Ethan Ampadu

[budegrecian]

I'm hoping he's on the radar of the likes of Barcelona. I think his style of play would suit them very well. Probably just wishful thinking but who knows....
I would have said Man City too, as they need at least one more top class central defender, but I'm not sure if they could afford him with their current Financial Fair Play issues.

 

[tonykellowfan]

Lampard will get him back at Chelsea when the loan ends. He is exactly the sort of player that lampard wants there.

 

[Tim Long]

I see Barca have signed Braithwaite today so he'll probably get some Champions League games

Oddly, that came up not long after I'd posted. Having got used to my devices (eg phone) 'spying' on me, now Google is taking the **** out of me...

 

[ramone]

Lampard will get him back at Chelsea when the loan ends. He is exactly the sort of player that lampard wants there.

If chelski don't start picking up some decent points then Lampard may not be there when his loan spell ends ! 1 win in 5 doesn't look good enough with spurs only 1 point behind them.

 

[Matt Phillips]

One of the many good things about Tuesday night’s performance is that it shows (IMHO) that if we needed to we could cut the budget by the 500k *this summer* and still be competitive in League Two. By using the youngsters who have been out on loan this season as integral,albeit backup, members of next season’s squad.

if say we had to do without Woodman Warren Moxey Holmes Martin (L) Fisher Dickenson Richardson, and sold Williams, we would still have a first choice team. Dyer Hartridge and Dean as cover for the back three. Randall as cover for Sparkes. Quality options in midfield with Kite as extra back up. Perhaps a bit of flexibility in the way Jake Taylor and Matt Jay are used because of a shortage at RWB and up front. Key as cover for RWB. Seymour would play more.

so whilst I am very much against complacency over this, it isn’t a cash crisis , we have until 2022, and I trust those in charge to manage successfully.

This

I still don't know what the term "cash-critical" means, but whatever it is we're not because either 1) we sell someone from the crop of youngsters to support the wage budget, or 2) we scrap experienced players (who are most, if not all, presumably on a deal shorter than our alleged 2 year cash horizon) and bring through the youth. The academy will be the last thing to get scrapped, as long as the players are good enough. The problem will be if the quality is no longer good enough to produce first team players - in which case we should question it for reasons non-financial!

I actually believe we might be being cautious with regard to our budget. It assumes no cup-runs, no player sales, no sell-on clauses. If that sustains us on a 2 year cycle, surely you would expect something in that time period to come through. How much has the leasing.com made us this year? Probably at least half the shortfall. Plus, as others mentioned, there's the Stansfield + Boateng money. Last year there was Storey... Also, as John Williams alluded to attendances are up which probably means the impacts of the new stand haven't been bedded in to our base forecasts yet. The financial results for this season will definitely be interesting and give a good indication of what our true financial base position is!

 

[IndoMike]

I used to think the club was too cautious and not prepared to speculate, but then I took a look at some of the clubs around us and the Stockports, Yorks, Darlingtons, R&Ds, Chesters, Burt's, Bolton's et al and realized that the club is right to be prudent.
We have to make gradual progress and from time to time make a bit of a leap but within our budget, as we will hopefully do this season.
I trust Taggy to continue to run the club in the most appropriate way.

 

[Jason H]

As has been said many times, things would only become critical by 2022 were there to be no movement whether that be in our league position (and crowds), no cup runs, no other windfall income. Budgeting is, one would hope, done based on the worst case scenario. Clubs that ran into trouble were those who baseline budgeted based on, say, reaching the 3rd round of the FA Cup.

We've had *some* windfall income this season. Four FA Cup matches (one of which moved to the Sunday - not sure if we received much for this), our run in the EFL Trophy (albeit probably only making anything from the Ipswich and the televised Pompey semi), the tribunal for Hiram, the Stanno Jr fee etc.

Were we to reach the end of 21/22 as a League Two club that has been knocked out in the first round of the cups and not sold any of our players, I suspect the budget will be adjusted accordingly. However, I'm confident we'll be just fine as we seem to have competent people running things.

 

[Jason H]

I used to think the club was too cautious and not prepared to speculate, but then I took a look at some of the clubs around us and the Stockports, Yorks, Darlingtons, R&Ds, Chesters, Burt's, Bolton's et al and realized that the club is right to be prudent.
We have to make gradual progress and from time to time make a bit of a leap but within our budget, as we will hopefully do this season.
I trust Taggy to continue to run the club in the most appropriate way.

Exactly - when people were clamouring for us to "be ambitious", my first reaction was "with what?" i.e. we're in a situation where we can only really spend what we bring in. The same people tended to look at Yeovil as an example, especially when they loaned their way to the Champsionship. I said at the time that I bet in five years' time we'd be playing at a higher level than them. Oh look.

Growth is all well and good, and I'm sure we all want that for City, but it mustn't come at the expense of long-term stability. I'd rather have a club (this club, not a "phoenix club") to support in 20 years than a club that went for broke but blew up, even if it meant a season in the Championship.

 

[DB9]

As has been said many times, things would only become critical by 2022 were there to be no movement whether that be in our league position (and crowds), no cup runs, no other windfall income. Budgeting is, one would hope, done based on the worst case scenario. Clubs that ran into trouble were those who baseline budgeted based on, say, reaching the 3rd round of the FA Cup.

We've had *some* windfall income this season. Four FA Cup matches (one of which moved to the Sunday - not sure if we received much for this), our run in the EFL Trophy (albeit probably only making anything from the Ipswich and the televised Pompey semi), the tribunal for Hiram, the Stanno Jr fee etc.

Were we to reach the end of 21/22 as a League Two club that has been knocked out in the first round of the cups and not sold any of our players, I suspect the budget will be adjusted accordingly. However, I'm confident we'll be just fine as we seem to have competent people running things.

Slightly different I know but Leeds United budgeted when they were in the PL of finishing each season in a CL place and also took out massive loans on this scenario when Risdale was in charge, look what happened there when they didn't qualify, Total fire sale and successive relegations. To budget like that was madness, Like you say Jason I'm sure the club has budgeted for a worse case scenario, They'll obviously worry if we had no cup runs, player sales, stagnant crowds but I do have faith in them, Which for our club is something new considering pre 2003

 

[Anonymous]

controversial opinion: i didnt think ampadu looked very good in those highlights. too much ball watching and pointing for my liking.