Match Day Thread General matchday thread.

Gutted for this forest fan.

https://x.com/efcdaily_/status/1791450157818458273?s=46&t=GjXW4PhG0s7kgSMl8GkTkw

 

The world shouldn't be giving time to these ****s.

 

club doesn’t get much right….bit this is one.

 

Not that I would expect a Leicester fan to understand in the slightest, but what is 'absurd' about it?

Even the slightest peek under their financial bonnet reveals how much they've gambled over the past three year cycle. Their wage bill has consistently been 89-91% of their total revenue. That's the bit that's absurd as is it entirely unsustainable and could leave the club in permanent financial ruin if allowed to continue unchecked.

The only teams who spent more on wages in a similar period were Everton, Forest and...drum roll everyone...Leicester.

It's really no different to the cheating seen by the likes of City and Chelsea. This is a club trying to shortcut its way to success by signing players on deals it cannot guarantee it will be able to honour for the duration of their contracts.

It has done this in order to sign better players than it can really afford.

This season was a huge gamble for them. Without CL money next year, they'd be in the same position as the three teams I've mentioned above: either sell multiple players, or face a points deduction. Everton and Forest gambled so badly that they're almost certainly facing both.

By comparison, City and Arsenal's wage bills are around 56% of revenue. Spurs is the lowest in the league at 47%.

 

BTW I'll add that they fully deserved CL qualification and I'm happy for them that they got it, but the gusts of wind across the Midlands on Tuesday night were actually the Villa board breathing the biggest sigh of relief in history.

 

Leicester had the SIXTH highest wage bill when relegated last season.

 

How many goals in all comps has Havertz got out of interest

Nice to see Everton fans have adopted a new 2nd team considering utds failings in recent years.

Its not like you can celebrate anything yourselves

 

The caped crusader



The hero nobody asked for.

 

Right, which is mental as their revenue was the 7th lowest.

Which is how in 2022/23 they managed to rack up a wage bill that was 116% of their revenue.

In other words, they tried to cheat and it backfired spectacularly. And they will therefore deserve any points deduction they receive.

 

everton overspend was on the building of a world class stadium.

 

... and therein lies the utter bollox ... afford? ... the 'breach' will amount to nowt but small change, considering the wealth of Villa's owners ... and that's exactly why it's absurd ... thanks for highlighting...

... as I keep saying ... rules aimed at minimising serious challenges to the biggest and most successful clubs ...

Not that I'd expect a Spurs fan to understand the meaning of 'successful club' ...

 

Yeah mental ... our young owner's personal wealth doubled to 3.5 billion USD during 2023 ... how very dare he enjoy spending a little of that on his hobby eh? ... totally mental ... and definitely cheating coz it gives you such a huge advantage on the pitch

 

... dodgy owners ... 666 need proper investigating ... seems only right to appoint an administrator whilst that happens ...

 

And would still stay up(how bad were former league winners Leicester last season ), 666 as you jokingly call them are not owners.

 

TBF this is the issue Fosse which you don’t see to grasp. FFP was introduced after clubs like your own got into financial trouble. Let’s take your owner as an example, he’s not from Leicester has no real affiliation with the area and as you’ve alluded to, maybe considers this a hobby. What happens when he wants a new hobby?

 

You have absolutely no idea how FFP works, do you?

Owner's wealth is irrelevant. That is precisely one of the reasons FFP was introduced in the first place.

It's simplest baseline is that revenue (not the same thing as capital) has to be in a healthy enough position vis-a-vis expenditures such as wages and transfers.

The idea was to stop billionaires simply pumping loads of money into a club and calling it 'revenue', instead creating a system where financial strength is earned via commercial and sporting growth and therefore in theory success is earned too.

Forest also have a mega wealthy owner, it is totally irrelevant to the fact that their global fan base is miniscule for a PL side and therefore their revenue is nowhere near where it needs to be, hence the points deduction and selling off key players.

The only ways around FFP are

1) For the owner to fabricate shell companies which assume the role of a 'sponsor', which is what City have done and continue to get away with.

2) To spread expenses over a ridiculous period of time, which is what Chelsea were doing but that loophole may now have been closed.

3) Gamble, which is what all of Leicester, Villa, Everton and Forest have done. When it works it's great but when it doesn't it is a disaster.

4) Increase revenue streams through a diverse portfolio and build a stronger global commercial presence. And as much as this might hurt you to hear, the team doing #4 better than anyone in the world at the moment is Spurs.

 

So world class it's still going to be behind Liverpool's and Tranmere's

 

Reading this back it's pretty clear that the Leicester executive has the same understanding of FFP as you do, which is why they're in the **** they're in.

And yes, like VAR which in theory is a good idea but in practice is spoiled by human hands, FFP should make things more competitive but it doesn't because clubs like City and Chelsea continue to either covertly cheat or exploit loopholes in the system and continue to get away with it.

If pigs start flying and City actually get the book thrown at them, it will represent a much brighter future for FFP.