Chez

It sure won't, and if teams press us, I worry whether we have it in us to win those games, but the goals today weren't terribly soft (compare them to our first) and I am not sure they were even down to our style of overplaying and passing in dangerous areas to keep possession at al costs. Manning and Sulemena possibly could have hoofed for the first, not sure who or what to blame for the second?

You have a point, but Stephens is really not good at right back.

Fuck me does a narrative grow legs in here. Bristol City took us to the cleaners a few weeks ago. Centre back pairing that night? Bednarek and THB.

I don't really worry what the `majority' think. I like him. I like watching him beat men for fun.

I can think of worse skills for a winger to have.

prefer it to a winger that is slow and never even tries to take his man on. Maybe you should cut him some slack. You are slating him on here after only having coming on for five minutes.

The way he beats a man all ends up is amazing. I could watch it all day.

if you say so.

He didn't gift them a goal.

we break a lot, sometimes with men over and just don't take advantage - its all just two slow and obvious.

Manning and Sulemena both trying to carry the ball out of danger, but both failed to clear the lines.

Straight away Sulemena makes something happen beating two men and getting a corner. Or, if you don't fancy him, Sulemana shows his pace but no end product.

what the hell has happened t Sunderland since they thumped us. They looked a very good side that day. Pressed us, didn't give us a second on the ball and Tore us apart. Their approach today is the polar opposite. Perfect for us.

AA should be burying that. He's looked sharp, but a striker should be scoring those. It's hard to criticise a guy with so many goals, but in the Prem that might be your best/only chance and he's just not clinical enough. Sunderland are literally handing us these chances on a plate.

my word, that is a terrible bit of defending by Sunderland. A gift. Lovely.

it's showing. They can't get out of their own half. Leicester still look like the best side in the league to me. Leeds pummellig Stoke too.

the rules relating to ffp for a relegated side, such as us, is that we can make a maximum of £83m total losses for the three seasons (2 in the prem and 1 in the championship). That means, with losses of 2022 £15.4m loss before tax 2023 £87m loss before tax we need to make a profit of about £19.4m in the 2024 accounts. Fuck knows how we can do that. I suspect there are lots of factors/clauses, like covid loan interest/payments etc that are exempt.

those four years of accounts are all for the Premier league.

Leicester winning. No idea how they lost the last couple of games as they look incredibly dangerous with every attack.

Not sure, but our losses over the last three years are £116.1m from what I can see. I guess 2021 was covid affected, so there will be leeway there. I wonder if interest on the loan taken out to cover covid losses would not be counted too? That is £10m on 2023 accounts for example. Makes a big difference. 2020 £73.3m loss before tax 2021 £13.7m loss before tax 2022 £15.4m loss before tax 2023 £87m loss before tax

He said £111m net. Not sure how that figure was calculated, but I didn't think we spent £49m, so perhaps net was a bit higher. Good news. The parachute payment is about £45m for the first year, but that's a massive drop from the £105m earned from TV in the Prem. Wage bill was about £120m, but you'd hope that has reduced a fair bit, otherwise that £45m wont go far!

It was an £87m operating loss before tax, £93.5m after tax. Critically the owner pumped in £85m of cash, which provided the money to buy players last January etc. Not sure where you have got the £111m net figure (I assume you mean net income from player sales) - but more than happy to assume that's an accurate number - but that income is very much needed, because £93.8m is owed (£52.3m player acquisitions and £41.5m loans) over the next 12 months (by end of June 2024). A further £40.5m is owed for player acquisitions plus another £52m of bank loans, both payable beyond 12 months/June 2024. Then there is a variable amount of £62m potentially owed for players - the figure "depends on appearances". This is a huge number and who it relates to is anyone's guess - but I don't believe this relates to THB and other loans we currently have as they would all be in the 2023/24 accounts.

I've said it before, on any given match day, these top sides could easily win 10-0 against the teams near the bottom. More often than not it's just some luck and some wayward finishing that prevents a thrashing.

five minutes without a goal is concerning.

I am mindful of a scene in the film Interstella where Cooper says: What happens if he blows the airlock? TARS replies: Nothing good. That said, the figures look bad because we spent a shit load in January to try and keep us up - that we wouldn't have spent otherwise. The player sales this summer were significant though and next years accounts will show where we really stand. The covid loan still hangs over us and is growing (by £10m this year). It looks like £41m of it will have to be paid off within this financial year. That's a big number.