Players out of contract

You won't get an argument from me on that one @Fordy117, at the moment for me all available money should be spent on the first team squad.

 

Agree but the owners youth as an excuse not to spend.

All clubs have youth players and concentrate on developing them.

 

Exactly. Spending ~300k on the development squad last year is ridiculous when you look at the state of the first team.

 

Yep but it's a massive risk. I'd say spending say 350k on a good quality league 1 player under 25 who is first team quality, would be more likely to produce a profit.

 

Is it? Is the new shop manager coming out of the players budget too?

 

As well as a first team who provide the bulk of the income without which we won't have a club

 

The idea is to create a pathway for young players to progress and to help make us self sustainable. The investment in good coaches is a great step. The development squad also gives a vehicle for youngsters coming through who are not ready at the end of their apprenticeship but are late developers.
I think it is great we are going down that path and I would put further money into scouting to help us find good young talent. And once the word gets out that we are a club to go to for progressing young players the more and better we can attract.

 

all the while we become another Crewe - competing at the wrong end of League Two because we're spending too much on youth and development and not enough on the first team.

 

We have tried the other way for the 100 years of our club and we have probably had a handful of good years it’s time for a bit of patience and forward thinking

 

It's all well and good persuing this pathway , but unless they strengthen the 1st team we wont attract many youngsters when we are back in Lge 2 . We are at a crossroads , the board must invest in a better standard of player or i fear a return to the bottom division with a core of diehard fans .

 

There has to be a time when we say this boom and bust isn’t working time to try something else

 

Unless you know different

 

No argument from me on that park , but and it's a big but , we should work on this from a position of strength not the present shambles at VP .

 

I’d suggest it is from the infrastructure budget

 

All sounds good. But it cannot mean the first team budget suffers. Until we have money to do both, we should be prioritising the first team.

 

As I say we have been doing that for years and generally how well has it done us

 

Tim Dieng on his future.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0655hb7

 

Park I disagree, of course it is admirable and I wouldn’t ditch it. However, we are in danger of neglecting the first team at the expense of the youth system. Not only will young ones not want to come, but higher clubs will not be wanting to let us have their younger players on loan.

My concern is that we cannot afford it, and if we can’t then we must concentrate on the 1st team, that is the main financial stream, it is already depleted this next season, and if we do not do well next year, it will go down again. Yes I agree patience is required, but also common sense in that you do things when you can afford it.