dubai_phil

So is mine. Which is surprising considering I haven't renewed:-) Sounds a good game at the moment, anyone got any stats on possession etc it sort of seems we keep passing to our own players

Evening all

I'm excited by this season and the fact that after many years of a lack of passion that at least for TODAY we have that again. Cannot see us beating history so expect to lose no matter whether we really have become the "new Arsenal of the CCC or not" (our record on opening days and Cardiff away) but the time for the talk is over and actions begin. Bring it on, at least a few hours before depression may set in again on here, it's almost been pleasant of late

No way would that work, you have those players in their preferred positions And I thought vidlicka was the stage name for a porn star not a footballer

I think the 3,300 or so miles distance is a factor, plus 6 years more age! At least she understands 1) The fry up is a medical necessity 2) She doesn't have many friends left here so wasn't going to be seen as uncool 3) She will have cleared off the computer in time for me to liste to the game this pm That gap between 17 & 22/23 - remarkably the same issue we have had at Saints - only a few of the very youngsters have been able to see "what is needed in life" Bale Walcott Bridge, and then at Saints we sort of let them go if they weren't ready. Just over 2 hours to go to see if OUR 22/23 year olds can hack the real world

Yep. Daughter & her boyfriend in town on hols so lads had to show them a proper night out, that meant the "legendary" Rock Bottom Bullfrogs, followed by the local night club's 5th Birthday party of their Cheese Night.... The INTENTION was to take it easy, but then my Lebanese mate booked a table at the club which came complete with two bottles of Vodka. Not a bad effort between 5 of us after Bullfrogs. Might have to take a late fitness test though if we win, not sure the stomach will take the strangled wailing to get halfway to the high notes in Take on Me if we win today.... Off for a little lie down now And WHY the heck is it that you do the fatherly thing, take your daughter out on tour and on that ONE night out of about the lst 500 nights out over 15 years, EVERY drunkish and cute chick in the city wants to grab you, dance with you and generally try and pull you.... And every time you start to converse and maybe get a mobile number - you get THAT look. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

TFFT, means I don't have to worry about this hangover for much longer Anyone know if you can receive Saintstv inside a blackhole? Not much point in renewing my subscription this afternoon to listen to the game if it's all going event horizon

One issue I have with this clear out is "the old regime". The finances didn't melt down overnight, and back in January, did we really make enough effort to get a GOOD price for one of the "higher paid" stars. Would 7 months savings of salary have made it easier to decide who we want to keep rather than having to get any money we can from anyone? It bugged me at the time and the GR to Bolton & RS to Hertha loans were a little bit last minute, did we try early enough?

Where's Master Bates? That is now TWO ITK strike outs. 1) the bloke in the pub takeover deal 2) we were all going to die late on Thursday/early Friday in a big self induced timetravelling black-hole from Switzerland and didn't need to worry about the football today or a takeover. (although TBF I do sort of wish I was dead today but that is somewhat self induced and is not proof that MB should get away with it!)

MLT was a matchwinner. Hoddle/Alan Ball were playmakers Stuff all good having a playmaker in a team if he has nobody around to play with, but the matchwinner can make something out of nothing and get the ball into the net. MLT was without equal in that regard. As for the assists argument, a lot of them came from corners - which he had a special skill for. Maybe Spiderman will be a world class playmaker. But unless there is a matchwinner in this team to use the work that is done, then we are going to waste the talent. Any team needs a balance between the two skills, we never really had that in the later PL years. Maybe this year it will be DMG, maybe we will keep one of SJ or GR who will do it, maybe Lallana will be that man. If anyone out there DOES know the answer, can you PM me tonight's winnng lottery numbers, spent too much on a big night out last night so your foresight would be helpful. Thx

I think that the only way to judge last season is to simply say something was rotten in Denmark. Where, how and with whom it started will be debated on here for years to come. Today it matters not whether it was the chicken or the egg - players/board/Burley, what matters only is that for the next few hours before the game there is a glimmer of hope that this year could be different. It may well be that the clear out is because of issues in the players or simply we desperately need to save the money. Who can really tell. What I do know is that our manager and players are likely to have to "grow-up" very fast this afternoon, a lot of debutants in one go - anyone remember their first ever game for a new team? Not that many are really in tune with what's happening....... 3.5 hours to go and we'll have some proper evidence of how good or bad the idea of getting rid of all our experienced players is

Thanks, here's hoping we found the right guy (and yes I am with you on the spin machine, although it has been better of late - almost!)

I shall go to my mates' karaoke party in Sharjah If we win I'll sing Take on Me by them Norwegian blokes without the aid of a crotch tightener If we don't I'll just sing badly as usual

UP, I know you were a leading antagonist on the cv front with JP which most of us also had reservations about. Having now been "up close and personal" with him (which is difficult for us foreigners) as a gut feeling do you actually think he can make a difference with what appears to be his intelligence and motivation? Is there hope it may work?

I don't now thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargghhhht

Was wondering why it was being done tonight. Perhaps a ruse by Rupe's to avoid awkward questions at the forum? Or does dark matter only come out in the dark? Meanwhile ANY prospective takeover that is being done with LOANS, LEVERAGE or other "fancy financial instruments" would I feel be an even bigger mistake than ALL of the ones we have made in the past 5 years put together. Manure are paying something like 14% interest on the money used by the Glazers to buy the club. How much profit do we make at the moment to pay back such loans or financial instruments? Zero, nada, nicht, which is why I worry when I see comments like "leading a consortium" = ie it isn't HIS money so it is "others" who will want a RETURN on it that we cannot at the moment guarantee. It's all great to say that we could get promoted, but so do many other sides, so we walk straight back into gambling land. We need to be financially stable, THEN we can turn a small profit to give a return back to the investors and THEN the possibility of PL football becomes the icing on the cake. So, some money is thrown at the club and we try and buy our way out of the league with a big name, OR some money is thrown at the club to keep it trading. I can go with the second version - last gasp, but the first just now without time to build another new team and gel before the big kickoff is just too big a risk. And at the MOMENT we don't seem to actually be hearing "we're doomed" stories so we MAY not need the rescue for a month or two....

Think you're allegedly confusing him with Gary Glitter

Ah but it could be the start of one of those weird numbers series, sort of 10, 9, 8 etc Isn't there a book about that Ah yes!! whoopee managed to get the DaVinci code into a day of Aliens, TimeTravel and conspiracy theories Woo hoo

Think you're right about the why on NP (assuming we discount the cost of salary issue) I just think that at the moment after 5 years of doing it one way (and not being very good at it) the concept of players wanting to wear the shirt has been implemented during the close season, and that more than any fantasy land "being any good" change is what has at least given the fans some hope. Again who knows whether NP would not have done the exact same thing? but right now on the Thursday before the first game of the season I don't think it is wise to change or even talk about changing it. The reactions Saturday night and Sunday would be more appropriate to debate the merits of money + Shearer vs letting the kids have their moment of truth.

Time travel, Secret Meetings, Mysterious crashings of TSF, X Files, Conspiracy theories and then the error in the above statement. Are you SURE it was only a sandwich on your screen Trousers?:-) FYI BBB I think you may have used the past tense incorrectly All IMHO of course Anyway aren't all dodgy DVD salespeople from China rather than the South Coast these days?

lol ham & cheese toastie on the bl**dy laptop screen darn you

Good point the only problem with it is "hope". As long as there is a hope that the finances can be turned around, then there is a hope that the price the shareholders can achieve could go higher. In reality the only way I see any of the main block selling their shares "at a signifcant loss" is when there truly is no hope other than administration. In that scenario, it becomes very dangerous, as even when somebody gets funds in place, things can and do still go wrong in takeovers. It would be Brinkmanship of the highest order on all sides, I can't see that being good for the club on the pitch. I do though still think that at the right deal then the shares would be sold. But in this economic environment, there are a lot of better deals out there at the moment. Personall I hope that the JP experiment "half works" and that a new "shareholder/owner" can use the funds to build on the concept of exciting talent WANTING to play. So that we DON'T go paying big bucks for has been pay check collectors but instead pay big bucks for "new Fabregas" types - ie build on what we have, not tear it dow and go back to the last few years

I'm glad we got that sorted then. Maybe we'll stop trying to go back and stop the reverse takeover now:-) And anyway, if we did get a time travel machine Trousers would nick it and spend his life running forwards in time to check out every Friday in case we get taken over..... Meanwhile a Euromillions winner is still the most likely bet for our takeover. Maybe with any surplus from the fiver subscription fees we could buy a ticket for Saintsweb every week that there is a decent sized roll-over and WE could buy the club and do an Ebbsfleet... Meanwhile, the only black holes around here are found in tommac's old favourite pub....

Probably why my internet seems very sllllooooooowwwwwwww today. Has the bloke with the Blue Police Box turned up yet to tell them Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Thanks guys. See we were so busy blaming everyone, we forgot to blame him for relegation and of course the time travel machine was at fault for not getting us back in time fast enough to warn him... Meanwhile, been nice knowing you all. If it does go poops at least I'll have a micro milli nano second longer than you guys so close to it