Ken Tone

(My italics) So doesn't all this constitute illegal 'tapping up' of our player by Arsenal?

More importantly he fits the strategy of buying the opposition's best player. Peterborough have games in hand on us and can overtake us if they win them. We need them to tail off a bit, so nicking their goalscorer seems a good way to do it, and it would **** off a Ferguson - always a bonus.

Are you Puncheon's agent or something? He's got a history throughout his career of things starting out well at clubs then going sour. The common factor is all those recurrences is .. Puncheon. As for him covering 2 positions etc against Blackpool, what game were you watching? I saw the usual Puncheon .... lots of bits of skills spoiled by lots of bits of rubbish, beating his man only to pass to the opposition etc, and some shockingly poor shooting. I never boo any of our players and have never booed Puncheon, but frankly I would be perfectly happy to see him go, especially if we can sign a decent replacement as cover for AOC and/or Lallana.

I presume Atkins is the bloke we've signed as cover for Adkins? Nigel must have a secret injury. Why haven't we been told? And people mock those that say we need more cover! Apparently the reserve chairman, Corteze, is still on the bench though.

I'd interpret that as "Yes it is ok as far as we know, but we are covering our backs in case someone points out something we haven't thought of". The 'not withstanding' clause is a catch-all 'not our fault if this advice is wrong guv, so you we won't be able to sue us for compensation. You're on your own mate'.

If we are in a pedantic frame of mind, may I just say how much I hated hearing the song lyrics, "If I just lay here..." ? Every time it was played, I wanted to shout, "If I just lie here! You lay a table, but you lie down! And anyway, it probably would be better expressed as 'if I were to lie here'." (Please note the correct use of 'and' to begin a sentence.) Strangely, I did not find my popularity at the time increased to the degree that I felt this valid and constructive criticism deserved.

This. In fact 'French captain' is ambiguous as it could mean he was captain of anything, from a boat to his club team, but happens to be French. So 'France captain' is preferable for clarity of meaning because it can only mean captain of a national team representing France, even though it sounds wrong.

Fair point, but once we stop buying top scorers there is plan B where we buy every other club's captain ...cf Hammond, Seaborne, Wotton (?), .... Obviously the ideal transfer target is a rival L1 club's top scorer who happens also to be captain.

I'm not an expert but I think you are underestimating just how screwed their real (as opposed to football) creditors were. The cva has started; they have exited admin via a cva. It's just that the cva is so lousy that they can easily vary the repayment schedule within it.

Ah yes, an interesting, but debatable, use of the collective singular which grates badly. It's almost correct, if you squint a bit and have a following wind.

You people just don't get the strategy do you? We should simply buy the top scorer from every other team in the division. Not only would that give us extra 23 squad members we need to be safe, but we'd be weakening the opposition at the same time. It was after all pretty much the strategy we started last season .... Lambert, Barnard, Puncheon were all their club's top scorer weren't they?

I think everyone else already knew that! Now, may we get on to the misuse of 'accept', when 'except' is meant please?

PS in fact the only link for N'Lundula from google is to a PSG fans forum where one of them has spelt N'Lundulu's name with an 'a'. J'ai lu l'article sur N'Lundula sur "espoirs du foot" et lui a déjà passé pro c'est trés bien ! També aussi chez nous, et alors le Kebano est-ce qu'il est encore à Paris ? ..which I think means something like I read an article about N'L as one of the hopes of football , and he's already signed a pro contract, then goes on about other players.

Do you honestly believe that someone from Saints putting a name of a triallist on twitter will be that accurate with spelling a foreign name? Half our own fans still seem to think our manager's name is Atkins. You'll be telling us next that you use the definitive Dave Merrington guide to the pronounciation of footballers' names. In all fairness (copyright DM!) it could be that there is also a N'Lundula as well as a N'Lundulu in English football, but it brings up nothing on google.

So what's he been doing since? No club at all? Bit of a come down from prospect at PSG, wanted by big clubs, to nothing. (NB You have no idea how hard it was not to put a pompey insult in that last sentence! Hope you appreciate the effort. )

Sounds like it! FA Cup winners Portsmouth have reportedly beaten Premier League rivals Manchester City, Arsenal and Everton to the signature of Paris St Germain's teenage striker, Gael N'Lundulu. May 21, 2008 12:55:15 PM [/url] PSG's highly-rated 16-year-old forward, Gael N'Lundulu, has chosen to join Portsmouth, according to a report in the French press. He has apparently rejected the option of staying in Paris because of the money being offered. N'Lundulu is said to have wanted a professional contract, but instead was offered a trainee contract by Paris St Germain. "He has turned down our offer of a trainee contract," Bertrand Reuzeau, head of youth football at PSG, told French newspaper Le Parisien."We were not prepared to do more for a young lad who is yet to prove himself. It was a financial choice."

Well fair enough, but the 3 or so times I've seen Bournemouth at St Marys' or on the tv, Bartley has made a major mistake each time ..given away penalties etc. He should have given away a penalty against colchester if the ref hadn't missed it.

No boos round me.. a few groans maybe. What stand were you in? Ref wasn't good, but it wasn't a penalty on AOC. And if Guly had passed to AOC when there were the 2 of them to beat just the goalie, we'd all be in a different mood, and the ref's performance would be forgotten.

Pearce is much better than Bartley

Yes but would moving to Arsenal put him on the gravy train?

Exactly what I heard. NB no fee mentioned, but the statement was definitely made that AOC had been in talks with those clubs and he preferred Arsenal. This is the first time I've heard anyone claim AOC had actually been in talks. That is a really signficant step up from the usual level of rumour.

Don't forget Puncheon is left-footed and indeed I believe played on the left in his successful loan at Millwall. It was Pardew that was determined that he was a right winger. I'm happy enought with the squad as it is IF we keep everyone. A loss of AOC (Arsenal rumour even stronger today, albeit with a loan-back), or indeed puncheon, or a failure to sign Guly, and then we'd definitely need more

Never seen Palace or Man City ? Hardly unique

Actually on second thoughts, even better if sung between stands instead of 'we are the northam over here' etc. But maybe we'll just have to settle for everyone singing "We're all in the buil-ding. We're all in the buil-ding. La la laa. La la laa" to the tune of "let's all have a conga"..... in between verses of the 'wheels on the bus' of course.

If they've already got someone who is that good at 17, why would they want to try to sign Chamberlain?