TheBrownBottle

He's Ronnie's brother

We don’t need to rely on ‘the market’. Sela and Noon didn’t come from ‘the market’.

Based on what we can see at the moment, it isn’t clear if it’s possible to catch up with them. The three London clubs have an immediate geographical/ economic advantage (and are far more successful), Man Utd and Liverpool are simply bigger clubs, and Man City got their financial ‘steroid boost’ at the right time, and are now in a secure position. I don’t think we can catch Spurs financially - ever - but if we can get as close to them as possible, then we can keep ourselves challenging for trophies.

I understand the point you’re making, but we already got ‘above market’ rates for Sela and Noon on the kit without any issues from the PL - because they were less than the ‘big six’. No reason the same couldn’t have been achieved with other kit based sponsorship - I mean, what is market value for training kit sponsorship? From memory noon are paying c.£9m per season to have themselves slapped on our sleeves - so perhaps £4-5m for a training kit? Is the PL really going to block that? Is that deal likely to be worth several times that in a few seasons? A PIF-related companies could easily have sponsored the remaining low hanging fruit for ‘above market rates’ and no push back would have occurred. The usual suspects are concerned about Aramco sponsoring the ground for £80m a season or other such nonsense. And if PIF-related companies aren’t interested, then that’s when the commercial team come in - and it’s worth remembering that they had bot all to do with our big sponsors (kit manufacturers are different).

Man Utd were still England’s biggest club when they hadn’t won a title in nearly three decades (and were relegated in that period) while Liverpool dominated the sport. They’re still England’s biggest club, and it is hard to imagine circumstances where they wouldn’t be.

It doesn’t take three years to find a training kit sponsor, process or not tbf. ‘Process’ is a byword for ‘inefficient’ when it comes to KSA - I think that was Staveley’s term to cover the fact that the PIF will take forever to makes decisions.

He's a million miles from being that - he needs what he should've had two years ago; a season at a Division Three or Four side.

The ground will sell out, but I don't doubt that there is likely to be a turnover of those who attend - I'd be surprised if all 10k people continue if their STs double in price.

Man City's defence this season looks really brittle

They're going to go up significantly whether we stick or twist on the ground. The argument for a new stadium in that regard would be that the increased corporate, commercial (including stadium sponsorship) as well as increased seating numbers) would allow the club to offer some of the tickets at a 'reduced' cost. No guarantees on that front, of course. This is the way football has been going for yonks, of course. The support will be squeezed for every penny, and PSR makes this all the more likely.

Nee idea tbh - I've always found that whole scene a bit odd. I've little sympathy for grown adults in it, but I think daft kids deserve a pass.

I’ve little sympathy for defenders of Tommy Five Names tbf, and Wraith is pretty much the biggest wanker in the fanbase

Not sure who’s being referred to, but it sounds like she was a child when she was doing that. If so, that’s more of an issue for the daft cunts getting wound up by what she was saying rather than the child herself.

We didn’t need to sell this month, we could have sold when the window reopens in May

Roma must be laughing about that one and praying that they do - there's nothing in Le Fee's past which suggests that the fee that they paid Rennes was good value.

Pretty much, we’ve little headroom without selling

PIF aren’t going to loan us the stars they delivered for massive sums to the KSA Pro League. The Pro League is their priority.

We’d actually have to recycle some players to do it well, rather than clinging on for dear life until they’ve lost most of the value they’d have held a year or so earlier.

Unlikely - we were over a barrel of our own making by leaving it so late in the day to correct our FFP position

Yes, I imagine that the team which recently beat Villa (h) Man Utd (a) Spurs (a) and Arsenal (a) in successive games, has beaten Forest twice away this season, and played out a 3-3 classic with Liverpool will absolutely struggle to get anything from those games.

I had the original as a kid - during our Norwich away kit theme years. Got a circular burn in it from a bonfire and got a right bollocking for it. I don't exactly remember it as either a design classic nor as a totem of particularly enjoyable times for NUFC ...

Nee one caals me a mackem, marra. Shit, I meant mate. Mask has slipped

Anyone who's ever worked with or is mates with a smoggie (or smoggies) will testify that they absolutely do think that there is a sporting rivalry with sunderland, Newcastle and Leeds (a Boro-supporting mate of mine is from N Yorks and is more in the 'Leeds are our rivals' camp, which I think is more often the case with their more southerly fans. Most Middlesbrough / Redcar based support seems to think that sunderland and Newcastle are sporting rivals. It should probably be Hull when you think about it - but it isn't. I get the impression that the 'Wear-Tees' derby means a bit more to the smoggies than the 'Tyne-Tees' 'derby', but we barely give a toss about them. I don't look for Boro's results, for example. The mackems on the other hand absolutely are our sporting rivals - and who could ask for a better one?

Was it time-barred? Because Almiron playing in the CL for us turned out to not be that dubious