I wasn’t concerned with our finances. We would’ve known if we were in serious trouble. They’re lining up to tell us we are.

We’re lucky we have Roy who’s accepting the limitations he’s working under. The repetition, lack of changes during the match and trying to push for the result that day are very frustrating to watch but he fits perfectly with the financial strategy right now. I wouldn’t want this football forever although I bet Parish would. The previous successful escape artist managers would never accept it, especially for 2 seasons (and maybe another). We just have to accept some of the things that frustrate us on match day for now because they’re better than relegation and not challenging for however many seasons.

We now have to be more successful at finding players at the right price and wages. We’ve shown signs of that since the Rakip, Jach and Sørloth window debacle but I’m still not confident. Since then they haven’t been core players and it’s debatable if they’re actually suitable for the manager. Maybe because the budget is so limited we have to, or we find better if we buy what’s available rather than what we bid for. This is where the jury is still out for me. The running of football matters and joined up thinking, not whether we know how to manage the finances.

This might be an obvious or sensible or strange thing to point out depending on your view but it might be why we’re still here in the Prem. Parish didn’t fold when Pulis or Allardyce probably wanted more funds but left at a time they weren’t going to be provided. The issue was rather that we were going through catastrophe, escape job, catastrophe, escape job, and then when we did, Parish makes some left field leap into a football strategy we can’t deliver. Well not instantly and hovering where we do, that’s dangerous. (We’ve been passing the ball around under Hodgson anyway, as we could with a few managers). Hopefully when we come out of this we’ll correct these kind of repeated mistakes. We hope.

COYP

Don’t 3 year FFP cycles begin and end every year for every club?

COYP

Decent post. I'd not really factored in instalment payments, which as you've pointed out create a financial hangover especially when you've shelled out 60m on two players relatively recently. Explains why the new main stand is so badly needed to increase revenue and leave us with a little more liquidity.

Also explains neatly why we aren't 'progressing' in the minds of some unrealistic supporters. If you want to be challenging for top 5, from the start point we had (dilapidated stadium, rented training ground, poor finances) then I think realistically you're looking at a 10-15 year timeframe.

Don't forget that we are also going to be ploughing money into expanding and upgrading the training facilities as well as building a new main stand, all while constantly upgrading and maintaining the current infrastructure the club owns, paying players wages and, if there's some left shelling out a few million on new players and their ever increasing weekly pay packets. Not to mention FFP. So when someone says we're treading water, it might look like that to you but I think the reality is somewhat different.

I think the key here is to do our best at building the club sustainably and slowly, investing in all areas, rather than going all in to the transfer market every year. This appears to be the approach that has been taken.

Southampton are a great example of this – and despite all of it, are currently going through a low period. It happens to every team, the key is making sure you are on a strong enough footing in all areas to give yourself the best chance of weathering whatever gets thrown at you.

QPR are the bad example. Which would you rather be?

Did you know? 98.0000001% of people are morons.

Agreed. They are the model we should be aspiring to.

I reckon you can forgive the OP's poor use of words in an otherwise sensible post. No one thinks we can be a Champions League hunting club but we could be eyeing a regular top half position where we dont ever come into the relegation dog fight. I think that is what he means by the club making progress and what infrastructure we require to achieve that.

Rudi who's lining up to tell us we're in financial trouble? What do you mean?

Also, the tone of your opening comment, written as it is in the past tense, suggests that you think we might be. I can't quite tell. I appreciate you think we are constrained financially but that's a world away from financial trouble.

I agree with the rest of your post but would observe that Meyer, Guaita and Batshuayi appear to be astute decisions, although I do wonder what we pay them. I guess you alluded to that.

If you want to live in a world full of kindness, respect and love, try to show these qualities.