1 hour ago, RMH said:

Not sure why those of you ok with the dodgy finances of City are now unhappy at the possibility of Barsa pulling through their financial fiddling. Other than you liking City and disliking Barsa, they’re doing similar things (though Barsa are more in shambles given they have less money than the Oil states).

I'm probably on the fence of thinking city can do what they want. But there are rules, they are breaking them, they deserve to be punished. 

With Barca what gets me wound up is that they are seen as a dream destination but they treat the players like sh*t. Sign players and then have to force others out the club so they can be registered. It's just very messy and I don't get why so many players dream of going there.

11 hours ago, enigma said:

I think people should be worrying more about the Saudis taking over football. They are trying to create the super league for themselves. They may be signing past it players now, but give it a couple years and it will look very attractive to so many good players. The money swirling around out there is mental. 

I'm not sure if the Saudi league itself is where we'll see their influence grow, but it (along with the purchase of Newcastle) is almost certainly a stepping stone. Appreciate I'm going off-topic here so if you don't want to read about Saudi sportswashing + pro golf please scroll on...

Not sure if anyone else follows professional golf on here, but the past 3 years have shown that the PIF (Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia) is more than happy to burn through millions upon millions without profit to get to where it wants to be. It's not about making money directly through these sports teams, it's about improving the country's image so that they can do business with more sectors and shift their reliance on their oil wealth. The more they can get people to associate the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with the likes of Ronaldo, Benzema, Phil Mickelson etc, the less room there is for undesirable phrases like slave labour, homophobia etc to influence peoples opinions.

The crazy thing is they're not even hiding that this is what they're doing, they've got a flashy website that lays out their "Vision2030" in very clear terms.


EDIT: I understand why this reminds people of the money spent by Chinese clubs a few years ago, but I think the key differences are that a) much of this is backed by the Saudi govt, and b) the goal isnt necessarily tied to improving the saudi football league, it's about improving their image and getting a seat at tables/meetings they couldn't previously.


 

Edited June 7, 20233 yr by cfr95

4 minutes ago, cfr95 said:

I'm not sure if the Saudi league itself is where we'll see their influence grow, but it (along with the purchase of Newcastle) is almost certainly a stepping stone. Appreciate I'm going off-topic here so if you don't want to read about Saudi sportswashing + pro golf please scroll on...

Not sure if anyone else follows professional golf on here, but the past 3 years have shown that the PIF (Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia) is more than happy to burn through millions upon millions without profit to get to where it wants to be. It's not about making money directly through these sports teams, it's about improving the country's image so that they can do business with more sectors and shift their reliance on their oil wealth. The more they can get people to associate the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with the likes of Ronaldo, Benzema, Phil Mickelson etc, the less room there is for undesirable phrases like slave labour, homophobia etc to influence peoples opinions.

The crazy thing is they're not even hiding that this is what they're doing, they've got a flashy website that lays out their "Vision2030" in very clear terms.


 

I don't think it's OT. The PIF has now, as of last night, effectively taken over world golf. Football is next. 

6 hours ago, cfr95 said:

I'm not sure if the Saudi league itself is where we'll see their influence grow, but it (along with the purchase of Newcastle) is almost certainly a stepping stone. Appreciate I'm going off-topic here so if you don't want to read about Saudi sportswashing + pro golf please scroll on...

Not sure if anyone else follows professional golf on here, but the past 3 years have shown that the PIF (Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia) is more than happy to burn through millions upon millions without profit to get to where it wants to be. It's not about making money directly through these sports teams, it's about improving the country's image so that they can do business with more sectors and shift their reliance on their oil wealth. The more they can get people to associate the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with the likes of Ronaldo, Benzema, Phil Mickelson etc, the less room there is for undesirable phrases like slave labour, homophobia etc to influence peoples opinions.

The crazy thing is they're not even hiding that this is what they're doing, they've got a flashy website that lays out their "Vision2030" in very clear terms.


EDIT: I understand why this reminds people of the money spent by Chinese clubs a few years ago, but I think the key differences are that a) much of this is backed by the Saudi govt, and b) the goal isnt necessarily tied to improving the saudi football league, it's about improving their image and getting a seat at tables/meetings they couldn't previously.


 

The UK is happy to sell weapons to a country with human rights abuses, State racism against migrant workers , and an ongoing war in the Yemen..

It rightly condemns the Ukrain war , but is very selective about who it chooses to criticize,  the forced sale of our club will never happen to anyone else , despite the crimes of their owners

4 hours ago, The Rising Sun said:

The UK is happy to sell weapons to a country with human rights abuses, State racism against migrant workers , and an ongoing war in the Yemen..

It rightly condemns the Ukrain war , but is very selective about who it chooses to criticize,  the forced sale of our club will never happen to anyone else , despite the crimes of their owners

Roman has been politically battered for years by our government and the football associations. People might call me delusional here but I do genuinely believe the transfer ban had a lot to do with Roman. Whereas City have been dirty for years and always get out from under investigations, it won't shock me in the slightest when it happens again.

City's owner was literally sat in a meeting with Assad a couple of years ago, the Saudis just get to do what they want. I just can't stand the hypocrisy over it. 

13 hours ago, RMH said:

Not sure why those of you ok with the dodgy finances of City are now unhappy at the possibility of Barsa pulling through their financial fiddling. Other than you liking City and disliking Barsa, they’re doing similar things (though Barsa are more in shambles given they have less money than the Oil states).

They are not remotely similar. City have obfuscated and delayed to the point, no one was able to prove anything. UEFA talk big but they are hamstrung by their own failed rules that stop them pursuing City's dodgy sponsorships. 

Barcelona's "financial fiddling" has been laid bare, and anyone who thinks they are getting a free pass from La Liga over their scandals really hasn't paid attention to what is actually going on there. They are broke because the league says they are, not because they actually are. Prior to La Liga's restrictions, they had a debt roughly the size of Tottenham's with 3x more revenue to service it.

La Liga came down on Barcelona hard.

Can you imagine the embarassment if we had to run our transfer plans by the EPL first before going to market? Now, with Messi confirming he is not returning,  that same financial plan is once again in tatters. 

Can you imagine the outrage if the EPL refused to allow us to register Reece James and forced us to sell him, because we couldn't prove we could afford him? That's what La Liga did with Gavi, even taking them to court and forcing Barcelona to shed players and prove they could afford his whole senior contract. Had Busquets and Alba not agreed to terminate their contracts for a song, Gavi would not be eligible to sign a senior contract with Barcelona and thus would be a free agent.

As for the refereeing scandal, La Liga has been Barcelona's biggest and most persistent critic, even though they have no involvement given the matter is outside their statute of limitations. The whole issue is being prosecuted in a criminal court, so to think it is somehow being hushed up is delusional at best.

Todd has totally f**ked us with his idiotic buying frenzy, every man and his dog is now screwing us, both in the buying and selling side of transfers. What a c**t. 

1 hour ago, Kev56 said:

Todd has totally f**ked us with his idiotic buying frenzy, every man and his dog is now screwing us, both in the buying and selling side of transfers. What a c**t. 

We heard how our big spending upset several clubs, could be many are getting their own back by messing with us.

Worried about how much we're charging for our overrated deadwood, we're going to be stuck with a massive squad by pre-season at this rate.

 

Just sell and get rid, streamlining the squad is arguably even more important than buying players this window.

Just now, Drogba1 said:

Worried about how much we're charging for our overrated deadwood, we're going to be stuck with a massive squad by pre-season at this rate.

 

Just sell and get rid, streamlining the squad is arguably even more important than buying players this window.

Its inevitable. 

 

18 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Its inevitable. 

 

Not really. If they cannot find moves pay the likes of Lukaku and Ziyech to stay at home. If they are not to be used why have them around?

Also Todd spent money releasing players not needed at the Dodgers when they first took over so there is always that.

7 hours ago, Drogba1 said:

Worried about how much we're charging for our overrated deadwood, we're going to be stuck with a massive squad by pre-season at this rate.

 

Just sell and get rid, streamlining the squad is arguably even more important than buying players this window.

Why not offer them to the Saudi’s though? Ziyech for example has always had offers but wants to retain his wages or even better them. Since there is no one willing to pay the £20m asking price and also match is £100k/w wages, offer him to the Saudi’s at £30m, and they can easily triple his wages to £300k/w. He is 30 already, and his agent would advise him to take one big final pay day.
We can easily shift Koulibaly, Mendy, Ziyech, and even maybe Lukaku to the Arabs. 

2 hours ago, ducavis said:

Why not offer them to the Saudi’s though? Ziyech for example has always had offers but wants to retain his wages or even better them. Since there is no one willing to pay the £20m asking price and also match is £100k/w wages, offer him to the Saudi’s at £30m, and they can easily triple his wages to £300k/w. He is 30 already, and his agent would advise him to take one big final pay day.
We can easily shift Koulibaly, Mendy, Ziyech, and even maybe Lukaku to the Arabs. 

As long as Boehly doesn't try to buy a stake in one of the clubs at the same time 

15 hours ago, Drogba1 said:

Worried about how much we're charging for our overrated deadwood, we're going to be stuck with a massive squad by pre-season at this rate.

 

Just sell and get rid, streamlining the squad is arguably even more important than buying players this window.

It's a lovely attitude but we've got 2.5 months until the window shuts. These players will get snapped up, it's inevitable. 

United either spend 60m quid on Mount, or they have to solve that on a less desirable player for a similar amount of money. The same goes for all our players, they have a market value and the best way to get ripped off when selling is to panic. 

1 hour ago, bisright1 said:

It's a lovely attitude but we've got 2.5 months until the window shuts. These players will get snapped up, it's inevitable. 

United either spend 60m quid on Mount, or they have to solve that on a less desirable player for a similar amount of money. The same goes for all our players, they have a market value and the best way to get ripped off when selling is to panic. 

Don’t we have to make a certain amount of sales before July 1st to count on our books for 22-23? We also probably can’t add new signings until we start selling some players.

33 minutes ago, ducavis said:

Don’t we have to make a certain amount of sales before July 1st to count on our books for 22-23? We also probably can’t add new signings until we start selling some players.

Maybe. Maybe we don't. Maybe we just take the punishment. No one really knows what our finances are under the hood or how seriously we'd be punished for failing to have finances in order during an exceptional time in our history. 

10 hours ago, ducavis said:

Why not offer them to the Saudi’s though? Ziyech for example has always had offers but wants to retain his wages or even better them. Since there is no one willing to pay the £20m asking price and also match is £100k/w wages, offer him to the Saudi’s at £30m, and they can easily triple his wages to £300k/w. He is 30 already, and his agent would advise him to take one big final pay day.
We can easily shift Koulibaly, Mendy, Ziyech, and even maybe Lukaku to the Arabs. 

That would be great if possible.

2 hours ago, bisright1 said:

It's a lovely attitude but we've got 2.5 months until the window shuts. These players will get snapped up, it's inevitable. 

United either spend 60m quid on Mount, or they have to solve that on a less desirable player for a similar amount of money. The same goes for all our players, they have a market value and the best way to get ripped off when selling is to panic. 

We either sell Mount for 60m, or lose him for free next year after he strops around for a season because he doesn't want to be here. It works both ways.

55 minutes ago, Drogba1 said:

We either sell Mount for 60m, or lose him for free next year after he strops around for a season because he doesn't want to be here. It works both ways.

I don't think it's in his best interests to do that.

If he has another bad season clubs will probably start truly scrutinising whether it's form or early burn out (especially if most of the rest of the squad recover).

If he's still here come September I wouldn't even be surprised to see him sign a new deal to give himself some security.

3 hours ago, bisright1 said:

The same goes for all our players, they have a market value and the best way to get ripped off when selling is to panic. 

I think this is true.

But it's also true that you are likely getting ripped off when clubs know you have to sell. And same goes for when players are clearly quite desperate to leave and have already agreed personal terms with other clubs like Mount with United, Kovacic with City and Havertz with Real. The clubs who want to buy them can afford to be patient but we can't really with our FFP issues which has been reported by some very reputable sources and which is also quite clear from looking at the numbers and also think through how our 22/23 books will look without significant sales before the 30th. 

 

1 hour ago, Drogba1 said:

We either sell Mount for 60m, or lose him for free next year after he strops around for a season because he doesn't want to be here. It works both ways.

If he does that then I can imagine a lot of clubs would steer clear. If he works hard and still doesn't extend, he still won't go to united as he will have other options. 

It's all a game of cat and mouse. And with 2.5 months until the window closes I don't see why we have to just bend over for anyone. 

We have really struggled selling players for years now I've noticed. We used to be able to flog players pretty easily and for decent fee's at that. Since Mourinho left I've noticed that players we don't want tend to just linger here for years on loans. At this point it wouldn't shock me if Michy Batsuayi, Baba Rahman, or that papa whatever his name was who Mourinho signed are still on our books somewhere, they were on it for long enough. 

Pulisic and Ziyech are two, in particular, I do not want to see here next season, I've already accepted the fact we're lumbered with burger boy for the next few years. 
 

Just now, Victor90 said:

We have really struggled selling players for years now I've noticed. We used to be able to flog players pretty easily and for decent fee's at that. Since Mourinho left I've noticed that players we don't want tend to just linger here for years on loans. At this point it wouldn't shock me if Michy Batsuayi, Baba Rahman, or that papa whatever his name was who Mourinho signed are still on our books somewhere, they were on it for long enough. 

Pulisic and Ziyech are two, in particular, I do not want to see here next season, I've already accepted the fact we're lumbered with burger boy for the next few years. 
 

Yeah I don't think Sales will be as easy as some think. 

No matter the player, no matter the buying club we have seen sides low ball us constantly (Brighton with Colwill, Havertz with Real, Mount with United) or just take the pi$$ out of us completely (rich club PSG only wanting to loan Ziyech, the whole Lukaku debacle, Milan having almost everything done for RLC for weeks but pulling the plug after sacking Maldini)

I beieve we will end up having to significantly drop our prices, give cust price loans or terminate contracts/let contracts run down to get rid of many of these players unless we get lucky with Saudi clubs being willing to take on players like Ziyech, Sterling, Lukaku or Koulibaly and them be willing to go 

5 minutes ago, Victor90 said:

We have really struggled selling players for years now I've noticed. We used to be able to flog players pretty easily and for decent fee's at that. Since Mourinho left I've noticed that players we don't want tend to just linger here for years on loans. At this point it wouldn't shock me if Michy Batsuayi, Baba Rahman, or that papa whatever his name was who Mourinho signed are still on our books somewhere, they were on it for long enough. 

Pulisic and Ziyech are two, in particular, I do not want to see here next season, I've already accepted the fact we're lumbered with burger boy for the next few years. 
 

I don’t think it’s a Chelsea problem alone.. think of the trouble Utd have had in selling anyone from pogba going on free to martial maguire Danny van still being there… likewise arsenal never managed to shift Xhaka or chambers or Leno  etc.

clubs are buying cheaper and younger imports all the time .. market for older expensive players is shrinking.

3 hours ago, OriginalS said:

I think this is true.

But it's also true that you are likely getting ripped off when clubs know you have to sell. And same goes for when players are clearly quite desperate to leave and have already agreed personal terms with other clubs like Mount with United, Kovacic with City and Havertz with Real. The clubs who want to buy them can afford to be patient but we can't really with our FFP issues which has been reported by some very reputable sources and which is also quite clear from looking at the numbers and also think through how our 22/23 books will look without significant sales before the 30th. 

 

There are no reputable sources when it comes to wages. Wages are private data so blogs like Swiss Ramble and those American sites infer wages from published annual accounts showing the total wage bill, and media reports - ie the same information available to anyone else.