Too soon

Posted this earlier, but I guess it is a relatively definitive list. As I understand it this is the current situation.

1. Sam Walker Contracted to: June 2027
3. Ibou Touray Contracted to: June 2027
4. Joe Wright Contracted to: June 2027
5. Neill Byrne Contracted to: June 2026
6. Max Power Contracted to: June 2027
7. Josh Neufville Contracted to: June 2028
8. Calum Kavanagh Contracted to: June 2026
10. Antoni Sarcevic Contracted to: June 2026
11. Stephen Humphrys Contracted to: June 2027
15. Aden Baldwin Contracted to: June 2026
17. Tyreik Wright Contracted to: June 2026
18. Ciaran Kelly Contracted to: June 2026
20. Tommy Leigh Contracted to: June 2027
21. Jenson Metcalfe Contracted to: June 2028
23. Bobby Pointon Contracted to: June 2027 (option of a further year)
24. Will Swan Contracted to: June 2027
25. Joe Hilton Contracted to: June 2026 (option of a further year)
26. Curtis Tilt Contracted to: June 2027
28. Matthew Pennington Contracted to: June 2027
31. Zac Hadi Contracted to: June 2026
32. George Lapslie Contracted to: June 2027
35. George Goodman Contracted to: June 2026

The three recruits this transfer window, are all loan players, who do not have City contracts beyond the end of this season. Unless they improve dramatically, then even if out of contract with their parent clubs, they wouldn’t seem to have the potential to play in the Championship, in seven months time.

So 13 City players are contracted beyond the end of this season.

I think enough on here have expressed concerns about Leigh and Lapslie. Tilt although a warrior would be 35 in August. Pennington has suffered injury. So perhaps, although on a Contract they wouldn’t make the step up. Hadi & Goodman are both unused juniors, so may not get contracts.

I would offer an extension to Baldwin. Sarcevic will be 34 soon, a number have talked about him struggling to last a match and ‘running out of steam’, would he realistically make the step up? Would he accept a one season Contract?

So a lot of potential movement with only 9 of the current contracted players for next season, having the potential to play at Championship level, and even then several may well become squad players at best.
Going up would mean a massive change in the squad.

 

It's fairly easy for fans to demand promotion or to argue that we're missing a genuine opportunity or we should go for it and worry about the consequences once we're there. But that's because we fans wouldn't be dipping deeply into our own pockets to fund the promotion or to assemble a Chapionship quality squad. Somebody else would have that privilege. I don't mean simply getting a couple of quality players into VP to push us over the line. What I mean is the huge costs required every year to keep us there in order to become established in the Championship. £10 mill each season isn't far off the norm or starting point for doing that. You only have to look at the losses every club in the Championship makes each year and which inevitably falls on the owners to make good. They are eye watering numbers over time. It's the reason why most Championship clubs have to have incredibly wealthy owners who are also fans or who are willing to underwrite the debt which clubs take on.

I've said it previously. That's the reality of financial life in the Championship. They're money pits and need owners with very deep pockets and a desire to use their own money to keep them solvent. I give credit to Rupp for the few million he has put into the club recently to help us get to where we are. But it would be a huge gap to keep us there even if we can first get things over the line.

To make this real and put it into some kind of perspective, PNE have just released their accounts for the 2024/25 season. With an income of £21 mill, their costs include £26 miil on wages(!), £12 mill on other costs resulting in a loss of £17 miil to be funded by the owners. PNE's current debt is £60 mill, most of which is owed to the owners. That's reality which many fans choose not to acknowledge.

 

I feel 'told' off!

But despite that, I have no understanding which aspects are 'drivel' since the financial data I referred to is as published in the clubs' accounts.