Tommo220

Completely agree. if we want to protect the rainforest, incentivise Brazil to look after it and not cut it down. Otherwise, what right has the rest of the world got to tell Brazil what to do with their own trees?

This is the same for me with Andrew Bridgen. Odious little troll spouting his own brand of rubbish from behind his oh so smug face. i hope HS2 gets canned and he has to pay back his multimillion pound compensation package!

i'm terrible for this! I can name about 15 phones that are still stashed somewhere in my house, let alone old Ipads, ipods, laptops, DVD players etc. that all get thrown in to the loft - whether working or not as "you never know when it'll come in handy".

I'd already made my peace with the fact that by the time i get old (if) that there wouldn't be a retirement age/state pension, or one so high that you'll never be in any fit state to enjoy it. thats the ultimate aim of auto enrolment in my view - it'll come to pass in the future that those who auto-enrolled wont be eligible for a Sate Pension. The annoying thing thing about this as well is that the last group of people to benefit from a decent retirement age will also happen to be the last age group to have benefitted from exponential house price growth too.

come on, you don't let the truth get in the way of a good story. Especially when its the Mail

I resent that insinuation, you young whipper-snapper! bloody hell, its just dawned on me that at the ripe old age of 30 i may be classed as being "over a certain age"!

Liverpool - nothing about the place ticks any boxes for me at all, although that might be driven by my loathing of all things football in that city.

Mine would be that Social Media is a parasite on society and will ultimately lead to the downfall of civilisation if it isn't canned completely or regulated to the max. whether thats unpopular or just dystopian is another matter!

Mo Salad

Romelu Lucrapu Leroy InSane

his wage demands are astronomical apparently - thats why no club has taken him on. Well that and his pretty appalling injury record over recent years.

This was SUCH an enjoyable season of football - genuinely one of my favourites. Seem to remember some good banter with Cheltenham that season - wasn't there a mass Conga line home and away involving them?!

How p*ssed is Youri going to be when he lands for his first day of training, and all of the players that were egging him on to sign for us have agreed terms to move on elsewhere! Madders Chilwell Ricky P Maguire Great signing though -

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/article-7214509/Middlesbroughs-new-bombshell-accusations-Garry-Monk.html Gary Monk in a spot of bother it would seem. i bet this sort of thing goes on ALL the time.

Wouldnt be surprised if this isn't a similar play to the Caglar/Benko purchase last season - i.e. we've got a player that is getting a lot of attention(harry last year, RP this) and is likely going to get better over the next 12 months, so why not have a young replacement that can be slowly integrated in to the club this season in case a mega offer comes in next season. Possible replacement already in place who isnt going to complain too much this season if they don't get first team football week in week out.

Good signing for me, looking forward to seeing what he can do in a team with some creativity. the Support that he had at Newcastle shouldn't be overlooked - to return those numbers in a team that (if their performances against us are anything to go by) had absolutely zero creative intent should be applauded. Also, part of me would love Newcastle to go down purely so another one of Mike Ashley's investments goes tits up.

Lovely bit of business at £16m, that.

You're kinda missing the point of what i'm saying. i haven't said that KP are splashing the cash or otherwise - although i have asked whether thats ever actually been confirmed. I've simply said that you (and others) are putting way too much emphasis on the development facility in the grand scheme of things in regards to King Power's long term investment in the club. it's a means to an end and doesnt really reflect how much money KP are going to put in to the club. If you want to look at it simplistically, yes, we borrow money and have to pay it back at a later date but thats the same in regards to any loan. What this is, is a development facility (and also happens to be my day job!). Think of it as a self build mortgage. when you take out a SBM, you agree the amount (the build cost + a possible advance on any land value + any fees the bank charges + the amount of interest they are likely to accrue during the term), the stages in which they'll hand you the money (i.e. as the project progresses, they'll give you the money to pay for it), the term - maybe its 35 years for your mortgage, and as part of the banks due diligence, the bank want to make sure that you/your other half earn enough to cover your monthly payments which when all added up over the course of the term, will have paid everything back. Your wage in this example, is the clubs TV monies, the amount is apparently £100m and the term is 2 years. Development Finance is more expensive in terms of interest and fees than usual borrowing (sometimes upwards of 12-15%). So if the club has a longer term, they need need to factor in a larger interest roll up, which means higher fees (these are usually linked to overall facility amount) so its sensible to keep the term short (but not too short that it isn't built by the end). Once the training ground is completed, the club have 2 options: A. refinance on to a commercial mortgage (you'd struggle to get a long term mortgage on a project that hasn't yet been built so it has to be done this way) moving the debt from the current lender, to another cheaper more long term option. effectively remortgaging your house to a different lender. or B. Pay the bank back with cold hard cash in the form of sold players or TV revenue as outlined in the agreement. Crucially, the banks are not bothered where the money comes from - so long as they get their money, fees, and interest they couldn't care less where it comes from - they've made their money. Most importantly, if the club do nothing, then the bank can AND WILL exercise their charge over our prize money as outlined in the agreement. This is like the caveat on your mortgage application that says "failure to keep up with repayments may result in your house being repossessed". to the bank, our premier league earnings are much better to hold as security than the asset of the training ground as its cash - sat there waiting. If you want to see this in action, go take a look at ANY of the development projects happening in London/Birmingham/Manchester right now - almost every single one of them will be funded in this way regardless of how much money the parent company has in their bank account. It's a means to fund a development - nothing more. If it has a 2 year term, thats how long the club and the Main Contractor expect it to take to complete the project to Practical Completion. The problem is that you are looking at this as if you were to nip down to Wonga and borrow some cash to buy a TV, when in reality it's just not the same. The procurement of development finance, and commercial/construction finance in general is a completely different kettle of fish. They are lending money against a construction project, which will be drawn down from the bank as and when the contractor makes their interim applications for payment. I'm simply saying that King Power's willingness to pump cash in to the club, and the development facility are mutually exclusive. Just because one is in place, it doesn't necessarily mean anything in relation to the other.

As it should be - The financial institution need some form of certainty that, once they've leant the money out, we have a manner in which to pay them back (PL revenue in this case - selling what ever you're building in the case of usual development). We'd find it almost impossible to find someone to lend us £xxm to build a new training ground if the only manner in which we could offer to pay them back at the end was to find someone else to lend us the money as that offers absolutely no certainty to the bank. There's nothing stopping the club from refinancing the project at any point - it'll just be a case of what is most cost effective in terms of how the fees to the current lender are structured.

Absolutely! the facts of the matter are that the training ground will likely end up on an uber low interest commercial mortgage for the next 35 years costing pittance per year, rather than (as you say) swallowing a massive amount of capital right now.

i keep seeing the development finance deal referenced as a reason why we cant afford to do anything, or as to why KP are not putting money in, when in reality a development finance package is simply the most efficient use of capital - nothing more. Why do you think Spurs borrowed to develop WHL, or Arsenal with The Emirates, rather than using cold hard cash in the bank? its the way absolutely EVERYTHING gets built, if you aren't being funded by a Sheik!

Yeh, good point. i suppose it depends on who goes and for how much - assuming Levy actually commits to spend the money they make from selling which is far from a guarantee.

I can't see Spurs spending close to their record transfer fee only months after completing a stadium, which if the tabloids are to be believed has racked them with over half a billion in debt. whats their record signing at the minute, £40m? Seems like a big ask from the notoriously frugal Levy.

This just looks like a Development Loan which is standard for most big projects like this. In today's climate (and with our clubs chequered reputation) you'll be hard pressed to find a Main Contractor who will start work on a £100m scheme without some robust proof that the cash is there. The fact that it's secured against the season prize money from the Prem is most likely because the club itself doesn't own many assets as KP Holdings owns the ground etc. a Bank isn't going to cut us a cheque for a £100m unless they've got something to call in if they decide not to pay up when the payments become due.