Cartman

Weird. Surely this season that's Everton?

Romeu has 1 goal and 0 assists. Not sure why that is relevant for a defensive midfielder.

No. Too expensive for his age, too slow, plays much higher up the pitch than most on here realize (he is really not a midfielder and has often been Swansea's most advanced player, although the same could be said for Tadic) and his stats are boosted by taking almost all of Swansea's set pieces.

Every club in continental Europe. Hiring and firing the coach is a key part of a DoF's job.

I will just repeat what I said a few days ago... So Les is leaving then? Appointing the coach is Les' job, so if the owners are going to start doing Les' job for him, why would he stay? Not to mention the the new owners "bringing their own man in", assuming the new man is not a DoF but a manager in the traditional sense, would mean doing away with the structure put in place by Cortese in League 1. I can't see that ending well at all, it is just about the worst thing they could do.

Starting to think we will sack Puel this summer. http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/claude-puels-southampton-future-under-10336293 http://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/610463/Southampton-Claude-Puel-Nathan-Redmond-Shane-Long-Ryan-Bertrand-Premier-League http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/05/01/claude-puels-southampton-future-uncertain-club-poised-review/ Feels like a club leak to me, particularly the following parts: From the Mirror: "The South Coast club take pride in making progress each season..." From the Telegraph: "Southampton have taken great pride in making progress in each season in recent years..." Almost identical word for word. And this part in the Telegraph is what I have said in the last couple of posts: "Whether or not they feel they can get in the right man to replace Puel could ultimately decide whether the 55-year-old stays or goes." I will add Emery to my shortlist. Overlooked him initially as he is under contract this summer but he might get sacked at PSG.

Like I said, assuming we only consider those without a club this summer (and remotely realistic), then those six are the only ones I would consider to be at least equal to Puel. And I am not entirely convinced about Marco Silva, Schmidt, Marcelino and maybe Blanc. Berizzo and Valverde are the only ones I would pull the trigger on Puel without a second thought for. I can certainly understand why Schmidt was sacked. On paper Leverkusen should be doing better and his style of play is a little too gung-ho for my liking which has lead to some heavy defeats, like with Rudi Garcia at Roma. He's a more extreme Klopp. But they have been doing even worse since he left. As much as some want Puel to go, who comes in instead a more important question than whether Puel should stay or not. Like with the Adkins sacking, it was a brilliant decision entirely because of who replaced him. If we don't have someone better lined up, than it is pointless to get rid of him and there aren't that many available who are better. I can't see any options beyond the six I mentioned and of those I consider only Berizzo and Valverde to be clearly a cut above.

Just checked... 15th out of 18th in the Mexican Clausura . He was a ridiculous option, the anti-Karanka, his teams leaked goals as much as Karanka's Middlesbrough avoided scoring them. Anyway, this is what I wrote in the clearout thread: Puel out only if one of the following coaches are willing to come (all are out of contract this summer): Berizzo, Blanc, Marcelino, Roger Schmidt, Marco Silva, Valverde If none of those want to come than Puel should stay. Since we don't poach from other clubs, as far as I can see these are the only better options (and some of them aren't really that much better).

Forster Clasie Gardos Long Davis Rodriguez Austin Tadic Cáceres Either Alex McCarthy or Hassen Martina Reed Either Pied or Jason McCarthy depending on whether McCarthy gets a new contract Isgrove Taylor Targett Gazzaniga Gallagher Puel only if one of the following coaches are willing to come (all are out of contract this summer): Berizzo, Blanc, Marcelino, Roger Schmidt, Marco Silva, Valverde I was looking up Hertha's Pal Dardai to see when his contract was up, has anyone ever heard of a coach getting an indefinite contract? Dardai's contract doesn't have an end date, first time I have ever seen that.

You mean the fans aren't happy, seeing as it is standard practice on here to project the fans' feelings onto the players.

We have had to play without Mané all season.

I for one welcome our money laundering, multiple murdering paedo modern slave trader with twenty years of white collar corruption behind him overlords if he turn us into one of the elite clubs. I don't care, I would rather bludgeon the big clubs' collective heads with the Champions League trophy than act all pure and moral as they take our best players. F**k them, give us the richest and most corrupt consortium of chinese triad bosses, russian oligarchs and arab royals and I don't care if it means Levy, Ayre, Woodward and the rest end washed up on a beach with their teeth and fingerprints missing.

So Les is leaving then?

...

Maybe the fact that they are planning to finance 70% the purchase through M&A loans and only 30% through their own funds, and that the 6 month period of exclusivity came and went because the chinese government is concerned with the level of corporate debt and has made it more difficult to secure those loans. Having to borrow heavily in order to purchase the club doesn't exactly inspire confidence in their ability to invest in it.

I wouldn't say no to Insigne. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorenzo_Insigne

Didn't want Koeman in the first place, wanted him sacked halfway through last season and couldn't care less when he left. Puel over him every time. Poch over both.

Reuters said Wang Wenyin, owner of Amer International and 6th on the rich list, was one of the other interested parties. https://www.forbes.com/china-billionaires/list/#tab:overall Amer International are headquartered and operate six industrial parks in Shenzhen, which is just across the border from Hong Kong. Wang Wenyin is also a Shenzhen resident. That said, the other company Reuters liked us with, CITIC Securities, are also headquartered in Shenzhen and are listed on the HK stock exchange.

It-s nonsense. His contract details were leaked a while back. He has a contract until 2019 with Spurs having an option for an extra year. If they do take up the option then Toby will have a £25m release clause valid only during the summer of 2019 until two weeks before the end of that transfer window.

For what it's worth: http://oatcakefanzine.proboards.com/thread/267442/shane-long?page=1

Projected operating income for this season 165.2m? If that had been last season we would have been the 15th richest club in the world above Milan and Roma. Seems this lot couldn't get approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission. Good job too, looks like they were planning on only 30% of the funds needed to buy the club would have come from their own stash, with the other 70% funded through merger & acquisition loans. In other words, they are skint. Hopefully Amer will step forward. Private company so no stock market regulators to deal with and they actually have cash. A lot of it. https://www.forbes.com/profile/wang-wenyin/ http://fortune.com/2014/12/04/wang-wenyin-amer-international-global-500/

No it isn't. No more than Everton selling Lukaku or Arsenal selling Alexis this summer is "their model for financial security". If players run down their contracts and won't renew they have to be sold, otherwise you are just throwing money away.

Poch > Puel > Koeman > Adkins Without Mané we would have finished in the bottom half last season. And we underachieved the season before considering the players Koeman had available to him. We have had the fixture list and injury list from hell this season and lost the best player we have had since Le Tiss in the summer and yet we are 9th, Koeman wouldn't have done any better without anyone to hoof to and Mané to bail him out. Next season Koeman won't have Lukaku and will have Europa fixtures unless he parks the bus and still loses to some random team in the qualifiers, expect Everton to drop like a stone. He is still the manager who took a team with Cañizares, Albiol, Marchena, Albelda, Villa, Baraja, Morientes, Banega, Helguera, Mata, Joaquín and David Silva to the brink of relegation before getting sacked, reminds me of Mourinho sometimes, abrasive character that players eventually get fed up with and force out. Poch is clearly the best of the lot though. If we ever get taken over by someone with very deep pockets, pushing Levy aside and taking Poch back should at the top of the to do list.