madruss

No, and if we hadn't signed mayuka, Billy probably wouldn't have gone out on loan

Exactly this! I'm sure Nigel would have wanted Billy to stay, and that the OP is 100% telling the truth, but Nicola controls the finances and if he tells Nige that an expensive striker needs to go out on loan rather than playing for the reserves, then that's fine. Billy is 5th choice striker, and would not currently make the bench, all others being fit.

This 3 GK thing isn't anywhere in the premier league rulebook.. I'm starting to think it's a bit of an urban myth, like when Bierhoff was about to sign

Got it, so gazzaniga doesn't count as one of our goalkeepers cos he's under 21? Which means the only option is to cancel jonno quick's contract if we want to sign another player.... hmmm, toughie that

So surely we have one gap which could be filled by a free agent? Or am I missing something?

The great thing is, because of his age, his value will only increase - especially if he truly does the business in the Premier League. It's obvious to anyone that if one of the top European clubs comes in for him later down the line, he will want to sign for them...but at that point we'll be likely to make a pretty big profit. Win-win if you ask me

This. Be hard to beat this set of transfers

Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Never been this excited about a signing before, he'll really be a catalyst to making the new formation work

Compared with 8m for Jordan Rhodes.. this is a bloody bargain!

This is what happens when every step of the negotiations are made public. Damned Italian reporters with their every over-reaction to each leaked bit of news broadcast to all and sundry

The other thing massively in our favour here is that time is running out for Bologna to find a decent quality replacement for Ramirez, to do that they need cash, and at the moment there's only one place they're going to get cash from. Still very much a case of who blinks first

I heard on twitter that he's waiting until the thread reaches 5000 posts

Just when you think this ridiculous thread can't get any more preposterous... along comes twittergirlstalkathon to take it to the next level! A truly golden thread

Hahaha, I think the SWF era of "grace" must have passed me by!

I also heard tonight that the giant cheque we used to buy J-Rod has bounced #wheresallthemoneygonenicola

So basically Phillips is doing a kenwyne jones, refusing to play until he gets his move. Players really do have all the power these days

Let's face it, if we signed Vidic this week to replace Fonte we'd still struggle to keep out that man. city attack. I'm hoping for a good team performance, defending from the front and giving a good account of ourselves. The important thing is to follow up with a win over Wigan

This for me is an excellent and concise summary of Guly's flaws. He is inconsistent, and when he's bad he can be so bad that it makes people form irreversible judgements about his overall ability. It's been mentioned a few times on here, if Guly was consistent he would most likely be at a top club. The fact is, he's not consistent so we will always have the debate "Is the "good Guly" contribution to the team significant enough to outweigh the "bad Guly" detriment to the team. For me, Good Guly shades it

A versatile, positive attacking player who provides goals and assists. His major weakness is his poor positional play, which as a result means he has to do a lot more running than a more disciplined positional player. Make no mistake, his work-rate is second to none, he tracks back and covers a lot of ground. He's not going to be a first team regular, but gives us an extra option and enables NA to make tactical changes. Like most 'unconventional' players, he divides opinion amongst the saints fans. I don't quite get the "It doesn't matter about his goals and assists and pass completion rates, he's sh*t because he's Guly" argument. I've yet to see an anti-Guly argument with any more substance than that. Glad he's been given a new deal, looking forward to seeing him do his stuff in the Prem.

The rumors that Alexander Büttner yet for the beginning of this season is the day departs at Vitesse with bigger. The player would own all around with Southampton making it a matter of time before the player left from Arnhem last season he made a strong development in Arnhem and that is not unnoticed in England. Inter alia, Queens Park Rangers and Southampton showed interest in recent weeks, and the Player keeps itself also takes into account a departure to the latter team. "I got my eyes awaited at Southampton," tells that Friday in England was opposite Broadcasting Büttner Gelderland. The left back will see a transition. "If you can play in the Premier League, then may be you very proud. It may be that I am here today on the field for the last time in the training of Vitesse. " Well that settles it, his eyes have been awaited!

Even if the source is Rickie himself, it's still clearly a wind-up!

What a great fookin day! Bring on the Prem!!!

For me this is not true. We are chasing. We are chasing Reading for the title. That is the message that Adkins will be instilling in the players, because that is the positive mentality. The same positive mentality that has kept us in the top two ALL season. Listen to the last two post-match player interviews. Both Rickie and Butterfield are talking about going for the title. That's not a coincidence, that's what they're going for. If we win our next two games, we go into the last game with a chance to snatch the title from Reading, even if they win their two games. That's the way we need to think about the final games, not "oh crap, West Ham will catch us cos they beat a Brighton side who are even more woeful away from home than the hammers are at home", but "we're not giving up on the title until it's mathematically impossible" This is why I'm glad Nigel Adkins is in charge.

Exactly. In that game we had two shots on target and scored 1 goal. They had about 1 million shots and scored none. The same people on here praising Reading to the hilt for their victory last night are the same ones deriding Saints for being 'lucky' at Leeds

Plus Lowe didn't have nearly a fraction of the money to spend that Cortese has