Wage Bill


Saintdunc
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I find the timing of this baffling, to be honest. We're on a great run, we're still in the Cup, we're firmly in the hunt for top 6, and for the first time in a while the squad actually has several sellable assets. Yet Steve Brown's talking as if the season has already been a failure. By all means he can think this way behind closed doors, but does he really need to talk to the media about it? As far as I can see, all he's doing is putting a downer on everything. If he really wants fans to start coming back in numbers, maybe the down-in-the-dumps image he puts across of himself and the club and the manager is something he could start giving a bit more thought.

I think this is a really positive, exciting time for Saints - we have an opportunity to finish the season on a high, and really look forward to what we might be able to do next season if we start well. Couldn't Steve Brown mention some of that stuff instead?

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19 hours ago, Pat McGroin said:

Time to sell the club Steve...

This guy could put a negative spin on a lottery win.

Right now, Steve Brown could be doing the following: 

Praising our superb recent run of form

Shouting about our superb home grown, young team. 

Encouraging fans to get behind the hunt for top 6. 

Encouraging fans to join in with FCU home and away to create an atmosphere.  

Encouraging fans to attend a Scottish Cup 1/4 final and support the lads get back to Hampden. 
 

Instead, he’s bleating about the budget, which according to Robert Thompson has jumped from 8th biggest 3 months ago, to 6th now. 
 

His negativity is unreal. He makes running the club seem like such a chore. Does he not realise that this has a wider effect? It’s dragging us down. 

Every time I read anything from him, I’m on an instant downer. 

This is exactly how I feel (minus the "sell the club" part)... the guy actually has the platform of being able to talk to national radio, TV and newspapers, but he only uses the opportunity to grumble and moan about money, as per always. He wants fans to come back, but his attitude probably only serves to put more fans off. Why can't he praise his manager, praise the team, and appeal for all Saints fans to get themselves along to matches and get behind the team at a point where we're playing some really positive football? I think Steve Brown's done a great job for Saints in many ways, but his use of the media is bloody horrifying.

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7 hours ago, Abernethy Saint said:

Not sure we should be rooting for Geoff to be given some embarrassing symbol of a dead, fascist empire. Deffo name a stand, though, or even the ground. At least we would know how to fecking spell it.

We already have a stand named after the Browns. Well their firm name anyway but cant knock them for getting in a bit of free advertising.

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Not sure why the budget is shot. There are as many out as came in in summer.

May's wages would be high but you would think Watt would have been on a decent wage.

The loanees that came in would have cancelled out those going out . I suppose though the likes of Falkirk & Raith etc are not paying full wages.

Kennedy's wages  transfer would cover McCart .

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11 hours ago, garydavidson said:

Is it not the case that the Browns have zero invested in Saints? As people have said before Geoff helped out with the Billy Dodds transfer and apart from the initial take over hasn't put any money into the club apart from maybe the more recent sponsorship. 

We are a self sufficient club as per the way Geoff designed it.

I don't see anything too outrageous in the interview but he is a very glum guy. I feel some of the comments about 'going for it' could have been retained as his own thoughts.

Pretty much exactly my thoughts.

Dont think Brown has out in much and while he does a lot of work at the club, you could argue that it is protecting his inheritance. Free hospitality and travel to away games is a nice perk. Dont begrudge that at all. 

Have to ask why he did the interview at all? Why did the chief exec not do it? Still really to hear from her aside from a single interview with the daily record, which I suspect very few saints fans actually read.

It felt like he threw her and Tommy under the bus a bit. Not sure of his intentions, bit I'd didn't help Tommy, kirsteen or the fans.

Edited by TheYellowBox
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1 hour ago, Cagey said:

Not sure why the budget is shot. There are as many out as came in in summer.

May's wages would be high but you would think Watt would have been on a decent wage.

The loanees that came in would have cancelled out those going out . I suppose though the likes of Falkirk & Raith etc are not paying full wages.

Kennedy's wages  transfer would cover McCart .

Ffs. You need to count the renewals as well.

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1 hour ago, Cagey said:

Not sure why the budget is shot. There are as many out as came in in summer.

May's wages would be high but you would think Watt would have been on a decent wage.

The loanees that came in would have cancelled out those going out . I suppose though the likes of Falkirk & Raith etc are not paying full wages.

Kennedy's wages  transfer would cover McCart .

His point wasn’t there are more players to pay - it was that all the wages are higher because of wage inflation in England creeping up here.

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Shock horror, Club chairman says hes spent too much money this year - manager might have to cut his cloth accordingly next season. Sensationalism in a press report.....

We might make a loss this year as he says, but running a football club is not about one season. As I've seen written on this forum, Saints will be due more money in the future if we stay in the SPL due to a new TV deal. Looking at future financial planning is surely in the remit of the chairman and the chief executive, and I'd be surprised if there is not a 5 year plan in place.

He may be a dour operator of a club, but hes running it in an efficient manner, albeit this year possibly at a small loss. I'm not a S.B. lover but I cannot see how getting anyone else in would help this club. I'm pretty sure a lot of people work for this club for no money, so to them I'm grateful for every effort they make, from the board, to the people spending their time on match day helping.

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2 hours ago, lossiesaint said:

 I'm pretty sure a lot of people work for this club for no money, so to them I'm grateful for every effort they make, from the board, to the people spending their time on match day helping.

Agree totally. Would also add the fans, who pay to do unpaid work of affording a living for athletes. They are the true heroes.

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He's correct, you pay 20-30% more in wages and get not even 5% better a player. The wages are dictated by England, and the lower leagues down there. But what I suspect will happen is Brexit will take English football through the wringer, becuase it's not sustainable down there. Scottish football has much better management IMHO. Some of those English clubs are empty vessels sold down the swanny multiple times over - take Bolton, Sunderland, Wigan, Portsmouth as examples....and those are the big teams: Stevenage, where Dunne was.....about to go out of the league.

 

We have nothing to fear or be ashamed of in Scotland.

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5 hours ago, MySpazz said:

He's correct, you pay 20-30% more in wages and get not even 5% better a player. The wages are dictated by England, and the lower leagues down there. But what I suspect will happen is Brexit will take English football through the wringer, becuase it's not sustainable down there. Scottish football has much better management IMHO. Some of those English clubs are empty vessels sold down the swanny multiple times over - take Bolton, Sunderland, Wigan, Portsmouth as examples....and those are the big teams: Stevenage, where Dunne was.....about to go out of the league.

 

We have nothing to fear or be ashamed of in Scotland.

Brexit is an interesting one, saints currently have the highest percentage Scottish squad in the league I think, roughly 70% with the rest now being English. I think approximately 9/12 teams in the league are running at less than 50% Scottish which seems mental really. 

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Yes, I'm not sure how Brexit is going to effect things. I'd be worried that wages will go even higher.

If every European player needs a work permit, clubs in League 1 & 2 in England will need to stick to UK players only. They might look North in order to sign players, which could be bad news for clubs like us. In essence, there's a smaller pool of players for these clubs to choose from and so they'll be more competition for our players as English clubs with more money come looking.

Clubs in the Premiership & Championship should be fine, as most foreign players they'd sign should be able to get a work permit anyway due to the high wages they'd be on.

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Regarding losses/budgets the current make up of the Premier League is not helping Saints. Although  Hamilton, Livingstone and Ross County are all there on merit, from a financial view it would  be far better if these teams were replaced with Dundee Utd, Dundee and say Falkirk or Dunfermline ( all carry decent away supports ) . 

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14 hours ago, Widge said:

Brexit is an interesting one, saints currently have the highest percentage Scottish squad in the league I think, roughly 70% with the rest now being English. I think approximately 9/12 teams in the league are running at less than 50% Scottish which seems mental really. 

 

Not to do with where people are from...............but that the economy is to tank

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8 hours ago, MySpazz said:

 

Not to do with where people are from...............but that the economy is to tank

Was more meaning were the least reliant on the leagues down south and elsewhere for players, which means the guys we do have tend not to have an experience of the inflated wages you’d get in the English lower leagues. 

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1 hour ago, Widge said:

Was more meaning were the least reliant on the leagues down south and elsewhere for players, which means the guys we do have tend not to have an experience of the inflated wages you’d get in the English lower leagues. 

That’s not how wage inflation works. Because every player in England gets much more, every (top league) player in Scotland gets some more. If we didn’t follow suit, we would lose even more players, because they wouldn’t need to go south, they could just go to Dundee or Livingston.

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From what I have seen over the last few bits from Steve Brown, he has not said one positive thing.

It's very clear he doesnt want to do it anymore, but if hes looking for someone to take it on from him, he is doing to worst possible job of encouraging someone in.

As a season ticket holder, nothing he says makes me want to renew and is actually putting me off.

What he says about trying everything to get crowds in misses the point. He should be asking the fans that used to go and dont now why it is.

The post cup win inaction will forever be a big fail.

I'm not sure who his speak to or what purpose when he does these interviews, but everytime it ends up being a total car crash.

From once being such a forward thinking an innovative club we are now way behind the curve and I dont see much being done to address that.

Finally, where is Kirsteen in all of this, why is she not the one speaking. At hibs and Motherwell you always hear/see Dempster and Burrows. 

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Cash in bank when Steve became Chairman in 2011 was £1,095,904.

2012, £1.610m, 13, £1.304, 14, £1.266, 15, £2.072, 16, £2.066, 17, £2.652, 18, £1.979, 19, £ 2.170m

Cash in bank is only 1 measurement but it does show a very healthy position over a sustained period. 

The only person responsible for player spending is Steve Brown. All signings approved by him so any overspend has to be down to his financial mismanagement. 

All major infrastructure projects have been completed, we have some very valuable playing staff and next year's turnover should be significantly up with increases prize money and return of at least 1 Dundee club. 

I have banged on about lack of communication from our Chairman, what I should have been advocating is a lack of upbeat, forward thinking, even happy messages none of which he seems capable off. 

We have too many playing passengers and that needs sorting but that will sort itself at the end of this season. 

Most other Spfl clubs would die for our financial position. 

Theres lots to look forward to as a saints fan. I just wish our Chairman would do the same. 

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I don't go to every game. I go to what I can, when I can. There are maybe a lot of other 'living out of Perth on shift working' people like me. Sometimes I can find it hard to go along to a match when I think about a 250 mile round trip for a home game, although I normally tie it up with a trip home to see friends and family.

The biggest reasons I hear from people who live in or close to Perth about not going to the football anymore is:

"I'm not spending my hard earned cash and 3 hours of my weekend in the freezing cold and wet watching that cr&p."

Maybe the fault lies at more than one door, maybe the reason the the decline in fan numbers is social and maybe moving to a cheaper product maybe playing the scottish league in the summer instead of the winter will help bolster numbers......but......

Do we then dilute the product and end up back where we are because we can't get good players in because we can't compete with south of the border - hell, we can't do that now, not even our top clubs can, when you think about Adam Rooney leaving Aberdeen to go to...Salford FFS!

As much as we bleat and the Browns bleat about our current fan base situation, it's maybe everyones and no-ones fault. I can see that the Broons may be looking for a buyer, but I'm also sure that they have the best interests of the club at heart when they do, so at present, I'll not read too much into their views expressed by the press.

We've got a big cup tie coming up Sunday and a chance of getting into the top 6.... things we would have happily accepted in October. We should focus attention on those for now.

Until the FOR SALE sign is bigger than the GS Brown sign, I think we'll be ok.

 

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