Saint86

10 years ago we were a League 1 club that had just come off the back of administration, having our academy and supporting staff pilfered, and suffering a reduced level / quality of youngsters as a result of our financial position and lowly league standing. Fast forward 10-11 years and all of those 17 / 18 / 19 / 20 year olds that would have joined as schoolboys when we were a premier league team did just that - to another premier league team, not us. Then you've had a first team that had 12 senior players fit at the start of the year 🤷‍♀️..... and people are surprised that our youth teams have suffered even more? seriously? Some of you can call it "excuses" all you want. But the reality is that the quality in the academy sides is not what it was, and the academy squads have been stretched even further by the need to promote players upwards to help the first team.

Exactly. People who can't see it are just looking for a pattern to suit their agenda.

If Semmens is on his way then i'd say its fairly likely that Ralph will shortly follow/precede him.

So, has there been any solid news which implies someone with actual money being involved in buying us? Or is my private musing of, "We're going down with no money in the bank", a fairly reasonable expectation for the next couple of seasons? 😆

They're top of Ligue 1? 🤷‍♀️

15min mark for anyone who is interested. He also sounds like he'd be a good man to take over given his very impressive record at lille. I can't see Gao accepting a £100m loss on the club however, purely from a face saving perspective. More likely that he'll hold out as long as possible to get as much money out of the club as he can, and then sell.

This feels like a great opportunity to share this video on youtube. Think its the best Le Tissier video on there imo, and given all the ESL rubbish recently, just a great vibe flash back to some of footballs true glory days imo. So many sensational goals, runs, free kicks etc. From his frankly insane run on a quagmire pitch (3min mark) to his United chip and everything in between - Enjoy

Obviously this. Anyone who thinking otherwise is burying their head in the sand. The sport urgently needs reform and regulation to protect competition.

The winger is walcott presumably? And I'm surprised youvre surprised. Our on the books "wingers" are tella, redmond, djenpo, and Armstrong. That needs strengthening as even with walcott and minamino on loan we've struggled. I would enjoy it if we did actually go in for Daka (although I think it's unlikely), if only so we can be excited about a signing again.

Obviously it's not good enough. But the only point I do want to make, is that we played an awful lot of games in quick succession with basically 12 fit first team players. Our sqaud is jaded beyond anything I've seen before.

2012/13 onwards.

Is there a screenshot of the Toby handball?

anyone got a screenshot of the handball before the penalty?

So when ranked by net spend we have the "2nd best" net spend of remaining teams (the trend here should be obvious to everyone when you consider that only us and Burnley are still in the league...) # club competition Expenditure Arrivals Income Departures Balance 1 Swansea City Championship £226.41m 198 £312.64m 208 £86.23m 2 Wigan Athletic League One £46.51m 286 £78.13m 303 £31.62m 3 Norwich City Championship £160.92m 238 £180.20m 231 £19.28m 4 Hull City League One £149.38m 226 £137.84m 231 £-11.55m 5 Reading FC Championship £59.04m 232 £39.18m 243 £-19.86m 6 Huddersfield Town Championship £120.01m 235 £96.24m 237 £-23.76m 7 Middlesbrough FC Championship £161.82m 219 £129.30m 231 £-32.52m 8 Queens Park Rangers Championship £129.47m 272 £94.74m 286 £-34.73m 9 Sunderland AFC League One £187.85m 223 £126.35m 233 £-61.49m 10 Burnley FC Premier League £162.41m 166 £96.08m 170 £-66.34m 11 Southampton FC Premier League £475.65m 167 £399.45m 168 £-76.20m 12 Leeds United Premier League £157.32m 236 £77.28m 231 £-80.04m 13 Cardiff City Championship £150.88m 239 £67.61m 243 £-83.27m 14 Watford FC Championship £282.38m 287 £198.95m 277 £-83.42m 15 AFC Bournemouth Championship £256.10m 213 £159.62m 217 £-96.48m 16 Sheffield United Premier League £135.24m 259 £26.09m 259 £-109.14m 17 West Bromwich Albion Premier League £232.84m 153 £117.75m 156 £-115.09m 18 Crystal Palace Premier League £258.16m 213 £138.23m 212 £-119.93m 19 Stoke City Championship £228.96m 187 £89.89m 185 £-139.07m 20 Fulham FC Premier League £271.68m 242 £124.94m 245 £-146.74m 21 Leicester City Premier League £486.42m 188 £332.08m 187 £-154.35m 22 Newcastle United Premier League £423.99m 187 £251.31m 192 £-172.68m 23 Tottenham Hotspur Premier League £703.13m 149 £523.94m 160 £-179.19m 24 Wolverhampton Wanderers Premier League £363.99m 281 £170.17m 290 £-193.81m 25 Brighton & Hove Albion Premier League £259.98m 246 £56.74m 240 £-203.24m 2012/13 onwards.

I think we're fooked and have done for a while. We have significant debt and are making huge losses. Our financial position is entirely unsustainable. Admittedly this is a worst case scenario, but... The signs are that TV deals have peaked given the latest drop from China, and given the furore over the ESL, there is long term risk attached to anyone buying a football club at the top level, or in negotiating a TV deal currently. On top of that, the elite clubs are financially in serious trouble. If they start to go bust it will have huge ramifications for the pyramid. After the ESL, these owners are already rumoured to be blocking significant transfer spend in the current window which will have major knock on ramifications. Already we know that nearly all clubs have significant debt, limited funds, and really only player sales to get out of it - which by default makes those players worth less - and if the big teams do go bust it equals; transfer fees going unpaid, attendances dropping, guaranteed lower TV deals etc etc. And on top of all that, there will always be this spectre of a ESL in the background, which is destined to return and will damage the profitability of any club not involved. So all in all I find myself very pessimistic over our chances of being taken over based on long term risks. We certainly are not alone in our position, indeed it effects the majority of clubs, but I fear their is a significant correction in footballing finances on the horizon - and if we do get a situation where a few big teams to go pop then i fear it will spiral... We may be lucky to still have a club if it happens. On the flip side, where does that leave us? Hoping desperately for an American billionaire to sale his boat into the Solent and turn us into a franchise club? Depressing state of affairs.

Its very obvious that certain players have used PR firms to right their messages. Its also extremely obvious that the vast number of them have waited to see which way the wind was blowing.

My crude two cents on the 50+1 rule. Government/FA/EFL/EPL etc should make it a condition of takeovers that no party can purchase more than 49%. There should then be scheme put in place, whereby clubs are required to make available a certain percentage of ownership to fans over a set timetable. This can be based on the club valuation, and it wouldn't require those "shares" to be sold, just that they were available to buy at a regulated price. Supporters' groups would then have the opportunity to secure ownership as and when the funding was available. A more drastic option, is that the government (at some level or another) buys out owners at certain times and returns clubs to a community ownership / council ownership etc. But acknowledge that is extremely far fetched and would have huge working issues.

Yup. He's certainly trying to make that argument. Also, the whole "new fans" malarky is basically saying, we are going to take the clubs, forget the fans, and become Real Franchise FC. The only reason their clubs may have falling fanbases, is because their leagues have zero competition and people are bored. And this is why. This is about them getting a bigger (and secured) slice of the pie (long term). Something they can never lose. They will hapily play the long game, getting more and more wealth and stopping others competing, but ultimately that is where it is headed. And it has to be stopped now, before general apathy and a new "lower hope" trend is established in the pyramids and smaller clubs. But this ultimately is the compromise they are after, but there can be no compromise on this. Its a slippery slope with no going back. The issue is however, that our clubs are owned by businessmen who won't want to risk lising out, wheras as fans, we'd probably risk our clubs going to the wall and fighting our way back, rather than have a meaningless existence as a feeder club that can never even dream of playing at the top table.

Amazon, Netflix and even google/youtube i reckon. Be good to see significant points deductions and relegation (for some) of the big six for this. And obviously immediately being kicked out of Europe and losing any prize money etc. Chuck in a transfer ban for a few windows as well. Let them have a crack at being like the rest of us then see how they like the locked glass ceiling concept.

On this as well, might be a chance to merge with the scottish leagues? Get Celtic, Rangers, Hibs, Hearts, Dons as well? Probably wouldn't happen, but some of those are better clubs that some of our top 6 put it that way.

Of course they'll survive. Their owner might not. But worst case a club that size just goes into administration and gets bought out as one superb investment. It is laughable that people are even discussing what Perez said. When he says they are ruined, he means the owners. They've bet the house on trying to stay ahead of the competition by any means necessary and are at risk of losing it all. But if their clubs do get into trouble then they'll be another billionaire owner waiting in the wings to snap them up on the cheap.

Call their bluff and they have no product. Ultimately the big 6 should now be booted out of the league for me, or at least the current incarnations of their clubs. Let it be a lesson to other owners who would do this. Offer up the golden share to the supporters groups and see if they can form a team if it comes to it. If anything, this whole thing has a potential to be a catalyst for change and has highlighted just how the wealthy business men have taken the people's game, and the work and love of millions of people over a hundred plus years, and tried to farm it and then steal it. I would summarily pull the trigger on all of them, boot them from their leagues, boot them from the CL, ban any player who plays in the ESL from international football (laughable that they even suggest this is illegal - the Football Associations of each country will do it just for trying to damage grass routes and the football pyramid)... then leave them the franchises and owners rot in just another MLS/China/UAE league - a bunch of mercenary players at souless clubs, all playing in a pseudo competition. No top players, no competition, the same stale format, and no fans/atmosphere. Sod em all. Feel for their fans, overnight they've all woken up and realised their club is now more hated than MK Don's - no small feet! And there can be no compromise here. It will just be a death by a thousand cuts instead of straight away. They'll slowly eek out more and more monetary advantage, weaken the other competitions, and suck up all the players and talent. What will they have, an A team for the ESL, and a B-team for the prem? And what of the prem? they don't need to win it as it would be worth less and not required for qualification?!?! They would have zero place in it imo. And then the TV monies would drop as the competition dies, and this would spiral all down the leagues. Clubs going bust left right and centre, and not ones with huge fanbases able to reform. Hundreds if not thousands of staff losing jobs, fans and communities having a significant part of themselves taken away. No there can be no compromise, they have well and truly tipped their hand, time to boot them out and take the short term pain to restructure the game for the better. Even the prize pool for the new league is fixed. The permanent members get half the pot locked away secure, so even if say a Leicester won a league and qualified, then won the ESL, they'd only get half of say Real Madrid who wouldn't even progress to the latter rounds.

And that isn't even remotely an exaggeration.

Absolutely shocking performance. No ideas, hardly any impetus or attacking play in an FA Cup semi final. Manager makes one change from a dire performance against WBA and then waits until the 83rd minute to change formation. Disgrace. The team and manager are very lucky they don't have to face fans in the stadium.

Game after game after game, we have zero creativity, never look like scoring, give away easy goals and are a delight to play against. The manger seems totally unable to recognise this or make a change. He's got the rest of the season to show some improvement or I think no one could criticise him being sacked at this point. I thought we'd actually turn up for this cup semi final game... How wrong was I.