Abacus

Well, yes agreed. And of course the PL doesn't exist in a vacuum and are in danger of losing out to other leagues including the Saudi League etc. So I think all it really does is stifle the PL. Seems like a massive clash between US owners wanting returns and other owners wanting prestige. I think the whole league loses out by cutting out sustainable investment, and that also has a knock on to all clubs within it. I'm really not disagreeing, was just wondering how we'd feel if Leeds, say, had been bought by Qatar, we were still under Ashley and there were no rules at all.

Yeah agreed, but no easy answers, since I think a salary cap would be disputed as illegal. But, leaving legalities aside, practically it's probably the best way I'd agree, linked with an escrow type system to stop clubs going bust. I just kind of wish they weren't asleep at the wheel when Chelsea and Man City did it, and only woke up when there was a chance we might go further. You could go back before that to find other examples, like Blackburn etc as a point of principle, but I cite those two as when you started needing HUGE money to compete.

Aye. The Brown Bottle is right though that the one legitimate reason it is there for is to stop rampant cost inflation - since even with the escrow solution, wealthy owners could just put £1bn into escrow, and still blow everyone else out of the water. That's the bit that's hard to argue around, and where other fans could feel rightly aggrieved. And how we would feel in their shoes. So yeah, the way to fix that is a salary cap on everyone, which would also be legally dubious, even if fairer from a sporting point of view.

The other thing, and the next battle, is the revenue cap idea. I.e. you can spend a maximum of say 70% of revenue on wages and amortised transfer costs to replace PSR, if I have that right. Exactly what does that achieve? The remaining 30% goes on, presumably infrastructure or running costs. But how does that stop reckless spending if your running costs are 50% of revenue? And what if they are 10% of revenue? You waste the other 20%? Or you just bank it forever, essentially taking money from fans in perpetuity? This and PSR are all solutions in search of a problem in the real world. If there is no chance of a club going bust or mortgaging it's long term future, then what is the purpose of this interference? Hard to escape the idea that these are, and have only ever been, sporting sanctions, in reality. But anyway, it's pushing against an open door arguing that on here so I'll stop.

Nope. Sorry if my sarcasm wasn't as clear as I thought. I agree with you. Absolutely don't want to be the club known for being well run but never risking upsetting the apple cart, though that's the model of a "well run club" in this system.

Perfect example of a well run club in this world. I.e. a player farm who aren't going to frighten the horses. We should ALL be like that.

That's a hell of a mission statement

Fair play for fronting up Froggy, again. A bit funny how Ashworth apparently wanted Howe and got sacked for it. But I don't think this is down to any manager or how they want to play. Squarely on the owners and has been for years, yet even Ferguson defended them. Either way, thanks for cheering us all up.

Too many off games and sloppy passes today - they effectively smothered Bruno in the middle and both Murphy and Gordon had games to forget out wide. I do wish the ref had been a bit stronger with the fouling and issuing cards early on, but equally we didn't cope with it and I really doubt it would have affected the game. Bournemouth were definitely the better team today anyway, both individually and tactically - it happens. We're still in a great position both for Europe and a possible cup final regardless, so I'm not going to let it ruin the weekend and look forward to us bouncing back instead.

One more win and we're safe.

I think if you're looking at a stadium sponsorship alone, say, it's going to be far easier to sponsor a massively impressive new stadium which could also be beamed over the world for other sporting and music events. As opposed to even an impressively revamped St James's - don't think a lot would be happy about renaming it either come to that and, if not, I don't think you'd get the same sponsorship for, say, a partial renaming. Much as I love the place, it has been rebuilt like Trigger's broom as others have pointed out - it's not a museum. I was initially in favour of staying, but now I'm personally won over to going, with various caveats about where. No, it's not all just about money nor should it be though I realise this is where the debate goes, but we've probably outgrown the current site even just based on fan attendances.

Werewolves

Really enjoying this game - hoping Forest shove Slot's spending comments back in his face. Anderson winner please.

I just don't rate Dubravka that much now. He was excellent under Benitez, but less so under Howe. He has played excellently these last few games though and there's no doubt his distribution can be a strength. Even if he went for nothing, it clears his wages and if so I'd be tempted to have a younger understudy to Pope instead as maybe it's a risk you'd take to lower the age of the squad. It's a tough one alright, as it depends how far away Pope is and how injury affected he is likely to be going forward. I totally get why people want to keep Dubs, however, and I flip back and forth on this all the time myself.

Annoyingly, as I don't like to lose an argument, I was chatting with a friend who very early on took just one look at Barnes and didn't rate him. I then spent quite a long time condescendingly explaining to her why she was wrong, as he was a good finisher, great assists etc. She merely wrinkled her face in a "we'll see" kind of way. But as time has gone by, I can't get that out of my head and think she's right. He's a good player in the right team, but here he seems like a jigsaw piece that doesn't quite fit. He doesn't defend or track back and goes invisible at times. He's not even a supersub any more, I think Murphy is better on the right and he doesn't hold a candle to Gordon on the left. Like I say, a good player but I'd sell him.

When we finished 4th he was excellent. But it also seemed that he needed to play his way into games since he just kept going. Whether that was down to minutes or confidence I'm not sure - but he won't be getting those minutes here and so can't just be a squad option. Maybe the best thing for him is to go in that case.

Corker

Great effort from Tamworth here. But if only it was fair and balanced

I am so jealous, this news has straight ruined my entire day and/or year.

Hoping we demand a medicine ball for the second leg, for Arteta's sake. Kick THAT into the mixer Declan.

Good news. After last year, it's weird to be getting news about players (mostly) coming back from injuries and being broadly on track. Hope he does get some minutes against Bromley, be good to have another option.

We beat them with the premier league ball as well

Three players that get into every team in the country, then seven players who get into none... Well that's ten players to start with, whereas he was talking about the starting 11. Not even being able to add up is, however, the very least of the reasons why (if the world were a kinder place) such dipsticks shouldn't be allowed out to embarrass themselves.

They are probably better off throwing in a lowball £80m bid for Haaland and see how that goes down - and anyway, he's much more suited to Arteta ball. Rice could just ping corners in to the big man all day long while rest of the team continue to hop about like Morris Dancers.

Got around to watching his interview with Simon Jordan on YouTube last night. His answers were spot on, but not only that his dead-eyed stare at some of the obvious bait questions got Jordan to admit that baiting was exactly what he was up to. Nothing gets past Howe. Best manager in the league in so many ways.