Championship Football. Too Early?

Not as easy as that DP. You go up and sign Championship players on Championship wages then get relegated and are stuck with them some of who are dissatisfied at being in L1. That was a problem here at Bolton and it took us nearly going bang to resolve it. We thankfully now have new owners and investors but they won’t hang around for long if we don’t get back into the Championship soon. You shouldn’t worry about going up you’re a bigger club than many in there. Preston are a good example of sustainability. They don’t overspend, don’t have big crowds like you but manage resources well. Of course you’d have to improve the squad but it doesn’t have to cost a fortune if it’s done well as many others have done before. There’s a long way to go yet but as long as you can keep your players fit I see no reason why you shouldn’t be up there challenging until the end of the season.

 

I just doubt we can afford to do what we did this Summer.

We upgraded a bunch of positions to true L1 quality, especially the wing backs, but bringing in 4 or 5 Championship quality players (international level players, let's be honest) will be incredibly expensive.

Our current squad is a bit Dad's Army too, so likely to need young loans which all sounds a bit risky.

If we went up, I reckon we're straight back down, but it still might be better to experience a yo yo season than stay down in L1 and maybe lose lads like Pointon

 

Didnt the hemmings family also wipe off a load of preston's debt prior to converting to equity?

 

I read an article after Trevor Hemmings the owner died, his son took over and said the Family budget for a £12m yearly loss for PNE.
A drop in the ocean for them as he was worth +£1B when he passed away.

 

Did we have these things when we were in the Prem?

 

If it there then simply go for it and worry about everything else later ..........other teams have done it and far worse set ups than ours so why cant we

 

Playing devils advocate,but perhaps we might still be in the premier league if we had all those things.

 

Probably not the right thread for this.

But in an ideal world, us, council and Bulls should get together and get a training centre built that both clubs can use aswell as youth teams and used on weekends by grassroots etc.

Won't happen, but bloody should. What better way to mark the city of culture year than to invest in the futures of both clubs and youth sport.

Should have also happened years ago with a new stadium, again a pipe dream and definitely won't happen now. But we could have a cheaper, more modern stadium that holds over 30k by now. With better facilities and the chance to increase capacity if needed. Instead we're stuck with what we have, and I know it has setimental value, i 100% get that. And not at Odsal....

On topic, it's never too early for promotion. But can be too long coming!

 

We would need our form to fall off a cliff to end up out of the top 6 this season imo

 

I looked a week or so back and by this stage there's usually at least 4 of the top 6 come the end of the season already in there and usually the other 2 that make it up aren't a million miles off.

January window is going to be daft. It's still so tight, there's probably 10/11 teams right now who think they are either in there or a few wins from getting back in there and nobody really can hold a good spell of form down so far this year. If for example the gaps stay as is and Luton & Huddersfield are 6 points off the top 6 come Jan, they'll think about launching money at the squad not only to make up the 6 points but then get the other 4 or 5 points to go in the autos.

 

Or maybe we would still be there if BFG hadn't interfered in the playing squad too much and pissed Jewell off?

 

I know someone who works at Preston, he speaks very of their owners. I agree with your sentiments in principle but i don't expect to see the administrators called in at Preston if their current are at the helm of the ship.

 

No, me neither. But he’s not an idiot; he must have have been appraised of the financial realities in the Championship. Yet he is clearly stating his ambition to get us up there. So presumably he must have some kind of plan. Whether that’s to sell up, or invite other investors in, who knows?

 

My gut feeling is if we got back to the Championship, Rupp would look to sell a proportion of his holding and try to recoup the majority of the £6m+ he laid out to purchase us.

Not sure on how realistic that is but he could end up doing well if he could pull that off and retain a holding. Especially if we could somehow consolidate at that level. All big ifs, buts and maybes though.