davieG Posted 14 February 2008 Posted 14 February 2008 From the Merc I've spent £11m on City - Milan by Bill Anderson Milan Mandaric today revealed that he has spent £11million in his first year as owner of Leicester City. The City chairman admits there were times during 12 turbulent months when he might have thrown in the towel. Despite Mandaric's massive investment, City are in a worse position in the Championship now than when he took over. They go into Saturday's crucial home game against Norwich in 20th place on 34 points, compared to 17th and 37 points a year ago. And they have played a game more. Mandaric, who marked his first-year anniversary yesterday, said: “So far I have invested over £11million in this club to get going. It has not been easy. “I am not crying about it, but I tell you there were a few times when I thought €˜what am I doing here', when I wondered if I would throw in the towel. “This is not where I expected to be at this stage. There is a lot of work to be done but I know I will do it. “When I go away from here, I will leave this club in a far better shape than when I took over. “I am still excited by it. We have a huge number of great supporters who are as desperate as I am to get this club up and running.” It is not clear how the £11m breaks down, but there has been considerable outlay on players like striker DJ Campbell (£2.3m), captain Stephen Clemence (£750,000), Matt Oakley (£500,000) and Barry Hayles (£150,000). And Mandaric probably had to agree settlements with sacked manager Martin Allen and the players who left by “mutual consent”. Meanwhile, City boss Ian Holloway believes his embattled side are good enough to avoid relegation. Slowly but surely, he is getting a team together, with seven new transfer-window arrivals, and even if results have been poor in the last three games, the irrepressible Holloway insists his glass is still “half full”. He said: “My glass is always half full, even though when I came here a lot were saying theirs were half empty. It was an attitude I wanted rid of. “Now the team is playing with a lot more spirit and, even if we have not got the results in the last few games, this lot, if they keep playing as well as they did at Watford, will soon be moving up the table.” The Watford setback, against a strong team who went down to 10 men for 50 minutes, nevertheless produced an improved performance and clear signs that, against the best in the division, Holloway's men could certainly compete. City had been chasing a double against the Hornets - after winning 4-1 at the Walkers Stadium under Allen in August - and were pressing right to the end, a factor essential for any side trying to get themselves out of trouble. Holloway is beginning to see the right drive from his men now. He said: “That defeat was a bitter pill to swallow. We played well against a side top of the division and I am sure if our fans see us play like that against Norwich on Saturday, they will be right behind us. “We showed some endeavour, got the ball down and passed it, and I am sure if we continue to do that then things will change.” Confidence is naturally not sky-high at the moment, and Holloway did fear that his team might fade away when they lost the goal, something they have done before. He said: “I had been waiting for us to wake up. We needed leaders, we go too quiet, but this time when we went a goal down to 10 men, I still felt they were brave, still felt that they wanted it. “When we went behind, everyone knew we had never come back from being down, but from what they showed me, I thought that this was going to be the night. “If we keep this going, then we will be all right.”
Zingari Posted 14 February 2008 Posted 14 February 2008 that davieg "sinking ship" sig keeps getting better perhaps all the money has gone to one end
Darkzzz_ Posted 14 February 2008 Posted 14 February 2008 Thats a shock to my system this early in the day!! When i look back we could have invested that DJ deal on someone a little better IMO.... Not that i think he is completely useless.... just not worth that much!! So if £11 million has got us this far, how much will it take to get us promoted??
James. Posted 14 February 2008 Posted 14 February 2008 “Now the team is playing with a lot more spirit and, even if we have not got the results in the last few games, this lot, if they keep playing as well as they did at Watford, will soon be moving up the table.” Every word in that quote worries me deeply. More than anything Mandaric has said.
davieG Posted 14 February 2008 Author Posted 14 February 2008 Every word in that quote worries me deeply. More than anything Mandaric has said. You're right to be worried but not about that he's just trying the 'talk them up' approach after his 'you're a bunch of wankers' had no effect.
andyh1884 Posted 14 February 2008 Posted 14 February 2008 From the Merc It is not clear how the £11m breaks down, but there has been considerable outlay on players like striker DJ Campbell (£2.3m), captain Stephen Clemence (£750,000), Matt Oakley (£500,000) and Barry Hayles (£150,000). Since when? I thought it was an initial £1.6m plus add-ons for appearances, promotion etc? He won't have hit the appearances figure surely, and promotion's not been achieved, or have I missed something?!
Lester LXXIV Posted 14 February 2008 Posted 14 February 2008 I hope he doesn't just give up on us! Although he stands to lose a lot more if he did I suppose, plus who would buy us??
Monk Posted 14 February 2008 Posted 14 February 2008 Yes, but don't forget to offset that by the money we got from Bolton for Smegson. That's a lot of cash, and to be fair he isn't as rich a man as some of the other Championship investors around. However, had the money been spent wisely we wouldn't be in this position. Milan has to take some of it on the chin. He is inadvertantly playing roulette with this club.
Thracian Posted 14 February 2008 Posted 14 February 2008 But as Daggers said, is it £11m of his own money or £11m of financed money? And what a waste in the main anyway. Any idiot could have saved him a small fortune in transfer fees, wages and pay-offs and and still put together a far better team. I mean, who would have bothered with Kaebi, Ferreira, Hellings, Nielsen, Djiziri, Newton or Carl Cort for a start and I doubt I'd have chosen Hayles, Bori and Laczko in the circumstances either. That's 10 players.
Daggers Posted 14 February 2008 Posted 14 February 2008 Despite Mandaric's massive investment, City are in a worse position in the Championship now than when he took over. The only phrase that is important. The only thing I am interested in is what is he going to do about it?
Babylon Posted 14 February 2008 Posted 14 February 2008 The only phrase that is important.The only thing I am interested in is what is he going to do about it? Sack the manager every 19 games or after 4.5 games on special occasions.
Daggers Posted 14 February 2008 Posted 14 February 2008 Sack the manager every 19 games or after 4.5 games on special occasions.
Trav Le Bleu Posted 14 February 2008 Posted 14 February 2008 Man, you guys are sooooooo negative! I read that as quite positive in that he isn't going to imminently sack yet another manager or pull out of the club. Of course, LOTS of work to be done, but imho he's said the right things there. And I'm not one of the big MM fans.
Big Ol' Bob Posted 14 February 2008 Posted 14 February 2008 £11 mill. Christ. I burst into tears if I lose a tenner...
STUHILL Posted 14 February 2008 Posted 14 February 2008 Holloway is beginning to see the right drive from his men now. He said: “That defeat was a bitter pill to swallow. We played well against a side top of the division and I am sure if our fans see us play like that against Norwich on Saturday, they will be right behind us. “We showed some endeavour, got the ball down and passed it, and I am sure if we continue to do that then things will change.” I'm sorry, I'm not usually one to have goes at our management, but my god!!!!!!!!! We didn't have a shot on target for the whole 90mins against Watford did we??? What game was he watching!? Holloway is starting to frustrate me more than any of our previous managers, because most the time he talks sense, and how he wouldnt play Howard and Hayles together and square pegs, square holes etc. YET he seems to ignore his own statements!! AND now he is saying we played well. yet we didnt have a shot on target for 90mins, 50mins against 10 men!!!
Joe. Posted 14 February 2008 Posted 14 February 2008 From the Merc It is not clear how the £11m breaks down, but there has been considerable outlay on players like striker DJ Campbell (£2.3m), captain Stephen Clemence (£750,000), Matt Oakley (£500,000) and Barry Hayles (£150,000). **** off Mercury, just **** off. For the 7,245th time- £1.6 MILLION.
davieG Posted 14 February 2008 Author Posted 14 February 2008 £1mill went to agents!!!!!!! The amount of money leaking from Football League clubs straight into the pockets of agents soared by nearly 30 per cent to £7.9million in the second half of last year. Figures in the Agents' Fees Report published by the League today reveal that clubs in the Championship and Leagues One and Two committed £7.9m to agents between 1 July and 31 December 2007 compared with £6.2m in the second half of 2006. Lord Mawhinney, chairman of the Football League, sought to defend the increase by pointing out that a resurgent transfer market saw clubs splash out £42.1m on player acquisitions in the sample period last year compared with just £21.7m spent 12 months earlier, a mammoth increase of 94 per Payments to agents, as a proportion of total transfer spending, thus fell to 19 per cent compared with 29 per cent for the same period in 2006. Lord Mawhinney said: "I'm encouraged that a more buoyant transfer market has been coupled with a more disciplined approach to clubs' dealings with agents. "Whilst £7.9m is still a lot of money leaving the game, it is clear that we are beginning to make progress in terms of establishing a fairer balance in the relationship between clubs, players and agents." Charlton, newly relegated from the Premier League, made the biggest contribution to agents' bank balances by a London club of £782,305. In contrast Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan, an outspoken critic of agents, paid out just £35,000. The £211,000 contributed by Queens Park Rangers is expected to rise significantly in the first half of this year, reflecting the investment made on players by new co-owners Bernie Ecclestone, Flavio Briatore and Lakshmi Mittal. Leicester City owner Milan Mandaric proved to be the agents' best friend, making payouts totalling £1,067,084. But 19 clubs, including London trio Brentford, Barnet and Dagenham & Redbridge, did not commit any money at all to agents.
Guest ttfn Posted 14 February 2008 Posted 14 February 2008 I have it on good authority that Mandaric exaggerates the size of transfer fees to make himself seem wealthier/encourage supporter adulation. The DJ Campbell transfer, reportedly for an initial £1.6million, was actually £500k up front, with the other £1.6 million dependent on appearances, promotion and installments. £11m is the least he should be spending if he's to revolutionise the club but don't believe that figure for a second.
MC Prussian Posted 14 February 2008 Posted 14 February 2008 From the MercI've spent £11m on City - Milan by Bill Anderson Milan Mandaric today revealed that he has spent £11million in his first year as owner of Leicester City. It is not clear how the £11m breaks down, but there has been considerable outlay on players like striker DJ Campbell (£2.3m), captain Stephen Clemence (£750,000), Matt Oakley (£500,000) and Barry Hayles (£150,000). It still doesn't make sense to me - where has all the rest of that money gone? If you add up all the signing expenses, that still leaves several million pounds for what exactly - improving the pitch? Bringing in additional staff members? Hello? Have I missed out on something? I don't know why Mandaric would fake his own investment numbers - I'd say Blanderson again proves that he doesn't know what he's talking about or that he's spoonfed by the club. Or both. Let's all sing: WE'RE THE LAUGHING STOCK OF THE LEAGUE WE'RE THE LAUGHING STOCK OF THE LEAGUE
Manwell Pablo Posted 14 February 2008 Posted 14 February 2008 It still doesn't make sense to me - where has all the rest of that money gone? If you add up all the signing expenses, that still leaves several million pounds for what exactly - improving the pitch? Bringing in additional staff members? Hello? Have I missed out on something? Paying off ridiculously large and long contracts I presume. And 1.5 Million and Super Stevie Howard
Bellend Sebastian Posted 14 February 2008 Posted 14 February 2008 I've spent about £600 this season.Woopee. I reckon I must have spent around £4000 in total (not just this season, obviously). What a sound investment that was. Actually, the first couple of grand provided quite good value, it's just the recent expenditure that I might as well have spent on drugs and porn
Tommy G Posted 14 February 2008 Posted 14 February 2008 This statement seems to me that MM want's us to feel sorry for him as he's spent £11m ''investing'' in us. He signed shit like carl Cort so it's his fault we've had to pay him off? Pffft
Moreton Posted 14 February 2008 Posted 14 February 2008 Bloody hell and look where we are.. yeah we shouold be alot better than this. Well that Leicester City for ya.
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