Alanh

If you've got a budget of circa £8K you can have pretty much the choice of the current hatchbacks. On some brands you'll have to settle for older or higher mileage examples, but you should be able to find something fairly easily. I've recently been looking at Alfa Guiliettas, Golf Mk6s and Leons. You can easily get one of them for less that £8K, you then need to decide whether you want petrol or diesel and how many miles you are happy for it to have done.

you could make an argument that Man U could use all of Schneiderlin, Clyne and Toby as mentioned above as the most likely departees this summer. They could end up writing a cheque almost as big as Liverpool did last summer

I thought that the playing advantage decisions were correct and that it was us who squandered the opportunity. It's a judgement call so everyone is going to have a different opinion but I wouldn't criticize the ref for that one. On the 'handing the ball back' incident, I also thought that we should have been given possession, either by taking it back to Forster, or by giving it to Palace, who then were instructed to pass it to us.

I'd feel disappointed for two reasons. Firstly, 1.6 points per game over the remaining 16 matches would be a slip from the current average of 1.9 points per game. Given that we have played everyone once I'd like to think we can keep up the current average. Secondly because of the 7 teams that finished above us last season 4 are currently below us, with Everton 19 points and 9 places adrift. For me finishing 7th would only represent an improvement based on Everton's relative failure. I'd like to think, after last summer, that we can give Arsenal, Utd, Spurs or Liverpool a run for their money in a fight for 5th place. I don't think we'll finish top 4 but would be delighted with 5th.

Last season we got 14 points from the corresponding fixtures (taking out QPR, Leicester and Burnley) We won 4, lost 7 and drew 2 of them. Matching that would give us 56 points from 35 games (average 1.6 points per game). If we match that against the three promotes sides (5 points near enough)that brings the total to 61 points. Almost certainly not enough for top 4 but means we beat our record and probably get 6th or 7th. For me that would still feel disappointing after getting this far.

+1 on the E-Myth book. Well worth a read. Best advice is, understand the costs associated with your business and work out how the money that comes in will cover them. If you are selling your time as a consultant, or on a £ per hour basis make sure you factor in the fact that you won't be paid when you are not working i.e. on holiday.

I'm not expecting us to finish top four as that would mean we would have to beat too many of the established top sides over the course of the season. I think we've got the squad to give everyone apart from perhaps City and Chelsea a real scare so I'm hoping for 6th place. that wold mean finishing above two of the teams who finished in the top seven last year. Based on current form none of Everton, Liverpool and Spurs look as strong as they were last season and United still look to be in transition from when SAF retired. If we can maintain the form we showed last season against the mid and lower table teams (including improving against the likes of Stoke and Sunderland) and pick up 8 - 10 more points in the 8 games against Utd, Spurs, Liverpool and Everton than last year, then we are in with a chance of moving up a couple of places. That could mean Europa League if the big clubs win the cups and we don't.

I started with a Brupak which was a completely self contained kit and very easy to use. I soon progressed to 25 litre kits and that's big enough for me. Tips as above and have patience. I only brew for bottling and the beer tastes better the longer you leave it. If you get sediment in the bottle don't pour it into the glass when you drink it.

It seems that we are getting adidas next year, but I wouldn't infer that from the advertising. They have got new "improved" boots to sell and that's what all of their advertising is based on at the moment at every ground, regardless of who supplies the home team shirts.

I don't know if Jack Stephens is ready to play regularly in the Prem, but the club will want him to have a pathway to the team. I think we'll see him fight it out with Jobs for the number four CB in the squad.

Pretty sure that RK said in his interviews about Jay and Morgan, that they wouldn't be sold before the start of the season and would be Saints players for the Liverpool game. Gives the club the opportunity to sell between the 16th and 31st and not have broken their word. Personally I'd rather they stuck to their guns and made him stay until January at least, if only as a way of achieving the best possible price for him.

Kruger didn't put a timescale on when the receipts of the transfers would be spent when he gave that interview. It could quite easily be that we spend it over the next three windows, adding to a squad that doesn't get shorn of its talent like has happened this window. He would not be lying in NY way if this scenario played out.

A fire sale is "a sale of goods or assets at a very low price, typically when the seller is facing bankruptcy." Selling assets for absolutely top price in the face of an intractable situation i.e. the player threatening to go on strike, is definitely not a fire sale. I'd say the right phrase is maximising the situation for the club when backed into a corner.

What about them? I'd expect that there will be a pretty much like for like transfer of wages between outgoing and replacement / additional players so the increases for the likes of JRod and JWP would be funded by sales revenues.

Les Reed said in this interview that all funds generated by the sales would be reinvested into the squad. He didn't give a time scale and he didn't say that the investment would be in the form of fees paid for new players. IMO it would be unrealistic for Saints to spend in the region of £75M on transfer fees in one window, however there is always January to make further investment and I would expect JRod and JWP's new contracts to have been funded by some of the incoming revenue.

If accepting less means that we don't have a payday loan shark (Newcastle) or betting company (Villa, Sunderland, West Ham, Swansea) on our shirts I'm all for taking a bit less money. We'll never make up the difference between us and the top 5/6 clubs on any financial comparison, but it's always 11 v 11 running after a bag of air and we've proved we can still beat them on several occasions.

I think you are reading too much into that photo. Just about anything 'exciting' could have just happened to get a response like that from certain members of the crowd. If I had to guess I'd say it looks like a near miss, with some fans up off their seats celebrating too early and the fan with head in hands agonising over what might have been.

Change of manager - Adkins out, Pochettino in.

I see the last matches are scheduled for 24th May. Any idea why the season goes on for approx. an extra 3 weeks compared to previous years? Will impact on the dates for the various end of season cup finals and playoffs.

Yep, it's always one of the landmarks of that part of the close season when nothing much happens, along with the announcement of pre season friendless and the new fixture list. The fact that Veho become sponsors on 1 July makes this date the most likely for the announcement IMO. New manager and possibly a player or two to look forward to before the kit.

To replace Lallana I'd go for Silva, Mirko Marin or possibly Ben Arfa. Rakitic would be amazing but he might be out of our league. Couple one of them with Ramirez and you'd have creativity in the team. Not sure they would offer the defensive side of things that AL offers, and they would have to buy into Poch's philosophy - which might be tricky for someone like Ben Arfa. None of the combinations would offer what AL offers but with time and discipline they could work out.

As you were writing this did you think about how ridiculous your argument is? You buy a ticket to a football match on the premise that you know which teams are playing. Nothing more, nothing less. The same applies to an individual match ticket or a season ticket. You don't know (with 100% certainty) the players that will play in the game or who the managers will be. Now I would understand if you had said that the uncertainty generated by press reports over potential transfers of some of our players is making you uneasy about the quality of the side that Saints will field next season and the information coming from the club about this situation is not resolving our concerns. Unfortunately you didn't say that, you came up with the ludicrous comparison to buying a cinema ticket. About a week ago you threatened to withdraw your long standing support unless you got guarantees that everything in the Saints garden would be rosy for next season, well before the transfer window has officially opened. If you really meant that I suggest you keep the £700 in your pocket as you must know that in football it is impossible to get the sort of guarantees you are asking for and that as a fan all you can do is support the team.

Chelsea - Terry & Cahill, Arsenal - Koscielny & Mertersacker, Man City - Kompany and Demechelis (second half of the season). All IMO of course, and accepting that all defences / defenders make mistakes occasionally.

It's not your criticism of SFC that's being questioned, but your statement "....Neither am I" in post 866. No idea what that means as the words of a long term supporter. Either it's a childish hissy fit or it literally means you're going to stop supporting the club. Which did you mean?

In response to St Richmond's post no 53.