Depressed of Shirley

I have heard that we have offered JF more than that. Can't name the source, but someone who would know. We have also offered to extend his deal, from the same source.

Then don't renew. It is sport, not the theatre. I assume you've only been going in the last three or four years, and probably leave on the 83rd minute of each game anyway.

You're such a genius at this, I can't believe the club haven't employed you yet. Its all so simple, and nothing to do with wages, other club's offers style of play, coach's preferences etc. Oh, and hindsight of course.

I think there is a general sense of disappointment when we sell on players who have performed well for us, but there is a fine line when it comes to getting the right deal. Many people moaned at the price we got for VW, but that was reflected in the term of his contract remaining when he left, and explains the contract extensions given this summer. Those contract extensions also increase the cost of the squad considerably, and are funded from the transfer profit. Also, I think you have to look at each summer differently. The main exodus to Liverpool and Man Utd three seasons ago came from a need to repay debt. Those sales, with the exception of the extraordinary deal for Chambers needed to be made, and I think the prices we got were fair. The following summer, Clyne had proved he wasn't going to put himself out unless he was sold, and we had an "agreement" with Morgan to let him go that summer. In fact that agreement is one of the reasons we can sign players in the first place, in as much as players would be reluctant to sign for more than two years if we were going to insist that all players see out their contracts. Come to this summer, and Mane was sold for a huge fee, and I think we may have kept Pelle if he hadn't been offered such a massive salary in China. The money probably hasn't all been re-invested, but then it is always a gamble to give your new coach all the cash in case he isn't very good. I think our scouting has been pretty good, with far fewer misses than the average club, and we still seem to be selling to CL clubs, and not Palace or West Brom. I would love us to still have the same stars we have had and sold over the past few years, but that would mean much higher wages, which would look unsustainable based on our income, particularly our poor commercial income. Also, if we didn't sell Lovren, we may well never have got Virgil, so be careful what you wish for.

Go and have a look at their fans online forum. Its brilliant the way they are not bothered, having a number of threads on their about the number of empty seats, lack of atmosphere, delusional Saints fans, and some favourites about how big they are, how great FP is, and how they are not the slightest bit jealous that there might be a £200m takeover. I pop onto the site every week or so, just to remind myself how much worse off we are compared to them!!!

You do realise that the reason the NFL works the way it does is because there is no fear of relegation for the teams involved? If there were, then the whole "lets share all the revenue and make it competitive" idea would be out of the window, and it would be a triumph of the richest clubs over the others.

The rules were originally put in place to stop other clubs doing a Chelsea or Man City, and trying to buy the Champions League. Of course they came in after City and Chelsea had had their money, so just meant that other clubs could not do the same thing in the future, but that City and Chelsea were now ensconced in the competition. Real Madrid, Bayern etc will always be able to outspend everyone else, due to size of commercial income, match day revenue and success, but it is now almost impossible for us to get into it without either having enormous luck, or the others having a long period of decline. On a separate note, I see in The Times today that the latest proposal from UEFA will divide Champs League income dependent on how successful you have been in the past. This is because United/Bayern etc are livid that Man City earned more money from the Champs League last season than any other club in the competition. So if Liverpool qualify and f**k up the group stages, they would earn more than say Leicester would if they got to the semi finals.

But we are re-investing, in new extended contracts. With those we have lost this summer, Wanyama had no intention of staying, and Mane was sold for about £15m more than he is worth. I would also guess that we tried to get Mane to sign a new deal before we sold him, and Koeman's departure came about after he wouldn't sign the contract we offered him. So we try and keep the players we have, but if they won't sign we take the money on offer. I would have loved to have seen both Wanyama and Mane still here this season, but Wanyama in particular seemed to switch it on or off depending on whether the opposition might try and sign him. We could have refused to sell Mane this summer, but I am not sure that he would have tried particularly hard for us this season if we had kept him. I also share some of the concern over the new signings, or lack of them, but do think that waiting until the end of the window might well remove those.

Not to put too finer point on it but he isn't pro-Saints, and thinks Harry Redknapp is a good manager. Samuel has some good ideas, in particular the scrapping of the loan system, but he is very much against Saints in almost everything he has ever written, all since the spat with Lowe mentioned earlier in the thread.

Came on here expecting the usual total meltdown. Apart from Art and Alpine ( I knew he'd be on), the responses to this thread are humorous and display a much greater understanding of how we operate. Good to see the discussions, good to see everyone shrugging their shoulders as another money grabbing liar leaves to the land of theft and handouts. If we are going British, then Gary Neville, but I hope it is Emery.

I don't need to do the maths thanks, but it is always the same. The club could afford to make all the tickets free for all home games, I think that the ticket revenue is only 19% or so of the total turnover. What I do have a problem with is everyone moaning that the club can't compete, but then moan about being asked to contribute. There is a price for attending PL football, which like it or not is driven by the demand for the tickets. All clubs price for this accordingly, and seeing as this will mean virtually no increase in my season ticket price for two years, then I think that is fair. As always, there are issues that could be improved, but I don't get the "it would be good PR to give away the tickets argument."

Please reduce my ST cost and give away beer, hot dogs etc. Also, please ensure VW, RK, SM etc all sign improved long term contracts for more money, and buy some more players to get the club into the CL. I am not sure if people seem to understand why these two statements don't work, even with the increased TV deal.

Bored at work and thought I would have a look at the P****y fans online site for a laugh at their version of Alpine. Then came across this thread http://fansonline.net/portsmouth/mb/view.php?id=618156 which has some interesting insight into Redkrapp and Mandy's business dealings with the club.

Will be difficult to win with this total bellend in charge. Worst ref in the PL.

Having read this thread I am now really confused as to who to boo at in our own team in the next few games. The way its going perhaps I should just boo everyone and hope we keep losing.

Or still in seeing as he played last week.

Its on Sky Sports 1 on Sunday night at 7 p.m. I think.

I thought that last night Stephens in particular showed that he could do a central midfield or centre back job for us in the future. His positioning, calmness on the ball, and passing were generally v impressive, in what must have been his biggest ever game, and against hostile, up and at them opposition. Turnbull was less impressive, but I could see why we let them go to Swindon, a league one team that tries to play out from the back, irrespective of how foolhardy it seemed at times.

Has anyone got that picture of Kane sat on the top deck of the bus at St.Mary's?

Would agree with all of Phil's comments. Are you planning to go across the desert to Vegas?

Dear Vic, Nathaniel, Morgan and Jay, if you are going to go this summer, then just F**k Off let us have the money, and we will try and buy better. I stopped caring whether anyone signed, stayed or left last summer, and I certainly won't be wasting time applauding any of them on their walk round the pitch after the Villa game. We get players, enjoy their talents for two or three years, and they move on. It's modern football, and I really don't think anyone should give a s**t about whether one money grabbing bastard or another decides to stay for another year or not.

This is how I remember it, but at the time I think it was because we never really got close enough to Liverpool to actually win it. I think that they had it sewn up before we played our last three games, which we won, thus putting us closer without ever being in a position to win. The most amazing thing was that without the injury to Steve Williams, which I think lead directly to losing the semi-final, then we could have won the double in that year, and at a time when Man U, Arsenal, Chelsea etc hadn't done it. Winning the league would of course have been bigger than 4th this season, but then all the teams were much more equal in terms of money, squad size etc in 1984 than now. So you could argue that 4th this season would be more of an achievement, when looking at what we have to compete with. Either way, for a 20 year old, it was a fantastic season to support Saints.

I was there, on a coach from the Bitterne Park Hotel with my mum and dad. Was only 12 so don't remember all the pubs etc, but do seem to remember stopping in Alton on the way home for a Chinese meal while the rest of the coach got hammered. Was sat in the lower part of the stand, and remember going absolutely mental when the first goal went in. Went to the final with just my dad, as he couldn't get three tickets, and again on a coach from the BPH. Sort of thought we would win a cup every three to four years as I had only been going to football that long in 76, how wrong was I!!

I think they already have if any of the comments in the News from earlier this week are representative. And that will start the whole process again, another 100,000 pages!

It was a brilliant day to be a Saints fan, but somehow, because we hadn't played them that often, it didn't seem as big a deal at the time. In the build up to the game, there was a lot of talk about what they were going to do to us as fans, how we wouldn't get out alive etc, but in reality it wasn't that bad. That might also be because in 1984, going to any away game was a fairly hairy day out. I was 20 at the time, and went with three mates,and my Dad. He worked down that way, so we parked in Southsea and walked a couple of miles to the ground. Before the game, there was a lot of looking around to see who was who, but I didn't see a punch thrown on the walk there. In the ground, being part of a 9-10k Saints crowd was great, but although there was coins etc being thrown by both sides, it felt very safe. After the game, we were kept in for 45 mins to an hour, and the local scumbags were throwing stones etc from outside the ground into our section. Once allowed out, the Police kept a big distance between us and them walking up towards Fratton station, and we ducked out down a side street, and uneventfully walked back to the car. We got back to the car by about 6.15, and drove off past large groups of w*****s hanging about ready to smash up there own town. We got back to Southampton and went for a giant **** up in town, although rumours that they would follow us on the trains didn't seem to come true. It wasn't the best day ever, Wembley, or even Fratton Park in 76 were better, but watching the clip posted did bring back how good big terraces full of fans were.