Chez

this thread reminds me of all those posters that revealed they had backed Saints to be relegated last season at tremendously good odds.

Forrest make £300k for selling Fox to Wigan and look to reinvest in loaning Sam Gallagher.

....and we have managed to offload a percentage of his wages, so are we winning? No? Thought not.

I know David Gold is widely disliked by many, but he questioned whether Austin was worth £100k a week. Why would he mention that figure unless it was what his agent was requesting.

Scored 20 goals in the 68 games he was selected for, but missed 42 games through injury in three seasons. That's a lot, but the shoulder injury was pretty unlucky to be fair. If you are shelling out god knows what in wages you are going to be hellish frustrated by that injury record. `Availability is the most important ability'. Putting that to one side, if you are going to have a big number 9 then you need someone that can win some headers and hold the ball up. No one doubts his finishing ability, but we don't exactly create lots of on a plate chances that he excels at taking. As always, if we decide to let him go what is the replacement like?

I feel similar about Jon Viafara for his first play-off goal against Derby. 2-0 down, dead and buried and he gets us back in the game with his half volley. I quite literally pogo'd two rows of seats and nearly died through lack of oxygen to the brain. Anfield celebration was similar, without the pogoing. Too old these days. Never ever watched that game back, so thought I'd do so now. Just listen to the noise when Jon scores our first to get us back in the tie. Shiver down my spine when I watched Rasiak gets the equaliser again. Easily the best game of football I've ever been to. Exhilarating to the end.

someone kill me now.

IMO it would be complete and utter madness to select Targett ahead of Bertrand, should that occur.

Again? The last time we go caught short it buying Gunn before shifting Forster.

O sole mio (just one cornetto for those old enough) immediately springs to mind. Ezequiel Schelotto give him to me tremendous full back from Italy ...yeah I know, I'm wasted on here.

if Lewis is considered #3 then there is no reason for us to not accept pretty much any offer coming our way. Even someone paying £20k a week of his wages would not be something to sniff at, however there aren't all that many championship clubs that have the funds available AND a slot that needs filling. I know we haven't been impressed with him, but you'd think that his England call up would be enough for someone to take a punt on him making a difference for them.

Not sure where this 400 figure comes from, but total number of employees of the club would include casual and part time match day staff. Those workers certainly will not be earning £25k a year, mentioned earlier on this thread. I suspect the non playing parts of the club are run very efficiently indeed.

because he was mustard before the injury, hence my question, is he back to where he was before the injury. If the answer is no then obviously I wouldn't want him here. I avoid watching Villa wherever possible, hence I don't know if he has got his mojo back. If not Bolasie, then someone offering his combination of pace, power and tricks please.

you are assuming that the players out on loan will actually be sold after the loan ends. A loan with a view to a permanent move doesn't mean they will actually move. IMO they will all return come the end of May, be paid by Saints all summer and then probably loaned out again come the end of August.

I doubt they are covering all of them. Who has the money to afford premiership players? Would it have been wise to to turn down any offer on the chance that someone might come out of the woodwork at the last minute. Quite a gable that. I'd of taken the bird in the hand on this one personally.

criminal that this has not been addressed yet. Without Cedric's pace there was a good chance that Everton would have scored on one such break on Saturday. We have conceded several times in this way. Doesn't anyone analyse how we concede goals and look to rectify that?

three is always going to be better than two. The question is, when Bertrand is fit and we get this new right back, thus strengthening the defence, will our centre backs be good enough to play as a two? Having a five man defence hides frailties. All that extra space to handle is not good for `slow defenders' like Vestergaard. Bednarek is not quick either I might add. I wonder if we will stick with three CBs until the end of the season no matter what?

this is exactly what will happen with all our failed signings. I'd be surprised if we saw a transfer fee for any of them. It will simply be a case of trying to get as much of their wages paid as possible and then writing off their transfer fee/value over the lifetime of their contracts. Financially very painful indeed.

Seems very settled in the South. I don't suppose Reading have the finances to bring him there. I don't suppose anyone without a parachute payment could afford even half his wages.

Bolasie cancelled his loan either because Everton wanted him back and it was up to him to cancel the loan to make that happen. Or, he knows that another premiership club are interested in taking him off Everton's hands in this window. I suspect that would be Palace, but Bolasie to Saints has a nice ring to it. One of my favourite players prior to the crucial ligament injury. The question is, has he got that electric pace and power back?

boy did his pace get us out of jail when we yet again were caught on the break from our own corner. FFS we must sort that out. Not the worst player to bring off the bench. Worked hard, got up and down and did well defensively.

not exactly in Maguires league for physicality and ability in the air, but on the ball Stephens is extremely composed. He's more John Stones-like.

sometimes teams throw caution to the wind, bring on a extra forward/a big man and we struggle to cope. When they throw men forward we often fail to kill teams off when we hit them on the break.

Improving with every game, but the five man defence hides frailties. Hard to know if he, Bednerek, Targett and Vestergaard are good enough to hold there own against better quality in a four man defence. Really hope Valery has what it takes.

Can someone tell me how Long missed that chance in the first half? Absolutely ****ing woeful. How was that even possible.