Is Project 6000 and sustainability in L1 compatible with selling our "Gems"?

[ECFC89]

This is part of the context within which ECFC operates. We set a budget and we generally stick to this, unless there is some extra money assigned to the budget in January from other sources (player sales, windfalls etc). Until recently, we technically had "spare cash" in the bank, but a significant proportion of this has now been earmarked for the Cliff Hill Redevelopment.

As an aside, I think MT's comments were ill formed. This may be because of being misquoted or due to him not choosing his words wisely. In any case, I am not sure the message has come across as he had intended.

Agreed. Seems all a bit unnecessary. Club doing well at the moment, didn't really see the point of saying 'even if we make it up with these lads they'll all be off next year anyway and we'll see you back in league two...

 

[Super Ronnie Jepson]

I sometimes wonder if MT gives these interviews to actively encourage bids. He seems to be banging that drum on a pretty regular basis.

After all, we're beginning to get to the point where we have lots of youngsters on the fringes of the first team and if we don't sell some of the older youngsters then the younger ones are denied first team opportunities and maybe won't reach their optimum value at the right time.

 

[older-codger]

I don't think MT is actually saying that the likes of MJ, Nombe etc are expected to move in the next year, but that they will inevitably move onward and upward eventually. I guess most of us would expect that to be the case. However, MT is suggesting that he is hoping that they will bring success to ECFC before they doss so. That seems to me that he is accepting the inevitable but hoping that it is delayed long enough for us to see promotion before it happens.

 

[Grecian in Guzz]

I don't think MT is actually saying that the likes of MJ, Nombe etc are expected to move in the next year, but that they will inevitably move onward and upward eventually. I guess most of us would expect that to be the case. However, MT is suggesting that he is hoping that they will bring success to ECFC before they doss so. That seems to me that he is accepting the inevitable but hoping that it is delayed long enough for us to see promotion before it happens.

If we have to sell I really hope that we can do Grimesy deals by selling them but keeping them playing for us until end of season (at least !)

 

[John William]

If we have to sell I really hope that we can do Grimesy deals by selling them but keeping them playing for us until end of season (at least !)

And no letting key players leave to go to the USA!

 

[i8cornwall]

If we continue to sell our best talent mid season then we won't be going anywhere and project 6K will fail.

Same would apply to us trying to be an established league one club.

From reading that interview that isn't the first time Taylor has said something along those lines which personally feel is starting to be counter productive towards project 6k but of course I can't welcome his honesty one moment then moan when he says somthing i find annoying.

The one question I have to others posters is and it sort of fits in with this thread:

If push comes to shove how far are you willing to see the club go to either:

A: Deliver promotion this season?

B: potentially make us an established league one club?

 

[Martin Lawrence]

I don't see selling players and failing to get promoted, as mutually exclusive. There obviously needs to be a balance between the loss of talent and impact on the squad. I actually think we managed the loss of Joel Randall very well this summer with the recruitment and change to shape that we have made.

 

[andrew p long]

A few points. First I too think that MT's comments may have been reported differently from what he intended. MT seems (to me) sometimes not to fully appreciate how his words might be reported or understood by the fanbase ('marquee signings' etc). That's because his words are always honest and open, which is one of his greatest strengths as City manager. But I do think that occasionally he would benefit from working out in advance what message he wants to be received and choosing his words accordingly.

Secondly if we make it to League One we should be able to keep the better home grown products longer. For example it should be easier to persuade Josh Key that he won't lose out by not going to another League One club (like Sunderland) and should wait for a bigger better offer from a Championship club.

And in answer to I8Cornwall, I think City should be prepared to turn down big sums for youngsters *in the January window*. Like we did with Ollie Watkins, selling in the summer for an admittedly smaller up front sum than (allegedly) was available in the previous summer. And that's my prediction for this January - turning down big money for one of our youngsters (probably Key).

Finally on the budget available to MT - since his previous comments on transfer budget the club and Trust have committed to a £2m+ capital expenditure project, which isn't yet fully funded.

 

[SaintJames]

If we continue to sell our best talent mid season then we won't be going anywhere and project 6K will fail.

Same would apply to us trying to be an established league one club.

From reading that interview that isn't the first time Taylor has said something along those lines which personally feel is starting to be counter productive towards project 6k but of course I can't welcome his honesty one moment then moan when he says somthing i find annoying.

The one question I have to others posters is and it sort of fits in with this thread:

If push comes to shove how far are you willing to see the club go to either:

A: Deliver promotion this season?

B: potentially make us an established league one club?

Good points well made I8. My take on this is we will continue to have to sell our young talent as the very means to make us a sustainable L1 club. That may sound counter intuitive as many would argue how do we do this if we keep selling our gems before they have played 100 games for us and in the case of Joel Randall less than 50? AS a result of selling recent home grown players it has enabled us to bring to the club higher calibre players such as Jevani Brown, Sam Nombe and Tim Dieng who are all League One quality players. When e.g. Josh Key leaves it will again give us the financial clout to bring more League One level players to the club. That model of developing the production line of talent will be the financial means to recruit higher quality players to SJP. However, I would rebuff any bids in January to enable us to keep this squad together and get us to League One. Should we do so we may be able to offer say MJ a better deal that closes the gap financially on any clubs that come knocking. However, for the likes of Josh Key we can't stand in the way if a great deal comes our way.

 

[grecian-near-hell]

It's not the selling of our products that is the worry but what we replace them with! As SJ highlights above we have been able to replace with better quality to what we previously had and long may it continue.

One thing that has been coming out over the previous months is that not only is our Academy getting recognised but the club itself is getting better recognition as a development club for players to come to improve and learn before moving on, those that perhaps are being overlooked by their original club and needing a fresh start, Nombe Taylor Rowe Williams etc.