kazza wrote:We talk about net spend on players but how much have the owners spent on developing the training facilities (which brings no revenue) and the stadium. Talking about them being cheap because of how much they have spent on players is one dimensional as we rank high on salaries paid and they have spent a lot on developing the infrastructure of the club. Compared to ManUre who have so much more revenue than us and spent nothing on Old Trafford and their training facilities but spent a lot on players. Arsenal have only just started to spend money after years paying for their new stadium.
I’m not disagreeing with anyone about net spend not being enough but I don’t think it tells the full story, I don’t see the club making hundreds of millions every year that is getting pocketed by the owners. Fair is fair!
Over the last few years our earnings aren't that far behind Manure mate. Think we might have eclipsed them one of the years as well. They aren't a great gauge though considering the Glazers are apparently fleecing the place. They pay considerably more than us in transfer fees and wages as well. The stadium upgrade is brilliant along with the training but the club pays for that off its own back. There isn't that gap anymore to them but we have opened up a massive one ahead of Arsenal, Chelsea and Spurs.
The wage bill is very vague mate. It's a figure representative of the whole club and its right up there with City who pay lots of players bigger money than we do. It's the same when some say we paid it out in bonuses but again no one knows who got what.
No one knows what's going on behind the scenes mate but it's not right that we have those policies for so long and are struggling to spend something like 150mil in a window when it's badly needed. They are the ones who neglected the team and gave out silly contracts. They might have been caught off guard with the Saudi moves but they have been known since start of preseason and we had plenty of time to replace. Instead it's cost cutting and kicking the can down the road till we either qualify for the CL or get that investment. If we don't get either then we will continue to wheel and deal while cutting costs.
Imo Mate the stadium stuff and extra sponsorship is absolutely fantastic work but that would have been the goal of any new owners. They absolutely neglect the team which is where everything emanates from. There could have been better owners at the time interested and there is certainly better out there now but this lot will never leave. Strange that when it makes them no money.