Transfer Window 26/27 Summer Embargo Window

[SteMerritt]

 

[JOHN BOY]

Without sounding negative is there anyway we could get a point ts deduction?

 

[Digby]

That's not proof, that's speculation

So what , proof , speculation my opinion which I am entitled to just like you , we shall agree to disagree!

 

[Morris Oxford]

Had a whisper that Stan Mills popped into Blackwells in Oxford, for a copy of Hard Times by Charles Dickens

Apparently it was out of stock and bought Great Expectations instead.

 

[Digby]

One player don’t make a football team re Mills , should the transfer rumours be true . We can only believe that the transfer embargo will last until January that’s from the Board , however, we could come out of that embargo at anytime so January is not necessarily the date , nothing is set in Stone .

 

[Billyox]

And I listen and respect what you say Billy.

We will have to sell assets to get close to that, how many is unclear.

Its very difficult to say what our actual wage bill is so many different figures banded about from £11m up to £17m
What we do know is from the 2024/25 accounts the total wage bill for the whole club from chairman down to the programme seller was £21.7m and that is for 250+ staff that the club employed

only first team players that are over 21 year old and management is included in the 65%
In the summer we released was 9 players and of course the loan players went back so thats a fair chunk to come off
What ever our wage bill is/was
I would guess its closer to the £11m than £17m

 

[chuckbert]

Apparently it was out of stock and bought Great Expectations instead.

According to A Tale of Two Cities, Mill's transfer has been reported in two local papers. It was the Bicester Times. It was the Worcester Times.*


*Yes I know I've told that one more than once before, but it's a cracker.

 

[uptheus]

Yeah, I was just highlighting that when he joined he wouldn’t have been aware of the embargo, and obviously knew there was potential that key players may move which he could have replaced, but a combination of the two shifts the dial!

Not saying he will walk though!

 

[Emilio]

I love how there's a 2nd level of ITK going on. The standard one is about general occurrences at the club, and the other is about what individual people are thinking.

Insightful Telepathic Knowledge.

 

[derek]

Had a whisper that Stan Mills popped into Blackwells in Oxford, for a copy of Hard Times by Charles Dickens

Fake news. Only true if it's on the PNE forum, not here.

 

[uptheus]

In

Depends on the wage bill and what the gap is as ive constantly said being at 65% is pointless it needs to be closer to 55%

I think that club’s affordability should be based upon the mechanism used for mortgages e.g. 3 x main salary/wealth, 1 x lower salary/wealth or 2.5 x both etc!! And with each division having a maximum cap. But the debt sits with the owner and not the club!

 

[OX14]

Probably going to be an unpopular opinion but if Preston are willing to pay over £4 million for Stan we should snap their hand off.

The reason we find ourselves in this current financial mess is a few seasons ago we went away from the model of signing young players for a pittance, developing them over a season or two into one of our best players and then sell on to a club higher up the pyramid for a huge profit.

 

[werthersoriginal]

Probably going to be an unpopular opinion but if Preston are willing to pay over £4 million for Stan we should snap their hand off.

The reason we find ourselves in this current financial mess is a few seasons ago we went away from the model of signing young players for a pittance, developing them over a season or two into one of our best players and then sell on to a club higher up the pyramid for a huge profit.

Certainly at £5m it would be hard to complain.

 

[ZeroTheHero]

Probably going to be an unpopular opinion but if Preston are willing to pay over £4 million for Stan we should snap their hand off.

The reason we find ourselves in this current financial mess is a few seasons ago we went away from the model of signing young players for a pittance, developing them over a season or two into one of our best players and then sell on to a club higher up the pyramid for a huge profit.

I agree. We have got to cut our cloth according to our means. We do not get (and won't get in the forseeable) 30,000 crowds every other week - so relatively low gate receipts, not as much merch sold etc. At the moment we also pay a fortune to play at Grenoble Road of course, which makes the problem worse - no stand or ground sponsors, no hotel or conference facilities, little income from food or drink.

If that means kicking the academy into life (try putting 50,000 volts through it maybe!) so they can provide first team players or making sure our scouting is up to standard so we can pick up the occasional gem from elsewhere, I would say that is a *good* thing - we should be doing it anyway. Our alternative (which seems to be some signings from other worldwide leagues) has really not been that successful - I would also venture that it has been expensive (in comparison to signing an up an coming youngster for the lower leagues).

 

[OX14]

Certainly at £5m it would be hard to complain.

If we could negotiate a bigger sell on clause for a future sale that could be worth more than an additional million now.

Say Stan had a decent season for Preston next season and come next summer a team who went up to the Premier league paid over £10 million for him which is quite possible. If we had a 30% sell on clause we would gain an additional £300k for every 1 million that Preston made a profit on the sale. £1.8 million to us if they sold him on for £10 million for an example.

 

[Orkney Islands Yellow]

Nixon on Bluesky about Mills. Now the Preston forum is starting to worry. Funny considering their ITK said it's a done deal and medical was done yesterdayView attachment 36836

We can't sign a replacement so that adds a premium. Cough up, PNE, act like a big club.

 

[Greenstar]

who else has he followed?

No need to sell players to meet EFL rules by January as owners are injecting further funds. Remember it's their train set

 

[Browny]

We all over estimate our players worth, but at this point Mills is literally irreplaceable

Without wanting to be controversial, is he ?

Don’t get me wrong he had a very good second half of the season and was OK in the first half of the season. Whether that was the manager, style or whatever we are talking about 4 assists in 43 games and 3 goals

I am sure there was a stat about how few chances came from his crosses but can’t locate that

I am absolutely not knocking him as I think he would/will have a major impact for us in League 2 but irreplaceable just feels a bit OTT………..recognising we could not replace him immediately but maybe let’s not get carried away

 

[Teacher]

The club have said fixed by January.
The club have said it’s about retention.

Ramsey has reiterated both.

Not ITK, just following the only actual information we have been told which means Mills shouldn’t be sold as we won’t need to sell in the long term, meaning we shouldn’t sell now.

Conversations around 3/4 million are not in our best interests. If we started getting offers higher than that, which evidentially we’re not getting, then there could be a conversation around what’s in our best interest.

 

[holdsteady]

Without wanting to be controversial, is he ?

Don’t get me wrong he had a very good second half of the season and was OK in the first half of the season. Whether that was the manager, style or whatever we are talking about 4 assists in 43 games and 3 goals

I am sure there was a stat about how few chances came from his crosses but can’t locate that

I am absolutely not knocking him as I think he would/will have a major impact for us in League 2 but irreplaceable just feels a bit OTT………..recognising we could not replace him immediately but maybe let’s not get carried away

Who do we have in the current squad to replace him? And what cover does that leave us when/if that player gets injured?

 

[Eric Blair]

How easy you have forgotten @Eric Blair

Absolutely ungrateful. I might pretend not to know anything now in punishment

 

[Bicester Yellow]

Absolutely ungrateful. I might pretend not to know anything now in punishment

Probably best. Not worth the hassle anyway

 

[SirAndyOfCrosby]

Say Stan had a decent season for Preston next season and come next summer a team who went up to the Premier league paid over £10 million for him which is quite possible. If we had a 30% sell on clause we would gain an additional £300k for every 1 million that Preston made a profit on the sale. £1.8 million to us if they sold him on for £10 million for an example.

I'm really struggling to reconcile '£3m is a good fee now' with 'he could be worth £10m+ in a year after a decent season at 14th placed Preston'.

He's had a decent season at a bottom-half Championship outfit already.

We either rate Stan Mills potential enough to warrant a really decent (£5m/£6m+) fee now, or we don't - in which case any hypothetical sell-on is pointless.

There seems to be a mentality thing whereby Preston are seen as a club that can sell a player for big money, but Oxford United are not.

 

[OX14]

I'm really struggling to reconcile '£3m is a good fee now' with 'he could be worth £10m+ in a year after a decent season at 14th placed Preston'.

He's had a decent season at a bottom-half Championship outfit already.

We either rate Stan Mills potential enough to warrant a really decent (£5m/£6m+) fee now, or we don't - in which case any hypothetical sell-on is pointless.

There seems to be a mentality thing whereby Preston are seen as a club that can sell a player for big money, but Oxford United are not.

I disagree, I don’t think he had a decent whole season for us last season, sure he shown glimpses of what he was capable of but certainly wasn't our best player last season.

 

[BrockBuster]

Yeah can't see a world we sell him for £3-4m or less unless either there's a release clause, or we're absolutely desperate for the cash.

Of course this is Oxford United we're talking about, so may be doing negotiations by spinning a big wheel of fortune wheel.

 

[Under The Cuckoo Lane]

If Stan goes, can we shorten the pitch even more so Tyler's Ickle legs don't have to work so hard.

 

[JC_Yellow]

I disagree, I don’t think he had a decent whole season for us last season, sure he shown glimpses of what he was capable of but certainly wasn't our best player last season.

And yet somehow won player of the season.

 

[Under The Cuckoo Lane]

I disagree, I don’t think he had a decent whole season for us last season, sure he shown glimpses of what he was capable of but certainly wasn't our best player last season.

Who do you think should have been player of the season?

 

[battman]

Probably going to be an unpopular opinion but if Preston are willing to pay over £4 million for Stan we should snap their hand off.

The reason we find ourselves in this current financial mess is a few seasons ago we went away from the model of signing young players for a pittance, developing them over a season or two into one of our best players and then sell on to a club higher up the pyramid for a huge profit.

The biggest issue with applying that to this window is that we literally can’t sign a replacement young player for a modest fee and start developing him. The best we can do at the moment is scour the market for the best free (none of which are young players with potential), or borrow a bright star who wouldn’t be ours to keep.

Selling Mills for £4m now might boost the coffers a bit, but in truth his sale would make us much poorer on the pitch because we can’t sign a like-for-like replacement. Unless he goes for big money north of £6m+, we’re better off holding out until January where we’ll be much better placed to buy a replacement, and hopefully he’ll have more G+As to his name to boost the price tag.

 

[OX14]

Who do you think should have been player of the season?

The fans.

 

[Bicester Yellow]

Who do you think should have been player of the season?

Currie.