randomclaret2 wrote: ↑Mon May 23, 2022 11:16 am
But he's a life long fan isn't he ?
so am I, but that doesn't mean my fandom is the same as yours, or either of ours as many others
Mike Garlick put his money in when the club were in a seriously distraught financial peril and did so repeatedly until the club (under his helm) stabilised (he was not the only one) - he then ran it within its means while continually investing on and off the pitch from it's own resources - a combination of events that occurred in just 20 months broke that:
- a poor return on a massive summer of trading in 2018
- questionable appointments particularly Rigg (supported by Dyche at the time)
- significant investment in non revenue generating infrastructure (at least in the short to medium term)
- players/agents recognising that running down contracts meant more money for themselves (Hendrick was just an encapsulation of a wider trend in the game)
- Aston Villa in particular but also Fulham changed the dynamic in our traditional hunting ground on wages and transfer fees
- the departure of Dave Baldwin
- covid
All this led to the lack of player churn and Dyche effectively hamstringing himself and the club in the transfer market. Garlick's consistent approach to budget management - never spend more than you bring in and the legacy thinking of the final Kilby years (do not commit to long term contracts/costs unless you are certain you have the income/reserves to cover them) meant our approach to covid was always going to be cost cutting to meet the likely revenue picture (literally all other multi-year premier league teams borrowed and or had additional owner funding).
Our model was broken as much from the inside as the outside - the breakdown in the relationship between Dyche and Garlick being the most symbolic illustration of this.
Dyche walks away a very wealthy man for his mainly outstanding contribution to our club and (subject to the terms of his contract) could remain on our payroll for another 3 years, along with the backroom team that were pushed out with him.
Garlick is left as the apparent ultimate backstop if we take that Offer Letter statement at face value - is he (along with the sellers) the guarantor to the MSD Loan that the Debenture agreement mentions? That is difficult to say and still difficult to believe but it is not impossible. What does seem likely is that will have to pay out again if the financial situation gets desperate at the club. He may even be able to force the issue if the cash flow problems continue and having no new investors VSL default on outstanding payments to the sellers, the multiple delays that have been experienced in that area so far have certainly caused concern frustration and frank discussion from what I have heard.
There are no blameless parties in what we have witnessed over the last few years but there is likely only one (group) who can come to the ultimate rescue and save the club if things go seriously wrong - and that is not necessarily something to feel happy about, even if it tells us a lot about just how attractive a proposition the club is and was.