Milan's 3 year plan changing?

[Cropwellfox]

From the below from today's Mockery, sounds like the club's (& therefore Milan's) attitudes to cash have shifted significantly. Contrast paying tens of thousands a week for washed out players two years ago to now admitting we've been outpriced by other championship clubs. Add to that selling out our "no sponsor" shirt for the year for a sum that realistically won't be anywhere near six figures, and Hoos' quotes below, and the noise coming out of the club is very different to a couple of years ago.

It's sounds a lot more pragmatic in terms of the clubs long-term financial health, but you wonder whether Milan's supplementing the club is at an end, and he's looking to get some of the investment back in, "Having to learn to stand on our own two feet" for example. Not convinced that we'll be seeing anything like all of the Mattock money reinvested - more loans before the end of the window, rather than permanent signings perhaps?

The club decided in January to have a sponsor-less home kit, as part of their 125th anniversary.

But today they announce a one-year partnership with Leicestershire photographic retailer Jessops – for the back of the home shirt.

Hoos said: "We do have one goal in mind and that is to give the manager the opportunity to put out the best team possible. When he looks at recruitment, he looks at the bigger picture.

"I'm not saying the financial aspect is not important but the players who come will have to fit into a team ethos.

"I believe we are also adding time on to their playing careers because of the focus we put on sports science.

"We have a limit and as I've said before we are supplemented by the chairman, but we are having to learn to stand on our own two feet."

[Blue Foxes]

http://www.lcfc.com/page/LatestNews/0,,10274~1747201,00.html

Sponsorless? <_<

[Zingari]

the honeymoons over, and it sounds like he don't love us anymore

[Jay]

surely it's just a reaction to the current economic climate lots of things have changed since Milan took over needless to say he has probably had to tighten up his own finances due to shares, exchange rates, Interest Levels etc the same as the club. you can't just throw money around these days without looking at the future.

A stable ship is the important thing and hopefully we have that paying over the top wages, taking financial risks is not the way to go anymore you have to be far more frugal with every aspect of a business these days and surely a football club is no different

[wallin1704]

from what i've been told I think he's looking for someone to buy us..

in fact it makes a bit of sense as i know one of the cleaning staff there and they were told not to clean box 45 or 46 one of the 2 but one of the cleaners went in and there was papers relating to the club (finance stuff) all over the desk. Mandy had instructed the cleaning supervisor to make sure this room and his office were spotless as he had some american guests coming over?

i also got a text from one of my mates who said we might be being took over by americans but i thought is was just rubbish as noone had heard anything about it and seemed far fetched!

it wouldnt suprise me if he was looking to sell up as he was only after getting us to the prem and making some money like he did pompey but relegation screwed it up!

could be why the purse strings have been tightened significantly if he wants out why would he want to spend money? if he was in it for the long haul and had this 3 year plan then i think he would know he'd need to spend money to get out this league. maybe thats why him and pearson had a little falling out? pearson wanted transfer money but he told him he was looking to sell up and couldnt have as much as he promised him?

could be interesting.. could be rubbish!

[bluebeau]

from what i've been told I think he's looking for someone to buy us..

in fact it makes a bit of sense as i know one of the cleaning staff there and they were told not to clean box 45 or 46 one of the 2 but one of the cleaners went in and there was papers relating to the club (finance stuff) all over the desk. Mandy had instructed the cleaning supervisor to make sure this room and his office were spotless as he had some american guests coming over?i also got a text from one of my mates who said we might be being took over by americans but i thought is was just rubbish as noone had heard anything about it and seemed far fetched!

it wouldnt suprise me if he was looking to sell up as he was only after getting us to the prem and making some money like he did pompey but relegation screwed it up!

could be why the purse strings have been tightened significantly if he wants out why would he want to spend money? if he was in it for the long haul and had this 3 year plan then i think he would know he'd need to spend money to get out this league. maybe thats why him and pearson had a little falling out? pearson wanted transfer money but he told him he was looking to sell up and couldnt have as much as he promised him?

could be interesting.. could be rubbish!

Don't have much doubt that it is a load of rubbish IMO.

As if a shrewd businessman like MM would tell the cleaners where his guests were coming from! Load of bollocks.

[Daggers]

I believe we are also adding time on to their playing careers because of the focus we put on sports science.

= we will continue to employ old three-legged donkeys rather than buying hot, fast talent.

[Uncle Ben]

What exactly constitutes Lee Hoos' approach to sports science then? A Red Bull before a game and hope the old git makes it?

[dave the caveman]

Of course it has changed. The worlds economy suffered some crazy post-orgasmic depression and we got relegated. The only reason we haven't spent more money is because we haven't been able to find the right players, but we will, eventually. This tactic is much more promising in the long term than splashing out money on just anyone. Milan is here to stay. If he wants profit, he has to stay.

[dilko2008]

Remember we have just spent a year in the 3rd tier of English football meaning our overall Income would be down by a long way

[Uncle Ben]

If he wants profit, he has to stay.

Hmm, that's reassuring. A marriage of attrition. I suppose It's a bit like an inverse situation of where those gold digging women are desperately waiting for their withered, cabbage smelling husbands to croak it to watch the inheritence roll in - dreading the thought of having to repeatedly 'come up with the goods' until they do.

[eaststandtom]

a stable club first and foremost please!

just to carry on enjoying watching the city is what i care about. getting some value for money.

the premiership i couldnt care less about for now so long as city play good stuff, win a few and we have some good trips away.

[MPH]

Of course it has changed. The worlds economy suffered some crazy post-orgasmic depression and we got relegated. The only reason we haven't spent more money is because we haven't been able to find the right players, but we will, eventually. This tactic is much more promising in the long term than splashing out money on just anyone. Milan is here to stay. If he wants profit, he has to stay.

illogical argument.... if the world ecenomy has suffered then it would effect every cllub and so it wouldnt be just effecting us.... and then you say there is a different reason to why we havnt spent more money? because we havnt found the right players. confusing.

[dave the caveman]

illogical argument.... if the world ecenomy has suffered then it would effect every cllub and so it wouldnt be just effecting us.... and then you say there is a different reason to why we havnt spent more money? because we havnt found the right players. confusing.

Well it's a combination of those reasons, really. Had it not been for the economy and had we not been relegated we may have had enough money for someone like Simon Cox, however since the economy has dwindled, and we did get relegated, we have been priced out of the market for him. We could have easily found SOMEONE to buy for £2million who plays in his position, but he wouldn't have been the right player.

I suppose what i'm saying is the economy and relegation has forced us into a position where we are unable to buy all the players we want, so we are choosing to sign noone (or just a few players) rather than make token signings for the sake of making signings.

This is even sounding confusing to me now

[Monk]

I would imagine that Milan has lost at least some of his wealth in the market crash. Add this to the fact that he wasn't hugely rich in the first place in terms of football club chairmen and I thin you have your explanation.

Milan was never going to be the Abu Dhabi group style mega investor and he seems more interested in running the club as a secure business than joining the cash bubble (which might I add, is likely to burst some time soon)

We wasted a lot of cash on transfer fees and paying off managers in Milan's first 18 months and that has the downstream impact that now he is more cautious.

We have certainly done well to offload so much of the old dead wood, but I would really like to see the high earners - dickov and campbell off the wage bill and dip into the lower leagues for talent.

WHEN we eventually make it back to the premiership again we want our club to be financially stable as a business in it's own right.

[haraven]

Good post, Monk. You type and preach sense.

[Radovan's Caravan]

I would imagine that Milan has lost at least some of his wealth in the market crash. Add this to the fact that he wasn't hugely rich in the first place in terms of football club chairmen and I thin you have your explanation.

Milan was never going to be the Abu Dhabi group style mega investor and he seems more interested in running the club as a secure business than joining the cash bubble (which might I add, is likely to burst some time soon)

We wasted a lot of cash on transfer fees and paying off managers in Milan's first 18 months and that has the downstream impact that now he is more cautious.

We have certainly done well to offload so much of the old dead wood, but I would really like to see the high earners - dickov and campbell off the wage bill and dip into the lower leagues for talent.

WHEN we eventually make it back to the premiership again we want our club to be financially stable as a business in it's own right.

Mandaric's fortune is considerably in excess of the 100 million euro's often cited as his net worth (most notably in that stupid Sunday Times Rich Bitch List). Here in Voj he is widely regarded as a euro billionaire (though indeed some of his fortune has probably been shaved during the credit crunch).

Mandaric's actual football disposal income should not have been too dissimilar to the amount that the hapless Ashley ploughed into NUFC (more than £100 million) as their private means are roughly comparable. Given the relative position of the two clubs, an initial investment of that size into LCFC would certainly have staved off relegation to Division One and would probably have secured a play off berth (assuming appropriate management).

The football world is a twilight one and some entrepreneurs are extremely adept at exploiting the vast array of financial opportunities for personal gain presented by it.

[Chrysalis]

If MM is looking for an out at least it appears he is trying to get us to be on a break even financial situation first, rather than having us losing millions a year and then losing his subisidies.

We have had a lack of big money transfers, but things I considered are.

(a) pearson is not the type of manager to sign any player for the sake of it, the players coming in during pearsons time here are more astute signings. He also made the point he only wants players who want to play for the club.

(b) there appears to be still money available and remember loan signings are not free they still cost wages and sometimes even undisclosed loan fees.

© we lost massive amounts of money at the end of our relegation season, I think was 14m or 16m around that mark. Mandaric cant write that off every season his wealth is around the 75m mark.

(d) he is still spending money but albeit more sensibly.

personally I think he has been a good chairman, I have never felt so positive about our club since MoN left, when MM came all the talk was just surviving and we was losing 6-7m a year without any of the board at the time willing to put money in. We went down to L1 and it was a new fresh start, and if the rumours are true he wrote off the 14m losses then thats even better although I do find it hard to believe he wrote them off.

[DB11]

I don't like Lee Hoos

[CKB]

We wasted a lot of cash on transfer fees and paying off managers in Milan's first 18 months and that has the downstream impact that now he is more cautious.

We have certainly done well to offload so much of the old dead wood, but I would really like to see the high earners - dickov and campbell off the wage bill and dip into the lower leagues for talent.

WHEN we eventually make it back to the premiership again we want our club to be financially stable as a business in it's own right.

Perfectly summed up!

..anyhow!

NP isn't the type to just go out and spend on anyone anyhow! if MM is being cautious then that's fine but he will still back NP when the RIGHT kinda player comes along and wants to PLAY for our club example Wellens 1.2 mil and MM is tight? shall we go back to the Martin George era?? and before anyone says it i am not a lover of MM but he has backed and i truely believe he will continue to when NP needs it

[Ultra]

Mandaric's actual football disposal income should not have been too dissimilar to the amount that the hapless Ashley ploughed into NUFC (more than £100 million) as their private means are roughly comparable. Given the relative position of the two clubs, an initial investment of that size into LCFC would certainly have staved off relegation to Division One and would probably have secured a play off berth (assuming appropriate management).

The last three words are the key. I dread to think what damage Allen and Holloway could have done if they'd had more millions to blow...

[The Doctor]

What exactly constitutes Lee Hoos' approach to sports science then? A Red Bull before a game and hope the old git makes it?

thats how i make it through PE

[Flynny]

I imagine his 3-year plan called for a relatively small direct investment each year which our relegation blew apart. He probably wrote off some of our debt on the condition that he'd not be financing us to the same extent the following few seasons - a decision which'd be helped by having a man who knows how to instill a team spirit at the helm.

Assuming he actually did write off some of our debt and hasn't precipitously financed us to the eyeballs instead, I'm still neutral on the bloke.