TheBrownBottle

Huge natural oil and gas reserves probably have more to do with it than superb business acumen tbf

There absolutely will be. FFP, not the owners’ wealth, dictates this.

Szoboszlai would be an incredible signing - how likely is it though? It feels like we’re a year or two away from players like him, but perhaps the CL qualification opens up paths to this sort of player?

I hope he signs for the sanity of many on here. Personally, I still think he’ll end up somewhere like Spurs.

Yeah, I agree mate.

The only member of the press who ever went down that line was Edwards, who back-pedalled and claimed that the c.£50m was right because that was what actually got paid out in upfront payments. And we all laughed because we knew he was completely full of shit and was being disingenuous - it absolutely was not what he meant. Until Isak came in he was banging on about how right he’d got it.

Agreed. The old Tory hobbies of golf and casual racism just seem so staid these days.

Yeah agreed, which is why I think someone like ASM will go. It’ll be mainly players on the outskirts of the squad who’ll leave, but I can easily see Howe selling one player worth a few bob to bolster his budget. At least we know these days any fee brought in will be recycled straight back into the squad

The press have never referred to upfront payments as the budget - the transfer budget has always been the total value of the players being brought in. Only in articles where they go into further detail would they talk about payment structure. You’re honestly the first person I’ve ever seen who made that assumption - everything from the press to the likes of transfermarkt.com refer to the total transfer value.

FFP is pretty easy to calculate - Edwards was laughed at because he is full of shite. But if you’re waiting for a £150m+ spend you’re going to be disappointed in September. The only way that’s achievable is to do something as fucking stupid as Chelsea and tie players to eight-years deals. The budget will be just over £100m, based on likely income and the previous two seasons.

No, that is definitely how it always works. A budget of £100m means the total value of the players brought in, not the size of the available down payments. The down payments wouldn’t make sense, given that if you did so you’d then have to calculate that window’s budget all of the payment installations from previous transfers. It’s about purchase power as much as owt else. How much of a revenue making monster you are. And we’re still a long way off even Spurs - even with finishing third and CL qualification next season. That’s why we don’t have £150m+ to spend in the summer - our turnover is still dwarfed by a struggling Spurs. Spurs have roughly three times our match day revenues, and roughly the same multiplier against commercial income. There’s a long way to go yet.

Agreed. I’m honestly unconcerned with any player being sold under the present regime. Doesn’t worry me one iota - I’m confident any sale would be done with the notion that it is for the best for the club & team.

Which wasn't even the least likeable thing about them. They had David Evans as chairman who was putting up electrified fences and grumbling that he couldn't turn them on

He also didn’t score in his last nine PL games for us. Teams had worked out how to defend against him. KK sold him at exactly the right moment - the issue with selling Cole was not replacing him until the summer

It isn’t altruism, then. It’s self-serving. That’s not to say what you’ve described can’t be a communal good - but it is the perfect encapsulation of why charity at its core is at best capitalism playing pretend at having a conscience. It is there to make the giver feel good - to salve their soul - yet many of those ‘giving’ will happily vote in low-taxation govts to better suit their bottom line at the expense of others.

They’re not the same player, and I doubt if both signed they’d be expected to do the same thing

Who we replaced with Ferdinand and Shearer. Despite the trophies (hard to fail in that team), Cole never looked as lethal in a red top

100% - that was the point which raised my eyebrow, but I didn’t bother to raise owt further. The idea that ‘everyone votes in the own self-interest’ is plainly untrue - the working class certainly doesn’t in the numbers which would prevent the abuses meted out

Scott McTominay is a good player. I had to go home to get a book to prove it. They went, "Oh, yeah, you're right. Well done. You've won. Sorry".

Yeah I like those bits. I especially like learning about how little you all know about football based upon a difference of opinion of a player’s talents

True. Maybe £40m for arguments is overpaying.

I think I want us to sign him just for the arguments now

Love Howe, but when it comes to anything like that he can be a right lying bastard, wor Eddie

It brings the integrity of the sport into question - so it isn’t light at all. Of course the bans for racist abuse should be exponentially longer, completely agree there

Joelinton hasn’t shagged anyone except Mrs Joelinton