TheBrownBottle

Agreed - I can’t think of anyone where we paid below market price for them (though of course some of them will now be worth a lot more than we paid for them)

If the FFP stuff is a negotiating gambit, then every other football club is run by the thickest cunts alive. Because if anyone will understand how true / likely it is, it is other clubs (who have to follow the same restrictions). The FFP stuff isn’t the club playing poker - the other players have already seen your hand. It is real

I’m happy to be wrong tbf - but my understanding has always been that it’s in the footballing year (23/24).

It was widely reported in the summer that the budget was between £75-100m. Loads said ‘that’s not the case - we’ll spend loads more than that’. We didn’t.

Spending in January won’t affect our summer budget

It’s amortised in the (football) financial year, not the calendar year, they won’t drop off in January; they’ll drop off in July. New sponsors will definitely help (though not adidas until next season)

Yeah, definitely. And 21/22 no longer being like a ball and chain - the Ashley damage goes next season.

Chelsea have spent crazy money mind. Enzo isn’t worth half that for me. Likewise Caicedo, Mudryk etc etc.

We ran up a £70m loss in 21/22 - that drops off FFP next year, but we’re still hampered by it. You’re right, we haven’t seen the books - but given that we spent £160m net last season on transfers, it’s likely that another (much smaller) loss was accrued. So this year we’re limited as to what sort of loss we can run - you can only run a loss of £105m over three years. I think that there will be money available - but not much. Getting knocked out of Europe before Xmas also likely wasn’t part of the plan.

It’s a fucking headache tbh mate - a pain in the arse to think about

A player is worth what a club is willing to pay. Man City were willing to pay £80m. I don’t foresee anyone paying £100m+ for Bruno (but then, we don’t have to sell him, either )

No, because money isn’t the problem - FFP is. The budget isn’t limited, our ability to spends it is. There is nothing we can keep until the summer - summer classes as next season for FFP purposes.

He can play CB too. Nee chance we can just go out and replace 10 players released on a free.

I would bet that Schar, Krafth, Lascelles, Dummett, Karius will all be offered one-year extensions at a minimum. Ritchie might if he’s a player / coach.

There’s no chance Bruno brings in £100m+. Man City agreed a £80m fee for Paqueta. That looks about right to me.

Hard to say - up to Howe and the club. I’m ok with anyone going if Eddie thinks it’s best for the club. No-one is irreplaceable.

They can’t smokescreen publicly available accounts. It’s pretty easy to see that if we’re following FFP, then there isn’t much wriggle-room. I’ve seen this from NUFC fans every transfer window. Loads in the summer talking about ‘we’ll spend £150-200m, easy’.

The wandering hands do increase the punchability factor

It’s a bullet we’re most likely going to have to bite sooner or later.

He sounds like that Pete Donaldson bloke from Football Ramble. Proper monkey hanger accent.

Champions League money is in the current year, unfortunately- that’s gone. By not even dropping into the UEFA Cup (a run to the semis would’ve added another c.£10m) that well is dry. No European football next season will have an impact on income - though you’d think that more commercial deals would’ve been landed by now. Truth is, as was mentioned earlier in the thread, we really need to start bringing some transfer money in. Particularly from players who’ve been here a while.

We’re going to struggle as this current season is still hampered by 21/22 when we ran up a massive loss. Also, we’re out of Europe - which cuts off a revenue pipeline - and our league finishing position looks dicey, which would be the other additional revenue source at this point. I doubt we’ve got much wriggle-room - but bringing funds forward from the summer is a non-starter.

No, that’s what incompetence and a blank chequebook looks like. I doubt Howe, Ashworth and co. would be spunking the best part of a billion on wingers and defensive midfielders

True, but it’s such a weasily cop-out by a perennially shit journalist. ‘Some fans say there’s no plan B. I don’t think that …’

I think an annoyed and frustrated Howe has finally had some thinking space and will have been working on what he’s doing as well as the players. Everything we’ve seen from the bloke suggests this will be the case. I’m still going for a shock win, because I am that daft, but whatever happens I think we’ll see a vastly improved performance.