I’ve been doing some thinking about this and perhaps there is a reason to be hopeful. I think FI know exactly what there are doing. Here’s why:

Introducing sell offers / a full order book was always likely to see prices drop on most players. We knew we’d see drops until...

prices reached an equilibrium and a ‘fair value’ in the minds of traders. That’s a hugely risky time for FI and for us - portfolios dropping but plenty of liquidity around - a good chance traders would panic and sell up, and prices drop further. Not where they’d want to be...

This could be further compounded by the timing of the introduction. Do it at the fag end of the season when players perceived value is lower and it becomes a bloodbath. Where are the rises coming from when there’s nothing to play for? It’s only likely to keep going down...

The solution? It’s the end of the season so kill the prices now. Go for a small dividend increase and watch things drop. Take the pain while traders are trapped and can’t easily take their money and run. Hope that things bottom out before introducing phase 2. Suck it up...

Then introduce sell offers while prices look cheap and players have plenty to play for - gold days, transfer rumours etc. The power is back in the hands of the sellers. Chuck in a deposit bonus as well to get money back in. The needle moves upwards and the pain is forgotten...

Is this the roadmap? Would make sense to me but I could be barking up the wrong tree...

If this was the pain we were always going to have to take then I understand the logic in bringing it forward and doing it all in one go. It’s like pulling a plaster off, right?