buctootim

Thats because the new guy has realised you're a dickwad. Give that man a bonus.

So at no point in this season have we been in dire need of additional quality on the field nor in any danger of relegation? Righto.

Ramirez has been unfortunate with off field issues and he clearly has talent, but that aside when he has played he hasn't made an outstanding contribution. Yes he needs time to settle - which is exactly why a newly promoted team in severe need of additional quality for a difficult season shouldn't have spent £13m of precious transfer money on him. The point is that £20m of funds have been used to buy players who havent made a major contribution in our most crucial season, this one, not next or some time in the future. Had we been relegated, and lets not kid ourselves had two goals gone differently we could easily have swapped places with Wigan, those buys would have been disastrous.

Its fair comment, we were playing catch up and needed to spend wisely. The irony is that the large bulk of the money was used to buy players who haven't been regular starters. The core of the squad, our best players have either been home grown or bought for £1m-£2.5m

Not at all. Ramos has got an outstanding record. Even at Spurs where he 'failed' he got a better record than Pochettino's best years at Espanyol.

Nothing wrong at all aiming to doing it the Everton way (though they are a bigger club). Attempting to compete with Man City and Chelsea by pumping in millions of pounds from Never neverland, no thanks. btw Saints have spend more than Everton on transfers, its just that we havent used the money as wisely.

Okay so your argument is that because there have been other crap managers at other clubs in the past, it was the right decision to appoint Pochettino. Brilliant.

How come Aguirre got completely different results with the same players then? Oh and he didnt win La Liga manager of the year. He won a vote in a fanzine.

Can you not read? Those are his lifetime management stats

No, based on this 32,57 % Wins 25,14 % Draw 42,29 % Losses http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/mauricio-pochettino/aufeinenblick/trainer_9044.html Nov 2012 Pochettino Sacked at Rock Bottom Espanyol http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/clubfootball/news/newsid=1954821.html April 2013 Aguirre (Pochettino's successor) Pulls off Resurgence at Espanyol http://gb1886.wordpress.com/2013/04/05/espanyols-admirable-resurgence-under-javier-aguirre/

Of course, everybody can be replaced, but if we lost those it would be far worse than losing de Ridder. Those players are a good spine to the team who know each other and play well together.

Absolutely true and also applies to the NHS. Even the senior civil servants who draft these proposals often don't know the sector. I used to work for South East London Health Authority at a time when we were struggling with some hopelessly ill thought through (and hideously expensive to administer) competitive tendering system the Dept of Health had introduced. I met somebody at an event who cheerfully told me she was one who had devised it - during a sole 18 month stint in health having previously worked in the Home office and never been involved previously in CCT before.

Pretty much the same list for me. Everybody else is replaceable / can be improved upon.

I reckon they could be planning to create a community owned club through the trust - which would have the same effect of diluting his power.

1 and 2. 3 is what has been reported. I make that 66.67% proven with the rest a fair hypothesis. 1. That you need mega millions to challenge for champions league and the club ain't got it unless the owners stump up again 2. He earned £1.5m last year (in the championship) 3. Journos are reporting he wants assurances about sole access to the train set.

I think you're right

Its not entrenched, Im open to new information. But which parts aren't true? 1. Cortese has said he wants CL football and presumably you don't deny this would entail major investment in players which the club cant generate itself aka he wants the Liebherrs to fund his grandious ambitions. 2. Widespread reports say Cortese wants to continue in sole control (admittedly not definitive proof). Its more likely than Avenue's saint's post.

Er no its not. Cortese wants the Liebherrs to fund his grandious ambitions, pay him £2m a year and to otherwise butt out and have no say. Oddly enough they don't seem too comfortable with that.

I agree it's hard to make sense of, not all families agree about everything of course. I do know that if I was them, even if I did want to review my involvement, attempts to publicly bounce me into a particular path would just make me dig my heels in, deal with the troublemakers and stabilise again before making any definitive decision.

The wider family is massively wealthy. Basically it all depends on how tight the various branches of the family are and whether the surviving brother and sister would get involved to help their niece in dealing with their late brothers enterprises.

Lets not do the 'biggest fan' thing, there aren't any winners. Whether people are prats or not on this board doesn't depend on geography nor affect their passion for the club we all support.

Thats exactly my thoughts, possibly also he wants to buy the club at less than current market value and threatening a management walk out is the best way to bring the price down.

Okay fair enough, I agree with that.

I didn't forget him. Given the £7m price tag he's been neither a great nor bad purchase for this season. Long term I think he'll be a star, but we can include him if you like. '£27m spent on four players, none of whom are a regular starter'. Is that better?