The9

That's not what Cortese (probably) says.

If we're spending every penny we've received on signing on fees and wages which are lower than those of the outgoing players but removing any future overheads like wage bonuses in comparable contracts, then we're doing exactly that. There have been too many rumblings about "inherited financial situation" for it not to be a factor. Of course, this is all moot unless we actually sign some replacements.

"Don't worry be happy" - Bobby McFerrin. "Don't worry, about a thing, cos every little thing, gonna be alright" - Bob Marley (Three Little Birds).

Or we could have actually tried to develop some new revenue streams...

Not unless we were in the bottom 6 and failing to score enough goals. And even then, I should think he'd rather stay where he is, for the money if nothing else.

He should certainly have the most impact for them - for all the signing creative players, it was a decent CB and DM they need(ed). The rest of their transfers are just to sustain a CL campaign on top of trying to retain their Prem top 4 status (which I don't think they will without Suarez).

Yeah but there are regular starters all over the Prem doing stuff like that nowadays, seems like no-one can defend any more.

Should be aiming to win it. As that is completely unrealistic, should be aiming to finish as high as possible, I'd be happy with somewhere in the top half.

I have his absolute bull5hit blocked, there's no benefit of the doubt being afforded.

In matches Hooiveld started, we Drew 1 (at Newcastle) Lost 2 (at Arsenal and home to Spurs). Not really scary to be honest, pretty much in line with expected results. It was W5-D9-L9 in the League the season before in matches he started - but after starting with 5 defeats, even that isn't such a bad record from December 2012 onwards. Not that I'm suggesting he's an ok choice, just that you can't really identify it from the results.

I think he's getting Van Dijk confused with De Vrij.

We'd be about 5 signings short, based on my expectations in May. I can downsize them, but I can't pretend they didn't exist.

1) We needed to sign one before we sold Lovren. 2) Stephens hasn't been good enough to start for the first team in the league in the 4 years he's been with us so far, including when we were in L1. 3) No-one knows, which is why we need to sign someone before we have to play THREE YEARS without a replacement CB pairing, which seems to be what you're suggesting.

Re: Gallagher and Samaras... I think I'd like the option, even of a vaguely half-decent lazy striker who might score the odd goal and can play out wide to fill in when our first choices aren't available. It does smack of bloating the squad a bit though. Gallagher has looked quite sharp and confident pre-season, so hopefully he'll get better too.

Ah http://www.sempreinter.com/2014/08/04/pedulla-schelotto-saints-tuesday-will-be-a-key-day/ That was posted on Monday.

Here's some random African site reporting Taider anyway: http://africanfootball.com//news/445802/Saints-welcome-Algerian-starlet-Tader

AFAIK, there was a report from Italy which said they couldn't do Osvaldo's transfer until Wednesday (can't remember if it was practicalities of the medical or media or waiting for the squad to get back from USA or what) - but that would obviously impact on our ability to unveil the swap player(s) until then. It is one of the few things keeping me sane regarding our transfers at this point.

Man City representative on the Forum..?

I don't know where the goals will come from, is my worrying response. Midfield maybe? Tadic looks like someone who can score in open play or from set pieces. I guess we could score a few more from corners and wide free-kicks, Koeman has certainly been working on them but you can't tell how well they'll work against Prem sides. Pelle is the obvious choice but all the highlights/live streams of pre-season I've seen so far seem to show he's not really one for shooting, or attacking the 6 yard box. He has some KEN~!!!wyne tendencies, likes to get it down and lay it wide, looks decent in the air, not the greatest touch (but then who does, compared to Lambert?), might take time to adapt to Prem-level defending, but then that's pretty poor across the board now, so maybe the answer is "terrible opposition defending"?

Well, I think you're the only one. And I say that as someone who didn't see how he would fit into the squad going forward.

My purchase history only appeared after someone else bought my ticket...

I'd misunderstood what the £600k figure was referring to.

FFP has been known about (if not actually agreed to) for a good 3 years or so, and the rules take the transition period into consideration to some extent.

Just to note that Newport County's kit is 1) cheaper and 2) better quality than the Skates' for the second year running. And that Newport also have a vote on their programme cover (from 4 designs), so it's a notable lower league fan-engagement thing in L2. Also, that the shirt thing is a very good way of trying to make sure that they don't end up with thousands of unsold shirts at Sportsdirect.com for £9.59 like this season. But then surely they'll have had the sense not to have ordered as many this year, won't they? Good to see the deluded few piling on for promotion again, it's no coincidence in a small betting market that the two best-supported clubs are the shortest odds... wonder if they'll lose 4-1 first match again this season?

I wasn't referring to either of those in the article - but having just seen our wages figure for 2013 I'm happy to perform a massive u-turn. EDIT: Or at least would be if it was just player wages.