A Fresh Start

[Joe_Fox]

I've been thinking about things and have come to the conclusion that Craig Levein really doesn't want us to get promoted this season. What would be the point of going up? We'd more than likely come straight back down anyway and have more disruption to the team and staff.

Currently, Craig Levein is building together a decent team with young and more importanty - hungry players. This is exactly what we want. We want players that die for the badge, that will give 110%, day in, day out.

When this season ends and we have (hopefully) avoided relegation, and not gained promotion, Craig Levein will sit back in his Famous Blue Chair ((c)Joe_Fox ) and think to himself "Right then Craigey boy, it's time to stamp my authority on this club!".

By the start of the 2005/06 season the Adams legacy will well and truly be behind us (as the Taylor legacy is now). Few if any 'old' players from former regimes, no former coaching staff, just players and staff that Craig Levein has invited to join his era.

It will be a total fresh start, a new dawn for LCFC and for Craig Levein and all of us. I for one can't wait for this - I think we have turned the corner and are really starting to see improvements both in the players attitude and their performances.

So, let's all do what we do best and get behind the team whenever, wherever (I'd do Shakira I would) we are and make the forthcoming Levein epoch a hugely successful one. All that's left to say is the future's bright, the future's blue.

All the best,

Joe_Fox

 

[Steven]

This sounds like a farewell from Joe_Fox. :mrgreen:

 

[lazzer]

we should be so lucky.....lucky lucky lucky

 

[Dunc]

I've said since XMas that the worst thing that can happen to City (from a longevity point of view) is to get promoted. Another season in the Championship will allow our younger players (Williams, Gudjonnson, Stewart, heath, Hughes, Stearman etc) the chance to build their relationshops with the club and team mates and have the chance of winning more games than they are losing.

I predict (and hope) that next season we will be one of, if not THE, best team in the division. If we go up (extremely unlikely now) then we'd get relegated, lose morale, lose our half decent young players and be back to sqaure 1.

 

[Country Fox]

i think another season in the championship wouldnt hurt, and its encouraging to see what leveins already achieved with a small budget - in the summer with more time and a bit more money (especially thanks to our cup run) i can see him bringing in some really good players

 

[chrislcfc18]

I can see where your all coming from but if we did get promoted this season however unlikely it is now we would get a load more money to spend on the squad. This will obviously allow CL more spending power in the summer and we are already seeing that he is bringing some young quality players here.

On the other hand, as you say, next season in this league we could prove to be the best team and go all the way. The only problem with being in this league next year is we are under more pressure to get promoted with no parachute payment the next year.

1 other thing about getting promotion this time round would be filling the Walkers as more fans will want to come and watch Premiership football than Championship.

 

[Foxes_Never_Quit]

Not if the like of Scott Gemmil are getting contract etensions.

 

[SamuearlJackson]

promotion is never a problem! as said, if we don't go up next year we will be financially stuffed. best way to work things would be to get promoted and not overspend. if we stay up then great. if we go down we will still be strong as we will have guranteed parachute payment for two more years. what if we finish 3rd and miss out in the playoffs next year. we will be in trouble. you should never hope not to get promoted IMO.

SamJ

 

[londonfox]

1 other thing about getting promotion this time round would be filling the Walkers as more fans will want to come and watch Premiership football than Championship.

yes, this is of course true... but, were we to be at the top of the Championship, ala the last time we got promoted, then we would have absolutely no problem getting 30000 every week.

 

[Country Fox]

if we don't go up next year we will be financially stuffed.

i disagree - we have slashed the wage bill dramatically and by this summer will be free of all the big wage earners (scowy, walker). i think the clubs budget policy has been much more cautious and shrewd in the past couple of years and i doubt very much they've fallen into the previous boards trap of making financial decisions based on money we might get in the future so i think that not having a parachute payment/prem money wont make a difference.

 

[silkman]

as has been said "promotion is never a problem" - but get real, this thread implies we have either a choice or even a realistic chance of promotion, which is nonsense.
we are still 6 or 7 players away from a promotion team, however tantalising the odd glimpse of improvement or even occasionally qualtiy may be.
sorry about the cold water, but you know I'm right.....

 

[SamuearlJackson]

if we don't go up next year we will be financially stuffed.

i disagree - we have slashed the wage bill dramatically and by this summer will be free of all the big wage earners (scowy, walker). i think the clubs budget policy has been much more cautious and shrewd in the past couple of years and i doubt very much they've fallen into the previous boards trap of making financial decisions based on money we might get in the future so i think that not having a parachute payment/prem money wont make a difference.

what i really mean is that we will then be on almost the same budget as every other 'non-parachute enhanced' club in the division, which would make it much harder to go up (theoretically based on teams with higher payrolls having better players on average). there are normally 5 or more teams in the league below the Prem on the parachute so we would be at a distinct disadvantage.

what do we do next year? spend our budget including the parachute, then have to slash wages if we don't make it? or be cautious next year? i guess we will buy in players using the parachute and make sure the wage bill doesn't get to the point where it is unsustainable if we don't go up. this is still not a great situation. anyway, my main point was that it is a little silly to say you wouldn't like to go up now...

SamJ

 

[SilverFox]

Not if the like of Scott Gemmil are getting contract etensions.

FFS hes here to work with our youth players and provide cover if we need it. If CL says he has a good effect on our youth team, then I believe him...hes the boss, its his job to make judgements not ours.

 

[step]

If we dont get promoted at the end of next season, we are will have long term financial problems. This years 6 million and next year 5 million parachute payments will keep our head above water. But when we lose that 5 million, we will end up like the trees. In the shite.

Financially, it is better for a club to become a yoyo club, recieving 12 million one year and 6 the next, average 9 million and obviously it has to be better for the football.
Yoyo means more money
More money means better players
Better players means better football
Better football means end of yoyoing

Anyone who wants us to stay down beyond the end of next season so we can build a team for the future is deluding themselves.

CL wants to bring in players that can handle the premier, he also wants to sign players on longer contracts. But, will the club commit to 3 year contracts with players that are going to expect a good salary?
If they do, there is a risk that we wont get promoted next season and we will have problems with dept.
If they dont commit, we definatly wont get promoted and will will still have problems with dept.

As we are just out of administration. I doubt the board would commit us to contracts that we could not pay at the end of next season. But, we do have an excelent manager, a five million parachute payment next season and possibly some money from the shared ground proposal.
So overall IMO we will have a better chance than most fizzy teams of getting promoted next season.

 

[Country Fox]

given the nightmare financial experience the clubs had i would be stunned if it turned out financial decisions were being made now reliant on the parachute payments or being in the premiership in the near future. i agree that at the moment we have a financial advantage we will have lost if we dont go up by next season but look at ipswich - this is their 3rd season out of the premiership and their doing great, while derby are doing pretty well too - IMO having a good manager whose clever in the transfer market is just as valuable as having a parachute payment. personally i think if levein gets in the right players over the summer - players in the hughes/maybury mould both in terms of age, talent and hunger then i think we can have a lot of hope for next season.