The9

I did see a match between Inter Cardiff and someone from the LoW in the season I was with Afan Lido on YouTube somewhere the other week, having seen that I think I'll shut up about it, it's a step up from jumpers for goalposts. Can I just link my overhead kick from Dean Court instead ?

Yeah, I chose to support Saints (and go to University in Southampton) based on the excitement around Ian Branfoot's tenure and the huge potential of The Dell. I think having just seen a team get liquidated after 2 successive relegations and dropping out of the Football League I kind of related to the underdog. Or I'd stopped caring, whatever. No, actually it was how disorganised the Uni Open Day was, and walking back to the train station via the nice bits and The Common. I like a bit of green. Plus there was a Div 1 club, which was a bonus. I will own up to going to Fratton a couple of times in early '92 "just to check", but they won 6-1 against Millwall and got Bruce Rioch sacked the first time I went (14 March 1992), and I somehow qualified to buy an FA Cup Semi-Final ticket (but didn't actually get one), I wasn't having any of that nonsense in my life. Was back down there in the away end with Bristol City, Cambridge and Notts County within months. So yeah, I'm a very patient glory hunter, 21 years and counting so far, one JPT win, a trip to Bucharest and an FA Cup Final defeat 12 miles from my house so far. I wasn't fully committed by the time of the ZDS Final. Newport have been promoted 5 times and been to an FA Trophy Final in the same period.

When you say "just", did you mean "4 hours ago when first posted in this thread which is named for that actual piece of information" ?

Dunno actually, it might be via PayPal. You lot should go out if you're drunk.

That was about 16 months ago, about 250 mentions of "got paid to play football" back.

I'm not boycotting away games. I'm just not going to any for a few months after Arsenal. As for the £5, I didn't pay for ages until the Forum match came up in 2009 and since then I've just never cancelled the debit. It'll bounce next year as I have a new card, so that's that sorted. As for Windmill Arm 2, if he doesn't think much of me I must be doing something right.

Still sounds to me like they've agreed a fee and either upped it or are playing brinkmanship because he's already over here. But it also says we've agreed terms (which seemed evident this morning from Ramirez's comments about his signing on fee and annual wages). The bit where it says "Saints' bid had never been considered" isn't even reflected in the quote, where the Bologna Chairman says "a suitable offer has not arrived" and he "refused the bid", not that he considered it. And I'm pretty sure they've already been quoted as saying they agreed a fee with us.

Copied for the lazy : The Uruguay international had claimed earlier in the week that a move to the Premier League side was close to completion after an £11.8 million bid was reportedly accepted by the Serie A outfit. However, Guaraldi has warned that the move is further away from finalising than currently being reported. He told Sky Sport 24: “The situation is much more complicated than he thinks. It’s not just about figures, but seeing what is included and what isn’t.” And the club president went on to claim the bid from Southampton had never been considered and then slammed the player’s agent for his handling of the matter. “The offer we received has not been considered suitable. His agent has already reached an agreement with the English club, but we haven’t. “Now the situation is static, we made our demands and will see what happens. “I don’t understand why Gaston said those things. I won’t even get into the behaviour of his agent.” The Italian club remain defiant that they will not sell the player unless the €20m (£15.7m) is met, with Guaraldi hinting that interest from a number of other sides had already been rejected. He continued: “We spoke to the top Italian clubs about Gaston, but I have always been clear: I’d let him go only for a suitable offer, which so far has not arrived. I maintained my consistency and refused the bid. “I am irritated because one of my players spoke as if he were already at another club, when there still isn’t any agreement. “I can understand his desire to make the move, but I do not share his timing and methods. All negotiations can collapse, which is why I consider the player’s attitude to be premature. “The club cannot be forced to follow the rules of players and agents.” The South American had earlier in the week talked about his excitement at signing for Southampton and shrugged off reports linking him to Inter Milan. He told Sky Sport Italia: “Inter? There was nothing official. Southampton were the club who decided to sign me and I’m happy that I’ll be going there.”

I'm also wondering if Cork got bumped due to being with Team GB when they had the conversation.

He's no such thing, we still need defenders more, and without them as well, he could just be the difference between bottom and 18th.

You are correct. ITV are paying him more. He was the best thing about the BBC's coverage last season too. Actually talked sense, wasn't patronising and talked about a few things people might actually not know already.

If by "inciteful" you mean he incites hatred, fair enough. If you mean "insightful", he has no insight whatsoever that the drunk bloke down the pub doesn't have. Just regurgitate the following phrases "my Sandra said" "proper club" "nice lad" "the foreign boy" "done good" "bare bones" "brought him to " "I don't know about... " "My missus could have scored that one" And other such banalities. Give him a tactics board and see if he can explain anything to anyone...

I don't think anyone below Championship level can afford his wages tbh, so whilst he had a good spell at Notts, they probably couldn't meet our valuation or his wages.

Also expecting the players without squad numbers to go now (except possibly Dickson due to his twitter comments which suggested he wasn't allowed to), so we may see Reeves and Barnard going out too.

"Might be?" as long as we sign him that's what he's getting, it's already been reported. 17 is missing because we just loaned Forte out, though he wasn't getting a number anyway. Reeves, Dickson and Barnard also don't have numbers. I don't think "you're not wanted any more" is said better than by not giving players numbers when there are plenty relating to their position free.

The new numbering system (or v1.11 if you like) 1, 12, (31) GKs 2, 22, 32 RBs (3), 13, 23 LBs 4, 8, 10, 14, 16, 18, 20, 27, 28, 29, (30), 33, 42 MIDs 5, 6, (15), 16, 25, 26 CBs 7, 9, 11, (17), 19, 21, 24 LW/RW/STs Plus 34-40 and 43 upwards which could be pretty much anyone youth/late. (35, 36 both dev strikers) Old numbering system: (v1.0) 1, 21, 31 GKs 2, 12, (22) RBs 3, 13, 23 LBs 4, 8, 10, 14, 18, 20 MIDs 5, 6, 15, 16, 25, 26 CBs 7, 9, 11, 17, 19 LW/RW/STs 27, 28, 29, 30, 32 upwards : Youth/late signings

I realise no-one gives a toss, but here's my guesswork from the end of June, just goes to prove how much can change... we've signed Clyne, Steven Davis, Ward-Prowse has impressed, Forte has gone on loan, Seaborne has come back better than anticipated, Barnard and Dickson are out of the squad altogether and Hooiveld has got #5 despite preferring 26 on twitter. 1 Davis 2 Richardson Clyne in 3 Fox Fox has kept #13 4 Schneiderlin 5 ? is now Hooiveld 6 Fonte 7 Lambert 8 Cork Davis in 9 Rodriguez 10 Sharp kept for Ramirez 11 Guly Sharp keeps #11 - as requested on twitter 12 Butterfield taken by Gazzaniga in a twist on our numbering system 13 Shaw bumped down for Fox and empty #3 14 Hammond 15 ? still free 16 ? Ward-Prowse 17 De Ridder free as Forte is on loan 18 ? Cork as bumped by Davis 19 Lee 20 Lallana 21 ? Guly as bumped by Ramirez/Sharp 22 J Stephens turns out he's a CB now so has 26 23 Harding sold, Shaw has number as 3rd choice LB 24 ? Dunno how I knew this would stay vacant 25 ? Seaborne recovery better than imagined 26 Hooiveld now Stephens 27 Chambers has 28, so close. 28 Chaplow has 27, dammit 29 Barnard no squad number even though 29 is free... 30 Ward-Prowse has done better than expected and is 16 31 ? free 32 ? is Butterfield as Gazzaniga has changed the "use" of 12 33 Dickson gone, De Ridder has kept the number 35 Seaborne has 25 due to decent recovery 37 Forte loaned out 41 Forecast loaned out 42 Puncheon Despite having the basics of position and number spot on, nearly all of them are wrong due to the new signings and a couple of better ratings of kids. Unlucky with Chambers and Chaplow though !

Nobody was confirmed as anything when the kit came out, but the shop sold a few shirts pre-printed "at your own risk" for Lambert, Lallana, and Lee.

15 is free, which meets our numbering system nicely.

3 is free because we're signing a left back, just like 15 is free because we're signing a centre back and 10 is free because we're signing Ramirez. Big drops for Richardson, Chaplow and Guly, Butterfield may be glad he's even got a number, as Barnard, Dickson and Reeves don't have.

Strange that the 20m Euros is only coming up now when that was the FIRST amount that I saw raised this morning. Pretty sure from what I've seen that Bologna have already agreed the amount and given permission for him to come to us, purely grandstanding from their Chairman so he can go back and say he did what he could. We've got it in hand and it'll happen. The look on Adkins' face on SSN was a barely suppressed grin, he knows it'll happen - or has happened.

Funnily enough I was watching the Dream.On. programme with Wembley FC on ESPN and their manager said something very similar about not having as much time on the ball as the pros as they get closed down more quickly on the dodgier pitches. They're in the Combined Counties Premier, so they're no mugs. Maybe Portsmouth can look forward to playing them next season (if they decide to pretend to be Londoners rather than joining the Wessex League).

I'm going to have to rummage around the Muppet Show for this aren't I ?

...speechless. Harry Redknapp and Mick McCarthy on MotD this season. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19292797 That'll be me recording it and skipping the talking bits anyway. A season of "fcking Redknapp said this about us" awaits. And I thought Lee Dixon going to ITV was bad enough.

I'd be inclined to think the "delay" is because we haven't signed anyone yet.