VAR taking a lifetime in the Barca game too
12th Feb 2026 21:14:51
[81.lo.gg.ed]
Nah I can only take one fan owned club at a time š
12th Feb 2026 21:02:27
[195.lo.gg.ed]
Ex www.wup.me.uk - The home of WU
Any Barcelona fans in the house
12th Feb 2026 20:43:18
[104.lo.gg.ed]
Ex www.wup.me.uk - The home of WU
An average is an average, it doesn't mean every club is exactly on the average. Clubs around the bottom are probably losing less, a few at the top, more.
12th Feb 2026 20:11:37
[86.lo.gg.ed]
Ex www.wup.me.uk - The home of WU
Got 4 cans of double diamond today Tesco are the only ones selling it at the moment Ā£5 for 4 big cans brought back some memories brewed in Leeds now
12th Feb 2026 20:11:35
[104.lo.gg.ed]
Ex www.wup.me.uk - The home of WU
RP: FYI Peterborough's revenue is broadly in line with ours but their loss (for the most recent year they have filed accounts) is 15% less than our most recent loss. The idea that every owner of a L1 or L2 club is subsidising to the tune of Ā£6m each year is one for the clouds.
12th Feb 2026 20:05:30
[86.lo.gg.ed]
Ex www.wup.me.uk - The home of WU
Athletico Madrid v Barca on ITV4
12th Feb 2026 19:55:29
[81.lo.gg.ed]
Ex www.wup.me.uk - The home of WU
Academy players don't make it that often as the quick fix of PL football is better served by bringing in foreign "established" players
12th Feb 2026 19:44:43
[86.lo.gg.ed]
Ex www.wup.me.uk - The home of WU
JG - as I said it's a secondary consideration, not a justification for the academy, but it is a consideration. The lottery analogy is good because it's almost literal. The previous arguments made for sales and first team break throughs resulting in cost savings as a justification for spend on academy are primary.
12th Feb 2026 19:42:21
[45.lo.gg.ed]
Trigger, agreed Watkins is the only stand out eg that springs to mind, but it would be interesting to know how many players sold by English club academies get sold on for a few million. Feels like one of those where a 5 year purple patch could change a club's fortunes, but is obviously not a business plan.
KPI 1 may be how many academy players make the first team squad but is there a KPI 2 which is a measure of how many become first team regulars (e.g. Isaac ... a definite success story) and a target of a KPI 3 based on players we sell on and make money from?
12th Feb 2026 19:25:59
[86.lo.gg.ed]
Ex www.wup.me.uk - The home of WU
I'd be interested to know how much Darragh McAnthony & his co-owners put into Peterborough each season. They're at the sort of level I think we could aim for - fairly safe in L1 with occasional seasons in the Championship.
12th Feb 2026 18:43:29
[193.lo.gg.ed]
Ex www.wup.me.uk - The home of WU
Yeah I donāt know how well the economics of an academy work out these days with the dice loaded against lower league clubs if they happen to find or develop a talented youngster. Exeter with the main payout in recent years and it hasnāt transformed them as a club.
12th Feb 2026 18:30:55
[195.lo.gg.ed]
I still would feel very uncomfortable at the idea of ditching the academy though.
KT2 & trigger - I get the lottery analogy - but surely an entity in debt can't afford to gamble on the slim chance of winning a transformative payback in years to come - unless the odds are truly stacked in our favour. But that's all part of the commercial assessment.
12th Feb 2026 18:13:28
[86.lo.gg.ed]
Ex www.wup.me.uk - The home of WU
Not a glib response at all kt2 but the best example of that must be Exeter and Ollie Watkins.
12th Feb 2026 17:50:21
[195.lo.gg.ed]
Theyāre currently above us on goal difference. I personally love the idea of having an academy, and wouldnāt want the current leadership to try and persuade me that we shouldnāt have one, even if they wanted to try.
Besides the P&L focused commercial rationale for an academy there is also the element of fortune, if that academy is successfully selling decent volumes of players. Provided decent sell on clauses are used there is always the chance a player goes for mega bucks down the line and pays off the debt in one fell swoop. The more players that are sold into the market, the more tickets in the draw you hold. Ollie Watkins etc.
12th Feb 2026 17:41:14
[45.lo.gg.ed]
Annual P&L is obviously the primary consideration but having a good academy is like a lottery ticket generator. Could be truly transformational for a club if our size / with our finances.
Laurence, I thought maybe cigar smoking rosette man was recovering from being accosted by Paul Bowgett during a reserve match, but that would have been several years later.
12th Feb 2026 17:18:09
[51.lo.gg.ed]
Could he be hidden behind the keeper?
As discussed on here the other day, the term 'working capital' is stretched in many different directions. I think the pretty clear implication of what was said was that it wasn't just lending us money to cover operating losses (hence distinguishing it from the loan that has been offered to us by one of the directors). We were given no clue what the quid pro quo was, however.
12th Feb 2026 17:03:38
[82.lo.gg.ed]
Ex www.wup.me.uk - The home of WU
By the way, I went to see Hamnet the other day. Who knew Joe Lewis was a dead-ringer for William Shakespeare!
12th Feb 2026 17:00:54
[82.lo.gg.ed]
Ex www.wup.me.uk - The home of WU
Iāll tell you what I suspect the motivation of the individuals behind such an SPV will be. They will take a stake of 23.6% from the Collective and then facilitate access to some working capital (which will via some form of loan). In a few years when the Club then runs out of money, they will either offer to convert their loan into equity ā obviously at a much lower share premium ā or they will be in prime position when dealing with the administrators. Providing working capital to the club will have a similar effect to dealers providing access to smack to junkies. There is no such thing as a free lunch.
12th Feb 2026 17:00:24
[86.lo.gg.ed]
Ex www.wup.me.uk - The home of WU
The odd thing is that the view was the investor's return would come from selling on the stake in the future, not from the club making/ distributing profits to its owner. It's a bit like Bitcoin - an asset that pays no income and whose return depends on there being a "bigger fool" to buy it from you for more than you paid for it. Sometimes it will work for the investor and sometimes not, but, as OI says, there seems no shortage of rich people keen to give it a go.
12th Feb 2026 16:59:10
[86.lo.gg.ed]
Ex www.wup.me.uk - The home of WU
I suspect that motivations and measures of success vary quite widely between different owners of football clubs. In the days of ancient Rome, ambitious patricians used to sponsor gladiator displays to further their popularity. Some things don't change.
12th Feb 2026 16:58:19
[82.lo.gg.ed]
Ex www.wup.me.uk - The home of WU
That said when Graeme Price was asked that exact question at the āMeet the Boardā he didnāt give a similar answer. He implied that the Collective were looking for a group of individuals who could form a Special Purpose Vehicle and purchase up to a maximum of 23.6% of the shares, whilst also providing access to low-cost working capital ā in return for a potential payback at some future point through an āEnterpriseā valuation model. This suggests that whoever came together in a SPV would be seeking a commercial return (nothing wrong with that) rather than making an effective donation because of the warm feeling of satisfaction it would give them.
12th Feb 2026 16:50:56
[86.lo.gg.ed]
Ex www.wup.me.uk - The home of WU
I think the club have in the past spent a fair bit of time thinking about KPIs for the academy. Apart from player sales, the ability to recruit players into the senior team more cheaply than from external transfers is also part of the equation. Hence, the number of appearances by academy graduates in the first team is a significant metric.
12th Feb 2026 16:50:00
[82.lo.gg.ed]
Ex www.wup.me.uk - The home of WU
OI ā itās an interesting conundrum. Perhaps itās similar to the motivations of people owning Racehorses. When I sold my 2nd business back in 2005, I threw myself into developing and coaching a sporting talent hotspot for young kids. I undertook all of my coaching qualifications and pumped a load of money into getting it off the ground. 15 years on we had produced 9 Olympians, including a number of finalists and medallists and secured a number of British, European & world Records. That was my payback. It wasnāt financial, but it was probably the happiest time in my life and the achievement Iām most proud of.
12th Feb 2026 16:44:11
[86.lo.gg.ed]
Ex www.wup.me.uk - The home of WU
Can we put that money towards the contract staff who pour the beer?
12th Feb 2026 16:34:29
[195.lo.gg.ed]
Ex www.wup.me.uk - The home of WU
On This Day in 1977
