Financial fair play

[BedsFFC]

Just got thinking about this.

Clearly, the league system run this correctly. Unlike the premiership, which seems to be a bit more flexible with the rules.

This presents an interesting conundrum for clubs like us.

We came down and with FFP and just a miss mash of ageing players, we obviously made wholesale changes. I think most of us agree that this was a sensible thing for us to do.

Let's be honest, if it wasn't for the mismanagement of Magath (did that really happen?), we would be serious contenders for promotion.

As it is, we are unlikely to make it. But we might.

So, clubs go from a strict FFP policy in the championship to a flexible one in the PL.

So, what does a club do? I think we are an example of the way to go. If we did get promoted, would we need to make a load more changes? Probably not. A tweak here and there and our youngsters a year older. We must just make a go of it.

Clubs like Norwich would be interesting. They didn't make a lot of changes. Unless they did, one would expect they would come straight back down.

But, they make wholesale changes and take a gamble. It doesn't work, they come down. More changes needed. Surely, that can only lead to one thing. A few years in the doldrums.

What to Bournemouth do? Brentford? Sensible thing would be to do nothing. Stick with your players, give them a pay rise. Assume you will get relegated but with an extra £80m in the bank.

The problem with football clubs is they are businesses often guided by emotion. Bad mix.

On reflection, bar the "Magath twilight zone period", we are doing it the right way. In truth, another season down here might not be a bad thing as long as we keep hold of the players. If they go, things might not seem so rosy.

If QPR get relegated, you've got to think they will be in a terrible place. Not sure what their youth set up is like. Funnily, actually, you never hear anything about their youth.

[Rupert]

Pre-Al Fayed, when promotion to the top-flight was something we might day-dream about during quiet moments, I maintained that the way to become a permanent Premiership presence was to go up, buy moderately, accept you would be relegated, then buy some better players in the second tier, go up again, come down again, repeat, and on your third promotion you might be good enough to stay up without breaking the bank.

I have no idea how realistic that would be, but I'd like to see Brentford or Bournemouth give it a go, and even succeed (in Bournemouth's case, anyway).

[The Rock]

I think Southampton is a good example/model and potentially why we've hired a few of their academy staff I think. I have always thought Everton very sensible with their financial dealings. I think we are being of sound judgement at the moment (I'd argue too sound... we could get more than 1 player on loan this Jan, but it appears that we may need to wait a year to get promoted). It's pretty simple to follow those steps and be diligent in your dealings. Roy's era was pretty good for us as we outperformed with what we had. You need that strucure and mix if you will.