The College Dropout

Kaka in rating the Nigerian player shocker.

Ok man.

I don’t think so. Our forecasted FFP position for the next financial year probably puts us back in the red before we add a single new transfer or wages. Hence why we will sell a couple more to keep us compliant for next summer. im not so confident on that. But the losses we racked up aren’t one offs. The revenues we’ve added don’t cover the costs.

All that i've concluded is that we needed more than the Minteh sale to be FFP compliant. The extent - I'm not confident about. I err towards believing we gently explored selling Gordon/Isak but we would only consider it at the full value for them both and nothing at all materialised close enough. We've ended up selling 2 players that at least don't create new problems. We could lose a CM and selling Minteh doesn't create a new problem. Which is positive.

I shouldn't bite. But do you think we actually want the GK that we now have? I'm stepping away from this discussion.

???? Aston Villa need the additional revenue. It's a fact. If Villa wants to continue to compete at the top end of the league - as the rules stand - they need to generate more revenue than they currently do. Match day income is 1 lever they will need to exploit. We are in the same boat.

As CEO - i'm not sure it's his remit to come up with the plan. Approve it - sure. Plan A seems to have been sell Bruno. Plan B sell Miggy and co. No way could they have known 4 months into his loan that Minteh would be worth £30m+ by the summer. And that we could sell Anderson for £30m+. These are clearly developments over the last few months and in Anderson's case - weeks maybe even days. 1. Yes so you've proved my point. An element of the Anderson fee is a favour - that we have either paid back already in part or in full. 2. I have no agenda. The Bruno sale makes the most sense. If you think the club planned to sell Minteh for £25m more than we bought him for within 12 months - I can't help you. That's not a sensible plan. In April/May/June where he's continued to impress and has emerged as a hot prospect, aye it's a decent back-up plan. And even then that figure seemed short of what we needed.

This is a perfect reason to release a statement. Until yesterday a lot of people were saying "the club would never let us be in a position to NEED to sell at the last hour to meet FFP restrictions". Optimistic Nut called me a prick or a cunt for pointing out that uhhhh... that's definitely happening right now.

Aston Villa also need to increase their revenues as much as we do. I assume they have less levers than us to utilise as well so price hikes on ST is obvious. We'll need to do the same.

Nobody hates him. Seems a ncie lad. Great attitude. Thanks Miggy.

There's no way we "knew" that in January which is the latest point we should've been formulating an escape plan.

It doesnt make any sense. 3.5 + year option for us. Aye. If it was 3.5 surely we would be in contract negotiations already. Maybe it was smart FFP play. Have 3.5 year contract with an option for 1-2 more years. That front loads his amortisation costs. If we extend at the end of the 3.5 year period he would’ve amortised nearly all his fee.

That 3.5 year deal makes no sense in hindsight. Surely you sign a promising player that needs to develop to a 4-6 year deal? Like the Isak deal.

How are we going to rapidly increase revenues from here? How are we going to increase our revenues by £75-£100m per season in the next 3 years? That's what we'll need to do to continue to spend and not sell players.

1. We already gave Forest cash for a player we don't want or need. 2. I genuinely think the plan was to sell Bruno. It's the only plan that makes sense. The Minteh situation 70% great scouting, 30% luck that he's been so impressive, so quickly. And even then - he's been so good, we shouldn't sell him. These things look great on paper. But within context, you have to ask a few questions. Yes - they've done a great job overall. This situation hasn't been great though.

Agreed. The only thing with the Swiss, like Solvakia, they might lose their nerve. At 2-0 against Italy, it was way more nervy than it needed to be. The defence look ropey as owt. I don't care what anyone says - you don't want Walker, Trippier & Stones as 3/4 of your back 4 and the main leaders under pressure. City they play up high away from goal and have other players to bring composure. Movement still spins Walker. Stones & Guehi is two sweep-up type defenders. We need a more aggressive one in there. Trippier is Trippier - never been amazing defensively.

I think it's clear from his cameo - that Saka has seemingly forgotten how to play as a LB/LWB. He looked like he had no idea what to do. Maybe he can re-learn in a few days. Btw that Foden offside as awful, awful play from him. Miles offside considering the position of him and Trippier. In that moment, he had 1 job and failed miserably.

Really don't want MGW. Where is he going to play?

The big clubs can always spend big. But the others can't. Us, Villa, Everton, Forest - we had been stimulating the market. I also don't think the other clubs mind. They are like us in many regards with Ashley. The PL is the gravy train. Clubs like Brighton just need to stay up to be profitable. A struggling Everton & Forest is a good thing. 2 more teams likely to go down. Why would they want more ambitious owners like Villa, those are more clubs that won't get relegated? Brighton just vultured us for Minteh. They are loving it.

Behind our old lad at Forest right? The shit one. Can only assume he's shit too.

You're using big words but the logic isn't coherent. We do not have the revenues of the clubs you mentioned. We will be hit with points deductions or fire sales if we do not keep tight with expenditure.

Clearly, nobody else of equal or more repute wanted to pay Lloyd Kelly 70-80k. Unless something is putting other clubs off - injuries, attitude, age, when you sign an established player on a free transfer- you will usually pay them more than anyone else would. Which might make it difficult to sell them going forward. Free transfers are great for top clubs that can snap up the talent they can keep and hold with little care for resale - that's what Real Madrid do (Courtois, Alaba, Rudiger etc.), can sign them all at 30. Like I say, the ends justify the means. Villa don't want to sell Kamara, he's been key for them getting into the CL. It's worked out. You just don't want too many of those on the books. Which is why they sold Luiz. He was on lowish wages, close to contract renewal time so they cashed in. The only issue is that desperation made them accept a lower fee than he's worth imo.

We don't have the revenues to support that and the club know it. Unless we increase revenues substantially we'll need to sell, sell, sell. If not for Minteh we would have sold Gordon or someone. While we don't have the revenues needed. We need to be able to have markets for nearly all of our players. It doesn't matter what we pay those who can go to elite clubs (Bruno, Isak) - others will pay more. But your Joelintons, Willocks etc. we need to be able to shift them quickly if needed.

For all the crap your owners get - you've ended up doing pretty well to avoid being in this mess for June. Obviously you have massive revenues but clearly you'vve restrained yourselves in the transfer market a bit to avoid this situation.

You have to look beyond face value. 1. That Anderson fee is inflated and not genuine. We will spend similar money on a Forest player if not more. We haven't fleeced them like we did for Wood. 2. Minteh deal to us is like the Lewis Hall deal from Chelsea. Aye we've got a good fee for a youngster that probably isn't ready to start regularly. But we've also sold a prospect that could play in the side for the next 10 years - with a ceiling of ability that high. We'll end up using the money we've got to spend more money on a replacement. Nobody thinks Chelsea's approach is cool - not even their own fans.