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Post by Gas Go Marching In on Jun 25, 2015 11:37:11 GMT
BRISTOL ROVERS: Portsmouth are the team to beat - Darrell Clarke
By JamesMcNamara | Posted: June 25, 2015
BRISTOL Rovers boss Darrell Clarke says big-spending Portsmouth fully deserve their tag as early League Two title favourites ahead of the new season.
Pompey, who are backed by average crowds in the region of 15,000 and are armed with a substantial playing budget as a result, are by far and away favourites with most bookmakers before the first ball is kicked on August 8.
The former Premier League club paid a substantial amount of compensation to prise manager Paul Cook out of Chesterfield and have already been making waves in the summer transfer market.
“You can’t look much further than Portsmouth at the moment really,” said Clarke. “They have gone and got Paul Cook out of Chesterfield and we all know what a fantastic job he has done there over the last couple of seasons."
“They are a massive football club and what they have done so far in terms of recruitment fully justifies their position as favourites to win the league.”
Rovers, meanwhile, are also well-fancied at around 16//1 in most places, while Oxford United, Leyton Orient, Luton Town and Northampton are also expected to be in the mix due to playing budgets all thought to be in the and around the £2million mark.
“Some clubs will probably be going over the odds in terms of the finances they put in place but that is what you have to compete against at almost every level,” Clarke said.
“I have spoken to a lot of managers and agents and I have been told that some clubs are having a right good go at it.
“There are some big clubs in League Two and we will be up against other clubs, who, in some cases, will have budgets that are three times the size of ours,”
“We will probably go into some games as the underdog, which will be stark contrast to where we were last season.
“A lot of people expected our name alone to be enough to win us games in the Conference last season, yet now we will see the other side of the spectrum. I can’t wait to pit my wits against some of those teams and managers who are going all out for success.”
Working in Rovers’ favour is the feel-good factor built up on the way to securing promotion via a penalty shoot-out against Grimsby Town at Wembley in May, and Clarke added: “We want to try and carry some of that momentum from promotion into the new season, but we can’t rely solely on that.
“It is a new season at a new level and there are massive challenges ahead and we have to build a squad capable of putting us right in the mix.
“I think the style of football in League Two has progressed in tandem with the way the game has changed at every level in this country over the last few years.
“Certainly the people I have spoken to about it agree with me in the thinking that it is definitely a more tactical and technical league than it has been in years gone by.
“There is still a bit of brute strength and physicality required but that alone doesn’t get you by anymore.”
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Post by Topper Gas on Jun 25, 2015 13:03:25 GMT
"Oxford United, Leyton Orient, Luton Town and Northampton are also expected to be in the mix due to playing budgets all thought to be in the and around the £2million mark."
Surely our playing budget won't be a third of there's or around £750K?? Perhaps that explains our lack of signings as surely the present playing squad wages exceeds £750K??
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Post by lympstonegas on Jun 25, 2015 13:11:57 GMT
No shocks there for me - a grounded and honest assessment - we didn't have the biggest budget in the league last season and won't this we wont have this season. But it's not about how much you have it's always how you spend it and that applies to every level of football I believe Portsmouth were favourites last time we were on L2 and probably had one of the biggest budgets in the division but it didn't stop them skirting with relegation that season. And last season they didn't even make the play offs. I trust DC to spend the money he has how he sees fit and would like to think regardless of Paul Cook we will finish above Portsmouth this season
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Post by 2nd May 1990 on Jun 25, 2015 13:20:43 GMT
Mildenhall £75k
Puddy £40k
Lockyer £50k
Brown £75k
Parkes £75k
McChrystal £75k
Leadbitter £40k
Clarke £40k
Greenslade £30k
Mansell £50k
Clarke £50k
Sinclair £50k
Gosling £40k
Harrison £60k
Taylor £50k
Easter £75k
Blissett £40k
Lucas £30k
This is complete guesswork, but would give us a budget of nearly £1mill (£945k) before Lines and any new signings come into the equation.
Fair play to DC if he's got them on less than that. I think a few of my figures might be conservative guesses - wouldn't surprise me if Manse, Mildy or Parkes were on more, for instance, though equally it's possible that Lucas, Greenslade, possibly Gosling and Puddy are on less.
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Post by Centenary Gas on Jun 25, 2015 13:22:11 GMT
2015, with a loss of about £1m
Elsewhere, turnover was up to £4,328,341 from £3,819,633, but the wage bill across the company as a whole was up from about £3.2 million to £3.5 million as the board invested in a number of loan players to try to improve a season of struggle that eventually ended in relegation.
Absolutely no reason we have to run at a loss, it's time for the board to start out performing a failing GCSE business student. There is absolutely no reason we can't have a budget of around £1.5-£2m and run at break even. Sick of the club being mis-managed by the very people that then pat themselves on the back for pumping in (or lending?) money to 'save' it.
Lets try giving the manager a budget with break even for gates or 6,500, rather than the usual 9-10,000 with a £500k+ loss every season.
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Post by Centenary Gas on Jun 25, 2015 13:24:28 GMT
Mildenhall £75k Puddy £40k Lockyer £50k Brown £75k Parkes £75k McChrystal £75k Leadbitter £40k Clarke £40k Greenslade £30k Mansell £50k Clarke £50k Sinclair £50k Gosling £40k Harrison £60k Taylor £50k Easter £75k Blissett £40k Lucas £30k This is complete guesswork, but would give us a budget of nearly £1mill (£945k) before Lines and any new signings come into the equation. Fair play to DC if he's got them on less than that. I think a few of my figures might be conservative guesses - wouldn't surprise me if Manse, Mildy or Parkes were on more, for instance, though equally it's possible that Lucas, Greenslade, possibly Gosling and Puddy are on less. Parkes, Mildy, Brown, Easter... all going to be higher than that. |
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Post by wrongsideoftheriver on Jun 25, 2015 13:55:21 GMT
Greenslade/Lucas 30k!!! Avin a laugh aren't you?
I'm pretty sure we don't pay the kids that much.
I'd say they were closer to 15-18k
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Post by tumshie on Jun 25, 2015 14:01:55 GMT
I think you can take around 30% of every wage mentioned in this thread. Just get on with it Darrell or people will start to think you're getting your excuses lined up. There is absolutely no reason why we shouldn't be challenging in the top ten this season imo
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Post by mehewmagic on Jun 25, 2015 14:34:48 GMT
I think you can take around 30% of every wage mentioned in this thread. Just get on with it Darrell or people will start to think you're getting your excuses lined up. There is absolutely no reason why we shouldn't be challenging in the top ten this season imo that's just his method in public. I'm sure behind the scenes he'll be going for it, like he always does. 4 seasons as a manager, 3 promotions. not bad eh? |
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Post by mehewmagic on Jun 25, 2015 14:41:16 GMT
No shocks there for me - a grounded and honest assessment - we didn't have the biggest budget in the league last season and won't this we wont have this season. But it's not about how much you have it's always how you spend it and that applies to every level of football I believe Portsmouth were favourites last time we were on L2 and probably had one of the biggest budgets in the division but it didn't stop them skirting with relegation that season. And last season they didn't even make the play offs. I trust DC to spend the money he has how he sees fit and would like to think regardless of Paul Cook we will finish above Portsmouth this season yep, it's how you use it. Pompey are perennial basket cases and get bigged up each year. There is no particular reason at all why they will win the lge this season. DC is just trying to stay under the radar. Quite astute I think. We all know that behind the scenes he's not a manager who accepts failure or lack of effort. Certainly no need to worry on that account. |
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Post by RD on Jun 25, 2015 14:42:46 GMT
Mildenhall £75k Puddy £40k Lockyer £50k Brown £75k Parkes £75k McChrystal £75k Leadbitter £40k Clarke £40k Greenslade £30k Mansell £50k Clarke £50k Sinclair £50k Gosling £40k Harrison £60k Taylor £50k Easter £75k Blissett £40k Lucas £30k This is complete guesswork, but would give us a budget of nearly £1mill (£945k) before Lines and any new signings come into the equation. Fair play to DC if he's got them on less than that. I think a few of my figures might be conservative guesses - wouldn't surprise me if Manse, Mildy or Parkes were on more, for instance, though equally it's possible that Lucas, Greenslade, possibly Gosling and Puddy are on less. No offence, but I can't personally see pretty much any of those being right tbh. Lockyer £50k? I'd be absolutely amazed. Sinclair £50k? No chance IMO. Lucas and Greenslade just lol. If they are last seasons wages. you can almost half the majority of them. Sinclair was only on something like £600 per week! (less than £30k per annum). It's true that every player's wage would have increased due to promotion, but at most, each player's contract would have been increased by the standard amount (20% I believe). It's possible some players would have had their own level set as part of the their contract, but this would only have applied to a few. So I'd hazard a guess that Lucas and Greenslade are on something like £20k at the MOST following promotion. Sinclair is probably on about £35k/£40k now. I wouldn't be surprised it Taylor, Bliss, Gosling, Puddy, O. Clarke and Leadbitter are on about that much too. Easter and the players that were with us when we got relegated will be on more, and some of those guesses may be quite accurate. I doubt Harrison is on much more than £50k either tbh, as that would still make him one of the higher earners and he is young. So I think you can potentially take around £100k off of that budget. |
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Post by Topper Gas on Jun 25, 2015 14:53:31 GMT
Add Lines salary to the figues and we are back to around the £1m mark, so which clubs are seriously going to have a budget x3 bigger, apart from possibiy Pompey?
If we do have a playing budget around a £1m that's around half our last Div 2 budget, so we should be in for some bumper profits when are next annual results are announced assuming turnover stays similar!!
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Post by gregsy on Jun 25, 2015 14:55:28 GMT
there's speculation and there's speculation....
this thread could be either....
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Post by Deleted on Jun 25, 2015 14:57:52 GMT
I think it's a good ploy to come out with things like that. After all how many times have we seen players come here just for big wages on long contracts. Other managers we've had in the past have said that it's been a bad image problem as we we're well known for it with both players and agents so it's good to see DC pushing to change that.
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Post by phillistine on Jun 25, 2015 15:01:37 GMT
Add Lines salary to the figues and we are back to around the £1m mark, so which clubs are seriously going to have a budget x3 bigger, apart from possibiy Pompey? If we do have a playing budget around a £1m that's around half our last Div 2 budget, so we should be in for some bumper profits when are next annual results are announced assuming turnover stays similar!! you guys always forget the bonuses . These figures are basic salaries and DC made it very clear from the start of last season that he believes in contracts which reward success . It will be interesting to see what last seasons annual salary finally looks like |
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Post by onion on Jun 25, 2015 15:13:18 GMT
Sinclair isn't on 50k.
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Post by Gas Go Marching In on Jun 25, 2015 15:27:14 GMT
It is how you use it and I trust DC to spend wisely. This could all however be a smokescreen.
However, if we do have a third of the budget of say Pompey then expecting us to finish above them is very unrealistic IMO. I'm worried the board will settle for mid table this season with all what is going on with the court case.
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Post by tumshie on Jun 25, 2015 15:47:09 GMT
I think you can take around 30% of every wage mentioned in this thread. Just get on with it Darrell or people will start to think you're getting your excuses lined up. There is absolutely no reason why we shouldn't be challenging in the top ten this season imo that's just his method in public. I'm sure behind the scenes he'll be going for it, like he always does. 4 seasons as a manager, 3 promotions. not bad eh? I'm sure and hope he will go for it and of course hope he keeps up his record of success i just found it ironic that only weeks ago when others were saying our budget was better than the rest he replied "and he should probably stop worrying about what we are doing and concentrate on getting his own house in order."  |
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Post by 2nd May 1990 on Jun 25, 2015 16:50:26 GMT
Mildenhall £75k Puddy £40k Lockyer £50k Brown £75k Parkes £75k McChrystal £75k Leadbitter £40k Clarke £40k Greenslade £30k Mansell £50k Clarke £50k Sinclair £50k Gosling £40k Harrison £60k Taylor £50k Easter £75k Blissett £40k Lucas £30k This is complete guesswork, but would give us a budget of nearly £1mill (£945k) before Lines and any new signings come into the equation. Fair play to DC if he's got them on less than that. I think a few of my figures might be conservative guesses - wouldn't surprise me if Manse, Mildy or Parkes were on more, for instance, though equally it's possible that Lucas, Greenslade, possibly Gosling and Puddy are on less. No offence, but I can't personally see pretty much any of those being right tbh. Lockyer £50k? I'd be absolutely amazed. Sinclair £50k? No chance IMO. Lucas and Greenslade just lol. If they are last seasons wages. you can almost half the majority of them. Sinclair was only on something like £600 per week! (less than £30k per annum). It's true that every player's wage would have increased due to promotion, but at most, each player's contract would have been increased by the standard amount (20% I believe). It's possible some players would have had their own level set as part of the their contract, but this would only have applied to a few. So I'd hazard a guess that Lucas and Greenslade are on something like £20k at the MOST following promotion. Sinclair is probably on about £35k/£40k now. I wouldn't be surprised it Taylor, Bliss, Gosling, Puddy, O. Clarke and Leadbitter are on about that much too. Easter and the players that were with us when we got relegated will be on more, and some of those guesses may be quite accurate. I doubt Harrison is on much more than £50k either tbh, as that would still make him one of the higher earners and he is young. So I think you can potentially take around £100k off of that budget. I'm probably wrong with every single wage! That wasn't the point - it was an estimate to see what the ballpark figure for the overall wage is. If I'm only £100k out I'd be very happy with my guesses  |
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Post by Qatar Gas on Jun 25, 2015 17:31:00 GMT
I'm guessing that most of our time in league two we have been up at the top when it comes to budget.
We had to cut this last year and DC got a squad of hungry comited players who gave far more effort than we have seen for along time.
look at all the teams that have moved up the leagues with their small budget and we have been here complaining about how they can do it by spending far less than us.
So, maybe it won't be so bad spending far less money on wages for a change?
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