TheFish

Very little confidence here, we're still down to the bare bones and the showing against Fulham wasn't great. We're in dire need of fresh legs in midfield. Bruno, Longstaff and Miley all add something, but none of them have the physicality of Joelinton nor the tenacity of Tonali so we're pretty easy to play through at the minute. With Dubravka incapable of playing that sweeper keeper role that Pope managed so that means we're playing deeper. So naturally when we are played through, they're pretty much through on goal. Also, because we're playing deeper the link between midfield and forward is stretched to it's limit meaning Isak, Gordon and Almiron are either isolated, or have half the pitch to get across. I'm expecting another loss.

Yeah they're all pure profit. You should be golden when it comes to FFP. I think I read you've a new Adidas deal as well? That'll help too. If you stay the course and get CL next season, well there's another flood of money and renown coming your way. That's refreshing, often on other message boards the view is that any success we get, be it earned or no, is ruined because of the owners. There were accusations that Newcastle's deal with PIF owned SELA was cheating the system, but that deal was scrutinised by the PL and £25m for a CL team backed by ridiculously wealthy owners, on an upward trajectory... it is about right. Less than the established elite, more than, say, West Ham. The deals struck by Man City for their stadium naming rights, or Everton and their training ground (ffs) were hugely inflated for the time. Agree with the rest of your post too. Ahh, gotcha. Yeah the Saudi league could be the loopiest of holes for us and others. But I think it's the same as the Chinese league and the Russian league before that. They'll buy a ton of hasbeens and never-will-bes, but given the average attendance is something like 7k, I just don't see the money going into the league as fast as it goes out. With players like Henderson, Firmino and Benzema wanting out asap, I'm sure lesser players will want to leave soonish too. So for all it could be a way to offload expensive players now, I don't think that window will be open for very long at all. We sold Saint Maximin to a PIF owned club there for about €25m, his market value on Transfermarkt at the time was closer to €30m and I reckon he would have moved for a similar amount to other clubs had he not been leaving us. He was linked with a €40m move to AC Milan or Spurs earlier that summer.

Did Ramsey, Archer and Philogene all come through the academy? If so, they're pure profit in terms of FFP. Just like Grealish was. Close tot he limit I think. Well, when I say that I mean we've spent a shit load and were we not in dire straits because of injuries and suspensions (Bruno is 1 yellow card away from a 2 game ban) I don't think we'd be bothering much with this window at all. As it stands I'd not be surprised to see us spend a bit on a player or two. I think the preference is a loan deal, with an option to buy so the fee goes on a later set of accounts, but who knows? When you say clean money, do you mean not covered in the blood of dissidents ? I think that's a fair idea, it speaks more to the original idea behind FFP/PSR; protecting the future of the club from the actions of bad owners. From a club whose owners are trying to find ways to pump more money into the club's accounts I am shocked and appalled at the insinuation. No, I get it, theoretically Newcastle could sell the naming rights to SJP for £100m for 1yr to A Totally Unrelated PIF Owned Company, and that's clearly unsporting horseshit. I have to say it stinks a bit when Man City are self-sponsored, Everton got more for their training ground sponsorship than we did for our front of shirt sponsor. BUT, I don't think it's within the spirit of the sport to suddenly have commercial revenues on par with clubs who've been at the top for years. From my perspective, I don't want to cheat at Football Manager, I want any future success to be earned. I just don't think the current PSR rules are up to date (£105m over 3 years in 2011 looks a lot different to £105m over 3 yrs in 2024). I also think that as it stands it keeps the gap between the haves and have nots wider than it should. How can clubs like Brighton, Aston Villa, Everton, hope to keep pace with the 'Big 6' when you have to sell your best players in order to create enough FFP wriggle room for the purchase of new players? Especially when you're likely having to sell your best players to one of the Big 6? You're strengthening them, weakening yourself and gambling that the (say) £100m you get for Jack Grealish translates to a better overall team. Say you want to spend again, and the best financial deal on the table is Man Utd's £80m bid for Ollie Watkins... You spend that on two £40m players, there's no guarantee that both or either will be a success. Suddenly you've made one of the teams most likely to be caught much better, and you're now having to find a reliable striker, and someone to buy the flops from you. And if Ollie flops at Man Utd? they don't care, because of their deals with pillow companies and tractor oil partners, they can write it off and go off and sign Ivan Toney as well.

Is FFP/PSR restricting Aston Villa's ability to do business? Do you lot think the allowance should be increased beyond the current £105m over 3yrs?

Why do you need another striker? Watkins is banging in the goals and that Duran looks raw but talented? For what it's worth, I think you'll get Champions League football but the depth and experience of teams like Arsenal and Liverpool will keep you from an unlikely title.

What's your confidence levels? Top at Christmas if Liverpool and Arsenal draw. Less demanding European campaign than either of those. No League Cup distraction. Best home record in the league, best GF at home too. Only Newcastle have conceded fewer goals at home. Second overall for goals scored behind Man City. 7th for Goals conceded overall. Have you got much room in the budget to strengthen come January? If so, what do you need?

Hard to disagree. We've not been as good, but how much of that is because of injuries, European hangovers (our draws to WHU and WOL came after difficult CL games), or being figured out... I'm not sure. 10 players out for the Bournemouth game, a couple of suspensions, a couple soft tissue injuries, but a good number of impact or illness absentees. It's these kinds of games where our injuries could tell. Bournemouth could very well take advantage or tired, distracted players. For me, focus has to be staying in touching distance with the Champions League spots. Think we'll have to spend in January, which will no doubt infuriate everybody.

Oh, don't get me wrong, Howe isn't exclusive with his affection. Barnes, Burn, Gordon, Hall, Livramento, Targett, Trippier all have Premier League experience. But Botman, Bruno, Isak, Tonali, do not. And if Gordon had been plying his trade in the Bundesliga, I'm sure we still would have been interested (probably got him for less than £40m too). With Ashworth running the recruitment side of things, I'm hoping we'll start discovering the same calibre of players that were unearthed during his time at Brighton. We've already got a couple of young players out on loan in the Netherlands and of them Minteh looks to be a genuine prospect.

I don't think it's suited for the long term no, but I'm not worried. We've already evolved from the style we played when Howe first joined. I'm confident that when we have a left back that's comparable to Trippier (I mean, as close as we can get), we'll shift away from having 3 at the back in attack and to a more balanced side. We need more quality at DM, more depth across the squad. I think we need to migrate to being more comfortable knocking the ball around patiently. But that's going to take time and the right personnel.

Similar story to Diaby really, we were quoted north of £55m for him and his wage demands were too much. When Spurs came in they were quoted £40m and they could afford his wages. He would have been an absolutely been the perfect signing for us. Slots into our system perfectly, elevates our profile, huge upgrade on our existing players.

Yeah last season was amazing in terms of signings. I think this season was more about squad building. Barnes isn't better than Gordon, but he's a goal threat from the bench and plenty good enough to play against the lower PL teams. Hall and Livramento are two for the future. So are Minteh, Heffernan et al. Tonali was bought to replace Bruno's role on the right hand side, with Bruno posting up on the left. I mean, it all makes sense, but it's not as exciting as last season's. We couldn't spend too much more because of FFP, so it makes sense to fatten out the squad with talented young players.

We were quoted £60m+ for him and reportedly his wage demands ended our interest. We got Barnes for less and for less wages too. Dunno how much of an impact it had, but Howe really likes players with Premier League experience too. He'd have been a huge upgrade on Almiron and Murphy and as I said at the time, he's a really good signing for you.

Livramento isn't a loan with obligation. His was a permanent deal from the off. Hall is a loan with obligation purely for the benefit of the balance sheets of us and Chelsea. We don't have his full amount on our books now, Chelsea have a guaranteed income next accounting period. I don't know for sure, obviously, but my read is that the Champions League was a competition we were never going to win, so it was as much about getting experience in it and not getting embarrassed. It wasn't going to be the driving force behind our recruitment in the summer. The owners (I know, they're objectively awful people) have repeatedly stated they're in it for the long term, so while we'll likely not get CL football next season the aim is very much to become regular in that Competition. Better for the club to gradually improve the strength and depth of the squad instead of having too big of a gap between first and second 11. Any experienced player would want a big wage, and that's the area where FFP is tightest for us. I'm sure the idea would have been to rotate Barnes and Gordon, Isak and Wilson, Almiron and Murphy, a three from; Anderson, Bruno, Joelinton, Longstaff, Tonali and Willock. Unfortunately injuries to Barnes, Isak and Murphy means Almiron, Gordon, Wilson (who can never stay fit for long), are having to play full 90s a couple of times a week. and injuries have meant we couldn't rotate the midfield three, Joelinton, Longstaff, Willock have all had injuries and now Tonali is gone until next season. We don't even have attacking options to pull up from the youth squads because the academy had been neglected for far too long. Wolves was what I feared; a tired, depleted squad unable to get over the line against an improving Wolves side. We'll have more of those until either our players come back in the new year, or we sign some more bodies in January. That we're still 6th is frankly shocking to me. That you're 5th, isn't. You've played well, you're scoring for fun, and our game aside only Liverpool have scored more than once past you. And while you're missing Buendia and Mings for the season, you haven't looked like you've particularly missed them.

The good news, I guess, is that we've had a gentler run of fixtures to get us back among the big boys. Now, with the ban and injuries, we face a sterner test, but in a way, these are games we'd struggle to get results from anyway. After Wolves we've got Man Utd (a), Arsenal (h), Dortmund (a), Bournemouth (a), Chelsea (h) and PSG (a). Isak might be back for Chelsea, Anderson and Murphy too. December has 5 winnable games for us. then hopefully we'll get some recruitment done for early in January.

Tonali gone for 10 months is bad, but it could have been much worse. Isak missing until the next International break is a blow too. Murphy and Anderson is disappointing, but they're not as vital as Isak. I'm not too disappointed with the result last night. We hit the bar a couple of times, Wilson should have buried his point-blank chance, but whaddyagonnado? It would have been more comfortable had these injuries and ban happened closer to the January window, but I think we've enough to keep ticking along. Probably drop down the league a bit as close games go the wrong way. Hall and Livramento are going to get more game time as the season goes on. Livramento is closer to a start, but he's behind Trippier who's arguably the best right back in the league, and definitely our most important player on and off the pitch. Willock coming back is good timing, as he can play wide left, meaning Gordon can cover Wilson in the middle if the latter needs a break late on in games.