The Prophet

Villa have now played two games extra too.

It's going to be some scrap for top five.

It's the KaKa MO.

They've been pretty poor away from home of late. That said if we go for the man to man press again, the target man/quick wingers combo will hurt us. I think it'll be pretty cagey, neither team will want to lose.

Villa unusually passive here. The Wednesday-Saturday schedule taking its toll?

This is looking like quite a big game now. Win and we're back above Bournemouth and three points off third. Lose and it's nine, with a trip to Anfield on Wednesday.

Financial penalty so don't think they'll be too bothered.

Might give it a go if I run out of pins to stick in my eyes.

They're probably being cautious, with everything that happened last season and that.

Forest poor in 2 of the last 3. We've been poor in 3 of the last 4. Has a feel of a must not lose for both. Early Sunday afternoon KO. Has cagey affair written all over it. Can't see there being much in it.

It doesn't seem that we're paying an unreasonable amount?

I agree it'll be difficult to continue to grow 40% year on year as we begin to exhaust more options, but given I'll don't know loads about commercial sponsorship, where is this coming from?

Sensible move. More than hints that Lascelles is off in the summer too.

I'd wager the Greek lad and one of Pope or Dubravka will be leaving.

Hope reporting that we're finally signing Trafford this summer. "James Trafford’s proposed move to Newcastle is now expected to be completed without any hitches this summer. The Burnley goalkeeper had agreed to join last August only for the deal not to happen, much to the surprise and disappointment of some of those involved. However, sources have expressed extreme confidence this week of the transfer going through at the end of this season, with Trafford still set on St James’ Park. The 22-year-old is in the midst of an astonishing 11-match run without conceding a goal, moving beyond 1,000 minutes since he was last beaten. That run included a pair of penalty saves during a goalless draw with Sunderland last month, ingratiating himself with Newcastle supporters who are aware of their club’s interest in the Cumbrian. One complicating factor that had been mentioned was Manchester City’s buy-back clause. They sold the player to Burnley for £19million two years ago and it is thought a fee in excess of £40m was included as an option to re-sign him. But sources have played down the possibility of that being an issue and say all roads still lead to Tyneside, regardless of whether Burnley win promotion. They are currently third in the Championship table and five points behind second-placed Sheffield United. The fee discussed last summer was £16m and, while it will take more than that this time around, Trafford has only two years to run on his contract. Newcastle scouts have continued to watch the England Under-21 star extensively this season and his ball-playing attributes are seen as key to the team’s long-term evolution."

According to Baldwards: New contracts for Krafth and Dubs. Contract talks with Schar are progressing. We're in a "position of strength" going into the summer. Little chance of any key players leaving. Focus on signing young, emerging talent rather than established stars.

My point was that we can become competitive (winning domestic trophies and qualifying for the Champions League) without hitting the amount of revenue that Arsenal are currently bringing in. Yes, we'll probably want to get there eventually, but at the moment the rate at which we're growing at is fine.

I agree, but that's not what my posts are getting at. Our revenue needs to continue to grow, but we can be competitive without reaching Arsenal. The same as Arsenal have been competitive before their latest leap. It's baby steps at this point, granted the abolishing of the APT rules might speed things up a bit.

Point taken. I'd argue we could assemble a squad that can compete for honours and regularly qualify for the Champions League without having the third joint highest revenue in the league. Sure to move beyond that we'll need to eventually close the gap, but that'll come hand in hand with more on-field success. In my opinion at least, there's no mad rush to grow faster than what we already are.

I still don't understand why we need to match Arsenal's total revenue to be competitive.

For anyone that missed it.

The rate will slow down eventually, once we exhaust our commercial sponsorship opportunities. We don't need to catch them in my view, not at first anyway. Once you reach a certain amount of annual revenue, you can be very competitive if you're ran well, with smart recruitment and a solid academy. The biggest leaps after that will come with on-field success.

Aye, last summer was the time to be gambling on him. A lot of that article sounds like agent mischief though.