Chez

At Luton he looked very much a Premiership player, even an England player if you ask me, but he hasn't reached those heights since (although a £8m transfer to Villa suggests his time at WBA wasn't completely unimpressive) and I wonder if he ever will. I've always rated him, but I wouldn't want us offering silly money to get him here, which I think we will have to do wage wise. Is he much better than the now lamented Fonte? As for Brum's financial plight, they aren't flush, and Zigic's £50k a week wage is draining, but I think Carston Young has a minority share so his potential downfall won't neccessarily take them under. Actually the sooner he passes go and goes straight to where he belongs, Brum plight might improve. They'll stop using the club as a front for dodgy land deals and maybe focus on the football.

Mate of mine spoke with Curtis during the summer and at that point he had no strong desire to leave brum - mind you he's not going to tell an ardent Birmingham supporter any different. He's currently on about £30k a week and it will take a sizeable wage rise to get him to move. Brum will also demand well over £5m so I am told.

people made their minds up long ago about Guly. Nothing will change them. He was up and down in Saturday, as were others like Lambert for example, but as usual Guly is singled out for criticism. I actually thought Sharp was woeful when he came on, showing his true championship ability. How about we look at what he offered us in terms of ball retention and threat.

I don't understand why Lambert can't play the centre role in a 4-3-3. The pace comes from the wings and he is the perfect target man. He takes up great positions, wins loads in the air and usually has a fantastic touch so you can ping it up to him and the ball sticks. Our failing against Wigan came from Lambert having a poor game, not the formation or his role in it. A poor first touch won't be hidden by any formation. I struggle to see where Rodriguez fits in though.

visiting Japan in a couple of weeks so will miss the Arsenal game. Any chance of catching this on the box anywhere in Osaka?

the low wages up there mean players will always be `available'. They may be tied to contracts, but you can't hold onto players when they can double their incomes with a move. If players feel the right sort of transfer fee has been offered, but it has been turned down they very quickly become unhappy and then you have lost them. I don't think the deal is dead at all, we just need to increase the offer.

Attracting Phillips isn't the problem. We've already tapped him up, offered him a wage he fancies and he's put a transfer request in. Championship Blackpool's wages are tiny, so no prizes for guessing why he fancied the move. The question is, how much will it cost us. I'd guess at over £8m. That is a hell of a lot when you consider the premiership proven Lee Chung-yong is available for less. How much would Ince cost? He looks a class act to me.

how have you worked that out after one game? He didn't play well, nothing to do with the system, everything to do with his first touch being awry for once. He'll be better next time.

mate of mine (Saints fan) lives in Stockholm, so been across a few times to see him. It isn't cheap, especially booze, but you knew that already. Nice place, especially when the snow goes and the sun shines. I eat at Pet Sounds the last time I went and would certainly recommend it, but you won't struggle to find top quality nosh. Some decent nights out too. Sweden is a fantastic place IMO.

well if you were saying that over the last three, four, five seasons then you would have been making yourself look foolish IMO considering he has been absolutely outstanding for us in that period. If you are just talking about the Prem, that's a different matter.

even if we are bottom, it's still two places above where we were last season

Some positives: Clyne looks a very good player. Pace is essential and he has it in abundance. Richardson often dived in and failed to get there, Clyne seems to have much better judgement on distances. Davis is tidy. He faded a little, perhaps through lack of fitness, but he knows what he is doing. We look OK down the middle. Lallana can do it at this level too. What a player. Don't let him take corners though. Morgan can also do it at this level, but then again I thought that two years ago. We ran the game in the first half. The goal totally changed the game.

Lets put to bed any doubts about fox fonte and the side as a whole by taking the guys on from the off. time for a home win we hope to get rather than almost expect. cant wait..

I know you can't judge a player based on a team's performance or results, but 77 goals conceded in 34 games last season is a lot. Just sayin like.

Chill out son, it's gentle sarcasm, with my usual dig at Alpine for his infamous hanging by a thread comment. Don't take everything to heart or too seriously.

you do realise that Fonte made a mistake in the televised Championship game so he is officially crap, Clyne has absolutely no premiership experience, and Jos and Fox gave away a whole goal each on Sunday. Unless they are all replaced immediately our premiership survival will be hanging by a thread.

anyone else wonder if Ince might be as good if not better than Philips?

Adomah is a more likely replacement.

I don't think I'd tell anyone. I don't think I could cope with the envy and look on my mates faces when I give them X amount and when they had anticipated more. I'd see how long I could go without anyone finding out. I'd buy a nice car, house etc. but I wouldn't tell people how I afforded it. "Work must be going well". I'd give up work, but the mates and family wouldn't know that. I'd travel the world, but come back regularly for Saints games. Maybe not. I'd fashion ways of bringing my mates into the fold without them knowing I am loaded. "I just won a holiday, fancy coming?" That's not going to work is it?

no one stops supporting their club, they just stop going to games.

massive smile thinking of him scoring a last minute winner and celebrating in front of a half filled fratton end.

20,103

money no longer going in Chanrai's pocket either. I assume B'mouth have sold their 3000 allocation.

Welcome back PES, surprised you have bothered to come back on this thread as it's not one for debate these days. I'm not sure the comparison is quite fair seeing as our current owners just wiped off all our debt (monies to buy the club and then to finance transfers and high wages) so they have thankfully shown themselves to be responsible people looking to take the club forward not use the club as a play thing all the time doing at the fans expense. Don't worry fans will be keeping a close eye on our accounts and if I ever get an invitation to dine with Cortese I'll raise this issue with him. Not quote sure where the idea that we are paying way too much comes from though. Certainly our wages were huge for league 1, sizeable for the championship, but now in the top flight, I expect they will be relatively modest *****il we sign 10 more Ramirez's of course). I don't think we've got Scumball/Defoe/James size wages just yet to pull us into the mire. Personally I've questioned our spending throughout our rise, especially the uncertainty surrounding the debt figure on our accounts, but with that being cleared off I am not sure what there is to question just yet. With ST prices pretty high now, is £30k a week too much for our board to be paying our top players? If we've got a relegation reduction clause (I hope so) then this will not be an issue. We don't have a huge bank loan that can be called in at any point (like PFc did) so even relegation wouldn't take us to the brink, would it?

the minus ten points can't come into effect until a final CVA2 has been agreed (and concluded) that dilutes CVA1 (s the Charai and PST trust offer does). Highly unlikely, but a new owner could emerge and pay the OldCo creditors off at their 20p in the pound over 5 years (as agreed) and new creditors off at whatever amount they agree to. If that happened they wouldn't have diluted the first CVA (CVA1) and the 10 points penalty would be inappropriate. The FL effectively jumped the gun by taking the ten away as the Chanrai/PST CVA2 had been agreed to but not concluded.