£500k - out of our transfer capabilities?

[River Don]

All I was suggesting was that, with so much money behind him, the businessman in Bramall could surely see a worthwhile investment in Billy Sharp.

Who knows.

Maybe they just don't want to set a precedent?

[SkellowRover]

jmt wrote:

barnsley are a bigger club than us! they get at least 2-3k more fans weekly.
they have also played at a higher level than us for much, much longer.
this is not the board or managers fault, if it came to a choice between shackell and
ward, it should be ward every time for us, no transfer fee and can cover just about every
position in a team(sounds like a SOD signing all over).
all that said, shackell is one of the best centre backs i've seen at drfc.

Barnsley may get 2k extra for home matches but their ST & Matchday tickets are a lot cheaper then ours so it pretty much evens that out in terms of income from ticket sales.

[GM-MarkB]

River Don wrote:

All I was suggesting was that, with so much money behind him, the businessman in Bramall could surely see a worthwhile investment in Billy Sharp.

Who knows.

Maybe they just don't want to set a precedent?

Which then reinforces the post Mr Frost put up the other day. Ambition...what is theirs ?

[grayx]

bobjimwilly wrote:

We should be grateful we have a club, it will always be in the black come the end of the season, we are competing well in the championship and have one of the best managers in the football league.

But for how long?. I really can't see SOD being content living on a shoestring budget when a bigger club comes along. Can you?.

[wilts rover]

SkellowRover wrote:

topnotch_Donny wrote:
No doubt the board will be plugging the gap again, so we should be grateful for that.Infact, we cant really moan if they sold one or two players a season to make ends meet, can we?

Well you have to put it in context, in the 30+ years i've supported the club we have always been a selling club and if nothing had been said about signings etc then no we can't moan.
The fact of the matter is JR publically said we would have \"mouthwatering signings\" and \"have a squad to be pushing for promotion\". The facts are that not only have we so far failed to tie up any players that are coming out of contract like Oster etc but we have been outmuscled financially by Barnsley!!!! if it was a club like Derby or Forest then fair enough but the fact that a club that finished below us the last 2 seasons, have a large debt & have a similar income to us can do this really has me worried.

And your point is? I take it you are not happy with the board - would you like them all to resign or just John Ryan?

Unless I have missed something that you can direct me to the 'mouthwatering signings' quote comes from the last pre-season, after which we signed Billy Sharp, Jason Shackel, John Oster and JET. OK you may not think they were 'mouthwatering' but they are among the best players I have seen in nearly 40 years watching Rovers. It is May 13th, they haven't even played the FA Cup final never mind the play-offs - what are you going to be like in August. All those players I have listed above came either towards the end of the last close season, or after the season started, loads of time to go, give a little trust to Sean, JR and the rest please people.

[SkellowRover]

wilts rover wrote:

SkellowRover wrote:

topnotch_Donny wrote:
No doubt the board will be plugging the gap again, so we should be grateful for that.Infact, we cant really moan if they sold one or two players a season to make ends meet, can we?

Well you have to put it in context, in the 30+ years i've supported the club we have always been a selling club and if nothing had been said about signings etc then no we can't moan.
The fact of the matter is JR publically said we would have \"mouthwatering signings\" and \"have a squad to be pushing for promotion\". The facts are that not only have we so far failed to tie up any players that are coming out of contract like Oster etc but we have been outmuscled financially by Barnsley!!!! if it was a club like Derby or Forest then fair enough but the fact that a club that finished below us the last 2 seasons, have a large debt & have a similar income to us can do this really has me worried.

And your point is? I take it you are not happy with the board - would you like them all to resign or just John Ryan?

Unless I have missed something that you can direct me to the 'mouthwatering signings' quote comes from the last pre-season, after which we signed Billy Sharp, Jason Shackel, John Oster and JET. OK you may not think they were 'mouthwatering' but they are among the best players I have seen in nearly 40 years watching Rovers. It is May 13th, they haven't even played the FA Cup final never mind the play-offs - what are you going to be like in August. All those players I have listed above came either towards the end of the last close season, or after the season started, loads of time to go, give a little trust to Sean, JR and the rest please people.

Can you tell me where i've said im un happy with the board? because i would love you to quote me on that one.

What i said was i'm worried how we have been financially outmuscled by fcuking barnsley of all clubs on one of our major transfer targets. JR told us we had mouthwatering signings coming this summer and it's pretty obvious Shackell was going to be one of them as he was one of our top targets and the fee with wolves etc had been agreed, and it didn't happen. On top of this our #1 priority of players coming out of contract is Oster, everyone agrees on that and again we have no news on that. So is no news good news or is he going to be snapped up by someone else offering more money like Robbo? So yeah too right i'm worried but that hasn't stopped me forking out almost £1000 on season tickets because no matter what i'll follow the club through thick and thin like i have done for years.

[River Don]

GM-MarkB wrote:

River Don wrote:

All I was suggesting was that, with so much money behind him, the businessman in Bramall could surely see a worthwhile investment in Billy Sharp.

Who knows.

Maybe they just don't want to set a precedent?

Which then reinforces the post Mr Frost put up the other day. Ambition...what is theirs ?

It depends how you define ambition.

What's better, a commitment to invest in the club with a disciplined annual budget or a short term splurge on a gamble for glory that could well plunge the club into disarray?

I think the boards ambitions are longer term, I think their aim is to try and build the club in to something more stable. The gamble is that we can remain in this league for an extended period and build a stronger fan base within that framework. I think that's an admirable ambition.

[BLIR]

I think the one thing that has been overlooked here is potential investment in a player. £500k for Shackell now (plus wages) could easily turn into a much bigger sum if we decided to sell him in 3 years.

How much did Mills go to Reading for? £2m allegedly?

Shackell is a better player IMO, and could easily be worth much more than Mills ever was in the coming years. Get himself a regular place in a Championship team, stay free of injury, and put himself in the shop window for Premiership clubs in a couple of years time.

I reckon the Dingles have got a bargain here. A cracking player and a cracking investment.

If you look at it this way, could we afford not to buy him?

[GM-MarkB]

BLIR wrote:

I think the one thing that has been overlooked here is potential investment in a player. £500k for Shackell now (plus wages) could easily turn into a much bigger sum if we decided to sell him in 3 years.

How much did Mills go to Reading for? £2m allegedly?

Shackell is a better player IMO, and could easily be worth much more than Mills ever was in the coming years. Get himself a regular place in a Championship team, stay free of injury, and put himself in the shop window for Premiership clubs in a couple of years time.

I reckon the Dingles have got a bargain here. A cracking player and a cracking investment.

If you look at it this way, could we afford not to buy him?

Erm...I think that's what I said about Sharp a few posts up...isn't it ?

RD..I wouldn't say investing a couple of million in Sharp is a 'short term splurge on a gamble for for glory' for the reasons stated above. You'd have to say that if he bagged 25 goals next season and propelled Rovers into the play offs, what would that £1m fee be worth then ?

[BLIR]

Having re-read your post you could have a point - there are similarities.

Great minds and that mate?

[River Don]

GM-MarkB wrote:

BLIR wrote:

I think the one thing that has been overlooked here is potential investment in a player. £500k for Shackell now (plus wages) could easily turn into a much bigger sum if we decided to sell him in 3 years.

How much did Mills go to Reading for? £2m allegedly?

Shackell is a better player IMO, and could easily be worth much more than Mills ever was in the coming years. Get himself a regular place in a Championship team, stay free of injury, and put himself in the shop window for Premiership clubs in a couple of years time.

I reckon the Dingles have got a bargain here. A cracking player and a cracking investment.

If you look at it this way, could we afford not to buy him?

Erm...I think that's what I said about Sharp a few posts up...isn't it ?

RD..I wouldn't say investing a couple of million in Sharp is a 'short term splurge on a gamble for for glory' for the reasons stated above. You'd have to say that if he bagged 25 goals next season and propelled Rovers into the play offs, what would that £1m fee be worth then ?

I know what you're saying but it would set a precedent. Once they've shown they're willing to take a gamble like that, the pressure would always be on to do it again.

As it happens my hunch is they might be prepared to push the boat out a bit but it looks like becoming an auction and I doubt we can win.

[CusworthRovers]

I might be way off the mark here, but a manageable gamble for DRFC is a quality young player valued at 300k or well under with a view that they can get a great deal more money back both on and off the pitch.

Once we get to 500k and above (Shack, Sharp) we are talking major signings for DRFC which will mean bigger wages, and these are massive massive gambles for a club our size, unless our owners are prepared to write off the fee, and a 3yr contracts worth of wages. Like they have repeatedly said, they want the club to be self sufficient and will not bank roll it.

For me it's how much they (SOD/Board) value the player. They seem to set a mark and if it go's above that benchmark, then they walk away as they will not be over-spending their budget/value.

I also believe they had a decent value in fee/wages for Shack, only to be gazumped by an over inflated budget by Barnsley, and immediately walked away by not fcuking the clubs finances up, and clearly valuing him below Barnsley.

I also believe they have a decent figure/budget in mind for Sharp too.

I also suspect they have a figure/value/budget in mind already, for a whole host of players.

In SE Asia, we called that careful astute management.