Now That's What I Call Transfer Rumours! 7

[Lush Vlad]

26 minutes ago, Cronky said:

 

It felt like in the first 15 minutes our high press wasn't working. Their passing and combination play was just too good. Things improved when their initial burst of energy calmed down a bit, and we defended a bit deeper and cut down their space that way. But we were lucky not to concede in that early period.

 

I thought the two substitutions were okay. Wilson was struggling to make an impact and Almiron looked tired for once. Obviously it would be good to have a better striker than Wood to come on, but that's where we at. As would usually happen in that sort of game away from home, we then had to batten down the hatches and hope for something from a set piece.

Again, tend to agree on all of this. We weathered the storm against the best team in the league and reacted accordingly to try and nullify them. They really went hard the first 10 mins of each half. But there was no way they could keep that up for long spells. 
 

As for the subs. I don’t have an issue with them per se. It is the squad depth and mediocre as fuck players we are bringing on that are the issue. Almiron was fucked. Wilson is probably still being managed, due to his illness, long covid or whatever it is and the fact he gets a bad injury twice a season. 
 

I feel like the original point that Shak was making (might be wrong). Which I was then agreeing with. Was that we didn’t fully lose control of the game. Until the subs. Due to the quality of those players coming on, being so much lower than the ones they were replacing and the rest of the XI. 

[Infatuation Junkie]

24 minutes ago, Lush Vlad said:

Again, tend to agree on all of this. We weathered the storm against the best team in the league and reacted accordingly to try and nullify them. They really went hard the first 10 mins of each half. But there was no way they could keep that up for long spells. 
 

As for the subs. I don’t have an issue with them per se. It is the squad depth and mediocre as fuck players we are bringing on that are the issue. Almiron was fucked. Wilson is probably still being managed, due to his illness, long covid or whatever it is and the fact he gets a bad injury twice a season. 
 

I feel like the original point that Shak was making (might be wrong). Which I was then agreeing with. Was that we didn’t fully lose control of the game. Until the subs. Due to the quality of those players coming on, being so much lower than the ones they were replacing and the rest of the XI. 

This is why I see a European spot so early in the new regime as a problem.

[WilliamPS]

10 minutes ago, Infatuation Junkie said:

This is why I see a European spot so early in the new regime as a problem.

Won’t build a top 4 squad without offering European football to incoming players.

 

And to not get Europe means finishing 7th, which will also mean 6 PL clubs have a better offer to players

 

The quicker the better as far as Europe is concerned. I now doubt it’ll be CL but leapfrogging the Europa conference would be v helpful in terms of incoming transfer

[et tu brute]

1 minute ago, WilliamPS said:

Won’t build a top 4 squad without offering European football to incoming players.

 

And to not get Europe means finishing 7th, which will also mean 6 PL clubs have a better offer to players

 

The quicker the better as far as Europe is concerned. I now doubt it’ll be CL but leapfrogging the Europa conference would be v helpful in terms of incoming transfer

European football also brings significantly increased revenue streams through higher levels of sponsorship/commercial deals. 
 

[GWN]

30 minutes ago, WilliamPS said:

Won’t build a top 4 squad without offering European football to incoming players.

 

And to not get Europe means finishing 7th, which will also mean 6 PL clubs have a better offer to players

 

The quicker the better as far as Europe is concerned. I now doubt it’ll be CL but leapfrogging the Europa conference would be v helpful in terms of incoming transfer

 

Believe in the top 4 mate 

[cubaricho]

1 hour ago, Infatuation Junkie said:

This is why I see a European spot so early in the new regime as a problem.

 

[Colos Short and Curlies]

When you see an opportunity you grab it with both hands and then work out how to deal with it later.

 

top 4 shouldn’t be something to be scared about because our squad can’t cope. If needs must we could pad it out with a couple of experienced free transfers on 12 month deals. Or we could go big and replace most of the squad outside the first 11. Many ways to skin the cat but we will face that problem whenever we first get champions league football

[bowlingcrofty]

Imagine thinking that qualifying for the champions league would be a bad thing  

[Andybiotics]

"Thank God we're not in Europe"

[Theregulars]

1 hour ago, Infatuation Junkie said:

This is why I see a European spot so early in the new regime as a problem.

Go home, Alan / Mike 

[Thumbheed]

36 minutes ago, bowlingcrofty said:

Imagine thinking that qualifying for the champions league would be a bad thing  

 

To be fair, I think there's merit in this in the sense our ambitions will be pinned back by our current revenue and as we know the CL money only really kicks in after the group stages, so having the necessary squad which allows us to compete in the CL and to requalify the following season would requure a big outlay in both fees and wages which could potentially be disastrous were we not to qualify the season after without the revenue to sustain that very same squad.

 

I think we're in a unique position that we'll be the only club who will come under genuine FFP scrutinisation fir as long as our revenue is measurably shite.

 

 

 

 

Edited January 7, 2023 by Thumbheed

[jonny1403]

4 minutes ago, Thumbheed said:

 

To be fair, I think there's merit in this in the sense our ambitions will be pinned back by our current revenue and as we know the CL money only really kicks in after the group stages, so having the necessary squad to compete in the CL and to requalify the following season would requure a big outlay in both fees and wages which could potentially be disastrous were we not to qualify the season after without the revenue to sustain that very same squad.

 

I think we're in a unique position that we'll be the only club who will come under genuine FFP scrutinisation fir as long as our revenue is measurably shite.

 

 

Why do you think the CL money only really kicks off after the group stage? I thought it was like 40/60?

[The College Dropout]

13 hours ago, Shak said:

 

Torn to pieces and 20 minutes are both an overstatement IMO. Could easily have gone behind early but Howe changed it quickly and then it settled down and was pretty even after that I thought.

 

Point is that no team has come out and dominated us, we generally give as good as we get until we have to start making subs.

Oh we got dominated against Arsenal for sure. Overran on some occasions. Backs to the wall for a lot of time. Only really got any respite when the game got spikey. Had we lost it we couldn’t complain at all. 

[Thumbheed]

8 minutes ago, jonny1403 said:

Why do you think the CL money only really kicks off after the group stage? I thought it was like 40/60?

 

Posted earlier in the thread. I guess the best example of the dangers of 'going for it' is West Ham right now. They look like they could be in serious trouble after gambling for the CL despite being on the brink of qualification for 2 years.

 

21 hours ago, Solitude20 said:

 

 

“The 32 teams who have qualified for the 2022-23 Champions League group stage will all receive a starting fee of €15.64 million, while group stage performance bonuses will also be paid for each match - €2.8 million for a win and €930,000 for a draw.”

 

 

source: 

https://en.as.com/soccer/champions-league-prize-money-2022-23-how-much-will-the-ucl-winners-receive-n/?outputType=amp

 

The indirect income would be higher though. Reaching the UCL consistently means more income from sponsors and match tickets/merchandise. 

 

Either way, I'm not gonna be too disappointed if we don't go for it, but I wouldn't mind an exciting young players or 2 coming in.

[STM]

Surely by qualifying for the CL, it simply means you need a bigger/deeper squad of (quality) players, which is something we intend on building anyway?

 

We could sign 5 players in the summer, who would either usurp current first teamers, relegating them to the bench or would themselves be players with potential who would sit on the bench.

 

We could easily afford to sign 2 quality players like Maddison/Diaby, then 3 younger players like Fresneda/Varela and we'd have enough depth to compete on a few fronts.

 

Again, we are talking season 2 of the new era. Even if we didn't get top 4 next year, it would hardly be panic stations.

 

I can only see good problems.

[The Butcher]

7 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

Oh we got dominated against Arsenal for sure. Overran on some occasions. Backs to the wall for a lot of time. Only really got any respite when the game got spikey. Had we lost it we couldn’t complain at all. 

They hardly created anything tho. 

[Thumbheed]

13 minutes ago, STM said:

Surely by qualifying for the CL, it simply means you need a bigger/deeper squad of (quality) players, which is something we intend on building anyway?

 

We could sign 5 players in the summer, who would either usurp current first teamers, relegating them to the bench or would themselves be players with potential who would sit on the bench.

 

We could easily afford to sign 2 quality players like Maddison/Diaby, then 3 younger players like Fresneda/Varela and we'd have enough depth to compete on a few fronts.

 

Again, we are talking season 2 of the new era. Even if we didn't get top 4 next year, it would hardly be panic stations.

 

I can only see good problems.

 

It does but we'd need the revenue to sustain that and I don't think we're there at this stage yet.

 

Big outlays without the revenue to sustain these squads puts us in Leicester/West Ham/Everton territory.

 

Building sustainably with gradual improvements in squad quality alongside increasing revenue puts us in a far stronger position in the long run with the exact say goal and outcome (hopefully).

 

 

 

 

Edited January 7, 2023 by Thumbheed

[JonBez comesock]

Would love to see 

 

Kone CDM

plus the young Spanish RB 

 

that will do in this window 

[STM]

10 minutes ago, Thumbheed said:

 

It does but we'd need the revenue to sustain that and I don't think we're there at this stage yet.

 

Big outlays without the revenue to sustain these squads puts us in Leicester/West Ham/Everton territory.

 

Building sustainably with gradual improvements in squad quality alongside increasing revenue puts us in a far stronger position in the long run with the exact say goal and outcome (hopefully).

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hazard a guess that our commercial growth will be quicker and stronger than any PL club has ever done. We've cherry picked the best people for the job.

[Nine]

3 hours ago, Infatuation Junkie said:

This is why I see a European spot so early in the new regime as a problem.

Problem is the wrong word, but it will probably change the initial planned timeline of things drastically. Europa league we could get away with a bit more but to put up a serious CL campaign and sustain PL form even with 3/4 more players from here will be a real challenge.

 

For the people saying ‘to good of an opportunity to miss CL, spend now and grab it’. Never that straightforward, I don’t think we’ll stray to far from our original layout for January.. the summer however.

 

 

Edited January 7, 2023 by Nine

[Lush Vlad]

38 minutes ago, The Butcher said:

They hardly created anything tho. 

Exactly. I swear people watch a different game or have short memories. Backs to the wall used to be games like Spurs away when Krul made about 10 decent/top class saves. Or most games under Bruce when we managed a win or a point. 
 

 

[Unbelievable]

34 minutes ago, Thumbheed said:

 

It does but we'd need the revenue to sustain that and I don't think we're there at this stage yet.

 

Big outlays without the revenue to sustain these squads puts us in Leicester/West Ham/Everton territory.

 

Building sustainably with gradual improvements in squad quality alongside increasing revenue puts us in a far stronger position in the long run with the exact say goal and outcome (hopefully).

 

 

 

 

 

Qualifying for CL would surely be an enormous help with growing commercial revenue (be it Saudi sourced or genuine)? I’d like to see PL refuse us growth based on similar revenue levels as the “top” clubs when a couple of them finish underneath us, will fail to qualify for CL and hence will see their commercial appeal be lowered. When we get to sit at the big table try and push us out I say.

[Interpolic]

17 minutes ago, Lush Vlad said:

Exactly. I swear people watch a different game or have short memories. Backs to the wall used to be games like Spurs away when Krul made about 10 decent/top class saves. Or most games under Bruce when we managed a win or a point. 
 

 

 

Plus we had significant periods where we were on top in the game. It was a similar split of pressure to us at Liverpool earlier on this season. Maybe 65% Arsenal 35% us. They were the home side. 

 

A lot of people being duped by the first 5 minutes and the last 10 minutes into thinking Arsenal were hugely dominant. They weren't. 

[Jackie Broon]

49 minutes ago, Thumbheed said:

 

It does but we'd need the revenue to sustain that and I don't think we're there at this stage yet.

 

Big outlays without the revenue to sustain these squads puts us in Leicester/West Ham/Everton territory.

 

Building sustainably with gradual improvements in squad quality alongside increasing revenue puts us in a far stronger position in the long run with the exact say goal and outcome (hopefully).

 

 

 

 

 

 

It depends what the actual circumstances are. Are we actually going to be looking for independent main sponsors at actual market value or will we be getting sponsors connected to PIF as a way to pump as much money as the PL will allow as fair market value into the club? No one outside of the club really knows that, although most assume it's the latter.

 

If it's the latter qualifying for the CL is likely to allow us a sudden huge jump in revenue because we'll be able to make a strong case that our fair market value is the same as the other PL clubs in the CL; Whereas if we're relying on 'real' sponsorships that real market value will probably rise more gradually.

[Thumbheed]

23 minutes ago, Unbelievable said:

Qualifying for CL would surely be an enormous help with growing commercial revenue (be it Saudi sourced or genuine)? I’d like to see PL refuse us growth based on similar revenue levels as the “top” clubs when a couple of them finish underneath us, will fail to qualify for CL and hence will see their commercial appeal be lowered. When we get to sit at the big table try and push us out I say.

 

I dont disagree tbf, but and I'm no financial expert so may get this wrong but expenditure in this accounting period with lower revenues and turnover would contribute significantly to our FFP position, right?

 

As I say, I'm not against going for it this window but what seems realistic and attainable on paper (Maddison/Diaby and 2-3 youngsters) might not be so when you take their wages and amortisation into account. Even more so when  you consider we're not likely to get much for our fringe players nor is there likely to be a significant dent in our wages either.