All this talk of us being in debt and stuff....

[LegendofCoop 17,378]

If the dhims have virtually no debt, and have all this money at their disposal....why the lack of big name signings? Right now, as far as I can see, all they seem to be doing is sniffing about the Irish leagues and Peterborough.

Yes, Smith has his mis-givings in the transfer market, we all know that. But...at least he's had money to spend. They've had all the c/l money, TV revenue, season tickets and sponsorship money. If I were a tim, I'd be asking where all the money has gone....why there's no investment in the squad! Do the board not back Strachan.....or, are they leaking money too??

'Tis a good thing that they haven't mind, but still....

[cooper1989 0]

Might be just keeping it in the bank. Bad times out there. You're right though.. thank f*ck they're not strengthening. We have to win this title...

[Jardy 0]

tis the state of scottish football in general.

[AMMS 27]

Remember some of the players on their wage bill. Smith gets stick but how about Donatti, Balde, Killen, Loovens, some Japanese guy I can't recall, Crosas, Hutchison and Perrir-Doumbe even Maloney isn't getting a game just now, these guys are all on big money and that is before you factor in the hit they took on Graveson and Jarosik. Times is tight for tims too.

[barrymorrison1 1,033]

Remember some of the players on their wage bill. Smith gets stick but how about Donatti, Balde, Killen, Loovens, some Japanese guy I can't recall, Crosas, Hutchison and Perrir-Doumbe even Maloney isn't getting a game just now, these guys are all on big money and that is before you factor in the hit they took on Graveson and Jarosik. Times is tight for tims too.

i agree, but if they top just now, and we on the point of weakening, do they really have to up the gas to win this league,and take all the cream again regarding CL cash?

hopefully their arogance will b their downfall.

[Imodium 411]

Remember some of the players on their wage bill. Smith gets stick but how about Donatti, Balde, Killen, Loovens, some Japanese guy I can't recall, Crosas, Hutchison and Perrir-Doumbe even Maloney isn't getting a game just now, these guys are all on big money and that is before you factor in the hit they took on Graveson and Jarosik. Times is tight for tims too.

Good point. The thing about their business model is that they have tackled their financial issues head on and have worked out a good way to overcome them i.e. selling their product in the lucrative Asian market (Nakumura and Mizuno), capping wages/transfer fees, playing pre-season friendlies world wide etc.

We got carried away in the Advocaat years and are paying for it now. We started to put the pieces back together to late imo and now we are truelly paying for it. Strachan was brought in to be succesful on a tight budget, the last manager to do this for us was Alex McLeish and the man got pelters when he was in charge. As Mark Hately said we should be thankful for the McLeish era as he more or less put a stop to those bastards being on course for 9 in a row this season and he done so on the tightest of budgets for years.

[gerbilly 7]

If the dhims have virtually no debt, and have all this money at their disposal....why the lack of big name signings? Right now, as far as I can see, all they seem to be doing is sniffing about the Irish leagues and Peterborough.

Yes, Smith has his mis-givings in the transfer market, we all know that. But...at least he's had money to spend. They've had all the c/l money, TV revenue, season tickets and sponsorship money. If I were a tim, I'd be asking where all the money has gone....why there's no investment in the squad! Do the board not back Strachan.....or, are they leaking money too??

'Tis a good thing that they haven't mind, but still....

It is called good financial management, something David Murray knows nothing of. They know what they have is good enough to win the league, and with falling crowds and a credit crunch to spend would cost them problems in the future.

[CanadianGer 1]

I also think they are trying to keep things pretty steady. Having no debt just now doesn't mean they have money coming out of their ears. However, the several million a year we spend servicing the debt is money they can consistently put into the team.

[LegendofCoop 17,378]

I hear what you guys are all saying, but what I'm actually getting to is, do we know for sure that they have no debt? What if they are having to be prudent because they can't buy either? We know we're in debt because we have overspent...they haven't!

Maybe troubled tims are ahead??

[gronaldo 38]

Remember some of the players on their wage bill. Smith gets stick but how about Donatti, Balde, Killen, Loovens, some Japanese guy I can't recall, Crosas, Hutchison and Perrir-Doumbe even Maloney isn't getting a game just now, these guys are all on big money and that is before you factor in the hit they took on Graveson and Jarosik. Times is tight for tims too.

According to last year's figures their wage bill is higher than ours and their wage bill as a percentage of their turnover is also higher. They don't have the same level of debt, but they're probably operating above what they can sustain as it is.

[CanadianGer 1]

I hear what you guys are all saying, but what I'm actually getting to is, do we know for sure that they have no debt? What if they are having to be prudent because they can't buy either? We know we're in debt because we have overspent...they haven't!

Maybe troubled tims are ahead??