting window.

 

The investment in the stadium etc is all well and good if the first team is performing, but we haven't even finished in the top half for 11 years now. Three seasons back in the top flight and our highest finish is 11th. You can't imagine a 50,000+ stadium will sell out if we are languishing in the bottom half every season, although to be fair to the fans they have showed incredible backing even last season when the stadium was selling out every other week.

 

Every else is pretty much immaterial aside from investment in the first team, that is what will bring success on the pitch. Academy investment is great but takes time and it seems we always sell our best Academy players anyway (Grealish, Carney).

They haven't spent 100m but we have spent around 50m bringing in about 35m maybe 40m

So you might say look how low the net spend is but that wage bill keep rising, wage bills KILL transfer budgets boards can hand out.

NSWE may have had a plan all along to spend a truck load of cash and then scale back net spending when we are receiving decent fees for players leaving which wasn't the case when they brought the club.

It wasn't that different last summer when you consider the fee we got for Jack.

I wouldn't have purchased Carlos or Coutinho personally and we must have only done so based on Gerrard's wants.

[Zatman]

10 minutes ago, VillaFaninLondon said:

I don't rate Gerrard but he hasn't actually been backed this summer in fairness. We were led to believe in April/May when Gerrard said the fans will be excited by the summer targets but it's been far from an exciting window.

 

The investment in the stadium etc is all well and good if the first team is performing, but we haven't even finished in the top half for 11 years now. Three seasons back in the top flight and our highest finish is 11th. You can't imagine a 50,000+ stadium will sell out if we are languishing in the bottom half every season, although to be fair to the fans they have showed incredible backing even last season when the stadium was selling out every other week.

 

Every else is pretty much immaterial aside from investment in the first team, that is what will bring success on the pitch. Academy investment is great but takes time and it seems we always sell our best Academy players anyway (Grealish, Carney).

He has been backed, he has spent about 70 million simce arriving and our wage bill has risen significantly

[VillaFaninLondon]

2 minutes ago, paul514 said:

They haven't spent 100m but we have spent around 50m bringing in about 35m maybe 40m

So you might say look how low the net spend is but that wage bill keep rising, wage bills KILL transfer budgets boards can hand out.

NSWE may have had a plan all along to spend a truck load of cash and then scale back net spending when we are receiving decent fees for players leaving which wasn't the case when they brought the club.

It wasn't that different last summer when you consider the fee we got for Jack.

I wouldn't have purchased Carlos or Coutinho personally and we must have only done so based on Gerrard's wants.

Of the 50m spent, half was on Carlos who is now out for the season. Doesn't seem to be a contingency plan either. 

 

We'll see where we end up this season. I sincerely hope I'm wrong and we finish 7th-10th, but sadly I think we won't be much or if any better than last season and then there will be a lot of questions that need answering from the club. 

[VillaParkAvenue]

3 hours ago, Pinebro said:

Very much going the way of Everton.

They spent lots in the early years as well but if you don't capitalize on that money and recruit poorly, ultimately FFP will eventually limit to what you can do.

And compared to the bigger clubs with massive fanbases and revenue we don't generate a lot of money organically. We are very much dependent on external financial help in order to spend big. 

To be brutally honest I feel like we've wasted a big opportunity. So much money been wasted just for it to take us to bottom half.

Where I would blame the owners is their pick of managers and CEO.

Christian is well liked by many on here, and I don't dislike him as a business man and I think he is good at that job but he is way too hands on with footballing decisions imo.

Depressing post but this is what I fear too. The initial enthusiasm that came with the new owners is dampening a bit after a few badly planned signings and appointments. Hopefully Villa can keep a long-term outlook and work around these things.

[paul514]

4 minutes ago, VillaFaninLondon said:

Of the 50m spent, half was on Carlos who is now out for the season. Doesn't seem to be a contingency plan either. 

 

We'll see where we end up this season. I sincerely hope I'm wrong and we finish 7th-10th, but sadly I think we won't be much or if any better than last season and then there will be a lot of questions that need answering from the club. 

True, but we do have four other centre backs one of which was only added in January.

I look at points not places, this squad is capable of 60 points year on year. The board have funded that and if I were them and it was spend 10-20 on another player or spend it on a manager replacement I know which I would do.

[VillaFaninLondon]

11 minutes ago, paul514 said:

True, but we do have four other centre backs one of which was only added in January.

I look at points not places, this squad is capable of 60 points year on year. The board have funded that and if I were them and it was spend 10-20 on another player or spend it on a manager replacement I know which I would do.

With a top manager we could probably achieve that or close to it but even then I'm sure a new manager would want some further investment in certain areas (like CM, CB and ST). Plus the only proven top manager on the market is Pochettino and they haven't appointed anyone of that calibre since buying us so unlikely they would be able to do so now when we aren't spending very much.

 

Let's hope they don't waste time waiting for Gerrard to come good then given he's had nearly a year now, surely they should know if he's any good by now seeing as most of us can.

[MentalM]

Enthusiasm gone but are planning heavy investments in infrastructure? 

Newcastle isnt going wild either, sometimes patience and well planned actions are the best way to go.