Keegans Export

They flew out of the traps, new signings settled really well, got a load of points on the board. Since they won their cup final it's all been a bit "after the Lord Mayor's show" so to speak. It's not the entire fanbase but there's a decent percentage who's number one priority, above even staying in the division, is "beat the mags". Some of them have apparently expressed that to the manager directly. They've done that and already have enough points to stay up so it can't be easy to keep the motivation levels where they were in Sept-Dec.

If we qualify for the Europa/Conference League via the league, do we need to play a qualifier or is it straight into the group stage?

Would everyone on their bench be in our starting XI? Really goes to show how far away we are, they can put out a 20-man matchday squad and at least 17-18 of them you'd probably put ahead of our first XI

Key line in the latest Mark Douglas article (which is about SCR and our support of it) So, because SCR is just based on the ratio between football-related income versus football-related costs, expenditure on the stadium whether in the form of owner investment or loan has no impact. Under PSR, any interest paid on a loan would count towards the limit on losses.

Still reckon a draw away from home isn't the worst result

Yeah to play a sport that is either primarily standing around doing nothing (NFL, baseball) or running about indoors for 30-40mins with barely any physical contact (NBA). (posted partly in jest)

Stubbed his toe getting off the plane when he first got here and it's been downhill ever since.

I don't think there's any issue with him choosing Man City over us. More money presumably and when he signed there clearly either wasn't a plan to sign Donnarumma or they didn't tell him so he's going in thinking he's probably going to be #1 at perennial Premier League and Champions League challengers. Having said that, if his priority is regular football then he's going to have to move, he's probably going to have to take a pay cut and Man City are going to have to be reasonable with their demands. If we could get him for £30m(ish) and he'd take a wage just below the top earners then I'd 100% go back in for him.

They've done alright at home, a draw isn't the worst result but we should definitely go full strength.

He was close to Eales wasn't he? Reeks of him knowing the boss has got his back if he pissed anyone off, I've known people just like that.

The militant minority on both sides of the Howe in/out debate are annoying - I honestly don't know witch is worse.

Moscow is further East than Israel btw

Absolutely chuffed for him today. Clear that the players are still playing for him. They'll always say they back the manager but you can see during the games whether they are or not and it's not debatable. Decent draw (or another good result) and we could be looking at a League Cup SF, Champions League knockout stages and FA Cup QF at a minimum.

What they stopped (or restricted) was the rules around related party sponsors - so limiting how much money we could add from PIF-related sponsors. Seeing as we haven't maximised our sponsorship income as it is, I think its fanciful to think they would have thrown hundreds of millions around in related-party sponsorship deals if those rules had never been brought in.

I don't think there's any evidence of that. Bearing in mind there were still FFP rules in place before they took over, so there was always going to be a limit on our spending power. Yes, they've been tightened but they aren't even pushing the envelope within the rules as they are now so I don't think they were going to throw the ludicrous sums of money it would have taken to "do a Man City" in 2021/22

Bit risky with his Arsenal links. Or his attitude towards marriage, depending on which Henry it is.

https://x.com/i/status/2022017153684443359 Not sure why that isn't embedded but he's been into Crypto and has bought a Tesla Cybertruck with the proceeds...

I don't think the poll looks bad for him - 8.2% saying they want rid now so 90%+ want to stick with him as it stands. He's still the guy for me for what it's worth and seeing other clubs around/beneath us scrabbling about hoping that a managerial change leads to a sudden uptick in performance reinforces that belief. Looking at the fixtures we've got left I have us finishing on about 58 points which will probably be in the 8th/9th range. Maybe an underachievement but if we get a CL QF to go with the League Cup SF that's be enough to keep him in place. Obviously I wouldn't 100% rule out him thinking he's worn himself out and walking but as long as Hopkinson & Wilson stay in place it should give him at least a partial break over the summer to recharge the batteries.

Another annoyance that may have been covered already but how is it all about errors being "clear and obvious" except for offside where a small shaving of head is enough to overturn an on-field decision? If you have to start drawing lines and spending 3+mins to work it out, it's not clear and obvious and you either go with the on-field decision or give the benefit of the doubt to the attacker. Goal-line tech I don't have an argument with because it's almost instantaneous and while it can be a close call, it's black or white with essentially no room for human error. The offside stuff is none of those things.

I don't see why Jacob Murphy couldn't slot in at RB. He's disciplined, can't question his work rate and can offer something at the other end of the pitch if he gets the opportunity Edit - also works if Burn is slotting in more as a third CB like we used to

Even if we got an extra £75 per seat per game, that +16,000 is worth £23m/season just from the 19 home PL games. Chuck in a few European and Cup ties and that's £30m without factoring in that some of that additional capacity will be corporate at considerably more than £75/seat, so that +£40m could be an underestimate. There's potential income from sponsorship, all-year-round use of the stadium and so on. Also this. The financials are going to be more complex than writing a cheque for £2bn then sitting and waiting for the bank account to refill.

Finneran? He's been playing for the U21s but I don't think any of them are setting the world alight.

Hang on a second... ...Project 2030 is back on boys!

There's also the question of how much more difficult does it become to sell "the project" to current and prospective players if we don't pick up a bit of form. Let's say we go out at the R16 in the CL, lose to Villa in the Cup and finish 10th. Does it make it harder to push this narrative that we have genuine ambitions on challenging the elite clubs if we keep the manager in place?

I don't think I've been in a position where the team is clearly not performing and my overriding feeling towards the manager is "I want him to fix it" rather than wanting a change. I was a bit younger when SBR was here but as I recall I thought he probably should have been 'moved upstairs' at the end of the season and a younger coach brought in for the longer term.