Brussels Saint

Have a feeling it will be Transfer deadline day for us and lots of other clubs this year. A lot of money in the market and some time pressure for both buyers and sellers will get things moving. This especially so considering most sellers don't seem to need/want to sell and as such can extract the highest possible price by waiting until the last day when desperation kicks in. Time to service the fax machine! I think the additions of Wanyama & Louvren already strengthen us over last year plus likely performance improvements from Shaw, JWP, Rodriguez, Chambers & Ramirez should make us significantly stronger. I don't think we have many players in decline potentially only Fonte & Lambert, but you could easily debate successfully both of those. Our current team I think therefore has enough to get to about position 8-10, however for a top 6 push we would likely need a Banega, Damiao & Astori (Jan) type additions and thats about an additional 40m!

If Boruc gets a long term injury that could be pretty serious, but worst case we get someone in the Jan window. The full backs I'm happy with. Think it would be difficult to find a better LB reserve than Fox & if the club think Chambers is ready, I'll trust them on that. They were right about Shaw, JWP & AOC, so gotta trust them on this one. The CB's are interesting, we would expect Lovren & Yoshi to be first choice and I get the impression that MP quite rates Jos. Fonte is the concern for me and I would quite like us to have gone for another like Astori, but perhaps thats for Jan too. Defensive Mid is strong. The attacking mid places are the least clear and I feel we do need an addition here, though there are a lot of current options (Ramirez, Lallana, Davis, Punch, Isgrove, Guly, maybe JWP & Jay Rod too). I struggle to find a 3 I like from that. Maybe Isgrove will be the proverbial rabbit out of the hat. So the striker is Lambert, Mayuka & Jay-Rod.........has Jay improved enough to add more than Lambert? For me then, 1 more transfer, I would choose an AM, 2 an AM & a striker, 3 an AM, Striker & CB

Born and lived in Cornwall until I was 18. Started supporting Saints around 1981-82 as knowing Keegan was a Saints player, I thought the whole England World Cup squad also played for Saints. Just so happened to also be the nearest Div 1 team to Cornwall.................quite pleased he did not sign for Carlisle to be honest. Been an obsession ever since, though never lived in Southampton. I think its probably fair to say that for those of us who have never lived in Southampton, it's almost totally about the football. The dislike of Portsmouth and importance of club history etc do not hold such a value, though certainly respect those to whom this is important. This I find in my case anyway.

Don't think either Fox, Gazzaniga or Ramirez were bad transfers. Fox was good for what we needed him for, Gazzaniga is too soon to judge and Ramirez, whilst not setting the world alight, is no way near as bad as some make out. The rest I agree were pants.

So Lukaku + Bertrand for Luke Shaw........would you? Just hypothetically.........

I think we are agreeing actually. The people do want a vote, do care and I genuinely think we will get one. I guess my point was that we will only get it because those on all political sides (bar UKIP) believe the vote is a forgone conclusion and will deliver an "in" My point on the public being dumb, is perhaps a little unfair, but I also believe that some decisions are so complex that they cannot be distilled into a simple choice that the general populace can comprehend. I'm fairly anti EU by nature, but having lived in Brussels for 13 years and tried tirelessly to understand the pro's and cons, the complexity of what being in or out the EU means is honestly still out of reach. As such I would not feel able to make a choice, sure I was doing the right thing. I am that dumb voter. The public demands a vote, but is not capable of making it. They will only get it however, if those capable of understanding the ramifications are confident of the result. I think we are at that juncture now, so will get a vote.

Some things lean on the national psyche enough in order to occasionally demand a referendum, even in a representative democracy. I think this is a strength of our system. An in/out decision on Europe is one of these moments. However the Great British Public are a bunch of morons and in no way are capable of objectively comprehending the technical, nuanced and complex rationale of whether we should be part of the EU. As such there is no way those in power would deliver such a choice unless they were pretty damn sure the outcome will not deliver a result counter to the benefit of the country. In this case the outcome desired being an "in" We will get a vote, Cameron gets the political capital and the country will vote to stay in. This prediction I make as a fully paid up member of the Great British Public and certainly not capable of unemotionally deciding if in or out is the best option. Now for those who will say "look at the polls" etc most Brits seem to want out. I would simply highlight that the numbers are still quite close, despite there being years of anti EU propaganda in the public domain. The "in" players have not even started yet (can you think of any influential, credible, vocal pro EU body currently making the case?) Once business, opinion makers, influencers etc get going, the propaganda machine they will be able to call upon will be immense. The message (just like the "no" camp employs) will not be nuanced but emotional and my bet is fear will play the largest part of that.

Sat in a bar in Oslo right this moment and can confirm am paying €15 for a bottle of beer (a decent bottle mind.....very tasty).....2 weekends ago took a taxi from my friends house in a Bergen suburb to the city....no more than 10km €58........feck me.....you might be right!

I actually agree with you re. Jack Cork but he is a defensive mid and no need to make the impact further up the field. My point is I'm not sure JWP is a natural DM. If he wants to get greater game time in the more attacking midfield roles he will need to prove he can deliver more. As you say he's only 18, so I'm also not suggesting he is not able to get there, just for the moment when he plays, he looks tidy. If he wants to get on the teamsheet each week, I'm not sure tidy is enough.

The difference between tidy little players like JWP and those who can go on to be great, is either scoring or creating goals. At the moment I don't think he does much of either, which is fair enough if he plans to be a defensive midfielder, but I'm not sure thats him. Right now he is good in possession, does not give the ball away, has a good engine and gets stuck in. He needs however to contribute at the business end IMO.

My guess is that its already been done. The gold one we have seen on the last club statement. I wonder if it may make an appearance on our new shirt next year. Could not care either way personally.

We would be crazy to sell him after just one season. I actually do not think his season was that bad, merely average. When he played there was always for me the impression that something could happen which might unlock disiplined tight defences. Yes, it did not always work out and his influence faded, but it was not a "bad" season. As most expect, we would hope for him to be more influential next season, then if fair enough he has a similar level, thats the time to sell him.

My guess is the long term model will follow the lines of 2-3 big signings per year and the rest from nurturing within the club. Following such a route would allow maybe net spending of 35m a year on transfers of players with asset value and all other investment in the academy/stadium etc. That is a fairly sustainable model you would imagine given the PL income and should deliver a consistent top 8 finish with Cups, European football and an outside bet of fluking a CL place. The next couple of years only, might take a bit more investment to get to that level of stability. I'm not convinced NC expects regular CL football, he is not an idiot and will understand the financial muscle of United, City, Chelsea & to an extent Arsenal and what that brings. However to maybe sneak once a CL place is not beyond the possibility of this club whilst maintaining its soul and financial security and might meet the plans he and Markus dreamt of near the end. In response to the original post, so long as we dont incur huge debts, pretty much anything else is ok in order to achieve success on the pitch. I am certainly not worried if the manager or players speak English, so long as they entertain me with fabulous ability on the pitch.

I found it quite interesting and its this type of pointless information I come to this board for. It's entertainment, not the Open University.

You could even speculate that the Liebherr trust was in it from the start. Maybe Cortese has had difficulty pursuading some top level targets (and agents) of our ambition and financial backing. To raise the profile of what we intend to do, what about a public spat from Cortese stating unless the owners back his plans then he's off, followed a few days later by a statement that essentially they back his vision of what we should be. Could of course also be utter tripe, but not a complete impossibility IMO.

It was all a clever ruse to allow them to change the club crest without us noticing! Get behind the gold ffs.

Did I miss it, or has there been virtually zero reported in the press today about this? No tweets from journo's etc. If so, perhaps the club (NC/Liebherr) via it's lawyers have killed it on grounds of it being libelous?

I think someone mentioned the difference in prize money between 17th & 10th is about 3m. For that much, I cannot imagine Cortese accepting its a good time to give those on the edges of the squad game time. Can't believe we will be anything other than full strength (Boruc, Clyne, Jos, Fonte/Yoshi, Shaw, Cork, Morgan, Jay, Davis, Lallana/Punch, Lambert) Of the 2 close calls, I would personally go with Fonte (as potentially better suited v Stoke) & Punch (form).

Fair comment to be honest. I would argue that 11 to 15 is our level, but thats semantics. I guess the reason for so much positivity is that the clubs who you would currently argue are in the positions 6 and 7 in terms of quality (namely Everton and Liverpool) are not a quantum leap from us, given 3 or 4 class signings, the right manager and a good slice of luck. I know we are not there yet, but you must feel the excitement of that situation and allow yourself the reality of getting slightly carried away? I can remember when we came 2nd ( just) in the old first division, but ever since I've had the ability to concentrate on the length of Michaela Strachan's skirt on the Hit Man & Her (i guess around 1990), this is the most positive I've ever felt about the quality of our team.

Alright, own up, what have you done with Turkish and why have you stolen his log in?

Completely agree with your sentiment, but have to admit the punching of the horse was very funny. I would be in favour of seeing more scumbags v animal matchups outside football grounds, except the coppers should employ a wider variety of animal e.g. Giraffes or maybe even set up a shark tank.

You are actually right though. When I grew up supporting the Saints in the 80's and most of the 90's, I had no clue who the Chairman even was and would not give it a second thought. The players, game and the manager were all important and my guess is that by today's standards some of the things Chairman today get criticised for would be mild compared to their predecessors. We talk about it and its important today because football changed. Now fans want, need and have access to huge amounts of information of every facet of the club. This was never a choice in the past, so it did not concern me. Had I had any clue who Guy Askham was or what he did, I probably would have had an opinion. I actually prefer modern football, as it does give us the opportunity to understand how our club is run and the characters in charge (to be honest, I also quite like the overhyped PL, prima donna millionaires, decent stadiums/pitches & lack of violence) As this is modern football and I am aware of who NC is.................no I would not change him for any of the others.

Swansea 2-2 draw West Brom 1-1 draw Spurs 1-2 win Sunderland 2-1 loss Stoke 2-1 win 8 points and 10-12th place. Have a feeling we might turn Spurs over, as am not convinced Bale will be fully fit and they might crack under pressure from the Arse.

I'm not sure. If we had bought Michu there is no way we would have played him where he plays for Swansea. He is a midfielder who they use as their most furthest forward striker, a number 9 almost. Had he been at Saints, there is no way he would be playing instead of Lambert or Rodriquez, and is he therefore the type of midfielder who fits the style of Lallana, Ramirez, Punch or even Davis. My guess is not really, so without changing our system he would have provided probably a useful option off the bench, but certainly not the impact he has had in South Wales.

So definitely at least 6 points off the relegation places with 6 to play and now both Swansea and Fulham in sight for a top 10 finish. Have to admit the current situation is way beyond most of our pre-season predictions.