um pahars

Crab Lungs sorted me out with a kitchen a couple of years back and it was one of the best decisions we made when we rebuilt this ole house.

If a player is transferred without putting in a transfer request then technically the selling club have to pay up the balance of the contract (his entire salary due inc any loyalty bonuses). Now of course this figure will be negotiated to a settlement that both the player and the selling club are happy with, but in this instance with Stones having 4 years left on his contract (I think), then it is a substantial figure that Everton will not have to net off the money received from Chelsea. Will be interesting to see if Everton & West Brom stand firm. I'd wager West Brom will let him go, but Everton will stand firm and hold him to his contract??????!!

never fails to make me chuckle l!

Disappointed??????? f@¥k off!!!!!! Just had the best away day of my 40 years following Saints and that's after 5 cracking years. Disappointed is the wrong word even allowing for setbacks and problems thrown our way.

Looks like they have been put up by the locals, if so they really are going out of their way to be very welcoming

The Club have to be flexible and consider the context of each game. It should be obvious that a trip to Holland will mean more travelling independently and less requiring official travel. Plus delaying the announcement of the official travel and price being quite steep means the demand was not going to be that high. With people starting to travel on Wednesday, let's hope it's not too long before they make tickets available without having to do the official tour. (I had one mate who was even considering buying the coach deal just to get the ticket and then fly, but apparently you only get the ticket during the journey!!!!)

Of course it's poor. There are people with 5/6/7 aways who need tickets and have booked independent travel who can't get their hands on these tickets. Match tickets should not be tied in to these packages.

Schipol airport has its own station right underneath the airport (all well signed). Automated Ticket machines are easy to find & use (in Englush & take credit cards). We paid 14 euros each way for intercity express to Rotterdam(took 20 mins), normal fare was 12 euros.

And having spent 4 days in Rotterdam recently and chatting with loads of Feyenoord fans, I think there may be a fair few Rotterdam Saints going as well. They do have a much more relaxed attitude to their players & manager joining us than we do for our Liverpool bound counterparts!

In their defence, they probably struggled to put these packages together with such short notice, BUT BUT BUT they shouldn't be holding these tickets back now and restricting them to those travelling with them. There are people who meet the eligibility criteria who want to travel independently who would bite their arms off for these tickets. If if they remain unsold, then it would be an absolute travesty.

So how many are going over then??? I'd imagine the ticketed 1,400 plus another 500-1,000 ticketless or in the home ends.

leaving for the Feyenoord game in a minute, so will pop in to the local Tobacco shop and see how many I can get

No, the ground is South of the Lower Rhine, a decent trip over the John Frost bridge. It would be a pretty long walk from centre of town out there. Not much out by the ground.

Chunnel booked early Thursday, so we are on a road trip. Bit of a whistle stop for this one as spending 4 days in Rotterdam for the Feyenoord game! £65 inc hotel just North East of Arnhem. Apparently we won't be getting tickets, instead there will be vouchers to exchange on the day????

So looks as though we will only be getting 1200 as home tickets being sold in all parts of the ground.

Hopefully we should be sorted for tickets (Feyenoord ones already banked), but if not think we will be travelling for the atmosphere anyway and see what happens. Tickets in home end or just watch it in a boozer. Hopefully someone will see sense and offer us that whole end.

ironing (Or is it irony)

Think it's only natural that people are disappointed, despondent and/or feel aggrieved. There have always been these type of issues in the game, its just that I think in the modern era of mega wonga, player power, agents influence, playersmercenary nature etc, then these occasions appear more frequent and more high profile. I also imagine most of us are aware of our place in the pecking order and to have 80 or so League Clubs below is a privileged position to be in (particularly given our recent past). Doesn't mean we won't have a moan bout it though. As for the Spurs fans giving it the big one about pecking order, status & bsigningcentre backs, then one word should remind them that it's all swings and roundabouts. SOL CAMPBELL

No one has mentioned us in a bidding war with Spurs, so am presuming when Toby's team made it clear they wanted Spurs, then negotiations took off to find a deal that could be taken forward. Understand AM played hardball until they got the figure they were happy with. I know Saints were more than happy to pay the agreed sum in the loan deal, but they also had a range in mind if AM pulled the loan figure (and the Spurs number is in That range).

Two things I would add would be that Spurs had to up their bid a few times before it was accepted and Toby & agent (dad/brother) were keeping their powder dry with us in case his first choice (Spurs) collapsed.

The view is that AM only ever saw it as a timing issue, in that once they agreed to sell and knew he had a couple of suitors, they would pay it once they received the monies from Spurs. Toby kept his options open all the way through, sensible, or stringing us along, I'll let you decide (although the inside line is people feel very let down by his actions).

Spurs (and others) have been on the case for months through intermediaries and back channels. Similarly Saints have been crystal clear of their desire to sign him and what they were going to pay him (joint top earner at the Club). They were also prepared to match any rival with regards the fee up to a certain figure (the £11.5m quoted is well within this). Toby knew we wanted him and what the deal was, but he also knew of the other offers. Saints were also aware of other suitors but had no mechanism to get him signed up early under a "pre deal", and started getting nervous when the players co agent?? (Dad or brother???) began stalling. It was then quite clear that he wanted to sign for Spurs and the only hand we had to play was a legal threat, which they are still pursuing, but only in the anticipation of compensation, not of voiding the deal. Toby is on much more at Spurs and there are other financial inducements. He and his team have driven this and ignored all attempts by us to tie him down, once he was first tapped up a fair few months ago he was off.

Not sure how you come to that conclusion. Toby knew he was wanted here, he was happy with the deal, manager and vision, but before we had any chance of doing the deal with Atletico Madrid and himself, Spurs put a counter offer on the table. There is/was no option of a pre deal contract the way we have got some of our youngsters tied up before their "proper" first contract. Quite simply he chose them (and understand his dad/brother??? were influential I n all this, co agent???). The current impasse is Saints arguing over the option they had and Spurs have had to hold back from going public so as not to prejudice theirs (& AMs) position. However, Spurs now want to force the deal through and will announce imminently. We will be left to argue with AM, FA & UEFA, but the feeling is that won't stop the player playing where he wants to go.

Toby will be at Spurs, quite simply because that's where he wants to go. The deal is effectively done, but it can't be signed off/announced until our objection has been sorted out. The view is someone will have to pay us some ££€€€€ to step away, but we ain't getting Toby that's for sure.

So the man sat behind the desk did know more than the megastore manager (BTW it wasnt the different opinion it was the arrogance)