January transfer window.

[caleyboy]

On 08/02/2016 at 0:08 PM, Kingsmills said:

Would have been a good signing again at the right price but he's nowhere near good enough to justify breaking our wage structure for.

Ah. So our wage structure prevented us from signing Ofere - a player without a club. Maybe you should remember this when looking to criticise Yogi in the future.

Edited February 9, 2016 by caleyboy

[ICTRoughi]

4 minutes ago, caleyboy said:

Ah. So our wage structure prevented us from signing Ofere - a player without a club. Maybe you should remember this when looking to criticise Yogi in the future.

Agree with Kingsmill, what's the point in over spending on wages for Ofere when we have a perfectly good striker in Miles Storey. I thought one of the morals that our club stands by is that we 'live within our means'.

[Kingsmills]

30 minutes ago, caleyboy said:

25 minutes ago, ICTRoughi said:

Agree with Kingsmill, what's the point in over spending on wages for Ofere when we have a perfectly good striker in Miles Storey. I thought one of the morals that our club stands by is that we 'live within our means'.

 

Absolutely, we badly need forward cover but not at any price.

[Renegade]

We broke the wage structure once before with Niculae and I remember there being constant rumours about dressing room unrest.  Ofere was a good player.  Would I have welcomed him back?  Yes.  Do I wish he was still in our team?  Yes.  Would I bring him back if the price was miles more than he was worth?  No.

[RiG]

Does anyone know what Ofere's wage demands are or were?

[caleyboy]

12 hours ago, ICTRoughi said:

Agree with Kingsmill, what's the point in over spending on wages for Ofere when we have a perfectly good striker in Miles Storey. I thought one of the morals that our club stands by is that we 'live within our means'.

I absolutely agree that we should walk away from someone who is asking too much. What needs attention is our business structure. We still hear rumours of a major investor seemingly prepared to pump in a 7 figure sum but not under our present structure. Surely this should be changed to make conditions attractive for him/her to come on board. A bigger budget would make our manager's job a great deal easier and hopefully reduce the critical comments he gets.

[bdu98196]

 

The wage structure is limited by income so unless that increases how can we change the budget and be sustainable? TV revenue is fixed so we need to increase other areas, while I'm sure cup runs bring in some extra cash the only real way to gain is though footfall and it's been discussed to death on here that we have circa 3000 fans and just have to get on with it. If over time we loose out on players of better ability we can't afford then sadly it's just part of life for our club so we need to accept it and support those we have or are willing to come to the club and location. Constantly blaming the manager or board is unfair regarding budgets as they can only do so much, but we can criticise bad signings or decisions.

[caleyboy]

29 minutes ago, bdu98196 said:

 

The wage structure is limited by income so unless that increases how can we change the budget and be sustainable? TV revenue is fixed so we need to increase other areas, while I'm sure cup runs bring in some extra cash the only real way to gain is though footfall and it's been discussed to death on here that we have circa 3000 fans and just have to get on with it. If over time we loose out on players of better ability we can't afford then sadly it's just part of life for our club so we need to accept it and support those we have or are willing to come to the club and location. Constantly blaming the manager or board is unfair regarding budgets as they can only do so much, but we can criticise bad signings or decisions.

Exactly. If we cant change the structure to increase budgets we shouldn't blame the manager for inactivity in the player market.

[Sir C the 3rd]

2 hours ago, RiG said:

Does anyone know what Ofere's wage demands are or were?

I don't often post 'I have on good authority' but in this case I have a very good source. Ofere in the summer didn't just want a significant wage rise. He wanted a lot more besides money. I'm speculating on this last bit, but I'm guessing thats why he keeps moving on and nobody is offering him what he wants.

[Kingsmills]

50 minutes ago, caleyboy said:

Exactly. If we cant change the structure to increase budgets we shouldn't blame the manager for inactivity in the player market.

Of course there is scope for criticism of signing policy. When we first entered the SPL we had by a margin the lowest playing budget in the league largely because other clubs were spending hugely above their means and racking up huge debts in the process. Teams like Livingston and Dumfermline are still bearing the scars so that there was no level playing field even at the bottom and our feat in staying up, far less competitive was nothing short of remarkable. As far as I know Graeme Spiers, who is now writing off our prospects of going any further in the defence of our trophy, still hasn't condumed the promised headgear as a consequence of us not being relegated.

These days we are one of half a dozen clubs with very similar wage budgets to ours. We have long had only one recognised forward even in the days of Billy McKay leaving us at the risk of injury, loss of form or suspension. All the other clubs in our position have at least two and sometimes more. To be fair though, they are probably not able to field an entire outfield of midfielders in the same way as we are.

[Kingsmills]

2 hours ago, caleyboy said:

I absolutely agree that we should walk away from someone who is asking too much. What needs attention is our business structure. We still hear rumours of a major investor seemingly prepared to pump in a 7 figure sum but not under our present structure. Surely this should be changed to make conditions attractive for him/her to come on board. A bigger budget would make our manager's job a great deal easier and hopefully reduce the critical comments he gets.

I am in no position to comment on our business structure and investment, as long as it is from the right source, is generally welcome but if you mean by a '7 figure sum' a million pounds that is just about 13 weeks turnover for the club these days and would not make a huge impression going forward.

The budget relies much more on revenue than capital, such things as TV money, ticket sales, sponsorship, commercial revenue including advertising and occasional windfalls such as cup runs and transfer fees.

In my view, the current regime to a very reasonable job in trying to maximise these sources of income but if, as well as an initial pot of cash, any potential new investor came along with plausible  fresh ideas on how to generate greater income, in particular upping the fan base, I doubt very much they would be shown the door.

 

 

[Libero]

Any hopes of signing Michael Higdon (even though they may have been futile in the first place) are gone as he has just signed for Tranmere.

I think the chances of us signing another striker for the remainder of the season are gone now.

Pretty embarrassing to think that we have one senior striker at the club just now.

Edited February 10, 2016 by Libero

[Caley Mad In Berks]

5 minutes ago, Libero said:

Any hopes of signing Michael Higdon (even though they may have been futile in the first place) are gone as he has just signed for Tranmere.

I think the chances of us signing another striker for the remainder of the season are gone now.

Pretty embarrassing to think that we have one senior striker at the club just now.

I wonder if we even tried for him.  Surely if we were interested we could have matched what a Conference side were offering him  Unless he didn't want to come this far north of course..

[Kingsmills]

16 minutes ago, Caley Mad In Berks said:

I wonder if we even tried for him.  Surely if we were interested we could have matched what a Conference side were offering him  Unless he didn't want to come this far north of course..

Surely, having played under Yogi before we would at least have tried. It is a concern that two experienced forwards who have experience of working under John Hughes have been available lately and we landed neither of them with each opting to work at a lower level.

Edited February 10, 2016 by Kingsmills

[bdu98196]

Tranmere  average attendance over 5k, ours is less than 4k. Tranmere being in English football get benefit from parachute payments through the leagues higher than we probably get from our SPFL status. So its unlikely we could have matched what a high earner like Higdon would command.

Edited February 10, 2016 by bdu98196

[CaleyD]

Yogi told the press last week that Higdon's availability didn't even register on his radar as he isn't what we are looking for.

[PerfICT]

1 hour ago, CaleyD said:

Yogi told the press last week that Higdon's availability didn't even register on his radar as he isn't what we are looking for.

Don't agree with him there. The alternative is to have no striking options except Storey - I know he's after a number 10, but beggars can't be choosers! I suspect he either knew that he'd be out of our price bracket or wouldn't want to come. Shame - he'd have scored goals but not to be.

[Huisdean]

While 2 or more strikers would be food, as long as we have players who can score goals in other areas of the park, which we have, then not too concerned. As other posters have said, the only real way we can compete for certain players is to grow the fan base which is proving difficult to do.

[Kingsmills]

3 hours ago, bdu98196 said:

Tranmere  average attendance over 5k, ours is less than 4k. Tranmere being in English football get benefit from parachute payments through the leagues higher than we probably get from our SPFL status. So its unlikely we could have matched what a high earner like Higdon would command.

A quick internet search discloses that for their last complete financial year Tranmere's turnover was about a million pounds lower than ours and that they have a seven figure debt. Suggests that affordability was not the issue.

[cif73]

56 minutes ago, PerfICT said:

Don't agree with him there. The alternative is to have no striking options except Storey - I know he's after a number 10, but beggars can't be choosers! I suspect he either knew that he'd be out of our price bracket or wouldn't want to come. Shame - he'd have scored goals but not to be.

I can only presume from Yogi's comments that he didn't get on with Higdon latterly ... either that or we were priced out by an English non-league outfit and he's trying to save ICT embarassment.

To say that Higdon is not what we want is frankly utterly ridiculous given:

1. We only have Storey; and

2. Higdon is a recent former player's player of the year with a proven goalscoring track record.

Edited February 10, 2016 by cif73

[Renegade]

Higdon could've been a good foil for Storey and would undoubtedly have scored goals.  How that isn't what Hughes is looking for is absolutely bizarre.  

[Kingsmills]

2 hours ago, CaleyD said:

Yogi told the press last week that Higdon's availability didn't even register on his radar as he isn't what we are looking for.

I can accept that the player may not have wanted to come,  appreciate that his wage demands might have been beyond us but, given our lack of cover up front, I find it very surprising an quite disappointing that a player who is still relatively young, who has a proven record of scoring in our league, who has played very successfully under the manager before and who was available did not even register on Yogi's radar.

Does he need a new radar system ?

[cif73]

4 minutes ago, Kingsmills said:

I can accept that the player may not have wanted to come,  appreciate that his wage demands might have been beyond us but, given our lack of cover up front, I find it very surprising an quite disappointing that a player who is still relatively young, who has a proven record of scoring in our league, who has played very successfully under the manager before and who was available did not even register on Yogi's radar.

Does he need a new radar system ?

Yes ... to put it mildly!!

[cif73]

"I must reassure you folks ... I had nothing to do with Yogi's radar system"

[PCS]

Could it be that the gaffer just knew the rules and we are actually prohibited from signing Higdon

http://m.motherwelltimes.co.uk/sport/local-sport/mcghee-was-thwarted-in-michael-higdon-bid-1-4025448

Edited February 10, 2016 by PCS