To the Owners (merged)

Quoted from lew chaterleys lover

They would surely have put some clauses in the contract so we don't need to pay the full amount? Something like if you keep conceding more than 5 goals at home you are only entitled to a small settlement?

You'd hope so but don't forget we approached him so you would expect favourable terms. Given the previous manager was sacked it would seem unlikely to have any clauses so early. Maybe there is a release clause for relegation. Too little too late though.

In his "welcome" video I remember Artell saying "I get it.  If results aren't good enough then I'm gone.  That's the nature of the job."  Well results aren't good enough ...........

Quoted from newarkmariner

without doubt Artell must go and go now,i cant believe we are sleepwalking into non league again.the silence from the chuckle brothers is deafeneing.too bothered about effing rainbow flags on balls and B corp bullshite.
if a certain fishmonger was penny pinching like this pair of whoppers all hell would break loose,Pair off bloody charlatans whos vanity project is a bit bigger then they thought,never mind will read all about how football life isnt fair in the leftie shitrag Guardian no doubt.

Utter nonsense

Quoted from Swansea_Mariner

You'd have to hazard a guess at the staffing structure which must be bloated to suck up so much football fortune, which we've had a lot of in such a short period.

We sold Pollock, Grist, McAtee and Conteh, we've had the Dembele sell on. We've had a once in 50 years cup run and two booming years for season ticket sales, far far higher than ever seen before.

That's my point, it's not suggesting a well run business.

And neither is the Conteh deal either. To sign a player for a fee and give them a low value release clause on a 3 year contract is at best naive and worst negligent. The club had all the risk of losing the fee and 3 years of, presumably, high salary for an untried player in the EFL. So if it went badly we lose a lot financially, but if it goes well then we make a small amount.

It's bad enough looking at that deal from a financial point of view, but you've then got the hole that was left behind of trying to replace your best midfielder, in January when it's notoriously difficult or expensive to sign good players. At the very least, that release clause shouldn't have kicked in until the summer.

No sell on fee for Pollock either. What are all these football consultants doing for their fee?

Quoted from pen penfras

That's my point, it's not suggesting a well run business.

And neither is the Conteh deal either. To sign a player for a fee and give them a low value release clause on a 3 year contract is at best naive and worst negligent. The club had all the risk of losing the fee and 3 years of, presumably, high salary for an untried player in the EFL. So if it went badly we lose a lot financially, but if it goes well then we make a small amount.

It's bad enough looking at that deal from a financial point of view, but you've then got the hole that was left behind of trying to replace your best midfielder, in January when it's notoriously difficult or expensive to sign good players. At the very least, that release clause shouldn't have kicked in until the summer.

No sell on fee for Pollock either. What are all these football consultants doing for their fee?

Why don't you just come out and say the owners are crooks, frauds and charlatans and honest John was doing a better job!!...FFS

Quoted from RonMariner

At the very least I think the current situation merits a statement from the owners. The team seems in complete disarray.

I am optimistic the "radio silence" is because the owners are trying to negotiate terms of exit with Artell.

Must be galling for them to have to give a big payout to someone who has basically failed his probationary period.

I think as regards the owners, at this moment in time they are looking too far ahead to some golden future where we are playing swashbuckling winning football, and are not tackling the here and now, with the distinct possibility that the immediate future is back in non league. Literally fiddling while Rome burns.

Artell has gone from , "we won't go down" and "there is no plan B" to admitting we were being a bit more pragmatic in yesterdays game, and recognising that relegation is a possibility. That has happened inside a week.

I hope the mindset of the owners catching up and today they are discussing an exit package for DA and contacting someone who can get the team to at least look competent.

Quoted from pen penfras

Is the business better run? Last season Stockwood claimed he had to put in a million. We had record season ticket sales and an FA Cup quarter final. We made profits under Fenty with a lot less income. The improvements to the ground etc are worth nowhere near 1.5 million that it'd have to be to account for all that money.

If things were miles better either football or infrastructure wise, I'd say you're right. But to spend this much more money on a team that's just as bad and facilities that are marginally improved does not say good business to me. If it truly has cost so much then you have to question the ability to negotiate a good deal.

They're creating a monster that needs external funding to survive. And from what I hear, they don't want to supply that funding anymore.

In regards to how the business side of the club is run there are several red flags...

* No sponsor for what was once called the Findus Stand for the 2nd season running.

* The club have never secured any naming rights for the Main Stand, Pontoon Stand or the Osmond Stand. Is there another club at our level without any of the stands having a sponsor?

* The club have been looking for naming rights for Blundell Park for years and have failed. 13 out of the 24 grounds in L2 have naming rights agreements.

* We only have one shirt sponsor who appears on the front and back of all 3 shirts and the back of all 3 shorts. We don't have a shirt sleeve sponsor at all. Does that offer the best possible income stream from on kit sponsorship?

If we asked the owners no doubt they'd say that nobody has paid the asking price for all these missed revenue streams. But it's like selling a house, it;s worth what somebody is willing to pay for it and not a penny more.

It all points to nothing having actually changed behind the scenes at the club.

I seem to remember the owners saying recently (fans forum?) that there wasn’t any investors lurking around that time and that they weren’t looking for any. Why? We’ve got the best home gates we’ve had in decades and money from the cup run last season and we still can’t compete. Golly brings up a great point about back of shirt sponsorships too. I’ve always thought it was amateurish to have Young’s and myenergi on the front and back of the kits.

Quoted from pen penfras

That's my point, it's not suggesting a well run business.

And neither is the Conteh deal either. To sign a player for a fee and give them a low value release clause on a 3 year contract is at best naive and worst negligent. The club had all the risk of losing the fee and 3 years of, presumably, high salary for an untried player in the EFL. So if it went badly we lose a lot financially, but if it goes well then we make a small amount.

It's bad enough looking at that deal from a financial point of view, but you've then got the hole that was left behind of trying to replace your best midfielder, in January when it's notoriously difficult or expensive to sign good players. At the very least, that release clause shouldn't have kicked in until the summer.

No sell on fee for Pollock either. What are all these football consultants doing for their fee?

I do agree and I have been amazed at their naivety thus far. The deal with McAtee was the same - basically gave our best player away whilst hoping to forge good relationships with Luton. Luton aren't bothered about us, and never will be.

We are not hearing much about Gareth Jennings any more and all the "expertise " he was going to bring to the organisation. Very little of what they do or say seems grounded enough in the dog eat dog of professional football.