Rupp / Sparks and the Luton blueprint.

Kenilworth Road will certainly be an eye opener for a few Premier League teams

 

Quite simply we aren't in a position financially to do what they have done because the will to spend what it really takes isn't really there. If you want to go on that journey you have to recruit for the league above. You can go up doing things like we do but realistically we aren't a squad that league 1 teams will be worrying about at all. We're sort of trying by recruiting players that are on the cheaper end that may have potential but more often than not they wont come off. The genuine prospects are snaffled up by the teams who are willing to pay. I suspect Wrexham will go on a similar journey.

Have a watch of the high performance podcasts they have had Brighton and Brentfords CEO's on there very interesting. They have very clear recruitment plans in all parts of the club and wont suffer those that don't go along with it. They take a well thought out approach and invest appropriately. I think we have a plan but it's done more out of hope a player turns out well than expectation.

 

Too right Offcomedun. They deserve their utterly unexpected jump into the Premier, will struggle like crazy to muster 20 points or so but heck, it's pushing them on as a club and will help towards creating a new ground and a sustainable future. Good luck to them.

 

Ray Harford is a constant @ Luton.

 

We signed him in the basis of last

 

It’s a few things for me but the main thing is money.

Ground - milstone round our necks cost a fortune.
Cheap tickets- raises expectations, players can’t handle it.
Ownership-they won’t invest, so we need the cheap tickets to pay for the ren, the playing budget and commercial revenue etc. However clearly isn’t enough to sustain a push financially and Rupp won’t put in anymore.

The circle will continue until we move or buy the ground and that saves us money -Never going to happen with Rupp. Ownership change (live in hope). Or what I think we should do is raise the prices- higher prices better product, better players with stronger mentality.
Would be less crowds but they would come back when success happens. It’s the only way I see us moving forward as Rupp won’t put anything in.

 

Would be really interested in the former director Roger Owen thoughts on my points who I believe reads this forum.

a few things for me but the main thing is money.

Ground - milstone round our necks cost a fortune.
Cheap tickets- raises expectations, players can’t handle it.
Ownership-they won’t invest, so we need the cheap tickets to pay for the ren, the playing budget and commercial revenue etc. However clearly isn’t enough to sustain a push financially and Rupp won’t put in anymore.

The circle will continue until we move or buy the ground and that saves us money -Never going to happen with Rupp. Ownership change (live in hope). Or what I think we should do is raise the prices- higher prices better product, better players with stronger mentality.
Would be less crowds but they would come back when success happens. It’s the only way I see us moving forward as Rupp won’t put anything in.

 

I don't see how buying the ground would help us to be honest. It's the investment in the playing budget and the overall plan that's the issue. Totally agree about Rupp he won't invest to the level that sees us surviving a season in the Championship never mind challenging for promotion. I'm not convinced Sparks has a consistent plan either it's a bit scatter gun which us why manager after manager has failed and we've struggled for years.

We don't get players in that can compete at the next level. We've had a reasonably good squad this season but would it have seen us challenging at the right end of league 1 not a chance.

 

it’s the amount of rent it costs which I think is a huge problem. We have to flog tickets cheap to get numbers and sponsorships revenue etc. if we didn’t have that overhead or it was reduced/ subsidised by Rupp as example that would be a huge help.

Absolutely with you that I don’t trust sparks and long long long for the day Rupp is gone. The thing I don’t get is that he clearly wants his return back I understand that but he’s damaged this asset so maybe one day he’ll realise this was partly my fault and fall on his sword and In the politest way possible never comes back to VP.

 

The club is doing well financially because of higher gates and commercial opportunities. It’s using the likes of the good budget we had this year better

 

They have a plan for sure, but their new stadium hasn't started and is unlikely to do so for 12 months.

 

Not expected to complete until 2026. Be back in league 2 then!

 

Too right. Commercial loans come with double figure interest rates. If we had to borrow more than £5million the interest alone would be more than the rent.

Not owning the ground has little impact on the day to day running of the club because our crowd size makes our Commercial activity much higher than most in our league, and pays our rent.

The whole 'we own nothing' shite doesn't stop us progressing. It's a string of negative managers that do that.

 

The cheap season ticket argument is a load of cr@p.If we raise the price of season tickets and we lose 4 to 5 thousand fans,wouldn't the new prices just be replacing the fans we have lost ?

 

And lessen the commercial opportunities

 

Yep the only way we get the ground back into club ownership is if we get a very rich owner who has the wealth and will to suck up the cost of buying the ground without it affecting the playing budget otherwise it makes no sense.

I'm not so sure it's even the managers weve had. For me it boils down to the plan Rupp has for the club. I suspect his plan is quite basic get the best players we can with the budget we have and try and get some young players and hope they come good. I realise that may sound like the point of running the club but it needs to be more than that. We need to recruit players to suit a style of football we want, we need a manager who sets that style and we need to make sure everyone is aware of that plan and is working towards it. Sounds simple I'm sure it's not. The one thing I would say we have got right this season is recruiting players with the right mentality I haven't sensed a lack of team spirit this season at all in fact I'd say the players have been in it together this season.

 

And reduce the commercial income, so no, not a good idea. What's wrong with cheap football ?