The Football News Thread 2023/24

[Sniffer]

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has spoken to BBC Radio 5 Live about Everton's two-point deduction:

"Under the accounting rules, if you're putting together a piece of real estate or property, you are allowed to add together all of the costs - material, labour, and overhead cost, including interest - and, instead of treating it as a cost in terms of the day-to-day business, it gets added to the value of the property.

"Everton have done that, and it appears to be in the rules but the Premier League is saying it's not so certain about that, even it allowed Spurs to do it. The more we look at it, the more it becomes complex.

Yes Kieran, but they would still have been in breach of the rules if the interest was allowed. It is a side issue to the punishment.

 

[Banjo]

Hatton is a big Everton fan so it probably is him. Definitely not an MP though.

 

[Sniffer]

Yes if you say so Keith - but I recall you being a complete arse regarding what we were doing when you were at Villa a few years back. At Villa, under an ownership that was all but bust whilst paying fortunes to an over the hill former England captain.

"These clouds have been hanging over Forest and Everton and this is a time when you have players deciding if they are going to move on. It's the time when they make these decisions with their agent," said Wyness, who was Everton's chief executive between 2004 and 2008.

"This goes way beyond a points deduction of 'two points and that’s all it is'. It impacts the club in so many ways. You can’t get sponsors to commit because they don’t know what division they will be in next year. You can’t get players to commit.

"The impact goes way beyond what should be considered a fair penalty for a breach."

 

[White Wolf]

Birmingham couldn't sell out St Andrews when last in the Prem, I'm doubtful they would manage to fill even 35k which is smaller than any of their plans.

Assuming any of it goes ahead of course. Fosun once had ambitious plans for us too.

 

[sycophantia]

More them probably I’d never heard of him until now

You must be quite young, he was never out of the news mid 80s. Got chucked out of the Labour party I think. Always came across as a prick imo even though I was sympathetic to some of his ideals at the time.

 

[jd1981]

You must be quite young, he was never out of the news mid 80s. Got chucked out of the Labour party I think. Always came across as a prick imo even though I was sympathetic to some of his ideals at the time.

My name tells you I would’ve 3-5 years old at his prominence.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Birmingham couldn't sell out St Andrews when last in the Prem, I'm doubtful they would manage to fill even 35k which is smaller than any of their plans.

Assuming any of it goes ahead of course. Fosun once had ambitious plans for us too.

Natural geography hems them in, you simply aren't going to take fans from Villa areas (even less so with them doing well) and it's a serious stretch to start encroaching into picking off fans from Sandwell or Coventry. You absolutely do not get Birmingham City fans in the Wolverhampton area unless they moved here late in life having grown up further down the A41.

Ultimately there are only so many football fans or potential football fans.

 

[Tony Towner]

Birmingham couldn't sell out St Andrews when last in the Prem, I'm doubtful they would manage to fill even 35k which is smaller than any of their plans.

Assuming any of it goes ahead of course. Fosun once had ambitious plans for us too.

There is an element of build it and they will come if the product and facilities are right. Massive catchment area population wise even if they share it, particularly to the South of the City. Brighton being a good example, I wouldn't have thought they'd be able to fill a 32k stadium a decade ago

 

[White Wolf]

There is an element of build it and they will come if the product and facilities are right. Massive catchment area population wise even if they share it, particularly to the South of the City. Brighton being a good example, I wouldn't have thought they'd be able to fill a 32k stadium a decade ago

You're right about Brighton, although they must surely benefit from nobody being anywhere near them at all. Even their 'derby' isn't local.

I'm sceptical with Birmingham whether the potential fans are actually there. They're surrounded on most sides by bigger clubs, and it doesn't seem like they do that good a job at getting fans in from their local vicinity: it's anecdotal but I know a fair few people from Small Heath and those areas, most of them are not particularly into football and if they are, support Liverpool or the Manchester clubs, even Villa.

I may be cynical but I'm not sure if a holding company called Shelby Limited has a realistic view of what Birmingham is like...

 

[Tony Towner]

You're right about Brighton, although they must surely benefit from nobody being anywhere near them at all. Even their 'derby' isn't local.

I'm sceptical with Birmingham whether the potential fans are actually there. They're surrounded on most sides by bigger clubs, and it doesn't seem like they do that good a job at getting fans in from their local vicinity: it's anecdotal but I know a fair few people from Small Heath and those areas, most of them are not particularly into football and if they are, support Liverpool or the Manchester clubs, even Villa.

I may be cynical but I'm not sure if a holding company called Shelby Limited has a realistic view of what Birmingham is like...

It's like most inner City teams their fanbase doesn't really live in those areas, but if you go South/South East to areas like Chelmsley Wood, Kings Heath, Marsden Green, Hall Green, Shirley down as far as Solihull that's majority Blues. Solihull itself is more split. The fanbase is there they are just a bit dormant. By there I mean for a 35-40k stadium if relatively successful

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Looking at the figures then surely 35k would be the top off point, you aren't going to explode into doubling (and more) these numbers that go back 25 years.



Last average above 30k was back in 1974/75.

They had three straight seasons of averaging just under 9k in the late 80s/early 90s!

 

[Tony Towner]

It holds 29k, so they are more or less selling out those earlier PL seasons. The 80s are irrelevant, just as they are to Wolves getting 32k now.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

A bigger, better stadium will always bring in more fans though, I was always amazed how Sunderland's crowds pretty much doubled from Roker to the SoL and we also jumped from around 18k to high 20s in the 90s upon redevelopment.

Obviously that's a while ago, but even so. Nothing wrong with trying to better themselves, its been a long time since there was any positivity there.

 

[Templeton Peck]

Depends what their plans are too. Spurs tried to make the game an all day event so you there are proper places to eat and drink in the stadium. They want you to arrive early and stay long after. If Blues can succeed in attracting families it might see a boost to their gates.

 

[Lycan]

Go too gentrified and you'd alienate a section of Blues fans though. There's quite a few Noses where I live in Warwick/Leamington but they all seem to revel in the fact that they're a 'small' 'dirty' club.

 

[Paul]

My name tells you I would’ve 3-5 years old at his prominence.

Oh, that makes more sense, I was going to ask if you were part of the Shifnal 1981 family, I worked with Eddie 1981 in the very early 90's

 

[jd1981]

Oh, that makes more sense, I was going to ask if you were part of the Shifnal 1981 family, I worked with Eddie 1981 in the very early 90's

Only been here since 2016, originally from Parkfields

 

[ROVERT47]

My name tells you I would’ve 3-5 years old at his prominence.

Check out Neil Kinnocks speech at the Labour Party conference aimed at him, all time classic.

 

[Kenny]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1777706279982526635

 

[Del Woppio]

That's outrageous