Colos Short and Curlies

So from a rule of one home ground per season Spurs are going to have 3?

I invite anyone writing a defender off after a couple of games to look back at the starts to their Man Utd careers that Evra and Vidic had. Of course not all turn out decent and for every Vidic there is a Boumsong but you really can't tell after 2 or 3 games

Its your middle sentence that nails it. The message from the very top that defines the culture of the club is that we are driftwood and there is no desire to do anything other than just survive in the Premier League or when that fails get back up first attempt. In any business if that is drilled into you - and its visible from the lack of care in the ground, the training facilities, the outsourcing of many departments compounded by the public attacks on anyone showing any form of wanting to do better for the club - no manager can beat the culture. The real worry is that Rafa is keeping a semblance of professionalism in the playing staff, remove him and watch it all fall apart

To be fair, all of them just stood and watched. There’s something soundly wrong about this club atm. Yeah it’s ashley and his zero ambition. Must be shit working in that sort of atmosphere. will anything be Rafas fault, like ever? cut out this Ashley shite 24/7 , its about attitude of better players thinking they are better than the oppo. I’m not sure it is that in this case. I think they look like they know they’re beaten already. its the managers job to get them up for it, to blame FMA for everything is getting fucking stupid man He's set the tone. Transfer policy, training facilities, the lack of maintenance of SJP, rows over bonuses, the attacks on Rafa etc etc There is only so much a manger in any walk of life can do when the top brass make it painfully obvious that the club is dead

So because you think he said nothing wrong, anyone who disagrees is a "local player hater"? Literally no one on here hates local players. i didn't say 'anyone who disagrees is a local player hater' did i? with regards to your 'no-one on here hates local players' comments i think you need to read the Paul Dummett and Jack Colback threads and probably this one That's not because they are local though, it's because they simply aren't up to it and (especially in Colbacks case) have been stealing a living from the club

This is how I read it, we pay them for the merchandise, they sell it and keep the lions share of the profits, risk free for SD and just another of the 1000 ways Ashley pockets the club's cash. Matt will be along soon to deny this like, but I 100% believe the money is vanishing through clever accounting and payment for services that the club doesn’t need. There's no clever accounting involved, it's all in shady retail/outsourcing agreements and the lack of sponsorship money. The accounts are too simple for any hidden payments to be in there. That's not to say he isn't 100% using the club for his own gain and tax efficiencies, just that there is no hidden pilfered monies there

He's kneecapped him! It's a red all day long

You are. Does the fact that a free kick was given not suggest that the ref saw it and took appropriate action?

Colin Hendry

Truly astonishing how some of you get yourselves so worked up and expectant of the absolute worst. If the world comes to an end we'll deal with it then. Until then I hope Rafa stays, we get him more players he needs, we have a great season that melts the lard Ashley's heart is encased in, and he is moved to sign up Rafa on a lifetime contract with plenty monies every transfer window! I'll see you in 48 hours when you are being sectioned in a straight jacket screaming "...but there's January!" That's the real test to be honest

Can easily see Terry May making this a priority to avoid dealing with Brexit.

Anything not paid out gets added back to profit

In Ashleys world...in reality it was WELL under 100 million. The 112.2m figure included promotion bonuses and "onerous contract provisions" payment to players not in the first team but still employed by the club. So wages are probably around 70-80m total as a base before any bonuses etc. There absolutely should be money available if this was a sane world. Well I don't believe that for a second. For one the 'onerous contract provisions' takes into account future years I believe. Also, theres no way our base wage bill is anywhere near 80m. This link suggests less then £50 million for the season after in the Prem: https://talksport.com/football/308730/every-premier-league-club-ranked-their-total-wage-bill-2016-17-171109261432/ Why would anyone give Ashley any benefit of doubt though really? https://www.nufc.co.uk/news/latest-news/accounts-year-ending-30-june-2017 I mean it was in their actual accounts filed so whether or not there was some funky accounting is irrelevant, it's the number out there. But if it accounted for future years then there should be even more left for this year etc. That's all. Anyone quoting over 100m is clearly taking a look at that figure and not realizing the caveats. Writing off the wages is purely an accounting action, we still have to pay the money whilst they are under contract so you really can take this into consideration for the actual wage bill. Having said that we will still have a disproportionately low wage bill for a premier league club simply as the players we buy at the fees we pay won't be on 150k a week and weve not made enough free transfers to suggest that the transfer kitty is being spent on higher wages rather than transfer fres So how do you enter their wages in the next years accounts? When you write them off you create a provision on your balance sheet and a loss in the p&l, when you pay cash you reduce the provision by the amount of cash paid

In Ashleys world...in reality it was WELL under 100 million. The 112.2m figure included promotion bonuses and "onerous contract provisions" payment to players not in the first team but still employed by the club. So wages are probably around 70-80m total as a base before any bonuses etc. There absolutely should be money available if this was a sane world. Well I don't believe that for a second. For one the 'onerous contract provisions' takes into account future years I believe. Also, theres no way our base wage bill is anywhere near 80m. This link suggests less then £50 million for the season after in the Prem: https://talksport.com/football/308730/every-premier-league-club-ranked-their-total-wage-bill-2016-17-171109261432/ Why would anyone give Ashley any benefit of doubt though really? https://www.nufc.co.uk/news/latest-news/accounts-year-ending-30-june-2017 I mean it was in their actual accounts filed so whether or not there was some funky accounting is irrelevant, it's the number out there. But if it accounted for future years then there should be even more left for this year etc. That's all. Anyone quoting over 100m is clearly taking a look at that figure and not realizing the caveats. Writing off the wages is purely an accounting action, we still have to pay the money whilst they are under contract so you really can take this into consideration for the actual wage bill. Having said that we will still have a disproportionately low wage bill for a premier league club simply as the players we buy at the fees we pay won't be on 150k a week and weve not made enough free transfers to suggest that the transfer kitty is being spent on higher wages rather than transfer fres

Still got to pay the wages each month though

Need some hair back in the team

Like a new signing

Assume you need the refs whistle to restart play?

I mean, he's scored six this July. Must have missed those, group games were in June

So Kane can't score in July or August, just loves a summer holiday really. Good news is that he should have the shooting boots on for all of the next one

Yeap. All the arrogance was starting to show when they hadn’t really played anyone of note. No creativity in midfield. But they looked wrecked. I’d wonder how this could effect a number of the top teams for the first few months of the PL, they’ll have a number of so called top players underperforming. Could give clubs like us a chance to get a solid start. I wonder if there is any correlation there, especially after a tough defeat in a semi. Can imagine the Spurs lot will be dead on their feet and in the head, wouldn't be surprised if none of them play first game

Yeah a Chinese sponsor founded in the 2010’s that doesn’t design the strips came up with it Mate Have you not seen their social media and how they want to connect to the fan base? All commercials driven of course but the idea of sponsorship is to garner awareness in your brand, what better way to do this in football then by having your logo on a massively popular strip that will be visible to millions on tv? Somebody at Fun88 has their finger on the pulse, there is little chance that they are not talking to Puma

Anyone else think the idea of going back to 95/96 has come from our sponsor?

So that would be £61m (Lump Sum + Merit Award) along with maybe 2 lots of the monthly income (assuming they come over 12 months and not just during the season) giving £65m plus any cash received up front from sales. If Merino has a release clause then not stupid to assume its payable upfront, one years installment from Sissoko and Gini (£!0-£!5m?) likely to have been received and then lets say 20% of any fee agreed for Mbemba and Mitro -maybe £6m. No reason at all based on that article not to have £80m+ to spend on fees + agents fees + loan fees

Add to that the deflection was not at Diame levels of skill