TopCat

The Dalrada sponsorship unfortunately seems to have done more harm than good overall. The rumours of very late sponsorship payments last season sound like they must've been true. There's a chance another major donor might fall out of the sky, but it looks like we'll need to take a horrible season on the chin and plan for a leaner, more organised setup in League 1.

How much more money do you think we need in order to be competitive in your opinion? Reference to the huge losses and director loans reported in recent seasons by Ayr, Raith, Partick, Queens Park, Dunfermline, Inverness and Hamilton would be appreciated.

Other clubs have in this division have far superior match day hospitality offerings, function suites and better community facilities for hire than we do. Using MCT and Estrella funds to do something about this, given the fact our main stand will inevitably keel over at some point, isn't a pipe dream.

Ok, i'll have one more go. What level of published detail do you think the club should go into to demonstrate an assumed lack of success in obtaining new sponsorship? And what value of new annual income do you think represents a decent proportion and would allow us to compete?

We'd need a ballpark £750k a season to draw level with other championship clubs on overall budget. This gap is made up of: 1) colossal, unsustainable annual losses being posted by a number of clubs; 2) wealthy individuals donating money (others have them, we currently don't); 3) others having bigger crowds, better matchday revenue streams and larger, more experienced admin teams and lower maintenance burdens than we have. The first point is broadly unacceptable to most, the second one is what you're fantasising about without basis (and wouldn't actually plug the gap to the extent you want unless we found someone really filthy rich) and the third is what's being addressed in the Estrella deal.

I think he's being a bit cute with his comments. There's a big difference between "I can only do what I can with what I have at the moment", i.e. its only July and we won't have a full squad until the end of the window, and there being no budget left.

It'll be 2036 and folk will still be droning on about the Easdales as if they're a white knight the club has scorned. This whole thread has been a moan about a lack of external investment, when the club are actively progressing a 35% sale of shares at a price massively above their actual value. The reason the playing budget looks so pathetic this season is because our last external investor, Dalrada, inflated it in an uncontrolled manner and then popped the balloon.

Panic button time. He needs to go.

I'd also argue that the standard of players in the bottom 6/championship/top half of league 1 has dropped dramatically in the last 10 years or so, partly due to the EPL talent drain. A hybrid model wouldn't be a big departure from where we currently stand. Racking up £500k+ annual losses under a sugar daddy chairman just to match Raith, Dunfermline, Partick and Ayr for spending isn't going to allow us to pull ahead of them on the park. Dalrada proved this very recently. The Estrella deal, break-even budgets and gradual stadium improvement is a sensible plan and we should stick to it.

Never mind that the club has had its longest sustained period of 2nd-tier football and financial solvency since the 90s, or the fact that a well-publicised outside investment deal is already in progress. No, what's needed is a sell-out to Greenock's only prominent business family and premier focus of small-town gangster soap opera speculation. Especially after they were so competent with Rangers and our previous 3 private owners were such a fairytale success.

Agreed. Linlithgow Rose probably have a League 2-ish squad (they would've had a decent chance of promotion if they held the proper licences), but are we really such a sorry state that we shouldn't be dealing with them as a matter of course? We started the game with 3/4 of last seasons defence, plus another 4 players with loads of Championship/Premiership experience. Well organised sides from several steps down the pyramid shouldnt be getting near us.

Robertson, Brophy and Moore are 'free' players, with 2026/27 wages paid for by Dalrada. They might not be particularly great, but releasing them isn't something a club in our financial position should be doing lightly. Kian Taylor appears to be signing for Airdrie after scoring as a trialist against Dundee yesterday.

Another season of not taking preparation for the league cup group stage seriously enough and putting a bigdent in the budget. Still early days, but some of the new lads look absolutely hopeless.

I've never been convinced that a manager constantly screaming at the players from the touchline achieves much. Its hard to read too much into a game like that but we still look desperately short of quality up front.

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/sport/football/5442714/dunfermline-athletic-post-huge-1-7m-losses-but-move-to-reassure-fans-over-park-bench-ownership-and-debt/ Nearly £2.7m lost over 2 years and nothing to show for it except 3 managers, a cup run and a fat Victor Wanyama.