Every little thing is gonna be alright

Photo by Fran Santiago/Getty Images

I can’t remember a summer quite like this one, in regards to how much I haven’t missed football. And I don’t mean that to sound like it does! Usually the summer is a huge void of missing the lads play. I love all sports, so it’s a case of trying to throw myself into following other stuff to keep depression away! There’s rugby league, the British Lions tour, the Women’s Rugby World Cup and women’s Euros, as well as The Open, Wimbledon and F1. All a great watch and distraction. But this year more than

ever – not really needed.

There was at least a two-week period after the playoff win, where we were all just bathing in the delight of being back in the Premier League. None of the podcasts had ‘closed down’ – we were all living the dream. I think I watched the full 90 minutes about four times! Then as we slowly started to realise we had to be ready for the coming season, we’ve watched in awe as our club have gone into action like never before.

Not only have we made signings early, which is very rare for us, but the quality of player we’re bringing in, the amount of money we’ve been spending, is eye-popping. What a statement of intent! What uplifting times! So much has been going on, that our own ‘Ha’way the Podcast’ has gone out daily throughout the summer recess.

So in that sense – I haven’t missed football – because I haven’t had to! Although I’ve still followed all the other sports too.

Photo by Gualter Fatia/Getty Images

I’ve loved listening to the podcasts, writing when I can for RR, and chatting with my Liverpool, Man Utd and Villa neighbours and bending their ears about the coming fixtures.

One interesting conversation I had with my Villa mate was their current financial situation, which I must admit, I wasn’t aware of. Apparently, they are spending close to 95% of their income on players’ wages. This matched with an article I read in The Times this week, where they were accused of colluding with Chelsea in selling a player for an over-inflated price, so that they could offset any FFP/PSR ruling or fine. They certainly seem to be flying very close to the wind. They’ve had to sell their women’s team to themselves (?) and sold their car park (which they need for an imminent ground expansion) also to themselves (?) I won’t profess to understand these financial shenanigans.

The interesting thing is, just like us, Villa fans have full faith and trust in the ownership, and they seem to have a lot of goodwill in the bank. So when my neighbour took his nephew to watch them in the Champions League, realising this could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, he accepted that he’d have to pay £100 for his ticket alone.

The ownership had more or less said, ‘If you want world-class football, we’re all going to have to chip in’, a view that most of their supporters seemed to have taken on board. It also underlined the need (despite the Sky deal and Premier League money) to make as much use of other sources of income as possible. So Villa are looking to expand their ground within the next season or two, they have started to aggressively market their strips and merchandise more, and are looking to use Villa Park for more events than they used to.

Photo by Gualter Fatia/Getty Images

From my perspective, we are doing all of the above already. We really do seem to have good professionals in the right jobs at the moment. We may be even thinking about extending the South/Roker End?

Quick maths – a 10,000 increase in capacity could equate to over half a million pounds per home match. A nephew of mine works for Fanatics, and SAFC are making big impressions with them – half a million pounds’ sales on the first day of the away strip launch alone. So how did Villa get into what seems like a little bit of trouble? The Coutinho buy was a bit of a flop from all accounts. He played well enough when he was there, but once his mate Gerrard left, he wanted away too. They’re still paying for him now!

Sounds familiar? Those days are gone for SAFC, hopefully. So it looks like we’ve learnt our lessons, and are a step ahead of even a club like Villa, certainly off the pitch.

But how many of us are well versed with the Financial Fair Play rules (or the Profit and Sustainability Rules as the PL version)? Well, I’m certainly no expert, but I think the key wording, that a club’s income has to match their outgoings, is calculated over a three-year period. I think it’s this factor that has allowed KLD and team to spend so much so far.

We have been very frugal over the last three or four years, so we probably have quite a bit of leeway still as regards money we can still spend. Indeed, from all accounts, we haven’t finished our shopping yet, and when Speakman says we still have a few more to bring in, somehow we know he means it.

What a refreshing position for a Sunderland fan to be in.

Happy days. Like I said – every little thing is going to be alright. Ha’way the lads!

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