The9

He looks as skinny as I've seen him for Saints.

I'm guessing that as aap3 bailed us out on the sponsor front they either decided they weren't going to pay extra for the non-first team sponsorship, or Cortese changed the contract from the last one aap3 had so he could try and sell the academy/U21 sponsorship separately to make more money. It certainly couldn't be that there aren't any shirts with sponsors left, the club shops are full of them.

My statement was that "they are definitely getting much less than they would have by remaining in the Championship", which is true. Presumably you're saying the tv money isn't part of the parachute ? That's true because clubs who have never been in the Prem get the money, but it is part of the payments from the Prem to all other clubs. But you're right in that I said "because they've been relegated so many times since they were in the Prem, the amount they're getting for parachutes is lower than what they'd have got as a Championship team", when what I meant was "the amount they're getting overall is lower than what they'd have got as a Championship team".

Bored now, just go here : http://www.football-shirts.co.uk/fans/2013-14-premier-league-shirts_20180

There was a pic of Pochettino with a bandage on his leg on the OS yesterday, I believe.

Like it was chaos for Man City away last season ? Lucky for them that was on tv. I only went to that one to get an Arsenal ticket, and by doing that I basically got priority all season. I wouldn't say it was exactly "fair" but I got top priority for every match and I only went to about half the aways. This season it's going to be far fewer, for all kinds of bizarre reasons.

They weren't using "loyalty points" at all though, they were using "games attended" - the whole point of the loyalty system was to make the less attractive matches worth more points, that is still being ignored. The idea that someone who'd been to Sunderland, Wigan and Everton away would get priority over someone who'd been to Man C, Man U and Liverpool was the point of the system, it is being completely ignored. I am amused that I get priority for this match based on last season, but last season my previous games meant nothing. Utterly ridiculous.

I certainly don't think it helped his development much.

The Prem clubs are offering the lower divisions a smaller proportion of the overall pot. The total amount went up, but they're definitely getting much less than they would have by remaining in the Championship. "League Two clubs [get] £240,000... a 5.4% rise." http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22205419 http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22171365 "Clubs relegated from football's top flight will receive in excess of £60m over a four-year period from next season. The Premier League has agreed new parachute payment arrangements, although it is yet to confirm the exact figure. Clubs relegated to the Championship currently receive £48m over four years."

It's got nothing to do with transparency, the PPs are part of their turnover, are calculated as such, and provide the limit for their expenditure. Apart from the wage cap in FL2, the FL has also said there are conditions they need to abide by - it's THERE the lack of transparency is a problem, because no-one has a clue if that's just rhetoric from the FL or not.

The Parachute Payments are legitimately part of their turnover, whether they're already accounted for or not. What *I* like about it, is that because they've been relegated so many times since they were in the Prem, the amount they're getting for parachutes is lower than what they'd have got as a Championship team.

I'm completely unconvinced, he was as poor as anyone for England in the summer, matches just passing him by.

Interesting level of support for Rodriguez over other strikers. Other than that, vacuous nonsense.

Why have I never seen those topless Alyssa Milano pics before ? I spent years on the innernets in the late 90s looking for those specifically. Tch.

Remy is no Suarez, it's the usual "how much will you put up with for the benefits" argument.

Of course the discussion about why Man City got taken over is irrelevant anyway, when there's the precedent of a billionaire buying Saints in League One.

I like the Denmark women's kit but it's still no kind of Saints shirt.

Yeah but that's only because he plays for Australia and they've been using the 100+ numbers for their domestic-based squad when they play matches in Australia, as opposed to the normal squad who play in the other games all over the world and have the proper numbers. I can cope with that.

I'm not sure why people think we need a wide left midfielder - we have Lallana or Rodriguez who can play there, Puncheon has played some of his best football as a narrow left midfielder (though not for Saints), and Ramirez has also played there. So has Schneiderlin, but I wouldn't suggest moving him at the moment. Shaw is another option, if we signed a full back to cover him or Clyne. Isgrove has looked viable, but we've got a history of churning out short blond kids who have half a good game once then end up at lower league sides (Doble, Reeves, White etc), so I wouldn't want to get excited about him yet. All of them have been better at left mid than Cork has at RB, but somehow he's meant to be considered legitimate cover in that position.

But with so many black players for the mongs to target, how will their little minds cope ?

It is boring that we're not wearing stripes for no apparent reason, yes.

Obvious issues there are Chambers/Clyne, Wanyama/Yoshida, Isgrove/Ramirez, Shaw/Schneiderlin/Ward-Prowse. I can see Mayuka getting 19 instead of 24 this season.

Provided you can have predominantly consecutive numbers you can have any number you like - I recall Bendtner reverting to 52 with Arsenal/Sunderland but Arsenal have long had players in the 50s playing in the League Cup due to picking their youth team and reserves and them needing to have a squad number. Unlikely however that we'd have 25 squad members plus allocate squad numbers to an additional 50 under 21s in order to get Wanyama to wear a daft high number. Re : 12, it's not always a GK number, UK sides often prefer 13 for keepers due to the bad luck thing meaning others don't want it and 12 historically being "first sub" and therefore an outfielder, but 12 is a popular GK number internationally and that's becoming more prevalent in the UK recently (viz Gazzaniga last year when Butterfield had 12 the season before). I usually start this kind of thread, but it's pretty futile, and with both kits changing every season there's not much long termism to consider like there used to be when clubs were only changing shirts every two seasons in alternate years, and there was a need to maintain numbers year on year so fans didn't get narky about having the right kit but wrong number in the second year of use.

If it had to be one or the other I think I'd go with a superduper striker and make us a team that outscores the opposition. But honestly I think we need both a stable first choice CB pairing AND a new and improved strike force.

Every season is going to be "make or break" for a chunk of players at Saints, it's an obvious side-effect of trying to improve on what we've got with every signing, and having a squad of around 25 with only 11 starting in the team. Not really sure why "getting rid" rather than "trying to work on weaknesses" is the preferred choice though, sometimes its "better the devil you know" rather than having to bring in and settle a new player which will unsettle others and may not be any better in the long run. There are a variety of options, will be interesting to see if we actually move more players on when we've stabilised contracts at the level we're at, and our pay to non-playing reserves doesn't massively outstrip anything other clubs will offer them.