You don’t know that , but as long as it’s been done in the best interest of the club at this time, that has to be the sensible option .
However I suspect the budget has been decent we have brought in a lot of rated lge 2 players over the last few seasons the fact few have been successful is more down to the football management than club management.
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History suggests that the budget is cut either directly or in real terms every year, Smith amongst others are on record as saying as much.
The clubs board, have also been in place for decades & clearly have the objective of turning a profit every year, whilst paying the rent. Nothing wrong with that if we are competitive, but we aren’t.
You only need to look at the number of key positions this season filled by loan players to understand our budgets limitations.
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Still say the budget is sufficient to produce a competitive team ,
Virtually every team in our league relies on loan players
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Most clubs rely on loans to plug gaps in a squad, we rely on loans to fill in key positions which then we know will most probably need filling again the following season. It’s no way to build a competitive side.
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But it’s one that meets the clubs only aim each year
But sadly that aim is one of scrambling safety only year in year out.
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The whole mindset of the club for thirty years has been ‘pay the rent’, because the owner was also the landlord.
Now the landlord has sold the club we need a change of mindset. I’m happy to allow that the whole Covid thing has fudged plans, but our new owner had better start delivering on more than the rent pretty fudging quickly now…
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Just for example Swindon have
Barry ,Davison, O’Brien,Cooper and Tomlinson on loan .
Wasn’t the Barnsley team who did us in the playoffs a couple of years ago full of loans? What’s more, I think some were added in the January because they were bombing before that.
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Sorry Dan but have to disagree with you there. If you are a loan club and have a promising youngster who isn’t quite ready for your first team you want to send him out to get as much game time as possible, not sitting on the bench as a squad player. To get decent quality loans in we will want them to be a part of our first team as would the club loaning them out.
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Yeah, they were flirtng until relegation until Jan, pumped the team with quality loans and shot up the table!
Dean Smith often used loans as a form of trial, ala Sawyers to get a look at local talent 6 months before they’d be released, or by adding in quality from City or United.
Clarke used loans to prove a point about his budget by taking on kids who’d never play, and hammering our reputation.
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That’s a fair point
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We’ve had an atrocious past with loan players up until Miller and Rushworth this season I seem to remember local clubs loaning us players under Clarke and some never got a match.It can only be beneficial to a club like ours to be seen as a club that will play loaned players the whole point is to be part of a players journey and improving that journey just like we have with Rushworth and Miller.The more we benefit other clubs youngsters the more clubs will be willing to let us have them.
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And let us have slightly more prestigious youngsters too!!
Absolutely
Good point, well made. Utilising the loan market successfully should be a key aim for us in the close season.
Exactly why Swindon gets decent players on loan, they’ve done it for years now. They always seem to have loanees from the prem sides.
And if course they pay some wages/fee instead of asking for a handout which we probably do.
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If they are sort of, accidentally, maybe owned by Gareth Barry (I have no idea what actually happened here!) then it might explain why they get some plum loanees like Louis Barry!