Dr Gloom

so it's curtains for the likes of chelsea, city and psg? i dunno. i'd love it if it does happen but will believe it when i see it.

i remain scpetical. i'm all for the ffp rules in theory as they should help clubs like us but i'm convinced clubs with wealthy benefactors will find a way around it. how are you going to stop man city pulling in cash from all the companies that have a vested interest in the club as they do currently? that's not covered in the regulations as far as i'm aware

the ffp rules don't come in until 2015 though. and even then i'm certain there will still be ways to side step the new regulations. so many premiership clubs still spend considerably above their income. the owners of chelsea and man city will almost certainly walk away from the sport if they can't throw their cash about anymore. you're talking an entirely new form of club ownership, which would be great for the game if you're talking about a more level playing field, but in reality i can't see it happening. clubs will still find ways to bend the rules. as things stand wealthy owners can still give substantial financial gifts. they can still pay off existing debt, inject cash and give loans which are later written off. EDIT - dodgy sponsorship deals like those you see at Man City are just one of the potential ways around the new rules... EDIT 2 - this is all moot anyway as Ashley doesn't want to throw more cash in.

this is the kind of game we need to win but i've a horrible feeling about it given the way our defence has been playing

where did you get that from?

we don't have the resources chelsea or man city have, obviously. and i get that there will be occasions when a player simply wants to move on and we have to suck it up as supporters. but the owner could clearly afford to invest more than he is currently if he wanted to. that might at least give us the chance of occasionally fending off the interest from clubs that are prepared to pay the top players the big wages.

i'm in a shit mood. gutted to see demba walking

i know he won't change. still hard not to be disappointed as a supporter when you lose one of your best players. it just confirms the limits of our ambitions and where we are in the food chain.

if i had performed for my company as well as ba had for nufc for 18 months after joining on a relatively modest salary, i'd fancy my chances. my boss would know he'd lose me to a rival newspaper otherwise. i work for a paper that people don't generally leave because successful performance is rewarded. but then papers are quite like football clubs in many respects. they generally lose money. it's the brand that generates cash - and brands are built on the talent of star reporters.

why should he? because he bought the club. and i'm a supporter of the club and i want the owner to give as much of a shit about retaining our star players as i do. and yes, that means dipping into his pocket and paying the top players the market rate. he's trying to run the club like a business. what he doesn't realise is football is a business like no other. if you want to be a top club, you have to have deep pockets.

so you'd rather he didn't invest more in the playing staff? fair enough. i'm disappointed he isn't prepared to pay our players more. it means we'll continue to lose players that come here and do well. players that come and exceed expectations will demand more money. it's like any business. you reward staff when they perform well. i was excited when he first took over as it seemed we finally had an owner with the wealth to compete with the big clubs. sadly this isn't the case. and from a pure football perspective, it's difficult to see how any fan of the club isn't disappointed to lose another top quality player when we have an owner that has the wealth at his disposal to keep him.

he's a billionaire. he could put more of his own cash in if he wanted to.

we have one of the richest men in the country running the club. he doesn't have the wealth of an oil rich arab or a russian oligarch but he could certainly afford to pay all of our top players the going rate if he wanted to. he doesn't want to. it's something we all have to accept as long as he's in charge. he won't pay top wages and we will continue to lose top players to bigger clubs with owners that will pay more while we will rely on the scouting network delivering more quality imports on the cheap. that's all very well when it works. there will be seasons when it does and seasons when it doesn't. but that's the limit of our current ambition. where the owner really lets himself down is being so stubborn with his spending that it leaves us light in key areas - as happened in the summer and the window when we sold carroll.

it's hard not to be disappointed as we're losing yet another top player. and i have little faith that the board will bring in a better quality replacement or even one at all. they will continue to put driving a hard bargain before paying a fee they consider over the odds. even if it means going into the final bit of the season a striker down, as we saw with the carroll farce. i'm hoping they'll prove me wrong but i'm not confident they will.

they could pay him. the owner is a billionaire and he could afford to compete with the top clubs in terms of pay roll ... if he wanted to put more of his own money in he could. he doesn't though, so we're doomed to always lose players that perform well, as gemmil says.

if the owner put his finger in his pocket, he'd probably stay. we're losing another good player.

i don't think it's a particularly good move for him. he'll probably be second choice after torres. then when benitez is replaced in the summer, the new manager will want to bring his own striker(s) in. he might not get that many games.

if he's leaving, he wants replacing. we can't get through the season with just cisse and shola as strikers.

No fergie?

Keep those Netflix recommendations coming. I'm thinking of cancelling it once I get through the final seasons of breaking bad and modern family

Apprehensive. First day back at work tomorrow after two weeks off. Should be asleep but feeling anxious, hot and twitchy. The 5am finish last night and all day hangover today haven't helped matters. I've got the fear

God I feel rough

I love living in London. Can't imagine living anywhere else in the country now having been here for 13 years.

Mine are all pretty obvious: NY, Berlin, San Fran, Amsterdam, Rome, Hong Kong, Marakech, Paris, Capetown, Rio, LA. Agree with Fish about London too. Most people that moan about it bring too unfriendly and overcrowded haven't seen past the west end - a place most Londoners avoid for most of the year.

Off to a corporate box to watch his today with the prawn sandwich brigade. Not expecting much in terms of a result but looking forward to free champagne and food.