Mr Popodopolous

Obviously a new owner would have to factor in our current position financially into his following 2 year business plan. Both FFP and financially in general, solvency and proof of funds etc. If EFL aren't satisfied then things could stall etc. There were some changes this summer tightening up criteria for new owners, been an ongoing process for about 2 years now maybe more. Wonder what type of owner he would sell it too.

It's hard to say really. Lot of good points as to why £12m for example feels too low but then Flynn Downes who is older and possibly has less of a ceiling went for £10m, maybe rising to £12m last season. Keane Lewis Potter went for £16m, rising to £20m. Defenders that low prices? Maybe though Nathan Collins went for Burnley for £12m just as we were emerging from Covid-19 high calibre defenders (talking top level now, not with respect Championship) can still attract a major price tag. Especially if they are young yet impressive and you can see them at the heart of a defence for the next decade. ie Chelsea with Fofana, Bayern with De Ligt- if they join at that age and hit heights it's expensive up front but a great investment. £12m does feel too low but if we got a combined say £25m the pair that also feels somewhat in line with current market trends- PL clubs seem to be focusing on the European market a bit more atm.

I actually think LJ didn't play to the strengths of some of our players- agree with a lot of your post btw but a true 4-3-3 at one point would have suited us IMO- but he never really entertained it 4-4-2, a sort of but not entire 4-1-4-1 which tbh worked very well for a time, experiments with 3 at the back...2 Cms and someone like Palmer or Paterson can leave a side exposed somewhere. The lopsided 4-4-1-1, Paterson behind Reid was a bit of a masterstroke but only really came about as injuries forced his hand!

Hmm wasn't that a straightish 4-4-2 side? Unsure a side wins this League or usually gets up with that set-up these days.

Checked a little more. Take 2018-19 for example. Perhaps home advantage is less of a factor than it once was- I did a very quick sum and I believe the average side once all home points divided by all sides, games etc took 1.40 pts per home game. Less than half- that is quite an interesting statistic IMO, possibly the increasingly cagey and tactical nature, counter attacking play from home and away sides and sides mirroring each other ie loads of back 3s all plays a part I think. 0.46 was when you divided it by total points, about 0.46 per possible point which is a shade under half. Less than half again in 2017-18. Similar numbers. Happy to go back and check both, possibly got the sum the wrong way round but either way it's only in and around 50 pct.

A little bit round the houses and also for the Football Regulator thread, but as expected it seems that real time monitoring and ahead of time monitoring will be in play for the new way football financial regulation is done. https://www.footballinsider247.com/everton-ffp-update-revealed-as-january-announcement-looms/

2017-18, last alright, passable home record IMO. That's fair yeah it was a strong record and I didn't know it was quite that good tbh! The two hammerings came in the final few months of GJ but yeah we were quite strong at home back then now you point out only 3 losses. We actually were iirc unbeaten at home in the League from late December 2008 to aforementioned Sheffield United game. 10-10-3 in 2009-10, probably unsurpassed since at this level. That unbeaten run that lasted 11 months at home from 2008-09 to 2009-10. 10-9-0.

Yes that was League One tbh, we are up against a lot more clubs at or above our level at this level. Do agree though, 2010- the win ratio post 2007-08 did drop but we rarely lost. Too many draws perhaps but we rarely lost and until the latter part of GJ era we were always one way or another competitive at home. Or mostly anyway. Think we were seen as one of the more difficult away games for a while outside of the top few of course.

Woukd that be some kind of H&S requirement, SAG etc though? Unsure how much say the club have over that aspect. Would be happy if someone corrected me and I was wrong however!

https://www.soccerstats.com/latest.asp?league=england2_2019 For those who are interested. We were 10th for it (home form) in 2017-18 and 14th in 2016-17. A notable improvement on our 1st season up in which we were 20th! I also believe that PPG per game at home is falling a bit across the board, or as a while at this level- others can play around with that but over 10, 20 years it's definitely falling I reckon. This season we are 19th as it stands for home record.

Home performance levels haven't really been so bad. With the exception of Millwall at home, QPR 1st half we seemed to be asleep for a lot of it and West Brom 2nd half although they are in fantastic form and have a strong squad who have underperformed significantly until Corberan. The atmosphere apart from a few games has been rather flat really. Stoke even after we scored and we were on top it was quiet. Luton at home in August was very quiet considering were on top and fairly dominant at 11 v 11 certainly. On the flipside the atmosphere v Watford was good and seemed to grow as the side grew and vice versa. Performance v result wise, very much deserved more than a collective total of 1 point from the Sheffield United, Watford and Stoke set of home games- goals we conceded in the last one very soft and we had to work significantly harder for our goal than they did for theirs which was disappointing.

Millwall accounts, for both Holdings and club have arrived at CH but not yet available. I expect they will be visible sometime in the next couple of days. Not expecting anything drastic or out there. Still awaiting Bet365 as they will show the final 2 months of 2020-21 and the first 10 of last season for Stoke City or Stoke City Holdings or aspects of it anyway.

On Cardiff. One little bit confuses me. Morality and sadness of it all aside, strictly on the embargo front. By my reckoning they have 27, maybe even 28 players of Professional Standing which means they need to release or sell 5 or 6 in order to sign one under strict limits...cap on wages, no fee etc. ...However varied (local) reporters say they can sign one subject to wahes and other limits as they have only 22 of the relevant criteria. The embargo rules state that additions can only be considered if a club has under 23 players of Professional Standing but I am sure Cardiff have a few more. Professional Standing, the definition of this is any player of any age who has played 1 minute of football at Professional level.

Not City, EFL or even strictly speaking UEFA related. Barcelona fined by La Liga following breaches of their FFP regulations. Wonder if this will lead to more as things progress- they will appeal of course. Weirdly they appear to be appealing to some sort of UEFA body when they are in dispute over La Liga regulations?? https://www.sportbible.com/football/barcelona-fined-la-liga-ffp-561133-20230103

Plus the League did throw an extra charge at Birmingham for turning down a bid in January 2019. Dunno if that rule still holds but that was a case that many Birmingham fans laughed at, scoffed at when reports that they might be charged for keeping Che Adams in January 2019 arose. Online reaction from the time was fairly derisive at the concept. However arise it did and charged they were. They won on appeal the League so presumably they have the right to do so. Will depend on agreements etc.

It's hard to say really on the wider impact. Big pinch of salt but Transfermarkt has it actually rising ie Championship transfer revenue in 2020-21 before a big fall in season 2021-22- some recovery this season so far. Our argument at least according to media reports in 2022 was that it cost us in the Covid seasons. There is also the possibility that we ran low on good players to sell. Brentford for example had no issues getting big prices for Benrahma and Watkins during the Covid season itself. QPR got good money for Eze. They however did not have uncertainty over FFP- Covid has hit the market but is it as much as said? Lots of variables. Covid is one factor , whether we'll be fully cleared FFP wise is another in our case IMO. Gould and the club say confident, but these things are open to interpretation and argument. Potentially yes, agree on lack of swap or dual type deals ie player x in part exchange.

I'd say reluctantly £25m the pair, in an ideal financial climate £30m surely but there could be pressure to sell based on FFP. There are cost pressure factors at play here and buying clubs will know or assume this. Has the transfer market fallen as we argue? Difficult to say, if we are relying on that argument as part of a compliance plan and neglect to sell in January as a result I dunno if it will fully stack up. We can point to our fall in sales, but the League can point to a rangr of £10m or above deals sold by Championship clubs during Covid.

Not a chance IMO. Burnley pressure to sell isn't as high as post relegation, looking a sound bet to head back up- if they stay down the whole equation changes but nothing doing in January I expect.

Obviously they have since been appointed but a little more detail on how the clubs submit their financials and how the CRFU feeds into the CFRP. Did a bit of digging. Emphasis on Agreed Decisions where possible but ultimately the CRFP decision will be final.

I am still wary about whether in the fullness of time our FFP compliance or methods of it will stand up to scrutiny as a new body was only just appointed in early December. They are now scrutinizing all EFL clubs and their FFP/P&S submissions so it will be interesting to see if they object to clubs and their returns in the coming months, years- would think the Covid period if not analysed correctly is very much open to abuse FFP wise. A general note on the process. Clubs submit their numbers.and their FFP numbers each year, to the League and I guess the Club Financial Reporting Unit. Then in time, unless it's already been done for past seasons ahead of appointment, the Club Financial Review Panel will scrutinise, and if required refer to adjudication or for a breach. We won't get any kind of deduction this season, of that I'm certain. Which just further highlights the wrecking of our finances in that era. Perhaps 2024 barring big player sales we will be back in a truly healthy place, this summer another big step forward.

Tend to agree with this post although sticking Hull in that bracket. I dunno, bit cautious on that- while we have a good home record in particular vs them and while form can be temporary they seem to be on an upward trajectory. Quietly put together a run of 7 unbeaten on the road and potentially adding Ebiowei and Aaron Connolly on loan. 19 pts from last 12 games overall in fact, they could well be climbing towards midtable. Blackpool readding Bowler is a big boost and potentially Morgan Rogers on loan, may make things tighter down this end.

Rotherham if Warne was still there could be lower midtable IMO. Not now though but they seemed tough on the road and competitive in different ways vs everyone at home..v lower and lower mid sides they could be quite attacking and vs middle and upper sides they would be resilient. He built that squad, got the most out of them, him leaving is a major boost for anyone battling around the bottom third to lower midtable IMO.

Maybe I misread it then, but it did mention included in the above is £x in player related wages. I suppose player related wages could be open to interpretation.

Stoke 0 v Preston 1 in stoppage time. Now a result.

Burnley 2 up at Swansea. Looks like they're bouncing straight back up- in fact I'd say the top two look fairly nailed on, just a question of what order tbh.