Fan Advisory Board / RFC Leadership meeting

[Blue Moon 1,499]

Nothing new in it that we didn't know.

[Franc Ergs 1,766]

So, to summarise...we need better players , preferably ones that are less injury prone .

[Sutton_blows_goats 5,894]

15 hours ago, Rousseau said:

but there were three categories of players ('The recruitment strategy will continue to focus on a balance of core, investment, and impact players'), that would mix youth and experience.

I've probably banged on about this for long enough, but in terms of squad building you'd probably want to follow a general rule of:

 

Wages are illustrative as an example

• 6 key first-team players who start every game if fit at £25k per week (Butland, Tav, Cerny)

• 10 first-team players who rotate based on game style (e.g. beating the low block or playing against a team like Benfica) at £12k per week (Ridvan, Dujon, Soutter, Dio)

• 9 squad players/investment players at £6k per week (either players aged 21 and younger or experienced players like Balogun)

Total playing wage approx.:

• 6 players x £25k = £150k

• 10 players x £12k = £120k

• 9 players x £6k = £54k

Total weekly wage bill = £324k

For a year: Total annual wage bill = £324k per week x 52 weeks = £16,848,000 - Not including bonuses

 

Our playing staff wage bill 23/24 was an eye watering £34 Million (approx & bonuses included)

 

Of course its never going to work out exactly like that, use it as a rule of thumb though. But I think its sensible to assume that if your big 6 wages are being locked up by guys like Ben Davies, Rabbi Matondo, well then don't sign anymore players in that wage bracket? 

 

That's your 25 players. For European registration, you need 4 club-trained players (King, McCausland, Kelly, Rice) and 4 home-grown players (Barron, Soutter, Cameron for next season, and one more - Nsiala might count if he gets his 2 years before he turns 21, unless its 3 years for nation trained). This will allow us to use the full allocation.

 

I really don't think its that difficult if you have a structure and you follow it, and if the recruitment team can continue finding guys like Barron, Cameron, Igamane, Jefte and get the backing they need, it should be achievable to build a squad capable of challenging for the title.

[compo 7,589]

2 hours ago, Sutton_blows_goats said:

I've probably banged on about this for long enough, but in terms of squad building you'd probably want to follow a general rule of:

 

Wages are illustrative as an example

• 6 key first-team players who start every game if fit at £25k per week (Butland, Tav, Cerny)

• 10 first-team players who rotate based on game style (e.g. beating the low block or playing against a team like Benfica) at £12k per week (Ridvan, Dujon, Soutter, Dio)

• 9 squad players/investment players at £6k per week (either players aged 21 and younger or experienced players like Balogun)

Total playing wage approx.:

• 6 players x £25k = £150k

• 10 players x £12k = £120k

• 9 players x £6k = £54k

Total weekly wage bill = £324k

For a year: Total annual wage bill = £324k per week x 52 weeks = £16,848,000 - Not including bonuses

 

Our playing staff wage bill 23/24 was an eye watering £34 Million (approx & bonuses included)

 

Of course its never going to work out exactly like that, use it as a rule of thumb though. But I think its sensible to assume that if your big 6 wages are being locked up by guys like Ben Davies, Rabbi Matondo, well then don't sign anymore players in that wage bracket? 

 

That's your 25 players. For European registration, you need 4 club-trained players (King, McCausland, Kelly, Rice) and 4 home-grown players (Barron, Soutter, Cameron for next season, and one more - Nsiala might count if he gets his 2 years before he turns 21, unless its 3 years for nation trained). This will allow us to use the full allocation.

 

I really don't think its that difficult if you have a structure and you follow it, and if the recruitment team can continue finding guys like Barron, Cameron, Igamane, Jefte and get the backing they need, it should be achievable to build a squad capable of challenging for the title.

You’re taking it to far with bonuses 😅 you only get a bonus when you win something and we won’t be paying any this year or probably the next few years 

[Bluedell 5,832]

21 hours ago, alexscottislegend said:

I'm a little more encouraged by that, after all  the doom-mongering.

Agreed. It sounded positive. The major question now is whether they will follow through with their commitments.

[DMAA 3,703]

On 13/02/2025 at 21:26, Rousseau said:

I am happy with the approach, although I would agree we haven't quite got it right in terms of our core targets, as I said above. 

 

In fairness, I believe there were more immediate objectives (reducing wage bill, reducing squad age, etc.) that have taken priority this season, as NK outlined - part of the reason why I had written it off. 

 

I'm hopeful we'll see improvement in this area in the summer. 

Difficult to keep the faith that we are on the right track when we’ve spent the majority of our budget poorly yet again though. According to Transfermarkt we spent 7.2m euros on propper and Bajrami. Another £1.5m on a loan fee. That’s huge money for us. Large transfers in particular need to be on young players we back ourselves to develop, like the Red Bull model.