CB Fry

An incredible proposition to lose a load of money, yes. If some Chinese/Arab/Russian gazillionaire nutcase wanted to buy a provincial club with limited brand potential to waste millions on then yep, Saints is an incredible proposition. Beyond that, I'd advise that nutcase to buy Leeds United instead. Maybe Newcastle.

Those players simply did not have the firm interest from the biggest and richest clubs in the world in the time Cortese was here. Lovren was six months into a contract when Cortese scarpered. No fu ck er of significance wanted Lallana this time last year. Shaw became the hot player in the last season. Lambert was up for sale in January. We're not going to pay players hundred thousand pound a week salaries and I, for one, am fu cking delighted by that fact. If it means we rebuild and finish 12th, 14th or even lower this season then so be it. Bring it on. The rest of you can weep away but I am looking forward to the new season, especially once Ron's new look Saints start to click come the winter.

We were nowhere near a pretty dreadful Man Utd team in seventh.

Exactly - nothing CL has said is any different to the kind of ranting "everything-has-gone-to-sh it" stuff we get from loads of posters on here. Sorry Crabby - you can only have your "I told you so" moment if you'd had the balls to actually tell us so. You didn't have those balls. And as you rightly say, this is a pointless little football web forum: so what stopped you?

This. If Reed had said that it would be common knowledge on here and would have been forum ammunition for weeks. He didn't say it.

I think Charlie's point is we can't buy 20m players, we can only make our own and sell them. Which is true and, in my opinion, fine.

Assuming the others stay... LB, CB, Wide Player, ST minimum, and all of decent standard. Goalie, and another to serve as decent quality CB/RB cover (or, someone better than Jose) are nice-to-have rather than essential. It is far too many pkayers in one window, that's for sure. We'll see.

Hey boys, fancy coming round? My dad said I could have the scalextric out and then we can have milkshakes.

Hard not to mate. Still, for me, they've got the whole window. I am happy to slate people as you know and I will say what I think come September.

Someone probably reminded them that they are on obscene wages and should be grateful. That would have resolved any disappointment, right?

Sometimes, like now, I realise I am a bit cruel to you. I know you can't help who you are.

But we will structure those incoming deals in exactly the same manner, so pointless maths there.

Nothing says team spirit like forcing want-away players to stay against their will.

Yeah, possibly. Hopefully. Unfortunately that reasoning also explains why the likes of Claisie and De Vrijs haven't signed for Dortmund/Man Utd either. The Celtic players I am less worried about - Forster is about our level, ditto Van Dyk - so that could well be a CL qualification thing, which is fine. Let's see what the next week or so brings. I have some hope but it has taken a severe knock.

Happy to try and believe this but we really need to see some players in the door now. Slightly worried we are targeting players slightly above our station who, when they do sign for, say, Dortmund or Man Utd the club can say how they tried really hard but couldn't compete. And by the way, we've signed a Norwegian left back for 1.75m instead. Now, aim high, that's fine but we really need some headcount in now. And the "transfers take time" bit is a nice line of course but maybe we should have made our sales out feel a little less rapid, then.

It's nonsense anyway. Saints forum expertise has told us that Luke Shaw left Saints only because he didn't believe in the vision and ambition of the club anymore. If he did still believe in the vision and ambition of the club then he'd still be a super Saint now and the idea of earning 120k a week at the world's biggest football club would not have made him even flinch.

Make up a scenario and then get annoyed about it. Your speciality. That, and being a swivel eyed ranting idiot.

We are going to need a very good second half of the season, because it is difficult to see from now to Christmas being anything other than a car crash, and I am still dumb enough to believe we will spend some reasonable money on new recruits. I think we have the manager, and the money (ie I think we will panic buy in January if needed) to do enough for 14-16th. All planets in alignment we could make 12th.

Luckily, any players we do sign will be on similarly structured deals, unless you think we've paid some eleven million for Tadic in cash in one lump sum payment, no questions asked.

meh. That's up there with the if only they'd returned his phone calls, Lallana would never have even wanted to join Liverpool type stuff.

If anyone PMs it to me I will put it up on here, and that's a promise.

LOL. Basically Les Reed is a paedo, then. Or Cortese. Or both.

Pretty sure you said nothing of the sort. Sorry son, to get the credit you need to have had the balls to have actually stated what you knew. Which with an anonymous handle on a web forum doesn't really require any balls at all. Still beyond you though.

We don't become a bigger club over time with that. We stay in the mid area of the top league, at absolute best. Which is fine. What seem to be doing right now is not going to keep us mid table, it's a short cut to relegation.

Pretty sure the two options aren't sell all the best players for huge sums or be the next Portsmouth.