Next summer is perhaps more of an indicator than last on many fronts.
Here's the reasons why I believe this, and if anyone disagrees then fine:
1: Conte is in place, working with Paratici right from the start. They should both be planning and working on the next window already. No time wasted on a manager search (he says, hopefully).
2: Our first summer after a full season in the new stadium with little to no Covid impact. We've had boxing, NFL etc. All matches open to full capacity, whether or not attendance was 100%. We came into this season after losing one and a half season's income. Without a sugar daddy owner, this hurts.
3: Less future uncertainty around Covid. Let's remember, during the summer it wasn't clear if there were going to be fans in stadiums, or how much capacity would be reduced. How does a club which depends entirely on income mitigate this? You have to assume Levy would have been cautious because we could have found ourselves refunding another season's worth of ST money etc. City and Chelsea wouldn't have bothered about this, but it's a simple fact we do. As it turns out, COVID hasn't resulted in shutdowns or lockdowns and now it probably won't in the future either. You'd have to assume that increases the budget going forward.
I'm not saying these are excuses for last summer's poor moves, but it's at least why I have at least a tiny bit of hope things might change this summer. Not massively, I don't mean I have any expectation we're going to go mental in the market.
Here's the reasons why I believe this, and if anyone disagrees then fine:
1: Conte is in place, working with Paratici right from the start. They should both be planning and working on the next window already. No time wasted on a manager search (he says, hopefully).
2: Our first summer after a full season in the new stadium with little to no Covid impact. We've had boxing, NFL etc. All matches open to full capacity, whether or not attendance was 100%. We came into this season after losing one and a half season's income. Without a sugar daddy owner, this hurts.
3: Less future uncertainty around Covid. Let's remember, during the summer it wasn't clear if there were going to be fans in stadiums, or how much capacity would be reduced. How does a club which depends entirely on income mitigate this? You have to assume Levy would have been cautious because we could have found ourselves refunding another season's worth of ST money etc. City and Chelsea wouldn't have bothered about this, but it's a simple fact we do. As it turns out, COVID hasn't resulted in shutdowns or lockdowns and now it probably won't in the future either. You'd have to assume that increases the budget going forward.
I'm not saying these are excuses for last summer's poor moves, but it's at least why I have at least a tiny bit of hope things might change this summer. Not massively, I don't mean I have any expectation we're going to go mental in the market.
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