Manchester_sky_blue
Well-Known Member
Couldn't care less. There's our club and then there is everybody else.
Couldn't care less. There's our club and then there is everybody else.Am I the only person not bothered if he goes to Leicester or Southampton?
Wow twice and so then stopped paying. Great grown up business practice from council and SisuTwice wasn’t it? Didn’t Fletcher try it?
Leicester’s expected signing of James Maddison from Norwich is just the next step in the midfielder’s development. With the help of the player’s old academy boss at Coventry, Adam Bate finds out why Maddison’s rise to the Premier League is no surprise.
A fee in excess of £20m might seem like a gamble for an uncapped 21-year-old who has never played top-flight football, but gamble is not the word that springs to mind when assessing Maddison. His rise to the Premier League has seemed inevitable since long before he made his debut for Coventry City at the age of 17. Even as a boy he was a prodigious talent.
Richard Stevens has seen many hopefuls pass through the doors of the Alan Higgs Centre during his 11 years with the Sky Blues. As head of the club's academy, he takes great pride in the fact that Coventry have produced no fewer than 44 first-team players in that time. But he also makes no secret of the fact that Maddison was a bit different to the rest.
"Anyone would have spotted him," Stevens tells Sky Sports. "The opposition always did. I remember even when James was 15 and we used to go and play against Nottingham Forest, it would always be the first thing that they would ask me. 'Is he playing?' They were not the only ones. Everyone remembered James and they always spoke about him."
Back then, Maddison's dream was to play for the club that he had supported since he was a small child. As local as they come, he attended Richard Lee Primary School - literally up the road from Coventry's training ground - and lived just around the corner. Youth coaches are well accustomed to helping youngsters to mature but with Maddison there was little need.
"In the nine years that he was here with us, he was never a minute's problem," Stevens said. "There was never a behavioural issue and there was never a need for us to get him to work harder. He was a boy who just loved football. Nothing else mattered. Because of that, everything that has happened to him, you could foresee way back then."
It was the technique and the vision, the speed of thought and control. Unusually for a young player, it was the decision-making too. "He was always looking to make things happen but was never afraid to uncomplicated the game and play simple at the right times either," added his old coach. "He was the one who would do more and ignite games."
Maddison's first season in the first team ended with a last-minute winner against Crawley in the final game. His second season was marked by his sale to Norwich City with just hours of the winter transfer window remaining. Even though he was loaned back to Coventry for the rest of the campaign, fans were frustrated. Finances dictated the decision.
Speaking to then chief executive Chris Anderson at the time, it was clearly not an easy call. "I love James Maddison as much as the next fan so that was a decision fraught with emotion for the football club and one we thought long and hard about," he told Sky Sports. "I had it at home too." Even Anderson's son urged him not to sell the club's star midfielder.
It was a pity because Maddison was improving rapidly, learning on the field and off it. The coaching staff have fond memories of the bond that he quickly forged with former England midfielder Joe Cole during their time together. The youngster was eager to pick the brain of his experienced team-mate, anxious to pick up anything that he could.
There were times in the following season when Maddison himself might have wondered whether a mistake had been made in joining Norwich. The Championship was supposed to be the next natural step but instead he was loaned to Aberdeen. He returned in the January determined to earn a place in the Canaries side but Alex Neil made him wait for his chance.
The appointment of Daniel Farke at Carrow Road last summer was the catalyst for change. Belatedly entrusted with a key role in the team, Maddison shone just as so many had predicted. He soon emerged as the outstanding attacking midfielder in the Championship, creating more chances than anyone else in the competition last season.
"Every time I blink I see that he has got another man of the match award or another player of the month award," Stevens said with a smile. "That is what drives James, that feeling that he is the one who can capture the imagination of the fans. If you look at the Norwich players, they all look like they adore him. That is what he creates."
It will be more difficult to achieve that status at Leicester. It could take time for Maddison to establish himself as the creative hub with so many experienced Premier League players around him. But history would suggest that when presented with a barrier to his progress, this is a player who has the application and the ability to overcome it eventually.
"This next move will challenge him I am sure," Stevens said of Maddison's expected move to the King Power Stadium. "He is going into a team in the top half of the Premier League and that will be a big test for him because he will be around some pretty high class players. But whenever James has been pushed, he has found a way of adapting to it.
"When he was a 16-year-old he adapted to playing for the under-18s. When he was an 18-year-old he adapted to playing for the seniors here at Coventry. He went to Aberdeen and he adapted. He went to Norwich and he adapted. He went to play for the England U21s and he got man of the match on his debut. He just has this ability to take the next step."
Whatever happens, Maddison won't forget his roots. The Coventry connection is still strong. "He's been a shining light for this academy and we all keep in touch with him," Stevens added. "He came back recently and sat with the under-15s. It was not planned but they were around so he chatted to them for half an hour. All he wants to talk about is football."
It remains to be seen whether Maddison can justify the fee and continue his anticipated progress. But Leicester will not only acquire the services of a player who was among the best performers in the Championship last season, they have clearly got someone who has the appetite to achieve so much more. Maddison's rise is not over yet.
Look at it this way, Leicester will be helping to finance our success with a large chunk of money partly financed by their fans :happy:
Yes let’s and see what I said.
Quiz question
Who did you say “good riddance to shit” about?
We were in the play off places for virtually the entire season you drip.
Not true, but I guess it depends on your definition of 'virtually'. https://experimental361.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/2017-18-l2-days-in-pos.png
No your not.Am I the only person not bothered if he goes to Leicester or Southampton?
"Robins will not get a penny from Sisu. The club is being run on a self-sufficient basis."
The Maddison sale and sell on clause is CCFC business.
Im hoping SISU see that as part of us being self sufficient. Or am i being naive?
Ok, fair enough, my general point stands even if it was perhaps a little exaggerated!
We were in the play off positions for more of the season than we weren't. 174 days out of 274, 63% of the season
We were in the top 7 for 200 days, 72% of the season.
We certainly were not, as I believe AFC was trying to imply, struggling all season and only got in by virtue of a good run at the end.
MR told me that his player budget for 2018/2019 would be "heavily influenced" by Maddison leaving Norwich
Football didn't start in 1992
Ok, fair enough, my general point stands even if it was perhaps a little exaggerated!
We were in the play off positions for more of the season than we weren't. 174 days out of 274, 63% of the season
We were in the top 7 for 200 days, 72% of the season.
We certainly were not, as I believe AFC was trying to imply, struggling all season and only got in by virtue of a good run at the end.
Don`t think you are correct there Matesx
MR told me that his player budget for 2018/2019 would be "heavily influenced" by Maddison leaving Norwich
So, good news all round I would say,
Never said it was great business practice. They did ask, it got turned down.Wow twice and so then stopped paying. Great grown up business practice from council and Sisu
Callum Wilson next I believe, Everton apparently
Are all/any league 1 clubs admin fees 2-2.5 million? Genuine question. I don't know as I don't look at other clubs accounts. Seems ridiculously high for a league 1 club.No, they didn't. They show an administration cost which all clubs have, it's the club's running costs.
Thanks OSB, that exp!aims a lot to a layman like myself.I would largely agree with this, maybe not the figures quoted but they were only examples any way. The Principle is correct
Most clubs do not prepare their budgets on the expectation of cup success. It would be a nonsense because there is no real way of reaching a prudent figure. I would think that the EFL would also be questioning things if a club did include
All monies have to be paid to the club, in this case Otium. That means the cashflow of player transfers or anything else is applied to the operating cashflow of the club first. That means the owners can only withdraw funds once everything else has been cleared. If they didn't pay the bills as they fell due or by arrangement with the creditors then it could be argued that the club was trading insolvently or even fraudulently.
Administrative costs described in the accounts is a companies act title to a group of overheads paid out by a business. That would be things like rent, rates, insurance, depreciation, etc There is some detail in the Otium accounts in note 3. Accounting & Companies Act rules define the administration costs that must be disclosed - and it is not all costs. The term does not describe monies paid to SISU or to an Administrator
There is no evidence of SISU taking out more than they have put in over the last couple of years. In 2016 & 2017 they put in £500k each year in 2017 they took out £112k. The interest on the loans has not been drawn down but is accrued, increasing the liabilities of the club. Given the amount of interest owed why would they need to hide fees in other parts of the accounts? There would also need to be some detail in the notes of SBS&L
The current profitability or otherwise of the Club is entirely under the control of the current owners. That has no relationship to previous owners or even the early years. Otium started from zero in 2011. The majority of the debt and balance sheet deficit has been created by SISU
In the 2017 accounts it has accumulated P&L acc losses of 82.7m on the balance sheet, of that since 2011 there is 7.9m in interest that has been accrued not paid, 61m that relates to old CCFC Ltd & CCFC H historic debt that was transferred to Otium to create the preference shares that really (IMO) didn't really exist except in clever accounting, and further provisions of 8.6m relating to moving things around then writing off old amounts from the administration. Basically all legal but all paper transactions
Operating, Otium has made 6.2m losses since 2013/14 before interest
Final thought if Maddison is sold for 22m and we get 3.3m we can only use 60% of that next season. The amount recd could allow the accounts to show a positive, it could leave a cash surplus. That surplus could be applied to repaying some of the capital loans owed to the investors. That would improve the balance sheet and reduce future interest liabilities .......... and make a potential sale either more attractive to any one looking to buy in or a little easier to achieve. Would it be such a bad thing for the owners to pay back some of the loan capital if it makes the club more attractive to new owners?
The fee you're talking about doesn't exist.Are all/any league 1 clubs admin fees 2-2.5 million? Genuine question. I don't know as I don't look at other clubs accounts. Seems ridiculously high for a league 1 club.
Do you ever post anything without dropping in that you have a direct line to MR?
Have a look through the accounts threads...Are all/any league 1 clubs admin fees 2-2.5 million? Genuine question. I don't know as I don't look at other clubs accounts. Seems ridiculously high for a league 1 club.
I don't monitor your posts and it's in the last 3 I've seen!2,060 posts and mentioned it twice, so make your own mind up
Not usuallyNormally the percentage fee comes in after the initial fee from Norwich is deducted so if they paid £3m but sold him for the reported £22m we get whatever percent of £19mill
Actually found this quite interestingDon`t think you are correct there Matesx
MR told me that his player budget for 2018/2019 would be "heavily influenced" by Maddison leaving Norwich
So, good news all round I would say,
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