Redslo

Or, if wins were worth six points and draws were worth two, we would have ended the season with 76 points.

28 July 2016 if we Man U does not lose their last game or does not win the FA cup. 15 September 2016 otherwise. http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/season=2017/competitionformat/ I posted a discussion on my blog of our potential European Roster issues back in February. It is still basically correct, but a lot less hypothetical. It is here: http://redsloscf.blogspot.com/2016/02/southampton-2016-2017-premier.html

In a sense, the revenue benefits of bigger stadiums shouldn't matter because they are so expensive but Financial Fair Play is king. Money spent on a new stadium does not count against Financial Fair Play limits but increased revenue from the bigger stadiums counts as increased income. Here is a completely made up example: current stadium 30K and sells out at 1000 pounds per seat per season so that is 30 million pounds of income. build a new stadium for 1 billion pounds that holds 60K and also sells out at 1000 pounds per season. Now there is an extra 30 million pounds to spend each year under Financial Fair Play rules. I went to a mortgage calculator and assumed that the full cost of the new stadium was borrowed as a 30 year loan at 5 percent. That would cost 64.5 million pounds a year. On these assumptions, the deal makes little financial sense because it results in a financial loss of 34.5 million a year as compared to the status quo ante, but if the owner is willing to bear the loss, it provides the club with more money to spend. I suspect the actual real stadium deals are more financially sound then my hypothetical one. Certainly, Arsenal, for example, gets far more than 1000 pounds per year per seat. Also, current interests rates are lower than 5 percent. I just picked round number to make my calculations easier.

This entire thread.

Signing Ward-Prowse is also, in effect, a statement of ambition about Europe. He fills a club trained roster (squad) spot if we qualify for Europe. Unless we reobtain Schneiderlin, Bale, Walcott, Shaw, Lallana, or Oxlade-Chamberlain we don't have anyone else eligible to fill those slots who would be good enough to play. Ward-Prowse's value to us is significantly greater than his value to any other club--if we expect to play in Europe in the next few years.

Why not? The Everton source could have had contact with Koeman (or more likely his agent), learned that he was interested, and briefed the papers accordingly.

You are both right. I messed up by assuming the Man U would beat Palace in FA cup. What I said was only true if that happened.

Its appalling the way they have let our once great club get worse year after year after year. Couldn't you at least try to remain optimistic until Sunday's game?

True. It even guarantees us group phase entry into the EL. A Man U loss, if we win, also guarantees EL but only into the 3rd playoff round.

NO IT DOES NOT. The all caps was initially a mistake, but I decided to go with it. As repeatedly stated above, no this is not true. If we finish 7th and MU win the cup we qualify for EL just like we did this past year (except it was Arsenal that won the cup).

As has been made clear, if Liverpool finish 7th we can only qualify for Europe if we finish 6th or 5th. There maybe be lots of ways for us to qualify for Europe but after Tuesday game they are fairly unlikely unless Liverpool loses today.

That is not quite how it works We earned 2.5 points that are used in determining England coefficient but in terms of calculating our own coefficient we only earned 1.5 points for advancing to the fourth playoff round. Despite earning more points for England, West Ham only earned 1.0 point for themselves because they only advanced to the third playoff round. http://kassiesa.home.xs4all.nl/bert/uefa/data/method4/tcoef2016.html http://kassiesa.home.xs4all.nl/bert/uefa/calc.html Should have read further before I posted.

Only if you want us to start in the EL 3rd qualifying round instead of the group stage.

I have made corrections in bold.

Yes. Our coefficient is currently 16.756 instead of 15.256. It can go up slightly if Liverpool win the EL. http://kassiesa.home.xs4all.nl/bert/uefa/data/method4/trank2016.html

Looks right to me--assuming I am correctly reading the slightly blurry parts. Really the chart should have been a bit bigger.

I think our problem is the soft goals we missed scoring. Next year maybe we will be lucky enough to make them.

I appreciate the congratulations. It is not often that such well deserved compliments are offered on this forum.

I really don't think we need to worry about that under current management. The money for the maximum increase in salaries allowed by the BPL salary cap will be there from the TV contract, plus our new commercial income (and, if we qualify, Europe prizes, TV money, or gate receipts) This might not be true in two years if we go for the maximum increase each year, but I really don't think this management will borrow money to pay players' salaries.

I suspect only a couple of people from Holland even realize this.

That is what really matters or might matter. Or might not.

Athletic Bilbao 6 May 2016 Iraizoz developed by AB Elustondo developed by Real Sociedad Boveda developed by AB but left and came back Balenziaga developed by Real Sociedad De Marcos developed by Deportivo Alaves Garcia developed by CA Osasuna Etxebarria developed by AB but left and came back twice San Jose developed by CD Basconia Aduriz developed by CD Aurrera de Vitoria Muniain developed by AB Williams developed by AB but left and came back so they are close and probably did start six at some point.

I almost mentioned Barcelona but technically it didn't qualify: From Sunday 8 May 2016 Ter Stegen developed by Borussia Monchengladbach Alves developed by Bahia Pique developed by Barcelona, but went away and came back Mascherano developed by River Plate Alba developed by Barcelona, but went away and came back Rakitic developed by FC Basel Busquets developed by Barcelona Iniesta developed by Barcelona Messi developed by Barcelona Suarez developed by Nacional Neymar developed by Santos Admitted, 5 of 11 isn't bad and they have undoubtedly played with a higher total at some point. However, my basic point was that playing 6 starters from are own academy while in the top half of the Premier League is simply not practical and few clubs, if any, playing at the highest level in the current world have done this.

It should more than cover it, in fact.

We could wonder whether the deal includes a release clause that is too low. The difference is that this contract must include a significant pay raise using the TV money that is going to be available from now on and, absent a release clause, it must have been made clear to him that he shouldn't sign if he wanted to be transferred in the next couple or three years. Of course it is. What would you want? That we shouldn't pay our good players better now that there is more money available and the new salary cap has been set so we know how much we can afford to add. (About 170K pounds a week according to my rough calculations--not counting the improved kit deal.) I would suggest that the board's judgment has been good here. The only player they forced to stay was Schneiderlin and they correctly determined that he would be professional about it. This plan seems dead both because we seem to be in a bit of a academy drought and because it was never a practical plan for playing at the top half of the premier league. Is there a quality club in Europe that fields a squad that is half from its academy? This is not a rhetorical question. I would like to know the answer.