Gorgiesaint

Some interesting figures in the Guardian today looking at Championship finances - of course these figures are taken from the last published accounts so are mainly up to May 2013. It just goes to show that on top of the new PL TV deal which came in this season, you really begin to worry about sides getting relegated to the Championship. Of course, there's no figures for QPR as they were in the PL at the time but I think its fairly obvious that they won't make the situation any better!! http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2014/may/22/championship-club-accounts-profit-loss-and-the-wage-bill http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/may/22/club-by-club-guide-championship-finances-2012-2013 By the way Kingsbridge Saint, that made me chuckle cos that sums exactly how I feel. C'mon you Rams!

Well Mike Han**** will be available now after his defeat in yesterday's local election. Looks the part already...

Two that have yet to mentioned.... Lima - the first time I went there (flying Iberia which was bad enough), I was queueing to climb the steps onto the Airbus (no airbridges at the time) but got held as they were still re-fuelling, so the chap in front decides to light a cigarette. The ground staff were more concerned that I aws comlaining rather than matey-boy dabbing his cigarette butt out on the tarmac. Plus they then let a cat on the plane. Cuzco - Great landing on a runway in a valley. You can only fly in from one direction due to the depth of the valley, so if the winds in the wrong direction they have to turn a 737/Airbus through 180 degree's inside the valley. Very entertaining.

Also in the Mirror http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/liverpool-target-dejan-lovren-claims-3569822

Heard about this as it was taking place but didn't have access to Sky Sports who would be the only channel who might have covered it. I know the game was delayed and eventually played to a finish but does anyone know the casualty figures? I'm assuming as they played on no-one was killed or appeared to be seriously injured.

I see Davide Astori got taken off at half time as Cagliari went down 3-0 to Juventus (all the goals in the first half). Anyone seen highlights of the game to know if he was injured or just playing poorly (maybe his mind is elsewhere on a move away ). Osvaldo replace Llorente after an hour - from the stats I've seen, he had one shot which was blocked and got caught offside twice.

Lovren was the key to the major improvement last season, and is in the area that we are still weakest in. To stand still relative the teams around us, we need buy another similar quality (or better if we can find/afford them) CB to partner Lovren. To lose him would be a disaster. Back to Fonte & Jos anyone? If Lovren himself wants to go (and I've seen nothing to suggest that is the case) and we are forced to sell him then take a look at the release clauses for some of Porto's defenders. Man City have been after Eliaquim Mangala from Porto and they won't get him for less than £25m - Lovren has a years PL experience under his belt so I would say £28-30m wouldn't be far wide of what we should be asking.

Just looking at the betting for the Spuds job and the man who is 5th favourite is Thomas Tuchel - not someone I'd heard of. Just left Mainz this year having lead them to 7th in the Bundesliga and Europa League qualification. They also finished 5th in his first season there in 2010/11. Anyone follow German football and know what sort of football they were playing under him? He's now left Mainz so is available, would appear to be looking for a bigger job.

Let's hope not. In all honesty, why sell before the WC? If the players are determined to leave then fair enough, we now having starting prices for their sale. At least we can try and sign replacements now but the price of Saints players can only go up with the WC exposure.

From the BBC's live update - Not sure if I'me reading the comment right, but almost phrased as though playing for Southampton is a positive thing compared to playing for West Ham. Not sure I've heard an England manager say that before, let's hope that positive bias will help keep hold of team this summer. And of course, Roy's right!! Well done and congratulations to all three. J-Rod would certainly have made the back up list as a minimum.

Took a look when they one-nil down just in case the odd were ridiculous and it would have been worth throwing a couple of quid on it. They were 66-1, so the money stayed in my pocket!

Had Talksport on for most of yesterday and didn't catch this at all but was linked in the BBC rumours section this morning... http://talksport.com/football/valencia-keen-sign-southampton-star-14050990487 Now they definitely can't pay £15m with their financial problems, but have they got anyone worth taking in part-exchange now Banega's gone back to Argentina? At least it's another club rather than just Juventus being linked.

We're not in a transfer window. Papers have lots of pages to fill with little actual news. Our players are flavour of the month as we've had a decent season. Get used to it, unless we become a constant relegation candidate again then we'll be seen as a club that the big boys can come and pick over. Reed, Krueger and Ms Liebherr have all come out in recent weeks and made statements about how we intend to move forward - and I'm sure they're doing their best to get MP tied down to a new contract. What more can they do?

Tesco's?

Just goes to show how bad he must have been if Awford's taken them to 4 wins on the trot.

So how long do we reckon it will be before the pst are down to 26% shareholding? Where's the :popcorn:

Actually yes I do. It's all about the perspective of where the teams have come from. JM walked into a Chelsea side knowing he had a squad that the majority have won the Premier League previously, and have come off the back of winning 2 european trophies in the last 2 seasons. The expectation level would be that they should be there or there abouts for the Premier League and a decent run in the Champions League. Granted if they win both then Jose probably does just deserve it. Rodgers on the other hand has a side the finished 7th last season, okay they have 2 quality strikers - one is world class but started the campaign in the middle of a 10 match ban and spent much of last season trying to figure how to get to Real Madrid, the other has shown promise but failed at both Man City & Chelsea. He's taken that side, which had the expectation of finishing 5th with the hope of 4th and Champions League football, to the brink of their first title in twenty something years. I would say that's a much greater achievement than Jose winning the league. And that's without mentioning the quality of the football- Liverpool have been breathtaking at times this season, whereas Chelsea have struggled home the majority of the time. For me: Rodgers, Martinez & Pulis as it stands positive seasons also for: Mark Hughes (anyone attempting to change Stokes hoofball has to be a plus, Steve Bruce (Hull easily avoided relegation & a cup final) & then poss MoPo negative seasons: Moyes, Wenger (unless they can actually find a way of beating Hull in the cup final), Pardew (who said earlier Pardew had a decent season loved the local papers response to Pardew after he said their poor form was their fault + the headbutt), Allardyce (I thought Wet Sham supporters demanded good football? #myth), Jol (possibly the worst performance by a PL team at St Mary's ever), Hughton (taken what looked some good signings and made them totally ineffective & dull to watch) & Poyet (despite a League Cup final day out, couldn't think of anyone better to preside over the car crash that was Sunderland this season)

'Bail us out' Interesting choice of phrase for a club that is ahead of its budgets. And one that is 'debt-free' apparently. Anyone might think that the supporters trust has just realised it's about to lose majority control of the club... (written in one sentence paragraphs in honour of Neil Allen's nomination for Regional Sports Reporter of the Year)

Also being pursued by Celtic... freeing up Fraser Forster to come here (pure speculation on may part)?

Except that Norwich ties up the signing of Ricky van Wolfswinkel in February and he went on to join in July and that worked out well for them - just because you sign a player early does not guarantee success.

Enjoy the experience! They usually use Hampden for the semi-finals but that's out of action due to the upcoming Commonwealth Games, the SFA choose the semi final grounds at the start of the season, guessing Celtic would probably make it so ruling out using their ground and opting for Ibrox as the next biggest football venue in the country. Should be some good banter, I went to the semi-final a few years ago between Dundee Utd and Raith Rovers, and if you can stick around in the city for a decent night out.

I think the Norwich board are looking for a one game boost against Fulham. Sacking a manager very often only gives a short term boost but if they can do that and somehow beat Fulham then they'll be safe. They looked certain to lose on Saturday if Hughton had been in charge. If they win, they'll be 8 points clear of Fulham with 4 to play, 9 clear of Cardiff if they get beaten at St Marys and that leaves Sunderland with 3 games in hand. However Sunderland's remaining games (starting Monday night) are Spurs (a), Everton (h), Man City (a), Chelsea (a), Cardiff (h), Man Utd (a), West Brom (h), Swansea (h). Assuming Norwich beat Fulham, and Sunderland beat Cardiff, West Brom & Swansea then Sunderland only need a point from the other games to tie on goal difference. If Norwich fail to win then Sunderland would stay up with those 3 wins. Given that, you can see why the Norwich board have gambled, they don't have much to lose. They MUST win on Saturday.

This shows first team squad members out injured at the moment... http://www.physioroom.com/news/english_premier_league/epl_injury_table.php If you click on the link towards the bottom of the page on the season review, there'e a few interesting stats for last season: Southampton had the lowest average numbers of days lost to a muscular injury at 21, the figure represents one of the lowest recorded in a season. Southampton were the only Premier League side not to suffer a hamstring injury

Would agree with that. He showed some ability whilst at Gillingham and as a young keeper, he was worth taking a gamble on. Whether it's a lack of ability or the way we've trained him, he hasn't trained on as we would have hoped and certainly doesn't look likely to reach the potential he showed. He, like Bart before him, probably needs a change of scene to refresh his career and give him a chance to get back on track. I'm not sure if this is part of a bigger problem. We've had a number of very promising young keepers who have struggled to step up to the Premier League - going right back to Neil Moss, then Alan Blayney, Paul Smith, Bart and now Gazza. I would say Gazza has had more chance than most before him, especially at the start of last season. Do we need to do something different with our young keepers e.g. give them a couple of seasons loan in L1 & then the Championship, or is it just that hard trying to find a young goalkeeper as they tend to develop later than most other positions?

Not something (rightly or wrongly) that I would have associated with the Swedes. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/26812686 A fan was killed in clashes between ultras before the opening day clash between Helsingborg & Djurgaarden. The game was then called off after Djurgaarden fans invaded the pitch after word spread of the fans death just before half time.