Would that be worse? Or better?
I've said often enough since the McGinnity board sold the family silver rather than take the hit and administration, that the steady inevitable circle of decline is worse to me than the short sharp shock of death and rebirth. One thing's for sure now, we're at a stage where things have been brought to a head one way or another, and frankly I think this is better full-stop than more and more steady decline and firefighting, in ever decreasing circles.
So I can live with the death of the club. Don't
want it, but I can live with it. It's sticking heads in sand to deny this is a very real possibility however, and also sticking heads in sand to suggest that it's anything other than us not giving money that ultimately causes this. frankly, the sooner football becomes aware it can't rely on blind loyalty of fans the better, but that also needs a wider commitment to stop buying Sky, stop funding the ridiculous scenarios where it's top heavy with money going majorly to the top flight, meaning countless owners play with countless clubs who've been here long before, in the hope they can sneak the promotion for that top heavy boost to income, then do a runner ASAP.
But let's be open about this instead of hiding behind excuses that those going are the ones killing the club because they're not. The sooner we stop turning on soft and meaningless targets the better, because the conclusion of this will see
a team back in Coventry at some point, and that team will need you, me, Adam Richman, Bob Carolgees whoever to
want to go and see the team, so let's make it a more unpleasant experience than it is already by our own actions!
And still, still, no-one has come forward to explain how Sisu plan to make our club profitable! No-one!
I'll take this at a slight digression, i'm really not sure it's about making it profitable. Explaining using an example, I'll suggest a company I worked for who were bought out for £9mil. the four owners all split that between them, and were quite happy(!) The company had made a loss all its life however, and indeed the loss was increasing year on year. What the new owners had bought was the awareness of the brand, the presence in the market... now this was probably what SISU were looking at originally. Pay off the money owed on best, buy in Dann, Fox, Eastwood et al and hope the increased presence in the market means someone pays them more for the club.
I'd suggest SISU would be quite happy to have the club bought for cash, with an ability for it to service its remaining debts. not to offset them for a future date, not to write some down, not to have contingent liabilities payable on promotion etc. etc. The discourse around this is all wrong. Some of this is (wilfully?) misleading from our owners of course... Having failed with that plan however, there's an alternative way to look at it. Pull the club back to a position where it doesn't haemorage money and it becomes a far more saleable proposition. yes, that includes sorting the Ricoh issue and yes, that includes pulling back the playing budget. In theory(!) however, that doesn't have to mean we slide and slide. I appreciate now is the wrong time to point this out
but our average crowds were third(?) highest in this division last season. By definition, if all is equal, that gives us a competitive advantage over most teams in this division, as that competitive advantage comes, gates rise, and so on... but to take advantage of these gates, like it or not you need what goes with it, else you're fighting with the teams who have the lowest average gates, but with the expectation from fans of a playing budget befitting the average attendance. That just doesn't work, and so you cut the budget, the team slips, gates slide... we're back to that ever decreasing circle. The way out of that is to do something so you hold that natural competitive advantage again.
What a ground also gives you is an asset on the books, which can raise your sale price. own nothing, and nobody will buy you apart from... somebody like SISU. And if it's selling from SISU to SISU Mk 2 that's going to delay the inevitable.
(Now of course is the time for the Frankie Muniz/Brian McFadden/Eddie Jordan dream team to come forward!)
It then depends what you want from a club. take away the Northants issue (yes, yes I know!) but certain things around this club buy into what I want my club to be! In my formative years I remember reading an article in Shoot! by Mark Hately, said he joined Coventry as a youth because they were known for being friendly, known for giving players a chance. This was my identity with the team, and this is something that has slowly come back. Amongst all the shit, one of the surprising things to me is that SISU have kept (and seem willing to keep) funding the academy. If I were a ruthless investment fund looking to turn the club around quickly, it'd have been one of the first things I'd have culled! An academy only pays its way over time, if you're lucky, so the expense of keeping it open probably doesn't look good on the balance sheet short term, especially as players from it have no monetary value as assets on the books. the fact it's still here (and they make moves to repair damage with the Higgs Centre rather than winding it up) does hint at a long term commitment. Surprising, but true.
But... that has to be funded too. What I'd assume, reducing it to base finances, is they'd aim for an upscaling of Crewe, where the occasional player sale funds the costs. Where that fits into an investment fund like SISU I do find curious and yes, this is the question I'd like nswering as although it's logical, and a reasonable approach for a football club it doesn't tally with what I'd expect from them. maybe I'm wrong? Maybe they are in it for the long haul, it'd be nice to have it explained how it benefits them to be in it for the long haul however. I can see why it's possibly bad form to explain why our club benefits them, but it might be useful in this instance, as not explaining gives rise to worst case scenario.
Anyway, I've rambled and digressed
but increasing income streams isn't surprising in a grand scheme of how to make a club profitable. Won't make the difference by itself of course, you also need to cut costs elsewhere (wages!) and long term that's where an academy comes in useful of course.
I'd argue the club can get to a position where it's competitive, and solvent. Question is, would the fans be happy with this, or would they demand some cash spunked on players to give it a go? Another formative memory is we'd just sacked Don Mackay, narrowly survived under Curtis and Sillett, and people were writing into the paper complaining we weren't trying to sign Bryan Robson! Bearing in mind he was England captain and playing for the richest club in England, not surprising!What we've been hamstrung by, for years, is the ratcheting up of debt and selling off of assets means we have no way to sink naturally to our base level, where we're set to sink to is far below that... but fan expectation has delivered us an unholy mess of trying to compete 'at our level' in a cut price way. So we get our big name player, shame it's Tim Sherwood!
I'd rather have an ambitious but realistic club myself than one determined to push itself over the brink, surely the past few years have taught us that?
Whether that tallies with the reason for SISU to exist here I'm not convinced, but for whatever reason they are making noises in that respect. The proof will, of course, be in the pudding. What I can say is it's their responsibility to deliver the tangible evidence to back up their rhetoric. I'd be open minded enough however that if they do (as per the academy still being here) to accept my assumptions were wrong. Stay in the entrenched position at all costs and that buys into the entire rhetoric around this, where the financial protagonists are indeed all entrenched!
I suspect I've digressed, but I'm bored myself now and can't be bothered to delete this having written it