shane I think it was more the answer when people assumed we were paying big wages for the loanees, it was pointed out that we don't know what we were paying for them. We'd have been paying their wages unless it was mates rates (I understand Tom King was one of those) or was as much in a big club's interest to get him to us as us getting him (potentially Lawrence and Pressley might have been less than their wages, which were possibly very high for us). But we don't know what some of those guys were on.

MAD I think the whole shit show with how some players thought we were meant to play made a few at the back (including NT) look worse than they are. I know NT is rated highly (relative to the level) and the combo of being that tall but actually pretty quick to get to deck is quite rare at this level. (Walker anyone???). I still think part of the problem is the 3 years where he played fuck all adult football from age 18 to 22 - where he should have been out on loan developing. As a consequence he basically started again at 22 at Isthmian league level. Personally I'd speculate he should have been getting NLS/NL/L2 experience during those years so he was more ready than he was. He's still only 25 and potentially a year or two behind the curve for his development so he's going to keep developing.

I'm pretty sure that someone on here suggested at one point that the club had stopped paying loan fees/wages which was why they were so shit last season. Are we now saying that we were actually paying for Mebude, Pressley, Ablade, Cosgrove etc and their combined half a dozen goals for the entire season?

I'm trying to sort a tag out.

Hash we brought in 5 players (Brown, Broom, Ablade, Cosgrove and the Kalinauskas), 2 perm, 3 loan. Assuming the Wrexham money was in one go, (might not have been), and Palmer salary is right (that's what I'd have assumed as well), we had about 400K to play with. Broom was a free signing but Brown shows as undisclosed so possibly wasn't. I believe with permanent signings we have to be able to underwrite their salary as more than til end of season (not sure as that's going on memory). But I'm assuming Brown took Palmer's wages, Broom, Ablade and Tomas would maybe have been the same combined (guessing), so the question is how much we were paying pw for Cosgrove. But it still seems like we'd have had something even just for 6 months of an experienced assistant.

REPD the "finishers coach" apparently wasn't about who and when but about getting them ready to come on and hit the ground running etc and doing what was wanted. Basically it's a warm up coach for subs.

Going back to the keeper Lurker, with more appropriate pragmatic football he wouldn’t of looked so exposed. So doubt he’ll be ousted.

restarts coach was our U14s coach digging into that during lockdown and it was suggested under GH but we didn't have funds during lockdown to do anything about it. The finishers one was a guy who approached us and suggested it and we took it on as a trial.[Link] [Link]

Thinking about it - isn't deciding what substitutes come on and when one of the basic tasks a manager/assistant does?

REPD - you may well be correct, but finishers coach was deffo MR.

I seem to recall maybe 5 to 10 goals last season were 'schoolboy errors' (bad back passes, GK clearances straight to oppo etc) and at least 10 were quick breaks down the flank (usually our left) and quick cross to forward running in to the box. If we can eliminate the first and greatly reduce the second, we'll have made a good start.

It wasn't just the 300k we got for Palmer. It was also his wages that we were no longer spending - must have been 2k per week ish. That could have gone on a decent assistant until the end of the season easily. Bottom line is money was not the issue. We chose not to get one, whether it was Robinson or the club who made that decision, or both. It was the wrong decision and it was certainly a factor in us getting relegated.

DO - it may be my memory going, but IIRC we've had a restarts (or set piece) coach since the GH era? It's something quite a few clubs seem to have, so it's not a waste of time. But yes, the Finishers Coach turned out to be some nu-age bollocks...

Give Mrs Bond a tag please ? Smoking gun maybe ?

I haven't looked at the stats, but my feeling was that last season we conceded far fewer goals from corners than in previous seasons, so maybe restarts coach was not a complete waste of time.

Sorry Plough Lane Bond!

Lurker - WRT unrest, I think that would be as likely not to have put an experienced assistant in as much as wages. Even in January, there was a sense that the management setup was "the Dream Team", even if the evidence proved otherwise.

MAD that's why I started to wonder if not wanting to tell MR/RT that they needed to change their roles etc at that point may have influenced it as well. (Just looking, Brown was undisclosed so I'm guessing we paid a fee - which is fair enough, I think he was a good signing - but I'm wondering how much of the Palmer money we actually had after that deal and Cosgrove and Ablade)

Hello everyone my name is Bond, Plough Lane Bond. For those of you who don't know me I'm Michele Little, Dons Trust Treasurer (including looking after the Plough Labe Bond), a Dons Trust Board member and also an AFCW PLC board member. I'm an accountant by background so finance is my main forte. As part of my board duties apart from finance, I am also on the education board looking at how we develop the Education Hub at PL to bring in lots of extra revenues for the club outside match days and also work with John Stembridge, our DT membership secretary on things like how we integrate memberships with STs etc. Can't promise I can always answer questions but thought it was time I signed up so I could do more than view people's posts. I'm also now working on how we reboot the volunteer structure in the club/DT and how to make it work better.

speculating further - Pressley went back to Brentford, presumably we weren't paying his wages at that point and much as he wouldn't have been on big boy wages, he'd have been high by our standards and even paying 50% of that, (I'd guess it was more) could have been enough for 6 months of someone more experienced and pragmatic. (Comes down to how much did we pay for Ablade and Cosgrove I'd guess as Brown probably took a fair chunk out of the Palmer cash).

Lurker, it was discussed in this place in Jan and with more urgency after the OP money arrived, our slump then was already dire. In summary there was the money available to have a go in Jan/Feb. Wasn’t an Erik scenario we could of used a £100k as a throw of the dice. Oh well, we’ll never know and hope that there is still some serious housekeeping in progress right now

REPD I'd guess it comes down to what were we paying the guy who was the assistant manager at that point and equally (as said to MAD) at the point where we had money would anyone be available and would anyone our side have wanted to cause unrest in the structure that had been in for a year by that stage.

Yeah but I’m very picky mad so stick with it.

MAD I'd be a little surprised if they were 25K combined but mainly because the finishers coach was an idea he came up with and pitched to us and it was a trial, so he was probably on peanuts. Other guy (AP) I could see being on a fair chunk of any combined figure. (Sounds like he was also promoted as a coach as well not just to do the restarts). From memory I thought we did try to get an experienced assistant and failed (because of the money). January would have been the time but then did anyone even think about it by that time. Equally I'd speculate at that point we'd had a year of the AM being in place so would anyone have wanted to rock the boat at that point?

Also from that link - "The average League Two manager salary is under £80,000 per year, with one manager on £45,000". While figures on wages can be as reliable as talking about dick size, we're probably paying JJ above the average.