Saintandy666

And you have no available evidence to say that we won't be in the Premier League as is the plan.

The figures based on life in league 1... I'll be interested to see next years figures.

I still maintain if the Liebherr's left tomorrow, we would be fine, but if Abramovich left Chelsea tomorrow, they would go bust. We really are going round in circles here and neither of us is going to change the others mind!

I guess. Again though, we shall see particularly in next years accounts where we are in line with Cortese's ambitions.

Last accounts was in League 1. There's a whole world of difference between League 1 accounts and then this years and next years(if we stay in this league's accounts). Our strategy is very different to Chelsea's as another poster pointed out above.

Well, we shall see in the next 2-3 years how it pans out. Neither of us properly knows the figures beyond our league 1 days so we'll have to wait a few years to see.

It's a different kind of debt writing off though. The Liebherr's have provided structured investment of £34m(somewhere around there) so far to buy us and cancel our debts etc etc with the view to being sustainable. Next year, Chelsea would have been written off to the tune of £700m by Abramovich with no end in sight to the imbalance. As someone else said above, there is clearly a difference in our strategy from Chelsea.

I'm talking about being self sustaining, now... in the premier league. Not based on accounts from our league 1 era.

Investment(paying off debts/better business plan etc)/restructuring. We would not go bust if the Liebherr's left tomorrow although of course we wouldn't be in this position without the Liebherrs. Therefore, we can sustain ourselves. Chelsea would go bust if Abramovich left.

Nope.

There's a difference between talking and doing and their actions and our actions.

Correct. But because we are in different leagues and the fact our restructuring was not complete, it's irrelevant. There's a massive difference between league 1 and the Premier League as you well know. I'll be interested to see the figures for this year and then the next.

I'm getting bored of this argument now, I feel we're going round in circles. I think all the points have been covered on both sides and we both are obviously not going to change our minds on whether our strategy is like Chelsea's or not. So let's just agree to disagree.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/16824257 - c. each year £70m And it's ridiculous to compare turnover and loss figures from us in League 1/Championship to Chelsea in the Premiership. If our figures are anywhere near as bad as Chelsea's in the next few years(assuming we manage to stay up which is a big if), I will happily say you are right and worship the floor you walk on.

Cortese's method is way better than the shove a few hundred million at it on players method of Abramovich and co. It's unsustainable and leaves teams like Chelsea with staggering losses every year.

Not at all. That isn't what I have said at all, as long as it is part of a sustainable, gradual and sensible plan. That's the key, Abramovich doesn't appear to have that at all.

Our mix of a few first teamers/second side should have no problem with Sheffield Wednesday.

Yep, under the old set up, we weren't sustainable in the lower leagues. Though tbh, who is sustainable in the lower leagues?!

Not with their current set up! They are losing £70m a year. That would take a massive turnaround to cut that down to nothing quick enough.

How dare we make posts on the subject of the thread on an internet forum!

Thankyou, that's all I've been saying. And I have made a distinction between the Liebherrs(was it £34m??? Something around there) investment and Abramovich's investments already!

I dunno, plenty of clubs have managed to challenge for Europe in that time. Where did Cortese say 3 years? We are talking about 7th place right... that isn't TOO hard. 4th place is impossible to a club of our size. And yes, our expansion will need to be significantly funded by Premier League money plus a hefty amount of Liebherr money. But I already acknowledged that. What I was arguing is that we would be able to survive as a club with the Liebherr's whereas Chelsea could not survive without Abramovich, not in their current form.

This is probably true. Manchester United could probably manage it because they are an international brand, but very few others.

You're right on that, but I acknowledged this when I said expansion. And the model I was opposed to wasn't the careful, gradual well planned expansion of Cortese. His plan makes sure that at any point if the Liebherr's left we wouldn't be ****ed... Chelsea for example however, are completely reliant on Abromovichs millions, even now when he has been there for yonks. His plan seems to just be chuck loads of money at the club at once for expensive transfers. This isn't Cortese's style as we have found out by the number of collapsed transfers when other clubs got greedy. But the Liebherr's and Abromovich are different kinds of businessmen.

I reckon our second XI would have a good go at Promotion from the Championship tbh, especially the attacking force and midfield. We are a bit thin on defence, but Kelvin is a solid CHampionship Goalie and we know Fox and Richardson and Hooivelt can do a job in that league. Our Second XI would get absolutely killed in the Premier League though. Just goes to show the difference between us and say Man City whose second XI would probably have a decent go at the title!