Nordic Saint

A similar ratio to Boufal, who scored 3 league goals and 1 league cup goal, 2 of which were among the best goals ever scored at St Mary's, in his 56 games for us. I agree that Cuco Martina should also be in that elite group but was his wonder goal a fluke? Did he just take a swing at the ball and hit lucky? Because he never showed in any other game in his career that he had the skill in his locker to do that deliberately.

His goal v West Brom was special too. He only ever scored 3 league goals and 1 league cup goal for us in 50 games and yet won 2 Goal of the Season awards. That has to be a record.

Yep. Boufal v Sunderland. One of the best goals ever scored at St Mary's was the only highlight of one of the dullest games ever played there.

The last time most of us were this happy with a new signing was when we got Ralph as manager. So, that bodes well. Adams is the sort of signing that definitely has the feelgood factor. Let's face it, when we signed players like Carrillo, most of us, with the exception of a few hardcore happy clappers, were disappointed and said so at the time.

Dael Fry?

Totally agree. It's great to have good news again in a transfer window.

An excellent signing. He is fast, scores goals, he's improving and he is still only 22. This is the happiest I've been about one of our signings since it was rumoured we were going to sign James Maddison but this time it looks like we've got our man.

Matt Clarke is a central defender and he was their Player of the Season. It will be interesting to see how he does in the Premier League.

For the players we can't give away, like Clasie and Carrillo, that may be the only solution. Their wages would cost more. To be fair to Les Reed, one thing he was good at was unsettling and getting rid of players (unfortunately our best ones). Maybe Ross is being too nice to them.

To be fair to the board and owners, he is one of the few saleable commodities they have left. They can't even give most of the players away.

You probably didn't notice but he was forced to sell his main business, Lander Sports, which had been rapidly declining in value.

I think it's just wishful thinking. All available evidence indicates Gao is a poor owner by Premier League standards. Wolves got lucky or perhaps they did their research. Every one of their Chinese owners is in the Forbes Top 400 Chinese rich list and considerably wealthier than Gao, who isn't even in it.

Our average position in the top flight is 12th, which matches our average home gate, so anything above that is good. But, most clubs of our size have won at least 4 major trophies in their history so we have underachieved so far. Another FA Cup or League Cup is long overdue.

We were strongly linked with van Dijk before Paul Mitchell left. He was the last off the Mitchell conveyor belt and he'd probably have taken him to Spurs if they hadn't opted for Alderweireld instead, so we got lucky there, which we didn't with Trippier, who we were also linked with before Mitchell left. Bednarek is OK but we paid too much for Vestergaard and he is too slow. Overall, Ross Wilson has wasted a lot of money on mediocre players. The average poster on here couldn't have done any worse than Wilson has, which is hardly surprising as Wilson never played football. He got his foot on the ladder when his best friend's dad asked him to write a report on a youth team match and then he took a massive leap up that career ladder when he met Les Reed at a conference. His learning process is currently costing the club a hell of a lot of money.

You obviously haven't checked your facts. Tony Bloom not only paid for Brighton's stadium out of his own pocket, but if you look at the club's annual accounts, there is an entry every year for his 'owner's contribution'. Since I started watching football in the 1960s, that's the way most good football club owners have operated. They used to be local businessmen made good who wanted to put something back into the community by spending money on the local football team, like Jack Walker, but nowadays they are mostly international billionaires competing against each other by buying glory for their football teams, like Sheikh Mansour and Roman Abramovich. Race horse owners are the same. They are rich people whose hobby is winning vicariously at sport. Anyone who wants to view football as just another business is blind to this reality.

We have to buy at least one new central defender this summer. That is a top priority. Let's hope Ralph can find someone good enough because I'm not sure that Ross can.

He's captained his Lille team to the Champions League, with the the best defensive record in the French League and was voted the best central defender in the league this season, and he's had to defend against some of the best strikers currently playing in Europe including Mbappé, Neymar and Cavani. He's now added a European Nations League winner's medal to his European Championship winner's medal. There is understandably great respect for him in France and Portugal, where he has been made a Commander of the Order of Merit. After all the hard work he put in for us over the years, it's good to see him have the best season of his career so far. We were very lucky that he spent most of his career with us, as he led us all the way from League One to four consecutive top 8 finishes in the Premier League, which we'd never have achieved without his leadership. I hope he enjoys playing in the Champions League next season. https://www.unibet.co.uk/blog/football/ligue-1/ligue-1-team-of-the-season-201819-lille-dominate-after-brilliant-campaign-1.1186298

Lander was in decline for several years before he was forced to sell it, presumably because of the debt he had run up borrowing the money to pay Kat. Our best hope is that he is forced to sell the club sooner rather than later to someone who has money of his own.

Yes, and you seem to post a lot of it.

Fonte is through to his second European final with Portugal and the Champions League with Lille. What a fantastic late career he's having. Surely he deserves a place on the legends banner as much as Keegan does.

The point is, there was never any of the rancour from our fans that there is today. Fans were working for their money and they knew that footballers were doing the same thing they would do in the same circumstances: getting the best jobs or, by the time they reached their thirties, the only jobs they could. Footballers get paid a ridiculous amount of money but their careers are very short: maybe 10 years if they are lucky. And, as youngsters, they blow most of the money they earn very quickly the same as most of us would have done at the same age. How many 20-year-olds think about their pensions? The bitter envy and hatred some of our fans feel towards people who are trying to better themselves and their families does our reputation no good whatsoever. If you were talented and hardworking enough to make it to the Premier League, wouldn't you want to play for a top club and win a medal or two and the most money you could when you had the chance? Les Reed has a lot to answer for. He really turned our fans against the players and managers.

Van Dijk was the last off the Paul Mitchell scouting conveyor belt. We were linked with him before Mitchell left although the signing took place afterwards. I think he'd have taken him to Spurs but they decided on Alderweireld instead.

He didn't play football but got into this line of work because his friend's dad asked him to write a report on a youth team match. He went up to Les Reed at a conference and they instantly hit it off. The rest is history: unfortunately ours.

Good post, Jeff. The endless bitterness on here about players and managers who are leaving or who have already left for pastures new just like players and managers do at every club and always have done is getting mind numbingly boring.

The same manager that some said on here had no chance of getting Spurs into the top 4? He was a very good manager for us and he's achieved more at Spurs than most of the cynics on here dreamed was possible. Les Reed's negative PR 'leaks' about the players and managers he fell out with seem to have mentally scarred some of our fans for life. Oh for the good old days when Channon, Davies and Ball went to Portsmouth and nobody thought anything of it. If you look at the careers of football players and managers they nearly all work for more than one club.