CB Fry

MLG has been playing head-of-state simulator computer game and apparently it's a piece of pi ss.

I'll let other people debate with you because I am not bothering. Teach us all about God again, why don't you.

Quite right. On whatever measure you want to use, she has been fantastic. It's not even a role she was actually born into, and definitely not one she ever asked for. But fate conspired and since her coronation she has served her country and commonwealth with huge distinction. I'm no loony royalist but would defend the Queen and her role and how she has served against anyone, except MLG.

No benefit to club whatsoever. But no harm I can see either. Good luck to him.

Every day I thank God for the Queen.

Or, the only perfect record in European Qualification remains intact. Well done Roy and the team.

I'm guessing Sholing. Am I right?

I've started composting my old tea bags and veg peelings recently. I've done my bit so all refugees can suck my balls.

I seriously doubt if Saint George is American or lives in America. Just a character act with off the peg troll opinions on climate change, gun control, general right wing cliché stuff done badly. Tie that up with his spectacularly transparent trolling on the main board and bingo. It's a hobby.

Eh? So this was the reason Koeman gave: “It’s a difficult situation because Victor mentioned himself that he is not with his mind to the team. He did the training last Friday and, of course, it was so important to play against Norwich with players who are really committed to the team and really focused. The situation with Victor is that he has lost some focus to the team, to the club, and that was the reason why I decided to keep him out of the squad.” But you're saying this was in fact a PR smokescreen to cover up...er...what? A minor knock? A groin strain? Seems pretty unlikely to me. But hey, you're so "clued up" on PR and stuff. I kinda think PR works the other way round. Look into it.

Dear me. Still getting it arse about face. Oh well. I love the way the club is being run. You don't. Fair enough.

He missed that game for one reason. That reason was explained with direct, specific quotes from the manager of the football club. You can look them up if you like.

Jesus Christ. He used showcase to distinguish the club from the accusations of 'selling' club which is what you are blubbering about. If we uncover someone who turns out to be brilliant they will end up at a Champions League club for a big fee. Of course they will. It's an output of our scouting, recruitment and development. The other output is us finishing top eight or thereabouts. Really, really not difficult.

I think you can look further up the thread for my analysis of how the club has been run, is run now and will be run going forward. You don't like it, that's your problem. I fu cking love it.

That's funny because as far as I can see all you see when you look at those fees is how it negatively impacts our net spend and makes us look all unambitious and weak compared to the driven determined footballing powerhouses like Sunderland. I mean look at their net spend. Life is, like, so unfair ain't it Strawlock? Our business model is not to to sell players high, it's just an output of the fact we have had brilliant players that the very biggest clubs want. Understand yet? Nah, didn't think so. Listen, I know you're upset that our club isn't going to be run like the little computer games you play, or like a casino run by a sink estate lottery winner on smack. If I were you I'd leave things in the hands of the adults running the club. Unlike you, they have a fu cking clue.

The only things we will keep doing is a) not over spend on fees or wages b) invest in the academy in the hope we keep seeing one come through per season c) try and sign semi - ready gems like Mané/Tadic for decent sums d) strive to finish as high as possible. That's what we'll keep doing. Why "won't" we or "can't" we do that?

Why are you so completely obsessed with what fees we might receive? Strange you are calling other people simpletons when you have no grasp whatsoever of what our business model is.

Remind me, what was made up during the window?

The point is we can still finish fifteenth if we start over spending or taking a different path. Fifteenth won't be a successful season - with our budget it will be a failure - but it could happen. Chances are we won't see loads of departures to big clubs if we do ever finish there, which judging by some of the mournful totting up of the last two years (eight players we let go etc etc) would be a dream come true right? The club can only be run the as best as it can.To finish as high as we can within what we can afford. Sounds good to me. Like every method it's not guaranteed to work. The only thing we can try and guarantee is to not financially screw ourselves.

That's not really a problem either is it? If our academy players are only good enough for us (like, at present, JWP, let's lump Targett in too) then that's fine because that saves us buying a CM and a LB. Perfect. If we get three seasons from Victor and flog next season for £15m ish, that's okay, we wouldn't spend more than that replacing him anyway. No worries. Mane having a 15 goal season this year will make him a £30m player, we won't be able to keep him. Fine. If we don't sell for big bucks we have a stable team (the thing that people have been moaning about while referencing Everton etc etc) if we do sell for big bucks then we have some big bucks to spend some on replacements. There's a misunderstanding of our model. It isn't about having to sell players on. It's not about selling high to buy cheap. We don't have to sell anyone. It's about building the best team we can afford to finish as high as we can. Part of building the best team we can afford is we will end up with brilliant players that other clubs will pay more than we can afford, so we can't keep them all because we are building the best team we can afford and we cannot and will not afford to keep them. If we don't have enough brilliant players we don't end up finishing as high as we can afford but we don't sell as many. But we can still afford the team. Either end of the scale we will not a) over invest so we have a team we can't afford or b) under invest, flog everything, keep the money etc. We are run brilliantly, but it's pretty tedious to see how the club is run being perpetually picked over for faults and our successes dismissed as the club "getting lucky". Spoiler alert. In the next five years Saints might finish fifteenth in the Premier League. It's far more likely than finishing fourth. Brace yourself for it. But finishing fourth or fifteenth I hope we do it in a cost neutral, sustainable way.

Why would it be made up?

You seem to be hanging your entire argument on the idea that if we didn't sell any of those players but still spent all the money we did, we'd be much stronger. We'd have Lallana and Tadic and Theo and Oxo and Mane and Shaw and Betrand and Cedric and Chambers and Clyne and Lovren and Van Dyke and Morgan and Clasie and Lambert and Pelle and Long and Jay Rod and Boruc and Forster and and and. Presumably headed up by the modern day Steve Gritt/Alan Curbishley co-managerial combination of Pochettino and Koeman with Adkins as first team coach. Oh, think of that net spend. We'd be like, so strong.

Absolutely. Wales are definitely through - they need to win one of three and still have Andorra at home, plus highly likely that other teams will drop points anyway. On the plane. Norn Iron looking good too. Would have liked to see the wee man take Scotland through but still comedy value in Scottish failure so can live with it.

You're worried that he isn't "complimentary", another said it was a "bad example", another thinks it all stems back to him not signing for us, so maybe not.

Makes sense to me. He's not mentioning us because he nearly joined us 15 years ago. He's using us an example of a medium sized Premier League club now being more attractive than a large German club. We're the best example for him to use really especially as the useful facts around club spending show just how much we have invested in the squad. Mane, Clasie, Van Dijk, Tadic are all players that historically one could have seen joining German clubs instead of the ranks of mid-Prem. It's brilliant we have them. All in all, makes our whimpering display in the Europa League even more sickening.