Debt

On the face of it football club chairmen have a pretty poor choice - They're dammed if they spend out of their means and dammed if they don't. Does though make me wonder how West Brom do it year in year out - Classic example of how a club should be run

I doubt even Mills, Danns and Beckford could rack up that amount of debt alone.

The end of this season could be fascinating with regard to FFP regulations; and I use the term "fascinating" very cautiously. There are several teams in the Championship that either have massive debts which will continue to grow this season, or may well spend big in January without it really adding up how they're going to be within FFP bounds (QPR and Forest). Promotion undoubtedly saves all again, but is there really any guarantee? What would the punishments do to a club next season?

At the moment it's very hard to tell, and there may be several clubs with a long-term plan of how to get around FFP. For instance, if you know you're going to miss the bounds this season, do you spend loads of money now on the basis that you might as well build up your squad while you can? It's a murky picture out there and I guess some will play the system well and others could well drop through the leagues over the coming seasons. Certainly if I was a Bolton fan I'd be worried right now.

With recent events in mind, we (as fans at least) have to go down as one of the lucky ones, to have owners who have wiped out our debt and seem very focussed on the looming spectre of FFP rather than simply carrying on as normal and hoping it'll go away.

Bottom line, any fan whose club gets tangled up in this has my sympathy. For the vast, vast majority, it's not their fault that their club is being mismanaged.

Very good points Dunge. What makes me relaxed about our situation is that our owners don't just look to be playing the FFP game, try look to be building our finances to be sustainable in the future.

I really hope they stick by Pearson. He has shown the blueprint to succeeding whilst spending within the financial boundaries of FFP.

So many other managers could come in and convince our owners that twisting and risking is the right approach. In my opinion, I'd rather spend the rest of our days in the championship and have a club to support than get to the prem and spend beyond our ability to survive.

Funny times in football - the bubble has to burst, and I think tht wing in the prem is a dangerous place to be when it does.

Is it better for our long term financial future not to go up?

Mersey, damn that I phone, but praise for the sentiment of the comment

I found this link useful in explaining FFP.

http://www.financialfairplay.co.uk/financial-fair-play-explained.php

Danger - my iphone Tourettes is getting worse - I think I might need to start proof reading my posts before pressing submit!!!

Mersey, for crying out loud man - Don't do that, it'll be like reading instructions

Improved scouting for the top up & coming potential talent will have a big say for future years, particularly the teams promoted from the Championship.
If the network is in place, then there should be a steady stream of good players being monitored constantly.
A club of our stature or similar should be doing this for home-grown or foreign talent. If not, why not?

Getting players in young and/or before they burst on to the big scene is very significant in terms of wages, other club interest and player development.
Good players put bums on seats. Integrate these players properly and we create a good team. Good teams progress. Progress increases revenue. It's a never ending production line.

Can our scouting system be improved? Of course it can, just like any other clubs.

How on earth can a club like Bolton, having had a good long spell in the Prem, under a canny if rather absurd manager, with no ruinously expensive signings that I can recall, have run up such debts? Is that really the accumulated cost of just hanging in there? If so, we had better be very very careful.

Maybe being a yo-yo club like WBA is the only way for clubs like ours to survive. A few years of excitement, a glorious year of promotion, and then a season or two of abject humiliation, week in week out. Then start again. Scary stuff indeed.

just read playthepitchs post this morning .spot on .the way to do things is rely on steve walsh and the scouting team.ayoung player from le harve is rumored on the radar.another knockaert maybe. this is better than paying money to beckford and the like