Patrick Bateman

Mods, can you ban this blatant trolling attempt to derail a decent thread?

What?? FA contracted agreement with Sky & Premier League clubs over guaranteed minimum revenue is more fragile than other revenue streams?? (i.e. fans paying on the day & buying merchandise) In terms of fragility, it's the one the club would worry least about. Even club sponsors would be considered a more risky revenue stream as they have clauses to be able to pull out if anyone does anything stupid (i.e. we hire Anelka and he does some gesture which is considered 'racist' by some quarters) Sorry Barry, you're scraping the barrel with that one!

But this is very simplistic. What business case, where you want to spend capital investment offers no return on investment apart from the intangible aspect of "more people"? It'll be built more like; Capex request: £25m (to build 10,000 seats on the Kingsland stand) Anticipated sell outs x4 (vs Man Utd, first game, last game, league leaders); 10,000 x £30 ticket (average price) = £1.2m Assume 1000 extra tickets at x5 matches = £150k £1.2m used to increase base salaries of players to a) retain existing and b) attract better in lacking areas/squad depth £150k to pay loan interest of £25m Better player investment/retaining key players means a push for Europe (top 5) European competition generates £60m incremental revenue £60m incremental revenue to pay capex request and invest etc etc etc. We no longer live in a nice friendly world where extra room means the prices will drop. You want capital investment, you pay for it and recoup a reward over, what, 3 or 4 years in this case (my version in too simple, but you get what I mean).

That forum looks weird, dull and full of people who have too much time on their hands.

Neil Ashton was Cortese's best journo friend. Is Cortese bored?

You couldn't get more clear than this; http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/saints/news/11172160.Les_Reed_s_statement_in_full/?ref=twtrec Can we now just wait and see what happens and stop "worrying" over every agent piece of bullsh*t that's spread around (i.e. Crab Lungs)

The new board aren't as well dressed as Cortese. Fact.

They really did seem to click - Welbeck would be more than welcome at St Marys in my view, but I can't see us affording him.

No. Thanks. Bye.

Exactly that, it's banter! We're not going to have a derby match for a very very long time unless by some miracle they manage to beat Alfreton Town (or whoever is in the non-leagues) to progress to a round of a cup where we might draw them You need to chill out.

Quagliarella? Getting on a bit, but still has quality and would offer something to the youngsters?

Couldn't agree more! Brilliant idea and a bit of friendly needle.

I don't get why the fuss either - I already said that Spurs are bigger than us and they feel (to themselves) even bigger and will want a "top name" manager. There are many top name managers who have won things that'd be higher on their list. Besides, Pochettino isn't stupid - there's a rumour, let's use it to get a bigger salary.

Solid business plan then? F**king loonies. Seriously, just how much irony and contradiction do you want in one article? I still have absolutely no idea how they escaped HMRC with the amount they owed, but hey ho.

My Dad is bigger than your Dad.

0845 is free on BT and Virgin Media anyway?? Unless you're on some weird, basic talk plan and pay for all phone calls!??

Might as well have a dribbling semi cock on the reverse.

Are there no decent goalies in the Championship??

But Sherwood was already in the club and was the cheap option while they get their big name manager they want for the summer. That's not Pochettino, luckily for us. I will bet you, seriously.

Agree 100%. Pochettino isn't YET big enough for Spurs who still think they are a "big 4 club". Given a couple more seasons at Saints, trophy win and maybe getting into Europe then he'd possibly be sought after by them and others, but currently I just can't see them going for anyone other than the big name to match their big ambitions. Although saying that, with 0 trophy wins, I still don't understand Man U going for Moyes, so you never know.

He really is a bellend. David James is a prat, but at least he's fairly erudite, but McManaman is a complete and utter bellend, typical ex-big club footballer who is blind to other views with a ridiculous set of opinions. I had to mute him when he was saying about all Saints players would be off to bigger clubs or whatever ill-informed guff he was spouting. BT Sport has generally been rubbish. I quite liked the Sports Panel when it started (Sat mornings), but that got rubbish quickly and their Premier League matches are horrendous. Awful commentary, awful 'pundits', just terrible. I'd go so far as to say they make ITV look good and that's saying something. Although at least Roy Keane makes me laugh and knows what the hell he's talking about.

Totally gutted for Jay, can only hope it's not too serious and that he can at least get back before the end of the season ... didn't look great though. I honestly think, if we keep this squad and get a new goalkeeper and another centre back, we'll be good for next season. Fonte is good backup, but we need a goalie to challenge (or be better than) Boruc to avoid having to rely on a young goalie who is obviously a bit damaged from the last couple of seasons. Really annoying match so far.

I have faith actually. I imagine his confidence will have been built up and also, he has a full strength back four in front of him, which I don't believe he had the luxury of before??

I can never tell if you're being sarcastic or not ... but I was going to agree, then I did a quick bit of searching ... Wenger's last contract was August 2010, Ferguson's last contract was signed in Jan 2012. So that probably dispels that

I think he's just fed up with being asked now. It's a; "look, we've still got games to win and points to gain, which are more important over the next 2 months than my contract". I think that's fair enough and is correct. If we did sneak up another place, that would be circa £900k extra in prize money and would pay for a portion of that new contract ...