Algarve - The most accurate statement on here
It is all about the Premier League - the rest of us are just trying to drink from the bowl once or twice every 10 years - and some are risking all in their pursuit . And yes as we have seen this summer - our'world class ' national team is now second rate , Fact
Sport is run by big business - Sky , Barclays , Nike , BT etc etc ( but it is good to have Adidas back!)

in reply

There is very little evidence of ME pushing for promotion, or overly concerned abouth youth. We have been told that the reduced money is due to compliance with FFP, which has to mean that were it not money woulkd be available. So why not for Cat 1, that has nothing to do with Cat 1 ?

I am not advocating that us as a 'new Wimbledon', but as a club owned and ran by wealthy Town fans (consortium) rather than stuck with this dormant status we have now..

Algarve is 100% right.

However Mick is being paid a substantial sum every year, if I was getting that figure to finish mid-table I would praise my boss regardless of how hopeless he is.

Harry, are you suggesting that ME bought a club in such away that he can not get a return on his investment until that clubs achieves PL football and then tried not to deliver that PL football?

I think the statement speaks for itself. I think personally ME backed RK, PJ and JM. Certainly with enough to deliver the PL.

The mistake was appointing RK, I always thought that. The day it was announced my heart sunk but I still understand the appointment. After all here was a man who took sunderland from bottom of the champ to promotion in 6 months, a man who had one almost everything he could win and spent a large part of his career as captain of UTD under Fergie. A man who should have the ear of many managers and AF in particular. A man that should be able to attract some top talent young and old due to his reputation and contacts in the game and a man who should have had the pick of untds youngsters on loan. What he didn't consider was the most important thing, the mans attitude.

RK is a git, and that I believe is an understatement. He ripped the soul out of Ipswich banishing ex players, falling out with coaches (resulting in the loss of JR) and almost killed us. That was ME's1st appointment and I think he has learnt from that and from PJ who I thought was a good appointment. Sadly PJ didn't have the ability to put right the mess that was there.

Despite all that the managers have had money, our wage bill when PJ was here was something like 120% (That's from memory if you search hard enough you can find an article in the guardian with the right figure) of match day income, or to put it another way the clubs income only covered the wage bill. It was an incurable amount, the 4th (again from memory) highest in the division at the time, when you consider that stat and its true implication that's a stunning statistic.

If a coop of Town fans were to buy the club in its currents state that wealth would have to run in to 100's of millions. I don't know of any wealth benefactors in waiting. Maybe Anthony Joshua will make Mayweather Money and then, who knows. I don't even know if he is a town fan but I just do not believe they are out there. If the club went bust and it happened then thats 10 years of oblivion at least, the fanbase wouldn't recover. Yes die hards like most posters on here would carry on but getting the kids in would be a non starter, every kid in Town would be a Chelski or City fan, as opposed to only about 1/2 now.

As for Cat 1. No putting the money in does not effect FFP but the money has to come from somewhere and if its ME's pocket the debt has to increase. Again catch 22. I like the idea of investing in the club (I like many others cant afford to and I agree that the opt in/out could have been handled better) but again I think ME is doing right by the club in at least trying find those alt revenue streams and further to that bringing that sense of community back can only be a god thing? That's the club I remember and Love and I feel like in part we are getting back towards that now. Cat 1 status will take time but signings like Henshall, Nouble (regardless of whether you rate him), Mings etc all point towards the club moving in that direction. As I said there is no doubt infrastructure to put in place, a submission process and the cost of funding it all. With Town fans unwilling or unable to invest and the club swallowing his money as is you cant seriously expect that to be instant.

I'm not saying ME is a saint. I have no doubt the ultimate aim is profit from Town and I don't object to that. The bottom line is selling until we hit the big time is not an option, he wont get his money back and unless the super rich come knocking and they wont, so the only way ME can succeed is to have the club succeed. It has taken time, mistakes have no doubt been made but I bet he has learnt from every one and my feeling is that has always tried to do the right thing by the club.

If Harry you have a few million quid tucked away I will gladly chip in with what little I can and I do take your points but I just cant see the argument.

Great committed owner who doesn't make rash/insane decisions (would we rather have someone like Mike Ashley? Lots of money but idiotic decisions?). Saved our club and is now building for the future with a great manager and support staff. As for Stewart, I doubt he will be in any way involved with the legal proceedings...why not let his lawyers try and get some more money out of Leeds? I'm sure it won't affect him at all, and he was probably all set to move up to Leeds...was treated pretty badly by them in my opinion, so good luck to him getting some money out of it.