Chez

very nicely worded statement. Kudos to his PR team. Would that name work Batman?

Is it just me that thinks Barca have really dropped a bollock here? I know £198m seemed like a huge fee, but personally I thought he was worth that money at the time, even in the market prior to his sale, as he is a genuine top five player in the world. Every percentage improvement over your rival at that top end costs you a bloody fortune. But now, in the market post Neymar sale, Neymar looks almost a bargain if you are having to pay £120m for Couhtinho, who although excellent, really isn't as good or ever will be a good as Neymar.

we said that about Classie. Still, it beats signing them based on an agents recommendation.

Palace linked with Oliver Burke.

I listened to Bagpuss on the radio yesterday and he mentioned that clubs wanted £1m and £1.5m as a loan fee plus penalties is the player didn't get selected. He was referring to young players from the Prem. I have no idea who he was referring to specifically, but I know Brum have been looking for a striker.

It's been a while since I saw him, but would he offer something different to Austin right now?

After the Glazier buyout, using loans, did the Premier League not adjust their FPP rules? Probably not something they could ever police or perhaps want to, but thought I'd ask.

your posts are very interesting and you seem very knowledgeable on this subject. Feel free to ignore, but would you mind telling me your background?

SFC is debt free at the moment. What I am suggesting is that once the dust settles I would be surprised if the security for the loan doesn't change to SFC rather than other Gao assets. I might be wrong, but that's what I'd do if I was him.

zero hour contracts? Could work.

No one knows how much he really has. That figure is an estimate, but note that it relates to $1.4B of assets, but how much debt do those assets have attached to them? Maybe none, but seeing how he has bought our club, an asset he owns worth £210m of, but there is now £210m of debt connected to that asset, has his `fortune now risen to $1.61b? I am getting out of my depth here, as I don't know big business/finance, but the arguments for why this is a great move for the club feel wafer thin to me.

the long and short of it is the loan taken out to buy the club will be paid back from income/profits from the club, not income/profits from the Gao's other businesses. The loan is therefore intrinsically linked with the club. I suspect it wont be too long before the club itself becomes the asset at which the loan (perhaps renegotiated) is secured against. Its the same method as the Glaziers, whereupon they use the club to buy the club for them, with no cost or risk to themselves, but leaving them with one hell of a fully paid for asset at the end. Nothing illegal, it just means the club has less money to work with every year. I don't see any positives at all here. More money leaves the clubs coffers and goes straight into bankers pockets. The club is financially worse off, not better after this buyout. Kat, who I have never had any issues with has sold the club to the highest bidder.

the debt to Kat may have been paid off, but what about this great big ****ing loan used to buy our club? Currently secured against Gao's assets, but how long before it is shifted to the club? We seem to have our own transfer saga starting.

Yep. Never understood why people were unhappy with the previous owner. Lets see if that grass is greener...

Club bought using a loan. Loan paid off by club earnings. The owner will in ten years time have a £300+m asset he can sell. No brainer really. All he has to do is keep us in top flight...

this. Proof of funds was all that they would have cared about. They got that and the rest was PR spin.

can it be shifted across to the club?

If Hoedt signs then the Bednarek signing does seem a little strange to me. No harm in overloading in this position, or any come to that, so long as there is quality as well as quantity.

and a good one.

wasn't his actual job that of an investment advisor?

Normally Celtic have to sell a player to pay the rent after they have finished the champions league qualifiers. Is that the case this year?

Interesting that he used his own money. I wonder if SFC will eventually be sold on to Lander and whether they will use loans to acquire it. Personally I've been very happy with Kat's ownership, but I don't really understand why she he decided to sell now (unless she thinks the value has topped out) nor why she has sold to this guy. If we are all slightly nervous, why isn't she? I also don't understand why she has bothered to retain a 20% share? Can someone clarify that last point for me. Does she think that with him as the owner the company will thrive and this she will make even more on the deal?

he's an extremely frustrating player. Tremendous first touch and ability, which you really miss when he doesn't play, but he leaves you wanting so much more. He doesn't shoot. As has been said he doesnt have that killer instinct.

they played so deep, with absolutely no ambition. We did well to create so many chances with such little space available...

its almost like he is allergic to shooting and scoring. I know he get the odd goal, but for the amount of chances and times he gets in goals scoring positions, not nearly enough