We had to bring money in to balance out FFP. We had been hamstrung for 6 years with the Garry Monk splurge and players like Britt and Fletcher sticking on our FFP calculation.
The Monk years will finally be off our FFP window this year, money will be invested.
This is not true. The Club were already within the FFP limit (of being able to lose £15m over the 3 years to 2022 without any Equity injection).
The sale of Tav and Spence will make them significantly safer for the 3 years to 2023.
The club are miles away from anything like FFP difficulties.
They will still of course be losing money in the real world in seasons they don't sell, but there are big FFP allowances and clubs are allowed to lose up to £15m across 3 years post allowances, or £39m if there is any equity injection.
This move towards selling stars and buying potential appears to mean Gibson is reluctant to invest for promotion (to step change revenue), and wants to minimise how much he loans to shore up losses.
His Group is owed over £140m, so you can certainly see why he doesn't want further losses and the need for further loans.
He is gambling on Scott's dealings to create a squad that Carrick can take up without more funding.
Its easy for me to say he's crackers (though I think he is) but I haven't loaned the club £140m or indeed converted a further £64m of debt into equity, as he has.
I see no reason in his past or Boro record why we should be confident that Scott has a scooby what he is doing. Who has he bought that you would be confident could be sold for a profit, let alone a vast one?
The profit so far has come from the academy, and who was already here without book value (Spence, Tavernier, Akpom).
McGree, Barlaser, Clarke, Hoppe, Forss have not grown in value I don't think. Payero has gone backwards.
People point to Brighton and Brentford, which is fair enough, but Brighton especially have applied the strategy at higher quality thresh-holds. We really appear to be trying to create value from absolutely minimum initial outlays. Furthermore, everyone is now trying to play the same game, all over Europe.
I don't want us to blow a fortune on the sort of rubbish Monk and pulis signed, but it all comes down to judgement and good negotiation.
Wasting £15m on Assombolonga does not mean we would have wasted £15m on Gyokeres last summer using the proceeds from Spence and Tav.
Investing in quality offers the prospect of even greater profit from sale, plus the increased chance of step changing Club revenue through promotion to the PL.
It's not my money, I get that; but my concerns with Gibson have always been about his judgement. I think we have reduced our chance of promotion as things stand. I think selling Akpom on the cheap and giving more money to Scott to trawl with, reduce our chances further.
I hope I'm wrong and will be happy to shout it full voice on here if I am.
