18 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

This narrative that Clearlake are trigger happy is a wild one

I know, the way people bang on you'd think we'd had 5 different managers in a calendar year or something.

16 hours ago, forbzy said:

The strategy feels a little similar to baseball where young prospects are brought in and then sent out to develop in a B (or farm) team. In our case Strasbourg. But usually a lot of these prospects don't develop into major players and then traded or leave the game. I imagine a decent % of our young players will not fulfil their potential and will never play for the first team. Question in that case is whether we still make a profit on those players? e.g. loan fees, sell on assuming another team is interested. Under Roman we had a lot of these prospects too but FFP wasn't under the same scrutiny then.

We have done this for years though through our academy network.

The difference now is that we are casting the net wider and bringing these kids in from farther afield. I suppose it's hitting the headlines a) because it fits the media narrative and B) the figures we are paying.

Note that whenever the media announce these signing they quote the fees in Euros. Why when we have bought an 18 year old kid from Brazil. We've not paid in euros. But its a bigger number and has more impact for the narrative.

I have not seen this intensity of media coverage before for clubs bringing in players effectively for loan or their development squad. Undoubtedly it is because of the numbers being quoted.

The concern for me is something that I am only just starting to see come out in the press. We have an Academy of players graduating every year. With these numbers of additions at this age group, what is to become of our graduating scholars. Did our award winning, critically acclaimed academy set up suddenly turn to sh*t when the likes of Jody Morris and Joe Edwards moved on. If so, how and why did we let such a profitable model fall into such disrepair?

4 hours ago, WhiteWall said:

Did our award winning, critically acclaimed academy set up suddenly turn to sh*t when the likes of Jody Morris and Joe Edwards moved on. If so, how and why did we let such a profitable model fall into such disrepair?

We've literally just given 4 Cobhamites a first team squad number for 23/24 : Colwill, Maatsen, Burstow and Bergstrom. Plus Humphreys was on the bench for West Ham as well.

Sounds pretty good to me !

The current development squad is about 90% British as well. Moreira (Portugal), Bergstrom and Taurianinen (Finland) are the only 3 overseas development players out of the 29 U-21s currently listed on the web site

 

6 hours ago, Gonoir Beniashile said:

I know, the way people bang on you'd think we'd had 5 different managers in a calendar year or something.

Potter genuinely only got sacked until he solidified our place as a bottom half club. 

Clearlake have got a long wrong but I don't believe they will be trigger happy once the consensus manager is in place, which is Poch. 

Edited August 25, 20232 yr by Sconnie Blue

1 hour ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Potter genuinely only got sacked until he solidified our place as a bottom half club. 

Clearlake have got a long wrong but I don't believe they will be trigger happy once the consensus manager is in place, which is Poch. 

Pochettino's only got this season and next on his contract. I have no doubts they'll consider sacking him if we fall behind in the Top 4 race, contract very much suggest he's a "deliver now" appointment.

Potter comparatively was contracted until 2027 and was clearly the owners pet project and he was still sacked.

Owners have learned a lot since Potter's long-term contract.

Pochettino's contract is for 2 years plus an option.

1 hour ago, OriginalS said:

Pochettino's only got this season and next on his contract. I have no doubts they'll consider sacking him if we fall behind in the Top 4 race, contract very much suggest he's a "deliver now" appointment.

Potter comparatively was contracted until 2027 and was clearly the owners pet project and he was still sacked.

Which is crazy when you think about it. They have given him a squad of kids. With the players Abramovich bought between 2003-2012, I think his demands of winning titles was a much more realistic task than finishing in the top 4 with a bunch of kids in two years.

2 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

Which is crazy when you think about it. They have given him a squad of kids. With the players Abramovich bought between 2003-2012, I think his demands of winning titles was a much more realistic task than finishing in the top 4 with a bunch of kids in two years.

Except Poch isn't on a "deliver now" contract. Two years plus an option. 

3 hours ago, OriginalS said:

Pochettino's only got this season and next on his contract. I have no doubts they'll consider sacking him if we fall behind in the Top 4 race, contract very much suggest he's a "deliver now" appointment.

Potter comparatively was contracted until 2027 and was clearly the owners pet project and he was still sacked.

I hope not.  Top 8 should be considered decently successful considering the age of the squad.  The squad is too young to realistically compete for a top 4 spot.  Especially when the competition in the league is even deeper than before.  

A word of praise in appreciation of the huge improvements in content on the club website, app and social media in general since Clearlake took over.

In particular, it's brilliant to be able to watch a full match via the website the day after the game. 

On 26/08/2023 at 00:32, Scott Harris said:

Which is crazy when you think about it. They have given him a squad of kids. With the players Abramovich bought between 2003-2012, I think his demands of winning titles was a much more realistic task than finishing in the top 4 with a bunch of kids in two years.

It’s not really crazy when you look at the whole context. Clearlake is avoiding a repeat of Potter. Poch will develop and create the framework, they’ll probably renew if results are good/moving towards a better future. No more of the job security allowing managers to rotate the lineup 13 times in 10 games

Clearlake is doing a solid job imo. Cleared out last season’s redundancies fairly quick, updated a lot of IT work and refreshed the squad. I have some issues with the money being spent but I’ll leave it to the club’s accountants, lawyers etc to solve that.

Only big issue right now is the medical and rehab staff either needs to be scrutinized, changed or something because the amount of injuries we have had the past 5 years is rivalling Arsenal 2006-2015. 

Player acquisition needs to be kept in check somewhat as well. I get that Clearlake is stockpiling because of them trying to purchase other teams and using these other branches as a way to circulate the talent pool but I just hope we don’t buy every kid/up and comer too fast that risks our relationships with other clubs. Don’t want clubs asking for 100m on every transfer

On 26/08/2023 at 09:11, Sexyfootball said:

A word of praise in appreciation of the huge improvements in content on the club website, app and social media in general since Clearlake took over.

In particular, it's brilliant to be able to watch a full match via the website the day after the game. 

Apparently its one of the things the new lot prioritised when they first arrived, they were shocked to see how poor it all was.

 

On 25/08/2023 at 16:16, OriginalS said:

Pochettino's only got this season and next on his contract. I have no doubts they'll consider sacking him if we fall behind in the Top 4 race, contract very much suggest he's a "deliver now" appointment.

Potter comparatively was contracted until 2027 and was clearly the owners pet project and he was still sacked.

There is a big assumption there that being that the length of contract was the clubs choice where for all we know it could have been the manager’s preference 

On 25/08/2023 at 14:34, Sconnie Blue said:

Potter genuinely only got sacked until he solidified our place as a bottom half club. 

Clearlake have got a long wrong but I don't believe they will be trigger happy once the consensus manager is in place, which is Poch. 

Yeah, I think you're right. 

Hated the sacking of Tuchel but I think there had to have been something going on behind the scenes for a sacking like that to happen. I wish they were more trigger happy with Potter, how that man stayed in the job for that long is a miracle. 

If they showed Potter that much patience, then I can't see them being trigger happy with Poch. 

Private Eye reports that the money from the sale of our club that was supposed to go to charities for the benefit of victims of the war have been frozen due to a dispute over who counts as victims and whether funds can be spent outside Ukraine.

So all that rush to sell our club and not a penny has gone to help victims.

 

 

YouTuber HITC Sevens has made a video on Todd Boehly and Clearlake's investment strategy. It's a bit of a hit piece, but also is a decent explainer on Blueco's intentions for the club and why they seem so keen to splash the cash as much and as soon as possible.

Although, it is eerily similar to something I posted back in May...

Edited August 28, 20232 yr by SydneyChelsea

But isn't that the goal of any owner in world football? FSG, Glazers, Kroenke, Al-Khelafi, etc, etc will all be looking at a ROI considering they view their club as an appreciating asset. 

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-12450549/Strasbourg-fans-protest-against-multi-club-ownership-win-Toulouse-Chelsea-chairman-Todd-Boehly-bought-majority-stake-Ligue-1-outfit.html

 

The club have announced that it is to stop the subsidised £10 away coach travel as it is " financially unsustainable" 

Good to see we trimming costs to comply with any potential FFP issues..

On 28/08/2023 at 22:33, Sconnie Blue said:

But isn't that the goal of any owner in world football? FSG, Glazers, Kroenke, Al-Khelafi, etc, etc will all be looking at a ROI considering they view their club as an appreciating asset. 

 

The goal may be the same, but the methods are radically different.

For CFG, PIF and Al-Khelaifi, financial sustainability is only a means to an end which is ultimately sportswashing. Football investment is a vehicle for them to drive political influence around the world, especially in Europe. To do so, they need to also comply as much as possible with the culture and rules of the establishment they so desperately want to join. That doesn't mean they won't break the rules, but they will do whatever they can to give the appearance of complying. The monetary value of the club is not as important as the cultural clout success brings.

FSG and the Glazers are not blitzscaling. They were bought using a traditional private equity model; in FSG's case they bought Liverpool for cheap, a relatively de-valued asset following the Gillett/Hicks years and invested to bring it back to where it should be. Given Liverpool's "brand" and following around the world they are merely returning the club to where it should be commercially rather than actually improving it. The Glazers have a completely different model in that they bought an already-profitable asset with huge amounts of debt and at best, have kept it running. The Glazers profit from the revenue of the club, which is largely unchanged, rather than the asset value.

Blueco's strategy is different, as outlined in the video and many others on 'blitzscaling'. For Boehly and other investors who made their fortunes during technology booms, their investment strategy hinges on breaking the existing paradigm to prioritise growth over anything else. All they care about is the paper value of the club; the financials, revenue, even trophy success are all just possible means to an end. All they care about is that in ten years, some geek at Forbes gives them a valuation number that is higher than what they spent to acquire the club. 

Blitzscaling is a risky strategy because it is essentially a pyramid scheme. The way it works is by appealing to investor FOMO; for investors who cut their teeth during technology and cryptocurrency bubbles, and faced no material consequences from the GFC, they have no frame of reference for investment failure and consequently have an enduring assumption that the market will always return a profit. Everyone either wants to make up for the fact they missed out on Apple/Amazon/Netflix or wants to make sure they get on the ground floor for the next one. 

Blitzscaling works because it prioritises the indicators that these investors are looking for, and so creates a feedback loop and investment frenzy when it comes together. It is a stunning exercise in confirmation bias. These investors aren't looking for profitability or sound financial fundamentals, they're looking for speed for growth and market share. The earliest adopting, fastest growing bird gets the biggest worm, so to speak.

But, as @Dean has written in this thread already, this strategy is unlikely to work because football, unlike Wall St, is actually relatively highly regulated, and the world is no longer in the era of low interest rates and endless cheap money for asset-rich people to use. And if it does work, it will almost certainly be at the expense of the long-term profitability, reputation and integrity of the club or sport as a whole.

Edited August 30, 20232 yr by SydneyChelsea

13 hours ago, The Rising Sun said:

The club have announced that it is to stop the subsidised £10 away coach travel as it is " financially unsustainable" 

Good to see we trimming costs to comply with any potential FFP issues..

I see Cath is on the warpath re this.

The goal of any football owner is profit and success. That's what it is. Daniel Levy at Tottenham will tell you that's what it is.

I really appreciate our owners this summer. They were excellent this summer. They didn't make much noise, they did so well. We got very good players.

For Cole Palmer, I'm sure a lot of work will go into convincing City to sell him to us. We knew the player is good, he will not want to stay on the bench at City, so we convinced him he will have a better chance with us. 

Once a player pushes to leave a club, the club may want to sell him, I think that was the case with City. Moreso we paid a lot of money, and we didn't allow people to know about our businesses.

If people had known about it, maybe many people would have liked to stop it. 

Excellent work by our owners, no excuse to the team now to do well, and even if the owners don't do anything again at Chelsea, they have tried.

5 hours ago, Fruit Bat said:

I see Cath is on the warpath re this

f**king hell they better not get in her way !

22 minutes ago, The Rising Sun said:

f**king hell they better not get in her way !

Hell hath no fury like Cath with a strop on.....