Babylon

Probably saying similar to me I’d imagine as mine vanished also.

The extra Champions League money has enabled those teams to pretty much cement themselves in the top 6 spaces, winning all the trophies. Which has then enabled them to market themselves worldwide far more easily. Look at the league finishes of the likes of Arsenal and Spurs pre champions league kicking off. You might not think an extra £60-£100m a season is a lot, but it's absolutely massive when it's consistently happening.

"That's on Rudkin", I'm sorry, but it's such a pathetically myopic way of looking at things. Like other clubs aren't acrtually involved in the process. If only Spurs are bidding and that's the maximum they bid, what do you suggest? Would you be happy if we still had him at the club running out his contract and we had no signings?

We took home £70m before you even factor in extra sponsorship money, ticket money etc from the champions league, total turnover in 2016 was 128m. It's a huge amount of money and getting it allows them a huge competitive advantage over those not getting it.

Because they get Champions League money, pre Ferguson and the champions league coming in the finishes were far more random

You're right, it's just not what any of the clubs with the power and championing it want. They want it set up so they can f*** over everyone else other than about a dozen team. If they ever put anything remotely acceptable on the table, I guarantee it comes with them all having voting rights so that they can slowing reposition everything to what they want.

If you think he's worth more than the deal on the table, you are still selling cheap. Not forgetting, at the time, we probably thought that other players were leaving and thus freeing up funds (see Daka).

Who do you think we should sell on the cheap?

But people knew we had to sell and knew we were going to be unable to keep them, so you get lowballed and pressured. Other clubs aren't blind to our situation and knew, especially in the case of Maddison, that we HAD to sell. We were in no bargaining position without loads of offers coming in from teams, which weren't coming in. We also used that money to get our players in early. But people want to sit here saying we should have got more.

In this very thread people have slated him for accepting low offers on players.

Of course, it is; I've not said it's not. We don't know the ins and outs, but in one of the many delves into our behind the scenes goings on with transfers over the years, it was said the head of recruitment past on up the chain their opinion on valuation of said player. If Rodgers and his pal were picking duds and over valuing them, that's on them. Of course you can say Rudkin shouldn't have hired them, it's valid... but he shouldn't be getting involved in valuing players IMO. He's a number cruncher and not a scout, people expecting him to have infinite knowledge of players and their values are wide of the mark. In terms of finances, if the board say don't worry about it, get the deals done (how many people over the years scream on here about just getting deals done and paying what they want). Then the owner dies, FFP changes happen and he's then just having to react to that. The simple fact is we just don't know and are likely to never know.

I'm using the same sources Ric and others keeps quoting as fact we turned down deals, if YOU or others are going to accept a source, then at least accept it when they also say something you don't want to hear. Vesty said why didn't he? Rodgers blew smoke up his arse about being part of his plans (despite him not being) . See what Andy Carrol said about Rodgers and how he deals with players. And another time his wife was due to give birth. Soumare we know little about other than he didn't fancy the club who bid. We shifted players seemingly okay prior to us having to cut the cloth, so perhaps we need to look at the changes in the situation as the problem.

The same people who reported an offer turned down, as also the people who reported we ACCEPTED an offer for Soumare. The one we turned in was significantly less than the offer we accepted... the player then turned down the move.

We've had deals agreed that players have turned down for one reason or another (Soumare, Vesty). That's not on him. We've also been in the position of there being no point in selling players or moving them on for nothing, as we'd need a replacement. See someone like Mendy, zero point moving him on last season if we don't have the budget to buy. On top of that, we then also have loads of players coming to the ends of their contracts, and little motivation to move when they get a lovely signing on fee and bumper wages down the line. People making out it's an easy situation to navigate or all on him I'm afraid are just missing the finer detail of the situation.

You think we got relegated because Rodgers wasn’t allowed to waste even more money?

And people questioned why we were trying to cut our cloth.

Somewhat similar to this is when they have a certain narrative in mind, about a team or a player and they are desperate to fit the game to it. It's hard to give an example, but let's say they bang on about Maddison being amazing at passing and then cream themselves over every single regulation pass that I'd make. Just call the sodding game.

Legend: "an extremely famous or notorious person, especially in a particular field".

I have a relative who was an elite-level sportsman, and his career was cut short. When that happens, they can often struggle more as they wonder what might have been. He went as high as you possibly can and achieved a huge amount, but still, he lost years of his career and has struggled with mental health. Not only do you lose your career, you often lose friends as you've been hanging around with the other players or people linked with the sport / club most of the time. Find the wrong partner and they often drift away from the glamour ends. Then, you can end up with a nice house and a healthy bank balance but not much else.

It's a massive issue with sportsmen, you dedicate your entire life to something and it ends for many without any real path for them afterwards.

Because he's championship level and many clubs don't have the money at said level. We also might prefer him to have a good half a season to boost his value.

I find it hard to believe that a contract would not reverse to what it was or, at the very least, that a promotion clause would not be in it to bump it back to what it was (If you want to be technical). And I find it hard to believe that an agent would agree to any such deal without there being a promotion clause because it would be lose/lose on their part.

Cov are buzzing as last season was the best finish they've had (5th in the Championship) is the highest they've finished in 22 years... probably since that person was born. Levels, isn't it? This is the worst finish in a decade or more for us, and we're top.

Honestly, I find that very hard to believe. Anyone agreeing to that would need their heads looked at.

Probably slow to this was as it’s three seasons in already, but really enjoyed slow horses season one on Apple TV. Well worth a watch.