Chez

no, he was sacked by Hart not long after he asked him to bring Alex across to PFC.

Connelly has been fit for over two months now, he just isn't being selected (I have no problem with that). The same thing happened at the end of last season as well. Yes he is injury prone, but he's available far more than people give him credit for. He's a class act, and there still might be a time this season when we thank god we have him in the squad.

we certainly aren't going to find it easy to buy a replacement, but we might loan someone of similar effectiveness - Lee Cook for example (sorry about being a broken record with that suggestion)

agreed. After the initial period of him being placed into their reserves rather than their first team, any supposed stumblings are purely down to the fact he has suffered a couple of really bad injuries, absolutey nothing to do with being held back and not given games.

that is incorrect. Mark Chamberlain was at SFC when Alex joined us ten years ago. Mark only joined the skates as a coach in 2008.

left midfield? As much as I rate Dickson, if Lallana got injured perhaps that might be a weakness. We certainly struggled withut him at the start of the season. Maybe I should keep my faith in Dickson, and again a loan would probably be the best option should Lallana get injured.

very interesting point. The £40k we spent I think) on Walcott was some of the best money we ever spent, perhaps now is the time to be speculating on youth (like we did with Best and Blackstock) again in this way if that is possible. I agree fully with the option of loans - perfect way to cover injuries, give the squad a lift AND bring in that little bit of extra quality that is much harder to do if you are trying to buy.

We were extremely fortunate to land Fonte. If Palace had been stable I seriously doubt he would have left them to come to us. I don't see top class championship players queuing up to drop down a division and believe me they would need to be top class to be better than Chamberlain. As for winning games without him, don't get ahead of yourself. Yes we are going well at the moment, but he is a vital cog in that wheel, take his pace out of the side and you lose a lot.

does anyone want to be associated with Nestle these days?

after missing out on Bale all the top sides are going to be thinking very carefully about allowing Alex to slip through their fingers.

I don't agree with that. He is an extremely important member of the side. You may bring three or four in but you can only play 11, and who ever plays right midfield would not be as good as he is, so straight away you have reduced the quality of the side - unless of course the three new players you talk about are going straight into the first 11. Losing Alex WILL effect the balance and quality of the side.

If the right quality is there bring them in and loan out the worst player in that position.

NPC size crowds and three significant cup runs might cover the wages. As for the training ground improvements, well that's a different story.

so much for all the talk about twos game in a week for the whole of March. The question is can you get to the Valley in 2h15 min from Soton Town centre?

with Wednesday signing the right kind of player IMO. Nice that we have them at home rather than away.

VIC 20 user?

massively jumping the gun here, but on the off chance that he really is injured, how about Lee Cook on a short term loan whilst he (Lallana) gets fit?

I heard it was closer to £20k. He'll not be going anywhere this season unless the skates pay about 70% of his wages.

he wasn't given an extra game ban.

If you rate what we have, then you need to think, if any single player gets injured is there top class cover for that player and if push comes to shove someone after that to cover? If someone leaves then that changes things a little too.

certainly a possibility. We can only do back of a fag packet maths that rely heavily on guesswork when it comes to players earnings.

of course it does. IF, and it's a big if, we are self sufficient, then the Lebheirr family have less reason to sell. Also relying on the owner to settle all debts at the end of year leaves the club exposed to the sorts of problems the skates face when that owner decides to up sticks and call in any loans the club may have taken out with that owner. I don't know if we are anywhere near self sufficient, it all depends on the wages being earned. I hope so.

bet they said the same thing about Bale

what's he like as a player (what are his best attributes on the pitch?)

no offence, but he's not going to say "I went there and played utter **** so they dropped me and the manager then said he was going to play me again because I was so poor" is he? Anyway I agree your point still stands and he probably wants to stick around the london area. The Millwall move is the only move then. The only way that is going to work is lots of staged payments. I'm not sure that is a good deal for us.