timeEd32

Sad for him that he won't get to play in the CL knockouts.

Who should we be raiding from West Ham? I'm assuming an almost 30 year old Bowen will be too expensive.

One game on each of the four days is in the earlier slot.

In my head a dead leg is a briefly painful, but for some reason often kind of funny injury. But having read this - https://mymskclinic.co.uk/what-is-a-dead-leg/ - I think I've only known a grade 1 dead leg. Didn't know it could be so severe or have complications.

What the hell happened to him?

Probably never see a better path to the semifinal or final in our lifetimes. Arsenal must be over the moon.

Except:

It's not a necessity. It would be nice and it would be an incredible shortcut to where we'd like to get to. If there were no rules and we were pumping money in like early Chelsea or Man City then I'd say it's a necessity to make the project legitimate; to put us on equal footing in terms of prestige with the likes of Liverpool, Man United, etc. But this is where I think a lot of people's perspectives are so out of line with the current reality. Even if we were spending an equal amount to the other clubs we could easily have seasons where we finish 6th or 7th. We are now so far removed from the situations Chelsea and Man City established themselves in and that's even before you consider the rules that are working against us. The football side of our operation has given us two Champions League campaigns, roughly £100m in unexpected revenue, and priceless branding as the club's badge and name flies around TV screens and social platforms next to PSG and Barcelona. If a part of the club has not upheld its side of the bargain since the takeover it's the business and infrastructure side of the house, which is why many find it endlessly frustrating that a small but loud portion of the club's support tries to pin everything on the manager. Isak just showed us that players might fuck us off even if we do qualify for the Champions League, at least until we can pay them £300k+/pw (and even then there's plenty of examples of players and agents moving on anyway). You can view not making the CL every season as continually falling behind or you can view making it twice before our revenue should theoretically allow it as an accelerant to moving up the ladder. Modern football is terrible in so many ways. I can't imagine adding to it by treating every dropped point as confirmation that we're going to lose our best players or as a signal that the club's future is hopeless.

I can see why people lose it after every single result if this is the lens through which you're viewing things.

If a kid born in Liverpool was the most naturally gifted thrower of an American football anyone had ever seen should that kid or family be prevented from moving to the US? Look at some of the Olympic sports (gymnastics, figure skating, etc.). There are kids and families moving to be near certain training facilities all the time. Most of those professional and Olympic dreams don't end well, so I agree it's all crazy and often driven by parents more than anything. But 1) you can't stop families from moving if they want to and 2) a kid born in Scarborough should be able to seek the same opportunities as a kid born in London or Manchester.

Ideally I agree but 16-17 year olds make their first team debuts sometimes, so when a player that young can be a professional it's hard to put a lid on movements of 15 year olds.

If the U15s are actually magic then maybe we will be #1 by 2030.

Eddie Howe is the first English manager to finish in the top 12 of the Champions League league phase and the first to win a Champions League two-legged playoff. Also the first to do so against an Azerbaijani club. Can’t take any of that away from the King.

Yeah but it’s the most predictable drop ever. This is such a weird paragraph: Senior figures, speaking on the condition of anonymity as they are not authorised to do so, told The Athletic last year that missing out on the Champions League caused a £70m deficit in the accounts. You could write this right now: Senior figures at St. James’ Park have confirmed to The Athletic that next season’s revenue will be at least £55m less than the club’s 2025/26 revenue. There really shouldn’t be any surprise or negative impact because our plans should not account for the Champions League.

Pretty sure they are in a probationary period after already being punished, so they won’t be again. The CWC boondoggle and CL money has given them a reprieve, but if they fall out of the top 5 they could be on the brink of trouble. Two years straight of no CL money would probably trigger a chain reaction. Everyone should be rooting against Chelsea every time they play.

Only if we’re planning like we’ll have it, which I would assume we’re not. Any English club operating with an assumption of CL revenue is playing a dangerous game.

No, but the allowance is like a declining balance. Take a European qualifier who needs to be at 70% ratio. You can go up to 100% before triggering the points deductions. In between there is a fine. If that club is at 80% they will pay a small fine, but they've now used 10% of that allowance. The next season their threshold for a points deduction would only be 90%. If they come in under 70% then they are given 10% back for the following season. In the first season (next season) there will be no fines.

It’s incredibly difficult to breach to the point of point deductions. There’s a 30% allowance beyond the limit where you’d pay a fine. Essentially a luxury tax. if you do go beyond that additional 30% then it’s 6 point deduction plus 1 point for every £6.5m over.

Ah yes, thought that seemed too easy. Noises coming from the club indicate excitement about this change. I can see a number of benefits like mentioned above, but they mostly protect the downside scenarios like random point deductions. The happiness is probably more for reasons like you said. For example, building a stadium using loans and the interest no longer being held against the club in terms of these calculations. That’s a more business friendly arrangement without negative PR.

This is the best part of the new rules. Transparent fines leading to a points deduction that means you’re so far off the rails that you deserve to be punished. And that combined with agreeing numbers ahead of time at least makes it a lot less stressful. Curious your thoughts on this - in this new system that only counts football expenses but counts all revenue isn’t something like STACK a dream business? Shouldn’t every club be running pubs, event spaces, and grocery stores with their name on it? High revenue businesses where low margins don’t matter for calculations. If STACK could make £10m and costs £9.99m to run then free £10m in terms of SCR, no?

QF would be one of Liverpool, Tottenham, Atletico, or Galatasaray / Juve.

I think their midfield is too good for us. There were stretches of the game against them where they suffocated the ball from us and then we literally couldn't get it back.

Barcelona is the choice if you're just happy to be here. Chelsea has to be the choice if you want a better chance of progressing.

That's not true. Clubs will be agreeing with the PL prior to the season on what their projected revenue is based on previous seasons. Which means if you've consistently finished 4th-7th and suddenly finish 17th you aren't going to be penalized for suddenly losing £30m in revenue.