Saint Albert

I'll be choked if he ends up at Spurs.

He did. He really did. It boggles the mind. Still, Martina will always have that goal...

I read today that Palace are pushing hard for Silva.

RIP. I read an article about him in the Independent this morning. He sounded like a wonderful person. This is all so very distressing.

"Champions League ready by 2021"...interesting.

Denise Richards as a nuclear scientist...that was some delightfully inappropriate casting.

The story on Iheanacho mentions that we're going to lose out to Arsenal on Onyekuru, and Iheanacho is our next target, along with "West Han". Pretty good next target if you ask me. Shame about Onyekuru. Nothing stunts a young player's development like spending the season stuck on Wenger's bench.

Sports Witness is a good source for transfer speculation: Iheanacho's agent names Southampton as a club interested in signing him Southampton one of four clubs linked to R. Semedo

I loved JW Pepper in Live and Let Die...What are you, some kind of doomsday machine?. Good stuff. I loved Moonraker's space shenanigans when I first saw it as a boy but now it seems cheesy. It has one of my favourite Bond lines at the end (Q: I believe he's attempting re-entry! Anyway, in the list I'd rate The Man With the Golden Gun about middle of the pack with Live and Let Die, the Spy Who Loved Me and For Your Eyes Only my top 3.

My wife's least favourite Bond but I liked him as the one I grew up with. Got a bit campy towards the end. Loved the Spy Who Loved Me and Live and Let Die but the latter is probably heavily influenced by my adoration of Paul McCartney.

This is right. ISIS wants marginalized Muslim populations in western countries. It wants alienated and isolated Muslims. It wants Muslims to feel like they are under attack and their mosques under siege. ISIS wants islamaphobic western leaders like Trump and Le Pen. It all provides nourishment for their cause. Just looking at the names and ages of some of the victims coming out in the press...sickening and heartbreaking.

Well this is horrible. 19 fatalities confirmed by police.

If Puel does go perhaps the club will hold off on sales until the new man comes in, giving him a chance to have a word with Bertrand. Also, by then we may get an idea of the market value for an England fullback assuming Spurs let Walker go. Press speculation had Levy asking 40M for him with City interested.

Sell Bertrand and replace him with Targett and McQueen? Sounds like something the club would do. I'd certainly hope for them to do well but I do not recall being particularly impressed with Targett's defending before his injury.

That's a firm no from me.

After relegation from Prem2 I was wondering if the club was lining up Adkins to take over. Complete speculation on my part but I recall his name getting circulated recently by an ITK.

In ranking FF as the 7th best keeper in the Prem, the Telegraph says that FF has had a "wonderful " season: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/05/22/ranking-20-best-goalkeepers-premier-league-201617/7-fraser-forster-southampton/ I have a feeling that many on here will disagree with the Telegraph's assessment...

I think that the board will be alarmed at the drop in total points along with the poor home results and for those reasons I expect them to let Puel go this week. They've previously expressed pride in progression, but at some point we would inevitably hit the brick wall that is the top 6 teams in the country. Selling the team's best players to those clubs above us that we were supposedly hoping to join at one point, is inconsistent with that goal. I remember both Cortese and Krueger talking about champion's league, and I have simply never believed that it is a consistently obtainable goal.

Fair point. This year the "big" teams improved significantly particularly when compared with the previous season. Without analysing the season's stats, our poor record against teams above us (only one win against Everton) explains why we ended up with so few points. Last year I remember wins against Man U, Chelsea, the Boxing Day massacre of Arsenal, 3-2 comeback win over Liverpool (I wonder what Klopp said to Mane when he grabbed him after the final whistle?) and a win at Spurs. It would not surprise me if the "rest" had similar issues.

Ranieri makes more sense as the next passenger on Watford's managerial merry-go-round what with their Italian owners. I saw a bit on the telly yesterday linking him to them. Can't for the life of me remember what I was watching.

Beyond all reasonable doubt, I can say that if I was offered 8th and a cup final for next season, I'd take it. That doesn't mean to say that I'm happy with home form and goals scored, and also the drop in total points accumulated compared with the previous year. It does not mean that I'm 100% happy. It's just that it's a results business and for a club of this size, 8th is very tidy.

The thing that frustrates me is these mock-ups always end up looking bether than the official shirt.

He's class when he can be arsed to play 100%. He seems to start the season strong and then fade into winter. I didn't like his grousing in the media this season about being subbed, nor did I like that his public complaining seemed to get him a result- he played the full 90 minutes for several games afterwards. I think that he's too good to let go unless we have someone with top-end skills waiting in the wings.

Looking at our managers since the return to the Premier League, when Cortese canned Atkins I was more than a little sad for him and fearful for our future, when Poch walked out on us I was concerned half the squad would follow him out the door, when Koeman left after promising he'd stay I was angry but hopeful that players like Tadic would remain with the club as a result of his departure. I'm having a hard time mustering up any emotions about Claude Puel, which probably says something. He's done a decent job in some respects- League Cup final, Stephens, solid but unspectacular away form. I'd still be just about OK with things if he stays, but he is the managerial equivalent of a "meh". If he is fired (which seems likely given home results and goals scored,) I hope that we have someone decent lined up other than many of the candidates rolled around on this forum.

I'm looking for consolation after the Oilers got jipped by the referees in round two..