wishywashy

On paper, they're two teams who both have strong attacks but very leaky defences, so it promises to be a high scoring game. It'll finish 0-0.

Having a look at Javi Guerra, maybe? He does goes back to Spain a lot, so might have just wanted to watch some football.

Yes. Turns 18 in May so he'll sign for us once the window opens.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C6Y2XozIanv/?hl=en Shame Gabby's involved in this prospective video but the info is nice enough!

Managed to get a hattrick of assists two days ago, and is La Liga's top assister. Emery was the one who brought him through into the Villareal first team, I believe. Loves a through ball apparently.

Diving platforms? Grealish will be signing for them in a flash

Still, at least with a lot of club legends they're just mediocre or average at best: our club legend indirectly helped to almost bankrupt the club!

Sticking this in here and doing a runner

Crazy how our Premier League top scorer, one of our 'greatest' academy graduates and an (essentially) one-club player was genuinely one of the worst things to happen to this club, given his indirectly huge role in setting the wheels in motion for the 2010s being as disastrous for Villa as they were. There's a not too different reality out there where the decline set in motion from failing to secure CL that season (which he clearly willingly played a part in) leads to us going bust in 2018.

Obviously a fake (the stitching is terrible) but does really emphasise how awful the current branding coming out of the club is. It's such a shame, because without the AV150/HIOSU/whatever it is & the genuinely eyesore badge it'd be a great kit...

They're very close to being right, to be fair. Just had to say "in Birmingham" instead of "in England". And they'd be 25th. As for their thread "who", they're finally managing to string enough letters together to make a coherent word. Very impressive. A few more years and they might be able to manage typing a second word in their sentences

I get what you mean in how they can be perceived both ways, and some articles are definitely saying it like you're interpreting it (like the BBC), hence why we've both been confused all day! I've found that The Guardian takes the winners medal for being the least ambiguous about its claims. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2024/apr/29/majority-of-premier-league-clubs-vote-in-favour-of-exploring-spending-cap-plans I think it's a case of we'll have to see what happens in June when it's all formalised: it clearly hasn't been very well communicated in the press releases that have been going round!

This thread is under the impression that there won't be a 85% spending cap for Prem clubs, which The Times and The Athletic have both said will remain. The UEFA rules being 70% of turnover are valid from 2025/26 (although the only competition where it wouldn't really be worth it would be the Conference League) but that's got nothing to do with the measure voted on today. Still baffled as to why Villa voted against.

https://theathletic.com/5457496/2024/04/29/premier-league-spending-salary-cap/ The Athletic are much more clear in their claim that it'll be an addition rather than a replacement. Still would prefer definitive clarity from the Premier League itself at this rate.

Should be back by the 2nd leg. Good news.

Now I genuinely have no clue: in the Independent article you can arguably read it both ways, and in the Times' article (by Martyn Ziegler) it suggests that the squad cost control replaces PSR and that once again it'd be in addition. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/81e36d08-ad3a-470b-8a8b-7fc0c540a74e?shareToken=cf42a3f3d4cef7bbed7def89354ca948 So the BBC suggest it replaces the limit, Independent you can argue both ways, and the Times suggest it's in addition. The joys of the media. And English. Would be very nice if the Premier League came out with a press release that clarified what exactly they're planning to do.

Ahhh, I see what you mean. That does seem... questionable. Would make far more sense to combine them. Not sure why Newcastle would vote in favour of that sort of proposal.

The Premier League will be restricting teams to 85% spend of turnover from next season anyway (which is the big change that's replacing FFP in it's current form), so Newcastle wouldn't be able to do that. The new UEFA financial rules will be restricting teams to 90% spend next season, then 70% from 2025-26, so we wouldn't feel any additional restrictive effects from being in Europe next season. So the Premier League rules will definitely be a bit looser for teams not in Europe, 15% more of turnover to be precise, but I suppose that's mitigated a bit as teams in Europe will get more money. I can see why the likes of Villa and Newcastle might not be overly keen, but this was unanimously agreed on about a month ago, and this hard cap would be an additional measure. I guess one reason you'd be opposed would be if you think the Premier League's broadcasting money has peaked with this current deal, and will decrease in the coming years to the point where the 'hard cap' suddenly becomes restrictive for more than just the likes of Chelsea and Man City.

The Premier League is already adopting a looser form of UEFA's European cap though (85% rather than UEFA's 70%): this hard spending cap of around £500m would be in addition to the new rules that clubs unanimously agreed on two weeks ago. Low-revenue Premier League clubs not in Europe wouldn't be able to spend ridiculous amounts of money because they'll still be restricted to 85% of their turnover per these new rules: they wouldn't be able to come close to the hard cap (c.£500m) that'll be imposed in addition to those rules. https://theathletic.com/5407740/2024/04/11/premier-league-ffp-rules-new/

Believe he works for Sawiris, was formerly his representative at the Luxembourgian V Sports companies pre-Atairos merger.

AFAIK this squad cost cap (which wouldn't affect us in any way as our spend is about half of the cap: only Chelsea would fail it and Man City would be close) is separate to the 70-85% spending limit that has been adopted by UEFA and is planning to be adopted by the Premier League. So absolutely no clue why Villa voted against, this isn't the planned financial rule change that would affect us.

Why exactly have Villa/Heck voted against this lol?

Might be able to make Brighton if all goes well...