The College Dropout

Chelsea are doing illegal things imo. I expect Villa to be able to at least double their main sponsor if they win the FA Cup this season. They signed that deal after relegation battle seasons.

We are largely in the same boat. We need short term results to increase medium term revenues. I think we both need 2 seasons in the CL out of 3 to keep the team together and keep building strongly. successove yeara without CL will mean taking steps backwards. Aston Villa’s main shirt sponsor is worth 6m per year and ends next year. Ours is worth 25. Top 6 is 50m minimum. If they can get 2 CL Campigns in 3 seasons could they land a sponsorship closer to £40m per year? Can they expand the stadium? even if their plan works they’ll need to continue to produce good academy players and wheel + deal. Same with us. If we don’t succeed now, how can we hold on to our best players and build on them? We can’t we would have sell - if not this summer then next. If we Dont get CL football this year or next we’ll need to cash in on our best players

Villa will have raised an additional £150m in CL money and player sales this season. They’ll be fine. Manchester United have shrinking revenues - no? Last season they were in the CL. High amortisation costs too.

I knew from the early clips that Hugo was a baller. Hall too.

Disagree a bit with the sentiment. This new CL format is a killer. The 2 teams that have done the best in the comp from England have underperformed in the league (Arsenal would've hoped to be in a title race). Back to back CL campaigns is going to be super difficult for clubs going forward. That 5th spot will be well contested for some time.

I've said similar before. Saudi launch an invitational, invite Man City, Juventus and 5 Saudi clubs. $100m entrance prize.

I think commercial viability is a bit more complex than what we've said. But the main shirt sponsor seems to be half what the lowest in the top 6 get and 20% above the one below us. I think we should be able to justify a bumper increase. Major 10 games ahead. Our Adidas deal is much closer to the top 6 though.

It’s a major reason I want us to get into the CL, keep our players and sign a couple major players. It shifts the narrative. ATM there’s still a media view of ‘Newcastle can’t spend because of PSR. If they are to get to the top, Eddie, Isak and co. will have moved on as part of the journey.’ Qualify for the CL. We keep our boys. Spend £200m on quality. We become a serious serious outfit. I have no idea if we could do that. But assuming we play 10 CL games minimum, I think that nets £50m in income from TV, prize money and gates alone. Pushes our FFP up. 2 CL campaigns in 3 years and a Cup win. Sela is half the money Spurs get from AIA and less than the rest of the top 6. Why can’t we get deals at the same rate as Spurs? Or 90%? Our recent windows and last seasons performance have had the pundits comfortable again. Especially Carragher and Neville. Cup win, CL and some big signings will put the fear of God into them.

Liverpool will be fine. I reckon Salah signs a 2-3 year deal and they sell him next season to Saudi for £50-100m anyway.

Absolutely smashed.

Lads a cheat code

He doesn't leave this summer imo. Only way he leaves is if he decides he wants to level up - even if it's only 1 level. I don't think anyone in Europe has both the interest and willing to pay the money.

Agreed that the one skill he seems to have is befriending people in the media. Which is why he goes apeshit when the media turn against him. Bruce got an extremely easy ride in the media with us. Funnily enough, neither Rafa nor Howe have invested much energy into that. Both care more about managing players (obviously) and the fans.

No bigger indictment of a coach than what ex-players say. I listened to what Dwight said about Bruce, Pardew, Jones, Howe, Rafa etc. He was candid but tried to be respectful. If a coach doesn't coach, discuss tactics and can barely motivate players... there's not much to say.

Think he's started doing it - especially with Isak. Basically said he gave Isak a rest at Liverpool. Isak needs it. We don't have viable alternatives to our midfielders, so I think signing a new CM is just behind RW, GK, and CB. A 4th CM plays more minutes than a back-up striker imo.

Neither was Hall at 18 really. I think both have tremendously high ceilings.

PL clubs that will have FFP issues I'm guessing: Leicester Chelsea Maybe Forest Dont' see anyone else. §

Think it's a fairly high priority if we finish in the CL. Massive drop off from The Shield to any of their understudies. We need a 4th musketeer to compete with them. RW GK CB CM Fullback ST

MLS is the real deal but Hall is more developed imo. Tuchel is taking a proper 16-month view of the England squad maybe even shorter. Kyle Walker will be 36 at the World Cup. Take him out.

More impressively - he’s found different ways to do it.

I’ve always been impressed with how he has overcome difficult periods. I thought he did well to get 7th last season. Mid season I think he made a lot of mistakes but we ended strongly. This season I had no idea what to expect. Would we challenge with top 5 due to less games? Would we fall away due to squad staleness? I backed Howe to get the full season no matter what but I was deeply concerned after West Ham. I never questioned his job but all the indicators were poor. Then we turned it around. Went on a great run. Most people in football media expected us to fade this season. Few pundits expected us to get Europe at all. Now o would be disappointed with anything less than Europa League.

We wouldn’t be as successful as we’ve been without Saudi ownership. The potential we have now has had a tangible impact on performance and bringing in best of class ppl. And also several of our largest sponsors are Saudi owned.

If the current top 3 (City not Forest) put up the money Isak would go. None of them will imo.

If they have the money I think Liverpool, City & Arsenal could sign him and he would go for football reasons. Being able to stump up the cash for him is a sign of intent but I can only see Liverpool being willing to go there. But as you say, it's a different day and era. The top 6 no longer exist in terms of on-the-pitch success. After Leicester won the PL the top 6 monopolised the CL places for 7-8 years straight. In that period, moving to any of the top 6 clubs was a genuine step up for footballing reasons. We will have a 3rd season in a row where a non-top 6 club will qualify for the CL again. Us doing so for the second time in 3 years. The only PL clubs that are worth moving from us need to be title challengers, the top 3 of the previous 2 seasons.

My guess is that HBA had a poor work ethic in training and in games. And a spikey personality. That’s fine when the team is winning and he’s magic. That’s Eric Cantona. But on a losing team that quickly becomes a massive issue. That side particularly got through on waves of good form where team spirit, last ditch tackles etc. won points. If HBA went on to become Eric Cantona I would say the squad was wrong. But HBA only ever thrived as a big fish in a small pond at a few clubs for a short period. Most times he would fall out with the coach or squad.