Abacus

Jesse Marsch excitedly explaining how "this is vertical football" at halftime. I'm flipping horizontal watching this so far.

If they don't settle a huge compensation fee, I would be demanding daily before and after pictures of his garden.

The minute Howe came out talking about why longevity in a role was important in a role like that was the minute Dan Ashhole was toast imo, and rightly so. Once again, Eddie had it right. I hope he has the staying power to ignore the snakepits and do what's right for our club - he's Keegan again.

And from this, Ashworth might now be a mole

Haha, sounds like Eddie has moved on fast. Once again, he's the real spokesman for the club.

Won't believe it till he's gone.

Based on what's in the papers, he has a friendship with Brailsford, who will have a position on the new Man U board once Ratcliffe's part ownership is confirmed. That being the case, I'm all for him leaving anyway. The danger is that he'll know our plans, our targets, our limitations, our FFP strategies, who we want to sell etc etc. We did exactly the same to Brighton, mind, so need to roll with it. All in all, I'm a bit sick of football politics as I'm sure everyone is. I'm sure it was always like this, but you do with you could just enjoy the games and not care less.

Well, I've no idea of his actual role in transfers, but on the basis that if we're blaming him for Tonali you've also got to credit him for the Wood and Shelvey transfers, which were both pretty good for us at the time. Just hoping that if he goes, we get in a shrewd character to replace him. (NB I nearly said shrewd operator, but then couldn't get Sade out of my mind)

I'm pretty sure it's 2.

I would guess because if they were forced to, that would amount to state intervention and funding of the club, when of course there are "legally binding assurances" that we are separate from the state. There aren't really any obvious workarounds to the rules we're complying with, unless the whole basis of those rules are challenged. Which would be... problematic. Not least as I can't really think what they'd be replaced with that both everyone would sign up to and would also stop the league just being dominated by other clubs than they are now, in a different sort of closed shop. FWIW, I think employing the best back office teams around, with owners willing to invest in that way in order to be able to challenge properly longer term is probably still our best strategy. As frustrating as it is right now.

Yes, I agree about the PSR bit - by coup I meant that he was seemingly highly valued and with a lot of potential for the future.

I think we were planning not to use the Jan window - and I suppose you can hardly blame them given that in the first part of the season we're in 3 competitions plus the Champions League. Not sure about the Hall transfer or when the obligation triggers, but at the time getting him initially on loan was a bit of a coup. Tonali is the real one that stings right now, but that one has been debated to death.

From what I understand, Everton's differ mainly in the treatment on interest on debts for stadium redevelopment, which Everton thought were allowable. Forest seems more cut and dried re it being purely transfer / wage overspending (which was a part of Everton's problem too). Both argue that they'd kept the PL informed all along and had assets to sell to make the losses good, but were shafted anyway.

Operating losses are only the starting point. From there, certain things are and are not allowable from a PSR point of view, after that you get to an adjusted losses figure. You'd only start to worry about the first number if your owners couldn't make that good and there was a chance of your club going bust. That's not our situation. What we don't know is the allowable (adjusted) loss, i.e. what counts before you breach and which also determines what you therefore can spend. You can make an educated guess if you know what you're looking for. But in short, I wouldn't fret about it.

So, due the appeals situation possibly going on after the end of the season, we could well end it with noone knowing who will actually finish where? Including who has been relegated? Sounds brilliant.

To be fair, almost none of them wanted him in the first place so it's not like they've turned on him. They were trying to hound him out before he was in.

I liked how they lost yesterday to a goal scored by a Mr C. Chaplin.

Yeah, I think we all wish there had been a few moves like this already. Then again, not sure blooding someone into the PL against Man City would have made all that much difference in this game, but who knows - better than what we did have, I suppose. Joelinton was only confirmed out for a while pretty recently, so maybe it was a calculated gamble for a game or two. Dunno though, there are other gambles across most positions right now.

We definitely should have subbed either Miley or Longstaff off for de Bruyne second half, I reckon.

I think this is one reason they surprisingly dropped the objection to related party clubs loaning from the Saudi League - that would have made it far too obvious that every new rule was to stop us. If we had gone down that route of taking loans, it would have only increased the animosity towards us more widely and lessened the scrutiny on FFP, which is I guess what they were secretly hoping for in dropping it. So I'm glad we don't look like falling into that trap. Gives us a clean pair of knuckle-dusters for the real fight.

I also think that any challenge could be done alongside other clubs with the same issue. Say, Everton, Forest, even City (as it might get them out of a hole). Villa too - if they qualify for the CL, they'll find themselves in the exact same position as us this year. Suddenly unable to invest to a level that makes them unable to compete and vulnerable to having their players / manager picked off by the same old clubs.

Didn't their owners pay £10k towards the cost of this mess? I imagine that's why the W is so big - they've blown that, and then fan-funded the rest. Someone must have got a voucher for the exclamation mark.

So... an argument about the best way get out fast enough? "I'd just jump a row down and get out the other way"

It probably went on the pointless exclamation mark at the end of that shambles. Or on the crisp packets on the flags.

Howe played this one exactly right. He didn't downplay it, took the press questions with grace, didn't respond to Mr Bean's taunts about us being massively funded, sent out a strong team, let them play to their best and didn't give Sunderland a sniff of a chance. Basically, he gets the club and deserves every fans' support. He needs support in January / the summer but there's nothing I've seen even through this rough patch that makes me doubt him for a second.