Cod Almighty | Diary

So, what next...?

2 May 2019

Open Diary writes: Well, here we are at the fag end of the season with nothing to worry or get excited about and not a lot to look forward to. Town will be in the same league next year and there's nothing to suggest that much will change by this time next season. Survival is more likely than prospering.

Unlike last year there's not even a World Cup or a Euros championship to divert our interest. So, stand by for a summer of speculation of who might come on board, recrimination against the powers that be and wishful thinking.

Because on current form it's unlikely that most people's expectations are going to be met. Someone pointed out that the board evidently have convinced themselves that we can challenge to get into the third flight in the near future. But on the basis of recent results and performances by Town – and, importantly, by others – that seems a very unlikely future scenario. Believe the promises if you like but I won't be holding my breath.

The first reason is that there’s no point in having an aim like that without having some substantial idea about how you might achieve this over all the other clubs who have a similar aim or intention. What we lack isn’t the good intention: it's more like a lack of the wherewithal to make this happen.

The hard truth is seen in those who have achieved this aim this year. Lincoln seem to have lots of cash to play with and Bury seem to have believed that the rules of financial prudence don’t apply to them. Their new chairman recently announced that the club's financial position is significantly worse than he expected after taking over last month, when the previous chairman’s business, in the provision of student accommodation, collapsed. Ever wondered why student accommodation costs so much? Well, presumably a good slice of it has been finding its way into getting Bury FC into the third division. All you need to be a successful fourth division side is to siphon off a big hunk of student debt.

In the meantime, it appears that we have a budget which ranks in about the same level as our league position. So, barring a miracle, it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect us to end up in a similar place next season. In the meantime, I see that the manager is getting the blame. In reality his options are probably limited.

Michael Jolley seems to be putting his faith in youth. This is an admirable quality and after generations of Town's youth squad have been written off, there are positive signs that others will follow Harry Clifton into the first-team line-up.

Apart from that, there is the option of cheap imports from places like Sweden. Did you know that the average top-flight player in Sweden is on about £1,600 a week? That's quite a lot less than the average £3,500 that players in the Scottish Premiership get. Remember that Richard Tait and Craig Clay went to play for Motherwell, where the average wage is around £800 a week.

Last season it appears that Town were paying an average £1,060pw while Lincoln were paying £1,712pw. It’s not difficult to see why so many of the players we would like to sign end up going elsewhere.

So, look forward to the speculation about who we might like to sign. But remember that if you pay relative peanuts then you’re unlikely to outperform those with financial muscle.