Professor

The Times is saying the fee was £450,000. Anyone seen anything different?

Excellent signing and quite a shock. Was in London over the weekend and read the football pages in the South London paper. In the Charlton news there was coverage of Nicky Bailey going to Boro but not a mention of anything about Richardson, so definitely well kept quiet. Also interesting that it seems it was the fee offered by Saints that clinched the deal. It does look as if they are prepared to use the financial muscle, which is a very positive sign, and with Connolly signed as well my optimism is on the rise! Midfield next?

Last month we had a thread on watching the paint dry as there didn't appear to be much activity on the playing staff side. We had been told Dixon was coming and that other 'targets' would be first announced on the OS. In the meantime, there was still no news of whether Connolly had re-signed. Very glad that Alpine has started another discussion although the complaint by the loyalists that we should all just wait and see, and then be grateful, has been fairly predictable. Several people did say last month that if nothing had happened by 1st July they would start to worry, so presumably the worry quotiant will have risen. It would be a major shock if there were no signings, or loans, before the season starts but as AP said himself last year, you need to get in first to get the best people on offer. The worry is not that signings will not happen, but will they be the best that could have been achieved?

Just popped in to see how the paint's doing. Nothing on the OS - sorry for the guys trying to post non-news every day. At least its good to know that the transfer market is actually open for business with the Echo reporting Surman's move to Norwich and I suppose its a help that he is one less player we can speculate about. But they do say that no news is good news, so this visit hasn't been entirely wasted. Still, I think I'll give it a miss for a week or so and see how things are next month.

Dear Spud, in case it was too subtle, this is not about summer transfers, it is a suggestion that whilst other clubs are making announcements (Brighton, for example) and have settled deals, we appear to be moving slowly. No doubt signings will be made but will they be the best that could have been signed if the club had moved faster? By the way, Saint_Clark, do you think Nicky Bailey would NOT have been a target?

Connolly negotiating new contract, and on, and on Schneiderlin to St Etienne - The Sun says (May); Saints fighting interest - The Echo says (1 June); and the OS? - not a lot. We've bought a new LB says the OS - or will do from 1 July. Great, but don't we have one of those already? What does the current LB think? Silence. We haven't got a RB, we've lost players from midfield. We have our targets says the OS; while telling everyone off for speculating. Having targets is great, but some of them are signing for other clubs. It will be July next week and some news about the team instead of the fixture list or the turf, would be very welcome.

I agree as well. But the problem down the M27 was that the owner thought he'd passed it on to someone he could trust, and he turned out to be a man of straw. At Chelsea, they thought Abramovich had written off his £100m plus debt but turns out he hasn't. Their fans hang on the idea that his son is keen on the club, but if Abranovich goes, who knows. I feel that Saints are much stronger and the way ML took the club on was so much better than whats happened at PFC or at Chelsea. I see no reason as a Saints' fan to worry until succession becomes an issue and I'm not suggesting that PLC status is right as that caused many of the past problems but I can't help wishing there was some local involvement in the ownership of the club, or better still, a league requirement along those lines for every club.

Everything thats currently wrong with English football. After our club could have been wound up its one thing to sympathise with fellow football fans faced with possible loss of their team, but the CVA route out of administration is simply too easy. All of us have to partly fund it, as HMRC are owed £37m of taxpayers money. The PFC CVA is only paying ordinary creditors 20p in the £, many of these being local Hampshire businesses. In the meantime the Premier League's stitch-up sees players, agents and other clubs getting 100%! Thats 100% of fees that are already massively over-inflated. The administrator has only accepted £24m of HMRC's claim, a decision that has stopped HMRC from blocking the CVA. If they go to law, which the news suggests they will, a successful outcome would be a step to making football more healthy. Glad as I am for Leibherr's saving of our club, it was private ownership and the owner walking away that brought PFC down, something that is a risk for any other club with a single owner. Saints fans should temper their enjoyment of these coming years with half an eye on developments in club ownership rule changes as well as hoping that Marcus enjoys good health.

For people like Leibherr and Cortese there are far less time consuming ways of making money from investments without the personal involvement that buying SFC has entailed. I see no grounds at all for Hypo's conjecture. What is true, as shown down the road and at Palace, is that wealthy owners can lose interest in the football club project. This is a risk that Saints share with several high-profile premier sides. There's a widely held view that Football Clubs being used as the playthings of a few wealthy foreigners is not likely to be in the long-term interests of English football but whether any of the suggestions that there's a need to 'do something about it' will ever come to fruition, who knows?

"..news will appear first exclusively on our official website".... says spokesman Jordan Sibley. OK, except the Dickson news was common knowledge last week, so if Mr Sibley wants that to be true, not only has he got to keep his finger in the rumour dyke but he needs to get his announcements out a bit quicker. The 'we can now announce' bit wasn't very convincing. After the grumble, looks a good signing and real competition for the LB spot. If Dickson becomes first choice, which looks likely, will Harding become cover for LB and RB?

Against the USA, would Rickie Lambert or David Connolly have missed the chance that Hesky put straight at the keeper? Was there any moment when Green played better than Kelvin Davies? It suggests that the difference between players picked for the international side and players playing 2 divisions below them is marginal and doesn't reflect the difference in transfer fees and pay.

If Pardew wants to keep his job - which is presumably a given - he needs to extractum digitalis, because even if Cortese is contributing to the delay in signings, Pardew won't find that works as an excuse if the team is not in the top two come December. I think it was Nick G who said there were good signings available last July/August. True, and they didn't win a game until October. The greatest choice is available the earlier the club is in the market so we need to hope that things are happening behind the scenes, because if not, Alpine's concerns will be justified.

The frustration of seeing the four sides in this year's Play-Offs was feeling that Saints could have beaten any or all of them. Swindon might have been the most difficult since they did the double over Saints, but the Swindon games were both 1-0 so far from conclusive. It was largely the form against lower table sides in the second half of the season that prevented the run to 6th place, but can't help feeling that 'It Should have been We' (sic).

Interesting Charlie. Wonder how Saints would do against some of those 'national' teams. Take out the top, what 8?, and is it possible that the rest are not much better than League 1 / Championship level? I don't know, but its a thought.

Dean Cox from Brighton is another of Dean Wilkin's boys so he could be in the frame for understudy at Left Midfield. Has a big (or small) advantage that he can run between a player's legs. Claims he's 5'6" but that's probably with his stubs on.

At least we'll soon have the World Cup as a minor distraction, although with no Saints on display it won't be quite as interesting as previous tournaments. How sad that we'll be releated to showing a flicker of interest if an ex-Saint is on the field. Nothing being confirmed on the transfer front. Its so boring I might even go and watch a cricket match - or check the grass at the SMS.

Unfortunately, Blackpool, and Cardiff are fighting for the right to be next season's whipping boys in The Prem, but at least when they come back down they'll have parachute money.

Don't think a player can have any international aspitrations above u-21 unless playing in the Prem. Surman could do worse than have season in DIV1 with a side that gets auto promotion, but is there any reason for Saints to prefer him against other options just because he's been here before?

Comments from my Albion supporting pal:- Calderon was their best player from Jan when the results started to turn round for them. He hadn't much pedigree before that but Poyet seemed to get the best out of him. Q - is it because the both speak the same language (literally) and how good is Pardew's spanish? Also as per Albion chat - Calderon was reported to have a hip injury at the end of the season, would need close season treatment, and might not be fit for start of next season. Was this true or was it a ploy to put off other clubs until after he'd signed his new contract - which he did not. He was content with the terms of his new Brighton contract until Saints made the higher wages offer. Unlikely Pardew's scouts would have recommended that unless they were confident that he was better than what we had last season and that the injury story wasn't correct - or could this be why there is no news yet?

A very positive outcome from Weds meeting and its going to give us a lot to enjoy over the summer as the squad is rebuilt. What a transformation since this time last year!

Excellent statement. Makes clear the intention to aim for the very top and includes acknowledgement of Pardew's work this season. Right to dismiss rumours as not worth responding to, otherwises he'd have to announce that Pardew was staying every time the sinking Sun printed any baseless speculation over any vacant job. Re Laurie Mac and Le Tiss, they get paid for what they write and since its reasonable to assume they both still love this club, they shouldn't use past connections to try to make money. Get back on board guys. As for Pinnacle, I think a lot of people felt that Le Tiss was mistaken in allowing his name to be used when he didn't personally know enough about them. It was a mistake, unintentional, but a mistake. Just a shame that Cortese should raise it again as its water under the bridge now.

Calderon is 28, and according to the BHA website, before he signed for Brighton in January he had been rejected by Gillingham and Norwich. He's said to have done well for Brighton and they certainly were an improved team from Jan onwards, but rejected by Gillingham! Pleased the club have moved so quickly to bring in a RB but this will be a step up for Calderon quite late in his career, so we need to have faith in the scouting system.

Haven't seen anything to justify the rumour but now we're in the close season what else is there to do except speculate. Last season is over for us, as of yesterday, so all that matters is what gives us the best chance of promotion next season, with a team that can go on to make an immediate impact in the Champ. I don't think anyone seriously thinks Pardew has done badly, but there is a view that he could have done better, while others think he has been brilliant. Unfortunately the January spend went on several players who didn't become first choice selections and there were defeats to some very poor teams at the bottom of L1, leaving Pardew open to criticism. The Mark Hughes speculation is very hard to believe, personally I don't give it any credance, but if it were true, however much people like Pardew, this would have to be a major coup. Hughes could attract players to play at this level for a season, that few other managers could and he has his Saints connection. But it won't happen.

After going 1 - 0 down to relegated Southend, and then just after we equalised, to see a striker subbed for a defensive midfielder, I was ready to say that Pardew didn't know what he was doing. Then the team goes on to score 2 more goals and we win 3 - 1. It's just as well Pardew is the football manager and I'm not, because he proved that he certainly did know what he was doing!!!

Change is both risk and opportunity. It is always a problem is that you don't know whether a change is for the better or the worse until after the event, but that doesn't make change a 'disaster'. Not changing is also a risk, so whilst keeping Pardew and his team is probably most fans' preferred option, it doesn't make success a guarantee and fans' views about the manager could change depending on how things go in the autumn.