Depressed of Shirley

Rallyboy, I'm surprised at you. The change in fortunes does not make us the bestest, it makes them the bestest, as always, for establishing the biggest gap in history. It is all down to them and their pathetic attempts to be a football club, and has nothing to do with a team of talented young players who have gone from the bottom of League one to eigth in the Premier League.

Harry will be off soon, he's spent all the money. Annual loss reported today of £65m. Total debt up to £177m. He'll be gone before he can say "f'sure, but I don't get involved in transfers, money confuses me, the chairman said I could sign him etc, etc.. They are screwed.

Barry, you have been caught. Turks is right. Also, the problem was even worse in the eighties. Mid week to Sunderland, two coaches, neither full, and about 30 who went by car.

I think the crucial question in "Bradleygate", is whether the drunken oaf who swung at him is; 1) A club HNW president 2) A fully fledged shareholder and part owner. 3) A syndicate member so almost a full owner but not quite. 4) A run of the mill six fingered loon, who couldn't/wouldn't stump up for a share. If he is 1 or 2, then Bradley is toast, if he is 3, brush it under the carpet, and if 4, hunt down the fan, publish his name and address in the News, and brand him a Skummah.

Normally an Executive Chairman, or any Director, is a professional, receiving a salary for holding the position. A non-executive director is usually someone paid only expenses, who is there to oversee what the Executive Board members are doing/proposing. KL is not the paid Chairperson of the club, and is actively looking to appoint an Executive Chairman to run things on a day to day basis. As she owns 100% of the business, it would be reasonable to think that for the time being, whatever she decides is what happens.

Beats all but Channon, Paine, MLT, Big Ron, Alan Ball, Steve Williams, Shilton and Holmes for me.

Well I'm pleased for them, but won't be making any special effort to watch the games. Thought you might have been pleased that our manager has won manager of the month, or that we still have only lost one league game this season and we are into November etc, etc. Go on say something even vaguely positive for once.

Genuinely not surprised you didn't think anything was good this week, pretty much the same as every week.

Sorry, didn't mean to take it off topic, you are right, just sounds strange when you first read it.

Not wanting to be a pedant, but isn't your sister-in-laws husband, your brother?

I agree totally, Steve, I think our tactics were that we would defend crosses into the box better than letting Swansea play through the middle. And judging by the result it worked!

He isn't, the abuse he got at the Bristol City game was disgusting.

But we didn't, and we have to go with it. if your one of the total w*nkers who are helping to shoot his confidence to pieces, then you should be ashamed of yourself.

I think he was asked the question as part of the " you chose to play here rather than for Celtic in the C League" questioning that the media love. I'm not sure what he is supposed to say. Perhaps " Yeah, I'll miss the C League, but this lot pay me a lot more".

Of course if we did play him for ten mins and he didn't score a hat-rick, Alpine would be saying what a load of c**p, Cortese/MP/Adkins doesn't know what they are doing, the whole club is rubbish etc ad nauseam as usual.

You also need to watch out for Payment in Lieu of Notice (PILON). This is taxable, so be sure to check exactly how your redundancy terms are set out. It is basically where they have a contractual obligation to give you say six months notice, but basically get you to go sooner, but pay you a lump sum as if you have worked the full six months.

And unfortunately, nor are Welbeck, Chamberlain, Defoe, Carroll or anyone else English. we are a crap team managed by a dinosaur. I hope we don't qualify for the WC, it might make some people at the FA wake up. Look at Shrek's recent performances and argue that he is of the standard required to compete against Germany or Spain.

I can only just remember seeing Ron Davies, but I did see Steve Mills, and there was just an enormous sense of excitement as he got the ball and rampaged up the wing. It was so cruel that he never was allowed to fulfil his true potential. When I first started going, I would sit with my Dad in the East Stand, but as I got older, I wanted to be where the noise was. In our first year back in the First Division 78/79, they did a deal where you could buy a terrace "season ticket" for the six biggest games. My dad bought me one for the Milton, but all the noise was under the West at the Archers end. To get in there, I used to queue up at the Milton before the gates opened, get in the ground, and then climb over the wall at the Milton and into the Under West stand. One night I particularly remember against Arsenal FA Cup 6th round, the crowd was so tightly packed that when the teams came out and the crowd fell forward, the guy behind me was stood on the edge of the soles of my loafers, and the force of the crowd left me with just the uppers of both shoes, but no soles. It was a difficult conversation with my Dad about how that happened. Great days though, and was the start of a five year period where I hardly missed a game either home or away.

Well first off, I don't agree Carroll is the better player. But actually the England debate isn't one about which centre forward is best, it is about systems. England are miles away from a good international side in every way. Individually they are not technical enough, and as a team, they just throw away possession, or keep ball in areas where it doesn't matter. Woy would do better to decide whether hew wants an all out "English" style team, with Carroll and Crouch up front, and someone to hoof the ball at them from the half way line, or try and compete with Spain Germany etc, and build a team of inventive technical players who are comfortable on the ball, but who can also spot a pass to set up a goal. At the moment, he doesn't know which way to go, and perhaps he only will make his mind up when more of the "golden generation" retire.

9, how am I supposed to know a German stadium from the air, I'm only 49!

First up, I want NC to stay, mainly because he seems to understand the importance of the playing side of a football club. However, the "power struggle" if there is one, and MP's statement today show exactly what the problems can be if one person and one person alone is responsible for running the club. Everyone at the club has bought into NC's vision, so therefore when he leaves, it becomes less of a "no one is bigger than the club" situation, and more of a "Christ what do we do now" situation. Even if NC wins this, what happens if he leaves for other reasons ( illness, homesick etc), in the future? We can't have a long term plan that is solely reliant on one man going forward, we need the responsibility and vision shared between others.

The trouble is that it is all in hindsight. If the Trust funds the club and it wins the Champions League, then it was a good investment. If we end up spending more and more to stay 14th, and there is no profit then it isn't. The issue is judged after the event, so the trustees will be looking to provide a return for the beneficiaries at the lowest level of risk. If they have been advised that the best way of providing for the beneficiaries is to buy shares of major public companies, Gilts etc, that are lower risk than a PL football club, then if they don't follow that advice and it goes wrong, they have failed in their duty. I doubt this is the whole story, and the trust may well be holding assets in total that make the football club only a small part (in fact I'm certain this is the case). Up until now, they have written off £33m in return for the shares of the business. If they now have or are about to get an offer of £100m, then it is their duty to look at that offer. Also, we don't know if the trustees and beneficiaries are one and the same, as that may change the picture as well. Somewhere though, there will be a professional trustee who sees it as his responsibility to advise the other trustees that this investment may not ever be worth as much as it is now. We just don't know if this is about Cortese needing control, or the trust making investments for the beneficiaries, or both. They have done well under NC to this point, but that is no guarantee that things will continue on an upward trend.

In English law it is the duty of the Trustees to act in the interests of the beneficiaries, and to invest the trust funds accordingly. Once the assets are in trust, they are owned by the Trustees, not the original settlor of the trust. I doubt that a trust based on Swiss law is any different to the above. However, without knowing exactly what the trust document says we don't know. It may be that the beneficiaries of the trust include Southampton Football Club, or maybe it doesn't.

Bellend Alert ! Bellend Alert! Seriously you need help from a professional.

very sad, RIP Kev, not forgotten by any of us at the ZDS final.