Ambition!!!

Fully agree with this. Main area i would like us to improve on is talent identification and acquisition. Our transfers post Ange have been long drawn out affairs. We paid wat over the odds on idah and I don't think we had any viable alternative to him at the time. We had no plan b with kyogo leaving and id imagine will be similar affair with Kuhn in summer. We need to be more proactive in that area, that is the lifeblood of our model..

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Our bench on Sunday proves otherwise.
Selling your best striker in january with no replacement is not ambitious either

 

Ultimately I think we are a well run club. Just need to look across the city to see what a shambolically run club looks like.

I think the board have accepted certain realities with Europe. The way the footballing world is now we dont have the muscle to to realistically make a dent in the Champions League. The level of domestic competition we play week in, week out makes it difficult to adapt to playing in the Champions League. Even if we spent the every last penny in the bank we wouldnt be able to attract the level of quality player needed or retain our top players for sustained periods.

Our level is probably closer to Europa League, and if we were regularly appearing in that rather than the Champion League I think there would be a case to be made about spending with the intention of sizing up some deeper runs in that as a competition. But financially its much more more advantageous to be a whipping boy in the Champions League than a contender in the Europa League.

 

Good post this. I always make a point to remind myself of the difficult position we're in with playing against daftys in Scotland, and how hard it is to hold CL levels throughout. It's a point too many just refuse to acknowledge.

This season we've done very well with it, and hopefully next season we go up another level, but if we fall short I don't put it down to lack of ambition. Would be amazing to get it right all of the time but that's near impossible playing in this league.

 

Ambition is imperative for us - we need to ensure we are maximising return on our cash and that is by creating asset value I.e. players sales.

We should be utilising working capital instruments akin to the recveiables purchase arrangement our good friend across the city have recently agreed when appropriate. People were taking the * but it is a good tool to facilitate growth which is used in the corporate space naturally

Working capital instruments like this would circumvent the absolute caper we are about to hear about “we can’t spend until we have the CL money guaranteed” which we will undoubtedly hear in the summer.

In addition, hoarding cash attaining a c3% interest rate is not wise use of funds when the rate of return on assets (I.e. players) is so great. You just need to look at even flops like Bernabei and Oh generating >100% returns.

We really need an investment banker/markets/private equity guy supporting at the top of the tree at the club - folk hardwired into taking risks. Guys like Nicholson and Lawwell are lawyers and accountants by trade - the epitome of conservative (small c) in the professional world. We need balance.

We do need more ambitious innovators at the club.

 

Yeah I think we didn't approach the games against Brugges or Zagreb with a real will to win. We seemed content to take draws. That's what I mean by cruising, there seemed to be an attitude of - and if I recall the manager may have said as much - we're still doing alright, wee bit disappointing, still on course to make the playoffs.

And to me our performances in those games were lacklustre and very disappointing given there was at the time even the potential to make top 8. If we'd have won those games (or won one and drew with Villa), we would have, and that would have been an incredible accomplishment. That's what irks me because I think with a different attitude, we could have gone to the next round.

Maybe you're thinking I'm demanding too much here but I think that was well within our grasp. It's not that we failed, it's that we didn't seem to step up and try to take it, that's what annoys me.

 

If you look at the bench it's no where good enough for the ambition we should have and lack of quality cost us in Munich we our 3 midfielders puffing out their * and no quality midfielders to replace them with 15 minutes to go and look at Sunday the zombies brought on 3 half decent subs and won the game we had young players who have had hardly any game time .

 

The board have spent a bit more but still severely lacking ambition.

The fact we didn't reply Kyogo was criminal. BR must have publicly said a half dozen times he wanted a replacement and it didn't happen. The January is a hard window was also publicly rubbished by BR.

A couple of injuries vs the huns and look at the state of the bench. Plus Engels playing out of position and Nawrocki thrown in from nowhere.

We need to seriously address the squad in the summer. Some will no doubt leave us which is natural but we need to be ready to strengthen and not be * around at the last minute as usual as we have a qualifier remember for the CL.

 

Have we really spent more ? I don’t think so

looks like we buy new players from what we earn from selling.

to me we are standing still , same as every other year.

 

We were missing closer to 5/6 senior squad players on sunday tbf. That will result in thin looking benches for most teams.

 

Outstanding post.

 

the only ambition is to make money ,we spent some money this year but we still brought in more from player sales .id imagine we will sell some of our first team before we buy anyone and the team overall wont improve

 

Dude, we got through (no mean feat!) and then only pushed out by Villa and Bayern, 2 teams who have powered through their next round opponents with ease (6-1 and 5-0 agg)... That's not "scraping" anything... We're up against teams that do to us financially and status-wise what we do to all the other spfl teams...

Could we have done better? Sure! Could we have bought/replaced better? Probably! Are we in a position to put the foot down and do far better? Of course!

But... We did just have our best cl/European run in a while. We did hold onto most of our core, except those who desperately wanted out. We did buy high value additions and bring in expensive loans. We are looking a shoe-in for another domestic treble...

What the * is with the rampant negativity from a huge swathe of our support... It was 45mins of * football! We carry on... People throwing in towels for imaginary buyouts and possible investments and hypothetical "super new management teams and strategies" when it's all smoke and mirrors at the moment... Give it a rest lads!

 

And it sounds like a couple played with injuries too...

 

I think we approached them with a real maturity, to control the games, not to overextend and leave gaps to be exploited. We did go too far with that and could have shown more attacking purpose though. But in years gone by. We think we’re a lot better than them, we do overextend and we get beat instead.

We need to build upon what we’ve done this year next season, but we can’t complain about that at all IMO. How many times during the years have you seen us doing that? Play well and get beat. Think both games we made the opportunities to get the 3 points a well but we showed a lack of composure. I have no complaints about Europe this season

 

This board have never speculated to accumulate. Yes, we have spent money this season on players but that has been balanced by our sales. They should know that the big bucks are to be made in the CL and the money we could make by going further in that compensate would recoup any outlay they would have made for a few quality players. Doing that would show ambition however. I hold my breath

 

Not sure how ambition is being defined. We spend more than enough on wages and transfers to be dominant in scotland. And thats reflected in the trophy count.

When it comes to europe, its harder to assess. We have no realistic prospect of winning the champions league irrespective of what we spend. And for years we have had automatic entry which has alleviated the need to spend to get in. How much should we be prepared to spend to target a competition that we are massively outgunned in? And if the board did set aside X million realistically who can we buy thats going to be champions league quality? Our highest spends are buying players like Engels or guys from the Championship like Idah. Players with potential for development but not ready made champions league quality. At 11M and 9MM we also run the risk of not being able to recuperate any sell on value for them if they dont work out which isnt sustainable for the club over the long term.

 

For me, true ambition is measured by carefully maximising your potential on and off the field based on your current and future resources.
It's also about continual improvement, never settling for what you have and always striving to be better - without risking the clubs foundations and long term future for short term gains.

Where we fall short is we don't truly maximise our potential, we are over cautious and hoarding cash and so underperforming for a club of our size and resources.
Staying just ahead of a very poor rival is not success or ambition.
Our stewards needs to better understand that to ensure and grow the only major additional income streams (UCL and transfers) we need to be operating in a higher sphere.
There are signs of this being realised but we must go further and for several windows - we can do it with the right sporting structure and ambition....
and still have a bit of cash in the bank.

 

I think theres always the potential to improve the squad and we could spend more on transfers if needed. To what end though? Maximising potential is quite hard to define. The board could sanction 50/60M for transfers but theres a ceiling on the calibre of player we can buy.

Revenues are an area I think the board perform well in. We have generated a lot of money through consistently being in the UCL and through a largely successful player trading model. For a club playing in the SPL we are probably in a better financial place than would be the norm. Dont think the board can be criticised too heavily there.

I dont think the board look at things in terms of potential, but more in terms of financial structure and forecasting. How much we expect to make, how much we need to make to stay profitable etc and have built a structure to fit that to ensure the club stays financially healthy first and foremost.

What kills our prospects more than the board I think simply the way football has gone now where playing in a very uncompetitive SPL impacts everything from the calibre of player we can attract, afford and retain to the standard of competition our players are exposed to. With the best ambition in the world, these are factors that put the UCL well beyond our reach. The unfortunate reality is, players and managers who come here and do well will generally be moving on. Our top players will generally leave us once they start realising their potential. Successful managers will start gettigng more attractive job offers. Its difficult to maximise potential in that regard.

Which isnt to say the team cant be improved of course, but moreso to highlight theres many factors outside the boards control which limit the ambitions of the club.

 

Dont disagree fundamentally @Dianbobo Balde but rather than settling for 'doing well' and operating very far inside our comfort zone could we be 'doing fantastic' and maximising our potential, especially on the pitch?
Speculate to accumulate.

The guaranteed UCL cash has come on the backs of our rivals European performances, not ours.
If we (and others) performed in recent seasons, we'd have direct entry every year and that should be our minimum goal.
This then allows us to invest more, attract better players, get higher fees and the positive upwards cycle continues and you become a 'permanent' UCL team.

At the moment, the only risk we are taking is losing the UCL cash due to underinvestment and not navigating qualifiers - let's face it, we haven't a great record in.
Then the following season the investment drops and downward spiral begins.

We also have to stay ahead of the 49'ers across the city, it would not be lack of ambition but negligence if we quickly fall behind domestically given the advantages we have had over the last 10+ years.