@DangerousSausage

If the club’s not sustainable at the moment, that’s worrying and it doesn’t seem to match what we’ve heard before from the CEO. I think a bit more clarity would help fans feel reassured. Honest updates from the board could go a long way in building trust between the club and supporters.

I think the club has to be in a sustainable place financially for several reasons.

The Club has spent a substantial amount of money on the Ground infrastructure including the Hybrid SIS pitch.

They've spent money converting a Warehouse into the Nest.

They are improving the training facilities & are reportedly laying a Hybrid SIS pitch in conjunction with Nottingham University.

I think the club are trying to be sustainable in the best possible way they can. Spending beyond our means for players demanding top wages doesn’t always work and could land us in trouble as has happened in the past. I do agree that more could be done by communicating with the supporters more than they do at present.

8 hours ago, Wheelbarrow repair man said:

@DangerousSausage

If the club’s not sustainable at the moment, that’s worrying and it doesn’t seem to match what we’ve heard before from the CEO. I think a bit more clarity would help fans feel reassured. Honest updates from the board could go a long way in building trust between the club and supporters.

This is what he said when we took over the Nest last year: "as a business we want to aim to be sustainable". That means we are not sustainable YET but are working towards it, and as far as I'm aware he's never said anything to the contrary.

Nothing about this is unusual or controversial, the number of professional football clubs that break even can be counted on the fingers of one hand.

The best way to become sustainable is to play in a higher division, so targeted investments in the right players are needed.

The difficulty for owners is that fans don’t measure “success” by off field investment. The only factors that matter are results and performances, which are significantly impacted by the quality of player recruitment.

As a fan for 60 years I’m not bothered about padel courts or The Nest but I understand that they are helpful as income generators. The Club infrastructure and back room appointments are of little consequence to me either - but if they aid player fitness and development that’s good too.

I’m not sure how you equate all the variables and assess which are working effectively & which are not. That is some conundrum.

I, like most fans I believe, will judge on performances, results & league position. The rest, to paraphrase Sir Jimmy, is gossip.

Edited July 29, 20251 yr by YoopEyes
Typo

I quoted Joe Palmer’s words from The Magpie Circle podcast, and I made sure to check them before sharing this topic on here. If what he said wasn’t accurate, then I suppose it could be seen differently. I think it would help if the club gave a bit more clarity on this.

As a league 2 club this will be relevant to Notts.👇

League Two clubs can spend a maximum of 50% of their relevant turnover on player-related expenditure, which includes wages and transfer fees.

Relevent turnover includes income from various sources like matchday sales, TV revenue, and advertising, but excludes certain costs like dividends. 

This is part of the EFL's Financial Fair Play regulations. 

To increase turnover & as a result be able to put more revenue into players wages & transfers, Notts could invite significant investment through a third party investor by using the investor's capital for player acquisitions, stadium improvements, commercial ventures, while also potentially benefiting from the investor's network & expertise.

This could lead to increased revenue from player sales, matchday income, & sponsorship deals.

@Wheelbarrow repair man, there's no need to be confrontational. You quoted him as saying the club is maintainable, which it is with our current owners as they're investing in the club and covering its losses. Being sustainable would mean the club can cover its own costs without the owners having to dip into their pockets, and that's where we're aiming to be financially. I see no contradiction and nobody is telling porkies.

Every football club looks to work towards sustainability; Notts is doing much better at this, but it will continue to come at the cost of selling players. A promotion when not ready could result in this being harder, but when club officials speak about sustainability, they are often talking about cutting down on losses at the end of each season. It doesn't generally mean they are breaking even or making a profit; in football, this is hard for a professional football club to do.

Spending money on the training ground could be a waste, especially if UoN decides to kick us off its facilities.

Without knowledge of the agreement, I wouldn't be able to say, and therefore it is only speculation. I wouldn't imagine there's an agreement which the club is happy with, and that is for a fair duration.

Having an identically sized pitch is a good idea on the principle of making routine training, especially matches held on the training ground, easier, and when we play intra-squad practice games. We will be playing on the exact dimensions as Meadow Lane, which will make it easier for the players to work on training-ground drills to put into practice with the first team. I think Manchester City has one the same size as the Etihad, with the exception of having several other different-sized training ground pitches.

You would believe that this would help make Meadow Lane a fortress at home, as it allows us to replicate more closely what visiting sides might try to pull off. Better preparation does tend to lead to bigger things.

There were silly comments on social media from some fans suggesting that our owners were asset-stripping and priming the club for sale.

I do wonder if it is so hard to believe that the ambitions of our owners, the work that they have done, and the desire they repeatedly show deserve such nonsense? Similar to the absurdity found in the frantic comments regarding the Reedtz family supposedly losing interest simply because they acquired Viborg FF.

This can be a healthy discussion, provided we approach things respectfully and considerately. There are several intriguing points, making this topic particularly engaging.

The club really needs money so it can buy good players and pay off the money it owes. If we keep losing money, that’s not something the club can keep doing.

If we spend money wisely and only pay the right amount for players, I’m fine with signing free players too. They can still help the team.

We can't spend loads of money every season, like £300,000 or £500,000. Some years we have to be more careful.

I always took Joe Palmer's comments to mean that the club will be able to operate and sustain itself up to Championship level, as opposed to we have the money to compete in the Championship now, which we clearly don’t. I always thought it meant that if we do get to League 1 and even the Championship our structure, strategy, plan whatever you want to call it will still work. And when you do get promoted more financial opportunities become available like better sponsorship deals, more tv money and higher attendances, which with our stadium size means we won’t miss out on like some clubs do.

I think teams spending massive sums but with owners who are just happy to finance the losses does skew the way we look at modern football, but the reality is it isn’t the norm in the lower leagues. Most teams at this level are losing money and that means for some clubs selling a player is a necessity at times. I don't think we always want to sell our players either, I'm sure the Bros wanted to keep Crowley and Bass, but what can you really do if a club comes in and offers much better wages that we can't compete with?

Just because we've not spent a fee doesn't mean we've not invested the money either, the new signings aren't playing for free, all these wages soon add up. And the window isn't shut yet, whose to say we aren't working on a deal right now?

Excellent points @menzinho @Chris @DangerousSausage

Sustainability is knowing that an annual loss of say, £1m to £1.2m is "sustainable" with the funding from the Bros. in place

The risk of not being ready for EFL1 can be shown by Carlisle. Promoted at Wembley then successive relegations to the National League.

We are long overdue a cup run, the dream of Old Trafford away in the FA Cup may yield a £1m bonus... I remember I think Exeter City saying it funded them for 3 years on the back of it.

The Bros have been the best owners for Notts in donkey's years. All this nonsense that monies should be directed to the team.... well it was under Hardy and looked what happened, we fell into the National League.

Furthermore, I never thought in my remaining lifetime, that we would be getting a base of 10k crowds every home game. I remember Scardino's "8(k) through the Gate" was a pipedream then.

Investments like the Nest carry perhaps zero risk, as the land could revert to industrial use quite easily. The income boost of the Nest really does help #Notts overall.

18 hours ago, Robbie said:

Notts could invite significant investment through a third party investor by using the investor's capital for player acquisitions, stadium improvements, commercial ventures, while also potentially benefiting from the investor's network & expertise.

This is perhaps too simplistic in the scheme of things, especially when applied to football. Either it means diluting the Bros shareholding or if as a 3rd party loan, what security is asked for in case the Club cannot pay it back.

On 29/07/2025 at 21:48, Ash said:

The club really needs money so it can buy good players and pay off the money it owes. If we keep losing money, that’s not something the club can keep doing.

If we spend money wisely and only pay the right amount for players, I’m fine with signing free players too. They can still help the team.

We can't spend loads of money every season, like £300,000 or £500,000. Some years we have to be more careful.

The club has spent £millions over the last few seasons on off the field projects including laying a SIS Hybrid Premier League Pitch.

I was talking about transfer fees, and I think we’re doing okay.

Some fans think not spending money means we’re not trying hard or it’s a bad thing, but that’s not true. Sometimes saving money is smart.