Harry Cardwell

[kentblues]

Looking at it from a financial stand point, we signed him for around 20k, he has had one good season and could sell him for 120k.

That is how you become more sustainable.

It’s not really this size of transaction that moves the dial- we would need to sell 14 Cardwells every season just to make up for the lost EFL money if we stayed in the NL. Sustainability in the NL is a pipe dream unless we completely gut the club of overhead (replace FT staff with volunteers, at least some PT playing staff etc). Even then you might struggle to reduce costs quick enough to cover declining ticket sales. I’m sure there is no 5 year plan that involves us staying in the NL…

 

[Bearded Shrimper]

I'd take £10 mill for him, can't argue with that.
at the end of the day this is the model, we buy off teams below and sell to teams higher up. i hope this transfer doesn't happen, but if it does I wish him all the best. but bloody hell we need a replacement and some numbers in

 

[leeblue]

Our model should absolutely be selling players for decent profit however tiny release clauses scupper the model.
120k for example is laughable in the grand scheme of things.

 

[Supershrimper]

Our model should absolutely be selling players for decent profit however tiny release clauses scupper the model.
120k for example is laughable in the grand scheme of things.

Might have been the only way we could get him to sign a contract. His contract was up in the summer.

 

[MisterStubbs]

Whilst I absolutely understand the need for the model we are following, selling to a club who are also trying to get out of this poxy league as well for such a nominal fee makes no sense. It sets us back. Will Kev be given any of that money to bring in a replacement? It’s a poor sale from the clubs point of view.

 

[Westcliff Shrimper]

And the reason we can’t compete is because of all the dept left behind by the previous owner. Apparently every week more depts we’re found. Every draw in the buildings had unpaid bills. We should be so grateful to still have a football club to support. It’s going to be a slow process to pay our depts and get the team up the pyramid. Patience and good luck is what we need. What we don’t need IMO is the support turning on the consortium, management and players five games into a new season.

This. Am sure there are things still in the woodwork to come out; 25 years of Ratty gutting the club won't be sorted overnight.

 

[SeldomSeenShrimper]

Sign a player for £20k ... Sell him for £120k

Good bit of business

Continue to do this with every start we have for the next 5 years whilst staying in the NL

Bad business

I'm intrigued as to what COSU's plan is tbh, as £100k profit for your star player vs promotion is a no-brainer. We stand to make more money by hanging on to him IF the plan is to try and go up.

It would be nice to hear from COSU and hear what our objectives are as some fans think we are gunning for promotion, others (like me) think we are settling the ship and a vast majority just want to enjoy their football and watch us play well.

We have the largest fan base in the league, and those numbers are at risk if a portion of fans start to get disenfranchised with everything

 

[Blues4LifeDan]

Looking at it from a financial stand point, we signed him for around 20k, he has had one good season and could sell him for 120k.

That is how you become more sustainable.

I do get what you're saying and it is true that's the path we are going down and rightly so. However, because we are still transitioning and are still stabilising, this will hurt massively. If we had a full squad in place, with 4 strikers in a squad (Cardwell would be one) and he left, we would then only have to replace him. At the moment, the squad depth is an absolute mess and he is an integral part to that incredibly thin squad and how we play.

Also, 120k won't get you bugger all at this level, no one could emulate Cardwell's influence for that price. He is only going for that low fee as it was probably the only way to get him to sign a new contract. We don't know how much Chorley will get from it either and I doubt COSU would invest all of it into a new player. You're then looking to try and get a new Cardwell for 50kish, no chance! That's without trying to get the other striker we were already trying to get. Tough times indeed, but we just have to ride it out.

 

[SeldomSeenShrimper]

I do get what you're saying and it is true that's the path we are going down and rightly so. However, because we are still transitioning and are still stabilising, this will hurt massively. If we had a full squad in place, with 4 strikers in a squad (Cardwell would be one) and he left, we would then only have to replace him. At the moment, the squad depth is an absolute mess and he is an integral part to that incredibly thin squad and how we play.

Also, 120k won't get you bugger all at this level, no one could emulate Cardwell's influence for that price. He is only going for that low fee as it was probably the only way to get him to sign a new contract. We don't know how much Chorley will get from it either and I doubt COSU would invest all of it into a new player. You're then looking to try and get a new Cardwell for 50kish, no chance! That's without trying to get the other striker we were already trying to get. Tough times indeed, but we just have to ride it out.

Not true ... that is still a huge amount of money ...

However, The bit you won't like, is that money won't be spent on a player.

About £20-£50k might get reinvested if we have a specific target ... but that money will go back in to filling the Ron shaped hole

 

[Firestorm]

Sign a player for £20k ... Sell him for £120k

Good bit of business

Continue to do this with every start we have for the next 5 years whilst staying in the NL

Bad business

I'm intrigued as to what COSU's plan is tbh, as £100k profit for your star player vs promotion is a no-brainer. We stand to make more money by hanging on to him IF the plan is to try and go up.

It would be nice to hear from COSU and hear what our objectives are as some fans think we are gunning for promotion, others (like me) think we are settling the ship and a vast majority just want to enjoy their football and watch us play well.

We have the largest fan base in the league, and those numbers are at risk if a portion of fans start to get disenfranchised with everything

Given the limitations of the ground regarding increasing our attendances significantly vs increased cost for players / wages etc, are we actually likely to make a great deal of money going up ? We may even , after the initial euphoria, get lower attendances in lg 2

We do not have the money to speculate yet , we have to clear the debts first, then sort out the infrastructure to support addition income streams , before seeing how much we can put into developing the league status , if we are to avoid a repeat of the financial chaos that chasing the dream after back to back promotions got us.

 

[sufc_dave]

Don’t know why everyone is worrying. Stick GSM up top.

 

[Rob1920]

I would think we'd want the full £120k for Cardwell if that is indeed his buyout clause. FGR might have a few quid but will they really risk that much on a decent but not world beating, slightly injury-prone NL striker? Big gamble I'd say. If he was available for £50k / £75k then maybe but £120k is still quite a lot at this level.
That said, I'll repeat myself and say again, sooner or later COSU will have to up the budget on wages etc if we are going to attract and keep the sort of talent to get us out of this league.

 

[Jay_SUFC]

In terms of fan support in the National League we are second only to Oldham. In terms of budget though we are mid table at best. It is going to take time to restore Southend United to a position where clubs like FGR, Barnet and the like appear as minnows to us financially. Five years.

I undertand what you are saying, but it's a double edged sword. If we don't compete, we'll lose fans (albeit not all, but more fans bring in more income), however, on the other side, splashing money doesn't gaurantee success - lots of smaller teams have competed in this league.

It's a difficult balancing act and I'm just glad I'm not making the decisions!!

 

[overseas shrimper]

I undertand what you are saying, but it's a double edged sword. If we don't compete, we'll lose fans (albeit not all, but more fans bring in more income), however, on the other side, splashing money doesn't gaurantee success - lots of smaller teams have competed in this league.

It's a difficult balancing act and I'm just glad I'm not making the decisions!!

Me too.

 

[Magnum PI]

He won't go

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Sign a player for £20k ... Sell him for £120k

Good bit of business

Continue to do this with every start we have for the next 5 years whilst staying in the NL

Bad business

I'm intrigued as to what COSU's plan is tbh, as £100k profit for your star player vs promotion is a no-brainer. We stand to make more money by hanging on to him IF the plan is to try and go up.

It would be nice to hear from COSU and hear what our objectives are as some fans think we are gunning for promotion, others (like me) think we are settling the ship and a vast majority just want to enjoy their football and watch us play well.

We have the largest fan base in the league, and those numbers are at risk if a portion of fans start to get disenfranchised with everything

It’s probably not as good business as you think.

You buy a player for an initial £20k but that probably includes a sell on - let’s say 20% of any profit, so you need to give another £20k to Chorley.

The player hasn’t put in a transfer request so his signing bonus from his contract he signed earlier this year needs to be paid in full. Let’s say that’s another £20k.

You then need to replace your star striker. Let’s say that’s £40k in transfer fees and another £20k in signing on fees. That’s your £120k gone and you’re likely left with a weaker team.

 

[Mad Cyril]

Our model should absolutely be selling players for decent profit however tiny release clauses scupper the model.
120k for example is laughable in the grand scheme of things.

How many players do we sell for that sort of money?

 

[Blues4LifeDan]

It’s probably not as good business as you think.

You buy a player for an initial £20k but that probably includes a sell on - let’s say 20% of any profit, so you need to give another £20k to Chorley.

The player hasn’t put in a transfer request so his signing bonus from his contract he signed earlier this year needs to be paid in full. Let’s say that’s another £20k.

You then need to replace your star striker. Let’s say that’s £40k in transfer fees and another £20k in signing on fees. That’s your £120k gone and you’re likely left with a weaker team.

That was kind of my point when I said 120k doesn't get you a lot. It looks a lot on paper, but when you divide it up to all those factions, you're coming out weaker as a team and with hardly any profit as a club. I've not seen many players at this level who are as good as Cardwell at what he does. There are better goal scorers of course, but as a complete forward, he's going to be very hard to replace, especially at this point of the year.

 

[GIBBO]

Don’t know why everyone is worrying. Stick GSM up top.

This

 

[Roger The Alien]

Buy out clause of around £120k I’ve heard and can double or triple his wages. We stand no chance. They get crowds of less than 3000 yet we can’t compete with these teams.

Actually 1900 from their last home game @shrimperjon