[Guest_freelander2_*]

Source: DT

Paul Cook’s first team has just two more scheduled pre-season games before they begin life in League One.

Leeds United (July 26) and Aston Villa (July 30) are scheduled to visit the Proact this month before Spireites’ first competitive match of the new campaign on Saturday August 9.

There is a possibility that an additional match may be squeezed in a week before the trip to Brisbane Road, but with squad numbers low, Cook has said he’s adapting training and the rest of the preparation for the game at Leyton Orient to reduce the chance of injuries.

As it stands today the Chesterfield boss won’t be able to fill his 18 match day spots with professional players.

Drew Talbot, Ollie Banks and Aaron Chapman are all likely to miss the trip to the East End so with just 20 players signed up and three of them, Jack Broadhead, Charlie Raglan and Charlie Dawes all without a league appearance, the squad looks worryingly threadbare.

Cook was hoping to get the green light after last week’s board meeting to sign more players but no such thumbs up was given, so it is looking like last season’s Championship winning boss will have to make do and mend with what he’s got.

The rationale behind the board’s reluctance to release more funds is the anticipated £0.5m plus loss for last season, primarily caused by less than budgeted crowds at both the football and the two summer concerts.

Reaching the final of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy plus winning the title may have brought in extra revenue but they also led to sizeable bonus payments being made.

Additionally the likes of Jay O’Shea, Dan Gardner, Tendayi Darikwa and Sam Morsy have signed improved deals since the end of last season, so there’s no remaining cash to aid squad building.

It’s believed that chairman Dave Allen had to increase his loans to the club this month to cover all expenses due despite the sale of in the region of 4000 season tickets this summer.

[Westbars Spireite]

Can we expect two or three fully funded season long loans from Premier League clubs?

[dim view]

freelander2, on 22 July 2014 - 05:48 AM, said:

The rationale behind the board’s reluctance to release more funds is the anticipated £0.5m plus loss for last season, primarily caused by less than budgeted crowds at both the football and the two summer concerts.

It’s believed that chairman Dave Allen had to increase his loans to the club this month to cover all expenses due despite the sale of in the region of 4000 season tickets this summer.

That unbudgeted £0.5m has been well spent though and will be seen in the future as a sound investment. He'll have to view the inability to cover it as self inflicted wounds though, as the concert format was his brainwave and it was him, and maybe only him, who insisted that TJ would be as big as Elton.

Directors have often had to cover costs during the summer months in the past. Even with the excellent cash flow from season tickets, there is not enough because other guaranteed revenues for example from the FL haven't been received yet. He'll soon get it back.

Not easy being a business tycoon is it.

[Bankrobber]

Westbars Spireite, on 22 July 2014 - 06:16 AM, said:

Can we expect two or three fully funded season long loans from Premier League clubs?

I think that's odds on. The YT lads will be fancying their chances for this season as well at this rate.

[Westbars Spireite]

Clubs like Chelsea send 20-30 players out on loan at any one time. We need to make sure we're at the front of the queue for any ready for league football.

[Bobby Darling]

dim view, on 22 July 2014 - 06:21 AM, said:

That unbudgeted £0.5m has been well spent though and will be seen in the future as a sound investment. He'll have to view the inability to cover it as self inflicted wounds though, as the concert format was his brainwave and it was him, and maybe only him, who insisted that TJ would be as big as Elton.

Directors have often had to cover costs during the summer months in the past. Even with the excellent cash flow from season tickets, there is not enough because other guaranteed revenues for example from the FL haven't been received yet. He'll soon get it back.

Not easy being a business tycoon is it.

TJ delivered more profit than Elton John although the latter's promotion was relatively risk free. The promoters got the Sunday concert all wrong. Pricing, lack of marketing etc.

[dim view]

Bobby Darling, on 22 July 2014 - 06:50 AM, said:

TJ delivered more profit than Elton John although the latter's promotion was relatively risk free. The promoters got the Sunday concert all wrong. Pricing, lack of marketing etc.

I think that's right. At the end of the day though, there were 4000 empty seats for TJ.

[60s 70s Spireite]

freelander2, on 22 July 2014 - 05:48 AM, said:

Source: DT

Paul Cook’s first team has just two more scheduled pre-season games before they begin life in League One.

Leeds United (July 26) and Aston Villa (July 30) are scheduled to visit the Proact this month before Spireites’ first competitive match of the new campaign on Saturday August 9.

There is a possibility that an additional match may be squeezed in a week before the trip to Brisbane Road, but with squad numbers low, Cook has said he’s adapting training and the rest of the preparation for the game at Leyton Orient to reduce the chance of injuries.

As it stands today the Chesterfield boss won’t be able to fill his 18 match day spots with professional players.

Drew Talbot, Ollie Banks and Aaron Chapman are all likely to miss the trip to the East End so with just 20 players signed up and three of them, Jack Broadhead, Charlie Raglan and Charlie Dawes all without a league appearance, the squad looks worryingly threadbare.

Cook was hoping to get the green light after last week’s board meeting to sign more players but no such thumbs up was given, so it is looking like last season’s Championship winning boss will have to make do and mend with what he’s got.

The rationale behind the board’s reluctance to release more funds is the anticipated £0.5m plus loss for last season, primarily caused by less than budgeted crowds at both the football and the two summer concerts.

Reaching the final of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy plus winning the title may have brought in extra revenue but they also led to sizeable bonus payments being made.

Additionally the likes of Jay O’Shea, Dan Gardner, Tendayi Darikwa and Sam Morsy have signed improved deals since the end of last season, so there’s no remaining cash to aid squad building.

It’s believed that chairman Dave Allen had to increase his loans to the club this month to cover all expenses due despite the sale of in the region of 4000 season tickets this summer.

Asked on another thread, but why didn't the club insure against the contractural bonuses? Any 'what if' calculation would have revealed a dangerous shortfall that could have been covered by insurance. Or revealed the bonuses on offer were too weighted in the player's favour.

[martatcross]

Westbars Spireite, on 22 July 2014 - 06:40 AM, said:

Clubs like Chelsea send 20-30 players out on loan at any one time. We need to make sure we're at the front of the queue for any ready for league football.

Hasnt CT said that the club dont want to loan players due to cost. I would think someone if there are offers will be sold soon to fund squad players

[Jonno]

Can't be cheap reshuffling the backroom staff as DA has done. No one can say that he hasn't supported Cooky. We have more depth on the bench than ever before. Probably more than most League One clubs. The problem now is that if PC spits his dummy out and leaves, then all that restructuring could prove worthless.

[charleyfarley11]

i think we can expect one or two new trialists for the game against leeds on saturday. i for one am looking forward to it , despite the impending doom!!

The loan market looks like our only option now.

[dim view]

60s 70s Spireite, on 22 July 2014 - 07:13 AM, said:

Asked on another thread, but why didn't the club insure against the contractural bonuses? Any 'what if' calculation would have revealed a dangerous shortfall that could have been covered by insurance. Or revealed the bonuses on offer were too weighted in the player's favour.

I heard that all the permanent staff at the Proact got bonuses.

[Westbars Spireite]

martatcross, on 22 July 2014 - 07:16 AM, said:

Hasnt CT said that the club dont want to loan players due to cost. I would think someone if there are offers will be sold soon to fund squad players

Some cost more than others. We have to be looking at 18/19yo players from Premier League clubs who'll cost little to nowt. Time for forgetting about what we can't do and start doing what we can.

[lindo-spireite]

60s 70s Spireite, on 22 July 2014 - 07:13 AM, said:

Asked on another thread, but why didn't the club insure against the contractural bonuses? Any 'what if' calculation would have revealed a dangerous shortfall that could have been covered by insurance. Or revealed the bonuses on offer were too weighted in the player's favour.

Bet that insurance is cheap as chips, each player got 20k apart from Gardner who got 10k

Yeah in hindsight you can argue it would've been worth it, but it would've been a massive gamble.

[60s 70s Spireite]

lindo-spireite, on 22 July 2014 - 07:26 AM, said:

Bet that insurance is cheap as chips, each player got 20k apart from Gardner who got 10k

Yeah in hindsight you can argue it would've been worth it, but it would've been a massive gamble.

If that is the case didn't need hindsight to work out such bonuses weren't affordable. In any event we were one of the favourites. They could also have covered a percentage of the bonuses via insurance.

[martatcross]

Westbars Spireite, on 22 July 2014 - 07:24 AM, said:

Some cost more than others. We have to be looking at 18/19yo players from Premier League clubs who'll cost little to nowt. Time for forgetting about what we can't do and start doing what we can.

I agree but the club are reluctant to take on loans due to cost. No more money in the budget someone needs to sort out what they are doing. Then at least PC will know his options

[Ernie Ernie Ernie]

60s 70s Spireite, on 22 July 2014 - 07:13 AM, said:

Asked on another thread, but why didn't the club insure against the contractural bonuses? Any 'what if' calculation would have revealed a dangerous shortfall that could have been covered by insurance. Or revealed the bonuses on offer were too weighted in the player's favour.

At least we shouldn't be involved with match fixing at Wembley. We could have paid the ref off to lose lol

[Guest_freelander2_*]

dim view, on 22 July 2014 - 07:21 AM, said:

I heard that all the permanent staff at the Proact got bonuses.

Crikey.

Good bonus schemes not only take into account individual performance but also tangible factors relating to the business, such as turnover, profitability, bad debt, liquidity, net worth, etc.

Mindful of the current financial situation, should the Club be paying bonuses?

[Rodney's Moustache]

Jonno, on 22 July 2014 - 07:19 AM, said:

Can't be cheap reshuffling the backroom staff as DA has done. No one can say that he hasn't supported Cooky. We have more depth on the bench than ever before. Probably more than most League One clubs. The problem now is that if PC spits his dummy out and leaves, then all that restructuring could prove worthless.

How can you say we have more depth when we are cutting back trainining to avoid injuries and we have a threadbare squad that's struggling to fill the 18 spaces and DA has cut the budget for this season and we have made only one summer signing Jones that could be considered to be anywhere near a firsteamer.Another point on this thread CT has said quite clearly there are to be no loans this season as it cost us 300k last time round.

[Westbars Spireite]

martatcross, on 22 July 2014 - 07:35 AM, said:

I agree but the club are reluctant to take on loans due to cost. No more money in the budget someone needs to sort out what they are doing. Then at least PC will know his options

Some would cost almost nothing.