timeEd32

You can ignore the quotes from the likes of him, architects, etc. All fluff and filler.

All 2022/23 numbers: - Our matchday revenue was £38m - I'm not sure but would guess <£6m - Matchday income for the big 6 is as follows: Man United, £136m Tottenham, £118m (£45m in 2017) Arsenal, £103m Liverpool, £80m (£51m in 2014) Chelsea, £70m City, £72m (£47m in 2014) - Sunderland attributed £8.4m of revenue (57% of their total commercial revenue) to "conferencing and banqueting." That includes concerts, a Lionnesses game, and college graduation. Remember that the SoL has even worse corporate hospitality than SJP. Capacity does go up to about 60k for concerts though.

Incognito window should get you past the paywall. Aside from the Reuben related board member incoming that I mentioned above, these are probably the key sections:

Seems good to me, especially this part: If everything needs to provide a return on investment then there's a nagging worry that it may be difficult to make the math work on the stadium, but it probably starts to look a lot better if you tie it to other commercial development plus the sponsorships it would bring. More influence from the Reuben's side of the house on infrastructure related things is very good news IMO.

We have to have at least one of the following things to be genuinely competitive with the top 6 on an annual basis: 1) A stadium that allows us to grow our match day revenue to something in the neighborhood of £100m per year (today's dollars) and also provides a path to add £50-75m+ in commercial revenue that's tied to the stadium. 2) A genuinely world class first team and academy facility. The first team part is to attract quality players (this is more important than the stadium to a player) and the academy part to lure and develop the best young talent in the north of England and beyond. The academy has to both produce first team players and generate regular player sales to make up for the lack of revenue elsewhere. I guess we could try to thread the needle with more moderate gains on #1 and #2, but I suspect we'd be chasing the pack forever. Without one of those things then you are entirely reliant on recruitment having a better than average hit rate and coaching overachieving, neither one of which can be expected to occur regularly.

I look forward to never seeing him play in black and white.

They are a guaranteed top 4/6 finisher. Everyone with European aspirations would love to see them blown away with points deductions. It's saying "if they are found guilty then do not be lenient."

That burden of proof being on the club is a pain though. Like I don't even know if we get the SELA deal through under these rules. I'm not even trying to guess what might change if City are successful though because, in theory, multiple layers could get peeled back. If the PL wins it will be pretty depressing as no one else is either big enough or interested enough to challenge anything.

That Wyness stuff is so dumb. He was on a podcast where he mentioned that Henry and PIF were together to negotiate PGA/LIV stuff and also that there have been some comments from NUFC recently about the rules / ceiling, etc. And the rest is very much 2+2=13.

You could make a pretty strong argument that the single biggest failure of club leadership (this applies to Eales, Eddie*, Mitchell, and anyone in the comms department) in the last few months is the lack of understanding at how important their messaging is. Words matter. (*maybe not Eddie as I think he knew exactly what he was doing; it was just maybe a little misguided in his case)

I've been wondering if we might see Kelly at CB at some point, and maybe even Burn at LB. That'll be a fun day.

Can't wait for Hope's version. CIVIL WAR INTENSIFIES FOLLOWING ARMISTICE TALKS -- Sources at Darsley Park have shared that Howe did not hold the door open for Mitchell upon exiting the building. It is not clear if the head coach's hand slipped, perhaps moist from spending the morning on the grass, or if this was retribution for the Director's failure to land this summer's top target. Others have questioned if the squeaky front door is a sign of PIF's wavering commitment to United.

Eh, the PSR concerns are directly related to off the pitch progress and without that progress then CL qualification wouldn't really be any different than doing it in 2022/23. It would be huge and come with lots of near term benefits, but our revenue and infrastructure would still be miles behind. I'd feel very relaxed about our weekly results if there were shovels in the ground and big / creative sponsorship deals being announced.

I was thinking today how enraged they would be if we did to them at SJP what they did to City with that free kick for their first goal. They’d be calling for an inquisition.

The fact we don’t know our best XI yet is the thing giving me the most hope at the moment. We have options in most positions so there are a lot of combinations. If Eddie and team can figure that out and correct a couple mental / physical ailments among our key players we could be off and running.

I'm honestly more disappointed to not have any updates on the training ground. The only thing stopping me from being very annoyed by it is the fact that it could, in theory, be tied to the stadium situation.

We've only played five games, three of them away, and one of the home games largely with 10 men so many, many caveats apply. That said, the stats at the moment show what we're seeing - opponents are spending far more time in our penalty area, we're struggling to get the ball forward and into dangerous positions, we are easy to play against (2nd worst in the league in tackles + interceptions behind only City, who just defend by having the ball), and we're sloppy. In 2022/23 we were 4th in the league in touches in opp. penalty area. In 2023/24 we were 5th. This season we are 18th (closer to Ipswich in 20th than Everton in 12th) In 2022/23 we had the 2nd fewest touches in our own penalty area and opponents had the 5th fewest touches. In 2023/24 we had the 5th fewest and 8th fewest, respectively. This season we have the third most touches in our own penalty area and opponents have the 2nd most touches in our box. In 2022/23 we were 6th in progressive carries into the penalty area. In 2023/24 we were 8th. This season we are 14th. In 2022/23 we were 4th in passes into the penalty area. In 2023/24 we were 5th This season we are 12th. In 2022/23 we had the 6th fewest number of clearances. In 2023/24 we also had the 6th fewest. This season we have the 4th most. In 2022/23 we were 6th in shot creating actions. In 2023/24 we were 7th. This season we are 15th. In 2022/23 we committed nine errors all season (mistakes leading to a shot), which was 4th best. In 2023/24 we committed 16 errors, which was tied for 8th best. This season we have committed six errors already, tied for the most. In 2022/23 we were 1st in aerial duels won % (56%). In 2023/24 we were 6th (52%). This season we are 6th (52.4%). In 2022/23 we faced the 5th fewest crosses into the penalty area and had the 4th highest % of crosses stopped by the GK (7.9%). In 2023/24 we faced the 6th fewest crosses and had the 10th highest % of them stopped by the GK (6.7%). This season we have faced the most crosses into the penalty area and have the 6th worst % of crosses stopped by the GK (4.7%).

Appreciate the explanation. Makes more sense than what seemed like a sudden u-turn. I still think you're making a lot of assumptions that cast Eddie as the villain in this story. The Bournemouth fan post was shockingly on the money about everything else, so that section is concerning but accepting it as truth now also assumes zero ability to change or grow on Eddie's part.

Kovacic has been quite solid so far, hasn't he?

I understand the sentiment, but I'd feel a little sick of Villa won the title.

Imminently https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2024/09/23/manchester-city-verdict-imminent-premier-league-legal-fight/

“I don’t think it will be long,” Guardiola said of De Bruyne’s expected return after City’s 2-2 draw with Arsenal. “I cannot say how long for, I don’t know for Newcastle but it won’t be long. (He has) discomfort in his legs,” he added. -------- Seems very unlikely they rush him back for Saturday IMO.

It's meant to be, yes. As is their Saturday game. Next Tuesday at SJP would make a lot of sense.

It was always going to be a challenging window with us wanting to sell players that are the wrong age and not having a ton of financial flexibility. The way we went about it (or at least the way it was reported) and the public bickering has made it worse. The off-the-pitch circus and lackluster performances have led to many feeling like it's all doom and gloom. But we have 10 points on the board and mostly play the good teams at home and the weaker teams away in the first half. If Eddie and staff can get our best players performing and find the right system(s) there's no reason we can't get to January in a good place, possibly still in the LC, and with some money to spend with Mitchell having been in the role for 6 months. I posted in some other thread that more than half of Brighton's transfer business in the last few years has been done in January and June. PSR and the like have created buying opportunities for those in positions of strength. But Eddie has to get us back to playing our best. Whether he gets along with Mitchell or not will be irrelevant if he doesn't.