SonicBoom

I have to say that I can't see us conceding that goal with VvD at cb. Deep balls into the box now and there's total panic.

Personally I don't think it's possible to do that job and answer all questions honestly. Do people expect Les to reveal the price we would accept for virgil? Course not. Is there a price? Course there is. He has to play the game. Did Les seriously believe we had the best midfield? No but he has to support the players he has. It's not about telling the truth to the fans, it's about sending messages to the market and players. If he told the exact truth he'd be sacked in a week. I'm afraid in today's media world, anyone expecting the truth about sales and purchases until they happen, are the naive ones. Les plays the game like every other club and so he should.

I don't think Gardos should be written off just yet. Before his injuries he played in some big games - Man U away and Arsenal at home - and played very well. Hes' had a tough time since and Saturday was his first game back for about two years. Puel did him no favours by pitching him in with a new keeper, makeshift back four and lightweight midfield. Thanks boss. Let him get back up to speed and see. At worst I think he has the potential to be a really decent squad player.

Seems a bit of a mess from the start. They announced six weeks of exclusivity which came and went with no real comment. Then Lander blurt out some news in China which I don't think pleased Saints and forced Kat to say something before she was ready. I think you can tell that by the content of the letter, it was very light on detail but the essence was "don't worry, I'm not going to do anything that isn't good for the club". It's impossible to know whether this was deliberate ploy by Lander to bring things into the light and push it along, or simply a cultural difference in the way business is conducted. Either way I think it irritated Kat and Saints.

Actually that's good point maybe they won't. STH's will probably get 1 each, then members who have been to X amount of games then so on down. Armchair dwelling, message board moaners will at the back of the queue.

It's a weird situation. I totally agree STH's should get priority along with people that went to the earlier rounds. What is wrong though, is that allowing STH's to buy an extra ticket, means lots of others can jump the queue if they know a STH.

If we could finish this tie would be dead and buried by now. Playing well though other than that.

It's very quiet

With his lack of pace I would think the cops probably caught him fairly quickly.

I am fed up with the media coverage. Talk Sport has a real opportunity to cover football 24/7. They could cover every league team in depth and yet every single show starts with "we are going to talk about the top 6. Jose, Pep, Wenger, ...." over and over again. No one else really gets mentioned other than being there to provide opposition. The back pages and the websites are the same. There are 15 stories about Man U before any other team is mentioned. Including pictures of the players walking in or out of a hotel. Drives me nuts. No one else exists. I know they think that most people support these clubs but when you add all the supporters together from all the other clubs, the majority most definitely don't support the top 6.

I can't see how Sakho is worth that money. He's surplus to requirements and isn't getting as game. How does that make him worth twenty million? And Gabiadini needs to score more goals to be worth 25 million. I know us fans want the club to flash some cash, but I also dont want us to just fork out stupid sums for players that frankly don't justify it. If we pay 25 for him and he doesn't score, imagine the grief the board will get then.

People seem to think that footballers are the only people out there with money. There are plenty of extremely rich people in this country many of whom could help out the likes of Poole town. Footballers get it in the neck because they are so high profile. I'm pretty sure any of use could help out a worthy local cause by donating two weeks of our wages, but do we do that ? As an aside why is your user name Rooney ?

My problem with this is that every piece I have read so far has said that Lander do not have (in international football club ownership terms) very much money. In fact we would be their biggest asset whereas with Marcus we definitely weren't. We were his labour of love. It will be interesting to see what they say if this does come to fruition as I can't see the point in investing in the club if you don't really have funds to make any sort of significant impact.

It's his lack of quality around the box that frustrates me. He does a lot right then let's himself down at the last minute.

Well he's not head and shoulders above VvD is he. There is no debate he has been a great player for us. Do I want Saints to extend the contract of a 33 year old beyond that, and in doing so make him our highest paid player. So during that contract he will be both our highest paid AND oldest player? Nope. And if I owned the club and the money came from my pocket would I want to pay Jose 80+ a week? Nope. There seem to be a number of fans that want us to extend the contract and pay him even more, for what he has done in the past as some sort of "thank you". Ridiculous. His thank you was getting paid vast sums at the time. We should now be looking dispassionately about what he will deliver between the ages of 33 and 35. Does it justify being the highest paid at the club? I would say that he is past his best and will only decline over the next few years so personally whilst I thank him for what he's done for us, if he wants more than we offered then he can go. He's not irreplaceable.

I bet Leicesters' owners are sweating this year. Winning the PL meant they had to up the deals to keep their players which they broadly did. Now they are closer to relegation that Europe. Imagine the fallout of paying all those players huge wages then getting relegated ! Could be catastrophic.

Boufal keeps the ball when it arrives. That could be vital in the last half hour. I hope he doesn't live to regret that. Boufal either starts or ends every game on the bench, I'm not surprised he's p'ed off.

Is it me or does JR look a little more lively today. Closing down with menace which is good to see. No idea what Hojbjerg is doing though. Poor game so far and every single time he gets the ball his first thought is sideways.

Surely a release clause triggers tranfer activity. If there are two or more clubs interested then they all fight it out. We are not bound to sell to any club that meets the release figure. I wouldn't be surprised to see Man City make a bid. They do things on a fairly low key basis and they have struggled with Kompany for some time now. VvD would seem to be a great fit for them and they certainly have the money to make it happen if they decide to. I would imagine somewhere 45-50 mill.

A Mirror journalist today said that the "reported 40 million valuation now looks like more of a starting point than a selling price"

Our midfield still seem to receive the ball in space, turn, then their first thought is sideways wide. Surely just sometimes they could drive forward, draw people toward the ball then slip it wide. This obsession with possession just allows the opposition to organise and mark our forwards.

If you're under the cosh for 90 minutes it doesn't matter who's up front. Plus if kat is thinking of selling then I doubt she'll want to spend big on a January striker.

Two problems with the Chinese bid that I can see. Someone mentioned earlier that Saints need big money to advance. This lot don't seem to have big money. In fact they have less than Kat and we would be their biggest asset. With Kat we were one of the smallest. Secondly from what I've read it's been more about what we could do for them in terms of profile etc rather than what they could do for us.

It's a fair point. We realise the need for squad rotation but we forget the effect on players. Some players definitely benefit from regular football and find it harder to switch it on and off at will when they get their turn.

Baggytrousers seems to have covered it perfectly. I would reiterate that "the club" isn't some magical entity that runs perfectly whereas other clubs don't. We have made the progress we have due to the people running the club. Kat, Les, Ralph, Gareth etc, plus the various management teams over the last 8 years. If someone else buys us will they keep the same people? If not then we are starting from scratch again unless they adopt exactly the same strategy.