Ethan Ampadu

[John William]

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.

Agreed. Mussolini's "better to live one day as a lion..." quote may sell posters but it is b*ll*cks and always has been.

 

[Jason H]

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

Well it takes all sorts. I watched the entire match and he was absolutely superb, one mistake aside. Alongside Werner for MOM.

 

[Anonymous]

Well it takes all sorts. I watched the entire match and he was absolutely superb, one mistake aside. Alongside Werner for MOM.

There was more than one mistake in the highlight reel so I'm not sure about that. He was ball watching for their headed chance and he also let the ball go under him in another attempt, fortunately their keeper was a safe pair of hands.

 

[IndoMike]

Agreed. Mussolini's "better to live one day as a lion..." quote may sell posters but it is b*ll*cks and always has been.

Didn't end up well for him, hanging upside down on a butcher's hook 'n all. He did get his 5 minutes of fame, though.

 

[Boyo]

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.

You can't just wait until the end of the 21/22 season, recognise we've had zero windfall income and expect to reduce the playing budget by one-third immediately. Offering player contracts which go beyond summer 2022 could be argued as reckless. We may be able to attract players on two year contracts this summer, but thereafter it becomes increasingly difficult to sign players who would typically be looking for at least two years.

For me the budget forecasting should always be on a rolling three year cycle, minimum.

 

[Jason H]

Well yes, of course - I wouldn't envisage us sitting around twiddling our thumbs in the meantime.

 

[Hants_red]

Offering player contracts which go beyond summer 2022 could be argued as reckless.

Actually we can. There will still be money in the player budget. What we will be planning for is not offering new contracts to all those whose contracts finish in 2022.

 

[IndoMike]

You can't just wait until the end of the 21/22 season, recognise we've had zero windfall income and expect to reduce the playing budget by one-third immediately. Offering player contracts which go beyond summer 2022 could be argued as reckless. We may be able to attract players on two year contracts this summer, but thereafter it becomes increasingly difficult to sign players who would typically be looking for at least two years.

For me the budget forecasting should always be on a rolling three year cycle, minimum.

Problem is the budget for Div 1 will be different from that for Div 2. First we need to know where we will be (of course) and which players we need if we get promoted
Presumably the club has already drawn up plans for each scenario

 

[Boyo]

Actually we can. There will still be money in the player budget. What we will be planning for is not offering new contracts to all those whose contracts finish in 2022.

If you take that approach and continue to offer wages at the current level, then in effect we are saying that the size of the squad (in a worst case scenario) would be reduced by one-third. That assumes there will be the proportionate number of high, medium and low earners who's contracts expire in 2022.

 

[Boyo]

Problem is the budget for Div 1 will be different from that for Div 2. First we need to know where we will be (of course) and which players we need if we get promoted
Presumably the club has already drawn up plans for each scenario

Yes of course. Budgeting actually becomes much more of a headache if we do get promoted, as clearly there is a desire to have a competitive L1 budget, but also the risk of a swift return to L2 and the resulting loss of revenue (compared to L1).