ooh it's a corner

The horse is De Hollow Man and Hjulmand is Danish for hollow man. Do I win a prize?

Absolute Radio - Request for Love Will Tear Us Apart Again, for my friend Ellen Droad. Iranian Government celebrates Wembley result

Strangely enough I was discussing the difference between Championship footie and Premier league footie with a local landlord after the game yesterday and his opinion was that he preferred Saints in the Championship because the additional games gave him a few more "large paydays" when compared to the top flight.

I think the fact he is still here and hasn't been poached already probably answers your last point. We don't hang onto our best players if a bigger club wants them. Maybe that has changed under SR ownership, but I suspect JWP still being a Saints player is as much a reflection of other teams' opinion of him, and the perceived value for money versus impact on their squads.

I'm confused with this. In one tweet, Hannah has said, "I'm sorry that you have experienced this....we all want the same thing", and then in the next tweet there is an advert for orthopedic women's shoes. Is this what she meant? Do we all have problems with our feet? What do we want, comfy shoes, when do we want 'em, now.......... I suppose it is only fitting for middle-aged men.

The ownership is more complicated than Dragan owning 100%. Let's not forget Ms Liebherr still has a shareholding. But the important statement is the one from the published accounts for Sport Republic UK Ltd (formally Sport Republic Holding Ltd), which were published 30th June 2022, and I quote: "The directors consider the ultimate controlling party at the Statement of Financial Position date to be Mr D Solak". So, directors will be answerable to the shareholders. If the shareholders wish to remove a director, I would expect them to be able to do so. If shareholders wish to remove a fellow shareholder, that should also be achievable, subject to any shareholder agreement clauses and the exchange of a wad of cash. So if Dragan wants to sack Rasmus as a Director of any of the companies involved, I would be astonished if there is anything (other than potential compensation) that would prohibit him from doing so.

I'm with Jimbo's comments above. I know Sports Republic have said there will be funds made available etc., etc., but I have a view that seriously wealthy business folks do not make poor, costly business decisions. Dragan has invested somewhere near £250m? Is that right? £100m to purchase the club and another £150m ish on player purchases. If I were Dragan I would be looking at the parachute payments to offset income loss, versus the inflated cost structure we have as a newly relegated team (whether that is in redundancy payments for rank and file staff, or offsetting player contracts that even at 60% of their premier league value are still inflated for Championship football). And I would look at player sales revenue to return some of my investment. That revenue, as people have speculated on this thread, could be anything from £125m-£200m. Dragan may choose to trouser all of it, or at least the majority of it. Paying £250m and owning a Championship club which is worth considerably less than £250m, is poor business. But owning a Championship club that has cost you £100m, and still has a reasonable asset value, is looking a whole heap healthier. We're all speculating how much we will get from player sales this summer and how much that allows us to spend, but maybe we're just going to get a £25m splurge on a few League One or unfancied Championship players.

I think the recent pages on this thread sum up the difference in opinion that Saints fans have with JWP and the outside world has with JWP. He is a decent enough footballer, well worthy of a place in an established premier league team. He has a wonderful free kick technique which has earned him many goals and assists. Undoubtedly he would have more goals and assists with better forwards in front of him. But, for all his qualities there are some flaws and these tend not to make the MOTD highlights reel. He is not a fast runner, he does tend to slow the transition from defense to attack down, he naturally looks sideways rather than forward, which means he never finds that killer through-ball and he frequently hits the first defender when taking a corner. He seems a thoroughly likeable young man, and we can only thank him for his time at Southampton. I hope his new club treats him as well as he has been treated here and I hope we spend any transfer fee more wisely than we have done

Maybe and no.

I did well to escape

I agree entirely with this. By my maths, this means if Rasmus works a very solid 50 hours per week, then in about 4 years time, he will be an expert at running a football club. Whilst he is slowly earning that experience and skillset, fuck knows what will happen to our football club, because by his own definition, he must be a rank amateur at the moment. What a knob.

The club has beaten my desire to attend out of me this season. I was looking for an excuse not to renew at the start of this season, but still did. But having owned a season ticket since 1987, this is my last one. I've been bored to tears watching them for a few years. Very little to cheer about, it is a fairly depressing process. I have been to a couple of games this season where I have gone to the pub, and then gone home, rather than have my Saturday afternoon spoiled by watching over-paid, under-performing individuals turn out. I should be deflated with that thought process, but I'm not. A bit like a long term relationship coming to an end, I want to say, "it's not you, it's me", when actually the opposite is true. (But not all the fault of SFC, the Premier League community is unpleasant, corruption and cheating is rewarded, literally, from FIFA, UEFA, through the EPL. Time for me to find something else/better to do with my time).

7 losses and 1 win. (sorry to be a pedant, but the guy is worse than you are giving him credit for (and you weren't giving him any credit)) Liverpool (A), Newcastle (H), Fulham (A), Brighton (H), Villa (H), Everton (A), Forest (H), Brentford (A) Scored 6, conceded 18. 3 points. Abject. Jones, fcking abject. Please leave.

Sat next to 2 in the Chapel stand. Travelled down from Northampton, citing how difficult it is to get away tickets because of where they live (I didn't care when they told me and I still don't care now). in fairness, I told them they'd be ok, provided the didn't behave like cnuts, and they did behave themselves. Went for a pee at full time and the gents had probably a dozen geordies who were pretty close to breaking into song. It is not good enough from the club and it only takes an annual reset of "names on database" to cull most of the problem. If you bought 1 ticket to a home game last year, you are probably an away supporter. Prevent further ticket sales, unless by exception. (And there will be Saints fans who only bought one ticket and they will have to go through an exception process, but the bloke from Northampton, who bought a ticket for Newcastle, who will only want to buy a ticket for Newcastle next season (big assumption there), can fck off.

Thanks for posting that hypo, it is sad. But I agree with Whelk - it is 17 acres of prime, inner-city development potential. Either as a school, or student flats, which is what we seem to be keen on. I hope the city can continue to use it as a school, but somehow doubt it.