timeEd32

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?

With the right stadium I think it could be an option sold as north of England / Scotland. But it would almost certainly be a one-off / occasional thing, not a regular thing. The NFL just expanded to 8 international games for 2025 after being at a max four. These games present scheduling problems so there is a limit somewhere. Germany has become a consistent location and the new Bernabeu likely will as well. Mexico City and Brazil are on the list and those have the advantage of less time zone changes. Reducing the games in London eventually (and one of Tottenham or Wembley missing out) would probably need to happen Newcastle is not particularly easy to get to from anywhere in the US Also the chairman of the NFL's international committee is .... Joel Glazer. Lots could change in the next few years but if Man United build a new stadium it may be impossible to beat out as the northern location. One angle I've thought about which would be helped by having a new, NFL ready stadium is NUFC forming a partnership with an NFL team (possibly with some PIF investment). Try to establish an arrangement where Newcastle plays summer friendlies in their city and the NFL team considers Newcastle its 'home.' Adidas could be involved depending on the players. The Jacksonville Jaguars have sort of done this with Wembley, but not sure if it's going to continue. I think someone will try to pull off a more formal partnership at some point.

We may end up getting an additional £50m from sales (Maxi + Wood + Ashworth) for 2023/24. We'll be getting ~£6m less in PL merit payments, which essentially offsets the CL matchday income. We may hit £350m if Ashworth happens and counts in this accounting year. But then for 2024/25 we'll be back around £300m from predictable sources. To get back to £350m and above it would need to be from Europa League, player sales, and new sponsorships (training gear, etc.).

Easily one of my five favorite players and the highlight of the Ashley era for me.

Arsenal appear to be fine. They may even be using the standard limit of £15m in losses as it’s not clear if Kroenke has satisfied the requirements to boost to £105m (per latest Swiss Ramble). Their wages and amortisation costs are growing steadily now but with consecutive CL, higher PL money, etc they are in decent shape.

Argentina friendlies in the US coming up. Absolutely outrageous ticket prices to the point that, in Philly, only parts of the upper level are sold out despite everyone writing blank checks to see Messi previously. I bought two tickets