no Money to spend

[RedRedWine1]

Certainly put a downer on my day....especially as I recently played down the salary cap as a PR exercise by the FA. Are we the first club to have a transfer embargo placed upon us as a result of a cap breach? And are there any other ramifications?

[Phoenix]

The price of trying to bring us all some success?

It's easy to look back with hindsight, but some of the contracts given to players since we got into the league and who are now 'fringe' players are contributors to this current dilema

The major contributors are the 700 supporters who are staying away this season. Attendance is part of the equation and the books will have been balanced expecting to have at least the same 2,800 average.

[RedRedWine1]

Would the money we got for Carl Baker not come into it?

[quinny]

No there's no points penalty.

[campdave]

The price of trying to bring us all some success?

It's easy to look back with hindsight, but some of the contracts given to players since we got into the league and who are now 'fringe' players are contributors to this current dilema.

You win some, you lose some. No one is complaining about the two year contract given to Roche.

[Bare Ben]

The price of trying to bring us all some success?

It's easy to look back with hindsight, but some of the contracts given to players since we got into the league and who are now 'fringe' players are contributors to this current dilema.

You win some, you lose some. No one is complaining about the two year contract given to Roche.

Should have been three

[Mark S]

The price of trying to bring us all some success?

It's easy to look back with hindsight, but some of the contracts given to players since we got into the league and who are now 'fringe' players are contributors to this current dilema.

You win some, you lose some. No one is complaining about the two year contract given to Roche.

Should have been three

Very good! First thing today that has put a smile on my face. Thank You Ben!

[Christies Child]

The price of trying to bring us all some success?

It's easy to look back with hindsight, but some of the contracts given to players since we got into the league and who are now 'fringe' players are contributors to this current dilema

The major contributors are the 700 supporters who are staying away this season. Attendance is part of the equation and the books will have been balanced expecting to have at least the same 2,800 average.

Agreed....it's a major contributory factor, just as is my point about contracts.

What is for certain is that we will not be the last faced with this temporary problem.

My concern is that our existing loanees may have to return to their parent clubs especially DC who is only here for a few further weeks and Sammy was hoping to keep until the end of the season.

[P/T Indie]

I did wonder if we had gone over the cap sometime ago when we signed McGiven and then carlton. Just before we signed McGiven we were told the cap had been reached and players had to go out on loan before new ones came in and noone seemed to go out.

[steve mfc]

I think as a club we need to look at the lower leagues more for players, in terms of attendance, income, we are punching above our weight, bringing in proven players at this level is all very well but they come at price, fine if they all turn out to be good investments but that's not always the case.

So its a gamble either way but at least players from a lower level wont command such a high wage, of course you always need a core of experienced players but there must be some players at conference level or lower who could make the step up and if they do turn out to be good players and moved on to a higher level then the club could make some decent money out of any transfer forthcoming.

[P/T Indie]

Does anyone think our squad is far to big? I count 26 players in the first team squad I would think a squad of 22 (maybe 23/24 at a push) would be more realistic for a club our size.

[ezz]

Explains why wayne's gone on loan, i'd expect more to follow if not permanently leave.

[The Red Knight]

The price of trying to bring us all some success?

It's easy to look back with hindsight, but some of the contracts given to players since we got into the league and who are now 'fringe' players are contributors to this current dilema

The major contributors are the 700 supporters who are staying away this season. Attendance is part of the equation and the books will have been balanced expecting to have at least the same 2,800 average.

Yes, we averaged 2800 last season but that was due to some very big gates at the beginning of the season.

The board should have looked into the attendances in more detail rather than just going off a seasons average.

2,762 vs Lincoln
2,531 vs Chesterfield
1,634 vs Shrewsbury
2,171 vs Rotherham
2,524 vs Wycombe
2,180 vs Brentford
2,303 vs Grimsby
2,626 vs Macclesfield
2,421 vs Wrexham
2,727 vs Notts County

So, in our last 10 home league games we didn't once get over 2800 fans so why did the board suddenly think we were going to get over that for every game this season?

Granted we are now getting attendances lower than those figures but surely setting a budget based on our average last season when anyone could have told you that it wouldn't be anywhere near the same figure (credit crunch or not) was a bit foolish?

We need to start adopting a policy similar to that at Dagenham by bringing youngsters through rather than throwing money at established players such as Rene Howe and Neil Wainwright for example.

[marky]

Considering our boardroom is packed to the rafters with seasoned businessmen, one would have thought one of them might have realised we were above the allowed wage limit. It doesn't happen that often, but they appear to have really messed up this time! Anyone could have told them our attendances wouldn't be anything like as high this season given our appalling form after new year in 2008. However, I do believe that the percentages should be flexible, especially in the economic climate we find ourselves. 60% in times of plenty is very different to 60% now.

[P/T Indie]

Do you think they thought we needed to take a gamble?

We were really struggling until McGiven came in and we were desperate for a couple of loan players to try and change things round a bit. Did they look at our position a couple of months ago when we were the 2nd worst team in the league on results and thought we better try and bring some new faces to get us out of trouble and then sort the consequences out later when hopefully we will be safe from relegation.

Something which I am not clear on is it beacuse our wages this season have gone over 60% of last seasons income which would have been quite high due to good crowds or do they also look at the first half of this seasons income. Either way our budget next season will be considerably smaller.

[marky]

Our board don't seem the type to take that kind of gamble...

[The Red Knight]

Either way our budget next season will be considerably smaller.

Excellent point P/T Indie. Next season is going to be a real struggle to stay in this league I would say.

I would be looking at moving on Howard, Artell, Twiss, Curtis, Wainwright, O'Carroll, McCann, Blinkhorn, Parrish and Adams and replace them with younger, cheaper players who will hopefully want to prove themselves.

I would be amazed if we managed to sign Howe on a permanent deal as well considering what he earns at Peterborough and the huge pay decrease he would have to make to sign for us.

[admiral47]

Surely Sammy is a big part of this problem with at least three of his signings this year not being up to the mark

[The Red Knight]

Surely Sammy is a big part of this problem with at least three of his signings this year not being up to the mark

I fail to see how that makes a difference.

If every player he brought in had proved to be a huge success we would still be over the wage cap.

It's the boards job to balance the books, not Sammys.

[Skid]

Certainly put a downer on my day....especially as I recently played down the salary cap as a PR exercise by the FA. Are we the first club to have a transfer embargo placed upon us as a result of a cap breach? And are there any other ramifications?

That wonderfully managed club down at Chester have also fallen foul of this.

Its very easy for people to get all high and mighty on here, regarding poor signings. Fact of the matter is that it is all in hindsights. There are players at Morecambe who are very lucky to be sitting on the contracts that they are, but this is the case at every club.

Rene Howe was an excellent loan signing for the club, I'd also say that we are only paying a percentage of his wages as Peterborough have about three strikers out on loan elsewhere as well.

[PUNKISDEAD]

As Renee, like DK is on loan, is it possible he will have to go back to Peterborough?

HOPE NOT!!

[P/T Indie]

Surely Sammy is a big part of this problem with at least three of his signings this year not being up to the mark

I fail to see how that makes a difference.

If every player he brought in had proved to be a huge success we would still be over the wage cap.

It's the boards job to balance the books, not Sammys.

because we wouldn't have needed to bring in loan signings to help us pull away from the bottom.
Can't help feel we were up to the limit after all the new signings in the summer and then with the bad start we have had to bring in new faces and weren't able to move any of the current players out.
You would think there would be room for manouver in the budget for loan signings incase we got injurys etc either that or Sammy extremley confident about all the players he signed in summer and thought we had a big and good enough squad to get us through the season.

[Christies Child]

I could be wrong ( CC ) but are loan signings during the season excluded from the wages cap as they are deemed to be 'emergency' signings?

The transfer embargo on ALL signings could be regarded as punishment.

[sgt major]

Okay, it all sounds like doom and gloom at the moment but think about this.

Sammy and Mark are no mugs, what is evident is they are being taken for mugs by some of the players they have signed.

Generally players act like petulant schoolkids when they cant get what they want, be it an extended spell in the first team or a move or being put in the position they want to be in (not always possible some times).

When they are picked they should go out and play for the shirt and the fans in EVERY game, not just when it suits them. Body language at times is garbage, unlike the loyal home and away fans that pay out the money that keeps these lads in readies and try to get behind them win, lose or draw.

No - dont go throwing more money after other players just get the ones we have got to put in more effort. Remember, Sammy and Mark dont put passes astray or miss from three yards out, it's the players.

[Christies Child]

Okay, it all sounds like doom and gloom at the moment but think about this.

Sammy and Mark are no mugs, what is evident is they are being taken for mugs by some of the players they have signed.

Generally players act like petulant schoolkids when they cant get what they want, be it an extended spell in the first team or a move or being put in the position they want to be in (not always possible some times).

When they are picked they should go out and play for the shirt and the fans in EVERY game, not just when it suits them. Body language at times is garbage, unlike the loyal home and away fans that pay out the money that keeps these lads in readies and try to get behind them win, lose or draw.

No - dont go throwing more money after other players just get the ones we have got to put in more effort. Remember, Sammy and Mark dont put passes astray or miss from three yards out, it's the players.

Isn't it all about Man Management?

If you try and treat everybody in the same way, it's bound to go wrong. Some need an arm around them..some need a kick up the backside....whilst some just get on with it. Much like life for us lesser mortals!