FA Cup Semi Final OMT ***Tottenham Hotspur FC v Manchester United***

For the next 2-3 years it will be like playing at home, assuming this team stays relatively intact. We'd have had the experience of Wembley much more than any other team and feel it as a familiar ground.

 

Exactly. What's the point of crossing if there's no one in the box, or if he's surrounded by 5 opposition players.

 

Of course it is like turning a tap on. As soon as the stadium is operational we will receive increased money from hospitality - the corporate packages are paid up front not in arrears. Ditto for increased ticket revenue - the ST price has increased and we have added ST holders, this money is all paid up front. Naming rights sponsorship revenue is likely to be spread evenly over the length of any deal, probably paid in advance each season - unless we front load a deal like Arsenal did, which I cannot see us doing as the debt market is very different now (in our favour) to when Arsenal were building the Emirates. our revenue will be significantly higher (anywhere between £60 and £100 million higher IMO) from the very first season that the new stadium is operational. It will not take 4 years to trickle down. Or are you making an assumption that the club will look to pay off the entire debt associated with the stadium within 3 or 4 years? If so then I think your assumption is incorrect. It would make no sense to look to pay off the capital so quickly, especially in a period of low interest rates.

 

I am guessing, but in the first few months/years some of the upfront costs will be being paid off at higher rate. This will dissipate as time progresses.
Capital repayment is a whole different ballgame as you said.
You may well be right and I like your logic better than mine

 

Quite right. I think from next season we will start acting like a bigger club as it relates to finances, because we will have more predictable revenue. Once that's happened, Levy will raise the level because that's been his rule. We haven't gone through a decade of zero transfer spend in order to take another 5 years to realise the benefits of the stadium. The way we have done it means we will start recognising the benefits (in terms of paying bigger wages) straight way, and I fully expect us to benefit quite quickly.

 

Our borrowing facility is currently approx £400 million with less than £100 million drawn down, at (something like) between 0.75 and 1% above libor. So I don’t think your guess is correct. Next season we will be able to add £30 to £50 million to our wage bill without altering our low wage to turnover ratio at all, still leaving us significant funds to pay interest and capital costs. The hard years have been these ones where we have been paying for the stadium but not getting any of the financial benefits (hence our zero net spend). Once it is open the extra revenue dwarfs the interest charge on the debt and therefore we can significantly up our wage bill immediately.

Just to put into perspective the addition of £40 million to our wage bill that is 8 additional £100k a week players in the squad.

 

I will be very happy if you are spot on. And we invest at those levels.

 

But they will never be as familiar with it as they are right now - they play there *every* other week. They know the changing rooms, they make the trip to the stadium every other week, the dimensions are stored in their muscle memory, the sound of the fans there is second nature.

They know this stadium now to a level that will only ebb with time.

Didn't change anything, however - they still folded like a pack of cards when a trophy was within sight. Again - imo, it was the easiest chance we'll ever have in a long time, unless by some miracle we only play League Two sides all the way to the final in a future iteration.

 

I hope you are right.

 

You mean like arsenal normally do

 

Our easiest chance was League Cup, next easiest was dropping into the Europa League.

 

Man Utd are hard to beat. Mourinho is hard to beat. Though I agree, we really did not play well at all. About as penetrative as a panda, taught by AVB.

Pool struggle with them massively:

14 Dec 2014 Manchester United v Liverpool W 3-0 Premier League
22 Mar 2015 Liverpool v Manchester United W 1-2 Premier League
12 Sep 2015 Manchester United v Liverpool W 3-1 Premier League
17 Jan 2016 Liverpool v Manchester United W 0-1 Premier League
10 Mar 2016 Liverpool v Manchester United L 2-0 UEFA Europa League
17 Mar 2016 Manchester United v Liverpool D 1-1 UEFA Europa League
17 Oct 2016 Liverpool v Manchester United D 0-0 Premier League
15 Jan 2017 Manchester United v Liverpool D 1-1 Premier League
14 Oct 2017 Liverpool v Manchester United D 0-0 Premier League
10 Mar 2018 Manchester United v Liverpool W 2-1 Premier League

City struggle with them, even though they are clearly superior recently:

12 Apr 2015 Manchester United v Emirates Marketing Project W 4-2 Premier League
25 Oct 2015 Manchester United v Emirates Marketing Project D 0-0 Premier League
20 Mar 2016 Emirates Marketing Project v Manchester United W 0-1 Premier League
10 Sep 2016 Manchester United v Emirates Marketing Project L 1-2 Premier League
26 Oct 2016 Manchester United v Emirates Marketing Project W 1-0 League Cup
27 Apr 2017 Emirates Marketing Project v Manchester United D 0-0 Premier League
10 Dec 2017 Manchester United v Emirates Marketing Project L 1-2 Premier League
07 Apr 2018 Emirates Marketing Project v Manchester United W 2-3 Premier League

And yes, Spurs struggle with them but hey, not bad at all actually:

15 Mar 2015 Manchester United v Tottenham Hotspur W 3-0 Premier League
08 Aug 2015 Manchester United v Tottenham Hotspur W 1-0 Premier League
10 Apr 2016 Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester United L 3-0 Premier League
11 Dec 2016 Manchester United v Tottenham Hotspur W 1-0 Premier League
14 May 2017 Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester United L 2-1 Premier League
28 Oct 2017 Manchester United v Tottenham Hotspur W 1-0 Premier League
31 Jan 2018 Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester United L 2-0 Premier League
21 Apr 2018 Manchester United v Tottenham Hotspur W 2-1 FA Cup