As it is, both outcomes are entirely plausible. It appears that we will make the playoffs, but what happens next?
According to’sources’, the club is £90 million in debt, but Mark Anastassio is covering it as a private, not public, issue. Regardless, that’s a lot of money, but hey, postseason promotion is worth billions.
At the very least, enough to theoretically satisfy the debt while also leaving some money for spending. It is unclear how much money will be spent, but let us assume £50 million. That may just about get you a trio of proven Premier League performances, but it’s clear to everyone that this club will require more than three imports if it goes up.
Would Mark A open the chequebook, like Nottingham Forest did, and spend a lot, risking breaching every financial sustainability rule in the book? (If you still finish outside of the bottom three after a point deduction, it’s a win-win situation).
I don’t believe he would, therefore we’re crossing our fingers and hope David Wagner can keep the team up for the first season – in other words, do a Huddersfield – before investing in the second season knowing that a further £120 million is on the way.
If we are promoted but do not invest, the most likely conclusion is another season of resignation followed by relegation. However, the majority of the debt needs be paid off before parachute money may be used to fund a new attempt to return to the Promised Land.
The second possibility is to fail to advance to the playoffs, which would result in Championship football but no huge money. If this is the case, we should expect a summer of churn, with Josh Sargent, Gabi Sara, and Jon Rowe (and possibly others) receiving offers that are simply too good to pass up.
We’ve read this book before.
However, the churn could include more than simply players. Mr Wagner’s failure to lead the club to victory could be the determining factor for Mr Knapper, who may chose to replace his head coach. If that happens, it will be a question of who comes in and when, as well as whether any recruitment takes place before a new coach is appointed.
On that score, it could be a hectic couple of months!
So do we want to go up? Yes, please. We want to play against the best. Even if we can’t afford to get in the playing staff that gives us a fighting chance of staying up.
Failure to grow will lead to increased debt and loss of key people, who will be replaced by others. Who knows.
We have attracted a number of underperforming players while in the Premier League, but they are often of greater quality than players who can be recruited into an ambitious Championship team – Ricky van Wolfswinkle, Christos Tzolis, and Marcus Normann, to mention a few.
So, I conclude that we can’t afford to be advertised with our current financial strategy, but we also can’t afford not to be promoted.
