Mr Popodopolous

1999 rings a bell? We won 1-0 if it's the same game I'm thinking of.

I will say I've given them flak and scrutiny but if Souttar goes for £15m then thst is FFP also well and truly netted off for Stoke I'd have thought.

Agreed. I'm hopeful it's both as while Semenyo leaving so is Martin perhaps. He's not in first team plans anyway. Cornick, Mehmeti, plus seemingly Bell as we saw Saturday and Sykes of course can play wider as well as CM and RWB if required. Weimann, Wells, Conway and perhaps Bell through the centre- real depth and variety.

Mahrez during Leicester's title season was fantastic but he was a star in a middling side who achieved something remarkable. His numbers are quite good at Man City but he's not first choice, one of many stars etc. Plus what BCFC Rich said- coincidence though it is, Mahrez joined Leicester and NP aged...22.

Dunno if already posted, that and the other vids in this thread, he looks a very exciting player and only 21!

Any kind of similarities albeit at a much lower and less experienced level to Mahrez you think Dave or is it more like Semenyo?

It's a bit- okay a lot- of hyperbole but Mehmeti our Mahrez (relative to level, age and so on). Tricky winger, skilful- not saying he's as good as Mahrez but any stylistic similarities? One of the goals on a clip I saw was lovely. Likes to run and dribble.

One more interesting line browsing the Wycombe forum. Check time and date, I used to read it more often.

Wycombe end, occasionally read their site- suggested that his release clause is/was £1m.

More than I thought, 3-3.5k, Atyeo holds about 4.2k iirc.

Swansea as mentioned above maybe was police reasons, WBA no idea. If we can give a reduced capacity does this I wonder open up a chance for a few home fans in the Atyeo, how many vs the Manchester clubs last time?

I expect Semenyo in form and confident might have caused them a few issues too?

Cesare Casadei to Reading on loan. Wonder what kind of Chelsea subsidy this is- it makes a bit more sense as he's a young player but he's an Italy U21 international midfielder Chelsea to Reading from Inter's academy to Chelsea, £12m plus £4m in add-ons. Blah blah backstory, has massive promise but should a team under FFP restrictions having already failed it in 2021 be able to sign a player such as this on loan from Chelsea? Some of the business there- Rahman and Drinkwater season loans, followed by Rahman and possibly this half season loan feels like unfair subsidy. Especially when Reading last season we're restricted to £8.5k per week on new signings, total player wage remuneration £21.2m last year was the cap, this year £16m. Should such deals be included at a good chunk of their actual rate for FFP purposes even if the actual books show a massage subsidy- being younger this player maybe on a lower wage but the profile I'd think not that tiny. Much like Watford and Udinese in particular, this doesn't seem right. A club with a £39m pre tax loss in 2020-21, whose likely income this season won't be much above £20m I expect.

Plus Scott and Zak Vanyner.

Sign of the times even though I get it- we've had some good moments in the 5 years since though and the number of youth coming through is fantastic.

We have indeed but what about the Manchester lot.

Thought we'd get Stoke away or something! Don't think we'll have any issues selling this one out- any scope to stick a few home fans in the Atyeo again?

Ironically although it may leave us a little exposed at times, Massengo and his energy combined with reasonable technical ability could probably slot into the current CM 3. Ship has not just sailed but gone round two sets of harbours but always thought he's best suited to a CM 3. Perhaps a genuine 4-3-3 or something closer to a bit like what we're playing now.

Is a shame tbh. Think he has some good attributes and is still young, sure he'd be in and around the squad had he signed his deal when on the table but we are where we are. Was actually thinking the other day post Bentley that along the same lines as Cornick that if we could offload Klose, Massengo for contractual reasons and Martin too all this window then we could look to bring forward a couple more recruitment plans.

Sykes can play CM too.

That could work.

Wasn't looking that far forward just posting a general overview but the potential Scott sale would absolutely set us fair for some time yep, would give NP some decent cash to spend too.

We also need to be in a position whereby selling can go back into the side with up to 100 pct of proceeds. E.g. £30m turnover, allowable FFP loss £13m...the highest it needs to be to avoid and this is moving forward is £13m in 1 year or £39m in 3. I make our FFP allowances £6-7m per season therefore the final pre tax loss with zero player sales must not exceed £19-20m- Total full operating costs must not exceed £49-50m. Last season was £59-60m and a £29-30m pre tax loss (£28.5m after player sales) so- yet fortunately I believe we are approaching a point whereby any sale would be net of FFP and therefore all the proceeds could go back in to strengthen the team.

Plus a little further reading. https://thepinch.substack.com/p/sheffield-united-kop-seating-safe-standing?r=d4uj9&utm_medium=web

Observation. Or bit of a cautionary tale. It is great and it helps the atmosphere but it MUST be done well and correctly. I see that Sheffield United have had to restrict ticket sales on their Kop owing to overcrowding and or safety issues, possibly the SAG or SGSA. This is from 3 months ago but any similarities? Still doesn't seem to have fully resolved itself afaik. https://www.sufc.co.uk/news/2022/october/26/kop-issues/ In short any migration across sans tickets creates a problem, save perhaps for standing on the back rows. I'm possibly stating some obvious points here but it is a cautionary tale from elsewhere. I'm not against it but all factors need to be taken into account.