"Grayson wants assurances before making decision"

Yes and a business that spends more than it earns won’t exist long

 

Grayson reminds me of Parkinson when he came to the club. Mcmahon,Law,Vince and wyke been on holiday sinceJan. The mentality of the squad is terrible. Parkinson instilled steel and will to win before anything. I think Grayson is the same but you cant do it in a flash. I think barring the young players (which are Edins development babies) he wants to wipe the slate clean.

 

We could rent Thorpe Arch and replace LU as they are building a purpose built new training ground and leaving Thorpe Arch but the rent would be to much for us I suspect,
As for our present one it has been upgraded from a Sunday League training area to a good non league semi pro training ground, Ideally we need our own instead of the schools but money is needed elsewhere so will be a low priority for the owners.

 

most football clubs spend more than they earn.

 

I agree. The number crunching will have begun as the new ST prices were set. And based on our performances in January and February, the owners should also have planned for 'what if we don't', rather than 'When it happens (play offs)'.
I remember all on C&B urging our owners to invest last year, this Summer leaves that option as a guaranteed pre cursor, as no investment will hit us very hard. Some have forecast relegation already - THAT could become a reality, no matter who the Manager is. If City were to go down, Edin would see his investment collapse quicker than any Wall Street crash.

 

The fall towards mid-table was on the cards before Grayson was appointed, unfortunately he has been unable to address it. Both Grayson and Edin will be looking for assurances from both sides of the table. If they can agree on the best route forward and Grayson signs for a couple of years then the good news is two-fold. You'd suspect that it means that Rahic has agreed to take a step back and we have the best qualified manager in place.

I think there are accurate parallels drawn with Jewell and especially Parkinson's first months in charge. Difficult at first but you can see what they're trying to implement. I'd fully expect us to be a different force next year with Grayson in charge of his own players and not a squad that gave up in January, so hopefully we get Grayson signed up soon.

 

So if we have the same budget as last season the directors will have invested heavily but it won’t be seen as that

 

Football is unlike any other business in that most clubs finances are underwritten by their owners. Hardly any clubs make a profit and live off cup runs or the selling of their best players. Its simple economics, if your wage bill is more than the money you bring in you will lose money. If you try and break even every year you will be treading water at best. At worst you will sink like a stone.

 

How do our training facilities measure up to other clubs in our division? Grayson has already made comment about them so he obviously sees need for improvement. I'm presuming our owners have some sort of long term plan when it comes to the upgrading of the training set up. Like anything though it will take investment and that costs money.

 

We need to cut the expense of the development squad as it will not help the club but it is Edins baby so we will have to divert money away from the first team to pay for it,
We need to concentrate our resources on the first team and the kids, A good first team will put bums on seats and a good kids programme will hopefully bring in the money as it has in the past.
The development squad is unlikely to succeed and will hold the club back if it takes money from signing good ready now players for the first team

 

If repairs come out of a single budget, then yes. We lacked quality and depth with last years budget, so that will be even less with the pitch included.
We wanted Waitrose quality, but shopped at Morrisons ....... Going to Costcutter is a further down grade.

 

I think we are missing Rupp's name from these negotiations. My understanding is that Edin has nothing left to invest so unless he can convince Rupp that with further investment, he and Grayson can progress the club, we are going nowhere anytime soon.
The worry is, Rupp has backed Edin as far as he is willing to and now he's leaving it up to him to sort it out with whatever finance he can create. From what I can see, that wouldn't leave enough for Grayson to carry out his sweeping changes to personel, the ground and the training facilities.

 

I don't expect them to be splashing the cash whatsoever but its more about giving Grayson the assurances that he can go and get the players that he wants without any interference - no more Gordon Greer's or Luke Hendrie's.

In terms of funding, yes they might take a bit more of a pragmatic approach to recruitment after wasting funds on the likes of Poleon and questionable fees for Reeves, McCartan etc. But again, that would suggest that lessons have been learned.

Time will tell but I'd imagine that if the situation is close to what you're suggesting then Grayson won't sign up anyway and then it'll be step up someone like Uwe Rosler.

 

If they want to give their Business the best chance of succeeding that's what they will have to do. They bought it, it's up to them to fund it.

 

Its not the schools, as I undersrand it a seperate company with links to Woodhouse Grove build the facilities and Bradford City rent those facilities they are also used by the schools pupils.

 

You can’t just buy a business then just abandon your responsibilities aka Rupp. Plus and it is a big one, they bought our club on the cheap imo. It cannot have failed their research that pitch and training facilities were not up to standard and if not brought up to standard it would cost them money and interefere with their 3 year plan. It is entirely their lack of business acumen and nous that we are in this state in my view. You start your development squad at the expense of the 1st team and essential repairs and upgrading. They have gone for trying to make money whilst ignoring or hoping more like it would wait; it would only wait if by some miracle we were to gain promotion last year or this. It is the equivalent of painting the outside of your house, in order to make your house look good and attract players and investors, but round the back you have a nasty roof leak.

Now is the time to come up with Plan B, we do have one don’t we?? I strongly suspect Grayson is waiting to hear it.

 

I'm with you going down the development route and processing the first team squad was always going to be a split of loyalties (maybe the wrong word) but it was obvious at the forum that the development coach and Edin wanted to mention it every chance they got especially with regards the finance that it's been given.
Why would new owners spend 18 months looking for a club to buy, see what has been achieved at Bradford City over the last 5/6 years when the only money Julian & Mark could invest was season ticket sales and money generated through Cup runs, then disregard the past and think the know better, given that apart from the purchase of the club they were not going to plough their own money into the club to the extent many of us fans thought they might.

 

Well I am now hoping that I am wrong, don’t mind any i told you so comments. Plastic, or any other insults ppl spray in my direction as lng as I am wrong, do your worst. I and my family have bought 10 tickets between us, so I have earned the right to summarise what has been happening over the last 2 years.

 

The threads moved on a bit but going back to the original point I am 100% behind Grayson’s comments and each time I hear him speak he’s saying the things I want to hear - no doubt he has seen through the holes made under the current set up and equally I have no doubt he has a better solution to fix them, but under his rules. There’s been a fair few critics of SG but his time here is measured in weeks working with someone else’s poor squad and whilst performances could have been better some are expecting a silk purse from a sow’s ear. The German’s have given themselves the best chance of promotion by bringing in Grayson, no one has a CV from this league as good as his, now see it through, recognise his methods are successful and give him the tools which will give us the best chance of promotion.

 

This Rupp thing - is that true, or just wild speculation?