My tuppence worth: Austin - gone come Tuesday. Someone in the Prem will be desperate enough to stump up the £15m now that we're a few games in. Phillips - if the club holds out for a decent fee he may well still be with us. Fer - injured and a recently failed medical. Can't see him going anywhere.
Its all going to be about time and a medical for Charlie. With all the bad press on him of late and Shoulder/failed Hull medical, things would have to start moving by Monday. However saying all that if we lose Charlie and Phillips we will fall own quicker than hazzard at Scum
Still think if Charlie goes it will be with a loanee or PX coming in. As has been said Fer is injured so may be loaned subject to. Matty Phillips will stay until January at least. My worry on Charlie is that if he waits until January he can sign a pre agreement to leave for free in June. Methinks this may be on some Prem teams minds. Would be good to keep Charlie but would cost us in the end.
Judging by Norwich's poor performance today they may well make a move for Charlie, still think he's odds-on to leave...
I tend to agree with nines, Austin will be our real problem to replace - and unless we have something lined up, we'll be caught with our pants down again. A loan striker isn't the answer - we've seen the poor commitment from loans numerous times. I think we could get a replacement for Phillips (Adomah already being touted as a possible). We need to seal another CB, what happened with Angella (wondering if Beth has been stalking him to come and scared him). Fer is a stayer.. he has a point to prove now and can contribute without a doubt for me. I do think we'll hold out for the £15m for Charlie, we'll need it if buying another striker, because the seller will know we are needy!! Tense next 36 hrs for us all and our season ahead.
12:07 SANDRO TO MILAN? Sky sources understand AC Milan have made a loan enquiry for QPR midfielder Sandro. The midfielder is finally free to play for QPR again after obtaining a new work visa but manager Chris Ramsey has said that Sandro won’t walk straight back into his team.
Come tuesday 6pm and Charlie will be gone, Phillips will be gone , Sandro will be gone and Traore&Hoillett too.... Two latter will be replaced easily but the two first ones are not so easily done....
Re. FFP, let me make a couple of points and then you can all make up your own minds. 1) With FFP going through the European courts, there is a good chance that a legal precedent will be set that makes it unlawful (on the grounds of it being uncompetitive). Once it has been done at that level the Football League won't have a leg to stand on. That leads onto my second point. 2)The £60m fine being touted is highly unlikely, as we would of course delay it until the European court has come to judgement. (Which I think will go against the governing bodies personally.) That is why it is being mentioned that it will be a far smaller amount. The Football League will try and get a small fine off us now to try and get us to clear it before the European court give judgement. From the Football Leagues point of view, better to get a little something now, rather than push for the big fine first mentioned and get nothing in the end. It's a game of chicken and we are in a much stronger position than many people realise. (IMO anyway.)
As far as I know, the only party challenging the Football League's FFP is QPR, by arbitration The claim against Uefa's FFP went to the European Supreme Ct in the summer and was thrown out
I was going by a report in mid-July, Quality, which states: "Uefa says it has won at the European Union’s supreme court after a legal challenge to financial fair play rules that curb club spending was thrown out. Uefa says the European Union’s court of justice ruled a Belgian court’s request for a preliminary judgment was “manifestly inadmissible”. The case went through a local Brussels court after the European Commission decided it had no merit. The case was brought by the player’s agent Daniel Striani in Belgium and fan groups linked to Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain. Uefa fined both clubs €20m (£14m) in 2014 for breaking FFP rules. They argued that FFP protects elite clubs, and were represented by the lawyer Jean-Louis Dupont. He helped win the landmark Bosman case on the contractual freedom of players 20 years ago." I can't find anything more recent than this article on the subject.
It's sill being fought in the Belgium court from what I can make out. That may still have some baring on the outcome. http://www.worldsoccer.com/news/uefa-to-appeal-after-financial-fair-play-court-setback-363079 It could still set a precedent that could be taken up. I see the EC did refuse to hear the case but that doesn't mean it can't be re submitted as a new case under a different breach of EU law. It's in a grey area from what I can make out but I would agree that our position is not as strong as I thought.
The thrust of what you're saying is dead right. The FL are scared of losing a case on FFP, as a precedent for the future and because presumably past fines could be looked at again if the rules were found not to be legal for anti-competion etc. The sooner we hear this case has been settled for a low amount, the better...
I'd happily give them the Sterling money to put this to bed. Bet there would be an outcry by other clubs though but Flock em. Not to bothered by them. They've already stuck their two pence worth in without being privy to all the facts. And it's sour grapes and that's there issue not ours. Besides, being the Football league admitted their first attempt to set a reasonable scale of fines was way off and reduced them, could also make for interesting arguments. They could well have shot themselves in the foot there. (Or partially anyway.) In the meantime all we can do is wait with baited breath.
