Optimism

[chrisw]

More than 1 month (and less than 3 months) late submission means a fee of £375, doubled up to £750 because of the late filing last year. There was a specific thread about it at the time IIRC.

A £750 penalty for late filing is an avoidable cost, this should not be happening. Once again.

I'm not feeling so optimistic.

What the heck is our financial director Steve Williams doing? If my FD behaved in this manner he would be out the door immediately. I thought the new Board may produce some more clout and discipline into the Clubs affairs - this is mighty disappointing.

 

[chrisw]

And my optimism is much lower than the majority on here - hope to be wrong but cannot see the improvement as being sustainable

 

[oxford don]

What the heck is our financial director Steve Williams doing? If my FD behaved in this manner he would be out the door immediately. I thought the new Board may produce some more clout and discipline into the Clubs affairs - this is mighty disappointing.

Don't worry Steve knows exactly what he's doing...its all done with smoke and mirrors in the world of corporate finance...probably massaging the figures ( quite legally I might add ) to limit our exposure to tax and vat.

Remind me never to apply for your FD's job...

Mind you your probably couldn't afford me.

 

[chrisw]

.

..probably massaging the figures ( quite legally I might add ) to limit our exposure to tax and vat.

Remind me never to apply for your FD's job...

Mind you your probably couldn't afford me.

Nice response but limiting that exposure should be an ongoing procedure not used as an excuse (perhaps) to get fined!

 

[bootesful]

Not being favourite with the bookies is no hardship- from the archives:
"League 1 Betting Latest Odds For 2014-15
Leyton Orient are currently 8th favourites to win the league at 14/1 and 9/2 to gain promotion to the Championship.
Crewe Alexandra are tipped for a tough year next season, and are favourites to be relegated (5/4) along with Gillingham (6/4), Port Vale (13/8) and Colchester (13/8)."

3 out of the 4 relegation tips were in the mix, but they found four worse teams, one of them being the O's
Source:http://www.leytonorient.com/news/article/betting-latest-270614-1696139.aspx

 

[ethos]

Nothing wrong with hoping for the best during the close season

 

[grecian-near-hell]

As opposed to being optimistic perhaps there is an air of what should we say 'smugness' about the forum at the moment. Away from the boardroom ineptitudes which seem to perenially haunt us we believe that the club is moving forward, our reasons for this being

1) Some cash available, not necessary a lot and nor to pay transfer fees but sufficient to try and entice higher level players down
2) Some of the old guard have left, nothing against either Liam or Scot but they weren't going to set the world alight, and you would have to be worried for them if they had stayed any longer at the club. With them gone we are able to either promote some youth as Tis has already mooted, or bring in quality from higher up the pyramid (yet to be seen but is what is hoped for).
3) The current disarray of our neighbours, The GAWS without a manager and not making any moves in the transfer market, Torquay not knowing whether they even have a future, add to that the relegation of Yeovil and these in themselves can leave us to be quite smug.
4) The total contrast to last year where our hands were tied on everything we could do and now, where, as well as looking to improve the playing squad the club is also looking to improve it's infrastructure, another selling point for players when deciding which club to choose.

I am curious who Tis is going to get in to fill the gaps left by Riberio (if he doesn't sign) Bennett, Baldwin, Coles (who he never replaced) Cummins and Morrison (I do anticipate that he will be back before the end of the close season initially training with us and latterly with a contract). Once these gaps are filled I will then let you know of my optimism levels, so whilst not optimistic I am quite smug, but I am also fully aware that this can quickly change in the passage of time and twelve months down the line we could be looking at a different emotion.

 

[LOG]

so whilst not optimistic I am quite smug.

Speak for yourself. Smugness is a negative trait that leads to complacency whereas optimism is positivity not detached from reality in my book.

It is, of course, all about opinions fella.

 

[flack attack]

I'm as optimistic as I've been going into a season as I was since we finished just outside the League 1 play-offs.

We fell short of the play-offs last season. But not by all that far. We got surprisingly close given the abysmal start and the dreadful run at the start of the year. For some reason (probably our name) the bookies think that we'll go backwards this season; whereas in fact there are a lot of reasons to be optimistic.

1) Our manager - like it or not (and plenty on here don't), Tisdale is a good manager. Is he perfect? No. Has he consistently taken us to finishes above where our budget sits in the table? Yes. Therefore he's a good manager. He was able to take us to tenth last season on a tight budget that, pre-Grimes sale would have been in the bottom four in the division I would imagine. Of course he had a bit more leeway after the sale, but appears to have chosen (or possibly been forced by installments) to save a lot of the money for the close season.

2) Pre-season - it's widely acknowledged that from a playing perspective, Brazil wasn't ideal. We're not going to Brazil this year. Furthermore, we were under a transfer embargo at the start of last season. We've already brought in three new players early doors and noises are that we may bring in a few more, which will mean no excuses for lack of preparation at the start of the season.

3) Players that have left - Ribs may leave. I'll be disappointed if he does, but I don't think that our chances of success are purely determined by whether or not he signs a new contract. I had time for Sercs, Bennett and Cummins. They all had their shortcomings and Sercs in particular never quite turned out to be the player that I thought he might.

4) Players remaining - We appear to have signed a decent experienced goalkeeper and have two younger keepers with plenty of promise. Something of an embarrassment of riches, although I assume Hamon and Pym are probably on lowish wages. If the season was starting tomorrow, I'd be a bit concerned about the defence, but it's not. The midfield is already taking shape. I really liked what I saw of Noble when he came back last season. If Harley can rediscover even a half of his previous form during the pre-season then that is a very good centre-midfield partnership. With potentially Holmes and Wheeler wide (yes I know Wheeler doesn't usually start), that's already a very handy looking midfield. Tom Nichols blossomed last season. Whoever called him inexperienced (OP?), forget that. He scored 15 goals last season. We'll obviously be looking to strengthen up front, but you'd hope that at least one of Jay, Watkins or Reid may have something of a breakthrough season this year as well.

To be honest, if you can't be reasonably optimistic as a city fan at this point, then you probably never will be. The 50/1 that Bet365 were offering was far too big and I've had a decent e/w bet on that.

 

[richard_portland]

I'm as optimistic as I've been going into a season as I was since we finished just outside the League 1 play-offs.

We fell short of the play-offs last season. But not by all that far. We got surprisingly close given the abysmal start and the dreadful run at the start of the year. For some reason (probably our name) the bookies think that we'll go backwards this season; whereas in fact there are a lot of reasons to be optimistic.

1) Our manager - Has he consistently taken us to finishes above where our budget sits in the table? Yes. Therefore he's a good manager. He was able to take us to tenth last season on a tight budget that, pre-Grimes sale would have been in the bottom four in the division I would imagine.

2) Pre-season - it's widely acknowledged that from a playing perspective, Brazil wasn't ideal. We're not going to Brazil this year. further more we were under a transfer embargo at the start of last season. We've already bought in three new players early doors and noises are that we may bring in a few more, which will mean no excuses for lack of preparation at the start of the season.

Didn't do us much good being optimistic after that L1 finish looking at who we bought in and how we did next season.

Re the budget I am sure other sides in the division do have bigger budgets but we don't know how many and more importantly how much the differences are. For instance if someone has say 200k more that gives them an advantage but if you get the best out of the squad you can overcome that sort of difference.

I think the players in the side on opening day would have been one of the weakest squads but cummins Ribeiro Nicholls Noble Harley and Morrison all helped us win the points along grimes before he went and as you say we spent more during the season based on grimes' sale.

I am not without confidence. We are definitely in a far better shape which lets face it isn't hard but I am hopeful we can have a good season.