saintjay77

Do you just read bits and bobs then make up the bits in-between? I said barca spent heavily on youth development and they are seeing the benefit. Why can't someone else do the same? We are investing heavily in youth development and see that as the key to our future. Each time we reach an aim we will then aim higher. If we are not going to bother going for the top then why bother going for mediocre? Realistic ambition right now is aim for the prem. What happens when we get there? Aim to stay there every year or aim for top half? What then? You can't seriously think any club only ever dreams of being somewhere in the middle while everyone around them is pushing for the top?

How do you mean? IMO his value to us is far more than he is actually worth on the transfer Market. That doesn't mean others would pay what we think he is worth though. In the lowe years we had to get best Market value as we didn't have the financial clout to resist good offers. It's not the same now so I guess we can hold out for ridiculous offers.

Dont get me wrong as I dont mean to have a pop. But 90% of the forum could of guessed that there would be a medical today and possibly a signing too. Its nice to hear something once in a while but the fact that 99.9% of the time we hear nothing until a deal is done I take most ITK's with a pinch of salt. No offence to Sir Woody intended.

He should of quit while he was ahead

Lol will never know. But if you wanted to add some credibility to your info today would of been a good day to suggest something is going to happen. Suggest a medical and nothing happens you can always say it fell through cause they failed the medical. If it happens then the forum will feel like it has a genuine ITK'er back on board. We have been missing them of late.

I think the end if last season showed we are planning for a life without AOC. But this could be a replacement for puncheon while giving us cover should AOC go or spend some time in the under 21's

Blimey, I will use Eskimo's finding Ice next time.

I think there are plenty of players doing far less work for the club that get paid more so it seems a reasonable amount to pay the chairman. If we were looking like getting relegated last year and the plan looked like it has in previous years I would not be happy however. NC trying to maximise the revenue is more to fund future success than to pay his wages IMO.

not going to be wrong so what ever time you like. How about 11:40:18 to be super precise?

Its not really though is it? If he posted it at 9am this morning saying 11:40 it would sound more specific but it was posted 9 minutes later. I could say there is a medical at 12:20 today which sounds as specific and its plausable considering Adkins comments. Not saying its BS as in order to get someone in before tomorrow there will have to be a medical. But thats the point, if we are signing someone today then there will have to be a medical, doesnt matter what time its on cause as long as a medical takes place and a player signs today then the info is near enough right. looking forward to finding out who we sign though.

Sounds like clever guess work to me. If we are going to have 1 or 2 signings in by saturday it would make sense to have a medical beforehand. As there are no days left before Saturday then a medical this morning and an announcment this arvo/tomorrow would make perfect sense. Ever thought about telling the arabs where to find sand?

I know a couple of brum fans that feel sorry for them. Waste of time explaining it to them though as they see it as a rant from a saints fan. lol. Your right though, when anyone actually looks into how badly they were run and how lightly they got off compared to clubs a little smaller than them, they soon get the same feeling we do in that there is something more fishy than their aftershave going on.

" RoyalArsenal jamie, chamberlaine hasn't been disrespecting saints, so gagging him is harsh. the kid just wants his chance at the prem and he's close. bet if we offered cortese a position he'd feel strangely similar. Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/3708250/Alex-Oxlade-Chamberlain-fined-for-Southampton-outburst.html#ixzz1Sozk7ZwT" LOL Wasnt NC offered some position at a large Italian team that he turned down to stick with us? The Arse have rose tinted glasses better than ours.

I dont think he is worth £10m to anyone else but to us he quite possibly could be. We all think he has potential and we all think he did very well last season. If he can step up to the plate this season he could be an important player for us. One that could help allot to where we end up in the league. If that position was converted into £'s then £10m is a fair price. Christ he could be the difference in a back to back promotion push which is worth loads more than £10m. If we were skint then £10 based on installments based on england appearences and so on might be more acceptable. But it appears we have money in the bank and have no interest in staggered payments over the next 5 years. Arsenal are owned by some of the richest men in the world so its not like we need to stagger the payments to help them out and make it affordable for them to buy him. £10m is a huge gamble on an un-tested 17 year old so it probably wont happen now. If he sorts his head out and we keep him for the season he could prove that he is worth every penny of £10m and put himself much closer to a 1st team place in a prem team. He could sulk however and hang about with Puncheon until his contract runs out then hope a half decent team will take a punt on him thinking they can sort his attitude out.

Is there any need to be a complete pri.ck when addressing your elders? Born in 74 so take your dads co.ck out of your mouth when your speaking to me sunshine. My last line in my previous post says I dont care if we never make it anywhere so stop your dribbling about me supporting the wrong club. You mention mid table Prem as a realistic although ambitious. IF we get there what then? say bugger it we will stay here? Or aim for a place or 2 higher? And what then? Stick? Twist? What are Evertons aims each season? Win as many games as they can 1st and foremost then aim as high as they can once they have hit the saftey point. At no time do they say we have enough points for mid table so lets sit back and relax. You seem to be suggesting that we push for the dizzy heights of mid table prem and be happy with that for 10 years. All I am suggesting is that the club seem to want success and will keep moveing the goal posts further up the chain as we reach each target. If the goal posts one day manage to get to the champions league heights then the club will try and aim for them. I am all for that and I cant see why a supposed fan of the club would not also be happy with it and wish to support it? My mention of Barca by the way was not comparing them to us right now. They are just a club that over the past 10 years or so have invested heavily in the youth system and the rewards are there for all to see. Could we have the same success??? Probably not but its got to be a much better way of doing things than the Man City or Chelsea way. I dont get what rattled your cage so much but if cant debate like an adult then dont bother coming on here claiming to be one. Throwing names and insults around is something a 14 year old would do when they dont know how to debate like an adult.

In a room full of 50 people and some make a noise are you suggesting it will be easy to know if it was 2 or 3? Sure it's easy to know if it's more than 1 but unless the noises came from definite different directions then it's fair to guess at 2 or 3. I think our numbers drastically dropped while there was a campaign to get rid of our current chairman. Our away support remained really good while we lost games and get relegated and can be a fair judge of support for our team. How has your away support been over the last few years? Think you brought more to see us in the cup than you took to half if your seasons fixtures combined!

I think others have mentioned the age of 21 and figuring out some kind of rules that work for both club and player. I think we need to be at least trying to convince kids that when they sign up as youngens with us that they are with us till 21 at least. They may turn out rubbish but will be secure with us until 21 as we will give them world class training and facilities. They may turn out amazing and once they reach 21 and they may be offered a good deal with us or given the opertunity to move on. It requires some backing from us and a loyalty from the youth. The idea is nice but like you say, Money talks nowadays so its all pie in the sky ideas.

I wonder if this is the attitude of the rest of the academy? Our academy has long been thought of as very good and plenty of kids have come through our system and onto good clubs with good wages. Do the current crop of youth think we are nothing more than a stepping stone to bigger clubs? If so it is something that needs to be changed ASAP. The kids we bring into the academy need to have the drive to want to be part of making our 1st team a success. Not to have their heads turned at the 1st sign of external interest. To trust that the club will allow them to move on if the deal is right for all concerned but primarily to trust that the club will give them a very good career so long as they are comitted to the club. Whats James Ward-Prowse like? Is his plan to get noticed by a big club while he is with us? Or to help us achieve something? If our plan is to supply our own team with products from the academy then team members must be aware that they are unlikly to spend their entire career here so why not plan to stay till early 20's? If they then want to move on and have helped us do something great then teams will be queing up to buy them would they not?

May as well give up then eh? No point in aiming high or when we get anywhere aiming for any higher either. Just be happy in the championship selling off any tallent we un-cover and look forward to playing s****horpe and the occasional ex prem team. I mean, whats the point in going for the prem if all we aim to do when there is hold on and hope we have a flash at the top. Thats Pompey logic so if its good enough for them then its good enough for us right? Barca invested heavily in their youth system which in turn started producing there best players and now look at them. Their current team is littered with players that they had on their books at 9 years old. I wont be hacked off if we never make it anywhere near the top but I hope we are at least aiming for the top as I dont fancy supporting a club that has no ambition to achieve anything.

Although to ballence the books now we need to sell £10m worth fairly regularly I dont think that is the end game. When buying the club Markus would have set out a plan with NC which would of involved spending a fair bit of money on route to the prem riches. Isnt it a £60m difference between Championship and Prem or something? The low cost of nurturing a team of players that not only get us to the prem but also keep us there means there is greater proffit from the prem riches. Add to that the occasional sell on of some of the older players while the new youth come through and we could be making big bucks. Without the funding to make the development world class and the scouting of the best kids the house of cards falls down. Which is where Lowe failed. The idea was there but it was only ever good enough to help us stay afloat and when the 1st team failed the whole club failed. Difference now is that we have funding so stand a much better chance. It will only go to pot if we cant keep our best youth at the club to help us realise the plan. While AOC may never see the plan through to the end we need to treat him the same as we would treat the stars we produce of tomorrow. The kids we have now are there to get us into the prem, the next batch of kids need to be the players that keep us in the prem and the ones after that are the ones we will be looking at to help us succeed in the prem. At some point we will need to convince these kids that the success is with us and not with a top 4 club thats ready to splash the cash.

Yeah it could be of course. I was just thinking if the club want him to get some game time on Sat they will need to have registered him 24 hours before the match or something. How many pre-season games do we have left before the start of the season? After Saturday I mean. A lot can be said for getting your team together early and giving them a good pre-season to gel n all that. The later the signings come in the more team tinkering goes on in important matches. So could we get a surprise announcement before Sat or will it be a pitch signing?

Hope this is true. Stays or goes I am not bothered any more. But while a player is here there is a professional level that he should keep. Yapping to the press about wanting a move is not professional and should be dealt with. If his dad has anything to do with setting the interview up or advising him on what to say then AOC can look forward to a troubled career. Rubbish advice that makes him look like a pillock in search of a big pay day. He doesnt want to get a name for himself already as it will follow him right through his career.

lmao

I was thinking about this, if any new signings were going to get some game time on sat they would have to have had some pre-season with someone and be fairly fit. But they would also have to be registered by this Arvo I think? So could a new signing or 2 be announced by Friday? NA seemed pretty confident there would be 1 or 2 more by sat. They won't be playing on sat if we wait to announce them then.