stinhk

Is there a sustainable business model for football clubs outside of the PL given the way that football is run these days - indeed is there even one for those inside the PL? Do other clubs run at break-even or in profit without sugar-daddies or the good will of their creditors? I wonder what needs to happen at SFC for us to be self-sufficient? RL took on a program of cost-cutting in order to balance the books and it seems it was still not enough. Yes errors were made along the way but I want to look forward. There is a lot of talk here about how much money potential buyers would have left in their coffers to run the club on an ongoing basis - i wonder just what that really means. What is required to make SFC a going-concern again?

As I understand, liquidation means breaking up the company's assets and selling them off piecemeal to the highest bidders. Is it so different from the position we are now in? I suppose it depends upon the degree of break-up. I may be able to buy the office equipment, the catering equipment, the spare kits, the training cones, the turf from the pitch, the lawnmowers, the plastic seats or even the concrete and steel from the stadium? Would I pay less for such a collection of assets if bought piecemeal in a liquidation sale? Just musing...

I reckon it's good we went into admin when we did - at least we managed to get ourselves at the head of the queue for buyers. When the 20th football club calls in the administrators there will be no more money men around. :smt048

Maybe the FL had 'no choice' (Mahwinney's words) but to apply the penalty as they must be seen to be trying to uphold the integrity of the competition and also to placate those clubs that would have otherwise appealed. The FL would probably have expected us to appeal their decision. I don't know who would preside over that but I guess it is out of the hands of the FL so at least they can then say they have done their bit. If our appeal was successful, and I believe we have a good case, we would start in League 1 on zero points (a bottom three finish this year is a given for me), surely we would be happy with that and having gone through a legal appeal process it's unlikely that any other club would kick up much more of a fuss. Everybody's happy(ish). Case closed.

I really can't understand the timing of this announcement surely they should wait until the end of the regular season - the competitors of Burnley and Forest will not be best pleased. What possible reason is there to announce it now or are they really just a bunch of incompetent nitwits? Unbelievable!

SFC is not in administration (yet), no rules have been broken so no penalty is warranted. Simple. Regardless, if you somehow manage to overlook the rules - surely we haven't even breached the spirit of the rules because as pointed out previously they were introduced to deter clubs from seeking an on-field advantage through financial recklessness. (It would be a stretch to argue SMS as giving us an on-field advantage given our home form!) I would say on both counts - not guilty.

Agree with that but, my point is that if we were to finish in the bottom three under our own steam, the result of the decision whether to deduct points or not is less critical. I'm suggesting it would be neater for FL if we relegated ourselves.

I guess that, if we were to finish inside the bottom three much of the potential complications for the FL surrounding the points deduction issue would disappear.

Would relegation necessarily mean MW is a failure? Clearly things have improved under him. Let's say the standards are maintained for the remainder of the season but other things conspire to see us finish in the bottom three, e.g. other teams results don't go in our favour, injuries, obscure refereeing decisions, bad luck (if there is such a thing), any number of things. In that case it could be argued that he was left with too much ground to make up? Anyway, lets hope we won't need to have that debate over the summer.