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Reading the latest posts about supposedly signings & goings. Will this transfer window define Preston’s ambition? I feel the Owners ambition is to keep us in this division and if play offs happen it’s a bonus.
Ambition
League one standard signings will ultimately not keep us in the Championship.
And to piss off the fan base
Agree.
I’m passed being pissed off with them now though.
They could be in for a shock when they open the turnstiles again.
I was o.k with things up to 2018.
After the Westley disaster there was clear strategy for next few years. Professional and proven manager appointed who could build up a club from league one (Grayson) and signed proven young players at league 1 level like Pearson (on loan at Barnsley) and DJ (Chesterfield) who had licence to improve and play well at championship level (tick) and who could then be sold on for good profit (oh). That was at least done with Hugill and Robinson as we know.
Added to the mix were players signed from league above or high, Baptise, Beckford, Garner, Tom Clarke, McGeady who helped the club get promoted and established as mid table championship team.
After Grayson chased the money I was hugely impressed with AN being attracted given his recent success at Norwich so it was all going well and he inherited a motivated and hungry squad.
No idea what's happened in last 3 years. Two key attacking players sold for over 15m and hardly any of that given to replace them either directly or significantly improve other areas of the team.
I do chuckle when people say AN shouldn't get any money as Rafferty has been a poor signing. Guy cost less than a million. That is a low cost signing at championship level now for vast majority of clubs and it's usually a squad signing as Raffs has been.
Burnley were signing Andre Gray for 6m in August 2015, Wigan were signing strikers for 3-4m well over a decade ago and indeed just last year signed Jamal Lowe and Kieffer Moore in the same window so it's all very frustrating and now it's compounded by imminently being mugged on the big 4.
Baffles me how after working hard to build club up again from bottom half of league 1 owner just seems to have given up. Stuff like signing Nugent against managers wishes and seemingly Ched Evans now just adds to the bizarre nature of it all.
After the Westley disaster there was clear strategy for next few years. Professional and proven manager appointed who could build up a club from league one (Grayson) and signed proven young players at league 1 level like Pearson (on loan at Barnsley) and DJ (Chesterfield) who had licence to improve and play well at championship level (tick) and who could then be sold on for good profit (oh). That was at least done with Hugill and Robinson as we know.
Added to the mix were players signed from league above or high, Baptise, Beckford, Garner, Tom Clarke, McGeady who helped the club get promoted and established as mid table championship team.
After Grayson chased the money I was hugely impressed with AN being attracted given his recent success at Norwich so it was all going well and he inherited a motivated and hungry squad.
No idea what's happened in last 3 years. Two key attacking players sold for over 15m and hardly any of that given to replace them either directly or significantly improve other areas of the team.
I do chuckle when people say AN shouldn't get any money as Rafferty has been a poor signing. Guy cost less than a million. That is a low cost signing at championship level now for vast majority of clubs and it's usually a squad signing as Raffs has been.
Burnley were signing Andre Gray for 6m in August 2015, Wigan were signing strikers for 3-4m well over a decade ago and indeed just last year signed Jamal Lowe and Kieffer Moore in the same window so it's all very frustrating and now it's compounded by imminently being mugged on the big 4.
Baffles me how after working hard to build club up again from bottom half of league 1 owner just seems to have given up. Stuff like signing Nugent against managers wishes and seemingly Ched Evans now just adds to the bizarre nature of it all.
Fully agree with you nobber, I don’t ever expect to see us go for the prem. Championship football is the pinnacle for Ridsdale and Hemmings, I’d like to think fans would show how pissed off they are in the running of the club when turnstiles open next season but I won’t hold my breath. The shambles of the ST announcement this season showed the contempt the owner and his lapdog have for the fans
Can remember Ridsdale splashing the cash madly at Leeds. Even after he learnt the harsh lesson of all that he was at Cardif when they signed Robbie Fowler, Trevor Sinclair and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink all on big wages in 07/08. Didn't get promoted but they played in the FA cup final.
With his nature I bet he can't believe some of the decisions Hemmings comes to.
Only thing to look forward to is when new owners come in eventually. Way club is being run is ripe for takeover given all the squad cost cutting and minimal spending so interesting there's hardly any rumours floating around.
Hemmings is 85 now so must be oldest owner in the league? To put it bluntly he might not be around much longer so there's got to be some sort of plan in place?
Just hope when that all happens the club is still in championship in some form and not slumming it in the depths of league 1 again as that seems to me where the next 5 years is heading.
Thracia
Club Owner, or wingback, depending on your view
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If there is a plan, they're not telling us what it is.
As far as we know, post-TH all funding could be pulled and we could instantly become the next Bury, Wigan <insert favourite crisis club cliché here>.
Meanwhile, we're supposed to be impressed that we paid our tax on time while everyone else took advantage of government tax deferrals and strengthened their squads instead.
I think last time I asked the question I was directed to an answer Ridsdale gave to a podcast and I errr.......forgot to listen to it! 🤣
So non the wiser unless the masterplan is for Hemmings to outlive the Queen.
I assume given his vast experience and contacts in football Ridsdale would get some sort of consortium together either from U.K people or abroad.
Burnley being taken over for 200m shows the power of being in premier league for 5 years and the worldwide attention you attract. Time will tell if it's the right decision for them though.
So non the wiser unless the masterplan is for Hemmings to outlive the Queen.
I assume given his vast experience and contacts in football Ridsdale would get some sort of consortium together either from U.K people or abroad.
Burnley being taken over for 200m shows the power of being in premier league for 5 years and the worldwide attention you attract. Time will tell if it's the right decision for them though.
From chatting in WhatsApp groups to my mates who go on Deepdale, the majority aren’t in a big rush to return once crowds are permitted back in. I have a strange feeling a few will not attend again, ever.
Once we’re Covid fee an everything is back to normal, it will be very interesting to see our attendances and season ticket sales.
I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of clubs have lower numbers as folk will have lost the habit, but I fear ours may have a worse % drop than most considering the state of the club and the sizeable (and growing) disconnect between the club and fans.
Thracia
Club Owner, or wingback, depending on your view
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This is what PR said (TL;DR - there's a plan, but he's not saying what it is):
"When Craig was appointed chairman, TH said 'look, I don't want any of our supporters thinking if I'm not here, the club's got a problem'.
"You've got football clubs out there who, I know, if the current owner for some reason wasn't there tomorrow, they're bust.
"So Craig's appointment was to reassure our supporters of the family's ongoing commitment to carry on with PNE.
"And if that were to change in the future - who knows, it may well - it would be on a planned basis, not on a [recording unclear] basis.
"So look, I have no idea what's going to happen to the club in the future.
"All I can tell you is, it's currently in very good hands with TH, as good as anybody in football.
"It will be in good hands if anything happens to him, because his family have given that commitment.
"And at some point in time it might be in somebody else's hands, but if it is in somebody else's hands, it will be on a considered, planned basis, not because there's a crisis."
Reassuring eh!
And Craig really has been non-stop all over social media and the press ever since, really driving home that message of reassurance to the fans ever since his appointment, er, 18 months ago. [Note to self: check Craig is still chairman]
It's from about 55:00 on here: FTF Podcast | The Peter Ridsdale Interview
Hemmings is an autocrat, it doesn't matter to him if his policies make no sense to the rest of us ! He has decided that he will invest what it takes to keep us in, or failing that get us back into to the championship. The sort of money he would need to invest to get us to and establish us in the premiership, is way more than he is willing to commit !!
It has always been my feeling that, its just North Ends luck to be owned by a billionaire who is not willing to commit more than enough to maintain the status quo !!!!
Rovers get Jack Walker (will do anything for his club) Blackpool get Owen Oyston, while being a complete embarrassment was still prepared to invest enough to, with a large slice of luck get them to the Premier league. Wigan have a taste of it, but Mr Hemmings would rather take his billion with him than invest properly in his club.
For a billionaire, he has a passing interest in PNE, but he has no idea what its like to have a LOVE of the club !!!!
It has always been my feeling that, its just North Ends luck to be owned by a billionaire who is not willing to commit more than enough to maintain the status quo !!!!
Rovers get Jack Walker (will do anything for his club) Blackpool get Owen Oyston, while being a complete embarrassment was still prepared to invest enough to, with a large slice of luck get them to the Premier league. Wigan have a taste of it, but Mr Hemmings would rather take his billion with him than invest properly in his club.
For a billionaire, he has a passing interest in PNE, but he has no idea what its like to have a LOVE of the club !!!!
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Gonna be grim, probably be around the 7k blackpool mark when we play championship clubs with small away followings.
Guys like Whelan and Walker are one offs really. Perhaps more money than sense but their love of club certainly got those two to heights they will never reach again in their history baring a minor miracle.
Frustration more for me is the Burnley model in last decade. They've had lots of good forwards down the years at championship level, Austin, Ings, Jay Rodriguez etc. When Ings left to go to Liverpool which I think was on a free they used the parachute money to get Andre Gray from Brentford for 6m. Scored 20 odd and got them straight back up where they've stayed every since. They replace a championship quality striker with another one of that ilk rather than relying on 750k mid 20s league two striker. Oh and getting Andy Peyton out of semi retirment.
The opportunity was there with 15m + coming in for Hugill and Robbo within 18 months.
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The only difference between us and Burnley was a 90 minute play off final. They hit jackpot with their one shot in 2009 and benefitted from that since. We had several goes and couldn't get over that final hurdle.