Chez

I think the Spertsyan bid was the start of July. It was reported as being, maybe around the 12th. That's a while after, but highly likely to be the `creative' player mentioned. My guess is he will join us in the last week of the window.

Would be good to know the exact wording to determine if they are totally discounting it or there is still a possibility of a loan or two. if you can buy a player for £6m that can get you promoted and then play at the higher level too, great. But unless you have top quality players, we won't get promoted, and pretty much every successful side over the last decade has loaned in players to help them go up.

` I was not at that game or Millwall away the previous season, so the virtues of Les and Fraser (scorers of vita and less vital late goals) never rubbed off on me. Bets of luck to him and Burnley.

Can we get you in the room, prior to the next round of negotiations, for a pep talk?

Out of interest, do you know when that was said. I was just wondering if it was before or after the Spertsyan report?

did they not watch him stroll around failing to run a game all season with us?

I am trying to remember what this board was like after we lost away at Luton (second game after drawing the first 0-0) with bagpuss spending just £90k on a skate with dodgy knees.

or maybe it was, as reported, Spertsyan turning us down as he wanted to see if a top flight club would sign him. Maybe that move isn't completely dead, but is only going to happen in the last week of the window.

us or them?

That's what I was told by someone who would know. But they only played 3 official U18 PL games. He was on the bench for two of them. However, I am guessing there were friendly games prior to those, so maybe he didn't start in any of those either. It matters not. He's older and more confident and he's off. So lets get a massive sell on clause and a first dibs buy back so if he is either very successful or a big failure we can take advantage, again.

Ah, the old considering walking away noises. They are all in now. This deal will be done very soon.

It's been answered on various threads. We identified three positions to strengthen and confirmed we didn't have to have sell players in order to buy. Which is why we signed two players. Obviously we have sold players too. it doesn't appear to be lack of funds, it's about getting the quality of the player they want to come to us rather than hold out for alternative...and the selling club being ready to sell/loan etc.

It was. As much as it pains me to say it, the side they had that year was pretty decent though. They maximised its potential by winning a trophy. We didn't quite do the same with our two top sides in 2014 and 2016. When you have a good PL side, that is the time to really go for it, because you simply are never going to have a better opportunity. What chance of us winning this season? Zero.

Yes, but I think it was more about how much money they now have left after getting that deal done. I'd of thought they could still afford Dibling. From an Everton point of view, they feel like a nice pair of signings to me. Might not make them winners overnight, but creates a younger more talented squad.

to be fair the skates beat Man at Old Trafford. Another issue was we didn't seem to get to semi finals and finals with our best performing sides. The Poch 2014 team and Koeman 2016 sides had everything needed to win a major cup, but they didn't get a run started.

I intentionally didn't mention it, as that isn't going to turn glory hunters into Saints fans.

The big clubs, Man United apart, always seem to make a load out of their failures. I guess City aren't recouping what they paid for Philips. Chelsea appear to have only got £24m of the £30m back. So they have made a bit of a loss. £15m would be a bloody good deal. £24m feels about right. Not sure he failed. He just couldn't get in the side, which isn't easy when they have hundreds of attacking players.

He didn't actually get homesick. The biggest problem was he couldn't get a game there, as they had lots of top class (England) players. If you are not playing games, it's hard to settle in, be part of the side and make friends etc. He didn't really fit in full stop. He was shy and the rest of Chelsea lads were larger than life type characters. At Saints he didn't need to prove himself, knew everyone and was a big fish in a smaller pond. That all happened three years ago. He was only 16. Three years at that age is a long time. He's grown up since then, and become a top quality senior player...with the confidence that brings. It might not work out at Everton, but not because he will get homesick.

It will be 50 years since the FA cup win next spring and we have almost nothing to show for it in the trophy cabinet. Very frustrating. If we had won something in the modern era that may have helped grab a few more youngsters east of dibbens corner. Was there a particular game in the 83/84 season that costs us the league? I know nothing about 79 league cup final. Did we have our chances? Obviously, Heath killed us at Highbury and the Mark Wright broken leg fucked our chances in the 86 semi final. Roger fucking Milford in 90 and a linesman in 2017 did us no favours, to say the least. Pochettino making 6 changes against Sunderland. Not sure there was much we could have done at Cardiff - go for it a little more, maybe?

A buy back clause wouldn't be a bad idea. Getting first dibs at him next summer when we go up and he's underwhelmed at Everton. Kevin Davies II.

I think you are probably right. If you are signed for £40m then £100k+ a week seems a reasonable assumption. It's a no brainer to move to a PL club. He hasn't spent most of his life trying to become a professional footballer only to give up because he has got a big contract. The money can be an issue for some, but for others it just adds to the motivation. On top of that, he wants to win, to be great, to be better, to be the best... He can do that at Everton and then wherever after. He wont be doing it at Saints.

Do teams often grant permissions before a fee has ben agreed? I agree, the wages will already have been sewn up. The permission just allows the manager to talk to him directly to convince him he's making the right move etc.

They said they had identified a need in those three positions. When asked if we had to sell before signing players, the answer was no. They didn't say "we will sign three players in those position before selling anyone". There's a slight difference. You say we are no closer, but how do you know? We might be very close. We may have been miles off a month ago, but within a whisker now. Like you, I really hope we bring some new creative talent as soon as possible, but there is still time.

No, we had three. I am lying. I don't have a clue how many, but I do know that clubs don't just have one player on their short list.

I'm not frustrated at not signing a AM yet. In truth I was slightly surprised we signed a defender and forward as our squad is so large. Stephens had a year remaining on his contract, so he either got no contract extension, a two year contract or three. I never thought we'd keep them. All our strikers failed in the PL, but are on big wages. I didn't think for a minute we'd be fighting off suitors. Last week loans/desperate bids more like. I bet we sign an attacking midfielder.