Matt

How is it tax efficient Matt? If there's a simple explanation...... Interest is tax deductible. So if the club makes £10m profit, then 26% (£2.6m) goes to the taxman. The remaining £7.4m can be paid as dividends, held in the company, whatever is preferred. But if Ashley decided interest is payable (there are limits set by HMRC on what is allowed) at say 7% a year on the £140m (which is not unreasonable) then the club pays £9.8m interest and only £0.2m profit. The taxman takes 26% of that (about £52k) and the club can use the remaining £148k. Ashley's company then has the £9.8m of income. It gets a bit more complicated after that, because ultimately the interest has to escape the corporate chain at some point and what often happens (but I dont think is the case here) is that one of the companies in the chain is offshore (Guernsey of Cayman registered for example) where there is little or no tax on dividends and the cash can be extracted there. There is a whole plethora of legislation around this which goes well beyond my understanding, but the fundamental is that you can reduce the overall tax burden on the company through this 'tax shield'. The other benefit is being able to improve returns from a liquidation process. If you imagine that you were owed £50m by a company in which you also owned all the shares and the other creditors were owed £25m, then you probably want to use your position as majority creditor to your advantage if the company becomes distressed. This is the calling card of the feller up at Rangers. Not that I'm saying Ashley is doing that- far from it- he is likely owed 99% of the total club's debt so it's not an issue. But it's why some people use secured intercompany loans rather than common equity, which always ranks last in line for the spoils.

Because they have worded it very carefully. We have spent £25m (cash) since June 11, so this figure will be in the next set of accounts. This number won't appear at all in those about to be released. The reason the club is keen to point this out is because we will be booking a massive gain on the Carroll sale with little to offset it and I reckon our pre-tax profit is likely to be in the £20m area, unless there has been some huge impairments on the squad, which I can't see happening. £20m clear profit is not a figure they'd be keen to stress in their initial public sounding. Far better to promote the 'slow and steady' story. All expectations management. That's a mirage. He could demand repayment and liquidate the club. But he could do that anyway as the 100% owner. He is under no obligation to continue running a business, it is in his gift to close it down whenever he likes (it would be stupid of course). To all practical purposes, the 'loan' is equity but is on the books as a loan because firstly it's tax efficient and secondly that it serves a nice reminder of all the cash Mike had to plough into the club having neglected to look at so much as the published accounts before buying the club.

Binned mine for next season. Travel costs, aided by TV moves, are getting out of hand.

But football authorities can't overrule the company laws that apply to every other line of business. If they hadn't agreed to assign the parachute payments then Portsmouth would already have been liquidated.

Thing is, football isn't remotely classy. It's an alcohol-fuelled revision of primeval rituals with an array of morons as the star attractions. To even attempt to describe it terms of class seems to demonstrate a lack of understanding of anything classy.

i think they do get paid to the club, but under the last CVA they are legally assigned to Gaydamak.

It won't kick off the same as last time, as now it's been made clear that heads will be cracked as and when required.

They're cursed by the boards around their ground listing all the trophies and leaving a space- they've not had to change them yet.

No they wouldn't because it would be brand suicide.

Veni, Vedi, Vichy.

So he appoints the firm who had also been advising him on how to get himself out of the current predicament. Convenient.

Has no-one in HMG thought that once the NHS is destroyed as a public service into profit-making units, its legions of valuable and well-qualified staff will suddenly decide they would like more money? They can always go work for another provider, after all. Most outsourcing agreements are based on the idea that multiple small-scale operations are better carried out by a larger specialist which can pool greater resources. It usually works for catering and bin collecting. This is the opposite, they are looking to break down the biggest healthcare provider in the world into smaller chunks, each taking a skim along the way. Labour and the Libs will clearly be against it, it's not universally loved by Tories either and I suspect Cameron is not that hot on it either. He is being pressed by the lobbyists and far-right backbenchers. They will lose the vote on this for sure.

We dominated Fulham in that first half. We also played it against QPR after Ben Arfa came on and we improved that day. The Fulham game proved that you can't rely on one formation. We controlled the game, then Fulham switched it around and we did nothing to stop the midfield being overloaded.

Wolves first, Arsenal is after the mackems.

I'm surprised they are willing to hang themselves on this. The NHS is a hugely emotive subject and Cameron's staunch defence of it was, IMO, a major votewinner for him in the election. The idea that private is always better is bollocks. Some services are better delivered privately, others are best as part of the state- health and education being two of the latter.

i thought the steak with bites missing was going to develop into some kind of scathing economic commentary, but otherwise I thought it was alright.

It could be that we're both going for the same target and he'd like us to use funds sorting out Ba's position, or more likely he's helping Ba's management get a nice pay-out while advising one of their other clients that Tottenham is the team for them.

Me too. When it was hosted by Lisa Tarbuck. Judging by the standard of contestants, they were not selecting on the basis of intelligence.

IIRC, invented by Stuart Maconie as part of a fake 'did you know' column in a music mag.

I think this is the key point- the precedent it sets for other players. I still expect us to be touting him around in this window and in the summer. The club will be aware some clubs have defensive issues and will be doing their best to cash in now. Which is depressing, as the guy is just immense.

Olivers. Most middle-class chippy on earth. They cook the fish to order so be prepared to wait for it to arrive but they usually do a good job of it. Don't expect much change from a tenner.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-15113440

Had ours today. Went to the 'Lahore Kebab House' which was canny, followed by a few beers then home. Nowt much.

We're getting weaker with every passing match, seeing the likes of Perch and Lovenkrands in the side is a miserable prospect.

Bruce Arena? Souless corporate bastards, rebranding their ground like that. Fair play for giving Bagpuss some recognition though.