Saint86

Not sure, but i've heard a well run b&b could be in the offing....

Our season was finished a lot earlier than May 🤣

But surely if he is happy to invest to underwrite those costs (i.e., cover up front costs and any yearly losses during the development / construction period), then as far as the club are concerned we can discount the costs from a financial and PSR perspective knowing it is covered (i.e., becomes an owner loan or is converted to increased shares for solak), the club can then continue to fund wages and transfers ignoring those costs, and then once the development work is complete - we would profit from the increased revenues? Depends how it's funded - if the club are funding it themselves then any annual losses impact the budget. But solak was speaking as if he is willing to invest the money himself - and I think he is allowed to fund infrastructure as a way of pumping owner millions into the club and exceed PSR loss limits that would otherwise apply if we were just spending on transfers and wages etc - from his perspective this would be a long term investment to increase the revenue and value of his asset. Edit - as another possibility / side to it - if it is part of a "master plan" development around the stadium thats married up with the council - could Solak or SR be investing into that, separate to the club's accounts, but with the club benefiting from it in the future 🤷‍♂️ If it something like the above then it could be quite exciting for the future - it shows long term commitment and financial backing by Solak. Although equally we've been here before and it could end up as interesting as a damn squib and very anti climatic.

Think you may have been living in a parallel universe 😄

Doesn't that depends on Solak - i.e., isn't spend on the club's infrastructure is exempt from PSR calculations? If so, that means he can underwrite those costs it if he wishes, which would mitigate the impact on playing budget/transfers?

I think its more a case of Brentford really are trying to create a culture of promoting from within (i think this will be the 3rd time now for the manager position). Its a very bold, very risky, and (possibly/probably) a very naive approach to take in football - its a ruthless dog eat dog business, and brentford are very much a long way from the top of the tree with respect to salary offerings and pedigree. They still have a very good squad relative to the promoted sides, a wedge of cash coming their way from Mbeuno, and the same recruitment team re player acquisitions. I sadly think its an extremely big ask for any of those promoted sides to be able to close the gap and compete, and whilst i get people saying Brentford, i just don't think they'll be that bad even under the worst case - maybe if the board/manager also unsettle the entire squad as we did with SR in that first season - but again, promoting from within will at least give them stability. It needs a full blown implosion from one of the 17, and one of the 3 to have a great window and season. Some people are saying Bournemouth are in trouble, but their recruitment was absolutely superb last couple of years - they've turned a very tidy profit on those players and will go again. Okay, they've lost 4 (is it?) of that back 5 - but bournemouth weren't about there defence? That doesn't strike me as a fatal blow i've got to be honest. And provided they don't try to reinvent the wheel and have proven people making those decisions they'll be fine imo. Wolves are the other one that may struggle, but £70M for Cunha gives them a fortune to play with - thats half the likely entire spend of a promoted championship side, with only one player to replace... PSR has stacked the rules so far against the promoted sides these days that its pretty grim watching on. I fully expect Sunderland to be worse than us this season... I think Farke will get backed, fail (because tactically he isn't good enough to keep them up) and be sacked around Christmas/January time), and i think Burnley will struggle to get the goals into the side to stay competitive, even if they do keep themselves in games.

To be honest, you could take those players out (and replace) and the squad Will Still almost certainly be better than the last promotion team. Ramsdale or new keeper, baz, macca, lumley >>> Stronger (Whatever we go with here, you would expect this to be better than a young Baz as starting keeper) RB - Bree, Sugarwara <<< worse (KWP was superb for the championship, but Suga and Bree is still a very nice pairing for the level) LB - Manning, Wellington, Taylor, Larios >>> Stronger (More depth and experience) CB - THB, Edwards, Bednarek, Quarshie, Woods, Stephens >>> Stronger (as it stands, this is a stronger set of CBs, and offers more physicality/athleticism. CM - Downes, Smallbone, Charles >>> Stronger (Charles one of the players of the season in the champ, downes and smallbone a year older and fitter, is there a better CM pairing than Downes and Charles in the champ?!) CAM/Wingers - Dibling (or new), Edozie, Fermandes (or new), Robinson, Fraser === about the same (as it stands i would say stronger, but we will probably lose dibling or fernandes, but then again we know this is identified as a key positon). Strikers - Steward, Armstrong, Archer, BBD >>> Stronger (and that is without strengthening here. Also, i am assuming that Stewart actually stays semi fit and plays for us this season....). Its a decent squad for an automatics challenge. Doesn't look like we're financially pressured to sell, and there is a chance we keep Some of fernandes, ramsdale, and dibling, plus downes/charles/thb. A lot of reasons to be positive i think

I love your optimism that one of the promoted sides is going to stay up. Reality is that its a 17team league, and the only chance one of them has is if one of the 17 has a complete implosion. PSR has closed the shop otherwise.

Ipswich are the obvious / lazy choice for sure. Only thing i would say is that their central midfield and keeper are pretty average for the league, but even with that, they'll have more than enough to blast through the overwhelming majority of sides. The only question over them for me will be whether they can turn around their morale and get back to winning ways quickly, that and how they replace Delap up top. At the end of the day, its a congested 46game season, fail to start well and its hard to catch up - and squad depth will be just as important as Ipswich's first (admitted) 11 quality. Personally think we'll be there or thereabouts for automatics - all the right noises coming out of the club and a real sense of optimism from all corners.... That isn't what you'd expect after just how poor this season went.

Never seen a more one footed highlights reel... but then its also a pretty tasty highlights real - thats a sweet right foot!

Would do but apparently you "can't receive messages" 😄

2 names i think we'll see mentioned this summer are Carvalho (now at brentford but struggled to have much impact and i reckon he could be available on a loan), and Rak-sakyi (34games, 7goals, 2 assists for Sheffield united on loan last season). We've been linked with both extensively in previous windows, they're young, talented for the championship, and fit the positions we need. Could see them being done as loans towards the end of the summer possibly.

$475M, which is about £350M. Not quite as high, but still a significant valuation for the actual size of the club and its infrastructure. Part of me wants to think that they'll find some investors in America willing to get on board at that price... but it does seem mad. I think they'll struggle a bit this season looking at their rumoured business, and that might quickly take the shine off and drop the price.

Number of seasons missed because the victims couldn't behave themselves:

Fair enough Dusic. Don't get me wrong - i am glad we had him when we did (the alternative - i.e., more rasmus/kraft dream team - doesn't bear thinking about frankly). I think he did a reasonable job 🙂, but i don't think his recruitment in particular was that great and i am expecting/hoping that Spors (and his new team) will prove to be a step above Wilcox as a result. I also think its a bit harsh to say the academy was failing - Players like Dibbling, JJ Morgan, Gomes etc were all coming through before Wilcox arrived - we've also lost a lot of top talent during/post Wilcox from the academy which is a real shame. Dibbling notably wasn't considered good enough to make an appearance for us in the champ, and then less than a year later was terrorising gvardiol and co. 🤷‍♂️

Are there any good recommendations for particular products / options for next season?

Reading into it, he also mentioned "master plan" - which to me implies its part of a much wider redevelopment where the club and council are aligned. Could be more of a sporting / leisure / residential / commercial development of the area where the club provide funding and in return secure long term income. Agree though, he certainly implies stadium expansion is on the cards.

"Build it and they will come", what's so hard to understand damit 😄

Solak is coming at it from a position where he says himself in that interview that "he's not a football man". And tbh having watched rasmus and kraft have an absolute shit show (either side of Wilcox's short-lived stint), you have to question whether he wouldn't have valued someone's gran as DoF in comparison. So sure, you can take his view if you want, but he's been an incredibly naïve football owner to date, and the only real thing you can say about this re that interview, is that he has at least learnt that having someone with a reasonable footballing background was an improvement over rasmus and kraft. For you to describe the job Wilcox did as "excellent" is just nonsense hyperbole i'm afraid, and certainly something without evidence. Wilcox hired a limited manager and assembled an inflexible squad, just about scraped promotion (which was the bear minimum to be classed as reasonable that season), and then left us with a team that needed significant outlay just to stand still. You also have to question whether he even left a succession plan and/or any future plans... if he did, they included not hiring another DoF and signing the likes of Fraser to long contract 😬. Regardless, how you can describe Wilcox's performance here as "excellent" is beyond me, he quite literally scraped by with the minimum expected level of performance, then f'd off leaving us in the lurch and started stealing our academy players.

He's delivered the worst man united season in premier league history and so far spent over 300M euros since he's been in post 😄

It doesn't mean that at all. We just went from having someone with reasonable footballing knowledge calling the shots, to a complete headless shitshow last summer. Just because Wilcox was better than awful directionless mess that followed him is not the same saying "excellent job". As so many like to pedal, he assembled a side and manager that came 4th in a 3horse race, and assembled a very limited squad married to a limited playing style that required major surgery going into the prem.

🤣

Nothing like taking deserved money away from the local newspaper/journalists than by sharing that link publicly on the main forum barely 2 hours after the article is published...

Comes across really well in the interview - decent, passionate, speaks about his naivety and growing experience, calls Martin "cocky", has a joke about VAR last season, and makes it clear that he's now running the show with regards to saints - as essentially an authoriser for Spors, and the football team he's put in place. Rasmus is in charge of Goztepe. Its a very good "PR piece" for Solak 😋. If taken at face value, then clearly he has caught the bug and is very invested in saints - still reads a bit like an excited kid in a candy shop, but his heart is in the right place, he's open with the fans (which is good), and he cares about the club as something other than just a business venture. Also says we will be signing a striker and creative midfielder before any outgoings happen. Talks (without details) about plans to significantly develop the stadium and surrounding area/facilities to increase commercial revenue. Specifically mentions this is to reduce dependence on tv monies.

https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/25246799.dragan-solak-interview-southampton-owner-opens-sale-rumours/ Comes across really well in the interview - decent, passionate, speaks about his naivitiy and growing experience, calls Martin "cocky", has a joke about VAR last season, and makes it clear that he's now running the show with regards to saints - as essentially an authoriser for Spors, and the football team he's put in place. Its a very good PR piece 😋 Also says we will be signing a striker and creative midfielder before any outgoings.