timeEd32

Yeah, I find these posts odd when we have a manager who has regularly proven he can get the most out of players.

Thought Liverpool edged the first half and had promising chances (Bradley multiple times) that didn’t end with shots.

I partially agree though Man United should be in the first group. They still have the highest matchday revenue and it will explode if they build a new stadium. Man United, Spurs, and Arsenal are the top trio. Liverpool, City, and Chelsea in a second tier, though Liverpool and City both expanding. Our matchday revenue last year was closer to Brentford and Palace than the ones above us. It is possible to compete without joining the first group, but if you do that then you need to make up for that revenue gap somewhere. That’s either commercial or consistent player sales as you can’t count on consistently outperforming to raise broadcast revenue beyond the others. Spurs went from £45m to over £100m in matchday revenue, plus it helps the commercial side also. I don’t know that it’d be realistic to catch the top without London prices but a new stadium could push on nine digits. A big question the owners have to be looking at is can we at least get into that second tier with an SJP expansion. If the numbers still fall short because of either capacity or corporate seating then they will need to seriously consider building new (or lowering their ambitions).

If I was supporting Liverpool I’d feel a bit sick to be behind after that half.

Part of me wants Villa to do well as a historic club breaking up the monotony of the top 6. But I also find their team pretty unlikable starting with McGinn and find it enjoyable seeing Emery lose for some reason.

I would bet money that any interest we have in Onana is predicated on Everton’s situation turning desperate.

Dying for some renderings.

There’s some cope in this because it’s painful to spend that much on a player who may still be a ways from contributing, but because of the wages he’ll be cheaper on an annual basis than a free transfer like Youri Tielemans. I know who I’d prefer on a multi-year basis. Beyond inefficiently using our relatively limited finances, I do worry about what his position is and if he’s the profile of LB we even want to be playing with.

We’re probably hoping Everton go down so we can pounce.

Worst case scenario for post-Klopp (for anyone that hates them)

More sweet, sweet revenue for FFP calculations

The idea of signing a young, highly rated CB with a view to the future who could also potentially be our immediate LB upgrade is very intriguing.

Happy with that as it gives us more flexibility.

I think it’s likely true that we can’t assume these revenue increases continue at pace. Not to diminish what’s been done so far, but it’s mostly a case of doing things a football club with any ambition in the 21st century should be doing. Easy wins so to speak. I agree that revenue in the neighborhood of £350m not counting player sales or Europe may be a bit of a near term ceiling. With consistent European participation and a better sales pipeline we could be in the £400m range. Beyond that is going to take some path to dramatically increase matchday revenue, consistent knockout CL football (which would be punching above our revenue), an insane transfer record both buying and selling, or some real commercial ingenuity. Or likely some combination of those things. We are also trying to chase down a moving target as the pie keeps growing for the others. One of them (Chelsea) falling away would be tremendously helpful for a number of reasons. Not impossible and also not something we can count on yet. As we’ve seen this season this isn’t going to be a straight line up. Patience will be required at various points assuming there aren’t any massive rule changes. But I also think much of the pessimism is still looking in too short of a time period. There’s a long game we’re playing and I think our owners mostly knew that’s what they were signing up for.

Yeah I did wonder if @TheBrownBottle was excluding player sales, which is why I hedged at the end. But ultimately that delineation is meaningless - all of the regulations are based on revenue + sales. The most helpful part of separating them is the fact that sales are the most volatile of revenue streams.

The replies are half of them being disgusted at being linked with Eddie. How would they feel knowing there’s no chance he’d leave us for them?

I think it will easily clear £300m. This is admittedly fuzzy in places, but... £250m as starting point from last season - £9m in lower merit payment if we finish 7th - £3m from player sales + £25m from Sela + £37m from CL (this number is from the club; I'm assuming it includes the extra matchday revenue for 3 home games) + £28m from player sales (Maxi and Wood; being conservative and just taking the post-amortisation profit on Wood) + £6m from Amazon doc (Don't totally know where he got this but Swiss Ramble mentioned £10m for this and Saudi friendlies so I made up a #) Calling Fender / Saudi friendlies / England friendly / Summer Series a wash, though it may be another + for 23/24 That's roughly £334. Even if you take out the player sales and deduct a bit more for whatever reasons we're at £300m.

Appropriate that they used a picture of Eddie laughing.

Not sure we're capable of that on either end.

I can see the merits of either - the only thing I really care about is that the player is capable of using their other foot.

It is entirely possible that this season ends without the Everton and Forest cases being resolved, which could mean that a ruling relegates one of them after the season. And then Leicester could get promoted and begin the PL season in August with negative points. Such a mess.

Oh there's also the England friendly in June.

But that 66% is only £17m. Pretty sure Noon accounts for about 30% of it, so that was significant. And then the Fender concerts and the Saudi tour were big factors. For this year I did forget about the Saudi friendlies at SJP (don't know how well they sold?), the PL Summer Series, and the Amazon doc though.

I agree but there's also no evidence of any deals of significance (Sela aside) counting in the 2023/24 period. I think our gains this year will be Sela + CL + player sales. Given we now have more of a staff in place I will be disappointed if we don't start announcing some additional sponsorships this summer. For 2024/25 commercial + player sales will be needed to get back to / exceed the current year's revenue.

Is it right that the last time we won at Stamford Bridge was the Cisse magic?