Ken Tone

Any Dutch saints able to give us phonetic guidance on how his name is pronounced?

There's no real restraint of trade because a player can sign for another club I believe. It's just that he can't play for them in the league?

Don't mind the song as such, but the pre match music is just too damn loud in the kingsland. Kills the atmosphere and prevents any conversation .

X Bit of an exaggeration. They're not that similar, and nor is Brazilian Portuguese identical to european portuguese so that would slow him down a bit. Besides which, most folk in Barcelona speak Catalan. Mind you , money is the universal language anyway, and he won't be short of that!

I heard that Barkley's head is now too big to fit in their original historical dugouts, hence the move to a more modern stadium.

Because if we give in to this it sends a signal that no contract is worth the paper its written on. Any and every other player whose head is turned by an offer via a greedy agent or tapped up in some other way, will know that they only have to throw a short strop and they will get what they want, regardless of how much time or money the club has put into them. This isn't just about Van Dijk; it's about many future players for years to come.

So what's the story with Gazzaniga? Still 2 years on his contract? But behind Taylor in the pecking order? Is he going to be at saints this season or go out on loan again, does anyone know?

Wanting more pay is understandable in 'his world', buwantibgbout and t refusing to play so soon after signing a new 6 year contract is unacceptable in any world IMO. He didn't have to sign.

We've all got so used to comings and going that this close season so far seems a bit boring, but for saints to keep all our good players for once would be an upgrade in effect. We have a good squad , that for once won't have to get to know lots of new players, and won't have several players learning how to play on the PL for the first time. Everything will depend on the new manager and his coaches .

These refusing to play stories irritate me. I've no idea what Van Dijk actually wants, but if the rumours are true and he does want to leave, he's basically stuffed unless we agree. He shouldn't have signed a new long contract if he was getting itchy feet. If if he only had say a year left on his contract then making a nuisance of himself might work, but even the best player in the world couldn't seriously strike for 5 years. If he plays badly and sulks for any length of time , all that will do is make him look a worse player, and eventually have the ironic effect of making him less attractive to other clubs who supposedly want him. So, even if the want-away rumours are true, if saints play hard ball...... Tough!

Well if a 'massive' offer comes in, just about every club will sell.

Which may well be what palace are doing - getting their announcement in first, before we say we've got their real first choice.

They certainly ought to incur some sort of penalty. It's not as if their move to the ex-Olympic stadium is a temporary one, where maybe the FA/PL ought to cut some slack. This is a permanent stadium, what is more controversially funded, and presumably such problems will happen in future seasons too. This ought to have been factored in to the arrangements when they took over the stadium.

Monaco might well be a more attractive option than Saints, but tax won't be the issue. You're forgetting that the obscene wages quoted for players nowadays are net of tax. The clubs effectively pay the tax for them.

Actually, he will have been made a "member of the civil division of the *most excellent* order of the British Empire". And, yes he's a good bloke, who I imagine will have been rightly proud to accept it when he was asked a few weeks ago.

Quite, plus Giggs's character and reputation wouldn't fit with a family club, even if he were a proven manager. I can't understand why his name is being bandied about

Who said anything about the reserves? Just make him stay and pick him for the first team. Like I said, he's not going to refuse to play, or sulk for 5 years.

No. If they've signed a 5 year contract, then **** 'em yes, but by making them stay. What he's going to do.? Refuse to play for 5 years?

Think thee was some talk previously that Lander were hoping for a rule change to allow their takeover to go ahead.

This ^ . Mcqueen offers more going forward IMO.

not clear when that article was written? (There's a reference to the current campaign nearing the end) but but in any event it does makes sense that puel's future is linked to the possible takeover. I can't see any other reason for this speculation to be allowed to continue .

Time he had a song.

This

It may well be true that Bertrand and a dew others want out. I have no inside knowledge. However, I imagine that EVERY club has a few players who want out, every season. This is football, not real life.

FFP doesn't seem to be working. If you're rich enough, you'll find a way found it. And yes, there's easily enough money coming into football for PL clubs to be self - sustaining, but not to progress into the the top few, especially with some others clubs spending way above their sustainable means. We get sucked into the players wages 'arms race'.