Tommy the quote of funds is this issue. Thorn admitted that with the line "the difference is that the ones who are playing in the reserves in top-flight clubs earn quite a lot of money" meaning we won't bring in becasue we cant afford. As Vailant points out, we were promised same budget as last year. We haven't. Simple. Why can't the board admit that instead of getting fans hope up?
That is why we want SISU out. They tell us what we want to hear not the truth.
Yes good point - I registered this quote and I was alluding to it when I said that Thorn is limiting his options by looking at experienced players, largely because of wages.
What I was doing was deconflicting the 2 issues:
- we can't sign players we can't afford (rightly or wrongly)
- we shouldn't sign those players who won't improve the squad.
I probably don't agree that we were promised anything. Clouting did indeed say that Thorn would have the same budget. But one has to consider that circumstances change and therefore, Clouting didn't "lie" - rather the club changed direction and changed policy. A simple analogy would be promising your children a Play-Station 3 for Christmas and then being forced to buy a ZX-81 because of pay-cuts at work, something outside of your control.
The issue here is that SISU didn't
necessarily lie. The wider problem is that SISU and their intent has always been opaque. This has clouded the communication between SISU and the fans since day one. The best option would have not to make the statement in the first place.
But SISU are stuck, like most owners. Fans demand investment in the squad at every club. I would like to think we would appreciate honesty but I think there would have been anger if Clouting had said - "much reduced budget" or more accurately, "cock all budget".
Perhaps they did lie, perhaps they didn't. The essential truth is that there is no money at Coventry City and SISU aren't the people to throw money at a football club. That much was true when the takeover happened and it is certainly true now.