Keegans Export

They sold Grealish during the 21/22. They have that transfer fee helping their FFP calculation for 21/22, 22/23 and 23/24 so after this season it's beyond the three-year cycle & isn't of any use FFP-wise. I'd be interested to know where they are in terms of wages-to-turnover, I know ours was very high on the last set of accounts.

Exactly my point

This isn't about Sunderland but on this point - I remember getting into an argument with a Villa fan on Twitter (before I accepted that arguing online was a pointless exercise) about some player we were both linked with and why he would chose one over the other. He said Villa because they were a "Bigger club" (another pointless topic for an argument...) and he based this on the fact that they had won the European Cup whereas we haven't. Obviously he's right, they have won it and we haven't. But I made the point that one European Cup win however many years before this player was born probably isn't going to make a huge difference to how he views them versus us. Same goes for those Sunderland league wins - one win since the start of the First World War versus our record is the epitome of bald men fighting over a comb. We both have shit, barren trophy cabinets and there's little to be gained arguing over which one is less shit and barren than the other.

There's a fairly regular complaint in the Match Atmosphere thread about the same two or three songs being repeated over and over. Personally I think that part of the issue is away games essentially being a closed shop these days but a fan zone could help - songs/chants on the big screen, a decent DJ/MC keeping things ticking along. It might be a bit cringey but there'll be plenty who are after exactly that sort of thing and it could help the atmosphere inside the ground too.

Whether this happens or not, at least we know 1. The calibre of players we are after and 2. The £75m budget is miles off. Unless it's all bollocks obviously...

We only won once in the first eight games last season and we ended up alright! Obviously if we do start poorly the narrative will be obvious but I trust Eddie and the team to block that out.

Wasn't he the first one at the UK end to report the Isak deal?

I think the kit looks fine with white or black socks but if they've done the promo shots with white socks then changed their mind without changing the photos (and not letting anyone know until the kit is on sale) it doesn't exactly dispel the theory that Castore are still a bit amateurish compared to the big boys.

So it took us from 27th May to 11th June to go from planning to considering. How long before the fabled "preparing" stage? At this rate we'll have actually signed him some time in 2037.

That's obviously just a standard fans account that's renamed itself following the Sela announcement https://twitter.com/SelaUKPA/status/1646887140624613376?t=Z-7PUIPEt1jKB-s6seZhNg&s=19

Not for me! I have protanopia (a form of colour deficiency) where red appears very dull & essentially unreadable on black stripes. Obviously I appreciate this is a fairly niche problem but it affects between 1-5% of the population so that's between 500 and 2500 people per home game.

Did they get a mention? I was there & didn't hear anything Sunderland-related although I did miss some of what was said between songs.

Absolutely no chance Castore can keep up with this level of demand.

Interesting. Presumably a different sponsor being lined up but why put it for sale without it?

If the budget for this summer is £60-80m I'd be interested to know what the budget would have been if we'd finished outside the European spaces.

Source for that is Indy Kalia isn't it?

Well short of actually seeing the contract with the clause in it I'm not sure how much more definitive it could be. All the most reliable sources (Romano, The Athletic etc) have reported the existence of a release clause.

MacAllister 100% had a release clause

I'm not sure Everton's new stadium is a fair comparison seeing as they're building it on a reclaimed dock - presumably much more complicated and expensive than building on solid, city-centre ground?

It looks like Man City's ground cost about £125m (although there has been a lot of redevelopment of it since then), not a million miles away from £42m in 1997 taking inflation into account

It's not quite that simple I don't think - for a start you'd have to compare the costs of expansion vs new stadium. Didn't it end up costing almost as much to expand to L7 as the proposed Castle Leazes stadium would have been to build? There's also the point @Toonjam88 makes that it's all about the hospitality. An extra 5k seats at £650/season isn't going to justify the expense of a new stadium but a whole ring of corporate tickets at £7k/season might do!

We can't afford established players like Rice, Mount, Osimhen - we have to operate in that tier below and trust our scouts/coaches to turn them into elite players over time. Then we either keep them or move them on for an extortionate fee.

Not sure like, another forum I visit doesn't seem to be having the same problem

DOB November 2002 - would he need to be named in the 25-man squad?

They've basically taken over the PGA Tour and dressed it up as a "merger"