timeEd32

That has to be fake. https://x.com/NoyesNataliex/status/1745111022501814645?s=20 https://x.com/NoyesNataliex/status/1745094972649472161?s=20

Good post and the bolded bit is especially important. There are definitely things to dislike about FFP, but the general idea of it is a good one. Clubs shouldn't be left in ruin when some rich owner gets bored or takes things too far. The various financial restrictions imposed by the Premier League and UEFA are a bit different, but they are all tied to the same critical things: revenue. Growing that is the path to sustained success and we are starting incredibly far behind. Man United, Spurs, and Arsenal all generate over £100m in matchday revenue. Man City, Liverpool, and Chelsea are all in the £70-85m range. In our last published accounts (21/22) we were under £30m. Even Villa, in the same time period with 10k less capacity, were almost £10m more. This is why 1) the stadium needs to be expanded 2) ticket prices are going to go up (unfortunately) and 3) corporate / high priced seating really needs to be increased. This category has a ceiling though - Man Utd's matchday revenue today is basically the same as it was more than a decade ago. The next big bucket is commercial revenue. In our 21/22 accounts our commercial revenue was less than half of what Manchester United brought in in 2009. The Adidas and Sela deals are big, but that still leaves us £150-200m+ per year behind the Big 6. There are many options to explore here and I'm sure we're looking at everything, but getting to the figures the others generate requires a global footprint (see City Football Group), global partnerships (see Spurs and the NFL), and, more than anything, a global brand. That takes both consistent success and time. And then there's player sales. Manchester City have brought in £330m in sales in the last 5 years to put on top of massive commercial growth and huge broadcasting income. Chelsea basically fund their whole operation this way. Ideally this would be led by the sales of good, non-elite academy players and a never-ending pipeline of Minteh type loan > sales. But, in the near to medium term, it's almost certainly going to have to include what Spurs did and that's bringing in huge fees for their best players. Sometimes that will work out great and other times we'll struggle to replace them. Success is not going to be a straight line and we may be in one of the more frustrating periods. We broke into the Champions League, but there shouldn't be any expectation of being in it every year. Frankly, no one other than City (and we'll see post-Guardiola) can have that expectation anymore. Even before we got involved there were six clubs for four spots. We're trying to join that group along with Villa, who appear to be on a good path. Even if England consistently gets a 5th place we're probably looking at three clubs being left out each season who feel they should be in there. No one is going to be able to rely on the massive Champions League revenue, which makes all of the above even more important.

Honestly prefer this than the Solanke link being true. There's a number of reasons it doesn't make sense and it's mostly nothing to do with the specific player.

I don't agree with what you said. I think we are putting every penny we can into action. Without trying to go through all the details of revenue and spending, I think you can get a good picture of where we sit with FFP just by how we structured the Hall move. Add that to the fact we made basically the bare minimum in the Champions League and we're on course for less PL money than last season (which we probably expected). There just won't be a lot there. If your problem is with how we spent our money in the summer then fair enough. But that's not the same thing as "sitting on our hands."

Maybe you didn’t mean it this way, but “sitting on our hands” makes it sound like we’re not trying.

Their deal better not be worth more than ours considering their owner owns 7% of Adidas. FMV and all that.

Straight swap for Saka or get lost. (Isak would score buckets of goals in that Arsenal team)

On the certain clubs part, Ashworth said this when asked about it a couple months ago: That's enough confirmation to me that it at least doesn't apply to everyone. It could certainly include PSG, but we don't know. As for the timing, there have been some reports it begins in the summer.

- Starts in summer - Only applies to certain clubs - They aren’t meeting release clause

I’m ok with these feel good extensions if we do it at much reduced wages. Not £2m plus. And I seriously hope we don’t bring Krafth back unless it’s with the intent to sell him if we think there’s a market. Trippier / Tino / Burn / Hall / Targett is more than enough at FB and he’s on way too much money.

I fear for us if this is Longstaff - Bruno - Miley.

I was thinking the same. Absolutely ridiculous. The LC semifinalists lose a quarter of their break and then, if they are in the FA Cup 4th round, play four games in 11 days coming out of the "break."

Two of Spurs, City, Villa, and Chelsea to be out though. Two of Wolves, Brentford, West Ham, and Forest also will be out. If we can win this we'll be staring a potentially nice 5th round tie (or Liverpool away).

Could be worse obviously, but how very lame.

Maidstone home or away would be incredible.

Someone else (like Kanji) who sat through Ashley, etc. should have gotten this role, but the ticket thing is almost certainly overblown. She's probably paying whatever necessary to brokers to get tickets. She's not, at least directly, taking tickets off those with loyalty points.

The wages are what matter for a lot of these. For example, Fraser on £2.1m (not sure how much Southampton are covering). Even if we sell no one in January, we have the following (potentially) coming off the books at the end of June: - Krafth: £2.86m - Ritchie: £2.34m - Hendrick: £2.10m - Dummett: £1.82m - Manquillo: £1.82m While that might not seem like a ton, just those five account for about 6-10% of our wage bill and they are, for the most part, entirely inconsequential to our performance. I didn't include Lascelles as my assumption is we'll extend him. There's also Karius and Gillespie on ~£500k each. Fraser and Lewis both go through 24-25 (that's another £4.1m combined). I don't know what we'll do this January, but I'm pretty hopeful that the next three windows (Summer '24, January '25, Summer '25) will be lively. Adidas, Sela, new revenue streams, 21/22 out of the three year period, a likely player sale or two, and these burdensome wages starting to disappear.

We should let him go for nothing if they'll take on his wages.

I think Man City are going to cruise to the title in the second half of the season. But hopefully it starts after this.

The 4th is one of my favorite goals ever. The way it careens off the bar and Shola comes flying in. It’s the perfect exclamation point. Also if you watch the lead up to it Shola is jogging like a 70 year old on a Sunday morning.

I'm resigned to the fact he will likely leave at some point in the next two years, but I dread the day I need to tell my 7 year old. He'll be devastated.

Second to only Haaland in goals per 90 in the last 1.5 seasons and responsible for 25 league goals despite the time missed. I think frustration is clouding how difficult that could be to replace. I’d much sooner want Wilson to see out his career here than sell him for some nominal amount. Get a young striker here to ensure he has adequate rest and he’s the best 2nd/3rd option in the league.

My god, we look so energetic and full of life. When we look like that again it's going to look quite dumb that anyone even floated the idea of moving on from our manager.

I knew it was bad, but our recent FA Cup record is truly atrocious. Three consecutive third round exits and only once past the 4th round in the last 17 years. Certainly can't complain about the draws most of the time either.

Yeah, they hit the jackpot on getting a then 22 year old France international on a free transfer. The whole comparison looks very different if he wasn't a success. But even then this incredible "free" transfer costs basically the same as the 20 year old fullback we signed for £32m. That was my whole point to begin with.