Wesley Fofana

[Ric Flair]

Even with covid and ballsing up Champions League qualification we had the luxury of the Maguire money to plug the short term cash flow gap (plus bridging loans). Chilwell was evidebtly sold so that we had £80m to play with this window rather than £20-30m. 

 

I see no real immediate concern as long as we bring in a centre half in the ilk of Fofana, Kabak, Tah or Tarkowski and a winger. If we could bring someone like Jovic in on loan then it would be a good window and we will be in a much better place to challenge for the top 6-7 again.

 

Money is there but only probably £50-60m which most of us thought to be the case anyway?

[sphericalfox]

Just now, Ric Flair said:

Even with covid and ballsing up Champions League qualification we had the luxury of the Maguire money to plug the short term cash flow gap (plus bridging loans). Chilwell was evidebtly sold so that we had £80m to play with this window rather than £20-30m. 

 

I see no real immediate concern as long as we bring in a centre half in the ilk of Fofana, Kabak, Tah or Tarkowski and a winger. If we could bring someone like Jovic in on loan then it would be a good window and we will be in a much better place to challenge for the top 6-7 again.

 

Money is there but only probably £50-60m which most of us thought to be the case anyway?

Yeah but we'd have tens of millions more and sign EVERYONE we want if we weren't spunking money on a golf course with training ground attached. 

[Babylon]

10 minutes ago, Matt said:

I'm not disputing that but I just think we could have spent slightly less balancing it with investment in the squad, without investing in the squad now chances are we'll slip, undo the hard work we've done to get where we are and have to start again, you only keep rebuilding for so long, as I said it's a balance.

 

I'm sure we could have spent less, had competitive facilities without it impacting or giving us the excuses for lack of investment now, then in a few years spend abit more of the facilities to upgrade and improve - the plans could be there, but make it a project over years and decades like you say, it'll ned upgrading and improving over years anyway whether we spend £100m now or not.

 

For me investment in the squad now, and in previous years (Which imo we should have done) is more important to our future, thats what gives us the platform to keep building, balance that with the new training ground and facilities, it shouldn't be a case of one or the other.

We’ve got one of the highest investments amounts outside the elite, we spend a huge percentage of turnover on wages.

[January47]

.....staying on topic.

Actually the cost of the training ground might not be that significant in the scheme of things. Don't know how it works in this case but normally you would amortise the cost of such an asset over say 20 years....ie so might only cost 5 miil per year on the books. and then after 20 years you have an asset worth 100 mill.

[Richardson]

Just now, January47 said:

.....staying on topic.

Actually the cost of the training ground might not be that significant in the scheme of things. Don't know how it works in this case but normally you would amortise the cost of such an asset over say 20 years....ie so might only cost 5 miil per year on the books. and then after 20 years you have an asset worth 100 mill.

maybe worth far more than that with inflation. its paid by tax relief anyway but your right its win win all round

[January47]

1 minute ago, Richardson said:

maybe worth far more than that with inflation. its paid by tax relief anyway but your right its win win all round

yeah, its a bit like buying a house with a mortgage

[Mickyblueeyes]

19 minutes ago, Babylon said:

Of course it makes a difference. Being known for giving young talent a pathway makes a difference. The ground will make a difference. The ambition of the club makes a difference.
 

It all adds up in the end. 

If you are convincing a parent of the next hot talent where they should go. Or competing with rival clubs for a player, they are going to look at the whole package.

 

Its all one step at a time until all of the pieces slot into place. As I keep saying, people need to look at the project over years and decades and not judge it on one transfer window.

 

 

These are all good points and pretty obvious as to why a training complex helps us get to the next level. However, in hindsight, it’s a genuine question as to whether we as a club are at that level to compete to make such a significant investment. Don’t get me wrong, the training ground investment is very important. The question is, was it that important to the bigger picture at this stage ?

 

Expectation of the standard Leicester City fan has surpassed where it was say 10 years ago. Relative success does that. We are going into this season with a quarter of our squad unavailable and half of our squad not fully fit. Say we finish tenth. Next year, Ricardo goes maybe Tielemans and Maddison. All of a sudden, we are now looking to replace those players as well as adding to a pretty thin squad and the financial implications of the new training ground, combined with COVID implications, limits us. 

 

Like I said, I don’t disagree with you on your points. They’re all genuine and sensible. However, are we “big enough” to go through lean windows like this one, like January like say Arsenal did when they built the Emirates ? I would say no. So while the point on questioning the choice to build the training ground can be disputed - the point to question at this stage of our progress is worth asking. 
 

Anything lower then 7th this year loses us maybe at least two key players. Potentially a manager and appeal when it comes to acquiring new players. It’s all hindsight though, I give you that. 

[Babylon]

1 minute ago, Mickyblueeyes said:

These are all good points and pretty obvious as to why a training complex helps us get to the next level. However, in hindsight, it’s a genuine question as to whether we as a club are at that level to compete to make such a significant investment. Don’t get me wrong, the training ground investment is very important. The question is, was it that important to the bigger picture at this stage ?

 

Expectation of the standard Leicester City fan has surpassed where it was say 10 years ago. Relative success does that. We are going into this season with a quarter of our squad unavailable and half of our squad not fully fit. Say we finish tenth. Next year, Ricardo goes maybe Tielemans and Maddison. All of a sudden, we are now looking to replace those players as well as adding to a pretty thin squad and the financial implications of the new training ground, combined with COVID implications, limits us. 

 

Like I said, I don’t disagree with you on your points. They’re all genuine and sensible. However, are we “big enough” to go through lean windows like this one, like January like say Arsenal did when they built the Emirates ? I would say no. So while the point on questioning the choice to build the training ground can be disputed - the point to question at this stage of our progress is worth asking. 
 

Anything lower then 7th this year loses us maybe at least two key players. Potentially a manager and appeal when it comes to acquiring new players. It’s all hindsight though, I give you that. 

Don’t remember anyone having these issues when they were all being planned.

 

We also haven’t finished investing in our squad yet.

 

We are one of the highest payers outside the handful of really big clubs. We’ve spent about £80m more than we’ve revived, we spend more of our turnover on players than most clubs do. 
 

The notion we’ve not invested in the team is baffling. 
 

If we pumped £100m into the team there is no guarantee of any success from that. One bad window and you’ve blown the money. The investment in the training ground is something that can potentially reap benefits for decades.

 

Its a balance, which we’ve struck very well so far. 

[Raw Dykes]

12 minutes ago, Matt said:

I'm not disputing that but I just think we could have spent slightly less balancing it with investment in the squad, without investing in the squad now chances are we'll slip, undo the hard work we've done to get where we are and have to start again, you only keep rebuilding for so long, as I said it's a balance.

 

I'm sure we could have spent less, had competitive facilities without it impacting or giving us the excuses for lack of investment now, then in a few years spend abit more of the facilities to upgrade and improve - the plans could be there, but make it a project over years and decades like you say, it'll ned upgrading and improving over years anyway whether we spend £100m now or not.

 

For me investment in the squad now, and in previous years (Which imo we should have done) is more important to our future, thats what gives us the platform to keep building, balance that with the new training ground and facilities, it shouldn't be a case of one or the other.

Why not just get the training ground done and dusted now, rather than stretching it out over years and decades? That way, you may be able to attract both youth and senior players that would have otherwise been beyond our pull. Then, any money you invest into the squad will be better spent as it's more likely the quality of players you buy will be better. Also, as well as we've done at producing our own players recently, things will only improve with the new training ground. We'll be able to snatch more prospects from our rivals and either improve the squad or cash them in.

 

If we'd gone half-cocked with the training ground, there's also the risk that we wouldn't be in a position to upgrade further down the line and we'd be stuck with half-baked facilities not much better than what we had before, and still at great cost.

 

I think you have to invest in infrastructure when you can. Wouldn't it be a disaster if we didn't take the opportunity, and then had to wait decades before being in the same position to do so again?

 

The facilities and stadium is what lifts us above our similar-sized rivals in the eyes of potential players and staff. Investing there will serve us well for decades, if not longer.

[Ric Flair]

If we didn't have at least £50m + to spend do you really think we'd be wasting our time trying to get Fofana/Tah and Brooks? I know we take the piss out of Rudkin but unless he's suffered a blow to the head and is acting highly out of character then we aren't thinking these clubs would sell such players for derisory fees.

[Babylon]

Investment isn’t just transfer fees...

[Ric Flair]

10 minutes ago, Babylon said:

Investment isn’t just transfer fees...

Exactly, winning the league and rewarding overnight superstars with the wages they deserved and then trying to recruit to maintain dining at the top table has seen us then find it harder to keep blasting money. Thats why newly promoted teams go and do £100m without much trouble as they are starting from a wage structure of about £50m and it takes time to do the bunce we have done on wages and max ourselves out hahahaa

[TazzerFox]

Ignore me. Mistake

Edited 12 September 2020 by TazzerFox

[Chocolate Teapot]

2 hours ago, TaggertvsWise said:

Probably why you haven’t earns the resources to make such an investment.

But at least I have the capacity to be coherent unlike that last post of yours 😂😂😂.

[Foxxed]

Just get the other Turk in. You know makes sense.

[Chocolate Teapot]

1 hour ago, Ric Flair said:

Even with covid and ballsing up Champions League qualification we had the luxury of the Maguire money to plug the short term cash flow gap (plus bridging loans). Chilwell was evidebtly sold so that we had £80m to play with this window rather than £20-30m. 

 

I see no real immediate concern as long as we bring in a centre half in the ilk of Fofana, Kabak, Tah or Tarkowski and a winger. If we could bring someone like Jovic in on loan then it would be a good window and we will be in a much better place to challenge for the top 6-7 again.

 

Money is there but only probably £50-60m which most of us thought to be the case anyway?

I hope so, lots of noises that there aren't however I guess that may suit the club to be honest. The club needs investment in the playing squad though and I know there's time to go in the window but I think everyone agrees we need some serious depth and quality and we havent had that yet.

[Ric Flair]

Just now, Abrasive fox said:

I hope so, lots of noises that there aren't however I guess that may suit the club to be honest. The club needs investment in the playing squad though and I know there's time to go in the window but I think everyone agrees we need some serious depth and quality and we havent had that yet.

Rodgers said publicly yesterday that we sold Chilwell to help improve the squad, " the money is there ". We will spend another £50-60m, hopefully that gets us a CB and a winger and a loan or two if needs be.

 

Kabak is one we might be able to get on loan with an obligation to buy next summer, Juventus have managed to do this with McKennie so it's about time we managed to play the system a bit better. 

[Chocolate Teapot]

2 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Rodgers said publicly yesterday that we sold Chilwell to help improve the squad, " the money is there ". We will spend another £50-60m, hopefully that gets us a CB and a winger and a loan or two if needs be.

 

Kabak is one we might be able to get on loan with an obligation to buy next summer, Juventus have managed to do this with McKennie so it's about time we managed to play the system a bit better. 

I'd ****ing love kabak.

[mozartfox]

Has the Fofana thread been moved?

[urban.spaceman]

23 minutes ago, mozartfox said:

Has the Fofana thread been moved?

Been moved the Seagrave thread.

[Danny280995]

West Brom fans are all saying a easy win for them against us, I agree, I predict 3-1 win for West Brom

[Silva Fox]

4 minutes ago, Danny280995 said:

West Brom fans are all saying a easy win for them against us, I agree, I predict 3-1 win for West Brom

That's the spirit!

[Foxes1]

People keep saying we have 85 million from the Maguire transfer we haven't Hull had a slice of that we seem to forget that

[Ric Flair]

4 minutes ago, Foxes1 said:

People keep saying we have 85 million from the Maguire transfer we haven't Hull had a slice of that we seem to forget that

Correct, Hull got 15% of the profit so £17m less £80m is £63m and 15% of that is £9.45m. We got the additional £5m for them qualifying for CL last season so, we trousered circa £75.55m. Call it £70m for bumflufferies.

[Silva Fox]

2 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Correct, Hull got 15% of the profit so £17m less £80m is £63m and 15% of that is £9.45m. We got the additional £5m for them qualifying for CL last season so, we trousered circa £75.55m. Call it £70m for bumflufferies.

Every cloud has a silver lining!