Chez

they certainly do. And it is NOW MASSIVE. I would think it makes for depressing reading should anyone compare an individual 17/18 player performance with his wage. That cash dropped a little based on our final league position/lack of TV games. Whether the club budgeted for that extra income I don't know.

thought he looked classy in flashes. Did he have a decent season? Might be worth a look.

agreed and this is why people dislike him.

Carlsberg appear to have put post match interviews together too... https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/44269285

You don't recollect terribly well. Lallana left a year after signing a five year deal. Lovren a year after signing a four year deal. Both forced their way out.

Well said. I know very well where we stand in the pyramid, but signing contracts and then forcing the clubs hand to leave five minutes later ****es me off.

so pleased that I didn't have to witness LOLvren, van **** and nivea boy holding that trophy great aloft. If Salah hadn't got injured I'd of fancied them to win, but such is life. Noticeable how much of a non entity Henderson was, and he will be running our central midfield this summer at the WC. Gulp.

the colour combination of red and black is very 1980s, add white and grey and you have the full 1980s pallet. If given a choice, most designers wouldn't touch those with a bargepole. Nice to see some designs that aren't over fussy. The last two kits have been dreadfully executed.

btec in mythology and the art of delusion

so? When a player is loaned out, his wages may be paid by his current club, the club that he is being loaned to, or a combination of both ie subsidised by the current club. And yes the club he joins on loan may also pay a fee. It varies. What was the financial structure of this particular loan?

I also like the R/W version.Very solid design and the way the stripes are organised works well around the collar area. I like the extra white (like Stoke). Also like the blue trim. Far far better colour combination than red/black, which is feels so dated. I actually like the two tone back version too. Blimey. I never like these mock ups, whats wrong with me today? The sky blue version could be two tone stripes too for me. Maybe that would be a bit predictable or dull, but the current concept is wishy washy and I don't see any real design concept there. Add navy shorts to that red and white kit and I'd be pretty damn happy.

subsidising wages seems increasingly common these days. Did we do that with Classie? Will we do that with someone like Forster, who maybe cost prohibitive to anyone actually interested?

I'd like to see him leave, freeing up wages for someone better.

Well said.

and we will prosper?

Very good footballer. A first touch that enables him to play at a good level, but the way Zaha tore him apart at SMS is hard to get out of my mind. As a left back he wasn't anywhere near good enough at that point. Weak and so slow. A few good crosses whilst hiding at left midfield was not enough to change my opinion. I have to say though, he looked much stronger when I saw him at the start of this season, and maybe even a little sharper too, which encouraged me, but watching him at Fulham he still has a long way to go. I am glad he went out on loan and as cover he might be just about good enough next season, maybe, but he isn't a player that will put opponents on the back foot. My concern is that we have had two of the best left backs in the league over the last five years. Settling for Targett just sees us weakened. The squad needs to be improved otherwise we will struggle again next season.

Slow lightweight fullbacks, combined with lightweight and/or clumsy centre backs is what made us perennial relegation candidates for years. I want our young players to be given every chance to succeed, and loans are a good way to toughen them up, but the thought of Targett bolstering our pitiful defence makes me shudder. If Bertrand leaves, then we MUST invest in a quality pacey fullback.

as usual I'd like to request that we revert to navy shorts.

The Lagstone Campus is `prime real estate' right by the water. If they wanted land or to be part of a property deal then they have it right there already, but they are selling that. I'd be surprised iff the uni was interested in buying the Roko site. The sponsorship is not unusual. Hull University sponsored the Tigers for many years when they were in the lower leagues and there have been others. Having a successful team puts a city on the map and can help bring students to the city. The skates previous success and the increase in student population at Pompey went hand in hand. However, I'm surprised the University has chosen to overlook the fact the previous incarnation screwed the Portsmouth student union over for almost three grand. Different owners but still, I'd of thought they'd give them a wide berth.

Really? Did they say why the Poly wants to buy Roko (which is not owned by the Skates, they just have a multi year lease)? The Poly is selling off the Langstone campus (but keeping the sports grounds open), which is a trek from the rest of the city centre campus, so I would have thought it's unlikely to acquire the Roko site, as that is even further away, located in Copnor.

the foul by Cedric near the end that earned him a yellow as absolutely vital. If he hadn't made it they would have been in. That win at all costs, doing the nasty things has been totally missing this season and just one reason why we have conceded so many simple to covert goals. I thought we were pretty lucky to hold on. The last ten minutes was a nightmare, but fair play to us, we played pretty well and created chances. Happy ****ing days.

Not sure which part you have doubts about, but pretty much all this information is in the public domain. Lambert requested to leave https://southamptonfc.com/news/2014-06-02/statement-player-interest--rickie-lambert Lovren - head gone https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/dejan-lovren-head-already-liverpool-7378180 Wanyama - asked to leave, had to be dropped as head wasn't right http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11700/9974682/victor-wanyama-staying-at-southampton-as-tottenham-miss-out Morgan - mentally not fit to play https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/southampton/11027060/Southamptons-Morgan-Schneiderlin-faces-threat-of-fine-if-he-refuses-to-make-himself-available-for-Liverpool-game.html You may have seen his tweets also perhaps that we scathin gof the club for not allowing him to leave Lallana threatens strike https://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/386823/REVEALED-Angry-Adam-Lallana-made-Southampton-threats-to-push-through-Liverpool-move Clyne - offered contract http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/13353201.Liverpool_table_new_bid_for_Southampton_s_Nathaniel_Clyne/ VVD refuses to play https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/van-dijk-southampton-liverpool-transfer-10847224 I guess that just leaves Mane and Shaw. If you think either were touted around as apposed to them being tapped up then you are mistaken.

Also Dortmund themselves are a bloody huge club and very near the top of the German/European football pyramid. Unlike us.

Appreciate you responding. You didn't provide replies for them all. Also the response for Pelle has nothing to do with how the club handled player negotiations. I believe we did say no. He promptly said he would never play for the club again. Are you saying we should have just shrugged our shoulders and said "see your contract fella"? Might have worked. The question is, would he have given his all if we denied him the move? It certainly seemed to get ugly that summer. My guess is the club felt he had "gone" already. By the time the club gets the offer from Liverpool negotiations with players have been wrapped up. what about the transfer negotiation, Should we have done that differently? Decent offer. Sounded quite large at the time. Actually it sounded about right. He had two years left on his contract. Let that wind down and watch the value drop as it did with Clyne. We could have offered a new deal, maybe we did, but he wasn't going to sign it. Liverpool were talking with his agent around 6 months before he moved I suspect? Spurs overpaid massively by the way. You are right. I don't understand why we let him go. Strongest fullback pairing in the league at that time. Should only have allowed him to once Clyne signed an extended contract. His struggles at Arsenal have `let us off' somewhat. Shaw is the key for me. Keep him and the other players may have followed suit. But how do you say `no you are not going to manchester united on a double your money contract'? Perfect storm. Lots of young and bloody top notch players at a `small premiership club' (not my words) at the same time (with some very desperate under performing big clubs) that proved they were good by getting us high in the league. Once you sold one, then the whole `united journey to the CL' ends and everyone sees the bright lights elsewhere. Clubs of our size just don't create and buy that sort of talent. Usually you have a good player, sell him and replace with ****. We replaced with top performers that were also desired. It was like a domino rally. Each player saying - you sold X last summer, so why not me? I am not sure you have explained how you would have kept these players. The `just say no' option seems simplistic. In reality was the only option to have given Shaw £100k a week and then done the same with all the others? £5.2m a year for each player (its more with NI). 20 players on that is still less than our wage bill now, so might have been the way forward, although the television money has grown since then to be fair

Once Shaw deal was agreed I think it was a runaway train. Maybe you disagree. Out of interest, what should we have done IYO with each of the players that left? Perhaps you can go through each. I will set the scene and perhaps you can advise how we should have handled each player negotiation. Maybe you only need to focus on Shaw. Keep him - not sure how that would have been possible - and that may have made a statement encouraging the rest to stay. Maybe only keeping Nik Nak would have made the difference? I am genuinely interested as to what the right path should have been. Even with hindsight I am unsure what we could have done. Shaw - Agent informed Saints he wanted to leave. Offered record fee. Lovren - asked to leave and informed club his heart was not in it (head was elsewhere) Lallana - asked to leave, refused to play for club Lambert - asked to leave, offered decent money for player on the wain Chambers - offered huge money for player with 20 games under his belt Morgan - asked to leave, kept sweet by saying he could go following year Wanyama - asked to leave, kept sweet by saying he could go following year Clyne - refused to sign new contract and expressed desire to leave Pelle - offered reasonably large fee Mane - asked to leave. offered big transfer fee VVD - went on strike, sulked, didnt perform, offered record fee.