timeEd32

That’s what I meant actually. Just read your post too fast. I have a hard time imagining we’d be able to sustain success without our top three CBs but who knows.

I think we’d be right there if we simply just had Pope all season.

Pretty sure we’d have to sell Bruno to fund anything of the sort.

Does the club own the land the training ground is on?

Yeah, whatever happens this season happens. I’m more concerned Poch has found something that will stop them from sliding into oblivion.

Amusing that Masters says a government intervention will create a "complicated and duplicative system" while at the same time the Premier League is creating new financial regulations that are quite clearly a complicated and duplicative system with UEFA's.

Really don't want to rehash this, but the problem is what does it mean for a game where he doesn't bet on us?

It's very frustrating how they put things like "unlimited budget" in the tweet and then the article is saying "Newcastle fans are expecting 'the best in the world' with an 'unlimited budget' for the project" and then you read it's just a quote from one person. What it should say: "One Newcastle fan is hoping there's an unlimited budget for the project, but i does not have the first idea about what PIF is planning."

These sites provide some directionally accurate data, but they all seem to be lower than reality. For example, the two most popular sites list our club wages as ~£90m for 2022/23 while our published wages were £187m. Part of this can be explained by non-playing staff but Swiss Ramble estimates that first team wages account for 85-90% of a club's published wages, so these numbers are still off by over £50m. A huge part of that is likely variable bonuses. But the main flaw is the data on these sites is predicated on reporting from various outlets and, for the most part, football journalism is bad and clubs/agents/players have kept wages shrouded in secrecy. Look at Gordon's page on Spotrac: https://www.spotrac.com/epl/player/_/id/49831/anthony-gordo It was reported he's on £60k/week (who knows what the original source was) so they multiply that by 52 and show £3,120,000 per season. If that's accurate that's obviously just his base salary; we have no info on bonuses. We know the bare minimum and we have no idea if it's right. Now look at the NFL's Patrick Mahomes: https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/player/_/id/21751/patrick-mahomes The headlines were that he signed a 10 year, $450m deal. But we know everything. We know his base salary in 2024 is $9.85m with a $27m restructure bonus, a $7.9m roster bonus, and a $1m workout bonus which adds up to $45.75m this year. And we know this breakdown for the next 8 years, plus the fact that he has incentives in his contract like $1.25m for winning the MVP and another $1.25m for winning the Super Bowl. Part of this is because the NFL has a salary cap and knowing how a contract impacts a team's cap is necessary, but you can see this type of thing for all sports (including baseball, which doesn't have a cap). I find it very frustrating that the financial side of football has become so important, but the only 100% accurate data we get comes out once a year on a one year delay.

I'm having trouble imagining a more nerve-wrecking final interview than meeting with Yasir.

If we're able to get Tosin and Kelly then I would be very into the idea of finding somewhere to send Targett on a subsidized loan with a buy clause. There has to be some creative way to offload him.

Maybe but I don't really remember that being a common criticism. He just wasn't very good so his normal performance was an adventure in defending.

Shout out to David Young, tax partner at Deloitte and Touche... "The financial rewards of the Champions League have become so great that there's a danger that those clubs participating in it now will become so rich that clubs will be unable to challenge them."

I'm also not sure I've ever heard it used to describe a white player. Gives off the same vibes as black NFL QB has trouble processing fast enough.

Him sitting out their final games would be some concrete information. Happy to see us take advantage of this market.

Assuming Edwards has been briefed here this does not say 'just stick a new section on the back of the Gallowgate' to me...

Villa are in a worse situation than we are IMO, though the CL revenue next season will be a big lifeline.

If the plans include any significant changes to the Leazes End, I wonder if the PL will force away fans to be moved to the lower tier?

I have a feeling the plans will be above and beyond what most are imagining. I hope the goal is to get to 63k so it's bigger than all but OT.

That thread is predicated on a massive assumption that is likely false.

Definitely includes wages.

Worth noting that, just like last time there was a vote that led to pages upon pages of speculation, this was another vote to pursue / develop something. Nothing became a rule today. The real vote(s) happen in June.

The BBC article definitely seems to suggest that this spending cap would be instead of the current / proposed changes to PSR, which would be a massive difference. No idea if that's based on real information or just a massive assumption they are making.

Seems to me like the Premier League (the league itself to be clear) is missing an opportunity to absolve itself of much of the burden of this regulation. It would be so much simpler for them if they just had a couple basic rules with transparent penalties. One could mimic UEFA's Solvency pillar, which has to do with overdue payments (this could be a genuinely good rule to protect the viability of football clubs). The second could be this anchoring-based spending cap, which puts a (very high) ceiling on the top end to at least maintain a cloak of competitiveness. The rest of it just leave to UEFA. The top 7-ish clubs at minimum would have to abide by UEFA's more stringent rules and, in reality, almost everyone would have to be thinking about it or be prepared to forfeit their place in a European competition.