Tiresias

Oh I'm not saying peps done it cheap or from nothing lol I'm firmly on the they're there cos of financial dominance side, just they have been more effective with it than man u in particular. Peps very good but the infrastructure and the player budget there is as much the reason and they'd probably still be winning everything with someone else just maybe with fewer weird formations which does add to the entertainment

The only reason counter intuitively city's spend is lower is how long they have been spending big for all reasons listed above, and also of late they have been spending sensibly. Yes big wages but most the players do come good. The price of incompetence in the transfer market is large, an incompetently run club like Man U or Chelsea probably have to spend 3x what City do because they keep getting utterly rinsed for idiots in the transfer market

I don't know why peope seem shocked that a huge revenue is a massive advantage? Next thing you'll be saying having the best team is a good advantage? Getting rid of it would allow everyone to spend disproportionately with the big clubs to their own income. That includes Man City etc. No longer confined by their revenue they aren't suddenly just be spending what they are now, they will use their sovereign wealth fund money. And everyone else will go broke chasing us and them and you still end up with a two horse league. We will catch up. I don't get the impatience considering how much fun it is right now with us playing the best football for a long long time with a lovely relatable squad and manager. Are we all really that annoyed that we aren't title challenging already? We will get there, there is so much room for us to build our commercial revenue considering how shit it was before, and we will also be smarter than them and we will win the league one year, this is just slowing it down. And would I swap watching Dan Burn in the champions league for already having Mbappe and Neymar and some past it mercenary bastards on £100000000000 a minute wages? Fuck that.

I know, having said that actually I imagine the majority of European clubs would love to vote for it to screw every country's handful of rich clubs but I know. I don't pretend to have a solution to be honest, I suspect it would have to be an accumulation of small rules to put a check on runaway wages. I would look at regulation of Agents and how much they are scalping out of wages, and I would think the league should spend a lot more on a robust investigatory body to chase up hidden payments cos I am sure there is loads of dodgy shit going on behind the scenes that is ignored.

Fit and Proper owners check is a fucking joke and everyone knows it. There is no world where you can make the league more competitive by allowing unchecked spending. If we did of course it would be a league of us and maybe man city keeping up and that would be it and it would be dull. I know I am arguing against our own self interest here but actually i want to win the league on merit not by spending 3 times everyone else like Man City have done but that may just be me. Salary Caps and Spending Caps would be good but will never get passed and the league would worry too much about not being the "best league in the world". The thing is the reason the league is good is that the broadcasting rights are more even than say in La Liga where Madrid and Barca take most the money. I would argue keep it egalitarian (just in news going other way lol) and also increase solidarity payments down the league system. In the long term financially healthy EFL will allow them to buy and produce better quality players that can flow upwards. The way things are going is a bubble, more and more money for Man City and us in future the more impoverished the rest of the league system, and suddenly we're French footy. Man City and Chelsea need to be punished proportionally to how Everton were in line with their breaches, that would be a start. I would try and improve the checks and balances so that rather than investigations going on for fucking years this happens quickly so clubs aren't punished for historic crimes, it's fucking pathetic. I would really try and look into rules that if we can't have a wage cap or a price cap that would bring down the inflation on player value. Players that even a few years ago would have been affordable for most the league are suddenly going for £50m or more. It's daft. Equally players that sit on the benches of big clubs and want to leave are on wages that no other club could possibly afford so they end up stuck (I mean by their own choice but who wants to accept a pay cut?). If it is much harder for Man City and Chelsea to price everyone else out of players and stockpile them, if wages don't get so out of control then it becomes a more even league. If you just let us spend it we will win it soon enough and it will be boring. I do not want to be PSG. I have loved this last couple of seasons, I love this squad, I love the togetherness. You don't get that if we weren't constrained tbh. Yes I understand the pain but let's get Chelsea and Man City relegated for breaching the rules and have a laugh at that, that would be lovely.

And the league is supposed to trust everyone who says yes i have enough money to pump into clubs? Yes obviously it's clear ours do but say these didn't exist, our owners go out and sign 15 players on huge wages straight away. Then political shit happens at home and the owners put club up for sale with no more money coming in. Club then has to accrue debt to pay for the wages of players and quickly it becomes a financial clusterfuck. This is not equivalent of a supermarket chain. If this was a supermarket chain Ashley would have been a fine owner because no-one gives a damn about supermarket chains like football clubs ffs. The point should not be sold as about competitiveness, you are all absolutely right it does the opposite and does not help the league, the point is to protect fans from seeing their clubs disappear out form under them. My Everton mate has genuinely been fretting about Everton not existing in the future due to the financial mismanagement if they can never afford to finish the stadium and get liable for huge debts. That is what this is about. I am not arguing that this is good for the competitiveness of the league and i am annoyed that the league makes that argument too! But if you don't have those rules huge number of clubs will put themselves in massive debt on hope of getting in champions league and only so many can and the others then could end up in real trouble. There need to be more rules to help competitiveness completely and the motivation for this rule is totally partially to make it hard for us, but ditching it would be dangerous too.

You miss my point, yes the big six want this because this alone does help them, there needs to be other rules as others have outlined to improve competitiveness. This doesn't mean clubs should be allowed to spend loads more than they earn and thus accrue debt just for the sake of allowing them to challenge briefly before imploding.

I just think the ffp thing is a slight misnomer i agree that it doesn't even the playing field and Indeed really helps clubs with huge commercial income and there should be rules to deal with that as well but actually stopping clubs spending beyond their means is entirely sensible purely to prevent financial disasters in clubs. Its financial fair play not football fair play. I am all for discussions on how best to improve competitiveness in the league but the ffp rules are only bad because in absence of other rules it helps the really rich and successful clubs who aren't spending beyond their means. If that was followed up with other limits to spending power we could actually do something but punishing clubs for spending stupidly may make clubs try harder in future to look after their clubs future even if it means fuck all in terms of making League more competitive

I feel no sympathy, it was all entirely avoidable, yes they showed ambition but they were really incompetent and avoidable and such actions should have repercussions. They will also likely be fine.

I agree with the rule but rather than promoting financial fair play it's more about making sure clubs don't get into financial trouble that would jeopardize the future of the club by overspending. That's what it's meant to do and in punishing Everton it is punishing spending that threatened the future of the club for fans. To actually make it fair play, salary caps and spending caps would be needed, but are never never going to happen as the big clubs have a lot of power and the league itself fears all the star players would immediately bugger off for higher wages elsewhere and the league would lose it's 'best in the world' status.

They've overspent badly, most the players they bought lost value so couldn't be sold on for profit. There is also ongoing suspicion a large amount of their funds came from Usmanov via Moshiri and now Usmanov is sanctioned the money has dried up. They have spent a lot of money on the new stadium but do not have enough finance to complete it on understanding they would get that investment. If they haven't built the stadium before a certain date they are contractually obliged to pay for what is build to be demolished and the site restored to what it was, which would cost substantially more than just finishing it at this point but is a cripping liability if it happens. They are pinning hopes on the 777 group takeover going through even though they are clearly dodgy and debatable if they have any money anyway.

In fairness i'd want all of them if we are going to swap for Bruno

Barca can't afford the clause still likely why player swap mentioned. Raphina and 5 other similar players and we'll talk?

I am not having this creeping negativity in this season. We have beaten Man United, Man City, Arsenal, PSG Aston Villa, half of those with a depleted squad and throw in a fun 8 goal romp. Yes the amount of matches has caught up to us, yes getting top 4 will be very tough as it was always going to be but quite frankly I am not prepared to give a shit yet. I still just want to enjoy without pressure. I am sure in 5 years time when the squad is deep with international talent and many billions are spent the threat of finishing 3rd will summon anger at underachievement from me, but quite frankly any Newcastle fan should be embarrassed to feel the slightest twang of anger or self pity about it. Howe's job should be one of the safest in the league and there is no indication from club I can see that indicates otherwise. A lot of journalists are desperate for our ownership to be incompetent and impatient which they have shown no sign of. (Yes they may also be evil mind)

Can't help but wonder in an even moderately more ambitious team and with a modicum of proper coaching that half season 'hot streak' he had might have been extended. So many players under so many of our managers started bright then mysteriously all the motivation and joy drained from their games...

I think Hall has that classic young player thing of being bullied and making some poor decisions leading to give away the ball, not got that defensive instinct yet, but also clearly has oodles of technical ability. He will be really good in future under good coaching but he's not fully baked yet.

Pretty poor so far, tired depleted team without much imagination, to be expected really. Like the look of Miley, not so sure on Hall yet doesn't inspire me with confidence in defence (not to say won't get there he is young and full of promise). Willock not doing enough though.

We don't have the squad depth to get far in this competition yet, was hoping for a flukey run, and still possible i guess but this group is horrendously difficult, the fact that people are upset at us losing to Dortmund away is a testament to our progress. I am more upset we lost at home to be honest, but was hopeful if we could have nicked a goal would fancy us to build on the momentum. Oh well.

Nah liked wenger remember when he went to the cluney?

Has Arteta gone full klopp and asked for replay yet?

He's absolutely going to get a few really daft red cards. He is the most heart on sleeve player imaginable. Just think how poor he was while the contract stuff was going on in background, and as much as that can hurt us, while he loves the club and playing for us and really wants us to do well he is able to pull unbelievable performances out the bag for us. He may gain maturity still but I don't want to pretend that it's pure negative, Bruno without heart wouldn't be Bruno.

He's absolutely going to get a few really daft red cards. He is the most heart on sleeve player imaginable. Just think how poor he was while the contract stuff was going on in background, and as much as that can hurt us, while he loves the club and playing for us and really wants us to do well he is able to pull unbelievable performances out the bag for us. He may gain maturity still but I don't want to pretend that it's pure negative, Bruno without heart wouldn't be Bruno.

Wasn't able to watch so the needle in my head once again tilts to me jinxing things by watching them thanks a lot

It's strange but tbh not a huge difference than us live commenting on the match on the board, just a communal thing for the people in comments

Reward for Howe?