saint1977

It really comes down to Fraser’s motivation to revive his career. Sit on his bum for 2 more years, retire early/lower and non leagues after if he can be bothered, or actually attempt to re-start his career and build in the momentum. If he and his agent want to do that then he has to take a few risks in terms of compromising on his wages. Celtic is the best option to get first team and European football, he would earn the same over a longer period but more likely to get back into the England. He could go to another PL team, perhaps one in the CL, as back up, probably similar wages but perhaps a signing on fee for agent to gorge on. Whatever mentally made him go off the bill at SFC, only Fraser will know if that has changed or not. I don’t think Ralph will pick him regularly though and it would be best for Fraser to move on for the sake of his career.

Trump and his supporters loud and proud in showing their vile real selves https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-53212685 The fact it’s a retirement village/villages as well shows you how pathetic the culture war has become. Huge job for Biden after election - which looks certain, Trump is the incumbent now and not a comeback surprise package/novelty as in 2016 for those prepared to overlook the racism. Voting for him this time is real KKK territory and nowhere near enough of a majority will want to cross that line.

Excellent performance, wasn’t a weak performance there. Vest did well v Deeney, Bed unlucky with the OG, both full backs good and KWP big improvement on Valery who needs experience in Champ/L1 next season to toughen up and professionalise. Midfield more mobile without Hoj, JWP terrific and first to every ball, FK icing on the cake. Would have been MOTM but for Ings, looks like a £50m plus player. Was so willing Che to score, quality when he came on. Redmond very unlucky to his the post. Really enjoyed watching that.

Stunning finish from Danny and good build up. Long nearly in, risky back header. Decent start even before the goal, keep it going.

I’d hoped they would, but circumstances have really meant it is a necessity. Although judging by a visit by one of the most regular visitors to this thread, it appears negotiating propaganda is to be taken literally and more so than a clearly briefed FT. Wes should have popped into Trago Mills on the way back from a Cornwall holiday to see all of the anti EU flags they used to have flying. He’d have loved it. They may still be there but rumoured to be taken down after Brexit. Their adverts in newspapers (which the papers have stopped printing) were rather unorthodox too.....reduced fridge freezers and rants about various topics eg polygamy in the same space.

Jenrick and Richard Desmond are yet another example of how the idea that the Tory and Brexit parties are anti-elite and populist are an absolute joke and a total lie. That’s purely been done to shaft the local community there. Let him stay as with Cummings, it will destroy Boris’s government from the inside as the accumulation of sleaze did to Major’s. As with Major’s government, Labour are finally waking up a bit although long way still off a party I could ever vote for.

Encouraging report today in the FT on both sides shifting positions and comprising. Sensible given the article earlier in the week on how narrow and quick the Japan deal will be plus Trump pretty much being a lame duck, I don’t think trade deals will be Biden’s first priority.

Very enjoyable, Norwich bright early on and Ings interception stopped a goal. All SFC after that point, only rusty displays were Valery, Obafemi and Bednarek, and even Valery improved. PEH so so, everyone else played well, Ings, Armstrong, Redmond, Stephens all excellent. Bertrand good display, just rusty shooting. Adams and Tella bright little cameos, latter drew a nasty foul and wish former would score as he looks a decent footballer in the main.

That was better from the corner, nice between JWP and Armstrong, Krul did well not to spill with Ings lurking. PEH’s agent needs to reduce the sauce intake, has been terrible. Obafemi not really in the game but that was a decent shout for a pen. JWP pretty decent so far, Rom tidy and outplaying PEH ings - hits the bar. Should be in front after a slow start.

John Bolton joining Trump’s family in a new book. Some hilarious stories in there https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-53086042 People really would have to be as thick as pig plops to support or vote for that

Agreed, although the Led by Donkeys billboard trying to redress the balance. Either way, the wheels are falling off the Boris clown car at record speed. Making the Major government look credible at this rate

It’s in the Sun so pinch of salt but could be good business. Never know how they will adapt from SPL to EPL but PEH far from irreplaceable. Certainly if it helps Fraser move on it helps him, Saints and Celtic.

Worth watching Kay Burley interviewing Gove if you haven’t seen it. Like Leeds playing with Saints in the early 70s and Gove doesn’t get anywhere near the ball. That’s their most experienced hand in the cabinet getting destroyed.

Braverman now in trouble for getting involved in defending Cummings on social media. Absolutely idiotic given her role, can’t see how she cannot be compromised in any investigations or other processes which follow. Always a good idea to think for a couple of minutes before blindly following your party’s whips.

Not surprised, for its faults, the Mail is a properly independent newspaper. Don’t like some of its views but it’s far from a poodle. The Sun is fudging by a tactic of ignorance - Premier League footballer goes to sex party etc - so they don’t print defences of Boris which hurt Murdoch’s empire later. The Telegraph will do its North Korea impression but is allegedly in serious trouble anyway - lots of stories about their owners being at war and have been wanting to sell the title for some time. Situation really accelerated when Peter Oborne resigned over certain stories being apparently squashed to suit advertisers which heralded the current descent into pure client journalism and becoming one person’s mouthpiece. I stopped buying it as it was becoming no different to Conservative leaflets coming through my door. Oborne actually comes across as someone of substance and has done for some time. He has been posting that he thinks Boris is hanging onto Cummings not just of fear but also because he may have known what he was up to. Just seen Tim Montgomerie interview as well - wow. Conservative Home. This has escalated a lot more than I thought. Boris will survive it, Cameron survived Coulson, but circumstances are different and damage will be long lasting.

Will be millstone around Boris’s neck if he does stay. Which he will because Boris cannot process the level of detail needed to be PM.

That was Patel driving that policy following on from May’s pathetic performance as HS. Everything she has done or said has been a disaster so far. She’s there as a Brexit loyalist and nothing more. As soon as one of the ETs against her starts, Boris will drop her quietly from post and replace with someone with some semblance of emotional intelligence.

I don't see any defending of Coogan whatsoever. I personally can't stand the bloke. I also saw criticism of politically neutral wealthy folks for using furlough e.g. Victoria Beckham which is fair enough. What I haven't seen in the Sun is an identical front page splash about Philip Green using it, which there should have been. Therefore, far more like propaganda than journalism if you care to look up the description. Client journalism if I'm being generous. CB Fry calling out Murdoch on Milly Dowler is entirely fair - no-one sensible is going to argue that the NOTW are not the same entity as the Sun/Sunday Sun, some hacks moved over. That was replusive criminal activity enacted on the public which the Sun claims to represent. I've also not seen yet one single critical, even broadly reflective article from either the Sun or the Telegraph of the government's handling of this crisis. Not even a hint of one. Smacks of North Korea state TV. Yet we are seeing other outlets banned from the briefings. I do hope Cummings is not taking direct advice from Bannon. Also, not every Remainer or Lib Dem, Tory centrist is a 'leftie'. Or indeed New Labour, you'd struggle to call them lefties. Would love to see you explain that to Ken Clarke's face and how you are so glad your 'heroes' drained the swamp. Whatever that means. HTH

It’s quite a rap sheet - injecting bleach, asbestos is safe, windmill noise causes cancer, Ted Cruz’s father was involved in JFK assassination in some way, and the rest. Absolute loon. Who actually votes for this guy? Can they actually walk/talk/perform basic spelling? Even worse, there’s people on this site who would vote for him if they could as well and one who probably did. Clearly, stupid does as stupid says

I think it's WSS that lives in Somerset. Possibly that's me wanting Wes at more a distance than the next county along as I think he's still in Hampshire. I may be wrong. Wes is certainly an angry ant. Not sure why - we've left the EU and Tories have an 80 seat majority in after 10 years in power, which hasn't been done in generations. I'll never agree with him and his friends on here in a million years about No Deal but Boris is in charge of the car and if it is a cliff edge then the 52% won't have anywhere to hide. If it's a success, then they can say 'told you so' to remainers like me and I still win if the country recovers as a citizen. His tone is extreme, but the discourse in this country has become a lot more shrill and divided/angry over the last 10 years, more like America has been since Obama got elected. That seems to have been a lightning rod for a lot of extremists. You see some of the usual Tory-Labour bickering on here, but the referendum has really poisoned the well. My childhood family home was full of politicians and a range of people from all political backgrounds discussing the issues of the day around the dinner table. People disagreed but there was respect and people listened to the views of others, even during the height of the Thatcher years and no doubt long after I'd left home, on the Iraq War. I enjoyed it and it made me want to research and understand the different ideas and perspectives, however much I agreed/disagreed, and it helped learn the art of knowing when to compromise. I think people look for differences first, rather than what they have in common, and there's very little interest in different views in making policies. Even the literature market is saturated with either nationalist/populist texts or Owen Jones/Paul Mason style Marxist whines so it's not just the electorate. What will help Boris is that other than Brexit, I don't get the impression he is overly ideological, I think it's why he can win votes that most of the modern Tory party could never win. A lot of his cabinet, apart from Sunak (his best move was him as CoE) is very ideological though.

What will probably happen is if he wants to move to the Dutch League, their maximum wage is probably £15-30k (probably the latter figure only at Ajax these days) and fee range £4-8m for a defender. So Saints would have to take some of the £40k a week out of what they'd get from a fee (say he's on £60k a week and say AZ or Groningen pay him £20k per week) they'd have hoped to get. Wesley would be signing a 3 year deal there say, and only has one left with us so that would cover some of it. In terms of UEFA rules, you are right, but I don't think he's going to want to sit around for another year, potentially only with the U23s and not even on loan, on top of this lockdown. So he and his agent are going to need to compromise a bit as well. I think they will. Forster is far more a concern for me. 2 years left still of the new contract that fool now at the FA gave him and he's allegedly on far more than Hoedt. Whether Celtic and Saints can agree something on a permanent move remains to be seen. Fraser will need a take a serious haircut on his contract if he does want to go back there long-term even with Saints paying a portion.

As long as he is willing to take a significant pay cut for the last year of his deal for that to happen, then can't see any reason why the club would hold him back. They won't get much of/any fee, a bit like when Austin went to WBA although there might be some top ups if they are promoted at some stage. Mind you, Austin didn't cost £17m and probably Lazio haven't been paid all of it yet. Les Reed really is/was a clueless imbecile. Proper checks on players' attitudes - yeah right. Good job he hasn't been appointed as the Technical Director of the FA or any other high profile national-level role like that... Glad Rangers took the wee version of Les Reed back north of the border with them too.

Plus the club was always going to hit a point where the academy players would reach the older age groups where the scouting and recruitment at the time reflected the late 00s and financial troubles before rebounding again early part of this decade which it has already started to do. The club has always bought prospects from other clubs down the chain as well but even that dried up as Les’s role really went to pot 2016 onwards. You look at the BBC Gossip column and it’s like COVID never happened. The agents are totally detached from reality, not just PEH’s by any means. Even the top clubs aren’t going to be spending the sums they and the players want them to. Guess it keeps the sport reporters from being furloughed.

Curse of the ‘super agent’ he has recently acquired. Same one as Cedric I believe. Hopefully Newcastle with their Saudi iffy money join Spurs and Everton to make a bit of auction. Was better overall last season but pretty poor at times before that. The way he’s talking, he has carried us like MLT in the 1990s. Skipper at 23 doesn’t mean much these days as the team and club has been so crud last 3 years. Reasonable player, seems like a decent lad but the only reason a top 4 would come in is the reduced tag with a year left on his deal. So more like Victor - some success but some Q marks - and less like clear successes such as Mane and others who were sold on to genuine title contenders for far more than they were bought for. He signed in 2016 but even though I saw plenty of games under Claude he didn’t stand out that year.