Chez

I'm always very interested to read posts from people that know more than I about our finances. Can you provide a little more information here. Interesting subject. From the naked eye it looks as though we have sold players and then spent the money on others, plus gave higher wages to those that remained. The previous owner continually put money into the club and was paid relative peanuts for those loans. She sold up to someone else. She didn't take money out of the club at that point, she took money directly from another buyer. She left that new buyer with a £75M saleable asset. Are you suggesting Gao is asset stripping now? You may be right, but it seems a little early to make that judgement.

Has Les failed if the club make a valuation on a player and then offers that amount only to be turned down? Failed to sign him yes, but failed? If you value a player and then only get the player by paying twice as much (thereby reducing the funds to spend elsewhere) is that really success for a director? Just asking...

equally interesting. As for the OP, I posted this on the other thread, but sod it, I will post here too. Protesting because the team isn't playing well? Sigh. Jesus, suck it up. It's football FFS. Take the pain. We've had plenty of fun over the last five or six years. We're five minutes past a Wembley final and for some, a once in a lifetime experience watching Saints in Milan. Moan. Boo at the end after a poor display, even write something nasty on your own ****ter account...but protesting is for when the board want to change the clubs name to Hampshire FC or the Chairman is paying himself £17m a year whilst giving the manager tuppence to spend...or is he doing that...better check those accounts carefully next year!

Thanks for sharing this information. Made my very reluctant visit to this thread worthwhile.

any big sales since then? Are there any top top players left over there?

yep. Should be working 24 hours a day on bringing in a new striker that won't be fed.

Not saying I like it, but what exactly can he do to prevent that? He doesn't have any say over his sons choice of player to represent. Should he have asked his son not to represent Saints players? What if he represents a player at another club that we happen to become interested in? It's all very messy. it terms of positives and negatives. Perhaps his son's client's are treated favourably, but equally, perhaps he has more chance of convincing his son's clients to stay at the club.

bring back the bloke who got the Skacel deal over the line.

Protesting because the team isn't playing well? Sigh. Jesus, suck it up. It's football FFS. Take the pain. We've had plenty of fun over the last five or six years. We're five minutes past a Wembley final and for some, a once in a lifetime experience watching Saints in Milan. Moan. Boo at the end after a poor display, even write something nasty on your own ****ter account...but protesting is for when the board want to change the clubs name to Hampshire FC or the Chairman is paying himself £17m a year whilst giving the manager tuppence to spend...or is he doing that...better check those accounts carefully next year!

Has the money not left Russian football since then and thus they are in a slightly less strong position? I'm asking, not telling.

what's he proved though? In all fairness it was a tough gig fitting into that Leicester team. Maybe he will prosper elsewhere, but I am not sure he is proven. He's played.

**** em and move on. The prices being demanded of Prem clubs for out of favour players is getting out of hand. We are just a 20 strong cash cow to the other leagues.

Spurs are underpaying... ...that aside, I still don't understand why we offered FF a new deal last July. I was far from convinced when he got his 5 year deal in the summer of 2016, in fact I thought it was madness. But after a pretty **** season he then got an improved deal and another year to boot! Now tell me that wasn't ****ign madness. And now, after failing to improve (some would say getting worse - I think he's just been as bad as before) it certainly is looking like a terrible decision. Not a chance anyone will take him off our hands. We'd have to pay a huge huge chuck of his wages. Just one expensive millstone round our neck, right there

Ben Wilmot is certainly worth a look IMO.

You were quite clearly suggesting that if Stoke can bring someone in in just a couple of days then why can't saints. Stoke didn't. Signings take a while. That's not an excuse for Saints not bringing someone in and why they haven't been able to is anyones guess, but it's just a fact.

I reiterate that his signing was not a result of Lambert joining, he was identified by Stoke some time ag. My point was that the signing hasn't taken a couple of days.

You can take my word for it...or, if my word is not good enough for the batman, then you could maybe accept Pat Murphy's, who said the same thing on the radio a few days ago (I'd hunt for the recording, but I don't have the time). If that still fails to cut the mustard, then maybe the Stoke Sentinel, where it says, and I quote: "Lambert revealed this morning he had given his blessing to the deal on learning that Stoke were interested in Stafylidis" Hope that helps?

So? The player wasn't brought in on his recommendation and the work done to bring him to the club started yonks ago. As with Redmond signing, the manager has very little to do with it.

yeah the constant threads/requests for a Rank Xerox style kit on here would drive you mental.

Maybe he's a plan C player like Fellaini, although can't remeber the last time I saw Chelsea hoof the ball long. Hazard would **** off very quickly if that became a regular thing

scary how good they have been recently. Spurs have taken us to the cleaners in recent times. I've seen them fall short a couple of times this season - when Eriksson looked knackered was one of the games, but not sure how you beat them. I always think Saints do well when we press high up the pitch and hassle them constantly. Not sure we have the fitness do that for more than a half though. In Poch's days we didn't actually press the top sides, but still found a way to win. Koeman went five at the back and defensive and that worked too. Both had decent sides to work with. What the best way is with this set of players I don't know.

Whatever we do it needs to be a damn sight different from the Wembley game. I still don't understand why we don't play three centre backs and push our fullbacks up a fraction, without leaving us quite so exposed to the counter. Can't see any reason why we can't play the three central midfielders offering us the most physical presence and who cover the most ground (at a pace worth talking about). no idea why Boufal doesn't play all the time, in the middle, with a free role. Long has to be selected because Gabbiadini looks like he has lost his confidence (not to mention that Longe has done pretty well the last two games). McCarthy Cedric Stevens Yoshida Hoedt Bertrand PEH Lemina Romeu Boufal Long

Is he a `TV highlights' type player, as every time I see him (all be it mostly in cameos) he makes something happen.

Plenty of fantastic players have been found hiding in the reserves of big sides. You'd think that for them to have been bought by those sides in the first place that they must have shined considerably at one point - and perhaps can again. Salah and De Bruyne are two good examples and further back I seem to recall Vierra being stuck in Milan's reserves and Berkamp falling out of favour at Inter after a couple of average seasons. The trouble with signings from these big clubs is the players are already earning a fortune. that said I am still wondering when we are going to sign Kieran Tierney.

famed black box once more focuses on players that have a close link with the manager. Part of the attraction of bringing a foreign manager to the club from a different league is that he will have the inside track of the top (and perhaps untapped) talent in the league as koeman did with Tadic and Pelle. It doesn't feel like Puel or Pellegrini's situations/knowledge has been exploited enough (with just Boufal signing) although perhaps the Classie signing ****ed that up for everyone!