Saint_clark

Absolutely. Once again people are far too precious.

He really wasn't as bad as people make out.

Actually apply? The whole "outstanding talent" thing is such a loose term, it's very rare a work permit gets turned down on appeal for Premier League clubs.

Although no-one has ever said that.

Bullsh*t, exactly the opposite was true. When we won 8-0 we were told that it was meaningless, but now we've lost all of a sudden it's a cause for concern. Reality is that results matter not one jot in pre-season. I remember hearing someone say something about youth games that is similarly true for pre-season friendlies - it doesn't matter about winning or losing, it is more important that the players learn and improve.

Indeed, didn't Fulham go for £200million?

I actually quite like that combo.

I was unsure about him as captain as well, but by all accounts he is seen as the heart of the team by a lot of the players - one of them referred to him as "Mr Southampton" at one point last season - and as such I am more than happy for him to continue.

Reverse the result and I guess it's just meaningless again.

Meaningless friendly, just like the 8-0 win - remember?

Interesting that Cardiff actually had a red dragon on their badge before a bluebird. Not such a deviation from tradition after all.

Find that hard to believe, otherwise we'd have switched to predominantly white shirts rather than red.

Errrr...no. It really isn't. Having said that, it wasn't a con.

Why are we only questioning this valuation? Why was Lambert £1million and not £900k? What was the extra £100k for? Why did we demand so much for Chamberlain, why couldn't it have been £500k less?

I haven't heard anyone say any different? If the result was reversed I bet it wouldn't be so meaningless to certain people.

Cortese has always spoken about maximising revenue streams to keep the club in as healthy a position as possible, they might offer free travel to a few games but not for the whole season.

I don't follow you, it's just your trolling garbage is so widespread it's difficult to find a thread without it.

Don't understand why people keep saying this as his playing style is very similar to the likes of Cazorla, Hazard and Mata.

Nah, it's a good indicator of who you shouldn't take seriously at the mo.

What did Ramirez do in the last 3 hours to change your opinion of him?

No chance...it'll get to the point where his "exclusives" list will be viewable on every page of every thread on the first page.

The Wanyama deal went on for ages, why wouldn't the Damiao and Osvaldo ones? Let's wait and see where we are when the window shuts.

But the clubs who gave those players a change had no better options - we do.

That's very convenient for you, isn't it. Your "contact" is the biggest load of b*llocks ever by the way - and no, that's not an invite for you to copy and paste the list of exclusives you didn't break first.