Matthew Peak

@WhitleyBayFC A fitting tribute to Simon. Many thanks again for organising this. Much appreciated by his friends

Ahead of last night's game there was a minute's applause in memory of Whitley Bay's PA announcer Simon Booth. RIP Simon.

@Nino12x Worst day 🤣 What a clown, you know nowt of the club's history. 2nd division in the 80s Anyone who refers to a football club as a project is laughable

I watched Chelsea under Scolari I survived Mourinho 2015 I witnessed Conte 2018 I survived Villas Boas I didn’t die under Benitez I endured the Potter/Lampard era I tolerated Maresca 2025 Tonight, tonight is the worst day in the history of this club. Tonight confirms the end of the most useless project to ever exist 7 goals and counting to this PSG team that’s had some really questionable loses I want Rosenior and the entire hierarchy gone after tonight. I’m done

@CFC_Dubois Project FFS Prick

We destroyed this team in a final last summer and now we’re losing 7-2 on aggregate. The project is dead.

Shot of a lifetime! 📸 Ian Turner

@israel_ajoje If I wanted to read something that long, I'd get a book. Anyone who uses the term 'math' can't be taken seriously anyway

This one is a football accounting gem. I promise you will love it. In January 2023, Chelsea signed Mykhailo Mudryk from Shakhtar Donetsk for £88.5 million. The deal was jaw dropping on its own. But what really made the football world stop and stare was not the fee. It was the contract length. Eight and a half years. The longest contract in Premier League history at the time. Journalists questioned it. Rival clubs complained about it. And most fans had absolutely no idea what Chelsea were actually doing. But let me tell you. They were not being reckless. They were doing math. Very clever, very deliberate, very legal math. And the tool they were using is called amortisation. This is part of what football insiders consider during transfers. Are you with me? Good. Here is the simplest way to understand amortization. When a club signs a player, they spread the accounting of the cost of the transfer fee over the period of the contract signed by the player. So for example, when Harry Maguire signed for Manchester United in 2019 for £80 million on a six year deal, that did not show up as an £80 million expense in year one. It worked out as an annual amortisation cost of £13.3 million per year. That is the entire concept. Think of it the same way you think of a mortgage. You do not pay the full value of a house on the day you move in. You spread it. Football clubs do the exact same thing with players, and it is not a trick or a cheat. It is standard accounting practice used across every industry in the world. Check it. It's International Standard 38- used for accounting for intangible assets. The reason it matters so much in football is because of Financial Fair Play and Profitability and Sustainability Rules, which regulate how much clubs can lose in any given period. Amortisation costs are added to the profit and loss account each year, so the lower your annual amortisation figure, the healthier your books look. And here is where contract length becomes a weapon. Now let us do the math together. By using amortisation to complete Mudryk's transfer, Chelsea were able to record his £80 million fee as just £9.41 million per year for UEFA's FFP calculation. Had they signed Mudryk to a four year deal instead, his fee would have been recorded as £20 million per year. Same player. Same fee. More than double the annual accounting cost just by changing the contract length. That is the power of what Chelsea figured out. They did the same with Enzo Fernandez, signed for a then-British record of £106.8 million on an eight and a half year deal, which translated to an annual amortisation expense of approximately £13.4 million. And Moises Caicedo for £115 million on eight and a half years. And Wesley Fofana for £70 million on seven years. Repeat this across an entire squad and a billion pounds of spending starts to look manageable on paper. Did you get that? Now let's look at another part of amortization- the book value piece, because this changes how you think about every transfer you have ever watched. Book value is the difference between the transfer fee spent on a player minus what has already been amortised. For example, after two years, a £50 million player signed on a five year deal has a book value of £30 million. Any sale above £30 million is recorded as a profit. Anything below is a loss. This is why clubs can sell a player for what looks like a loss and still report a gain in their accounts. Take this example: a player is signed for £40 million on a five year contract. He is not a success and is sold two years later for £26 million. At the point of sale, his book value is £24 million, meaning the club actually books a £2 million profit on the deal. Fans see terrible business. The accountants see a gain. Same transaction, completely different reality. Manchester City lived this with Robinho. He was bought for £32.5 million on a four year deal in 2008, with annual amortisation of £8.1 million. He was sold after two years, leaving a book value of £16.3 million. City sold him for £18 million and claimed a £1.7 million profit on the sale. Supporters spent years calling it a disaster. The finance department called it a profit. There is one more trick worth knowing: contract extensions. If a player signs a new contract during their existing deal, the remaining unamortised value is spread over the length of the new contract. So if you bought a player for £60 million on a five year deal and after two years you extend his contract by three more years, the remaining £36 million book value is now spread across five new years instead of three. That reduces the annual amortisation cost and can reduce FFP losses by millions per year. Extending a contract is not always about keeping a player happy. Sometimes it is purely a financial decision dressed up as a vote of confidence. Back to Chelsea. Other clubs eventually complained loudly enough that UEFA had to act. UEFA amended its Financial Sustainability Regulations in July 2023, introducing a rule that limits the amortisation of player registrations to a maximum of five years, regardless of how long the contract actually runs. The Premier League followed in December 2023, when shareholders voted to apply the same five year maximum to all new or extended player contracts going forward. The loophole was closed. But crucially, the rule could not be applied retrospectively, meaning every player Chelsea signed on those long contracts before December 2023 continues to be amortised over the full contract length. Chelsea were already finished with their biggest spending windows by the time the door was shut. The timing was not a coincidence. As I conclude, always remember this- the contract is never just a contract. It is an accounting instrument. And the clubs that understand that are always three moves ahead of the ones that do not. I hope you enjoyed this. Tomorrow, by 7AM WAT, We get into the wage bill, and why a £50 million transfer can quietly become a £150 million commitment before you have blinked. Thanks for reading. My name is Ajoje. I am a FIFA Licensed Agent and International Sports Lawyer. I write on the Law and Business of Football, a lot. Repost and Follow if you want to read more posts like this.

@WhitleyBayFC @MarskeUnitedFC Thanks for rescheduling the tribute to Simon. Much appreciated by his friends

𝗠𝗔𝗧𝗖𝗛 𝗗𝗔𝗬 | @MarskeUnitedFC visit Hillheads tonight 🔵⚪🔵⚪🔵⚪ 🚪 Seahorse opens 6pm 🆚 Marske United 🏆 EBAC Northern League Division One 🗓️ Tuesday 17th March 2026 🕢 7:45pm 📍 Hillheads Park 🎟️ £8 Adults/ £6 concessions / £5 u16s #HowayTheBay 𝘽𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙖𝙢𝙚, 𝙬𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚 𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙪𝙩𝙚 𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙎𝙞𝙢𝙤𝙣 '𝙂𝙚𝙡𝙙𝙖' 𝘽𝙤𝙤𝙩𝙝, 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙨𝙖𝙙𝙡𝙮 𝙥𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙠. 𝙄𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙖𝙣, 𝙗𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙗𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙠𝙞𝙘𝙠-𝙤𝙛𝙛 𝙩𝙤 𝙥𝙖𝙮 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙨.

@StanCollymore Well said

I think any progressive and ambitious Premier League club should now spend whatever they like and push the boundaries way past compliance. Because if you only receive a paltry fine for adding players who materially helped you win trophies then it's worth it. Was massively pro spending rules but clubs illegal spending prior to PSR isn't being punished at all and I bet those clubs are pissing themselves, all while clubs with the money to compete with them today are having to audit every fucking toilet roll, with promising home grown players being horsetraded like meat in order to comply with PSR. Clubs and supporters should always support rules which protect our clubs from themselves at times, but dishing out fines that some clubs can find from the back of the boardroom sofa while directly profiting from the players "illegally" purchased makes a mockery of the system.

@ThatLFCTrio @mitch_fretton Halfwit

@mitch_fretton Looking back at it again, it’s even better defending from Van Dijk than initially thought To use his weight to lean on Richarlison enough to make it more difficult to get a shot off, but not enough for it to be a foul/pen/red card Simply Incredible. Lot of CBs panic there 👏

Wrong side of him and clearly dragging him back/down. Penalty and red card but I had to listen to Carragher talking about how VVD was ‘smart’ here.

@TonyLister14 @smurph1905 @BBCMOTD Exactly

@smurph1905 @BBCMOTD Well, they shouldn’t even be in oppositions half before the KO, - at all. So, they need to move where they do their huddle. It’s a simple solution.

“It makes a farce of the whole thing.” 😬 Ashley Williams and Joe Hart do not understand Paul Tierney’s decision to stand in the middle of Chelsea’s huddle.

@DDee172 @BBCMOTD They did

@BBCMOTD I like Ash, but that's a poor take! - the problem is not the ref, it's Chelsea for surrounding the ref by doing the huddle around him! Make them huddle elsewhere on the pitch & just let the other team kick off - Chelsea will soon stop when they concede..

@smurph1905 @Run_Dolly_Run @BBCMOTD Blind as well as dumb The Chelsea fannies surrounded the referee

@Run_Dolly_Run @BBCMOTD He deliberately put himself there knowing it was the routine. It was a conscious choice on his part to stand in the middle.

@smurph1905 @rouleur66 @BBCMOTD Newcastle's KO. Ref rightly by the ball. Chelsea clowns surrounded him. Should have booked captain for disrespect. Imbecile Rosenior has already whined about opposition player warming up in Chelsea half. 50% of them stood in NUFC half and should have been pushed out of the way

@rouleur66 @BBCMOTD I'm sure he regrets it now. Just one of those refs who likes to make it about them.

@ShutUpJ0E @henrywinter They should have. Taken their place in centre circle as it was their KO. Told the huddling cretins to bugger off out of there. Pathetic from Chelsea and got beaten as a just reward

@henrywinter What would have the Chelsea players done if the Newcastle players just come and pushed them out of the way? Or more importantly what would the officials had done

There are bigger issues in the game than Chelsea’s huddle around the ball. Howard Webb has bigger issues to address as refs' chief (VAR application, refereeing standards, grappling at corners etc) but he should have a quiet word with Chelsea. It was the opposition’s kick-off. Do your huddle in your own half. Someone at Chelsea should have a word with Liam Rosenior. Consider your reputation. If the huddle is mind games, new-age bonding or designed to wind up the opposition, whatever, it's not very effective. It’s hardly the Haka. Chelsea lost. At home. Rosenior is a promising head coach but the way he defends the huddle is slightly weird and undermines only himself. Rosenior has already shown he’s territorial pre-match, having criticised someone from Arsenal being in Chelsea’s half during the warm-up. A ritual “to respect the ball”? Respect the game first. Respect the opposition. Respect their kick-off. Respect your own fans by winning. Rosenior’s post-match comments were either naïve, cringe-making or diversionary after a defeat. Those of us who want Rosenior to succeed hope he does open his eyes and ears, who perhaps has a managerial mentor he can turn to (Leroy?). Because Rosenior does have some very good ideas, because we’ve seen his promising work at Derby, Hull and Strasbourg, and spoken to him along the way. He's trying to succeed at Chelsea with a club recruitment strategy that has left him without sufficient experience on the field, certainly at centre-back, or elite quality in goal. Rosenior doing well would be good for the standing of home-grown coaches and also good for Chelsea not to have constant managerial churn. But he's yet to convince many Chelsea fans he's worthy of the role. New ritual side-shows don't help. What about rediscovering Chelsea's old ritual of winning? Back to Webb. He should also have a word with his ref Paul Tierney. Be stronger. Tierney looked weak trapped in the middle, a supply teacher surrounded in an unruly playground. Hugged by Cole Palmer, Tierney’s authority was undermined further. Tierney should have spoken to Reece James, Chelsea’s captain and one of the more sensible characters in the game. Tierney should have pointed out it’s Newcastle’s kick-off and tell him to do the huddle further back. There are enough match-balls around the apron of the pitch. Borrow one. Do your ritual - and then focus on getting into the Champions League positions. That will safeguard Rosenior's job, not respecting the ball. #CFC

@sprintvalley @henrywinter @JeffLynch250358 The Mouthbreather looks utterly gormless all of the time

@henrywinter @JeffLynch250358 Cole Palmer’s intimidatory constant glare at the referee was most unsettling⚽️🤫🤦‍♂️🤮🤮🤮🤮‼️

@GravyGravy91 @henrywinter Exactly

@henrywinter Ref was already standing there. They surrounded him. It's not like they went into the huddle and he popped himself up in the middle. There's a whole pitch to do your American bullshit. Go do it on the opposition penalty spot so the fans find it easier to throw coins at you.

@WhitleyBayFC Thank you

@MATPEAK Yes, a tribute was planned. I'm sure that will be arranged for Tuesday's home fixture

🚨𝗣𝗢𝗦𝗧𝗣𝗢𝗡𝗘𝗗🚨 Today's game against West Allotment is off. More details to follow

@Lea_EFC @theguiltlessman Good decision

@theguiltlessman I give up

Someone please tell me why Chelsea didn’t get a penalty for this foul on Cole Palmer?

@Lea_EFC Because the Mouthbreather wasn't fouled and stood on Woltemade's foot maybe?

@CarmelGriffin6 @MactheMoose23 Just as bad or worse was the Scrum Half box kicking rather than sticking the ball up the jumper and closing the game out.

@MactheMoose23 Absolutely, so close for us. Don't know what he was thinking with that off load 😭

If there was one good thing about France beating England with the last play of the game, a lesson in humility for Henry Pollock. He was giving it the big one to the French fans, with his finger to his mouth and cupping his ears, after the England try late on. Knob!

@MiggyWorld @_C_1_9 Should have booked all of them then punched his way out of their pathetic ring

@_C_1_9 Should have booked James

Fucking state of this btw!!