CHAPEL END CHARLIE

There doesn't seem to be very much backing this rumour up but I'll post it anyway and you can make of it what you will . http://www.clubfanzine.com/ipswich_town/v2.showNews.php?id=13608 I guess we'll know the truth of it by next Monday .

While we're out of the Premier League and without a rich 'sugar daddy' we will always be a selling club . If SFC can sell Rasiak and Saganowski next Window we may be able to hold the bank off until the summer - but I wouldn't want to bet on it .

I pleased for the lad , not the best RB we've ever had but a decent hard working pro if ever I've seen one . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_%C3%96stlund

Yikes ! Sense of humour not firing on all cylinders today Prof ?

I've recorded it and watched it several times in super slow motion - it's close but for my money the ball's just over the line from Llanna's strike .

More Derby v Saints reportage : http://www.sportinglife.com/football/nationwide1/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=soccer/08/08/23/SOCCER_Derby_2nd_Nightlead.html&TEAMHD=nationwide1 Bit early to be talking about the playoffs methinks !

I'm watching Stoke City v Aston Villa on MOTD as I type this and two of those 'over the hill crap' players (Fuller & Delap) we were glad to see the back of are playing rather well in the Premier League . Many of the players who have left this club in the last few years have proven to be quite capable of playing at a high level - we just didn't get the best out of them for one reason or another .

This is a seriously weird thread , we normally spend most of our time worrying about not being taken over - but now it seems the exact opposite is a cause for concern ! If any mega rich lunatic were to come alone with an idea of losing his fortune on SFC we'd have to welcome him , believe me from a financial point of view we're hardly in a position to do anything else . In the meantime I shouldn't waste time fretting over the so called 'Fulthorpe bid' - this just seems to be another bunch of pot-less tire kickers trying to use other peoples money .

It's great fun laughing at Derby but they got 27,000 fans through the gate after one of the most miserable years in football history . How many will we get against Blackpool I wonder ?

Indeed , let's hope so .

Madejski is correct , the ridiculous wages being paid to the players is the root cause of most of the financial problems that are crippling SFC and many other non-Premier League clubs . Fundamentally a business of our size should be paying footballers £1,500 p/w not £15,000 , and until wages are brought down to a more realistic level the game will remain a grim survival struggle for even the best run clubs . No one club can solve the problem as market forces would just destroy them , action needs to be taken at a national or even international level . In my view clubs should be legaly restricted in the poportion of their turnover they can spend on player wages - say 33% for arguments sake . If that were to happen you could cut the ticket prices and fill the stadia again , football clubs might even make profits rather than huge losses and we might all end up with a much healthier game .

On that basis I expect you exclusivly blame the poor bloody infantry for the Battle of the Somme rather than the Field Marshalls . Yes last seasons squad obviously weren't brilliant but half the problem was with the inept leadership the team was burdened with before Nigel Pearson's arrival and financial constraints . I've said it before and I'm quite happy to repeat myself - the 2007/8 squad properly led and organised would/should have been quite capable of finishing the season safley mid table or better IMO .

That would be the same John Terry who made his debut in 1998 - 5 years before Roman Abramovich arrived with a lorry-load of dodgy Russian oil money .

Why do Chelsea bother with a youth team at all ? virtually any kid they scout and develop has Sweet FA chance of breaking into their first team as CFC can easily afford to buy one of the world football's best players to fill any position . The sooner UEFA/FIFA bring in regulations regarding a minimum number of home-grown players a club must field the better IMO . In the meantime welcome aboard Jack Cork - we need all the help we can get !

You're making the mistake of aggregating the importance of opinions expressed on here . No Saintsweb argument is going to have any significant effect on the performance of the team , or on any decisions taken by the board for that matter . Let people express their views in a free and democratic manner , if we all have to self-censor ourselves for fear of some adverse effect on SFC we might as well close this forum down IMO .

That information was not disclosed so no one can answer your question with any certainty . It's seems to be common practice that loan players don't actually play against the club that holds their registration - and that's the closest you going to get to a proper answer .

It's a good question , unfortunately unless someone on here works for Barclay's we won't get an authoritative answer . I'm confident we will transfer Skacel before long , even if we have to virtually give him away to do it . Stern John must stay IMO . As for Jason Euell I bet he's on £10k p/w or more and at that price who'd have him ? - didn't West Ham end up paying Freddie Ljungberg to leave ?

You want to know the real reason why we're in our current perilous financial state ? The truth is we got an expensive new stadium and a very expensive relegation at more or less the same time . Had there been a 10 year gap between either event we could have coped , but there wasn't and we can't . You want to know another unpalatable truth ? - it's more a case of rotten luck than somebody being to blame .

I too would like to see Thomas and Svensson together at the heart of the defence , but his total absence from the team in the first 3 games is a clear enough indication that he's either not fancied or (more likely) he's up for transfer along with Euell , Skacel etc . Some on here seem to be suffering from a short memory , Wayne Thomas has had his fair share of good performances for this club alongside Andrew Davies last season . IMO technicly Thomas is at least the equal of Chris Perry and in light of their relative ages a much better long term prospect .

So the first team is untouchable is it ? - I'd like to hear that from Rupert rather than Jan Poortvleit before I'd take it too seriously . If the bank comes back in January and demands another lump of cash we all know exactly whats going to happen . I had previously assumed the club's creditors would be primarily interested in maintaining SFC as a viable football team/business in the short to medium term , but the scale of enforced player disposals raises the ugly prospect of a 'dash for cash' before possible Administration next summer . We desperately need some success on the pitch to encourage more fans through the turnstiles to prop up this failing business's last major income stream . You can bet your bottom dollar Barclay's will be keeping a very close eye on our trading position in the meantime . If we continue to bump alone the bottom of the table over the next few months and the average match attendance falls to around 15,000 or less as a result then all bets are off .

I guess we could all do with some good news and this could be it . http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/saints/news/display.var.2429063.0.jan_seeks_two_signings_for_saints.php

That's a perfectly fair question . From the games I've seen and from the match reports of those I haven't we seem to be consistently unable to maintain a good standard for the full 90+ minutes . The only explanation I can put forward is that inexperienced young players find it difficult to keep full concentration over an entire match - I don't believe the team is unfit this season BTW . This must be a matter of some concern for all Saints fans .

Interesting question that . I truly believe AD is worth something like £3m when you compare what other young British defenders of similar quality go for (Chris Baird for instance) so why are we reportedly selling him for very much less ? 1 - Does he have a clause in his contract that stipulates he can leave for £1m+ ? (if he did his agent could negotiate a higher wage package with his next club to compensate for the low transfer price) 2 - He's been injured for many months now , this would inevitably put many clubs off signing him as their scouts can't see him play or include him in their preseason 3 - At this stage of the season most clubs have their defence for the new season sorted , a limited market means a lower transfer value . Whatever the reason it looks like it's going to be an extremely bad deal for Southampton Football Club , from both a financial and a footballing point of view .

Ironically the one player we did buy that summer (Ricardo Fuller) is now playing in the Premier League :confused:

How bad are our finances ? Well the last trading update showed we were losing a unsupportable £1.2m a month if memory serves . Rupert's probably cut something like £500k p/m out of that with his player disposals this summer but we'll still well up Sh1te Creek without a paddle to use a technical term .