player budget

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Just taking the two highlighted bits in isolation - first, did the 200k reduction in the loan account result in a 200k reduction in the playing budget. Let's not forget that the £2 million plus loans have been built up and been there for a long time - for example, in 2011's accounts they were £2.23 million.

Secondly, results will bring more gate revenue but, more seriously, bad results and 'austerity' will reduce gate revenue. Maintaining league status is not sufficient - this fan base deserves more. It just feels like we get a little pat on the head and get told to be thankful for what we've got.

We can only guess whether or not that happened. I can't believe for a second that JF took money out at the cost of the playing budget. He's not done that before, so don't see why he would now. The other possibilities are that it was to repay another directors loans (Mullens or Chapman maybe?), the manager didn't spend all of his budget and the surplus was used to reduce the debt, we have a lot of cash in the bank so it's better to pay off debts than leave cash in there. It might even have been used as a way to reduce a tax payment.

Absolutely, but however you phrase it, it's a gamble to spend more money and hope for results. The budget is set based on a realistic attendance figures that we only just meet. To think that spending more would result in a significant improvement on the pitch and bring in enough fans to cover that cost is a gamble.

I don't know what the answer is, our budget is definitely better than our position in the league. I would imagine it's somewhere in the middle once the sugar daddies are put into the mix along with average attendance. For some reason, since Hurst left, no manager has managed to get results on a par with that. I just can't believe that a man in the boardroom affects what happens on the pitch to such a huge degree.

Quoted from pen penfras

You're so contradictory with what you want. From one minute with we need to spend more money to attract better players and then Fenty's benign loans are crippling the club the next. It can't be both ways, there are ways to get more money coming in that we haven't looked at, but they're not going to bring in millions that the sugar daddy's of Mansfield and Scunthorpe are putting in to their club's.

It's easy to sit behind a computer and beat a drum about how we could make more money. And in fairness, the club haven't done enough to try and explore other avenues from what I can see. But there's not a huge pile of money we're missing out on, we don't have the facilities to do a lot of things that other clubs do. I can't see how our income could be much more than 5% higher through non matchday income and getting more through the gate. Results is what will bring more people in, but that's too big a gamble to break the bank and hope that you get results, it just doesn't work that way.

You mention 6 clubs in that post. 2 have sugar daddies, 3 are on the outskirts of major metropolitan cities and Crewe are almost as sh1t as we are.

You are conflating a number of issues there.

I am making the simple, but obvious point that it is the lack of money that is stopping us from getting the players we would like. It is the owner's responsibility to attract inward investment that we can use for better players, but he is unable, or unwilling to do that.

If you would like us to yo-yo between the bottom few of league 2 and the Conference then fair enough, that is what you will get with the current set up.

The clubs I mentioned were random - it was just to illustrate that we are not competing with Barcelona. If we cannot hope to compete with the clubs mentioned then it shows how far we have fallen in the last 20 years.

Quoted from golfer

Very good post Pen Penfras

Well I don't agree with it, but I admit it is far and away better than anything you have ever posted.

Quoted from pen penfras

We can only guess whether or not that happened. I can't believe for a second that JF took money out at the cost of the playing budget. He's not done that before, so don't see why he would now. The other possibilities are that it was to repay another directors loans (Mullens or Chapman maybe?), the manager didn't spend all of his budget and the surplus was used to reduce the debt, we have a lot of cash in the bank so it's better to pay off debts than leave cash in there. It might even have been used as a way to reduce a tax payment.

Absolutely, but however you phrase it, it's a gamble to spend more money and hope for results. The budget is set based on a realistic attendance figures that we only just meet. To think that spending more would result in a significant improvement on the pitch and bring in enough fans to cover that cost is a gamble.

I don't know what the answer is, our budget is definitely better than our position in the league. I would imagine it's somewhere in the middle once the sugar daddies are put into the mix along with average attendance. For some reason, since Hurst left, no manager has managed to get results on a par with that. I just can't believe that a man in the boardroom affects what happens on the pitch to such a huge degree.

Why is it definitely better??

The information I have suggests we have a bottom 6 budget, so anything above 18th is ‘success’.
For me the total lack of enthusiasm and engagement from the board is very sad and a primary reason why we cannot get started in moving forward. Just seems Fenty has pulled up the drawbridge and now pouring hot oil of the fans.
It isn’t his castle, it is ours!

Apart from the fact all GTFC support deserve better why should we expect a good budget? Finished near the bottom of the EFL last season, crowds declining, no cup run for years, blown any windfall in the past on expensive players not up to it, tight bottom directors...... etc.. etc..

Like everyone else I don’t like it but in reality we are not a big player in the 4th division at the moment.

Quoted from Cloudy

Why is it definitely better??

The information I have suggests we have a bottom 6 budget, so anything above 18th is ‘success’.
For me the total lack of enthusiasm and engagement from the board is very sad and a primary reason why we cannot get started in moving forward. Just seems Fenty has pulled up the drawbridge and now pouring hot oil of the fans.
It isn’t his castle, it is ours!

You don't have any information, you are speculating as am I. But mine is based on our average attendance vs other teams and then accounting for the couple of clubs where a benefactor sticks a lot of money in. Where does yours come from? A cynical view of everything John Fenty?

Most clubs don't release any financial information, so there's no way you have any solid information that leads to us having a bottom 6 budget. Nor is my "definitely" actually definite, but at least it's based on something.

Quoted from HertsGTFC

Apart from the fact all GTFC support deserve better why should we expect a good budget? Finished near the bottom of the EFL last season, crowds declining, no cup run for years, blown any windfall in the past on expensive players not up to it, tight bottom directors...... etc.. etc..

Like everyone else I don’t like it but in reality we are not a big player in the 4th division at the moment.

Come on Herts - you are usually more positive than that! Our great support (you included) definitely deserve better. A whole lot better. We have good support, despite almost 20 years of stagnation and our history in the game is far better than our current situation deserves. The fans have put in millions more than the board, so surely we should expect them to match that at least?

Quoted from lew chaterleys lover

Come on Herts - you are usually more positive than that! Our great support (you included) definitely deserve better. A whole lot better. We have good support, despite almost 20 years of stagnation and our history in the game is far better than our current situation deserves. The fans have put in millions more than the board, so surely we should expect them to match that at least?

Completely agree!

Quoted from HertsGTFC

Completely agree!

Sorry - I slightly misread your original post!

Quoted from Southwark Mariner

We have young players learning their trade from excellent coaches and old pros. What we don't have are patient fans.

I've been patient since 2003 mate. I think our patience has run out with Mr Fenty in particular. Get him out.