2023/2024 English Premier League Thread

[Senator Clay Davis]

Credit to Antony, he isn't just taking a run at worst footballer ever, he appears determined to go down as possibly the worst athlete ever. Lofty ambition, but he appears to have the drive to get there.

[ForeverFlameFan]

Originally Posted by Matty81

It's astounding how bad Chelsea are after all the money they spent. I get that they are younger players who might improve, but it's a real lesson in the fault with overpaying for transfers and also trying to integrate a team of the hottest young star players over too short a period of time with limited veteran leadership. They have sold off a massive crew of younger players who they thought weren't good enough like Guehi, Tomori, Abraham, Havertz, Mount, Pulisic and Gilmour... pay over the odds for replacements and let their veteran leadership like Kovacic, Jorginho, Kante, Rudiger and Christensen walk for little or no money at the same time. It's a masterclass in how not to rebuild and waste a ton of money doing it. Can't believe there is talk of them losing Gallagher now too... I could honestly see them being in the relegation scrap next year without him

Zero chemistry. It’s pretty apparent.

[devo22]

Luton Town turns a 1-2 into 4-2 at Newcastle. Still half an hour to go, but wow

[Senator Clay Davis]

Not only are Luton not the worst PL team ever, but they might actually find a way to stay up.

[Slava]

Are they the worst though? It seems like they generate a lot of chances? Sheffield seems far worse?

And getting up early to see us play a Sean Dyche team is just a bad decision on my part. It's 90 minutes of frustration and you just know what's coming.

[devo22]

I mean, look at the table. Luton are the only promoted team that might actually have a shot ... Burnley and Sheffield will surely go straight back down.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Well the prevailing thought coming into the year was they were going to be among the lowest point accumulators in history. Of course Newcastle will probably rally and win now, but Luton have still far exceeded expectations.

[MegaErtz]

Luton have a great fighting spirit. They were up 4-2 and should have won all three points today. Ogbene made Dan Burn look very pedestrian every time he ran at him with the ball.

I still think Everton have enough to survive comfortably. The eighteenth spot will come down to Luton, Nottingham Forest, and maybe even Brentford.

[devo22]

Everton would be 11th without the point deduction, so I don't see them as part of the conversation at all ... they'll easily stay up. I think Brentford will eventually find another gear too, IMO they are way too good to be in the relegation fight. Should be between Luton, Nottingham and Crystal Palace, possibly.

[Slava]

Does Everton stay up after another deduction though?

[MegaErtz]

They can only be deducted another two points this season, and I doubt that will happen.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by MegaErtz

They can only be deducted another two points this season, and I doubt that will happen.

Oh really? I didn’t know there was a rule about that and it’s surprising that you think it won’t happen. They violated the regulations and I thought that another deduction was basically a formality at this point?

(Of course they’re going to appeal, along with the first one that they’re already appealing)

[MegaErtz]

My understanding is that 12 is the maximum points deduction possible for breaching financial regulations. You’re correct in that the additional penalty is a formality at this point, but I suspect Everton will want it applied this season, unless it means they’ll be relegated. If they put it off until next season, they could be deducted another twelve then, if that makes sense.

What is really interesting is that they borrowed another £13m from Football 777 just last week. They’re having major problems paying for the construction of the new stadium.

[Barnet Flame]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Not only are Luton not the worst PL team ever, but they might actually find a way to stay up.

I hope they do.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by MegaErtz

My understanding is that 12 is the maximum points deduction possible for breaching financial regulations. You’re correct in that the additional penalty is a formality at this point, but I suspect Everton will want it applied this season, unless it means they’ll be relegated. If they put it off until next season, they could be deducted another twelve then, if that makes sense.

What is really interesting is that they borrowed another £13m from Football 777 just last week. They’re having major problems paying for the construction of the new stadium.

Well they can’t just put it off though. The deduction they have this year was from last year, and they changed the rules to avoid that complication going forward. So, the books were due Dec 31, breaches announced Jan 14 (15th this year because the 14th was a Sunday) and I think had a chance to appeal from there. But the entire process is done by May (I think the week after the season ends) so there is no way a team can stay up if the penalty would take them down. That’s what happens this year, and the three relegated teams filed suit against Everton because they would’ve gone down if the deduction was assessed last season.

And as far as stadium building (and infrastructure), that doesn’t count for FFP (or PS for the Premier League). It’s part of the reason that Tottenham could spend a billion there and have no issues, whereas if you spent that billion on players you have a problem (at least you should!). So, borrowing for the stadium shouldn’t wreck them in terms of the regulations. Whether it’s the most beautiful stadium in the Championship though, that’s another matter.

[MegaErtz]

The only issue to be decided in the appeal is whether Everton will be allowed to exclude interest payments that they claim are related to the new stadium. They already lost this argument, so I see no reason the ten points deducted will change.

Meanwhile 777 have increased their stake in the club to £180m, meaning the Premier League will have no choice but to allow the sale of the entire club to them to go through. A further two point deduction will only mean that there will be even fewer groups interested in the sale.

Everton do have a pretty strong argument, in my opinion. They've exceeded the allowable amount of losses by about £20m, but we all know that Manchester City and Chelsea in particular are spending way more money than their commercial deals, matchday revenue, and prize money can possibly be bringing in. Everton's argument is that they're only about 20% over the allowable losses, so why the almost maximum points deduction (ten out of twelve)? They could have exceeded the allowable amount by a couple of hundred million, and only been deducted two more points.

Nottingham Forest will almost certainly have points deducted this season. They aren't even arguing against it, or trying to cover up the losses by claiming investment in their stadium.

[Slava]

Well the prevailing thought seems to be that Everton will have that ten points reduced to 6 on appeal. I don't know how true that is, or how likely, but that is floating around.

And Nottingham has pushed the argument about the sale date of Brennan Johnson, because they could have sold him before June 30 for about 20m less. That would've seen them compliant, but instead they waited until the deadline. I don't know how much weight that argument has (bottom line they were non-compliant), but I guess it's worth a shot.

[Locke]

After his amazing game...it looks like Conor Bradley's father passed away today making his inclusion tomorrow under question.

RIP Mr. Bradley.

[Matty81]

Luton are just playing every game like a cup final, their squad ability is so poor but their team spirit is insane.

I have no idea what Everton's argument is but Forest's argument seems pretty poor on face value - we could have been compliant that fiscal period but we decided not to because it wasn't advantageous for the club.... Imagine the precedent that sets.

Seems almost certain that Forest are going to lose 6-10 points, there were reports in the press today that a couple transfer targets turned them down on advice of their agents because of how weak their case is. The most shocking part of that is that yes, Forest wanted to buy even more players. They are up to 40 transfers in now since they got promoted last summer.

If I was gonna place a bet I'd have Forest going down right now. Brentford were by far the worst looking of the relegation race teams (other than the bottom 2 obviously) on form until last week but Toney coming back and them beating forest immediately, have the impression he will give them a big bump. Everton are pretty bad too but Dyche is one of those managers who just grinds out tough points.

[Senator Clay Davis]

On the one hand you have Luton, fighting their asses off every game even in spite of their deficiency in talent relative to the other teams, they are a team you can root for and even be proud of. On the other hand you have Chelsea....at least they are hilarious lol, but what an embarrassment. Poch surely doesn't have much time left.