Matthew Le God

I'll do it... - Lambert new long term contract - Lallana new long term contract - Adkins new long term contract - Martin new long term contract - Chamberlain still here - Massive recruitment drive in academy, medical, sports science, commercial and coaching staff - Club to be one of the few in England with category one academy status (that costs a huge amount of money to do) - 15 new 1st year scholars, some of a very high potential - Bid for Cork made weeks ago (before Under 21's and Jack's holiday afterwards, deal now concluded) - Bid for Sharp of £3.25m, indicated money available - Training ground costing 3x as much as the plans originally laid out before Markus' death

The author of that article is the Chelsea researcher for Football Manager and an employee of Sports Interactive. He knows his stuff, especially about youth football.

A new first choice striker is very likely by the end of the window, given the club has already confirmed it made one £3.25m bid for one this summer. Adkins clearly thinks he needs a striker.

A years subscription to the News of the World.

What he offers the team, every touch of the ball... in the Premier League vs Aston Villa http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdMhFjcjGO8 in the Championship vs Hull City http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNvOJ3Kqd6c&feature=related

Lallana Schneiderlin Cork Chamberlain Could be quite a midfield!

I think a far more reliable source than a random Burnley fan on a forum is that the Burnley FC Official spokesman said that he believes Jack Cork is going to Saints.

Not a fact at all. Seems to be a myth that has built as to what he wore that day and used against his character. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70xt5Q_pS4s You can criticise Puncheon for a lot of things, but for the service he wore black shoes, black office trousers and a black shirt (without a tie). Not as smart as the other 1st team players, but still "smart".

A Saints scarf probably.

Which of Lallana or Chamberlain would you drop?

No clues in this article... http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10280~2388354,00.html

Why does it mater that it is a NPC club? The quality of the player is what matters (I'm not saying Matt Mills is worth £5m btw). Bale and Walcott were both Championship players when they were sold for over £5m each. Were they not worth it? If anything, they went far too cheaply.

A contestant on this years "The Apprentice", was fired on last nights show.

Actually they have already put them all on... http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/page/Pro-GraduateList/

Profiles of the new intake... http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10280~2387528,00.html?utm_source=Twitter

Not that it matters because he isn't coming here, but Riise is 30 years old - not "well above 30".

Bellamy and Yakubu were on loan. They were still receiving 100% of their wages in their Everton and Man City contracts. Yakubu this summer doesn't look like he will go back to Leicester on a permanent deal as they don't want to pay his wages, despite Sven-Göran Eriksson being the manager. Bellamy wanted to play for his boyhood club on loan to get them to the Premier League and was still being paid his full wage.

Doncaster average 11k S****horpe average 6k S****horpe's budget was tiny compared to every other Championship club (including Doncaster). They have crowds that would fit in as a mid table League One team or top of League Two team, yet that season they were competing with Newcastle, Sheff Weds, Derby, Forest etc. Nor did the owner put in much cash.

Keeping a tiny club like S****horpe in the Championship, with a 20th place finish is not awful. It is beyond what anyone thought would happen at the start of the season. In any case, players and their agents will look at the financial package and ambition of the club ahead of anything. I doubt Adkins not being a "big name" would be the reason anyone turns Saints down.

Not simplistic, even the OS states that his estate is the owner. Okay we don't know the ins and outs of how it works but you should be reassured as Cortese has stated, "nothing has changed". He has done little so far to suggest he is a man that reneges on his statements. You have done it twice now, so not a typo. At least spell the late owner's name correctly. Cortese's plan it seems is for the club to provide a lot of players for itself with large scale investment in the academy and training facilities. In any case, many of the current Premier League teams don't spend huge amounts on top of the huge revenues they get for being in the league.

His estate.

Do you think the 7 to 16 year olds at Saints, Arsenal and Barcelona learn much from the first team stars? Their paths would rarely cross. It is down to quality of youth coaching and also Saints being in the Premier League Academy system for the last 13 years and playing other top English academies since it started nationally in 1998 (10 years of which Chamberlain was at the club for).

No they didn't. They won it by 3 points, scored fewer goals and conceded more than Saints. Yes, okay they didn't have anything to play for towards the end of the season, but their two hardest home games came in that period. No guarantee they would have beaten Saints or Huddersfield if they still needed the points. They also put out their strongest possible side in both games and still wanted to maintain the unbeaten home record, beat their "rivals" Saints and see out the last game at the Withdean in style.

How does he prove that? He has been at a highly rated Premier League academy since the age of 7. Pretty good surroundings to learn your trade for 10 years.

They are 16 and 17 years old, many will have a few more years of growing left possibly into their 20's.