Well the loss of parachute payments leaves a massive hole in our top line

so the first priority will be to plug it. Sustainably - we won't have a Maddison to sell every year so it's no good saying well his fee covers the hole and everyone else carry on as you were.

You're right that it will be nothing like £1 on sale/wages saved = £1 on purchase/wages committed - that's one reason why.

I think there's still enough room for manoeuvre to build a squad good enough credibly to challenge for top six at the very least.

That's really, really not bad - not every club at this point after relegation is quite so lucky. Villa are the latest Obvious Example but there are so many others.

None of which to say every decision by the Board has been right or that everything is rosy or anything of the sort - I think we've made several significant mistakes in recent years - but still and all, taken as a whole, I think we're in a much better place than we might have been.

Who has a similar/comparable resource base to us - in terms of balance sheet or owner sponduliks or curated mouthfeel of matchday pieage? I'm actually not sure I could do much of a list but I'd be really interested if such a thing already existed.

I remain of the view that the club is broadly in a good place and the decisions being made now are broadly good ones. Have we underperformed this season? Yes. Are we doing a good job of fixing that for next season? No-one knows, and maybe my glasses are too yellow-and-green, but I'm very comfortable with Webber's appointment and what's happening just now.

This time next year I know I'll be a lot less forgiving and I wonder how long Farke actually has - the cliche is see where we are at Christmas but the reality is you have to make decisions before then to give any new guy the January window. I still think Farke could be with us long term - every time he opens his mouth I like what comes out. He still has a lot of goodwill from me (which I'm sure will be a massive comfort to him) but he does need to start turning those great words into acceptable results in the first quarter or third of next season.

Blimey. Dun't half dribble on, do I.

Posted By: Old Man, Jun 11, 19:22:14