yellowalf
Saints Reserve Team Player
Posts: 301
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Post by yellowalf on Aug 26, 2015 20:54:07 GMT
So all City fans have to look forward is an initial struggle against relegation every season before getting it all together and coming strong at the end. That feels kind of bleak. That's not what I meant at all, and you maybe you are a perpetual doom merchant if that's how you read it! No, I meant that there will be an element of consolidation to progress but that I doubt we will ever be in the situation that, to use a poor example, Chelsea are when they start every season as one of the title favourites with an excellent chance of winning the Champions League. Unlike the Man Utd fans whose lives apparently hit absolute rock bottom when they failed to qualify for the Champions league a couple of years ago, we live in another world as all clubs do and I am thinking of Leyton Orient last season. They came off the back of losing the play-off final in May 2014 on penalties after starting that season with eight wins in succession* to get relegated by 3 points. Their fans would have been expecting consolidation to mean automatic promotion, not the exact opposite. No club can expect to be better than the previous year, they have to ensure that the new signings gel into an effective team and sometimes that takes time. So I am not saying we start as relegation candidates every season, but that we cannot expect to be fighting for promotion as a matter of course. So really I was saying that there is no completion date for a work-in-progress but that all fans hope that relegation is deemed impossible by Easter and that promotion is still possible by the last few games of any season. * In fact, their only defeat from 1 July 13 until 22 October 13 was away to St Albans City in a pre-season friendly!
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Post by PaperSaint on Aug 26, 2015 21:24:12 GMT
Here you go Yellowalf! Kyriacou: N/A Thanks for those Saint, that is a young team. At first I wondered if Kyriacou's age was Not Applicable, perhaps because he was a robot; but I understand that you meant Not Available. As it happens I've tracked that down - the ex-Spurs youth player was born on 10 Sept 87 which makes him as good as 28. Well done on tracking that down - its now on his club profile: www.stalbanscityfc.com/player/john-kyriacou/
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Post by Canary Saint on Aug 26, 2015 21:24:32 GMT
In response to yellowalfThat's not what I meant either! I am not expecting (but would like):- a) Automatic promotion b) To be better than the previous year All I am saying is that "work in progress" suggests a some sort of target or goal. With City "work in progress" is always quoted when things are not going too well. So what is this target or goal? If work is always in progress then it is bit pointless saying it again when "work in progress" is not going so well. I am no doom merchant and fully realise the restrictions that the club works under but it would be nice to know where fellow supporters hope the club be in the next few seasons.
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Post by bob666 on Aug 26, 2015 23:51:07 GMT
This might be a naive question but what I never really understood about levels of player turnover at this level is willingness of so many players to move relatively long distances for reasonably small wage differentials. We live in a relatively high wage area of the UK. Average (median) male salary in St Albans district as of 2011 was £46,598 and the Greater London area on whole is a relatively high wage economy- this not to say their is not a significant minority of low wage employment but simply than median salary is quite high. Ultimately your financial security, capacity to buy a property/ build a decent pension pot etc,in this region is not going to depend on how much earn from Conference South football. So why don't more players (particularly those with marketable non-football skills) in the Southeast not just play for a team within half a hour of their work/home so that football has a minimal impact on their main career? If you travel around moving every year or two desperately seeking another 100 or 200 quid a week here or there (and its not 52 week contract) you may ultimately end up poorer, as having to constantly leave early to get to training/midweek home games impairs your non-football career (or constantly relocating has the same effect). For a semi-professional player from the St Albans area with a average (by local standards) non-footballing career to play for a non-local team makes no financial sense- if Hemel or Wealdstone offer more fair enough. Given the likely disruption this will cause to their main career/ costs of relocating the wage differential and contract length would have very good to justify moving. Does moving for more money sometimes have more to do with ego, or a sense that your currently club are not paying you what you are worth (resentment- maybe justified), then rational economic calculation?
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yellowalf
Saints Reserve Team Player
Posts: 301
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Post by yellowalf on Aug 27, 2015 5:15:45 GMT
This might be a naive question but what I never really understood about levels of player turnover at this level is willingness of so many players to move relatively long distances for reasonably small wage differentials. We live in a relatively high wage area of the UK. Average (median) male salary in St Albans district as of 2011 was £46,598 and the Greater London area on whole is a relatively high wage economy- this not to say their is not a significant minority of low wage employment but simply than median salary is quite high. Ultimately your financial security, capacity to buy a property/ build a decent pension pot etc,in this region is not going to depend on how much earn from Conference South football. So why don't more players (particularly those with marketable non-football skills) in the Southeast not just play for a team within half a hour of their work/home so that football has a minimal impact on their main career? If you travel round moving every year or two desperately seeking another 100 or 200 quid a week here or there (and its not 52 week contract) you may ultimately end up poorer, as having to constantly leave early to get to training/midweek home games impairs your non-football career (or constantly relocating has the same effect). For a semi-professional player from the St Albans area with a average (by local standards) non-footballing career to play for a non-local team makes on financial sense. Given the likely disruption this will cause to their main career/ costs of relocating the wage differential and contract length would have very different from non-league standard to justify moving. Does moving for more money sometimes have more to do with ego, or a sense that your currently club are not paying you what you are worth (resentment- maybe justified), then rational economic calculation? What a great question! One small point - I would presume that the average male salary of £46,598 was for those living in St Albans as opposed to those working in St Albans, consequently that would reflect the high number of St Albans residents who work in London City/Central. Consequently a non-league player working in St Albans may not have such a high salary and a better offer from another team could make a major difference to their total income. Another point is that for many players, the enjoyment is worth more than the financial remuneration so any one or more of playing for a manager they like, in a successful team, at a nice ground, in front of good fans would be more important than the money. Thirdly, the employment market in this country, especially in the South East, often dictates that people have to travel long distances to work. I have a friend for whom two redundancies now means he has a one hour drive around the M25 to his office (and back) each day, many friends have a door-to-door commute into London in excess of an hour each way, while others often drive all over the country to meetings. It could be that players find a club that lies somewhere between their home and workplace so that evening training is easy to incorporate into their daily life. I think this is a fascinating subject and would be very interested to know why players do move clubs so regularly.
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Post by COYS on Aug 27, 2015 9:56:30 GMT
This might be a naive question but what I never really understood about levels of player turnover at this level is willingness of so many players to move relatively long distances for reasonably small wage differentials. We live in a relatively high wage area of the UK. Average (median) male salary in St Albans district as of 2011 was £46,598 and the Greater London area on whole is a relatively high wage economy- this not to say their is not a significant minority of low wage employment but simply than median salary is quite high. Ultimately your financial security, capacity to buy a property/ build a decent pension pot etc,in this region is not going to depend on how much earn from Conference South football. So why don't more players (particularly those with marketable non-football skills) in the Southeast not just play for a team within half a hour of their work/home so that football has a minimal impact on their main career? If you travel round moving every year or two desperately seeking another 100 or 200 quid a week here or there (and its not 52 week contract) you may ultimately end up poorer, as having to constantly leave early to get to training/midweek home games impairs your non-football career (or constantly relocating has the same effect). For a semi-professional player from the St Albans area with a average (by local standards) non-footballing career to play for a non-local team makes on financial sense. Given the likely disruption this will cause to their main career/ costs of relocating the wage differential and contract length would have very different from non-league standard to justify moving. Does moving for more money sometimes have more to do with ego, or a sense that your currently club are not paying you what you are worth (resentment- maybe justified), then rational economic calculation? What a great question! One small point - I would presume that the average male salary of £46,598 was for those living in St Albans as opposed to those working in St Albans, consequently that would reflect the high number of St Albans residents who work in London City/Central. Consequently a non-league player working in St Albans may not have such a high salary and a better offer from another team could make a major difference to their total income. Another point is that for many players, the enjoyment is worth more than the financial remuneration so any one or more of playing for a manager they like, in a successful team, at a nice ground, in front of good fans would be more important than the money. Thirdly, the employment market in this country, especially in the South East, often dictates that people have to travel long distances to work. I have a friend for whom two redundancies now means he has a one hour drive around the M25 to his office (and back) each day, many friends have a door-to-door commute into London in excess of an hour each way, while others often drive all over the country to meetings. It could be that players find a club that lies somewhere between their home and workplace so that evening training is easy to incorporate into their daily life. I think this is a fascinating subject and would be very interested to know why players do move clubs so regularly. Add into those factors the clubs' perspective. Often a budget/opinion of a player can fluctuate throughout the season, much more than it does at higher levels. So a player moving on is not always the man's decision, but the club's.
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Post by casper on Aug 27, 2015 20:56:45 GMT
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Post by Hatboy on Aug 27, 2015 21:52:22 GMT
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