leffe186

Yeah I totally get that. On the one hand I like that this season feels unpredictable and that there are maybe more teams than ever challenging for top four or top six. That’s definitely good for football. The problem is, my true wish is for Elite level football to be boring and predictable in that Spurs win everything.

It’s not all that weird though, is it? I want my team to be great and everyone else to be shit. We can discuss nuance, but that’s the bottom line.

Yeah, they seemed to sour on him pretty fast.

Did you watch the Spain game? Spain were tactically excellent and technically good.

Don’t know if it’s revisionism so much as over-reactionism. It’s not all that long ago that some people were annoyed that Lascelles wasn’t in the England squad. Then people were saying the same things about Burn. It was funny looking from outside tbh. He was just what you needed last January - just like Bruno and Trippier - and like many have said he’s a terrific back-up to have. Just…he’s not amazing and makes ricks from time to time. He’s perfectly fine and a great solid squad player to have for the next few years.

That’s one very good reason why you should take sites that quote individual salaries with a huge grain of (ironically) salt.

They are from 2020-21, so a couple of years off. I very much doubt that you will find a better source for this stuff than Swiss Ramble though. What is your source for Serie A wages?

I mean, she completely fucked up the initial, easy chance

Oh that makes more sense, I didn’t realize that you were criticizing other Milan fans for thinking that lower PL clubs pay more in wages, can outbid Milan etc. It is worth looking at the numbers though. These are the Serie A wage bills from a year or two ago: And these are the numbers for the Premier League: Milan does have a lower bill than the top PL sides. And the difference as you go down Serie A is stark when compared to the PL. Clearly the TV deal is a huge factor.

…for example, this is wages/turnover for the ESL sides. 78% for Milan compares unfavorably with the top PL sides (but probably favorably compared to the bottom.)

Who keeps telling you Leeds can outbid AC Milan for a player? Forbes list of club values had you at #14, above all those clubs you mention. What was the formal dispute? Couldn’t see an article on a quick Google. I’m not sure I follow your argument. You say that Serie A teams in general pay players less, then say actually you think it’s because the media reports net rather than gross? My guess (before I head to Swiss Ramble) is that the PL TV money allows lower teams to afford relatively higher wage bills than sides at the bottom of Serie A.

They used to be white shirts, black shorts. So did Man U at one point. A few clubs used to be yellow shirts, blue shorts. Arsenal and Everton for two. Leeds all yellow, Chelsea too IIRC. West Ham and Villa all white. West Brom yellow shirts, green shorts. Those were late 70s early 80s cos that’s when I was a kid.

The one good thing about Djed Spence taking so long is that it’s kept some of our ADHD transfer guys occupied for a while.

I meant more that Abramovich spent an absolute fortune on the academy set-up (for example, throwing money at Frank Arnesen to poach him from Spurs). Before 2010, they had won the FA Youth Cup twice, in 1960 and 1961. Of the 13 Cups from 2010 they have won nine and been runners-up twice.

I refer you back to my “spend loads” quote.

The model was also “spend loads and have your owner bail you out” and then “buy a million players and loan them out, then sell them occasionally to keep balancing the books”.

Yeah, that just means they’ve made poor choices rather than that they’re happy to finish 3rd/4th. If that were really true they’d have stuck with the managers for longer. And, again, they won the CL.

Not sure about this tbh - the club that won the CL the year before last? Happy to keep finishing 3rd or 4th? They’re just like most of the top teams - got blown out by Liverpool and Man City last year. What should they have done differently? They spend a fortune every year.

Dunno man, if Liverpool win CL, FA Cup and League Cup against the sort of opposition they’re going to face this year I don’t know how Klopp doesn’t win Manager of the Year.

Henderson’s on loan from Manchester United. It’s the same deal as with Lingard - they pay big wages for a year knowing that if it doesn’t work they’re not lumbered. If it does the players that ground out promotion - half of whom aren’t there any more - are probably not going to give the slightest shit.

The financial situation of pretty much everybody coming up is always going to be the same though - certainly of the clubs who don’t have parachute payments.

Isn’t Scamacca on the way too? Could be an outrageously good window for West Ham.

Well like I said that all depends on the contracts. The fact that they just signed Lingard for one year suggests to me that they’re not stupid. All they have to do is be better than three other sides.

Yeah I think so. The key factor (apart from them actually staying up of course) will be how those contracts are drawn up. Will be surprised if they’ve managed to include a lot of incentives, but you’d have thought there would have to be some relegation clauses.

Really think West Ham will break the top six with these new signings, I just can’t make up my mind who will drop out.