The College Dropout

Fair. You’ve been questioning whether stadium is a good investment as the barrier/hurdle. It’s more likely that PIF just move slowly.

Agreed. Tron's been defending this lack of action for weeks and I don't understand why. If PIF are as ambitious as they say - we need better facilities. Bottom line is - PIF are seemingly slow to move in general. The general sound is they will invest but will be slow and cautious. Football is fast-moving though.

This is the point you're missing. A new stadium increases the value of the club on day 1 of it opening. So it doesn't need to pay you back in cash. When you sell the club, you sell the value of that new stadium. You don't build new stadiums to get back the cash you immediately put in 5 years. You get it back on sale or a much longer period. Football clubs aren't quick flips either. Every ambitious club is making efforts to modernise stadiums. Madrid, Barcelona, Man U... Everton and Luton. It helps ensure the long-term value and prospects. Can't talk about "best in class" and have a third-rate stadium.

No don't know enough about construction. But generally speaking - if you want to maximise an football clubs value - you invest in the assets.

A new stadium ?

Thats not a barrier to investing in infrastructure to me. Give yourself a cheap loan, the value of the club increases and the next owner will continue to pay for it potentially. Liverpool and Spurs have some of the most money hungry owners. They’ve invested in the Stadium because it’s good for business.

Somewhat reassuring. Reads like a lot of waffle at the same time. “There’s this tendency to concentrate on what is happening on the field with Newcastle and far fewer people look at what is happening off the field,” Simon Chadwick, an expert on Saudi Arabia and the Middle East, tells i. Nothing of major substance has happened off the field though. And there’s still a jar between Howe’s expectations and what’s possible with the club aligning to PSR.

I can actually agree with that Kanji. It’s still a must have though. Revenue is revenue. Someone mentioned that Arsenal fans don’t brag about their stadium and that’s true. It’s considered old and dated. Ours is older and more dated. People want to argue that Goodison is in worse knick. Look at the levels we are discussing! We used to have one of the best most modern stadiums in the game. The longer we go without plans for infrastructure improvement the less I believe in this transformation.

We used to be able to brag about the size and beauty of our stadium. First it was Arsenal, then West Ham, then Liverpool, then Spurs, now Everton are about to jump ahead. the swing of the scythe is remorseless. We must evolve.

SJP is falling into Goodison Park territory. A heritage English stadium not compatible with stated ambition.

About to have the 8th largest stadium in the league. We are falling behind. If PIF / Reuben ambition is real I’m also looking for them to build supporting infrastructure. SOL gets the big stadium tours from Taylor Swift, Beyoncé etc. and the like no? Why is that? Surely that’s easy food for PIF and Reuben’s?

Why have commentators stopped calling out dives? That was an awful dive. Looked a dive in real time. Confirmed dive on replay. Like one of those shit Longstaff dives.

I find Arsenal's fanbase hilarious. Highly emotional. They've not won the league in 20 years. I don't know any Arsenal fans that think they should in the league. And they know they won't win the CL. I hate them as a cartel club but other than that - probably one of the teams I like the most in the pyramid. A part of it is that you know they will never dominate the league..

I Don't agree that's a major problem. Joelinton and Willock are/were great at breaking lines through ball carrying.. Willock is nice on the half turn too. But can seemingly only do it consistently from the left rather than the right. Joe has stopped trying to dribble in the main which is a problem. But players that are really good at playing in the pockets are playmaker types that we don't have. Likewise Livra when he first played for us broke lines on the dribble too.

don’t know where I got this from (maybe here?) but an interesting thread. Traditionally Schar has been good at being aggressive with his man in deeper areas. we’ve never been a team to have loads of touches in that middle final third. I don’t know why he’s comparing us to Villa. Villa start with essentially 4 CMs/CAM. Joelinton plays LCM as a LW/LM in attack. Wr have no natural 10, Villa often play with 2.

Agreed my ultimate concern is that PIF are not as invested as they need to be for us to be successful. And I think I already have the answer. Chelsea was Roman’s football interest. City are at the heart of Anu Dhabi’s footballing ambitions. The shenanigans with the Saudi league and the lack of movement of players between the clubs shows us we aren’t the centre of their footballing ambition.

Doesn’t change that we need a new stadium to realise our existing potential. Man U have shared some plans for some regeneration within months. Where are we with this? The training ground? When Ashley took over we had the second biggest club stadium in the country. We are about to become the 8th. We are being left behind.

I don’t really have any feelings towards Arteta. Man City as a club are boring and soulless. Agree them winning it is like nobody winning it. That was cool the first 5 times. Also I don’t have any illwill towards Arsenal either.

It’s not painting him as the villain. Howe is a club builder and he wants to keep building. It just may not be approach for our leadership team. To add to Kaka’s excellent post. Remember the rumours that Eddie was pissed off with Ashworth for not getting Joelinton a new contract? I always thought selling a Joelinton at peak value was a good idea. I think Ashworth had multiple FFP exit strategies including selling Joelinton. That’s sensible. Howe being a coach doesn’t prioritise that. Joelinton is key in the short term so give him that new contract. We do need other people at the club to prioritise the clubs medium term health. Staveley was great at getting deals done. But financial and football judiciary isn’t her specialty.

Same.

Yeh but he wants a DOF to get him British based players in the main. TBF Freedman has done that at Palace. But again - those signings need time to develop. Targeting Europe makes it difficult to prioritise player development.

That UCL schedule will catchup to Villa imo. They’ve a good squad and manager mind. They lost a bit of steam towards the end of last season too.

That’s the fault of Eales and co. not communicating with Howe. Also we can’t demand Europe then give him talent that needs to be developed. Our first choice full backs need development. Our star CM needs to bed into the team.

Despise Man City personally. Want Arsenal to win the league.

Agree Mitchell has had a piss poor start.