nepal_villan

Probably a non starter, but as punishment I'd like to see all broadcast revenues (domestic + international) plus all UEFA Champions League and Europa League income earned by English clubs to be distributed evenly amongst all 20 PL clubs.  You see this with the American college conferences, where prize money earned by member institutions in NCAA tournaments are split evenly amongst all the colleges belonging to the conference.

Yes, the top clubs will lose a lot of money, but at the same time there will be less of a revenue variable if they fail to qualify for the UCL - which is a major issue for many of them.

Felt like a match in The Championship 

The two goals we gave-up were unfortunate.  Thought Emi, Targett, El Gazi and Davis were great. Barkley was decent.

16 minutes ago, Zatman said:

I wonder what the reaction would be like if UEFA backtracked on that 

The 12 clubs have zero leverage now. Hopefully UEFA do backtrack - especially on the 2 places reserved for the clubs with the highest coefficient ranking.

4 hours ago, OutByEaster? said:

Incidentally, to give you an idea of how far we have to go, our combined sponsorship and commercial revenues were £23.7m.

Leicester made £29.9m Tottenham's revenues were £151.9m and Man Utd's were £345.1m. 

Those last two clubs must be dripping in cash, I bet they're absolutely delighted with things being exactly as they are right now.

 

Took 15 years of sustained success (i.e. consistent top 6 finishes) for Spurs to get where they are. We still have a long way to go.

We dont have midfielders that can pass the ball. 

9 minutes ago, MaVilla said:

blimey, even Sheff Utd, Watford, Burnley, Norwich & Brighton have/had more revenue than us!, amazing.

Player sales might account for part of this, but overall revenues in the PL are pretty much the same between all the non "Big 6" clubs. 

1 hour ago, punkiller1981 said:

Agree with this, I think you only need to look at the bucs in the NBA to see Wes gets it and understands building a structurally sound sports organisation means keeping your best assets at almost any cost (see the bucs highest paid player can’t remember his name but the Greek sounding guy) while knowing that adding assets to your best assets. They know it costs big money but long term also adds big value.

European football has three massive differences to North American leagues - relegation, Champions League money, and lack of a salary cap - one of those three will throw a monkey wrench into any ambitious owners' plans.  That's what I believe happened in the case of Randy Lerner. He quickly realized that without Champions League football he could not compete without constantly bankrolling the club, something the likes of Chelsea and City were prepared to do.

I believe breaking into the UCL in the next 3-5 years will be crucial to keep our owners enthusiastic about this project. 

Got this chart from a Price of Football tweet. Other than the top 6 clubs, seems clubs revenues basically corelate to their league position. Shows we have quite the challenge in trying to break-away from the other 14 PL clubs. It will probably require quite a few years of sustained success that positions us to attract bigger commercial partners.  Have to give Spurs credit - they were able to bridge that divide.

8 hours ago, bannedfromHandV said:

Quality cameo, good pressing, perfect cross for an assist, good hold up play and ball control.

If we can just get that out of him consistently there’s a helluva player in there and it’s why I’d be gutted to see him moved on whilst also fully understanding why, should that come to pass.

It’s obvious we need to do something different, not sure Liverpool away is the one to test it out but equally, why not? Start with the same formation and players we ended today with, it might just work! 

We do consistently get that out of him. The problem is he just does not score. But I have no issues giving him minutes if he consistently creates for others. We just need to change our expectations when it comes to his role on the team.

The level of our players is much better than this. Have to presume it is the coaching staff failing to get them to click. 

I've been a critic of his, but tonight he was not the issue and should have at least had one assist

Seeing that he was behind Elmo in the pecking order, doesn't seem like Smith rates him. Think we will sell him and look for alternatives - possibly Kessler.  If we do that, I would re-sign Elmo for 1 more year as emergency cover for the RB/CB positions (essentially our 25th man) in case Kessler finds the step up challenging. 

Something going on in his head. Would rather give our youngsters a go from now until the end of the season.

2 minutes ago, VillaChris said:

We really need a Neto type on the right.

Came here to post the same.  Think summer we need to really get 2 quality attacking players

I'll take the point. 

Really good half. Loved the energy. Traore lacks consistency for me. 

Think Hourihane definitely could help us in certain matches, but then we would need to have a "horses for courses" mentality - which is not really Smith's style. Anyway good to see our loans doing well - will mean we get some value when they transfer out.

Can we please stop it with the "don't change a winning side" nonsense!  Our setup was poor to begin with against this opponent.

Didnt think it was a bad half, but our midfield just cannot seem to create anything. Ramsey is the obvious choice to be replaced 2nd half.

Wish Smith changed it up a little to keep the players hungry. Positive is we have a decent looking bench.

49 minutes ago, thunderball said:

I think Barkley for £20/25m is a great deal for us. He is going through a bad patch but there is a very very good player in there.

Going into the season most of us would be ecstatic to sign him for around £30m+ and after the first few matches maybe even £40m+. Too many question marks now...

This game will tell a lot about where we are as a team. A European level side should comfortably win such matches.

Great result. Good tactical adjustments by Smith.  A bit concerned about our inability to win second balls and hold on to possession. 

Good half.  AEG and Nakamba playing really well. AEG could have easily had one more. Feel Ramsey looks a bit lightweight out there - maybe bring in Samson for him in the 2nd half.  Still frustrating is that we still seem to lose most second and 50/50 balls.

3 hours ago, DCJonah said:

I would still say that even playing poorly, the opposition still have to think about him because of who he is. 

They've been bypassing him and not thinking about him lately.