Malcolm Murray

[Thinker 887]

Sounds like Legatt is critiscizing Malcolm Murray for doing his job.

 

As for budget cutting, we should be managing our finances better. We don't need to have the second highest wage bill in Scotland to win DIV 3, DIV 2 , DIV1 and we certainly don't need a £10m warchest to do it either.

 

We definitely shouldn't be paying the second highest wage bill in Scotland for the performances we saw this season past.

 

But... we will need to have the second highest wage bill (at least) to win #55 - That's only two seasons away, if everything goes to plan. How many seasons does it take to build a squad capable of becoming national champions? And how much of an increase in income does a return to the top flight really bring? The prize money probably isn't as important, in the grand scheme of things, as restored ST prices and European competition when it comes to income. These two things are far more likely to roll in if there's a decent squad on the park...

[DUDE 0]

I can only hope the club handles this quickly and with proper communication, otherwise further damage to the atmosphere within the club and the football on the park is inevitable. Some stormy times coming I reckon.

[der Berliner 3,363]

"... if there's a decent squad on the park"

 

Yes. How do you think you can attract people to our club though? Offer them 1-year deals at slightly-higher than SFL2/1 wages? If you want to have a Nicky Law here to rebuild a team, you will have to pay them at least what a Hutton gets (and Hutton was/is not even considered a regular), not to mention Wallace, Templeton or Black. That will still be much more than Law gets now, but in turn it should well be within our ability to pay it, as we are not a Motherwell, Dundee, Queen of the South or the like. Just saying. If you talk about "second highest wage-bills", do make a relevant comparison not just based on our current division. We all can dream about 15 freebies of genuine quality happening by, who are paid some 1k a week to get us into the top tier again before being shuttled out of the back-door to make way for top-tier-title-challenging folk. That will remain a dream though. I wonder how the next half-year report's figure will contrast to the current ones, i.e. the one made in January 2014, detailing the wage bill fo season 2013/14, not this season's conglomerate.

[calscot 0]

We have the second most money, we should therefore have the second highest wage bill, otherwise the fans are being short changed. You can't guarantee any team or game will be to some people's taste, "entertaining" but you can promise them a level of wages that will bring players to have the best possible chance of winning the league.

 

You can win the second division with much less money - it happens every year, but none of those teams virtually guarantee it. You could buy the whole QOTS squad and manager and still not be sure of winning the league next season, or even promotion.

 

We used to have a smaller wage bill than Hearts, did they trounce us on success and entertainment? How are the 4th most expensive team to watch? (Aberdeen?)

 

People have to decide what they really want from the club. I personally don't want to risk taking longer than necessary to get back to the top.

[Cotter 0]

Spot on. If you want to build a team, you have to pay for it. The sooner the building starts the better.

[Super Cooper 0]

I don't think the fans got value for money this year from the club nor do i think the club got value for money from the staff.

[craig 5,199]

We have the second most money, we should therefore have the second highest wage bill, otherwise the fans are being short changed. You can't guarantee any team or game will be to some people's taste, "entertaining" but you can promise them a level of wages that will bring players to have the best possible chance of winning the league.

 

You can win the second division with much less money - it happens every year, but none of those teams virtually guarantee it. You could buy the whole QOTS squad and manager and still not be sure of winning the league next season, or even promotion.

 

We used to have a smaller wage bill than Hearts, did they trounce us on success and entertainment? How are the 4th most expensive team to watch? (Aberdeen?)

 

People have to decide what they really want from the club. I personally don't want to risk taking longer than necessary to get back to the top.

 

I personally dont want to risk the club's future paying more than we have.

 

That doesnt mean we cant have the 2nd largest wage bill though. As you say, we have the second most money, so it stands to reason we may have the 2nd most cash to spend and 2nd highest wage bill. However, at this point we should be able to have reduced wage structure given we SHOULD be playing in SFL2 next season - realistically, for me at least, we should be constructing an SPL-challenging team when we are playing in SFL1 - if a team needs more than a season to "gel" then something is far wrong, either with players, management or both.

 

What I dont want to do is be paying over the odds on wages for people that provide very little - and whilst we can all sit and say this player or that player isnt worth what they are getting paid the fact is we just dont know how they will play when playing for Rangers (an example I use with this is Juan Sebastien Veron - fantastic player when he played at Parma... signed for Man U on a massive fee and was, basically, a flop - sometimes things just dont work out).

 

But I am not convinced, for example, that we need both Neil Alexander and Cammy Bell on the payroll. Yes, you need two keepers but our defence should be strong enough to not allow a great dealof chances to SFL2 sides - so why pay Alexander over 10k a week for 3rd tier football ? And, in this case, by the time we get to the SPL, Alexander will be very close to retirement - so lets use Bell plus an able back-up - rather than paying such high wages for someone that we probably dont need, or at least shouldnt need.

 

Now, some players WILL be worth more - Lee Wallace for example. Entering his best years as a player, has already performed at SPL and international level and acquitted himself well and will still be in his prime when we get back to the top - so he SHOULD be paid well as he is one you would want to keep when we get to SPL. So paying a premium for his services is OK.

 

One thing we need to do is clear out the deadwood - there are players who simply arent doing enough to justify themselves being at the club. But, even this is easier said than done when the squad is still relatively thread-bare.

[Crimson Dynamo 128]

We definitely shouldn't be paying the second highest wage bill in Scotland for the performances we saw this season past.

 

But... we will need to have the second highest wage bill (at least) to win #55 - That's only two seasons away, if everything goes to plan. How many seasons does it take to build a squad capable of becoming national champions? And how much of an increase in income does a return to the top flight really bring? The prize money probably isn't as important, in the grand scheme of things, as restored ST prices and European competition when it comes to income. These two things are far more likely to roll in if there's a decent squad on the park...

 

Agree to a degree. But on our first season back in the top league I don't expect us to win the league. I expect us to compete and to qualify for Europe at which point we can build upon that success.

 

But just now we should not be spending big bucks signing players nor should we be spending money on inflated wages. (If they don't want to sign for us at the going rate then I wouldn't want them). We should continue blooding our young players mixed with a bit of experience.

[the gunslinger 3,366]

seems like the board wanted to sack green but mm wanted this investigation instead.

 

its hard to be critical of mm even if this finds nothing as it seems like it was vital to me even at 500k.

 

i hope he stays personally. a chairman who does things the right way would be a real bonus.

[craig 5,199]

seems like the board wanted to sack green but mm wanted this investigation instead.

 

its hard to be critical of mm even if this finds nothing as it seems like it was vital to me even at 500k.

 

i hope he stays personally. a chairman who does things the right way would be a real bonus.

 

If the above is true then I think Malcolm Murray was doing the right thing. Innocent until proven guilty... we have learned the hard way how much we should cling to the legal ethos. An investigation was the correct thing to do - sacking should only come once those ties were proven or, at least, it couldnt be proven that there were no further ties between Green & Whyte.