I don't want to go round the houses on the academy issue, but whatever reservations I have about Palios, he will know whether the figures add up. Whether the closure was planned months ago or has been forced by recent events, if we can't afford it, we can't afford it. The China programme and other initiatives obviously cost peanuts compared to running Solar Campus, which is a lavish facility for a club of our size.
However, I agree completely with Boz about communication, or the lack of it. Good communication does not just mean reporting the good news to show yourself in a good light, which has been the tendency of the current owners. Supporters will only trust owners who are transparent when things are going wrong.
In the summer our recruitment, the match programme and the pre-match entertainment were clearly affected by budget cuts, yet we had no proper explanation of what was going on and why the cutbacks were necessary. The closure of the academy is of even greater significance but, again, there has not been a word from the club and rumour has filled in the gaps.
In a sense, the club are not obliged to communicate any of this stuff. However, if you pride yourself on supporter engagement, and love-bomb the fans every time you have a positive story to tell, people will naturally be suspicious when negative news is met with a deathly silence.