Chez

Not sure how this came to SKYs attention, but (in proper forum guesswork style) perhaps our scout was at the Carlise game this week and when questioned he said Harte as a red herring to keep any interest on the real player quiet?

Balso, Brian McDermott praised him for his first half display so he certainly isn't going to be trying to `offload' him.

he did and he wasn't very good in the games against us. Takes a mean free kick, obviously, but until football uses teh subs like American football there is no place for him in our first team.

who gives a **** how many pitchside adverts we sell, we have a ticket tax in place now so if we want to raise revenue we'll just bump that up every year.

are you talking about this season or next?

but you are also the person that says we can't afford to wait for the perfect signing.

For once I agree with you. You do want it both ways. You initially want any old signing, but when one comes in you then aren't happy. People aren't gushing, they don't have a clue what he is like and all admit that. They are just excited to see what he is all about and extremely happy that we have negotiated a deal that won't see another Delgado. How has the Dickson signing worked out?

In the case of Antonio, didn't the extra year just kick in without him having the opportunity to refuse it and sign for us on m ore money? I would suggest that when Guly agreed to join us on loan he will have also agreed terms on the permenent contract should we chose to go through with it. There won't be a renegotiation of terms come January, we will either enforce the transfer or not. He has no say in the matter. If he does the business he will stay simple as. Yes true he could get home sick and not want the move and we decide not to bother, but it would be worse if we had spent the million and given him a three year deal.

Just because YOU describe others as `happy clappy' it doesn't actually mean they are happy clappy. Usually it just means they are just a little less negative than you.

as far as I can see there is no argument on here. Everyone bar 1 or 2 feels this way.

Every signing is done with the best intentions, but not many work out how you want them to. He could get home sick or anything. Pardew will have confidence, but who knows how he will settle in. As for being too far adrift, doesn't a signing help try to prevent that? Not sure what your point is there.

Pardew didn't want Papa back, and Papa didn't want to come back. Pardew didn't rate him that's why he never played him and went out and bought Barnard, Papa was not impressed by not being played so wouldn't come back to sit on the bench again. Antonio was a loan with no fixed agreement to sign. Guly's deal differs in that there is obviously a deal to sign should it work out. If the deal is done right then there will be no `gazzumping' opportunity. A similar deal was done by the Skates when they loaned in Yakubu. Having impressed in the championship there was loads of interest, but they already had the price set in stone and no one could gazump them.

more to the point, have we bothered with a medical this time round?

Excellent news. I hope he turns out to be tremendous. Even better that we have signed him on a loan deal with a view to a permenant move. That is exactly what you want - zero risk transfer, lovely.

I know we are in the 3rd division, but Macken, really? he's a ****ing load of ****e.

£400,000 is a shed lot of money in my eyes. 37 League clubs paid less than £10,000.

Craddock was mentioned on here last summer http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/luton_town/8924653.stm although not my cup of tea.

not a bad shout, but a two division drop?

Acquiring the sort of players to win you the league is never going to be easy and I get the feeling that some of our key targets such as Adomah and Antonio slipped between our fingers. The option would then to go for 3rd or 4th choice and perhaps these were just not there. That means you have little choice but to wait for the market to develop or loans to come available. There are very few players, Stephen Dawson apart, that have moved to League 1 sides that I think we should have signed. I disagree that loans are not the right option for a side looking to get promoted. Any improvement in the squad is a good move whether the player is here for a month or 12.

I wonder if that means Warnock might shift Antonio German out on loan?

I'm with you Andy. I still don't know why we let this lad go. Young enough to loan out, wait for his chance, and also to improve. Very strange decision to let him go IMO.

he is no doubt a decent striker, but is he not extremely similar to Connelly and Barnard in that he lacks genuine pace or size? Ideally we ned a striker with one of those attributes.

check out other threads and you will see a photo of him with Saints fans at the pre season game in Switzerland. He looked fit as a fiddle in this photo and there is mention of him having a beer with fans.

Perhaps this is why we have been encouraged to become season ticket holders - Marcus is going to give the club to the fans, an equal share to every season ticket holder. I'm dreaming, but Marcus was Southampton's Saint and I'm sure he will leave us in safe hands. No matter what happens we're in a damn sight better position than the day before he bought us.

it's not funny. We all whine about overpaid players and half the posts on the Portsmouth takeover thread point to them cheating by spending more than they have, so Blackpool should be applauded for trying to keep a lid on their wage bill. The fact Harewood or anyone else would turn them down for just a few quid more just shows players up for the mone grabbing bastards they are.