This international break isn’t much of a sojourn for club managers.
Among all the other things they have to concern themselves with the January transfer window is looming.
Moreover, the quality of those decisions can have an important bearing on the manager’s stock.
This time last year Brendan Rodgers had probably already lined up Marvin Compper and Charly Musonda.
Yeah…
Thankfully, Celtic are in robust financial health and can cope with such costly errors.
Consequently, a drama doesn’t turn into a crisis.
Across the Clyde, the man who took instructions from Brendan at Anfield is gearing up for his first January Window.
I’m told that he has drawn up ambitious plans that have made several fine fellows in the Sevco High Command go rather pale.
My information is that Mr Gerrard has told the chaps on the Blue Room that he wants some additions to the squad to make Sevco “competitive”.
Apparently, Mr Gerrard doesn’t fancy some of the players he inherited from poor Pedro.
That’s fair nought and all part of management.
However, two of the players he has name-checked to the Sevco High Command as not up to it were big signings.
Moreover, the duo clearly has an ethnic affinity with the Ibrox customer base.
It shouldn’t need to be repeated, but the basket of assets is not flush with cash.
Indeed, since the Great Cash Burn of 2013, Sevco has been limping along on emergency loans.
In February this year, they had to go outside of the Blue Room to get the Phantom Overdraft from Close Brothers.
So what does Stevie want?
Well, I’m told from an impeccable source that the ex-Liverpool captain and rookie manager wants four players.
However, this stellar quartet will not come cheap.
My understanding is that the lower figure for the four will be £7m in transfer fees and it could be as high as £10m.
I’m sure the senior functionaries at Sevco will be comfortable about finding such a…ahem…“war chest”.
At the moment they are also busy with trying to raise finance to cover the shortfall as reported in the RIFC annual accounts.
That would be the shortfall that Dave aid he would take care of.
Quite…
Despite that cold financial reality, the diktat from south of the Limpopo is to give Stevie pretty much anything he asks for.
Oh, and I believe that Mr G also wants a winter sun training camp during the shutdown, which if it goes ahead is another large bill to add to the pile.
For the avoidance of doubt, Dave won’t be paying.
Dave never pays.
That’s a kind of a rule I think…
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Phil: you’ve likely seen it, but, if not, it might interest you to know that Gerrard has come out today and said that there will be NO new major signing in January. So seems like these mystery backers are not putting their hands in their mystery pockets. It might be bullshit from Gerrard, but if not, the contrast with his previous surety that there would be additions to Sevco squad in January with him now saying there will be none reeks of some internal disharmony.
Perhaps someone connected to Aye Brokes has a stockpile of cash secreted at the top of Ben Nevis?
This exactly the “rainy day” that Dave King has been saving for. I’m sure that the reason why he hasn’t complied with the takeover panel, and stuck his £50 million into the club, is to facilitate the managerial apprentice with untapped wealth to invest in the “creme de la creme” of world football, in order to ensure that young Mr Halliday and his team-mates are kept on their toes.
Lots of talk here and there about the amount of money spent on the stadium and infrastructure. Is there any analysis of The Rangers accounts or any other source, which shows exactly how much they are spending on “the stadium and infrastructure” or is it all smoke and mirrors to suggest to UEFA that the reason for the debt is investment in bricks and mortar rather than day to day expenses?
Such cynicism in one so young.
Very sad…
If only I was so young. 🙂
Here was me thinking that a cynic was somebody that enjoyed going to the movies!! 😁
So Sky it is with a 5 year deal for SPFL games with £100m being bandied around as the quantum coming into the game.
So roughly £2m per year, per club, depending on how many of your team’s games are televised.
It doesn’t seem a lot but the best Doncaster and his team could get.
Stand by for statement o’ clock from Ibrox with King appealing the decision as he does with everything else.
If there is a bigger share because of your games being shown on Sky then expect newco to be on every single week. It’s basically a financial aid subsidy by SFA and network.
What I don’t get is at what point FFP regulations apply, I can only presume the way that fellow Celts report on FFP is false otherwise SFA and UEFA not to mention the likes of Maribor would have raised complaints so presumably there is nothing to complain about but it all seems pretty odd to me.
They always seem to find the funding for new players at every transfer window no matter where it comes from. The fact that they’re always of inferior quality hasn’t quite sunk in to the providers of the finance. Besides, don’t they have a returning from loan player who likes to keep his team’s shorts with him just in case he gets a wee runny nose? All good then. HH
Phil; have mentioned this previously but at some point the SFA will have to grow a pair and step in. Anyone with any semblance of reality knows that you can’t keep running a business like they are as eventually it will crash like a house of cards. The question then comes down to who will then take the biggest hit, and I submit it will be the SFA.
Why? Because they will be on the hook for the 7+M in transfer fees owed by the club in this financial year and then an additional 5+M the year after. These amounts will be considered “football debts” and so will need to be made good by the SFA in event of an Insolvency. And let’s face it, King doesn’t give a rats ar$@ about anything that will be left behind in the wake of this eventual downfall (see what I did there!).
If the SFA allow them to run up even bigger transfer payment debts during this January window then they are setting themselves up to be taken down with RIFC when the manure hits the fan. Financially, the SFA does not have the wherewithal to cover these existing debts much less another huge swatch in this window. By comparison, when Rangers were liquidated in 2012 the SFA had to find a little over 3M that was considered “football debts”. That was doable from withholding prize money, TV and merchandising etc. What would they be able to withhold if insolvency happened sometime this season?
Dave pays himself.
Dave never pays !
He is simply following in the footsteps ( sic ) of David Murray who set the standard of never using his own money when there were plenty of chums at the Bank of Scotland who would allow him to draw on their funds .And ultimately , he never even had to pay them back ! Then got a knighthood for services to business ! lol!
Its a sobering read with the publication today of an SPL league table based on profitability.
With one obvious exception all the clubs are living within their means.
Great news.
However the Ibrox club is following in the footsteps of it’s predecessor by spending more than it brings in.
Fine, if new faces keep turning up to feed the beast.
It’s laughable when the soft loans guys are portrayed as investors instead of the philanthropists that they indeed are.
How many new shares will have to be created before another debt for equity swop?
The 20p order foisted on King by TOP is significantly over valuing a company that in 6 years of trading has posted cumulative losses of £40m plus and which is already forecasting losses for the next 2 years, losses which according to the notes to the accounts are built on optimistic player trading results and further European success.
One wonders whether ‘optimistic’ was included at the behest of Dallas Campbell.
No doubt they have guarentees from King and his board that they will step up as required to meet any cash flow shortfalls if and when they arise and that Close Brothers have left the scene.
It’s quite amazing that there is no mention of Close Bros in the notes, given the hoo ha surrounding their short term loan to the club/company/thingy secured against most of the moveable assets in the stadium.
The status of the loan therefore remains unanswered.